InPerspective

Guest (Male): When we read Daniel and the lion's den and I've looked at all the Sunday school books and there's this young strapping Daniel that walks into the lion's den, he's about 80 years old. Daniel's about 80 years old when this occurs. That's just one more testimony. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.

He has actually not just survived but thrived and exercised influence and leadership through six kings and two kingdoms. The Babylonian kingdom and now the Medo-Persian kingdom.

Narrator (Male): Putting life in biblical perspective with Dr. Harry L. Reeder. This is InPerspective, a radio and internet ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

After the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persian Empire, Daniel continued following the Lord and living as a loyal subject of the king. But his envious enemies devised a plan to use his steadfast faithful commitment against him in order to get Daniel thrown into a den of lions.

When you come under fire for your faith, are you like Daniel able to stand firm and steadfast in the Lord? Stay with us now as Dr. Reeder continues our series Daniel's Memorable Memoirs and Message as he takes us to Daniel chapter 6 for today's teaching, part one of the message, The Lion of Judah and the Lion's Den.

Harry Reeder: Take your Bibles and look with me in God's word to the book of Daniel. We're in the sixth chapter of Daniel. Daniel chapter 6. We're at a breaking point in the book of Daniel. In the book of Daniel in the first six chapters, we have events out of the life of Daniel that are of wonderful importance in our life for two reasons.

Number one, Daniel like Joseph, Daniel and Joseph are marvelous testimonies of what God's grace does in a man that enables him to be effective in a hostile culture. They are living in a pagan secular culture. Now how can they make an impact for the Lord? And the Lord used them. Daniel is a primary example of how in a hostile culture... this is of course extremely helpful for us as we live in an increasingly neo-pagan secular culture.

No longer post-Christian, pretty much neo-paganism now. How is it that we can live with firmness and conviction and yet dismissing arrogance and obnoxiousness? How is it that we can be winsome, standing firm for the faith? And how is it that we can show the truth and love of the gospel? Daniel becomes a marvelous example of that.

The second reason we're looking at the book of Daniel in these first six chapters is because Daniel becomes a testimony and in the life of Daniel there is the testimony of how the gospel is assured in Jesus Christ. We're going to see this one more time, the lion of Judah that shows up in the lion den. In the den of lions, where and how does the lion of Judah show up? In that we have seen in all of these chapters of how not only the effective of the Christian witness, but it's much more than 'dare to be a Daniel', much more than that.

What it is is to see how the grace of the Lord Jesus creates a Daniel and how the power of the gospel is manifested that in these events, the testimony pointing to Jesus Christ is there throughout the text of scripture. We've started this study back in 605 BC. Now that's not when I actually started preaching on the book of Daniel, but that's when the book of Daniel starts in 605 BC.

And now we are literally 80 years beyond that. We're almost at the conclusion of the Babylonian captivity by the time you get to chapter 6. The event, when we read Daniel and the lion's den and I've looked at all the Sunday school books and there's this young strapping Daniel that walks into the lion's den, he's about 80 years old. Daniel's about 80 years old when this occurs. That's just one more testimony. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.

Daniel is about 80 years old. He has actually not just survived but thrived and exercised influence and leadership through six kings and two kingdoms. The Babylonian kingdom and now the Medo-Persian kingdom. He is now influencing the overall king of the Medo-Persian kingdom and that is a man by the name of Cyrus. And it's going to happen by his influence upon one whom Cyrus has appointed as the king of Babylon after the Medo-Persian conquering of that kingdom back in chapter 5. And that one's name is Darius. It's always different ways that it's pronounced. I pronounce it Darius.

I'd like to do is to walk you through the text of scripture and just lay it out for you as it unfolds. There are five scenes in the five segments of the text. If you would, walk through it with me and let's take a look at them one by one. Here's the first one. The first one comes about in verses 1 through 5. We see the structure that Darius has put into place.

Verse 1: "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom. And over them three presidents. Those three presidents of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, 'we shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.'"

I'll stop right there. We see the structure and now we see something that's happening in the context of this structure. Daniel has continually risen up to positions of leadership. He is continually been trusted by these pagan kings, even to the point of influencing them, such as Belshazzar, such as Nebuchadnezzar. As he is now again rising up to a position of leadership, it is a very high position of leadership.

In fact, it's absolutely amazing. It's amazing first of all that he being a Jew would make his way to this point of leadership and that he having been in power or in positions of influence in the previous kingdom will now be trusted in this subsequent kingdom. There is something very significant about the way he carries himself. The text tells you what it is.

First of all the structure, there are 120 satraps. Satrap is a phrase referring to... let me give you a translation... a satrap would have been identified as a kingdom protector. The king would set up satraps and their job was to protect the kingdom and the king's position in the kingdom. That's their job. But 120 is a little tough to hang on to 120 kingdom protectors who could very easily get bribed or influenced.

He put up something more controllable, three presidents, and divides the 120 satraps under the three presidents. You'll find the same structure referred to in the book of Esther. Here these three presidents, of which Daniel becomes one of these presidents who is reporting to Darius. Now who is Darius? This particular name Darius was used to question the integrity and inerrancy of the scripture for many years until the Nabonidus cylinder was found.

And then we of course begin to find out from that and a couple of other extra-biblical historical documents that there was a Darius. The question was, who is this Darius? Is it Cyrus himself and this is just one of the titles for him? I don't think that's the case. Remember this is the Medo-Persian empire. Cyrus is Persian. Cyrus had a general by the name of Ugbaru.

Ugbaru was the man who was in command when Cyrus conquered back in chapter 5. Remember when Cyrus conquered during the party? Cyrus conquered, the Medo-Persians conquered Babylon. When they conquered Babylon they did so by coming in through the canal, unexpected, and of course Belshazzar lost his life that very night. Ugbaru was in fact the general and he was a Median. He was the general that was over that.

Extra-biblical literature tells us that he actually was appointed king of Babylon at that time. But he only lived for three weeks. We don't know how he died, but he only lived for three weeks and then he died. He was then replaced by a Gubaru. Gubaru was the one who replaced him and took his place in the kingdom. Now Gubaru, that was his name, his title was Darius. Darius isn't a name, it's a title.

So he was king over Babylon reporting to Cyrus, who was the emperor over all of the Medo-Persian empire that extended far beyond Babylon. And also he not only reported to him, but now he's got three presidents that report to him. Of those presidents, one is Daniel. And then they have 120 satraps, kingdom protectors, who report to him through the three presidents.

Of these three presidents, Daniel begins to rise up as one, the one most trusted. In fact the scriptures indicate to us that the plan of Darius is to make Daniel the president over the other presidents. Now why did he do this? Here's the reason why. Daniel, there was two things in the text that we just said about him. Number one, Daniel was competent. He was not incompetent. What he did, he did well.

Secondly, Daniel was faithful and honest. So his leadership was identified with the character of faithfulness and the characteristic of competence. He had a character trait of integrity and faithfulness and he had the characteristic of competence. He did his job well. He did his job so well that the king wants to elevate him.

As he's doing his job so well and the satraps and the other two presidents begin to see this, they begin to try to find a way to bring him down. They looked for it... notice what it says in verse 4. They looked for a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom but they could find no complaint or any fault because he was one, faithful, two, no error or fault was found in him. The character of faithfulness and competency.

Look at what they say in verse 5. "Then these men said, 'we shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.'" The only way we're going to get Daniel is out of his relationship with his God. That's the only way we're going to get to him. So they then create a plan. Look at the plan in verses 6 through 9.

"Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, 'O king Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, the satraps, the counselors, and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any God or man for 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.'" Therefore king Darius signed the document and the injunction.

So what was their plan? Here's the plan. We got to bring Daniel down. Now we can't bring Daniel down because of his incompetence because he's competent. We can't bring him down because he's a liar or a cheat or anything like that. No, he's faithful and he's got integrity. The only way you get to Daniel is out of his relationship with God.

By the way, there's one thing we know about Daniel, he's a praying man. So what we'll do: we'll go to the king to sign a law, the law of the Medes and the Persians. And he'll sign the law and the law of the Medes and the Persians cannot be revoked. And the law will be for 30 days no one can make a petition to anyone other than the king.

They're playing on two things. One is they know Daniel is a man of prayer. And if you want to trap Daniel, you got to get him in terms of the relationship that he has with God. Out of his relationship with God, the one thing that stands out is he's a man of prayer. Prayer is where we'll do it. And then we'll go over here. These kings, you can count on kings wanting to be at the top of the heap.

King, don't you think it's just absolutely natural and wouldn't it be absolutely appropriate that nobody could request anything of anybody but you for 30 days? By the way, this isn't for life, just for 30 days. Of course they know that Daniel prays three times a day. So they got 90 chances to get Daniel if we can get him to sign on for 30 days that nobody can make a request of anybody else.

They put the plan in place and the king, much to his chagrin later, signs into effect a law, the law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked. Now what's the sentence? Look at verse 10. "When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously."

"Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, 'O king, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any God or man within 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?'" The king answered and said, "The thing stands fast according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked."

Then they answered and said before the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction that you have signed, but he makes his petition three times a day." So then the king when he heard these words was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.

Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, "Know, O king, it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed." Of course Daniel hears about the law. When Daniel hears that you can't make a petition to anyone but the king for 30 days, what does Daniel do? Does what he always does. He prays. He does what he always does, prays three times a day.

He does what he always does, prays three times a day with the window open facing toward Jerusalem where the temple was. Daniel's not being obnoxious. Daniel's not being arrogant. Daniel's not 'I'll show you, O king'. Daniel's just being Daniel in his relationship to God in prayer. So they see him. He's not hiding. He's not being obnoxious but he's not hiding. They become aware of it. They let him know he's not only praying to his God during these 30 days, he's doing it every day and more than that he's doing it three times a day, king.

Now it's interesting, what is the king's first reaction? Oh my goodness, I got to find a way to deliver Daniel. That's really interesting, isn't it? You got 120 satraps, counselors, presidents, I don't know how many people wanting to bring Daniel down and you got the king over here who's been hoisted upon his own petard as the sailor would say and he cannot get free of it but he wants to try to find a way to deliver him.

But they're not going to let it go away. King, this is in the law of the Medes and the Persians. You cannot revoke this. You have to carry out the sentence. By the way, isn't that interesting? When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful in disobedience to the decree of King Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar was outraged, heated the fire seven times hotter to throw them into it.

But somehow Daniel's witness was not only faithful like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego but his witness leading up to this was such that this king, even though this was against him and his order, did not want Daniel to suffer. He tried to find a way to deliver him. But of course they're not going to let him find a way to deliver him. That's why they got it put into the law of the Medes and the Persians. So now comes not only the sentence but the deliverance. Look with me in verse 16.

Then the king commanded and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, "May your God whom you serve continually... may he deliver you." Wouldn't you love for an unsaved person to look at you and me and say, "may your God whom you serve continually, regularly, faithfully, competently, may he deliver you."

The observation by this king is not only do I want to deliver you, but now that I can't deliver you, may your God whom you serve continually, may he deliver you. And the stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.

Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him and sleep fled from him. Then at break of day the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions and as he came near to the den where Daniel was he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually, has he been able to deliver you from the lions?"

Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him and also before you, O king, I have done no harm." Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God.

And the king commanded and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions, they, their children and their wives, and before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. So Daniel was delivered by the God whom he served continually as he sent his angel.

Now look at verse 25. "Then king Darius wrote to all the people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth. 'Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.'" So this Daniel prospered among the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Let me give you five takeaways from this text that I think might be helpful now that we've walked our way through it. Here's the first one. The first takeaway that I want you to see is this, is that Daniel becomes for us a living example of the power of God's grace and what it means to be, quote, in the world but not of the world.

Do you all remember back some time ago as we've been through this, in Jeremiah chapter 29, God sent word to the exiles who were in Babylon. They had a whole group of people who had a prophet and the prophet was telling the exiles: separate from the Babylonians. Just be a subculture in the midst of their culture. Jeremiah the prophet of the Lord writes and the Lord says no, don't listen to those false prophets. You're in that culture: build houses, get married, have children and bring good to the city.

Narrator (Male): Daniel remained steadfastly devoted to the Lord and was cast into a den of lions. But he was delivered by the Lion of Judah. When we come under fire for our devotion to the Lord, we must cling even closer to the one who can deliver us. You're listening to InPerspective featuring the teaching of Dr. Harry L. Reeder. Our current sermon series Daniel's Memorable Memoirs and Message. For additional teaching by Dr. Reeder visit inperspective.org.

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And once again if you would like this month's free gift offer, request Is the Bible Reliable? Call 1-800-488-1888. Daniel in the lion's den is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. Join us again next time as Dr. Reeder points out that if you are a believer in Christ, you are in much the same situation as Daniel was. That's next time as we turn back to the scriptures to put life in biblical perspective.