Daniel 6:10ff

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your signal? I do. Only God will open this door now. The seal.
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We'll see the next person that comes in. Mike Smith, will you open us up with a word of prayer?
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Well, heavenly Father, it's the people of God to study your word, to worship you, both in spirit and in truth.
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We pray that you would bless as he opens your word up to us. We pray that we would have hearts that are ready to receive and not only hear, but to act upon.
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Daniel chapter six. And I'm going to pick up at verse ten and just read to the end of the chapter.
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Six. Now, when
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Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house. Now, in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem.
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He continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before God, as he had done previously.
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Then these men came by in agreement and found Daniel making petitions and supplications before his
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God, and then they approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction.
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Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any God or man beside you,
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O king, for thirty days is to be cast into the lion's den? The king replied,
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The statement is true according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which may not be revoked.
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Then they answered and spoke before the king. Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you,
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O king, or to the injunction of which you have signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day.
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Then as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed. He set his mind on delivering
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Daniel, and he, even until sunset, he kept exerting himself to rescue him.
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Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, Recognize, O king, that this is the law of the
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Medes and the Persians, that no injunction or statute which the king established may be changed. Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in.
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He was cast into the lion's den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Your God, whom you constantly serve, will himself deliver you.
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A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing could be changed in regard to Daniel.
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Then the king went off into his palace, and he spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him, and his sleep fled from him.
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And the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lion's den.
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And when he had come near to the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice, and the king spoke and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living
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God, has your God, whom you have constantly served, been able to deliver you from the lions?
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And Daniel spoke to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent his angel, and he shut the lion's mouth, and they have not harmed me, insomuch as I was found innocent before him.
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And also towards you, O king, I have committed no crime. Then the king was very pleased, and he gave orders to Daniel to be taken up out of the den, so Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatsoever was found in him, because he had trusted in his
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God. The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused him, and they cast them, their children, their wives, into the lion's den, that they had not even reached the bottom of the den before the lions had overpowered them and crushed all of their bones.
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Then Darius the king wrote to all the people's nations of men of every language, who were living in all the land, may your peace be abound, and make a decree that all the dominion of my kingdom, that all men are to fear and tremble before the
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God of Daniel, for he is a living God and enduring forever. His kingdom is that which will not be destroyed.
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His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who is also able to deliver
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Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius, that is the reign of Cyrus the
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Persian. I was asked a question, just to clarify something before I was asked a question, because it does say back at the end of chapter 5 that Darius the
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Mede received the kingdom at about 62 years of age. Somebody says, well if you believe it's
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Cyrus, do we know what Cyrus's age was at the time of the fall of Babylon?
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And yes we do. From Babylonian Chronicles, he was 62 years old. So you see how I've made the connection that Cyrus and Darius being the same person.
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So that was just a question and that person is not here, but I answered it for y 'all in case you were thinking the same thing.
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So last week, just to recap, Daniel was now part of the
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Persian Empire. He was put over a section of the 120 satraps.
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Remember how many governors were there? There were 120 satraps, how many governors? Three. And we said, well we don't know if they separated them out 40 -40 -40 or how they did it, but we know this,
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Daniel was one of those top three, and the intentions of Darius, Cyrus, was to make him over all of them, which would most likely have made him probably second in all the kingdom.
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Once again, we're seeing the same scenario because of the king's trust for Daniel.
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We saw that also with Nebuchadnezzar, putting him in a high place. So remember these men saw that hey,
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Daniel is excelling, and what did they want to do? They wanted to see him gotten rid of.
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And why? Because we had 120 shysters. I mean, that's basically, why did they put the three governors over those satraps?
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To see to it that the king's goods or his policies did not get hindered or were messed up, because he knows, hey, when you've got 120 other politicians out there, there's likely to be some corruption.
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And he saw that Daniel was doing well, he was going to put Daniel over all of them. So these guys had no way of finding any fault in what he was doing, so what they wanted to do, hey, if we're going to find any fault in this
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Daniel, Belteshazzar, then we're going to have to find it concerning his God.
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So what did they do? Before they had a decree signed, they got together, collaborated, and said, hey, the only way this is going to work is if we make an injunction that will affect
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Daniel's praying to his God. Everybody else was praying to either the king or some type of deity, and so they had 100 % participation in this injunction, all being not present, but who?
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Daniel. So, it's good to get the consensus of everybody if the person who disagrees isn't there.
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So they make this injunction, the king signs it, and that's where we pick up.
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It says, and when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house, now which is on a roof chamber, and his windows opened towards Jerusalem, and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day.
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Why was Daniel praying towards Jerusalem? Was he being superstitious?
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Was he acting like the Muslims? Just to let you know, if anybody ever wants to talk to you about the Muslims, you know they have found archaeological evidence that sometimes they were pointed to Medina, and then the other to Mecca, just to let you know.
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So Mecca's not always been the place for them to pray towards their god. It's just, it's funny that it changed once Mohammed was being persecuted in Medina and was ran out, and he found another place called
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Mecca, that's where he decided that was the best place to pray to. But anyway, why would
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Daniel be praying towards Jerusalem? Sure, yeah, his heart longed to be where he knew that the temple had been destroyed.
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Remember when Daniel went into Babylon, the temple was still erect, correct?
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Yeah, temple was still erect, there were still temple sacrifices going on, he even saw another deportation which came in with Ezekiel, that one, he saw that deportation, going okay, maybe this will be the one in which people will turn their heart towards the lord, but then he actually did get word at some point that Nebuchadnezzar had knocked the temple to the ground, had burned it to the ground.
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But isn't there also civil disobedience in that too? In that where he saw an unjust law had been signed, so he opened the door just to...
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Sure, and yeah, and we're going to talk about that when I get to there, because I do believe, and we're going to make reference to that,
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I said early on, I believe that Daniel wrote Psalm 119, some of y 'all may disagree with me, we don't know, so hey, we could all say it, somebody, but I'm going to show you early on when he was standing before Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning in the first and second stanza of Psalm 119, it says, asking for boldness as he stood before the kings of the earth and proclaimed the glory of God, well
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David didn't do that, you know, so we'll start looking for people that meet that criteria, and we're going to go to that, and there's actually that specific thing he addresses in Psalm 119.
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Well, if you turn your Bible over if you want, or you can write it down, if you just turn over to 1
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Kings chapter 8, and when we get to chapter 9, which hopefully we'll get there by next week, we're going to go back to this chapter as well, 1
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Kings chapter 8, and this is
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Solomon, his dedication of prayer after he's had the temple built, he's got everything in place, all of a sudden he's made this prayer of dedication, and in verse 30 he says, listen to the supplication of your servants and of your people
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Israel, when they pray towards this place, here in heaven, your dwelling place, hear and forgive them.
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So why was he praying towards Jerusalem? Because that is actually
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Solomon's prayer. So we know this, and over the course we have noticed that Daniel has consistently made illusions and obedience to things and prophets he has heard before.
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If you remember, we addressed this passage as well early on in chapter 2 when he had the dream and he was going to get killed, you remember?
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2 or 3? And he was going to get killed and he says, hey, let us just pray that God will have compassion. It is in this very passage, you continue to read through this chapter, it says that Solomon says, hey, when they're taken to a land for their disobedience, pray that they would pray to God that the captors, where they have been taken captive, would have compassion on them.
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So Daniel is obviously a student of God's word. He's also going to make reference, obviously, here coming shortly, to Isaiah and Jeremiah.
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So that's why he would be praying towards Jerusalem. One, because that was, like Mike said, that was the place where the temple was, where they had a long memory.
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What was the temple to represent? Dwelling place of God.
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That's right. The dwelling place of God. And with the temple being gone, was
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God dwelling in the midst of his people? No, he was not dwelling in the midst of his people because the structure had to be erect for them to know that God was there in the midst.
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But even though God was not there in the midst of his people, Daniel has learned that there is a God who is on his throne and he can still rule and reign regardless of whether there is a temple erect in Jerusalem.
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And then it says, he would kneel down continually on his knees three times a day. Why three times a day?
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Could very well be. Maybe. I would say, coming shortly, there he is doing something in remembrance of the evening and morning sacrifice.
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We haven't got there yet, we'll talk about it in chapter 9. But yes, there is, in his mind, three times a day, he had been doing this for,
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I'd say, close to 70 years now. I mean, this guy's in his 80s.
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And this is something that he continually did. There's no command to do it three times a day.
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But I would say, if you go to Psalm 55 and you read what David did,
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David, and y 'all can write it down, go read it in your own time. David, three times a day, he prayed to God.
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He didn't have to pray towards Jerusalem because he was ruling and reigning from there. But he prayed three times a day to the
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Lord. So all Daniel's doing, once again, we know that Daniel's a student of God's word. What is he doing?
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He's following the pattern of David. That's all he's doing. And he, you know,
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David was the greatest king of Israel. Then it goes on to say, as he had done previously, and I think that previously meant for the last 70 years, then these men came by in agreement and found
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Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. So, don't think for one second that these guys are just, you know, they're walking around Babylon, okay?
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And then, oh, check it out. Oh, what's Daniel doing? Why is his hands in the air?
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Why is Daniel on his knees? What were they doing? They knew what
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Daniel did three times a day and which direction, what window was going to be open, and where he would be facing, and they knew exactly what time to come by, and it says they did it in agreement.
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Now, this is not one or two guys walking by.
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You understand that. How many people came in agreement to put this injunction for the king ultimately against Daniel?
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How many? 120. This is a crowd of men. This is a crowd of men walking around waiting for Daniel to do what he does to be faithful to his
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Lord. And it says, and then they approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction.
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Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any God or man besides you,
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O king, for 30 days is to be cast into the lion's den? That statement's true, and according to the law of the
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Medes and the Persians, which can't be revoked. Remember, once the law of the
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Medes and the Persians, the king was bound to some sort of, in our terms, a constitution.
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Once he was put in place, whatever decree was made, signed, sealed by his ring, however they did it, sometimes they could just actually speak the word, and once it was spoken and recorded, there was no turning it back.
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We even had that in our own vernacular sometimes. You've heard people say, well, can't be overturned.
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The law of the Medes and the Persians. Well, that's what they're talking about. It was just irrevocable. Even an innocent man, and that's what's fixing to happen here.
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If he was supposedly found guilty by being lied upon, like Daniel, he could not escape execution.
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But, in this case, you're going to see where Cyrus slash Darius attempts to do that.
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He says that and then they answer the king, Daniel, who is one, this is in verse 13,
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Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah. Look how they address Daniel. Once again, how did
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Belshazzar just a chapter ago, how did he address Daniel?
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One of these exiles. Once again, you're a second rate citizen, you're still a slave, and you're worth nothing here in their eyes.
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He says he pays no attention to you, O king. One, the king immediately had to go, that's baloney, because what had
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Daniel had already been doing that had excelled him to be put in probably second in command.
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He had looked out for the interest of the king, and they're saying, look, he doesn't care about you. Well, yes, he did care about him.
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He didn't care about this decree, though. But he keeps making his petitions three times a day.
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Now, I would take this, okay, as this was not the first time they saw
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Daniel. They didn't wait for the first time. They were to build a case. So was it like, hey,
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Daniel, we saw his windows open, and he prayed. No, no, no, no, no. They maybe waited to the end of the day, saw all three.
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Look, maybe Daniel forgot about the injunction. We'll give him the benefit. No, no, no, no, king.
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He didn't forget. He's continually doing it three times a day. He's doing it in open rebellion against you, king.
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And then as soon as the king heard the statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering
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Daniel. Is there any reason that the name
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Daniel's Daniel? Well, I would say how
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I understand it is, dude, he's no longer in exile. Belshazzar was his exile name.
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What happened when Cyrus came in? It's over. The Babylonian captivity is over.
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Now, the decree may have not, I don't think at this point the decree had not been given, because I would say if you were going to do it a timeline, they came in, they conquered,
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I would say Igbar and Gubaru, the two generals that set up the siege of the city and dug the canals.
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Remember, Cyrus actually didn't siege the city, but what they would do is right before a city was taken, the king would come, so as they went into the city, the king would get the glory for the city being overthrown.
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If you remember in 2 Samuel, maybe chapter 13,
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I don't know if y 'all remember when y 'all were doing 2 Samuel, after the fall of David, his son
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Bathsheba, he sends Joab to then overtake the city of Reba and the
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Ammonite city, and they go and they besiege it. Well, he sends word back to David and says,
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David, you've got to come now. The city's about to fall, and if you don't come now and enter the city,
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I'll get the glory for that. So the king was supposed to get the glory. So at that point,
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Cyrus has come in. They have went in. Belshazzar, from what we understand, is probably the only person that was killed that night.
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He was killed. Then Cyrus starts setting up his administration.
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So, in doing so, what we do know from, I think it's
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Jeremiah 25, the Babylonian captivity will last for Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson.
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When Belshazzar died, Cyrus enters the scene. It's over, from a theological standpoint, not from a decree yet.
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In chapter 9, we'll get to that point. But I do believe that Cyrus recognizes that this guy is no longer under the authority of the
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Babylonians. Why? Because he's calling him Daniel. Who gave him the name Belshazzar?
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Nebuchadnezzar. Although Cyrus did do repatriation act of deities, part of how he was able to come in and not have any blood shed about anything in Babylon is he was going to bring
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Marduk back, the god that they all served, that member Nabonidus had said no, it's going to be seen, the moon god.
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He used that to his political benefit. So when he sees that, hey,
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Daniel is no longer a captive, he's no longer under their authority, what was his name?
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Well certainly he knew what his name was because the grandmother knew from Belshazzar's feast they called him
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Daniel. So that's why. Does that answer your question? Okay. So here it is, he tries to, the king heard that he was distressed deeply.
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Hey, what a stark contrast between when the three
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Hebrew Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, remember what they did? When they were given the decree, you don't bow down, you hear that music, you better hit your face, and you bow down, and what did
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Nebuchadnezzar say? Heated up. When he saw that somebody defied his decree, it says he got so mad it changed the figure of his face.
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And he heated it up, heated the furnace up. And then he was so mad when he gave them the opportunity to, alright, we're going to do it again.
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You guys are going to play, and you're going to bow. And they didn't. And what did he tell the three
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Hebrew boys? There's not a god anywhere that can save you from my hand.
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Look at the difference we're seeing with Darius slash Cyrus. He's distressed that an innocent man by his foolish decree is going to be punished.
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Matter of fact, someone he probably cared about, he goes, man, this guy is probably the only one that's looking out for my best interest. And now, he is fixing to be thrown into the lion's den, and he said he set his mind on delivering
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Daniel. Even from sunset, he kept exerting himself in a way to rescue Daniel. He was probably going through every legal way that he could find to not do this.
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He was concerned of, did he like Daniel? And then these men came to him in agreement.
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Once again, these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, recognize,
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O king, that it is a law. Once again, what did they do? They pointed back to the very laws that he was bound to.
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The law of the Medes and the Persians, there's no injunction or statutes that can be changed once it's established.
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It had been established. So the king gave orders that Daniel was brought.
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He was cast into the lion's den. And the king spoke to Daniel, and he said, once again, here's that stark contrast of what
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Nebuchadnezzar versus him. Nebuchadnezzar said, there's no god in the heavens that can save you from my hand.
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And then listen to what Cyrus says. Your god, whom you constantly serve, will himself deliver you.
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Look, I don't believe for one second Cyrus the Great was a Christian, per se.
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Alright, well, he was a follower of Yahweh. Do I believe that he knew that he was being used by God, and did he have direct revelation from God that he was to set
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God's people free? Yes. We'll get into that when we get to Daniel chapter 9, because he did know.
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He specifically says in Ezra and Chronicles, God told me to do this.
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God told him to do it. But that does not mean that he still wasn't a polytheistic man.
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He was beneficial. He was probably the most beneficial king of the
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Persian Empire. I don't know if I said this last week. They called him their father because he was so beneficial.
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He was so kind. He didn't have persecution from the king.
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Hey, we just want everybody to, if you want to worship dirt, worship dirt. You want to worship
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Yahweh, worship Yahweh. Everybody get along and pay your taxes. That's all they cared about. And that's pretty much made the
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Persian Empire very great for as long as it did. You didn't have conquest of trying to overthrow other kingdoms, making them bow down like Nebuchadnezzar was wanting them to.
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But I do want you to take your Bible and turn over to Psalm 119.
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And listen to how many of these, and I'll begin in verse 1, and I'm just going to read through some of them.
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It says, how blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the
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Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart. Is that not the condition of Daniel?
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Have Daniel, hey, we're talking 70 years, almost 70 years now, okay? Depending on how you do your time frame.
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65 to 70 years, he has been faithful to God. He has been a praying man.
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He has meditated on the law of the Lord day and night and has been faithful to end his captivity.
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But then it says in verse 9, deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word.
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I am a stranger in the earth. My soul is crushed with longing. You rebuke the arrogant and the cursed who wander from your commandments.
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Take away the reproach and contempt from me, for I observe your testimonies, even though princes sit and they talk against me.
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Who were the very men that brought up charges against Daniel? It was satraps, princes of the land, small governors.
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And then he goes down into verse 28 and he says, strengthen me according to your word. Remove the false way from me.
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Verse 30, I have chosen the faithful way. I have placed your ordinances before me.
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O Lord, do not put me to shame. And then in verse 49, he says, remember the word of your servant in which you have made me hope.
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This is my comfort and my affliction that your word has revived me. The arrogant utterly deride me, yet I did not turn aside from your law.
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There it is. We were talking about the civil disobedience. Look, these arrogant men did something to deride to bring him derision.
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And what did he say he did? I didn't care about what they said. I was going to follow your law. He said,
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I have remembered your ordinances from the old, O Lord, and comfort myself.
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Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked. And then you go on to verse 76.
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O may your loving kindness comfort me according to the word of your servant. May your compassions come to me that I may live.
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And in verse 78, may the arrogant be ashamed for they have subvert me with a lie.
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Had they not lied about Daniel? Yes. He said that Daniel wasn't looking out for the best interest of the king.
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In verse 80, my heart, may my heart be blameless in your statutes that I may not be ashamed.
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My soul languishes for your salvation. Verse 84, how many are the days of your servant?
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How many of the days has Daniel been? Close to 80 years old.
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And when you, and he says this, when you execute judgment on those who persecute me, the arrogant,
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I'm sorry, how long will it be before you execute the judgment of those who persecute me? In verse 85, the arrogant have dug pits for me.
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Men who are not according to your law, they have persecuted me with a lie.
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Listen to his cry, help me. Help me. I don't know about you, but I was fixing to be thrown in some a den of lions.
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It'd be help me. Sometimes that's the best thing that could ever be said. You remember when Jesus come walking on the water and it was, wind was blowing, the boat was thrown all the way and Peter looked out and he said what is that?
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They thought it was a ghost and to challenge the Lord's words, that's what he really did, not challenge him as if he didn't believe him, but he challenged him, if it is you, when he says it's me, if it is you, then bid me to come out there.
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And what did Jesus say? Come on. Put your faith where your mouth is,
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Peter. And Peter hopped out on the boat and the only two men that ever walked on the water, it was
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Jesus and Peter. But when Peter began to fall, what did he say? That's it,
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Lord save me. Lord save me. And sometimes that's all we can say. And then verse 92 of Psalm 119, in your law had not been my, if your law had not been my delight, then
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I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have revived me.
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I am yours and it says in verse 94, save me. 106, 109 verse 106,
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I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep your righteous ordinances.
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What did Daniel do no matter what? He says, I'm going to keep what you have told me to do, which is pray and follow your word.
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He said, I am exceedingly afflicted. Revive me, O Lord, according to your word.
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Then in verse 110, the wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not gone astray from your precepts.
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I have inherited your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever and even to the end.
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Look, he's saying, I'm going to be faithful to you, even if it means being eaten by these lions.
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And then he says in verse 113, I hate those who are double -minded, but I love your law.
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You are my hiding place and my shield. Sustain me according to your word, that I may live and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.
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Uphold me, that I may be safe. And in 121, I have done justice and righteousness.
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Do not leave me to my oppressors. Be surety for your good servant. Do not let the arrogant oppress me.
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124, deal with your servant according to your loving kindness. And then 126, it is time for you to act,
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Lord, for they have broken your law. 139, my zeal has consumed me, because my adversaries have forgotten your word and your word is pure.
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Therefore, your servant loves it. I am small and despised.
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That's what Daniel's praying. So if somebody wants to ask you, what do you think Daniel was doing in the lion's den overnight?
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I think he was writing Psalm 119. That's what I think. If you disagree with me, that's fine.
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He then says in verse 16 of chapter 6 of Daniel, the king gave the orders, they brought them, they threw them in the den, and the king spoke and said to Daniel, that God whom you serve will himself deliver you.
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A stone was put over it. It was laid over the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles.
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Think about that. The very men that had him put in there were there to put their stamp of approval on what was done.
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The king went off to his palace and he spent that night fasting and no entertainment was brought to him, but his sleep fled from him.
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To me it's ironic. Now here it is. We know what happened with Darius slash
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Cyrus all night. What did he do? He didn't eat. He couldn't sleep. He was tormented in his mind about what was happening to Daniel, but we don't know what going on with Daniel.
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What was going on in there? Imagine how many lions were in that lion's den.
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Could be hundreds. Understand in ancient times, the reason why they had lion's dens was to show that they could conquer, that was the king of the beast of the land.
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Ashurbanipal, which was the chiefest and highest of all of the
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Assyrian kings, when it fell, when he died in 626, the
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Assyrian empire took another 14 years before it actually fell in 612, but he would walk around with lions because he was the man.
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Nothing disobeyed his command. He was ruthless, but that's what he did to show that he was the man.
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Well, that's why these guys had these lion's dens, was to show that they could capture and tame anything.
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But I do wonder, you know, 80 year old man, what's he doing down there? Maybe? Maybe?
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You know, it's like, I don't know if y 'all have any cats, but you know when your cat comes on and makes biscuits on you? You know, you like wonder, did the big cats come up to Daniel and start pawing him and licking him, snuggling, and he's like, hey, it's a little chilly, why don't one of y 'all come over here, and he snuggles up, you know?
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But we don't know what Daniel was doing. No, this, he was praying.
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He was a praying man. Was he praying, oh God, please don't let them spray me?
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Oh Lord, please, I know you're going to keep them from eating me, but please don't let them spray me. You know, we don't know.
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Was he running around playing with them? Did he have a little rope? Play like you do with a kid? We don't know. But it says the king arose at dawn in the break of the morning, and he went in haste to the den.
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He came near to Daniel, and he cried out with a loud voice. The king spoke, and he said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the most living
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God, has your God, whom constantly you serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?
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And then he hears this, oh king, live forever! Imagine his heart filled with joy to go,
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Daniel's alive. And he says, my God sent his angel to shut the lion's mouth, and they have not harmed me because I was found innocent.
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What did we just read consistently through Psalm 119? He was innocent.
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He was innocent of any wrongdoing. Those arrogant men had lied about him.
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He's saying, look, I've not been harmed, I've been found innocent. It says that his angel had shut the lion's mouth.
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Now, if you believe that's the pre -incarnate Christ, that's fine. I have no reason to believe that.
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Just like we don't know if it was the angel of the Lord quote, the pre -incarnate
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Christ that was in the fiery furnace. We don't know. I have made the argument that I do believe it could be
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Michael, because that's the angel that we see that was laid charge over to keep God's people safe.
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But regardless of who you think it is, this was the manifestation of God to preserve his man.
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Sixty years before this. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown in that fire. Daniel wasn't there.
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How do we know Daniel wasn't there? Because he'd have been in the fire with them. Imagine Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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Hey, dude, you should have saw this angel. He was glorious.
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And he walked around with us in there. And Daniel's probably going, I missed out on that.
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Man, I wish I could have saw that guy. Well, sixty years later, God answered his wish.
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And he sent that angel to sit down. Man, imagine the conversation that happened that night. Like I said, we know what
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Darius went through that night. We don't know what Daniel did. We know Daniel had a good time.
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Knowing that he was safe, safe from all harm. And then when it says, it says, then the king was very pleased and he gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den.
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Remember, this den is basically a hole in the ground. They're hoisting this 80 -year -old man up.
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They're getting him out. And it says that there was, what word is that?
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And Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury was found on him.
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Just like there was no injury found on the three Hebrew boys when they pulled them out. Remember, they didn't smell like smoke.
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This one, he probably didn't even smell like cat. Okay, he gets out. And whatever was found in him because he trusted in his
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God. God remained faithful to Daniel because Daniel was faithful to him.
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We're going to see, when we do the book of Revelation, when I do the opening up, we're going to hear something that happened to Daniel, I mean to John.
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Well, y 'all know John was not martyred. He did not die a martyr's death like the rest of the apostles.
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But he was thrown in a vat of boiling oil. And it says by the
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Tertullian, the church historian, earliest church historian other than Eusebius, he said that he came out of that oil completely unharmed.
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So, depending on who you think did it, I believe it was Nero. Some of you may think it was Demetian or someone else.
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Whoever it was that threw him in that boiling vat of olive oil. And when nothing happened to him, imagine seeing old
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John down there taking a bath in that oil. And he's pulled up out.
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It says he was completely unharmed. So then they said, well, you know what? We can't kill this guy with boiling oil. We better send him to bust rocks on Patmos.
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So that's where they send him. In this case, Daniel comes out completely unharmed.
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The preservation of God to a faithful man. And then the king gave orders and brought those men who had maliciously accused
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Daniel. Listen to this. Cast them, their wives, and their children.
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Hey, let's just do... Let's just say it was half the satraps.
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Add their wives.
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What does that make? Add one kid. What does that make?
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One kid? Add two kids.
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We're going to put it somewhere in this range. Somewhere in that range.
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I believe it was more, but I'm going to be conservative. I think it was all 120. I think it was all 120 satraps.
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But I'm going to say, if you don't believe me, half. Well, this is what it said.
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They cast them, their children, and their wives into the lion's den. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions crushed and overpowered their bones before they hit the bottom.
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That looked like a shark feeding frenzy. Once again, they were hungry.
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They were very hungry. Not only were they very hungry, but this is also the judgment of God against people that had willfully tried to do something to Daniel that was undeserving.
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Under the Mosaic legislation, and I'm not saying that this is what happened, but you know under the
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Mosaic legislation, if you lied in a court to get someone harmed, whatever that harm was to come about that person, and they find out you lied, that happened to you.
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So let's say I lied about you to have you executed. Then they find out I lied. You know what happens to me? I'm thrown off with my hands behind my back, tied, thrown off a cliff, and then y 'all pelt me with rocks.
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That's what they would do. That's how they stoned, mostly how they stoned people, execution style.
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Or they were taken outside the camp and burned. So because of what they had done, and the king knew that this was not about the king.
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This was not about making the king be supreme and all that. It was about getting rid of Daniel.
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And when he saw that, he said, you know what, I'm going to fix this. Now, I tell you what, that's tough.
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The wives probably hated their being married to these men at this point. You go, well, why the wives and the children?
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Why the wives and the children? Doesn't the scripture say that the sins of the father should not be laid out on the offspring?
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Well, I would still even say there is a principle in scripture where the sins of the father can't fall on the children.
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Look, the sins that I've committed, Luke can't pay for. But Luke can be a direct consequence to my bad actions.
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That's what has taken place. Now, not like Achan. Like, you know, when Achan, they went in and they told him don't take anything.
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He took the golden bar, the idol, whatever it was. And where did he go? He went inside of his home, he lifted up the floor, he dug it, he put it under the floor, and then pulled it back.
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His family knew what he did. Achan's kids and his wife knew what he did.
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And what was their responsibility under the Mosaic legislation? Yeah, I mean, you go, gosh, snitch.
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Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, people died because of his disobedience.
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This is not the case. This is the fact that, hey, these men wanted Daniel killed, and because of that, we're going to impose this on this whole family.
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That's tough. That's hard to hear. All right, let me finish this up. Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that were living in the land, may your peace abound, and I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the
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God of Daniel. He is the living God and enduring forever. His kingdom is one which shall never be destroyed.
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His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, and who has also delivered
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Daniel from the power of these lines? So Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius.
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That is the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Look at the doxology, basically the glory that Cyrus Darius puts on the
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God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Hey, first, nobody can talk. Remember when
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Nebuchadnezzar did it, what was his decree? Oh, nobody can say anything bad about him.
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Now, what's Cyrus saying? You've got to worship this guy. You've got to worship the God, for his is an everlasting kingdom.
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It almost sounds like he knows who the little stone without hands is that was in the beginning that shattered the
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Colossus, because what does it say? He will have an enduring, his king will be an everlasting kingdom which will never be destroyed.
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His dominion will be forever, and he delivers and rescues and performs wonders in heaven and on earth.
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Well, that's Daniel. That's Daniel's deliverance. He was delivered early on as a young Hebrew man by interpreting dreams.
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Now he was delivered some 60 to 65 years later by just being faithful.
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Just being faithful. Nothing spectacular. Nothing, him not interpreting dreams and standing before kings and proclaiming that they were going to eat like grass.
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They were going to eat grass in the field and grow hair like feathers on their back. All he did was just remain faithful, pray, and worship the
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God that had already redeemed him, and he remained faithful, and God delivered him. Now, we'll close up.
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Does that mean that God's going to deliver us in the same way? God's not obligated to deliver any one of us the same way.
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Hundreds and hundreds of martyrs have happened that you go, man, why didn't God do that? Because that's not the way
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God chose to do it. But in this case, God chose to deliver Daniel so that he can give him more revelation, and we'll talk about that next week.
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Mike Ward, you'll pray for us? Father God, thank you for this time that we've had to quiet our minds and open our hearts and that your truth be proclaimed in Christ's name, amen.