From Babylon to Jerusalem - (Daniel) ch.6:1-28 — Zac Poonen

Daniel in Babylon and the Judgment of Babylon

Last study we were looking at Daniel chapter 5, and we saw the end of the Babylonian kingdom described there. And Daniel lived through the entire period of 70 years during which the Babylonian kingdom was at its height, and Daniel was there to pronounce God's verdict of judgment on that kingdom of Babylon in the reign of Belshazzar and his father.

Now all this was in fulfillment of the word of God which had been spoken through prophets in earlier years. I just want to tell you something about the geography of the region that we are considering.

Babylon was the capital of that empire and today it was also known as Mesopotamia, that area, and today it is what is known as the country of Iraq. Now when you read the scriptures you find that the Garden of Eden was located in this area at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, because we read in Genesis 2 that the river Euphrates flowed down the Garden of Eden, and that is in that area.

And we also read later on in Genesis that Abraham's hometown, Ur of the Chaldees, was also in this area. And before Abraham was born, the Tower of Babel, which we read of in Genesis chapter 11, was built where Babylon was set up later on by Nebuchadnezzar.

In fact the Tower of Babel, the remnants of it was right in the middle of the city of Babylon. So when God called Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, out from the idolatry of the Chaldees, and the Chaldees is another name for Babylonians, the Chaldeans are the Babylonians.

He called Abraham out of the idolatry of the Chaldean nation and he went past the Tower of Babel and Babylon and came into the land of Canaan to set up a nation there which would follow the true and living God.

And one day when the descendants of Abraham became idolatrous themselves, God sent them back to the same area where their forefather Abraham came from, to Babylon. As it were to tell them, if you want to worship idols, I'll send you right back where I called your father out from.

Babylonian Christianity and the Call Back to the True Church

Now all this has spiritual symbolism. The early church that we read of in Acts chapter 2, like Abraham, was called out of a Babylonian religion. The Jewish religion had become Babylonian in spirit when Jesus came, particularly being headed up by the Pharisees.

And the early church, like Abraham, came out of that Babylonian system and set up a powerful church that we read of in the Acts of the Apostles, pure and powerful. But through the centuries, just like the nation of Israel, the church degenerated spiritually and so God sent the church back into a Babylonian captivity, just like he sent the Jews into a Babylonian captivity.

He says, you can go back to where I called your forefathers out from. And it is from this Babylonian captivity that we read that Daniel was the beginning of a movement back to Jerusalem. And that also has spiritual symbolism for the days in which we live, that God is calling people out of Babylonian Christianity to be part of his bride, to be part of his true church, his body.

And in the destruction of the Babylonian kingdom here, we have a picture of that final destruction of religious Babylon that we read of in Revelation 17 and 18. I just want to show you a few Old Testament verses that prophesied the destruction of Babylon.

Isaiah’s Prophecies Concerning Babylon, Persia, and Jerusalem

175 years before, in the prophecy of Isaiah, 175 years before Babylon was destroyed, in Isaiah 21, the Lord prophesied through Isaiah. Isaiah 21 verse 2, a harsh vision has been shown to me. The treacherous one still deals treacherously and the destroyer still destroys.

Go up Elam. Elam is another word for Persia. Lay siege Media. This is the joint kingdom of Media and Persia, which is the second world empire that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. And this is the empire that finally crushed the Babylonians.

But it's amazing how 175 years earlier when Media and Persia were not a kingdom at all, God prophesied through Isaiah saying, go up Persia and Media and go up to conquer. And the result of it is described in verse 9.

Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs. One answered saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon and all the images of our gods are shattered on the ground. God raises up one kingdom to punish another.

God raised up the Babylonians to punish the Jews. And when the Babylonians got puffed up, God raised up the Medo-Persians to punish the Babylonians. And that's how it's been all through the history of the world.

God is in charge of history. Another amazing thing we see in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 44, all this is 175 years before it actually happened. Verse 26, confirming the word of his servant and performing the purpose of his messengers, it is I who says of Jerusalem, she shall be inhabited.

And of the cities of Judah, they shall be built. Now Isaiah said this at a time when Jerusalem was not yet destroyed. He was speaking about something that was going to happen a hundred years later when Jerusalem would be destroyed and another 70 years after that, when Jerusalem would be built again.

He's talking about something that's going to happen well into the future. I will raise up her ruins again. But Jerusalem was not in ruins when Isaiah prophesied that, that was something that was going to happen in the future.

And that had to take place only after the Jews were in captivity for 70 years. And that was the period of the Babylonian kingdom. But the Babylonians were not going to send the Jews back to Jerusalem.

So what was God going to do? God was going to destroy the Babylonian kingdom and raise up another kingdom, the Medo-Persian kingdom headed up by a man called Cyrus, who would send the Jews back to Jerusalem.

And that's what we read in verse 28. It is I who says of Cyrus, Cyrus was the head of the Medo-Persian army that destroyed Babylon that night. And he appointed Darius, his uncle, who was a Mede, Cyrus himself was a Persian, to be the ruler over that Babylonian kingdom.

But Cyrus was the leader. And it's amazing how Isaiah prophesied the name of the man who was going to destroy Babylon, 175 years before he actually did it. It is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and he will perform my desire.

If the Babylonians don't do it, all right, I'll destroy them. I'll raise up somebody else who will do it. And he declares of Jerusalem, she will be built. And of the temple, your foundation will be laid.

Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed. It's amazing how God uses the word anointed. Anointed for a particular purpose. What was that? That he would be the instrument in God's hand to make the Jewish people come back into his land.

It's very similar to how in 1948, the United Nations became an instrument in God's hand to vote in favor of Israel coming back and occupying that land again. It's happened in our generation. Well, 2 ,500 years ago, it happened once before as well.

When the Lord said to Cyrus, it's very interesting to read this, I've taken him by the right hand to subdue nations before him. And notice this phrase, to lose the loins of kings. And that's exactly what we read in Daniel chapter five, that when Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall, his loins were loosed.

It's amazing, an exact fulfillment of that prophecy. And to open the doors before him so that the gates will not be shut. You remember in our last study, I told there was sluice gates in the river Euphrates, where it went through the city of Babylon.

And those gates were opened by Cyrus as he came through the river into the city, by diverting the river outside. And he came in and the Lord used him, verse two, to shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars and he came and occupied.

Jeremiah’s Prophecy and God’s Sovereignty Over Kings

Now I want to show you another verse of Jeremiah chapter 27. This was prophesied 70 years earlier. Jeremiah was the last prophet before Israel went into the Babylonian captivity. And Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 27.

And notice this exact fulfillment. Verse six, Jeremiah 27, six. The Lord says, I've given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant. He calls Nebuchadnezzar my servant.

And in that sense, all the people in the world who are in authority, Romans 13, one to five, says they are all servants of God. Not servants of God in the sense of proclaiming his word, but servants in the sense that they have to fulfill God's purpose.

And all the authorities in the world, though the devil may have put them in those places, in one sense they are servants of God in the sense that they serve God's purposes. And I have given him all the wild animals to serve him.

And listen to this, verse seven, all the nations will serve him, his son, that is Nebunidas, and his grandson, that is Belshazzar. And with his grandson, that will be the end of the Babylonian kingdom.

Until the time of his own land comes, then many nations and great kings will make him, that is Babylon, their servant. So you see God has specified that after Nebuchadnezzar, it's going to be his son and his grandson.

Daniel knew that. When Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar who was on the throne, Daniel knew this is the last king and Medo-Persia is going to take over. And so we see an exact fulfillment of prophecy, what we see in Daniel chapter five.

When the handwriting came on the wall, that was the end of that kingdom, prophesied by Isaiah and Jeremiah. Now turning back to Daniel chapter five, there is just one more thing I want to point out there before we move on to chapter six.

And just by the way, this is something very interesting. The Babylonian kingdom was there and the Medo-Persian kingdom came to fight against it. In today's names for these countries, do you know what the Babylonian kingdom is Iraq and the Medo-Persian kingdom is Iran.

It was Iran versus Iraq, just like it is in our day. It's amazing how the river Euphrates is a center of conflict as we read in the book of Revelation chapter 16 as well. In the last days, there's going to be conflict around the river Euphrates before the coming of Christ.

And we see the fulfillment of prophecy in our day and there was a fulfillment of it earlier when Iran overpowered Iraq in Daniel chapter five. The one other thing I want to point out here is that verse 25, I spoke about the handwriting on the wall.

And I just want to tell you the meaning of these words, meaning many, tickle and pierce. Mentioned in verse 26 to 28 of chapter five of Daniel. Many tickle and pierce. The interesting thing I want to point out to you, it's mentioned in the margin of the Bible here in the NASB.

All these words relate to money. Many means 50 shekels. And that's how you get the word numbered. Tickle means shekel, that is one shekel. That's relating to money too. That means weight, an exact weight.

And pierce means half a shekel, that is to divide the shekel into two. It's very interesting that God wrote on the wall of this palace three words, all of which related to money. Why was that? Because this is how religious Babylon is built even today.

It is through unpayfulness and money, an unrighteous attitude to money and a love of money and of material things that Christianity degenerates into a Babylonian version of it. And if a man has not conquered the power of money and the love of money in his life, whatever knowledge he may have of the scriptures, he will only ultimately end up building Babylon.

And it is impossible for a full time Christian worker who has not been freed from the love of money ever, ever, ever to build Jerusalem, the true church of Christ. This is why we speak so much against it.

I just mentioned that the handwriting on the wall against Babylon was money, money, money. And what were they doing when Babylon was destroyed? Entertainment. Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment.

That's the other thing you see in Babylonian Christianity. Money and entertainment. And that's why the judgment of God comes upon it. The church is not a place to make money. It's not a place for entertainment.

Christianity is not for entertainment. It's serious business. Christianity is not meant to be a means of earning a living or making profit. I just mentioned that in passing. Now we come to chapter 6, verse 1.

Daniel’s Faithfulness and Excellence in Secular Work

It says here, it seemed good to Darius. Now listen, this is the new king appointed by Cyrus, the leader. Darius has been appointed over this whole Babylonian kingdom. And we would have thought that he should have sacked all these leaders of Babylon of which Daniel was at the head.

But he didn't do it. It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps, that is, sort of governors over the kingdom, that they should be in charge of the whole kingdom. And over them, three commissioners on top of these governors.

And Daniel was one. That these satraps might be accountable to them, that the king might not suffer loss. They were people who collected the revenue. And then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit or an excellent spirit.

And the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom. Here was a man who was a captive in a sense, but his work and his spirit was so excellent that the king that conquered the country recognized him as worthy of being appointed over the whole kingdom because of his uprightness and his faithfulness.

Now I want to tell you something. Daniel came into Babylon when he was 17 and approximately. And by the time the Medo-Persians took over 70 years later, he was 87 years old. But at 87, he is just as upright and just as faithful as he was 70 years earlier.

I tell you, there are very few people in the Christian ministry who endure till the end like that. An outstanding example. When Darius appointed Daniel, he was 87 years old and he excelled himself, which must have been over a period of time.

So what we read in Daniel chapter 6 is something that took place when Daniel was approximately 90 years old. Think of this. He's an old man now, but it hasn't made any difference to his spirit. And it says here that Daniel was going to be appointed over the whole kingdom, which shows God's sovereignty.

God had a purpose for Daniel to fulfill. And I believe that God needed Daniel to influence Cyrus to send the Jews back to Jerusalem. We read here, in the end of chapter 6, verse 28, Daniel 6, 28, Daniel enjoys success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian.

Now with this in mind, I want you to turn to a verse in the book of Ezra, in the Old Testament, Ezra chapter 1 and verse 1. The book of Ezra describes the movement of God's people back to Jerusalem from Babylon.

That's the subject of the book of Ezra. And the very first verse of the book of Ezra, chapter 1, verse 1, reads like this. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom saying, thus says the king of Persia, Cyrus, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever there is among you of all his people, which people? The true God's people. And I ask this question, where did Cyrus learn about that? He didn't learn it from Persia, I'll tell you that. History tells us that when Cyrus was king of Persia, there was a great religious leader in Persia called Zoroaster.

Zoroaster was the founder of the Parsi religion. And he was there during the reign of Cyrus. And do you know what Zoroaster means? Zoroaster means the seed of the woman. That's what he called himself, the seed of the woman, the Messiah.

But amazing that this man, Cyrus, knew that the true God was not the one Zoroaster preached about. Who influenced him? It must have been only Daniel. It's amazing what one man could do for God during those 70 years.

That's a challenge to us. It's not numbers by which God does his work, but by one wholehearted, upright person. It's amazing God's tremendous purposes for his people were fulfilled. And he says, let him go up to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel.

He is the God who is in Jerusalem. It's amazing. And he goes on to say in that book how Cyrus helped them with money and property and all types of things to do to build God's house in Jerusalem. So we see the influence of Daniel.

Integrity Under Jealous Scrutiny

Now turning back to Daniel chapter 6 again, we read in verse 4 that when Darius, who was the king appointed there by Cyrus, was going to appoint Cyrus Daniel to be the head of the commissioners, the commissioners in Satrap's verse 4 began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs.

You see Daniel was like the chief secretary or the prime minister under the king, controlling all the government affairs, the administration at the age of 19. And they tried to find something because of their jealousy.

And we can find situations like that ourselves, where in our place of work there are people around us who are jealous and who want to find some fault, some small little thing they want to find fault with us, with in our work in order to pull us down.

Daniel faced it. And it's a tremendous lesson for us how we can face it as overcomers in these last days. Yes, Daniel faced jealousy and we shall face jealousy too in the last days. But it says here they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption.

That was his testimony before his enemies. In Luke chapter 5, he says that in Luke 11, there's a verse, I want to just read it to you. Luke 11, verse 53 and 54, which reminds us of this situation. This is concerning Jesus, Luke 11, 53 and 54.

It says when Jesus left there, the scribes and Pharisees began to be very hostile and they were jealous of Jesus, just like those Persian commissioners were jealous of this Daniel who was a Jew being appointed over them.

And it says these people were very hostile and began to question him closely on many subjects, not to find answers. They were not interested in answers, but they pretended to be spiritual and to ask questions with what reason, verse 54, plotting against Jesus to catch him in some word that might come out of his mouth.

And when we find ourselves in situations like that in our place of work, where people are plotting, waiting to catch us in some one word we slipped up in, we know that's, we don't have to think that's something strange.

The men of God in the Bible went through that, Daniel went through it, Jesus went through it and they both overcame and God stood with them and enabled them to thrive. And the same God who lifted Daniel out, lifted Jesus out of the plottings of their enemies, is there to help us today.

That's our encouragement. And so we see in Daniel chapter 6, they waited and they couldn't find anything against him in his work. And brothers and sisters, that's a tremendous thing when people cannot find anything against us in our work.

A Christian who is witnessing for Christ and who comes late to office or factory or goes away for long coffee breaks like all the others, slips off half an hour earlier or five minutes earlier, they can find something to accuse him about, but not against Daniel.

He was there on time in his office and he didn't go away early. He didn't have any long coffee breaks or whatever breaks they had those days. He was upright, he was faithful in his work. And it says here, three tremendous statements.

Listen to this, the last part of verse 4, and God grant that can be said of every one of us in our place of work. He was faithful, there was no negligence and no corruption. He was faithful, there was no negligence.

Negligence means he did not neglect some part of his work and he was not corrupt. He never took a bribe, he was fair to all the people, rich or poor, made no difference, showed favoritism to no one. He was faithful in his work, never negligent, never corrupt.

Blessed are the Christians who have such a testimony in their place of work today. It's in our place of work that we are to have such a testimony and to be overcomers. No doubt, he suffered for it, as we read later on, and we shall suffer for it.

Jesus suffered, but that made no difference. At the age of 90, he was faithful, like he was at 17. At the age of 90, he was free from corruption, just like he was at 17. What a tremendous thing! To endure till the end like this, there are few who can have such a testimony.

So many people start off so well when they are 17, 18, but after a few years, they look at the corruption of people around and become like them. If Daniel had looked at all the half-hearted compromising Jews around him, he would have been corrupt by the time he was 25.

But his eyes were not on the half-hearted compromisers around him, his eyes were on the word of God, God's standards. And he stood true to it, no matter what the cost. And brothers and sisters, that's the type of person God is looking for in the world today.

Right in our place of work. Daniel wasn't a full-time worker, going around preaching, like some of the other prophets were. Daniel was a prophet, but he was a prophet who was working in a government office, in a heathen country.

He was a unique example for us, in our day. There's no other example like that in the Bible, of a prophet who worked in a secular job, in a heathen country. What better example do we need in India, and in a country which is full of idols, just like India is.

A unique example for our country, for people in secular jobs, who can be prophets for God, the overcomers in these last days. And then these people realised this, verse 5. These men said, we'll never find any ground of accusation against this man, unless we find it against him with regard to his religion, with regard to the law of his God.

Think of that. The people in our office can say that. The only thing that irritates me about this man, is his religion. That's the only thing in which I can find fault with him. Because everything else, he's so upright, and so honest, and so straightforward.

In fact, we're in the footsteps of Daniel, when we're like that. We don't have to feel sorry for ourselves, if we suffer. We'll suffer, sure. Then it says, verse 6. These commissioners and satraps came by agreement.

It's amazing how people can team up together, when they're jealous. It says, Herod and Pilate, who were mutual enemies, never talking to each other, became friends, when they wanted to kill Jesus. It's amazing, how when they want to finish off a man of God, mutual enemies join up together.

I'm sure these commissioners were not the best of friends with each other, but when they came to dethroning Daniel, they got together, and they came scheming to their boss, King Darius. There can be people in our office who scheme, and go to the boss, and flatter him.

That's how many people stay in their jobs, by flattery. Oh, King Darius, live forever. You're never going to die. Live forever and ever. These stupid idiots, who sit there, believing all this flattery, softening him up, and then telling lies.

Verse 7. All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the high officials, and the governors, have consulted together, that the king should establish a statute, and enforce an injunction, that anyone who makes a petition to any God or man, besides you, O King, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lion's den.

The very first word was a lie. All. It wasn't all. Daniel wasn't there in that discussion. They should have said, all of us, except Daniel. And then the king would have smelled something fishy. But they told a lie.

And why do I highlight this fact? Just to show that we can face exactly similar situations in our midst, where people tell lies to those who are above us, flatter them, scheme against us, all because of jealousy, and they can't find any fault against us.

It's our faith. It's the fact that we won't give any money for their idolatrous festivals. This is an example for us to follow. And it says here, now, O King, establish the injunction. You see, no man can be so stupid, that nobody should make a petition of any man, except you, O King.

But, they had flattered him and softened him up, and he said, now, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.

And these people knew that the Medes and Persians had made their king, like the Pope, you know. The nearest to the present Roman Catholic Pope in the Bible is the Medo-Persian King. When the Medo-Persian King spoke ex-cathedra, he was infallible.

You couldn't change it. That was it. Forever and ever, that was it. You see, this infallibility doctrine didn't originate in the last century, by the way. It originated 2 ,500 years ago. Why is it the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be changed?

Because that was to show that the king is infallible. When he speaks, that's it. That's infallible. And Darius was such a stupid idiot to believe that. Anyone who believes that today is an equally stupid idiot, to think that a man can be infallible.

Only God and his words are infallible. And it says here, therefore King Darius signed the document. You see the power of flattery. It's fantastic, the power of flattery. Oh King, live forever, you're infallible.

Now, why don't you pass this law? And it was all schemed against one godly man. All the scheming that was going on in the office against one man who stood for God. So true to the situations we find that many Christians find themselves who are uncompromising in many places today.

And King Darius signed the document, and we can say that we can face laws like this in our country, which are so stupid we can say, it was such a stupid law that Darius signed. And we can ask ourselves, is God sovereign over it?

Was God sovereign in Daniel chapter 6? Well, he's sovereign even today. Over any law that any king, Darius, or anybody passes. It makes no difference. God can work out his purposes, if he can find one upright man, Daniel, who will stand up for him.

Faithfulness in the Face of Opposition

This is something similar to what we read in Revelation 13, 17, where you remember in our study of Revelation we saw how the Antichrist is going to pass an order in the last days, saying that no one can buy or sell, unless you have the mark of the beast.

This is somewhat similar to that. You cannot ask anyone for anything except King Darius. In other words, he is God. That's what the Antichrist is going to do too. He sets himself up as God. You need my permission and my mark to buy or sell.

And this is why the book of Daniel has got particular relevance to the days in which we live, the last days before the coming of Christ. Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, verse 10, he heard about it.

He entered his house. The thing we see here is this. He did not know how to make the slightest difference to Daniel. What a man of faith he was. He was at rest. Anyone who makes a prayer to any other god will be cast into the lion's den.

And Daniel's faith was such in God that it made absolutely no difference to him whether he was thrown into the lion's den or not. He would rather go into the lion's den with God than stay in the palace without God.

And that's a good position to take. I'd rather be thrown out of the palace into any old lion's den and have God with me than stay in the palace without God as a compromiser. Blessed are those who follow Daniel here.

He went to his house and in his roof chamber he had his windows open toward Jerusalem. And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had been doing previously.

Now there are a number of things we can learn from this verse. At 90 years of age, he didn't think, I'm too old to kneel down. There are people who become too old to kneel down by the time they're 50, but not Daniel.

He said, I humble myself before God. He had his windows open toward Jerusalem. That was an act of faith. From Babylon he looked westwards towards Jerusalem with his back to the sun. Babylonians turned east and worshipped the sun.

He showed his back to that God and turned towards Jerusalem. He was praying in faith, Lord, through your prophet Jeremiah, you said that after 70 years you'll take your people back. Do it, Lord. And here I open my windows toward Jerusalem as a symbolic testimony to the fact that I'm aiming my prayers in that direction.

And God, you're going to do it. You're going to do it. You're going to fulfill your word. This is not just some bright idea that Daniel cooked up in his own mind, let me tell you that. He was praying according to the word of God.

Lord, you said through Jeremiah, we'll come to that when we come to chapter 9, that you're going to take your people back. Now take them back. I have faith in you. And I don't care what lions then throw me in.

Let the lions eat me up. Makes no difference. Take your people back. Now, you know, it would have been very easy for Daniel just to close his windows that day. He normally kept his windows open. And then if he had closed his windows, these people could not have seen him.

And it would have been very easy for him to do that. He could have said, well, it's a bit windy today. I think I'll close the window and pray today. It's amazing how many things the devil comes and suggests to us, brother, why don't you do it like this?

And the real reason is compromise. But you're trying to think of some other reason why you don't want to take a stand for God. Well, even if it was windy, this was one day he was determined to keep his windows open.

He says, I want these fellows to see me that I'm not scared of any old lion's den. And I don't want to hide it. I want to kneel down and pray and let them see me that I couldn't care less for that ungodly order passed by King Darius.

I'd rather obey God than man. And I'm going to kneel down and pray. He wasn't going to change. He did not love his life unto death. You know, we consider that in Revelation chapter 12 verse 11, that the mark of an overcomer is he did not, they do not love their lives even unto death.

He would lose his job. He'd lose his life. Made no difference. He didn't love his job. He didn't love his life. He loved only God. And that's the mark of an overcomer. He doesn't love his job. He doesn't love his life.

He loves God. And if he has to lose his job, his family, his life, he's willing to lose all of them. Jesus said, those who love their life in this world will lose it finally. And that life consists of many things.

It consists of my health, my job, my family, my material possessions, many things. And if I love it, I'll lose it in eternity. I lose what God has for me in eternity. But if I'm willing to lose it all for the sake of the Lord, I'll never be the loser in eternity.

So Daniel knew that. And the other thing we see here is that he, his opening his windows toward Jerusalem was, we could say, the womb from which a movement was born that led God's people back to Jerusalem.

I say this because it has a spiritual application for us. The womb from which a true local church, which is going to be the body of Christ, as Jerusalem described in Revelation 19, is born is the womb of prayer, of people who are burdened to see God's people come out of Babylon into Jerusalem.

It doesn't come by preaching. It begins in prayer. The movement from Babylon to Jerusalem did not come with Daniel thinking, I've got influence with Cyrus, let me speak to him. No. He said, I've got influence with God.

Let me speak to him first. He can do it. My faith is in God, not in Cyrus. Even though he was next to Cyrus, Darius, in the government. His faith was in God. He turned to God. He didn't go to Darius. He went to God.

He said, Lord, send your people back to Jerusalem. And I've often exhorted people whom I met in different parts of this country who long to see in their own town or city a pure testimony for Jesus Christ.

And they say, we're only one or two. I say, never mind. Even if you're only one in your town or city, you can form a womb from which this body of Christ is born. Just like God could find a Mary in Nazareth 1900 and more years ago.