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Richard Cimino – Route66 - 20150824_Daniel

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ROUTE 66 Destination: Daniel 1 Let’s open up our Bibles tonight to the book of Daniel.

We’re continuing our road trip through the 66 books of the Bible.

And our destination tonight is the 27th book in the Old Testament, the book of Daniel.

It’s the 5th and final book in the collection of prophetic writings that are referred to as the

Major Prophets.

But before we get going any further let’s just bow our heads and our hearts before the

Lord in a word of prayer.

Thank you again, Heavenly Father, for this time. Thank you for your Word. Thank you

for the book of Daniel. Holy Spirit, we are so thankful that you inspired and preserved

for us this incredible portion of your Word. And so we open our hearts to your work

through this book of the Bible tonight. And we pray that not only Lord our hearts would

be open to you; but, Lord, we pray that you would open your Word to us. And we pray

that we might have the very Word of God speaking to each of our hearts tonight. You

know each of us. You know where we are with you. You know where we’re not at in

relationship to you. So knowing everything about us, work – bring the light of your Word

to bear upon our hearts and lives we ask. And I ask you please, Lord, overlook my

inadequacies as a man and as a teacher so that tonight your Word would go forth in the

demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power to save souls, and to build up the body of

Christ, to equip all of us for the work of the ministry, so that the name of Jesus would be

made known and made great in each of our hearts and through our lives in this world.

And it’s in His name we pray, amen.

Well, it’s been, wow - Sunday July 26th is when I took off and started to head for

England - so it’s been awhile - so just by way of review –

The first section of the Bible is called the ‘Pentateuch’ - literally the five books -

written by Moses –


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Genesis,

Exodus,

Leviticus,

Numbers,

Deuteronomy.

The second section of the Old Testament is the ‘Historical’ books – 12 books that span

between Joshua and Esther. The historical books are the Divinely-inspired narrative

that tell the history of the nation of Israel. In those historical books we see Israel in the

land of promise; we see them removed from the land of promise; and we see them

returned to the land of promise.

The third section of the Bible is called the ‘Poetic’ books –

Job,

Psalms,

Proverbs,

Ecclesiastes,

The Song of Solomon.

None of them advance the narrative of Israel’s history. They lay over Israel’s history.

The fourth and final major section of the Old Testament is called ‘The Prophets’. It’s

divided into the –

Major Prophets,

and Minor Prophets.

The designation is not a matter of –

superior and inferior,

like major league vs minor league.

It’s based on the size of the books.


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The book of Daniel closes the Major Prophets.

So this book, the book of Daniel contains 12 chapters.

If you’re interested it contains 357 verses.

You can read through the book of Daniel at a casual rate in less than an hour.

The first 6 chapters pretty much read like a story. At least two of the most well-known

stories in the Old Testament are tucked away in chapters 1 through 6.

The latter chapters are a little more complex. They’re more nuanced. They’re

apocalyptic in nature. Now the term apocalyptic in our culture generally means like

disasters, like post-war things, you know, like the post-apocalyptic genre of movies, you

know, the whole dystopian genre stuff. But apocalypse, ‘apokálupsis’ means - the

unveiling. The book of Revelation is actually titled in the Greek - ‘apokálupsis’. It

means the unveiling. It means pulling the curtain back, right? So the book of Daniel is

apocalyptic in nature, as is the book of Revelation. They unveil for us the future of

God’s dealings with man. And Daniel is given an incredible view of future events. The

scope of Daniel’s prophecy is absolutely staggering. By way of Daniel God reveals His

dealings with humanity from the time of Babylon until the time of the return of Jesus

Christ and the setting up of His kingdom. That makes this an important stop along

Route 66. Over half of his prophecies are already fulfilled. And the fact of their

fulfillment should provoke us to –

a heightened sense of interest in hearing what else he has to say,

and a heightened sense of anticipation for that portion of his prophecies that are

yet to be fulfilled.

Peter, writing in the New Testament, he says we now have an even more sure word of

prophecy in light of the resurrection of Jesus. So all of the Messianic prophecies that

take us up to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus they have been fulfilled. And

Peter says because of that the word of prophecy in the Scripture, it’s even more sure to

us. The assurance of that portion of prophecy that’s yet to be fulfilled has greater

assurance because of what’s already been fulfilled.


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Now the prophecies contained in the book of Daniel are so exact that they have come

under tremendous criticism, higher Criticism, which refers to the study of sources and

literary forms when it comes to the Scriptures. The higher critics do not accept that the

book of Daniel was written some 600 years before Christ. They say that Daniel had to

be written after the fact of the events prophesied because they’re just too much, too

complicated to be written before they ever happened. And they conclude that the book

of Daniel was probably written by somebody that’s not the Daniel that’s talked about in

the Old Testament, but some other guy; and it was written around 150 A.D., instead of

some 600 years B.C. And here’s some of their evidence, their supposed evidence.

They say that in the manuscripts there’s the use in the book of Daniel of three words

that were not in use 500 years before Jesus, 600 years before Jesus. So they conclude

that on the basis of these three words found in the manuscript that Daniel had to have

lived and written at a later time. Those three words, each of them, actually have to do

with musical instruments. But archaeology has found evidence that there was trade

and travel from Greece into that area of the world in the day of Daniel, and that musical

instruments are referred to in those secular records having to do with commerce

between Greek and the Middle East Persia, if you would, where Daniel was. So that

sits that one aside.

The Higher Criticism crew also claimed Daniel was unworthy to be trusted in his

prophetic writings and his historical record based on something that Daniel said in

Daniel 5. And it has to do with Belshazzar. And if you don’t remember this guy

Belshazzar by name or by where he’s mentioned, chapter and verse in the Bible, you

probably know the story that involved Belshazzar, the story from which we get our

saying, ‘The handwriting’s on the wall’, ‘the writings on the wall’, right? Daniel 5 begins

with this. In fact, just flip there real quickly, just so we can get an idea of what gave

such great cause of concern to these guys who were involved in Higher Criticism.

Daniel 5 begins with this in Daniel 5, verse 1.

“1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded


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that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.” Now while this huge crazy party is going on outside of the massive walls of Babylon the

Medo-Persian army is preparing an epic assault on a city that was believed, especially

by those inside partying, to be impregnable. And the fact that they actually successfully

accomplished this assault is a matter of history. But chapter 5 continues, verse 5 –

“5 Immediately” As they’re drinking from these cups, these vessels that were taken from the house of

the LORD, and they’re drinking wine and praising the gods of silver and gold and wood

and stone, it says –

“5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”” That’s an important little phrase, by the way, because it assumes his position,

Belshazzar, and somebody else’s position as well. It carries on in verse 8 -

“8 Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.” It goes on and it tells us that essentially the queen came into this chaos, and said in

verse 11 –

“11In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and


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astrologers, 12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”” Then Daniel said – verse 23 –

“23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. 24 Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL,you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Now the Higher Criticism crew said this – No way. Daniel made this whole thing up.

There is no record in all of secular history of a Belshazzar. And besides that, the man

who was king when Babylon fell was a guy named Nabonidus - until the mid-1800s.

Archaeologists uncovered the Nabonidus chronicle. It’s a cylinder. It’s a cuneiform

tablet. We just saw it - Valerie and me and Travis and Shay and Aleah and Nathan –

we just saw this cylinder in the British museum the day before the team flew home. It’s

up here for you. That’s that cylinder. And that’s cuneiform, Babylonian cuneiform on it.

And it records, among other things, the fall of Babylon to the Persians. And it tells us

about King Nabodnidus. And it also talks about a co-regent, his son, named

Belshazzar, right? So the archaeologist uncovered the truth of Daniel. Daniel gave

information that could only be known by somebody living at that time.

So here’s some more that we know about the book of Daniel. Josephus, the Jewish

historian, tells us that some three hundred years before Jesus, when Alexander the

Great came to Jerusalem, the high priest came to Alexander, and handed to him the

book of Daniel. He handed him the scroll. And Alexander the Great was so impressed

by how Daniel foretold his victory over the Persian Empire that he spared the city of

Jerusalem. Josephus records that 300 years, not 150 years after, but 300 years before


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the prophecy of Daniel concerning the Grecian Empire conquering the Medo-Persian

Empire is foretold in it.

So the dating of this book is also included in the Septuagint, that Greek translation of

the Old Testament, which was written some 285 years before Christ. So we see it

dated way before Jesus. Also, the form of Aramaic used in the beginning of Daniel

dates back to 600-700 years before Christ. And so the very language in which the first

part of the book of Daniel is written goes back to the very times that the higher critics

say it couldn’t be written.

Now not only is the date of Daniel clear;

The authorship is equally clear.

Ezekiel spoke of Daniel in his book.

So if we throw out Daniel.

We need to throw out Ezekiel.

The star witness concerning the authorship of this book is Jesus Himself –

Matthew 24: “15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),” So Jesus refers back to Daniel concerning an event that was recorded 600 years

before.

In this book, in chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, we find the phrase “I, Daniel”.

And in a quick scan of the book you find the name of Daniel some 96 times.

We read of the lions’ den that Daniel would find himself in in chapter 6.

But the Holy Spirit anticipated the critics’ den that the book of Daniel would be in.

And so He made sure that as Daniel penned it his name would be in it time and time

and time again.

There should be no doubt as to who wrote the book. Daniel wrote the book.


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Now the big idea behind this series that we’re calling Route 66 is to make our way

through at a pace of hopefully a book of the Bible a week - this one is one of the few

that is going to take us two weeks to go through – is to discover why each of the 66

books of the Bible is so important that the Holy Spirit would have inspired and preserved

them for us. And we’re going to get to the prophetic content next week. But the

prophetic content of this book is so important to us. The incredibly detailed prophecies

that have already been fulfilled create anticipation and expectancy of the prophecies

that are yet to be fulfilled. And I will say this again – For the average Christian in

contemporary Christian culture prophecy is nowhere on their radar. It should be on all

of our radar because it’s important to God. A massive portion of the Bible is prophetic in

nature.

The book of Daniel is also radically important and really relevant to our relationship with

Jesus because of the man, Daniel himself. Daniel is without question one of the most

stellar individuals in all of Scripture. The man who we meet as a teenager in the 6th

century B.C. stands as a beacon to anyone and everyone desiring to live for Jesus in

the 21st century A.D. We discover in his youth - we’re going to look at it tonight – things

that shaped the trajectory of his life, shaped his adult years, things that enabled him to

not only survive life in captivity, but to thrive as a witness for God, and as an instrument

of God. That should be on all of our hearts. We should all be saying, “Lord, how do I

not just survive life in this world that is warring against my relationship with you, but,

Lord, not only survive, but how can I thrive as your witness in this broken world in these

last days, and not only thrive as a witness, but thrive as an instrument that you can use

in these last days. Because when we look at this guy as a young guy, 12 or 13 years

old, tonight, we’re going to see that he thrived for 70 years. He served under five

different Babylonian kings, and then finally served underneath Persian king, Cyrus, and

his emissary, a guy named Darius.

I want to lead with this quote from John Lennox, who, by the way - he spoke at

CreationFest, and was just amazing. You can Google CreationFest; and you can watch

a video of him speaking. He’s a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford, and just a genius.


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And he loves God. And do you know what he really loves – preaching the Gospel. He

loves preaching the Gospel. The whole point, when he debates atheists, all he wants to

do is get to the Gospel. He just wants to tell people about Jesus, the Son of God, who

died on a cross for the sins of the world, and three days later conquered the grave.

He’s really an amazing guy! But here’s what he said. And he wrote a book called

‘Against the Flow’. And it’s a little commentary on the book of Daniel. He says this –

“It was in another world that he invested his life. And it is there that he now enjoys his

inheritance. It goes without saying that one would be a fool to live for another world if

that world did not exist. That really would be seriously delusional. On the other hand, if

it does exist, not to invest one’s life in it would be equally delusional, would it not?”

You know, I want to challenge you. There are a lot of people, maybe even men and

women sitting in this room, and all of us to some degree, little moments of our lives, day

by day, we would say, “Oh I believe there’s another world.” There are a lot of people

who say,

“I believe there’s a Heaven.”

“I believe there’s a Hell.”

“I believe that Jesus is real.”

“I believe He returned to Heaven.”

“I believe He’s coming again.”

“I believe there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth.”

But they don’t invest their life in it.

They live as though there really isn’t a Heaven.

They live as though Jesus never will come back.

The value system of this world that’s passing away is the value system that they buy

into, rather than Heaven’s value system. That’s delusional. And that’s a strong word.

But I love how he used it. That’s delusional.


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And I wonder if any of us tonight have to repent of being delusional. “Lord, I believe

your kingdom exists; but I’m actually not investing my life in it. Will you forgive me of

such delusion?”

So here we go – chapter 1, verse 1. We’re going to look at this guy in his youth,

because I think he is so important. We just don’t want to lose who this guy is in the

broad pass that we’re going to make through the content of what he had to say.

“1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” So in the margin of your Bible there or even right over it – you can write –

605 B.C.

605 B.C.

“2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand,…” Daniel immediately brings God into the picture.

Daniel’s writing in hindsight; but he’s writing what he saw as a teenager.

As a teenager he processes his entire existence, and even the horrific events that led to

his deportation – every circumstance he processes in light of God.

Daniel is not content to merely inform us of what happened.

He wants us to know why it happened.

Now I’m sure that if - let’s just mix some times for illustration sake - I’m sure that in the

Babylonian Times, the E-Version of it, it would have said, “Nebuchadnezzar takes

Jerusalem.” And Daniel says that’s not how it happened. The Lord gave it to

Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel’s clear on that. He’s clear on that because God had sent

His prophets to plead with the people of the southern kingdom, for them to turn from

their idolatry. God sent his prophets. Daniel was a young boy when one of them in

particular, Jeremiah, was prophesying so clearly in Jerusalem and in Judah. He sent

His prophets to announce the coming of Babylon, to announce the destruction of

Jerusalem, and their 70 years of captivity in Babylon.


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Again, I want to quote John Lennox from the book ‘Against the Flow’ – “We might

reasonably say that he was so convinced of this that if Nebuchadnezzar had been

stopped by an unexpectedly spirited defence by Judah, or even by some direct Divine

intervention, it would have created problems for his faith in God.”

Had Jerusalem not fallen to Babylon, Daniel would have been perplexed because

God’s men had spoken God’s Word. And he hung everything on it. Judah did not

listen. And as Lennox put it in his book, “the morally inevitable happened.” Guys, there

are some moral inevitabilities in this world, the chief of which is this – if you refuse

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the inevitability that will come is a forever separated

from God. God disciplining His people, sending them into captivity for 70 years in

Babylon, clearly was the inevitable outcome of what God had said.

Listen to this – in the book of Exodus, chapter 20, it’s where we find the Ten

Commandments. Here’s how God prefaces it. He says -

“2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” I mean, it’s inevitable – inevitable!

God was doing exactly what He said He would;

And He had said it time and again through His prophets.

In the course of this book Daniel uses the term, “Most High God” four times. That’s

crucial. As a young man Daniel knew that God was above every earthly authority.

Throughout the course of the book, we’ll see next week, that it’s God who sets up


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kingdoms and kings to suit His purposes. And by way of Daniel God let Judah know

that the position that they were in at that time in captivity –

that Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t in control,

that they actually were wrapped up in the sovereignty of God.

God was doing exactly what He said He was going to do.

God gave them over to Babylon because of Judah’s idolatry.

God gave them over to Babylon because of their failure to honor the Sabbath rest for

the land.

Nebuchadnezzar was God’s instrument of discipline on God’s people. And what’s quite

interesting is that God uses the Babylonian Empire for seventy years, and then after

that they disappear off the geopolitical scene.

Daniel saw exactly what was going on as a young man. He processed life through the

existence of God, and the presence of God at work in human history to accomplish His

plans and purposes.

Verse – “2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some ofthe vessels of the house of God.” We have secular historical records telling that he plundered over 180 vessels.

“2 … And he brought them to the land of Shinar,” - brought them – “to the house of his god, and placed those vessels” - from the house of the living God – “into the treasury of his god” - little ‘g’ god. And we need to keep in mind that those vessels that he took from Jerusalem to put into

the house of his god in Babylon, they were literally designed and formed to be used in

the worship of the one true and living God. The very purpose of the existence of those

vessels was to point to the one true God, the Creator of heaven and earth. But by

taking those vessels, consecrated to and to the worship of the one true God, and

throwing them into the collection of all of these vessels that were dedicated to multiple

gods, these other vessels that were marked with cultic symbols and occultic symbols,


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Nebuchadnezzar was deliberately demoting God from His absolute place of power, and

making God just one of any other number of possible deities. That’s exactly the reason

he took those vessels and did with them what he did.

Now I want you to think about this - the Bible talks about us being vessels, right? The

Bible says that we have been redeemed, that we should yield our members as vessels

or instruments in the hands of God, that we get to be vessels, containers of the very

glory of God in these earthen vessels that we live in. We are supposed to be seeking

the Lord, and asking the Lord to help us to be vessels fit for His use.

Nebuchadnezzar didn’t stop with just vessels. He took the best and the brightest men

of the southern kingdom of Judah back to Babylon as well.

In Daniel 1, verse 3 it says – “3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.” So Daniel tells us that he was a youth, literally a child when he was taken into captivity.

That word means anywhere between 12 and 20 years old. Now Nebuchadnezzar was

typical of the ruthless absolute monarchs of that age. But he was also a man of

intelligence and a far looking vision. He instituted a radical plan of social engineering.

He deliberately chose the most able promising captives. They had to be young,

because, as experience shows us, older people are fixed in their ways. They resist

change. They’re not very moldable. They’re not very pliable.

So they had to be young.

They had to be physically fit.

They had to be good looking to stand in the king’s presence.

They had to have strong intellects.

They had to have great aptitude to learn and administrate.


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Nebuchadnezzar understood the importance of language and literature. You might want

to write those two words down as we look at his process of social engineering here –

language,

and literature.

Those are influential things in culture. And he insisted on a three-year intensive

immersion into Babylonian culture, because he was going to change the most elite of

Judah.

He knew the importance of language;

He knew the importance of literature,

if he was going to cause these young men to lose their identity,

as followers of the true and living God.

It was clear that what he had in mind was that,

at the end of those three years they would be -

insiders in a culture of idolatry,

not foreigners in it who threatened it.

And that’s exactly what the god of this world wants to do with every Christian.

He wants to strip away your identity.

He wants to just press against you, and press against you from every direction -

And especially the generation of young people, to strip away their identities,

so that in the end they’ll be –

insiders in a culture of idolatry,

not foreigners who threaten it.

The Bible says that we, as Christians, live as “strangers and pilgrims in this world”.

Some of your Bibles would translate it as “foreigners in this world”.


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Paul writing to the Philippians, he says, “Our citizenship is from Heaven.” He was

writing this to the Philippians. They were citizens of Rome. They lived in a little replica

of Rome in their city of Philippi. The city streets ran the same way as the streets in

Rome ran. Everything about it was just a replica of Rome. They knew what it was like

to be in a colony. And Paul says, “Yeah, that’s your earthly address. But your real

citizenship is from Heaven, from which we eagerly await the return of our Lord

and Savior Jesus.”

But, see, the god of this world wants to just strip that identity away. And he starts at a

young age. I have always believed that Monday nights at Metro - I know some of you

may be taking it personally over the years when I always address young people on a

Monday night. Thank Jesus there are young people to address; because the way the

god of this world is going to wreck the witness of the church is to strip away the identity

of the future of the church. We hear of it time and time again, young men, young

women, who grew up in a home that had strong Christian influence, grew up in

churches. They go away to college. And in three years they have no faith. Could it be

that social engineering was happening long before they ever got to college? And while

there was this veneer, this appearance of being involved in church, and being

associated with church, that every week that went by in your kids’ lives they were being

stripped away,

and stripped away,

and stripped away.

Try to imagine what went through the minds, and what was going on in the hearts, of

these four teenagers when they arrived at the city of idols.

Why were they being judged?

Why did God bring the Babylonians down?

Because they had worshipped idols, right?

God didn’t save them, didn’t get them out of Egypt so that they would worship idols. He

redeemed them. He says, "I’m the one that got you out of Egypt. And there’s no other


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God but me. Just worship me! Don’t you ever worship idols!” And, of course, God put

all the gods of Egypt to shame, right? Every plague was a judgment on the various

gods of Egypt to show that He was the only true and living God so that those who He

rescued out of that culture of idolatry would forever say, “We love and worship and

serve the one true and living God.” So here are these boys, 12, 13 year old guys,

they’re now in Babylon because of the inevitability of Judah’s idolatry. So to cure them

of their idolatry, God says,

“I’ll bring you to the city of idols.

I’ll bring you to the birthplace of all false religions.

I’ll bring you to idol central.”

Babylon was five times the size of modern day London. Google it to get an aerial view

of the city of London. Imagine a city five times that size - over 200 square miles.

Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, 44 B.C. to 25 B.C. - he’s called the father of

history because he was the first historian known to collect his material systematically,

test their accuracy, arrange them in a well-constructed narrative. You can read about

him in the Oxford Dictionary. And it will tell you about him. Herodotus tells us that the

walls of Babylon were 300 feet high - numerous towers and gates with a river running

through the center of it. He says they could race chariots four abreast on the outer

walls of the city - bronze gates on the outer wall. On the outer wall there was a distance

of a quarter of a mile to the inner wall. There were 200 altars on the open streets of

Babylon, 153 temples – a couple of them 3 miles in circumference. In the temple of

Marduk they found a table 40 feet long, made of solid gold that weighed 50,000 pounds.

There were The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Chaldeans were supposed to be

the wisest culture of their age. Coming from a place like Jerusalem - the Lord willing,

we’re in the prayerful planning stages of taking a trip to Israel in the spring of 2016.

We’re working with an agency now. We hope to get some dates back. You go, and you

can walk on the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, which is pretty much the footprint of

the city in the day of Jesus – it’s ridiculously small. These boys came from Jerusalem,

and looked at some place five times the size of modern day London. Josephus tells us

that Daniel was castrated and made a eunuch.


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So let’s summarize Daniel. As a child think of 12, 13 years old, a middle schooler. He

has his family taken away. He has his manhood taken away. His life is completely

destroyed. And he comes face to face with a scene that’s beyond anything he could

imagine. But look at what he’s made of –

Chapter 1, verse - “5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank.” To get a grasp of this, we don’t have an account, a secular historical account of

Nebuchadnezzar’s table; but we do have a description of Cyrus’s table, whose kingdom

was not near as glorious as Nebuchadnezzar’s. Here’s his daily table, right? – Cyrus’s

– 400 sheep, 300 lambs, 100 oxen, 30 horses, 40 deer, 400 geese, 100 young geese,

300 pigeons, 600 small fowls, 3,750 gallons of wine, 75 gallons of new milk, 75 gallons

of sour milk, 22,000 loaves of bread. And his table looked like McDonalds compared to

Nebuchadnezzar’s. So Daniel’s brought into this scene to be trained, desensitized and

brainwashed.

Verse - “6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.”

Daniel, his name means – God is judge.

Hananiah means – The LORD is gracious.

Mishael means – Who is Like the LORD.

And Azariah means – The LORD helps.

Man, their names just compose this beautiful theme as these boys were taken to

Babylon.

Verse - “7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.”

Belteshazzar means – May Baal protect life.

Shadrach means – Illumined by Roc.

Meshach means – Who is like Aku?


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And Abednego means – The servant of Nebo.

Now their names – it might seem a slight thing that they sound close; they’re not all that

far removed. So what’s so big? It’s huge because they’re trying to strip their identity as

believers in the one true and living God.

This was the agenda.

This is what they wanted to transform these boys into.

Now in light of all the depressing news that we’ve got up to this point there’s one crucial

word. It’s the conjunction “but”. It’s a great word in Scripture, because it invariable

means forget everything you’ve heard about so far, and think about this. The classic

use of that conjunction –

Ephesians 2, verse 1-7 - “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that even now works in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God,…” So forget all that stuff -

“4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—” Think of that contrast in Ephesians 2:1-7. And that’s where we come here. Daniel’s

life has been destroyed by every human way of thinking. And now this other world is

coming at him like a tidal wave. It says –

“8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.” Guys, every dinner and feast for a sacrifice to the idols of Babylon. In other words,

every meal was an idolatrous feast. Note this with me; and I especially want to throw

this out to you parents whose kids are in public schools, and for you students that are in


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public schools, and especially you college students – It’s very interesting that Daniel did

not protest about having to go to the University of Babylon. It says that he learned the

ways of the Chaldeans. Those were the astrologers of the day.

He learned their sciences.

He learned their mythology.

He learned their sorcery.

He didn’t protest the content of his education.

But when it came to idolatry he had nothing to do with it.

There are going to be times, guys, when you’re going to go to a class, and you’re just

going to be hearing poop. Write it down. Take notes. Answer all the questions right on

your tests. That’s not surrendering your faith.

Daniel didn’t protest his curriculum. But he would have nothing to do with idolatry.

Remember Daniel would have heard the ministry and proclamations of Jeremiah.

He saw Judah;

He saw Jerusalem leveled.

He saw what happened because of idolatry.

Now here’s a question. And I’m going to ask this of you parents. What kind of

impression are we making on our children so that they will not be carried away by the

Babylon that surrounds us? See, for most Christian parents the first thing they think

about is isolating their kids. Everything that loomed before Daniel loomed before our

kids, looms before our kids.

It intimidates them.

It tries to strip them of their Christian identity.

It tries to strip them of their Christian influence.

It seeks, if you would, in a moral way, in a spiritual way, to castrate them.


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But in light of the influence of God on this young man’s life Daniel resolved –the King

James Version – Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself by the

idolatry around him. That word “resolved” - or in the King James Version -

“purposed” – it means to compile and put together pieces. Isn’t that an interesting

word? Daniel took what he did know of the Word of God. Daniel compiled what he did

know of the God of Israel. And he realized; he connected the dots; he compiled the

information, the truth that God’s prophets had declared, the truth of what was recorded

in the Scriptures up to that time. He took all of it; and he compiled it as a young man.

And he said, “Idolatry is wrong. And I’m never going to go there.”

This is huge, huge stuff, guys! It was that decision that charted the course for his life.

I hope you young men and women are hearing me.

It was that decision that charted the course for his life.

It was that decision that made an impact, literally on history.

Our lives are influenced by his writings. Daniel makes a decision at 13 years of age

that would ultimately set him over a succession of world empires that would come and

go; but he was left standing because he decided at the age of 12 or 13 to honor God.

And God says in His Word that He’ll honor those that honor Him. It’s amazing! The

Psalms tell us that the rest of Judah sat and wept by the rivers of Babylon, lamenting

that they couldn’t worship God there in Babylon; but here’s this 13 year old boy, who

was determined that he would worship. Here’s a 13 year old boy who said in his heart,

‘The only thing they can’t take from me is my God. And I don’t care if I die. They can’t

take my God. They took my mom and dad. They’ve taken my manhood, my

masculinity from me. They’re trying to take everything from me. But they cannot take

my God.’

It grieves me when youth ministries look at teens, and think that they can only

play games with them.

It grieves me when they never challenge kids to rise up to such a commitment of

heart and life.


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It is critical to invest in our youth, and to impart to them the Word of God.

In Daniel 1, verse – “9 And God…”

The King James Version reads – “9 Now God…”

And I kind of like that.

Verse 8 begins with, “But Daniel….”

And verse 9 begins with, “Now God…”

And here’s the point.

Whenever there’s a “But Daniel…”;

and you can say – “But Richard…”;

or “But you put your name there…”;

There’s going to be a “Now God…”

Any time –

there’s a “But Daniel…” or “But Richard …”

“purposed to not be defiled with idolatry”;

there will always be the “Now God …”

Put your name in verse 8;

And God’s going to be the same in your life as verse 9.

And I want to tell you something, especially any of you who are relatively new here at

Metro – everything we do at Metro is geared to you hearing the Word of God –

so that you will have enough spiritual input to connect the dots and compile the

things that the Spirit has to say to you in the Word of God,

so that you can make the same consecration of heart and life to the Lord.

And when you do that - watch –


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God will move.

God will move in your life.

I ache for more men and women –

to care about the Word of God deeply,

to treasure it,

to value it,

to be steeped in it,

to be taught it,

to have time in it on their own,

to have time in it in corporate worship,

so that they can purpose,

they can resolve,

they can put the pieces of truth of Scripture together;

and the Holy Spirit will be there to connect truth with truth,

so that they can purpose in their heart to not be defiled.

Verse – “9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,” The Bible says in Proverbs 16:7 –

“When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Verse – “10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.”” And this guy got it. You know, you might remember that Nebuchadnezzar killed the

children of King Jehoiakim right before his eyes. He literally brought Jehoiakim’s

children before him, and killed them in his sight. And then he gouged out Jehoiakim’s

eyes so that the last thing he would ever remember seeing was his children being


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murdered. Nebuchadnezzar’s favorite indoor sport was to barbeque his enemies.

Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego – he threw them into a fiery furnace,

right? If anybody hassled him he’d cut off their heads, and make their house a dung hill.

You didn’t mess with Nebuchadnezzar.

So in verse - “11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”” Now personally I cannot imagine a 13 year old saying, “Hey, I don’t want a

cheeseburger. Can I have spinach? Can I have some brussels sprouts?” It’s hard for

me to imagine that. But that’s how committed they were to not be defiled, right?

“14 So he (the chief eunuch) listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. 16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.” Now I am not pushing a vegan diet. Normally if you just eat fruit and vegetables for ten

days you don’t get fat. There’s no fat content in veggies, right? So this is a God thing

that happened. They gained weight because there was supernatural assistance

happening here. And that’s what this book is all about. It’s about God who’s above all

stepping into human affairs.

In verse – “16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.” The King James Version says – “and gave them pulse”.

That Hebrew word means – something sown; something sown.

Verse – “17 As for these four youths, God…”

And here it is!

“17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”


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God gave them gifts.

God gave them wisdom.

There’s wisdom to be received from God.

James chapter 1, verse – “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Think of the wisdom of Solomon. He didn’t learn that from his dad. His dad was a

shepherd, right? He got it from God. And I’m not saying that you don’t have to study,

as you’re willing to apply yourself to learning. And as these young Hebrews had to do,

they were under intense supervision to study, God gave them wisdom.

And here’s the picture. Daniel chose for himself things sown over the delicacies of

Babylon, okay? Things sown would be – you plant them, you grow them, you eat them,

as opposed to things raised, like – cattle, right, or like flocks. He chose for himself

things sown.

Now Jesus told the parable of the sower, and how he went out and he sowed seed.

And Jesus said that the seed that was sown was the Word of God. And that speaks to

us, guys. It encourages us to choose for our diets, for our emotional need, and our

spiritual need, we should choose things sown, things sown into our lives from the Word

of God that make us wise unto salvation. I want to challenge you tonight to choose for

yourself a diet of things sown over the diet that the rest of the world is trying to feed on,

all of the self-help books, and all of the bookstores and online stuff, you go to Amazon,

and the stuff that just floods the best seller’s there. And people are just glutting

themselves on anything and everything, fallen wisdom to try to somehow satisfy the

deepest need of their lives. And it never will.

So remarkably, as these guys are saying we’re going to give ourselves to things sown,

God gives to them this wisdom. And, again, Daniel’s writing in hindsight. And as he

looks back – think of this – as he looks back and writes this first chapter there’s no

whining. He doesn’t say, “Oh it was so hard. You should have seen the tears in my

dad’s eyes.” I’m sure he saw the tears in his dad’s eyes. He doesn’t say a thing about


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his dad. We don’t know anything about his dad. His dad could have been slaughtered

before his own eyes. But there’s no whining. There’s no excusing. There’s no, ‘Well, I

had this bad upbringing’, or ‘My life’s been hard’. When Daniel looks back he doesn’t

sing the blues because the purpose of his writing is to make clear that there is a God;

and He’s in control of everything, even the horrible things that he lived through so early

in his life. And how this ties together with what we’ve been learning about Joseph on

Sundays! And as he looks back, the one thing that he does tell us is he made a choice.

And that choice determined the course of his own life, and really because of the

prophetic content of his life, and the example of his life it affects the course of human

history. Everybody in this room, everybody in this room has the capacity to make that

same choice. But isn’t it just so easy for us to come up with every excuse for our own

sin, whether it’s sexual immorality, or whether it’s choosing to buy into Babylon’s value

system. But the truth is that we have the same ability to choose to serve God. And

remarkably, as a young boy he purposed in his heart, he put together what he knew, he

put together what he heard about God. That’s why it’s important on these Monday

nights, guys, as you leave from here, that you not just be hearers only, but doers. You

connect the truth that the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart from the Word of God, and

then obey Him when He wants you to act on it. And he decided that the one thing he

would never do is serve another God. And God blessed that choice, and worked

through that choice.

It says – “17 As for these four youths” - Wow!

“18 At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.” Wow!

2nd Chronicles 16:9 from the New Living Translation – “9 The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him…” God is the same God today as He was to Daniel.


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And you and I – we’re under pressure to conform to Babylon. And sometimes we

measure success, we measure meaning in our lives, we try to find our identities in the

most un-Biblical ways, and the most un-Biblical places. Yet here’s this young man,

stripped of everything that would give to him meaning by man’s standards. And he

commits himself to the Lord. And he ends up being the most trusted advisor to the most

powerful rulers of his day. God is the same today. Guys, that’s the heart of our vision

for you, to see a bunch of men and women committed to God, ten times better than the

best that the world has to offer. Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for this time in your Word. I thank you for every man and woman

here. I thank you for the youngest one. I think you for the oldest one. I thank you for

everyone in between. And right now I pray that everyone here would resolve in their

own hearts to be committed to you.

While every head is bowed, every eye is closed, if you need to give your life to Jesus,

you’ve heard the Gospel; people have shared with you; the Lord has got you here,

you’re hearing the truth of God’s Word, I want to ask you to give your life to Him tonight.

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