Daniel 1: 1, 2, 8-16; 3: 1, 8-18, 24-27; 6: 4-11, 16-22
I think the exercises of Daniel and his companions have a certain counterpart to the exercises of Ruth that we considered earlier. Ruth was helped, through the sovereign work of God, to turn her back on her own country and the circumstances in which she was brought up and commit herself fully to the people of God, finding her inheritance in another sphere where the blessings of God were to be found. I trust there might be some stimulation in your heart to do the same - to move from the circumstances in which naturally you live your life to find your place in the area where God has purposed you for His blessing.
Daniel was brought up in the sphere of God’s purpose. He was an Israelite and lived his early years in the land of promise. I think we could say from the exercises that are brought out in this book that Daniel valued his inheritance and that he loved the land. In the governmental ways of God, Daniel had to move from that land, where I am sure he would have wished to live his life, into another land altogether. He went into captivity. In that sense, his experience was the converse of Ruth’s. I think both experiences are something the believer knows. I trust you might come to enjoy, value and appreciate the wonderful richness of the blessings that God has in His heart for you, and the realm in which those blessings are found. Then you find that you have to go back into this world where Christ is not, into a sphere that is alien to the believer and completely different to that which you have enjoyed of heavenly things. It is part of the ways of God and His wisdom enters into it. I cannot exactly explain why God should do that but we are to accept it. There is a sense in which we are in captivity. If you go to school, or if you go out to work, the time which you spend there is not exactly time you can spend doing what you want to do, even if what you want to do would be profitable with respect to the Lord’s things. If you are at your employment it would not be right to sit at your desk all day reading your Bible, even though it might do you a lot of good in your soul. You have to do what somebody else asks you to do, as long as that does not impinge on your conscience before God. There is a certain amount of restriction in it and sometimes it might seem quite irksome. Sometimes you might feel really on fire for the Lord and you would really like to pursue His things and Monday morning comes and you have to take up something else. If you carry your exercises before God it will not be to your spiritual detriment, and from the examples of scripture there is something very distinctive that God uses through the experience of captivity. If you look at the captives of scripture you get remarkable things coming out of such persons. You get remarkable things coming out of Daniel not only from the practical matters of life that he faced, of which we have read, but also in what God revealed to him. There is a striking correspondence between that which Daniel wrote of and that which John wrote in the Revelation, and perhaps it should be no surprise to us that John was in captive circumstances as well. There seems to be certain things that God does through captives, those who accept the position of restriction, that is distinctive. So do not be discouraged by things that seem to take a lot of time and from which there does not always seem to be much profit, because if you go through those experiences with God He will bring out something distinctive through them.
Daniel was taken out of one sphere and put into a completely different sphere which would not have been of his choosing. One of the first points with Daniel is that he accepted the ways of God in discipline. He did not fight against it; he did not get despondent and down-hearted about it. He felt very deeply what God had had to bring upon His people but it did not cast him down; he accepted it. He lived his life in this foreign land in a very profitable way. My exercise in reading of Daniel is to raise with us the exercise of how we are to be kept in a foreign land, in a place of captivity. That is the anomaly of the believer, our life is not here; it is somewhere else and everything connected with what is real and attractive to the believer is not here; yet we have to live here. It is a scene that would cast many things in the way of the believer to seek to divert him. You might ask, how then is a believer to be kept in this sphere? How was Daniel kept? If we look at Daniel’s history he started off in this book as a young man and he lived right through the captivity without, as far as scripture records, ever going back to his land. For over seventy years Daniel lived in a completely foreign sphere without ever losing the true value of his inheritance or of his link with God. He faithfully served those under whom he was put in God’s governmental ways and yet never lost sight of the pre-eminence of the claims of God. I think this is an exercise that many of us would feel: how can you go through life here with its pressures and difficulties, maintaining a righteous and faithful walk with a good testimony, yet holding to the supremacy of the claims of God despite all that Satan would subtly put in front of you?
I would like to reiterate something that we covered in the reading. One thing that I think is essential is that we have some impression of the pre-eminence of Christ. What does the Lord Jesus mean to you? It is a very simple thing; it is something perhaps we often ask in the gospel. I think we need to go on asking it; what does Christ mean to me? Is He pre-eminent? I think it is important we come to some definite point, the earlier in our lives the better, when we acknowledge that Christ is everything. You might have aspirations in regard to what you want to do for a career, or for a husband or wife, or many other things but if, in the ways and the will of God, those things were never given to you, would you be happy? Is Christ enough for you? The reason I press this is because when tests and disappointments come and things become very contrary in our circumstances naturally, if Christ is everything to you, it will keep and hold you. I think many of us know what it is to drift at times; we may not always be kept in the living gain of our appreciation of the Lord Jesus but I do believe if you have come to some distinct appreciation in your soul of His pre-eminence it will preserve you. I think something of the exceeding preciousness of God’s thoughts in relation to the land and Jerusalem must have been deeply engrained on Daniel’s heart and soul which kept and sustained him through the years of captivity.
On being carried away into captivity, Daniel must have soberly considered what his life would be and the experiences through which he might have to pass. He seems to come quickly to the conclusion that, if he was to be preserved, as belonging to the people of God, and not become integrated into the Babylonish kingdom, he must keep himself from the things that would pollute him. He “purposed in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the king’s delicate food”. It was a deliberate decision that Daniel made. He accepted the governmental ways of God, he accepted his place in captivity, but he did not accept that he had to act like those around him, or take part in all the things that they did. He had the knowledge of better things and he would not pollute himself. You might say it was a small thing, the king’s delicate food was not a thing of gross evil, as some of the things they had to face later were, but Daniel’s purposing in his heart with his companions preserved them, enabling them to stand faithful when the tests got greater when the enemy came in and tried to break down their faithfulness to God. I think what greatly helped them was that at the outset they would not compromise in regard to the things that this world would offer. I would simply say to each one to purpose in your heart not to pollute yourself with the things of this world that will be to the detriment of your enjoyment of the spiritual and heavenly things, that may lead you to go against the injunctions and exhortations of scripture or may lead to coldness in your affection for Christ. It may not be a big thing but be assured that that one not very big thing will lead to another not very big thing and so pollution will get in. Pollution spreads, and before you know it things have become contaminated well outside the area where the pollution first came. That is like the body and life of the believer; the world’s things can enter in and contaminate. Daniel said, in our language, ’Christ is pre-eminent, nothing must take anything away from my link with Him and the things that I enjoy in His love’.
The next test we read of comes in chapter 3 in regard to the image of gold that Nebuchadnezzar had set up with the instruction that all were to fall down and worship it. You might say that is obviously quite wrong, not something we would do and perhaps you think it does not really affect us very much in this country. In some areas of the world these things do still literally happen and perhaps you think that no one is telling you to bow down before an image, but I think this image of gold would speak of the greatness, pride and achievements of man and his world. I suppose Nebuchadnezzar may have got the idea of his image from the previous chapter when Daniel had explained his dream to him when he saw a great image, “This image’s head was of fine gold” (Dan 2: 32), and Daniel had said to Nebuchadnezzar “thou art this head of gold”, v 38. I suppose Nebuchadnezzar had thought, ’That is very good, I will set up an image like that and all can worship it’. We live in a day that is marked by man’s pride in his achievements. You can look at the world, its entertainment, its religion, its technology and science, and how proud man is of it. He would bow down to this knowledge and greatness to the point that man claims to be utterly independent of God. Man and man’s world would replace every thought of God with this golden image. Whatever it is that you might have an interest in, whether it is in science, technology or sport or whatever, the pressure is to fall down before the pinnacle of man’s achievements, independent of God. Of course man does not often stop to think that in all his achievements and his civilisation, the things that blight man’s world are not diminishing. The prisons are not getting any less full, wars, strifes, famines and disasters are no different despite man’s advancement in knowledge and technology. It is very seductive, and you might be very impressed by man’s technology. We may have to use it as part of our responsibilities in this world, but do you bow down to it? I think that these things, which are part of this world, can very quickly become a large part of our life and it can draw you away, if you allow it, from the things of our Lord Jesus and from the preciousness of your link with Him. I contrast the simplicity of Christianity with the complicated nature of man’s world. Your link with God through Christ in the power of the Spirit is a profound yet simple matter. The life of a believer as lived to God, a life of piety and dependence upon God to provide your needs day by day is a very simple but precious thing and is in sharp contrast to the complexity of this world and its system. Is there not something very attractive in stepping aside from all the confusion, complications and inconsistencies of this world and enjoy your link with Christ in a sphere of things that will never fail. I would desire that the pre-eminence of Christ in our heart may preserve and keep us from being drawn into the things of this world and its system that men bow down to.
It was a considerable test to the faith of these men, but how beautiful is their answer. Nebuchadnezzar says, you are going to be thrown into the fiery furnace, and these men reply, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace” - maybe they had read Isaiah’s prophecy, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned”, Isa 43: 2. They laid hold of the promise of God. They come into Hebrews 11, not mentioned by name, but witnesses of those who could go through these things in the strength of their faith in God. Do you have that absolute confidence and faith that God will see you through? You do not have to compromise with this world; you do not have to rely on the world and its organisations. Men would say, ’If you join with us we will look after you and fight for your job for you’. God will take care of us and He can preserve your job if it is His will, but it is not for us to dictate what He will do. I can seek to walk in faith and dependence upon God but I cannot demand that God preserves me from certain things that may come upon me in this world; but we do know that God will be with us through the circumstances He passes us through. These men in Daniel say, “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods”. Prove that faith, that link with God, through the pressures of life here, not just as a theory, but something that you prove day by day with God. If we try to avoid the testings and sufferings, and sometimes we do, we will lose out because we will not prove the reality of what faith in God can do. How often we turn to God as a last resort - He should be the first and only resort for the believer.
I have often wondered where Daniel was in chapter 3. I am sure he did not fall down before the image, but he is not mentioned there. Daniel has his own test in chapter 6. Here the enemy has another try. Daniel is no longer a young man here; he was probably in his eighties by the time we come to chapter 6. He is an older man now - but still faithful. Think of the faithfulness of a man that had remained all these years, yet still the enemy tries to find a chink in Daniel’s armour and interrupt his link with God. That is what the enemy is doing, seeing if he can find one chink, something that would lead you one step away from dependence on God. You might think we do not have many lions’ dens these days, but we have, “a roaring lion” who “walks about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5: 8); that is a reality. Thank God for the power that shuts the lion’s mouth for those that depend upon Him. Paul proved that, “I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth”, 2 Tim 4: 17. It is very real; not just a Bible story we like to read as a child. Daniel’s God is our God, His power and willingness to shut the lion’s mouth is still there. The Lord said of his own, “I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves” (Matt 10: 16), you may say, ’Was that the wisest thing to do?’. You may not think the sheep would spend very long alive in the midst of wolves, but the Lord says, “As to those whom thou hast given me, I have not lost one of them”, John 18: 9. Do you have trust in the Shepherd care of the Lord Jesus that sends you into an environment where, according to human wisdom and resources, you cannot possibly survive? Daniel’s test was dependence on God. It is very subtle, it says, “whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions”. Would not the enemy have suggested to Daniel that it would be worth compromising just for thirty days - ’It would not stop you praying Daniel; just do not be seen to be doing it for thirty days and everything will be fine. You have your place in the kingdom, the respect that you have amongst men, you should not throw all that away’. Sometimes the enemy would speak like that. Paul was willing to be a fool for Christ’s sake. It is right that we should seek to have a good testimony amongst men in as far as it is possible, but not to the detriment of the claims of God upon us.
How well these men knew Daniel! They knew that in his faithfulness he would not stop praying, which is why they devised this decree. That is a remarkable testimony of Daniel. So, he goes very deliberately, with that same purpose of heart, as soon as he knew the decree was signed. It says, “he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime”. Such a man is owning that his link with, and dependence on, God comes before everything else. There is no other claim that can ever be greater or have priority over your link with God. Daniel “kneeled on his knees three times a day”. If we can assume that he started this custom as soon as he came into captivity, and I think from his history we can suppose that he did, then Daniel would have prayed towards Jerusalem in excess of seventy four thousand times. What faithfulness, what committal, what desire he had, and here he is, some sixty eight years into his captivity living in a foreign land, with his desire and feelings for what related to the purpose of God unchanged and undiminished. Daniel stood apart, not polluted, not diverted, not having lost his link with God, his outlook still towards Jerusalem. Do you still have that desire, that longing, that motivation for the things of God? In Philippians 3 Paul bursts out, “to know him, and the power of his resurrection”, v 10. Do you know him well enough yet? Paul would know the Lord Jesus far better than I do, I am assured of that. Paul was in prison, coming towards the end of his life, a life spent serving the Lord, yet the burning focus of his life was not to be released, but “to know him” - a desire undimmed by the trials and the sufferings that he had been through. Is that what you think about when you get up in the morning - is it “to know him”? Think of the experiences of the day through which you pass, troubling maybe, difficult sometimes, joyous other times, but through it all can you say: ’I have known Him a little better’? Have you gone through those circumstances with the Lord Jesus, just as the divine presence was known by those three men in the furnace? Daniel knelt and prayed. If there is one thing that will keep us in this world, in an environment that is hostile and completely alien to the believer, it is prayer.
I will quote again what we had in the reading but as it is rendered in the Authorised Version, “exhorted all with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord”, Acts 11: 23. That verse encapsulates the committal of Daniel and Ruth.
May it be so for His Name’s sake.
London
18th September 2010