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DANIEL

Daniel 1

This evening we are going to begin a study in the book of Daniel, as we continue our study through the Word of God. And, as you know, the book of Daniel is one of my favorite books to study in the Bible. And I also believe this will become an important book in your own personal life and daily devotions.

You see, Daniel is a very practical book. It will show us how a young man can be in the center of a pagan society and still live for God. This young man was not influenced by the world. And Daniel lived his entire life that way, as we shall see, and that should be a great encouragement to each of us. We can be in this world system and still stand up for God, we can still stand up for righteousness!

Secondly, it is the most important of the prophetic books that are found in the Scriptures. It not only tells us of all the world empires from Daniel’s day to the last day’s world empire. But it also tells us the exact day that Jesus Christ would ride through Jerusalem as Messiah the king, in His first coming! And it also speaks of the day the kingdom will be established, the second coming of Jesus, to the exact day! And the starting point for that is the abomination of desolation, and we will cover that as we move through this great book of the Bible.

Also, the book of Daniel unlocks many of the mysteries in the book of Revelation. So I believe this is an important book for us to understand and apply to our lives! Tragically not many go through this book, from the pulpit to individuals, and they are missing some great blessings that God has for them.

Now one of the problems with the book of Daniel is the accuracy in its prophecies, the minute details that Daniel gives us hundreds of years before they even took place. This has caused the so-called higher-critics, and I use that term loosely, to question the dating of this book. Because they do not believe the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God, they believe Daniel did not write this book in the sixth century BC, but another Daniel wrote it at a later date.

In the third century AD a anti-Christian philosopher by the name of Porphyry stated that Daniel didn’t write this book in the sixth century BC but it was a forgery written in 50 AD. And tragically that thought was picked-up by the so-called higher-critics of the seventeenth century and it continues on through today, the doubting of this book of the Scriptures.

But, if the Bible is the inspired Word of God then we should have no problem accepting these very detailed and accurate prophecies that are found in this book Paul even tells us that

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16-17. That should make it very clear, but again many deny this truth.

Now historically speaking, Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian, records for us an incident that occurred during the time of Alexander the Great which will support the early authorship of Daniel. The problem though, is most of the time these people who try to discredit the Scriptures aren’t interested in the truth, but would rather believe the lies for it supports their beliefs and they are not accountable to God, for in their minds there is no God!

Alexander the Great was at the peak of his might, conquering whoever he wanted whenever he wanted, and he was moving to the near east and was coming to Jerusalem. And as he was approaching the city, Jaddua, the high priest, came out to meet him and showed him a copy of the book of Daniel in which Alexander was clearly mentioned. And Alexander was so impressed by this that instead of destroying Jerusalem, he entered the city peaceably and worshiped at the temple!

Not only that, we must also note that the Septuagint, the Greek translation from the Hebrew Old Testament was translated before the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and it contains the book of Daniel. And we will see that Antiochus Epiphanes is clearly shown in the book of Daniel. And the Septuagint was translated around 285 BC.

Robert Dick Wilson of Princeton Theological Seminary said some two generations ago, "In the name of scholarship and for the sake of truth and righteousness it is time to call a halt on all those who presume to a knowledge which they do not possess, in order to cast reproach upon an ancient writer, as to whose sources of information and knowledge of the facts they must be ignorant and whose statements they cannot possibly fully understand, nor successfully contradict."

And if there is still any doubt who wrote the book of Daniel and is the book of Daniel even inspired, listen to this statement and it will save you a lot of time searching out what others have to say. For Jesus said in Matthew 24:15, "‘Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place’ (whoever reads, let him understand)." God calls Daniel a prophet and takes an event in the book of Daniel to show us he wrote the book of Daniel. Now if you don’t believe the words of Jesus you have an even bigger problem than who wrote the book of Daniel and when was it written. And so the book of Daniel continues to confound the critiques and it confirms the Christian and what he believes!

The book of Daniel is written in both Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Many scholars point to this and say that two different writers wrote the book of Daniel. But they don’t understand God and how detailed He is. In Daniel chapters 1:1-2:4a and 8-12 they are written in Hebrew because God is speaking to the nation of Israel in the language of His people. From Daniel 2:4b-7:28 it is written in Aramaic for it is the language of the gentile world and it is focusing on God’s program for the gentile world.

Now why is prophecy so important to us? Is it even important to God? That is the reason it is so important to us, because it is important to God, for 25% of God’s Word is prophetic in nature. Thus, as we read these things they will strengthen us, encourage us and it will keep us pure knowing that the Lord’s return can come at any moment. John makes that point very clear when he says in I John 3:2-3, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." You see, prophecy is important to us, it effects our lives, how we live!

One last point before we move on. In Daniel 12:4, 9 we read "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase....Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." In the end times there will not only be an explosion of knowledge, not only intellectual, but also in the understanding of the end times events. I believe that is one of the reasons people are so interested in end times teaching today, because we are living in the last days and God has given to us a clearer understanding of these days. It has only been in the last 100 years or so that the prophetic books have been opened up to us, especially Daniel. And so, with that in mind lets get into Daniel chapter 1 this evening.

DANIEL 1

VERSE 1

1. Jehoiakim, king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, was a wicked king and he reigned in Jerusalem for 11 years. Part of his reign was under Pharaoh Necho and the Egyptians, and part of it was under Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. Jehoiakim was a puppet king to these nations.

In around 605 BC Jeremiah sends to Jehoiakim the Word of God by the hand of Baruch. And as the king was sitting by the fire, Jehudi began to read from this scroll. But he only gets three or four columns into it before Jehoiakim had enough. He didn’t want to hear anymore. And he takes this scroll that contained the Words of God, cuts it up and throws it into the fire, destroying it. But understand this, God’s Word will never fade away, nor will it be destroyed by the hands of men. Judgment was coming and God would give to Jeremiah these words to re-write and even more, speaking of the judgment that would come against Jehoiakim.

(Jeremiah 37).

And so in 606 BC, after the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians and Pharaoh Necho at the battle of Carchemish, he came against Jerusalem. No longer was Jehoiakim a puppet king for Pharaoh Necho and the Egyptians, but now he was going to be a puppet king for Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians!

2. So this first siege took place in 606 BC, and it was during this time that Nebuchadnezzar found out that his father, Nabopolassar the king had died, and Nebuchadnezzar was going to return to Babylon as the new king of this nation. But before he returned home he took some of the nobles and some of the temple treasures with him. In this siege we see Daniel and his three friends taken captive. Then in 597 BC, during the second siege upon Jerusalem, Ezekiel was taken captive along with some 10,000 others. And then finally in 586 BC the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, taking the rest of the people captive to Babylon, except for some of the sick, the weak, the elderly, they remained in the land.

VERSES 2-4

1. During this first siege by Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem we see him take to Babylon some of the temple articles and some of the children of Israel, some of the nobles as I have said before. Now keep in mind that some 97 years or so before this event occurred, God told king Hezekiah that this would take place. God told King Hezekiah to get his house in order, for he was going to die. But Hezekiah wept before the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Isaiah who told him that God was going to extend his life another 15 years. And as the king recovered, news spread, and the Babylonians, not powerful at this time, sent some ambassadors with gifts and letters. And Hezekiah was very hospitable and showed them all of the treasures of the kingdom.

Because of that God said to king Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah, "‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’" II Kings 20:17-18. And that is what took place as we have read. And what Nebuchadnezzar did with these young men was to indoctrinate them into the Babylonian ways. See, they didn’t take the old guys, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. But the kids, they can be trained, and that was what this king was doing. They were taught the Babylonian language, the customs, and the religion of this pagan society along with an intense education program dealing with astrology, astronomy, mathematics, and-so-on. So then, by the end of 3 years of training, they would have forgotten their past ways, and be assimilated into the Babylonian culture. Do you see how important it is to train up your children while they are young! We are going to deal more with that in a few minutes, but even those in the educational system know that if you can indoctrinate the children into your ways, you have them for life! The adults are much harder to change, they are more resistant!

2. What we see here is the result of sin. First of all sin leads to blasphemy. We see the temple implements, the things that were used to worship God with, taken to Babylon and placed in these pagan temples. When we sin it causes people to be blasphemous towards God. Paul clearly points this out as he speaks of the Jews living in sin. He said "‘For "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’..." Romans 2:24. And remember David’s sin with Bathsheba. When David recognized his sin and confessed it before God, Nathan the prophet told him, "...‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme...’" II Samuel 12:13-14.

And things have not changed much. Listen to the jokes by the comedians against God because of our sin! We have so-called Christians posing nude for magazines, to living in sin, to having sex outside of the marriage relationship. We give the enemies of God a opportunity to blaspheme God! The people of this world have a great time mocking God and the work of God because of the sin of the people of God!

3. The second thing sin leads to is bondage. The people of God were being carried away captive to Babylon in chains! Why? Because of their sin and their refusal to repent. It is as Jesus said in John 8:34-36, "...‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’" An alcoholic taking his first drink. A drug addict taking his first joint or snort of cocaine. Someone stealing. Someone lying. None go into these things with the idea they are in bondage to them. And even when they become chained in these things, many times they don’t even see it. That is what sin does. It causes the world to mock God and it will leave you in bondage!

VERSES 5-8

1. Daniel and his three friends were probably very young at this point, maybe only 15 or 16 years of age. And they are pampered with the kings food. They were being assimilated into the Babylonian culture. They were offered the fine wine. They were being prepared for the king to serve him. And what was the response of Daniel to all of this? "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself..." Daniel 1:8.

2. First of all, the meat that was to be given to Daniel was probably offered to their gods. It wasn’t kosher! It was unclean. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10:20-21, "Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons." The wine was not watered down and Daniel realized it would only cloud his judgment. It is as Proverbs 31:4-5 says, "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted."

3. Now Daniel could have said, "While in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do!" It was a precursor to the Roman thing! But he didn’t. He purposed in his heart not to do these things. Proverbs 4:23 tells us "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." What an example Daniel is to us. You see, Daniel was in the world but the world was not in him. It is like a boat, it needs to be in the water to function, but once the water gets into the boat, that is when the trouble begins and the boat begins to sink. The same is true with us!

4. Today we see much legalism in the church, and that should not be. Paul said in Romans 14:14, "I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." In other words, if you feel something is wrong, don’t do it. There are gray areas and areas where God is speaking to you personally on issues. The thing you should not do is make those things into law that everyone has to follow. It is specific for you. We are free in Christ! The thing we need to remember, is this, if what we are doing is going to benefit us or hurt us. Will it draw us closer to God or move us farther away from Him? You can enter a running race wearing a 3-piece suit and wing tipped shoes, it is lawful but it is not beneficial! Keep that in mind. Is what you are doing going to help you or hurt you? Don’t be brought under the power of any of these things, don’t become enslaved but enjoy your freedom in Christ!

5. Now where did Daniel and his friends get such standards? What was the secret to their success? Their parents! Look at the names of these young men who were born during the revival of king Josiah. It shows that their parents feared God. Daniel means "God is my judge." Hananiah means "Yahweh has been gracious." Mishael means "None is like God." And Azariah means "Yahweh has helped."

And as these young men were trained in the things of God, it stuck with them. Proverbs 22:6 promises this to us. It says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." That doesn’t mean they will not drift from time to time, but what you place in their hearts will stick with them and rise to the surface. We see that here with these young men and the stand that they take.

6. Also notice how their names were changed to make a complete transformation into the Babylonian culture. Daniel’s name was changed to Belteshazzar, which means "May Bel protect his life." Hananiah’s name was changed to Shadrach, which means "To be illumined by the sun deity." Mishael’s name was changed to Meshach, which means "Who is what Aku is." And Azariah’s name was changed to Abed-Nego, which means "A servant of Nebo."

And yet Daniel purposed in his heart not to be influenced by these things. That is where the victory begins, in our heart! I don’t know what has you in bondage tonight; gambling, pornography, lust, greed, or whatever. You have to make a decision, you have to purpose in your heart what you want to do about it. Daniel did, and God honored that.

7. In II Samuel chapter 23, Shammah, one of Daniel’s mighty men, was given the task to guard the beans. Not a very impressive job, but Shammah did it faithfully. Even when the Philistines came against the land and all the others fled, Shammah stood strong and would not give in, he guarded the beans! He purposed in his heart and he stood strong. And God honored his faithfulness and gave him a great victory over the Philistines.

What beans are you watching over? What beans are you guarding? You may see the task as insignificant, not important, but if God has placed you over the beans, you are to watch them, protect them, stand strong and God will honor that, He will honor what you are doing and give you victory.

8. Now Daniel, this young man, goes before Ashpenaz, the chief of the eunuches, who was responsible for the physical and mental development of these young men, and is going to request a special favor so he may not defile himself. That is a bold stand in a wicked culture that he was now living in. Let’s encourage our young to do the same and may we be encouraged to do the same. The Lord will honor the stand we take!

VERSES 9-10

1. Now the chief of the eunuches is a little nervous since he was responsible for these guys. And if the king didn’t like what he saw, it could cost him his life. He doesn’t want to lose his head over this thing!

VERSES 11-13

1. Daniel goes to the steward who is in charge over them, Melzar, who is under Ashpenaz. And Daniel asks for a 10 day test to see after 10 days of eating vegetables and grain if their appearance would be better than those who ate the best food and drank the best wine. A very bold stance he took. Daniel was truly a man of faith, trusting in the Lord.

VERSES 14-21

1. I love this about our God. These guys gave themselves wholeheartedly over to the Lord and the Lord blessed them abundantly above all they could ask or think. At the end of this time, as they came before Nebuchadnezzar, the king found them ten times better than all his men of wisdom! And Daniel, besides having knowledge and skill in literature and wisdom, also understood dreams and visions, which he will use in the next chapter. And so Daniel and his 3 friends were placed in positions in the kingdom and Daniel lived into the Medo-Persian empire, the time of king Cyrus. He was some 85 years old or more when he died, ministering in the heart of an evil culture for some 70 years and nothing bad is mentioned of him, no sin is spoken of.

2. There is one of the great lies of Satan that not only affects our own lives but it has trickled down to our children. And that lie is that if you serve the Lord, if you stand up for righteousness, if you stand up for God, you will be unpopular, you won’t get the positions you want, no one will like you, they will make fun of you and ostracize you! That is totally untrue. Look at what happened to Daniel and his three friends as they stood-up for righteousness in a pagan society. We are going to see that they were given prominent positions in the kingdom. They were brought into favor of the other servants of the king.

That is not to say that they never faced persecution, difficulties, and we will face them just as these young men did. But God will bless your faithfulness to Him. You can’t give to God without God giving back to you more abundantly than you can imagine. He is a debtor to no man! The thing we must remember, and share with our children, is don’t give into the pressure and pleasure of this world, and God will honor you for that!

3. In Jeremiah 17:7-8 we are told "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." The key is trusting in God, the promises He has given to us in His Word. I believe the lesson we should take home with us from this chapter of Daniel is that compromise is not a word that can be used in our relationship with God. We must be like Daniel and be steadfast and uncompromising in our walk with Him. Compromise may get you up the corporate ladder, but it will not please God, and it may not be a ladder God wants you to climb. Compromise may make you popular with a group of people, but it may not be a group of people that God wants you to be popular with, to hang with.

And understand this. As the end times have come upon us, as the return of Christ draws closer and closer, the world will become less and less tolerant to the things of God, but we need to remain firm in our beliefs. DARE TO BE A DANIEL!