Topic: Daniel Part One

Text: Daniel 1:1-5

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility — young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

Prayer:

Two years ago, in preparation for our church trip to Branson, I preached a series on David. The play we saw at Sight and Sound that year was David. When we take our church trip to Branson next year, the play we will see at Sight and Sound will be Daniel. So, I thought I would do a sermon series on Daniel, similar to what I did on David.

 There was a test on David, it is a good possibility there will be a test over Daniel. I recommend keeping the sermons for a reference. Make sure you pick up a copy of the sermon after service this morning. We have purchased some notebooks for you to keep the sermons in. The first sermon is already in the notebook for your convenience.

As an introduction to this series on Daniel, I want to suggest three things that characterize Daniel’s life:

  1. Daniel was a man of purpose; he was a man who stood on his own two feet and had the intestinal fortitude, which is personal courage, determination, and the mental strength to face something difficult or unpleasant, in this case to speak God’s Word.
  2. Daniel was a man of prayer; prayer got Daniel in the lion’s den, but God also miraculously saved him from the lions.
  3. Daniel was a man of prophecy; The Book of Daniel divides itself equally: the first half is history, and the last half is prophecy. Daniel gives us the skeleton of prophecy on which all prophecy is placed.

We sometimes say, “If God be for you, who can be against you?” We can also say, “If God is against you, who can save you?” If we could go back in time and interview King Jehoiakim and ask him why God delivered him into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar, he would have to say because I did evil in the eyes of the Lord, even though I had been warned, I didn’t heed the warnings.

We also have freewill to decide whether we want to obey God or disobey him. When we decide to obey God there are positive consequences, and when we decide to disobey God there are negative consequences.  Where do you stand today, are you in God’s will or are you taking a chance with your life? While you still have breath in your body, and a chance to repent of your sin, get right with God before it is to late.

Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah,  Mishael, and Azariah were chosen to be in the three-year training program set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. They qualified because they were young, probably in their late teens, handsome, showing aptitude, no visible physical defect, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. One theologian suggests that Daniel and his three friends were made eunuchs in fulfillment of Isaiah 39:7 which says, “And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and, they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Daniel and his friends were collateral damage, because of the spiritual decay in their nation, even though we will find out they were faithful followers of God. They were removed from their homes and families and transported some 900 miles to Babylon to serve at the king’s pleasure, or was it God’s pleasure?

Here is some good news, God is omnipresent. The same God Daniel worshipped in Jerusalem he could worship in Babylon. Our circumstances might not be optimal, but wherever we are God is there and can hear and answer your prayer.

It is always easier to go with the flow and not make waves. But sometimes you have to take a stand and march to the beat of a different drummer. Ashpenaz, chief of the court officials, was instructed by the king to provide the men selected to be part of the special training with food and wine from the king’s table. The training was to last for three years, then they were to enter the king’s service. Ashpenaz knew what he was supposed to do and 90 % of the men willingly followed his instruction. Not Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would obey God’s law given to God’s people Israel —- this was to be his testimony.”[1]

Daniel 1:8-16

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So, he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So, the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

In the rest of the book of Daniel, we never hear any more about the other young men, only Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Their names were changed. “In the ancient Near East a person’s name was integrally connected with their identity. Thus, the Babylonians began the process of reeducation by giving their captives new names.”[2] The chief official gave them the following new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

Because of their faithfulness to their God, He blessed them beyond measure.

Daniel 1:17-21

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so, they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

There is a saying, “cream rises to the top.” That saying means that talent, quality, or merit will eventually be recognized. After three years of training and the hand of God on their lives, Daniel and his friends entered the king’s service.

Though God blessed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and we will hear about them later in our series, God gave to Daniel (Belteshazzar) the ability to understand visions and dreams of all kinds. This ability was put to the test right away.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him. He summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell him what the dream was and what it meant.

Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob/Israel like Daniel was given the ability to interpret dreams. He interpreted a dream for Pharaoh that changed his life. Pharaoh told Joseph the dream and he interpreted it.

Nebuchadnezzar required his wise men to tell him what the dream was then interpret it. If they could not interpret it, he was going to have them killed. “ The astrologers answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans.”

This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So, the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. (Daniel 2:1-13)

Was the king testing his counselors? One theologian said this about the whole affair, “I believe that Nebuchadnezzar remembered the dream, pondered it, and realized that it contained a significant message concerning him and his kingdom. It must have brought fear and wonder to his heart when he beheld this massive metallic image smashed to atoms by a mysterious stone that then grew into a mountain. The interpretation of this dream was too important for the king to treat it as a routine matter. He wanted to be sure that his “wise men” would give him the correct meaning, for his future was involved in that dream. He didn’t want to hear “misleading and wicked things” that they made up just to please the king. He wanted the truth.[3]

Daniel 2:14-19a

When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.

Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.

Daniel praised God for revealing the dream to him and his friends.

Daniel 2:19b-23

Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;

wisdom and power are his.

He changes times and seasons;

he deposes kings and raises up others.

He gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what lies in darkness,

and light dwells with him.

I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:

You have given me wisdom and power,

you have made known to me what we asked of you,

you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

Daniel and his friends were men of prayer. Even though they were far from home, by faith they could look toward Jerusalem and the temple and claim the promise of 1 Kings 8:44, 45 which says, “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.”

“God had hidden prophetic truth in the dream, and He enabled His servant to know both the dream and its interpretation, and to understand God’s future plans.”[4]

What did Nebuchadnezzar dream? He asked Daniel/Belteshazzar if he could tell him what he saw in his dream and interpret it.

Daniel 2:27-35

Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. “Daniel makes it clear that he himself deserves no credit, that God in heaven has revealed the dream. God was prompted to reveal the dream to spare the lives of the wise men, as well as to satisfy the curiosity of this man Nebuchadnezzar.” [5]He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:

“As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

Come back next week to get the interpretation of the dream.                                         STUDY QUESTIONS

  1. When have you suffered because of the actions of somebody else?
  2. In your suffering did you conduct your self in an exemplary manner, or did you get ugly?
  3. What gifting has God gifted you with?
  4. Do you consider Daniel’s situation as a divine appointment? Why or why not?
  5. Daniel’s faith in God resulted in him receiving favor from the chief official. Have you received favor in your interactions with people because of your faith in God?
  6. Daniel had received spiritual training before being transported to Babylon. Are we convicted on what we emphasized to our children in their youth, getting them ready to face the world?
  7. Does your behavior change when you think nobody sees you?
  8. Do you have influence over a group of people that looks to you for guidance?
  9. Are you giving your best in your service to the Lord?

[1] Daniel, J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Books, Griffin Printing Co., Inc, 22.

[2] Life Application Study Bible, NIV, study notes on Danial 1:3-7.

[3] The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, Warren W. Wiersbe, OT, publisher David C. Cook, all rights reserved, 1349.

[4] Ibid,1349.

[5] Daniel, J Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Books, Griffin Printing & Lithograph Co. 39.