Daniel 6 – Daniel in the Lion’s Den
By: Ben Fronczek
Read: 2 Kings 6:15-17
“When
the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next
morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh
no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha
prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened
the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and
chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
THE story has been told of how the first
Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, was instructed by Soviet premier
Khrushchev to watch out for angels when he went into space in April,
1962. On his return he reported that he had seen no angels. Khrushchev
is said to have replied, “Good, I knew you wouldn’t. There are no such
things!”
It is all too easy to assume that what we
do not see does not exist! Over and over the Bible teaches us that
Spirit beings and angels are present whether we want to accept their
presence or not.
I don’t know about you but sometimes that
kind freaks me out knowing there could be someone even more than one
present in our midst seeing all that we do and hearing all that we say.
I guess it would not bother me so much if I
could live a perfect life, where I never said or did anything wrong.
But if you think about it that’s why the Holy Father sent Jesus into the
world to take care of the sin He knew that we would commit… and that’s
why Jesus sent His Spirit into His followers to help them grow and
mature and not sin. And I personally believe God sends His angels to
help us whether we recognize or acknowledge that help or not.
Many ask if there are personal “guardian” angels. When Peter was released from prison by an angel
(Acts 12:7-15) and he arrived at the door of the house where the
brethren were staying, they did not believe it was Peter but said, “It is his angel”, assuming Peter was still locked away or dead.
In Matthew 18:10, Jesus had told His followers
10 “See
that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that
their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
These are indications of how much
personal care and comfort God is prepared to provide for those who truly
fear Him and we see that in our story today in Daniel 6.
Let’s look at the story:
Read Daniel 6:1-3
“It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with
three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps
were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now
Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the
satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him
over the whole kingdom.”
This will be my final sermon from Daniel
because of the rest of the book deals with visions and prophecies that
Daniel receives from the Lord concerning the fulfillment of the first
dream that Nebuchadnezzar had concerning the rise and fall of nations,
people and power over the Jews until Jesus comes on the scene and
becomes Lord of Lord and King of Kings.
This chapter is full of practical lessons which we can learn from.
Here in these first few verses we read that
Darius the Mede, who has now been placed in charge of Babylon under the
supreme leader, Cyrus, almost immediately saw something special in
Daniel. Out of all these Satraps (or governors) he could have chosen
from to lead, he recognized how special Daniel was. In verse 3 we read:
“3 Now
Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the
satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him
over the whole kingdom. (NIV)
The NLT puts it this way:
“3 Daniel
soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and
high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to
place him over the entire empire.”
The NAS which is probably has the most accurate translation says that;
“he possessed an extraordinary spirit”
Now you need to remember, at this point in
time Daniel is now in his 80’s, and I think we see here one quality that
made him so special, and why all the rulers liked him, and why God
blesses him so.
The man had a good spirit, and/or a good attitude. It didn’t matter that he was deported from his homeland and was an alien in the service of pagan kings. The man had a good attitude,
he was wise, he had a good work ethic, he didn’t go around grumbling or
complaining. He seems to have spent his life in Babylon with a
positive, humble, teachable, honest spirit and attitude. And because of
that attitude Darius was ready to promote him to the highest position in
Babylon under himself.
Personal application:
Do you have a
good spirit? How well do you carry yourself and what kind of attitude do
you have as you deal with those at work, or at home?
Are you a complainer, or someone who undermines others or someone who cuts corners? Do you hold grudges or are you envious of others.
I believe that the Lord would prefer it if
we had an excellent attitude at our job at home or at whatever we do
throughout our life. You will not only please our Lord, others will also
take notice as well. Darius did; but unfortunately so too did some of
the other satraps or governors.
Read Daniel 6:4-5
“At
this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for
charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they
were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he
was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally
these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this
man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
These guys are jealous and envious of
Daniel so they want to destroy him by digging up some dirt on him. They
begin by searching for some kind of fault in the way he was doing his
job. But no matter how much they searched and checked out his job
performance, they could not find any faults or corruption, or any
skimming, or any negligence on his part.
How would you fair up under such scrutiny?
If someone examined every aspect of how you do your job or how you
conduct yourself in every area of your life? Daniel was a model servant
and employee. You know what’s good about doing things right the first
time and all the time? You don’t have to worry when someone looks over
your shoulder to see what you are doing. If there is nothing hidden or covered up there is nothing to be found!
So these guys come up with a plan ‘B’.
Read: Daniel 6:6-9
“So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! 7 The
royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have
all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree
that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty
days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now,
Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot
be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which
cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.”
Many scholars believe that this story is just as much about Darius as it is Daniel.
These Satraps not only have it in for Daniel, here we see them set the
king up by using flowery words of praise to accomplish their diabolical
plan.
Here lies another lesson for us:
We have to be careful when people come to us with flowery words of praise.
It
initially may sound and feel good, but be careful. Wait and see if a
request is made in the next breath. These men were praising the king and
figuratively patting him on the back and his ego swelled along with his
head. He had been set up and was coaxed into making an arrogant and
stupid law. Really how could you ever possible know if someone else was
silently praying to another God if a person chose to do so secretly?
But these men knew Daniel well enough and knew what he did each day.
Read: Daniel 6:10-15 (Click on Verse to read)
I see a few lessons here in these verses:
First of all I believe here-in-lies the secret of Daniel’s wisdom,
extra ordinary spirit or attitude, and success, and that was his ongoing relationship with God.
Right from the beginning of this book we read about how Daniel and his
companions turned to God in prayer. I believe that praying was more than
a habit for Daniel; rather it was just part of an ongoing relation
rather than a ritual. Daniel had a relationship with God and wanted to
talk with Him, and so he did three times a day. And he wasn’t going to
give that up for anyone. Its how he stayed plugged into the Lord, this
is a lesson we all need to learn. How do you stay plugged in to the
Lord?
Well these Satraps rat on Daniel, probably
running and skipping to the king like children anxious to tattle-tail on
someone. But the king was sad and in great distress, and probably
realized that he and Daniel were set up. The text goes on to say that
Darius did everything he could do to rescue Daniel, but unfortunately
there was nothing he could do. He had allowed these men to talk him into
making a rash decision and law that could not be changed.
We likewise need to be careful about making rash decisions. All the decisions we make have consequences; and some are not so good.
I believe it’s important to think more about the decisions we make. Ask
yourself if is contrary to God’s will or not or if someone is pushing
me into making a rash decision. Even ask God to bless your decision so
you can have peace with what you decided.
Read:
“So
the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the
lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve
continually, rescue you!”
17 A stone was
brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it
with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that
Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king
returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without
any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.”
After having Daniel placed in the lion’s den we have an interesting statement made by Darius in verse 16 he said
“Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”
Is this a statement of faith from this pagan king? I think so!
In the text we see how much Darius cared
for Daniel. The man could not eat or sleep. Darius was really upset
about all this. I think we see a good example of friendship evangelism
having been done here.
I think we really see the king’s faith demonstrated in the next section.
Read: 6:19-22
21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 22 My
God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not
hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done
any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
If Darius though Daniel was dead he wouldn’t have bothered going back to the lion’s Den the next morning and call out to Daniel.
How many times do you face what may seem like an impossible situation and just give up and walk away?
Here we see Darius’s faith in God’s deliverance of Daniel from an
impossible situation. Here we see an example of hope and faith walking
hand in hand.
Maybe the lesson for us here is that we should not give up (even give up on God) in what may seem like an impossible situation.
It also had to be a pretty trying
experience for Daniel as well, but his convictions stood strong, and the
Lord sent an angel to deal with the lions. Was it his guardian angel?
I’d like to think so. God wanted him around a little longer and we see
why in the final verses of this chapter
Read: 6:23-28 (Click on the verse to read)
So here again we read a proclamation of
faith from a pagan king to the world; those who other-wise may have
never heard about our God and the God of Daniel, of His majesty and
awesomeness.
Imagine the leader of China or another
world leader doing something like this today because of one man’s faith
and integrity. You personally may not have the opportunity to meet or
have an effect on a world leader in this manner, but what about those
you come in contact with at work, or with family members, or your
acquaintances. One good life can make a difference in their life.
So what are some lessons we have we learned from this man Daniel?
One’s situation in life does not necessarily have to Hinder one’s SUCCESS.
Daniel and his companions were promoted
over and over and experienced God’s favor in this foreign land because
they were men of integrity. They did not compromise when it came to
matters of faith and their walk with God. They were brave and trusted
Father God when all seemed bleak.
They were men of prayer and their lives Glorified our Heavenly Father. Those that knew these men knew that they were men of God by their actions as well as their words.
I challenge each one of you to become like
Daniel; men and women of faith. If you do this I believe you will also
experience God’s favor like never before. And never forget there is
always someone watching over you…whether you see them or not.
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566