MPC 8th January 2006.January 8 - Daniel 6 - "The God Who Saves"
Matt Rowson MPC 8th January 2006.
I haven't always been a Youth Minster in a church. My first job was actually as a Private Investigator. It's a difficult and dangerous job to do on your own so I was actually in a partnership with a friend of mine, Kirby. We were in Grade 5 at the time, and we appointed ourselves as the PI's of Mangrove Mountain Public School.
My dad made us some badges which we were very proud of... of course, we couldn't wear them or our cover would be blown. We made a PI handbook, we read choose your own adventure novels just to keep our minds sharp. Because to be honest there wasn't a lot of cases coming our way.
But then the big one hit, the case that would make us as investigators - something so big that we had to drop our novels and get on the case straight away.
You see, one weekend, someone had smashed one of the toilets in the boys toilet block.
It was Monday when we found out, and we immediately started on the case. It had to be an inside job, so we started going through the possible suspects. Well, it didn't have to be an inside job but anyone outside the school was unfortunately outside our jurisdiction.
We narrowed the suspect list down to Darryl Arnott - all the evidence pointed to him... well actually, there was no evidence at all, but we just thought he was the most likely person to have done it. He was always getting in trouble, there was his motive and so we thought it had to be him. Who else could it be?
Well, it could've been anybody, but we had hunch.
So we thought we'd try and get him to confess, to find out if it really was him who did it. So we pulled him aside and said how we knew he did it, and that we had evidence and all that kind of stuff and he denied it, and eventually started crying... "It wasn't me - honest!"
So we kind of figured it wasn't him after all and we let him go.
Looking back it was actually a really slack thing to do - a bit embarrassed to admit it actually, accusing an innocent guy of doing something wrong.
In today's passage, Daniel 6, Daniel finds himself in a similar situation to Darryl Arnott. Because Daniel is being falsely accused of wrongdoing by some people as well, but it wasn't all just some unfortunate mistake.
Just to remind you of Daniel's situation that we looked at last week, Daniel's a follower of God. He's an Israelite. But God's people have been invaded by the Babylonians. Daniel and a number of others have been taken back to Babylon as captives. It's a place where people do not worship God, and where the highest authority is the King of Babylon, and at this time that King is King Darius.
Now, Daniel and some other Israelites are not just there as prisoners - they've been specially chosen to enter the King's service. They've been trained up and are now working for the King.
When I was working for Optus about 6 years ago now I remember the time I received my very own box of business cards, to hand out to appropriate people I came across in my work dealings. It was a very exciting moment - I felt very important - 500 business cards with my name on it!
"Matt Rowson - Satellite Stations Equipment Officer".
I thought it was really cool. It sounded like I worked for NASA or something. But you know in the 2 years I was in that particular position at Optus, I handed out a total of 3 maybe 4 business cards - and they were to my parents and my Nan!
Truth is, I wasn't really that important in the big scheme of things, and there was really no need for anyone to have a business card with my name on it. In fact it was a total waste of the company's money!
Well, Daniel's got a business card as well, but it's a very impressive one. You see, Daniel's been quite successful in Babylon, always getting straight A's, always reliable, a hard worker - he's so successful that he's even been given the position of one of the top rulers over the whole country.
You can see in verse 2 that the King places Daniel as one of his 3 top officials to be in charge of all the 120 Rulers of the Babylonian empire.
And the King is so impressed with Daniel that he plans on making him the number one guy, the guy who's in charge of his whole kingdom.
You can understand that this gets the noses of the other officials out of joint a bit. Because not only does Daniel's business card say "2.I.C. to the King of Babylon", it also has the words on it, "I'm an Israelite."
So these jealous officials are thinking, "this guys not even a Babylonian - he's a prisoner from another country, he's an Israelite." They're green with envy and so they want to knock him off, get him out of the way.
Verse 4 tells us that they get together, a little secret meeting, they put their heads together and try to find something Daniel has done wrong so they can sling some mud at him and stop him from getting the position.
They're jealous, they're manipulative, they're scheming - they're politicians. So what could they come up with?
Half way through verse 4...
"They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
Daniel was put under the microscope and came up squeaky clean. No matter how deep they dug they couldn't bring up any dirt. Daniel had done nothing wrong.
Well, these guys weren't going to let that get in the way of their plans. Daniel had to go - bottom line - and so they came up with the perfect plan - one that could not fail.
So here's the plan, take a look at verse 5...
"We'll never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel... unless it has something to do with the law of his God."
Brilliant plan - that's it!
These jealous officials want to set a trap for Daniel, they want to get rid of him. They know that Daniel's a follower of God, and that his loyalties were with God before anything or anyone else, even before the King of Babylon.
All these jealous Babylonians have to do is get Daniel to choose between obeying God and obeying the King of Babylon and they've got him - Daniel's a goner, because they already know what he'll choose - he'll choose to follow God any day.
So in verse 6, these devious officials go to the King with a fantastic suggestion, have a look, verse 6...
O King Darius, live forever! 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 man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den. Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered.
They're closing the trap around Daniel, all they need is for the King to give the order his stamp of approval and they've done it... and to their delight, King Darius reaches for his fountain pen and puts his signature on the dotted line.
The trap's been set, no-one is allowed to pray to anyone but King Darius for 30 days.
Well, Daniel finds out about it and what does he do? Does he obey the law and give his loyalty to the King? No way, he goes into his room and prays to God. And the jealous officials jump out from their hiding places and catch Daniel in the act.
In verse 11 it says that "these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king."
They remind him of the law that he signed off on, and as soon as the King says. "Yes that's right, the decree stands and cannot be broken", they quickly jump in and dob on Daniel. In verse 13, they say to the King... "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day."
Now, the King's upset. Not because Daniel had disobeyed the order, but because he really likes Daniel - he doesn't want Daniel to be put to death, and verse 14 says "he was determined to rescue Daniel and he made every effort until sundown to save him."
But in the end there's nothing even he, the King, can do. He's got no choice, and as Daniel is thrown into the den of lions - into the jaws of certain death - King Darius says, "may your God rescue you."
I'm sure you've heard the story before - something amazing happens, God shuts the mouths of these lions so that they don't harm Daniel. In the morning the King runs down to the den and finds that Daniel is still alive.
The jealous guys closed the trap on Daniel, but God closed the traps of the lions. Daniel was framed, he was sentenced to death, but he comes out the other side alive and well, God has saved him!
Look at what Daniel says to King Darius in verse 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, O king.
Now if you're thinking this story has a familiar ring to it then you're absolutely right! You might remember the story of Joseph, falsely accused, but vindicated and saved by God in the end. In fact, throughout the Bible there's a pattern of God's people being unjustly treated, but saved by God. And the ultimate case in which this happens is Jesus.
Like Daniel, Jesus was innocent, in fact more than that, Jesus was perfect. He always put God first, he always lived for God's Kingdom but the religious leaders of the day framed Jesus, because they were jealous of his growing popularity.
They made up lies about him and had Pontius Pilate put him to death on a cross, even though Pilate knew he was innocent. Like Daniel, Jesus stared death in the face, and in fact, he was killed.
But death wasn't the end. Because God raised him from the dead - he was vindicated - and like Daniel, God saved him.
Sometimes people have got something to say but they're a bit vague in saying it. You know the people I'm talking about. You just wish they'd get to the point and make it clear. Like the letter a mother wrote as a sick note to the school to say why her son John wouldn't be there that day. The letter went like this:
John can't come because he hasn't been, I've given him something to make him go, but until he's been he can't come. Please excuse him.
You get the message. It's a bit vague, it doesn't really tell us what the problem is but we can kinda pick up what it's all about.
He hasn't been and he's not comin' till he has!
After Daniel had been saved from the lions, King Darius writes a letter too, in verse 25 we read he wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land, and unlike the letter John's mother wrote, there's no beating around the bush. King Darius gets straight to the point. Have a look at what he says in verse 26...
I issue a decree that in every part
of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
He rescues and he saves.
And that letter is really a summary of what the book of Daniel's been all about.
God is alive and he'll live forever
His kingdom will last forever
And he rescues and saves his people.
That's why Daniel and his friends didn't give up following God even when they were living in a place where no-one else believed in God or followed him.
They stuck it out because they knew that God was alive, that his kingdom lasts forever, and that he saves his people.
When you're at school, in about Grade 10 or 11 you get to go on work experience. I must say, I had the best work experience a teenage boy could ever wish for. I did my work experience at a prominent dessert company's factory in NSW. I was working in the lab where they test the food and ingredients with different chemicals to make sure it's safe to eat, to make sure a rival company hasn't poisoned their dough or anything.
But the best part was, every day, at morning tea time, a packet of every product, freshly made, is brought into the lab, where they've got this huge table and they open every packet and lay it out on this table.
Then they go around and with this little tool like a knife, they take a tiny bit off each product, about the size of your fingernail, and they test them to make sure they're not going to kill anyone.
And then the rest of the packet of every single product was free for the lab workers to eat; including me there were only three of us. It was great. I was there for a week and had this feast every day.
But also in this lab they also had a big line of folders and in these folders were all sorts of things that had been found inside this company's products over many years. Mostly by customers who bought the product and discovered these things when they went to eat it. It was incredible. You wouldn't believe unless you saw it. There were bolts, nails, rings, screws, and keys!
Now there are certain things you expect to get when you buy a cheesecake or apple pie, like nice tasting food, juicy apple, creamy cheesy stuff. And there are certain things you expect you will not get. Nails and Screws.
The same thing goes for a lot of Christians. They think that you should expect good things to happen to you if you're a Christian. And you should expect bad things not to happen, as if following Jesus is a ticket to the easy life. But you know... that's not how it works is it?
Following Jesus doesn't mean that life will be easy for you. It doesn't mean that you won't be unfairly treated. It doesn't mean that hard times won't come, in fact, they will come.
Hard times came for Daniel, hard times came to so many other faithful followers of God in the Bible, hard times and suffering even came to Jesus.
You might be thinking this is nothing new - you've heard it before, but you know, the reason the Bible reminds us of the obvious over and over is so that we'll never forget. It's when life is tough and things don't go your way that you can be tempted to give up on God, thinking he's forgotten you.
But remember, you are on the side of the living God, whose kingdom lasts forever, and who, through the death of Jesus his Son, saves those who trust in him... so you can enjoy his kingdom forever.