Setting the Stage For Daniel

Transcript

GR1900
11/02/2014
Setting the Stage for Daniel
2 Kings 17-25; Daniel 1
Gil Rugh
We are going to the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel in your Bibles. We are going to be doing some background on Daniel but I want to just draw your attention to a couple of things here. Daniel, as I mentioned earlier today is really what we might call the backbone of Old Testament prophecy. It’s hard to put the prophecy through the Old Testament without Daniel. It is so clear and specific on unfolding details of what God plans for the future. We have not studied Daniel together for a long time in a church service but that may surprise you because we go to Daniel so often. When we have studied the book of Revelation we go back to Daniel. We study some of the prophecies in the Gospel, we come back to Daniel. Daniel is a book we come to repeatedly as we look through what God has promised for the future. It is a key book of understanding prophecy.

If I was going to take a theme for the book of Daniel, I would take it from chapter 4. You might turn there in your Bibles. We will be talking about this as we move into the book but a repeated statement here I think summarizes really what the book of Daniel is about and it makes it very pertinent and current for our day. We look at what is transpiring in the world and with the nations of the world and sometimes think we are devolving into confusion. What a mess. What are the rulers thinking? And yet we are reminded God is sovereign. A repeated statement in Daniel chapter 4 down in verse 17 and the statement I want to pick out that I think summarizes the book is “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind in order that the living may know that the Most High is the ruler over the realm of mankind.” That statement is repeated down toward the end of verse 25 of chapter 4. “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind.” Down at the end of verse 32: “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind.” That pretty well sums up what the book of Daniel is emphasizing. We will talk about the nations of the world and God’s unfolding of what will take place with the nations and you realize He rules. He is sovereign. It is His purposes and plans. We are coming up on an election time and you know, the phone rings, you pick it up and it’s a political call. We are bombarded. Today’s paper, I forget which one, a whole section on the voting. That’s fine. But we are reminded in it all God is sovereign. We are privileged to vote our convictions but when all is said and done, God’s will, will be done and we need to keep that in mind. That’s why we are not caught up in the frustration, the fears, the despair that often characterizes the world or the anger. Why? Our God is ruler in the realm of mankind. It is His plan that is being accomplished and everything is on schedule and moving toward its appointed end. So am I concerned, am I worried, am I frustrated? No, I’m glad to know my God rules and we are part of His perfect plan and looking forward to the culmination of all things.

I want to back up a little bit with you and just give you an overview to put things into perspective broadly in Scripture. As we come to the Old Testament we are not usually as familiar with the setting so we have prepared a chart and by that I mean others have put to together for me. So, put it up on there would you on the books of the Bible and you can see here. What we do across the top starting with Genesis, these are the books that move the history of the Old Testament along. The books under that fit there but they don’t move the history along. So if you want to read just the historical flow of the Old Testament you’ll read Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I King, II Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah and you will have covered the historical flow. I am not saying the other books are not important but they don’t move the history along. They tell you about things that take place within that context. In the bottom in the white box we have where the prophets fit in connection with the Babylonian captivity since we are going to talk about the Babylonian captivity. That is where Daniel picks up with Daniel being carried away in that captivity. So the prophets before the captivity, during the captivity and you will see that is where Daniel fits, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah are the prophets prophesying during the Babylonian captivity. After the captivity you have Malachi, Zechariah and Haggai, or Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi to do it in the order we have them. So the others before that so you just put things in a context of where we are and we will be referring to the closing chapters of 2 Kings because that is what tells us about events and the final kings of the southern kingdom that culminate with the Babylonian captivity.

Babylonian captivity is crucial in unfolding God’s plan for the nation Israel. It begins what is known as the times of the Gentiles where Jerusalem will live under the domination and the Jews under the domination of Gentile powers.

Put up the next chart if you would, Steve. This is just some key times. Obviously it is very selective but the date of Abraham would put him around 2100 B.C. Sometimes I summarize it in my own thinking and say Abraham is about 2000. We can be pretty specific on the dates of Abraham. He would have been born in 2166 B.C., and he died in 1991 B.C. So when we talk about 2100 B.C., 2100 years before Christ or sometimes we round them off 2000. Sometimes we will talk about Moses being around 1500. The exodus occurs in 1446 B.C. So these are major events for the nation of Israel. There are a number of other dates we could put in there but this should get an idea because the nation begins with Abraham and the Abrahamic Covenant and you get an idea of where we are. Then the 400 plus years of captivity in Egypt, the exodus occurs in 1446. There are obviously events in between there because we have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then it’s the lifetime of Jacob that the Jews descend of the family of Jacob which begins the Egyptian captivity.

I put the division of the kingdom here. We have a united kingdom under three kings, Saul, David and Solomon. They are the only three kings that rule over a united Israel. It is interesting they each reign for about 40 years so the dates we have for them Saul and these will vary about a year. You’ll read a year or so difference but these are pretty firm dates. Saul reigned from 1050 B.C. to 1010 B.C. So a 40 year reign for Saul. He is the first king of Israel, anointed by Samuel of course. David rules from 1010 to 970, another 40 year reign. We are not looking at the Scripture passages that establish this. That would involve us in the details we don’t need to go into at this time. Then Solomon succeeds his father, David, and rules from 970 to 931, another 40 year reign, interesting to have these three kings each reign for 40 years. 931 is a key time because the nation Israel will split at that time under Solomon’s son into two entities, the northern ten tribes and southern 2 tribes. Judah and Benjamin comprise the southern kingdom and we usually refer to it as Judah because Benjamin is such a small tribe. Judah is dominant and the center. The northern ten tribes are sometimes just referred to as Israel but keep in mind there is not a united nation after Solomon, his son assuming the throne and his unwise tactics the nation splits and then the northern kingdom will establish its capital at Samaria and its own worship system because there is concern. If they continue to go to Jerusalem and to the temple at Jerusalem for worship the northern ten tribes might get drawn back to joining in with Judah. So they establish their own capital and their own worship system in Samaria there. The southern kingdom maintains Jerusalem and the temple as the center of worship. A key date 722 B.C. After the kingdom splits in 931, in 722 Assyria conquers the northern 10 tribes and they are carried away into captivity.

Why don’t you turn to 2 Kings and you might leave a marker there because we will probably come back there. 2 Kings, chapter 17 and you see something of the setting: “In the 12th year of Ahaz, King of Judah” the chapter opens up in chapter 17 of 2 Kings so you constantly have to go back and forth and it can get to be confusing. You know here’s this man reigning in Judah, here’s this man reigning over Israel in Samaria. You see the contrast. “The 12th year of Ahaz, King of Judah, Hoshea, the Son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria;” Israel there being used as a name for the northern ten tribes because obviously that is the dominant portion, ten of the twelve tribes comprised in the northern kingdom. So sometimes it’s referred to as Israel and the southern kingdom is Judah. “He became king over Israel in Samaria” because that was what was established as a capital and center of worship. The altar, Baal and so on set up there. “He reigned nine years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Easy, there are good kings and bad kings in the southern kingdom. In the northern kingdom after the split there are no good kings. By that I mean no godly kings. So it is easy to remember. Who are the godly kings in the northern kingdom? It is easy to remember. There aren’t any. You could pass that test without studying. “Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.” You can get the dates for this but we are not going to bring those dates in. When the king of Assyria comes and conquers and Hoshea becomes a subject; so he willingly is going to submit and agrees to pay the tribute to the king of Assyria which was a costly amount. “The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt.” Egypt is going to become a dominant player here and a problem for both the northern and southern kingdom. Hoshea thinks, “well, if I can get help from Egypt we can get free from the bondage and oppression of Assyria because the Egyptians don’t want the Assyrians in their area.” When you get down into the land of Israel you know, Egypt wants to dominate that. So Hoshea thinks if he can help from Egypt he can throw off the yoke of the Assyrians. So he quit paying tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria comes and dethrones him and in effect puts him in prison. “He invaded the whole land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.”

And here you go in verse 6: “In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria he captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria,” and you see he scatters them. And the program of the Assyrians to deport the people out of their home land because there is less chance of rebellion. When you want to finally fully conquer, you take the people in Israel, for example, and scatter them to other parts of your empire. You take the people from another part of the empire you have conquered and bring them and resettle them there. Then people aren’t in their home land. They don’t have that historic connection that may make them want to rebel and create problems. That is the end of the northern ten tribes as an entity, not the ending God’s planned. All 12 tribes will be represented and still are represented in the world today even though they can’t identify specifically their tribe. God has kept track. When you get to the book of Revelation we find representatives from each of the twelve tribes represented there. This is 722 B.C. so now all we have is the southern kingdom. God has spared the southern kingdom. You remember the account when the Assyrians come down and God intervenes in answer to prayer and spares them and so on. So the southern kingdom will go on until, and you will note on here you can see it up here, 722 is the fall of the northern kingdom. The fall of the southern kingdom, there are three parts to the Babylonians coming in and dealing with the southern kingdom; 605, 597 and finally 586. In 586 Nebuchadnezzar is done with dealing with the continued trouble with the Jews and he comes in and crushes them, destroys, tears down the walls of Jerusalem, deports all but the poorest people and that is the end of the southern kingdom and basically Israel functioning as an independent nation with its own king is over. We are in the times of the Gentiles. That is different than the fullness of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles are characterized by Jerusalem being dominated and ruled by Gentile powers and that continues down to our day. The fullness of the Gentiles from the book of Romans chapter 11 as we talk about is really the church age and that’s when God is dealing in His salvation work with the Gentiles.

His dealing with the Jews as the focal point of His revelation and His work of salvation in the world will continue through the Gospels. It won’t be until the church starts in Acts chapter 2. So with the crucifixion of their Messiah and the establishing of the church God’s program in salvation work in the world will become focused on Gentiles as we are familiar; so key dates.
So when we open up and you will leave something in Kings for a moment and come back to Daniel. Note how things start. “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand along with some of the vessels of the house of God brought them to the land of Shinar, (Babylon) to the house of his god and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god,” and so on. We go into being introduced to Daniel and his three friends.

This happens in the first conquering by Nebuchadnezzar, 605. Daniel is carried away at that time. A little bit of the history of that time and I should mention the Babylonian Empire that we are talking about in the book of Daniel is sometimes referred to as the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the New Babylonian Empire. The old Babylonian period had covered a period from 1830 to 1550 B.C. Some of you are familiar with Hammurabi. He was the most prominent leader in that old Babylonian Empire. Things were found like the Code of Hammurabi which lists the laws and so on and sometimes read that and say Old Testament history and they look at those laws and see how they compare with the laws that God gave to His people. But there is the old Babylonian Empire and then it went out of power when you read the new Babylonian Empire. You are familiar, Babylon had its beginning in Genesis chapter 10 with the Tower of Babel and Babylon becomes the focal point through Israel’s history and we come to that again in the book of Revelation. We have talked about that.

So what has happened here with the rise of Babylon? Syria was the power that conquered the northern kingdom and they maintained their power until the new Babylonian Empire, the Neo Babylonian Empire comes to power and 626 B.C. I know you aren’t going to remember all these dates but you get an idea of where we are with Daniel. In 626 Nebuchadnezzar’s father succeeds in establishing what we call the Neo Babylonian Empire. In 612 B. C. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria is conquered by the Babylonians.

Now we have a map. Why don’t you put the map up? They are great back in our sound booth about getting this material because I had them find this map for me at the beginning of the service. I like to do things ahead of time. Okay, you see Babylon here? I think most of you can see this map. This is Babylon down here. You come up north and here you see Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. Babylon is the capital of Babylon. So the Babylonians succeed in conquering and defeating Nineveh. The king and the remnant of the Assyrians retreat over here to Haran and set up a defense. In 609 B.C. the Babylonians defeat the Assyrians at Haran. Now something happens here that comes in to play in the Scripture. The last good king of the southern kingdom is Josiah. He ruled from 640 to 609 B.C. Some of you have studied the Old Testament. The revival under Josiah is an attempt to re-establish the law of God. He is a godly king. What happens when the Babylonians are going to come up and move over to try to defeat the Assyrians here? The Egyptians think if they come to help of the Assyrians they can keep the Babylonians because the Assyrians obviously have been seriously weakened but the Babylonians now are the power arising. The Egyptians realize that so Pharoah-Necho decides he is going to come up and help the Assyrians. Josiah, the godly king, and the Scripture doesn’t tell why he does this because Pharoah-Necho tells Josiah, God has told me to go so stay out of it but at any rate Josiah is killed by the Egyptians when he tries to stop them at Megiddo and that is the end of Josiah’s reign. His younger son will come to power. What happens, they are not successful here and they retreat to Carchemish over here and in 605 Nebuchadnezzar comes and defeats the Egyptians. Here it is sort of a stalemate at Haran but they end up retreating over here. They are in Carchemish.

In 605 Nebuchadnezzar comes and crushes the Egyptians and the remnant of the Assyrians and in history that is a major battle. You read about that in history books but it is significant in the Biblical context. 605, remember that was the first time he comes down and conquers this whole area because when he conquers and defeats the Egyptians here, now it’s free. There is nobody to stop him coming down. Josiah has been killed. His son comes to power. He only reigns a short time because is what happens you’ve got a couple of kings in here. I don’t want to lose you. When Necho comes back from this battle up here he removes Josiah that the Jews have set up because he killed Josiah and then he goes on to battle up here but then he retreats in defeat but he still is not giving up this territory. We will have to wait. Nebuchadnezzar will move down but he removes Jehoahaz so he was only on the throne three months. Pharoah-Necho killed his father on the way up and on the way back down he removes the king and puts up another king, Jehoiakim. He will reign from 605 to 598. Now something happens here. When Nebuchadnezzar comes down he conquers all of this area. We won’t go to Chronicles but Chronicles as you aware covers much of the same material as Kings and so we are told that Nebuchadnezzar bound Jehoiakim and was going to take him to Babylon. Something happened. Nebuchadnezzar got word that his father had died in Babylon so he has Jehoiakim agree to be his vassal and to submit to him. What Nebuchadnezzar does and Josephus talks about this referring to earlier historian, Nebuchadnezzar took a contingent of soldiers and went across the desert back to Babylon. That is obviously the shortest route because he has to get back to Babylon and secure his throne. So he is not going to take the normal route which is around what we call the Fertile Crescent but Daniel and his friends and other captives are sent back to Babylon but they are taken back by the Babylonian army around this way. Nebuchadnezzar goes this way so this is when Daniel and his friends are taken back. So because of the crisis with his father’s death, Jehoiakim is left in power. That was 605 B.C.

In 598 he rebels. Nebuchadnezzar comes back and lays siege to Jerusalem but while the siege is going on, Jehoiakim dies. Scripture doesn’t tell how. Some historians think maybe he was murdered by the Jews who were trying to change the situation but after the death of Jehoiakim, his son, Jehoiachin comes to the throne. Don’t you love these names? You know we do the same thing when we name our kids with the same rhyming names. I’ll have a Bill and a Phil and a Jill and you know, how do I get these all together? I couldn’t keep Greg and Cheryl straight but at any rate you have Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and then we are going to get Zedekiah. These are all three sons and one grandson of Josiah but the godly character of Josiah is not carried on in his family line. All four of the subsequent kings, three of his sons and his grandson are all ungodly kings.

In 597 Nebuchadnezzar conquers Jerusalem again. You know you lay siege around the city. Finally it collapses and Jehoiachin only reigned three months. Nebuchadnezzar deposes him and carries him off to Babylon. It’s in this second captivity in 597 that Ezekiel will be taken to Babylon and then you have Jedekiah set up and he agrees to be a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar. He openly rebelled in 588 and Nebuchadnezzar comes back lays siege and in 586, July of 586 to be precise, the southern kingdom is no more. Now there will be a return but you don’t have a re-establishing of the king. Now you say well when we get to the New Testament we have King Herod but he is a vassal of Rome, appointed under the authority of Rome so he is given the title of King by the Romans but he is a vassal of Rome just as some of these others could be but the kingdom of Israel as a kingdom is over. From this point on it will be dominated by Gentile powers and the rulers that are there serve under those powers and to this day there is no real kingdom, king, the Gentiles are still sovereign. Israel has a certain independence but their kingdom is not re-established in that sense and you are aware of that. Alright, we are dealing with Daniel.

Come back to the book of Deuteronomy. See what leads up to these captivities. Deuteronomy chapter 28. In Deuteronomy chapter 28 you have God, and this is the end of Moses’ life. Israel’s preparing to go into the land. The 40 years wilderness wanderings are over and here he promises from God “Blessing for obedience or curses for disobedience.” So the first 14 verses of chapter 28 will deal with the blessings and then verses 15-68 will deal with the curses.
It starts out in chapter 28 of Deuteronomy: “Now is shall be if you diligently obey the Lord your God being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God.” And then it goes on and you see the repeated use of the word ‘blessed’ and all that the Lord will do for them. Then you come to verse 15: “But it shall come about if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statues which I charge you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” You have that repeated word of the ‘cursed’ that follows and all the things the Lord will do in judging them.

Down in verse 36: “The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known. There you shall serve other Gods, wood and stone. You shall become a horror, a proverb, a taunt among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.”

Verse 45: “So all these curses shall come on you, pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandment, His statutes which He commanded you.”

Verse 49: “The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth as the eagle swoops down. A nation whose language you do understand, nation of fierce countenance which will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.”
Verse 58: “If you are not careful to observe the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues upon you.”

Verse 62: “You shall be left few in number; whereas you were numerous as the stars of heaven because you did not obey the Lord your God.” That is repeated emphasis.
The end of verse 63: “You will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. The Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you shall serve other gods, wood and stone which you or your fathers have not known. Among these nations you shall find no rest. There will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, despair of soul. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread day and night, have no assurance of your life.”

Then a reminder when you get into chapter 29 how important it is that you pay attention and “believe in the Lord and manifest your belief in Him by your obedience to Him.” It is exactly what has happened. We talk about what happened with the northern ten tribes being carried away and scattered among four nations; the southern kingdom where we are with Daniel and even a godly young man like Daniel carried away into captivity. Recently we went through Jeremiah in preparation for the background because Jeremiah counselling Israel. The days of opportunity are past. Judgment is coming. You better submit to the Babylonians. If you don’t submit to them it will only go worse for you. You cannot turn things back and they did not listen as you are aware.

Now come over to 2 Kings, chapter 24: “In his days” and we are talking about Jehoiakim. This is the one who ruled from 609 to 598. He was on the throne, remember when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and then he got word his father had died so Nebuchadnezzar leaves him as king but he deports some of the people and that included Daniel and his three friends.

“In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came up and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years and then he turned and rebelled against him. The Lord sent against him.” Now note this: this sovereignty of God comes out in the book of Daniel and you see it’s the hand of the Lord. It just isn’t what happened here. Things are you know bands of Chaldeans, bands of Aramean’s, bands of Moabites, bands of Ammonites. “He sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the Word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants, the prophets. There is no undoing of this. Surely at the command of the Lord it came to pass. To remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh,” which was a particularly ungodly king who had a long reign and those sins were carried on to the people. Josiah’s revival, he was sincere in it but for the people it was superficial. It didn’t last. As soon as Josiah is gone the people returned to their own ways. “To remove them from His sight and all that they had done. The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim they are recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Judah. Jehoiakim slept with his fathers” and on it goes.

Then Jehoiachin comes to power. He only reigned for three months. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. Verse 10: “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem. The city came under siege. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it” and Jehoiachin comes out voluntarily to the king of Babylon and he is taken to Babylon. He is recognized as the last true king of Israel by the Jews because the one that Nebuchadnezzar sets up here, Zedekiah does not have that recognition. He’s also called Koniah and Jeconiah. And mark this man childless. None of his descendants will be prosperous on the throne which would seem to create a problem for the Messiah being in the line but the virgin birth of Christ and it was that prophecy to be fulfilled and yet the Messiah is to be the descendant of David.

The last king, Zedekiah, verse 25: “In the ninth year of his reign on the tenth day, on the tenth month Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came up he and all his army against Jerusalem camped against it, built a siege wall around it and was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.” So the dating here helps establish firm dates. The city is broken into and I mention this because I want to see the kind of kings we have. You know, these were fierce empires. We are seeing what is going on in parts of the world today and we can’t believe, you know and we say well in the 21st century people don’t do this. “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.”

Reading years ago about the Assyrians conquering cities. As they came to a city they impaled 3000 people on stakes around the city to show what happens to people who resist them, barbaric. We see this idea of spreading terror as being acts of war; the idea that we are in a different day. We just can’t make that happen in the world. Nebuchadnezzar is a fierce man. We will keep this in mind when we come to look into these opening sections of the book of Daniel.

King Zedekiah tries to escape. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar after Nebuchadnezzar had put him on the throne, make him vow that he would be subservient so he tries to escape, verse 6. “They capture the king, brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah. He passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put the eyes of Zedekiah out and bound him bronze fetters.” The point is, the last things you are going to see will be the slaughtering of your own kids. Now blind him. Now put him in chains and take him to Babylon. These are not nice men. This is a man who will be ready to throw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego because they won’t bow down and worship him. This is the context in which we are dealing with Daniel being a man of God serving in these kinds of context and talking about that God rules in the realm of mankind.

Come back to the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel in the opening, what could I say? Half of the book, not quite, the best break down. The first seven chapters more of the history of Daniel and events that happened to him and his three friends but Daniel is the dominant character. So there will be prophecy in there, initially the image of the man in chapter two and some other things that are said but it primarily unfolds something of Daniel’s life and his history.

When you come to chapter 8 and through the rest of the book of Daniel the focus is on prophetic material. Not primarily talking about events in Daniel’s life but prophecies given to Daniel. That is sort of the breakdown of the book.

There are two different languages used in the book of Daniel, Aramaic and Hebrew and we will talk about that as we get into the book but a significant portion of those first seven chapters are in Aramaic because they deal with instructions for the nations and then we will have the Hebrew portions of the book as well. So we will talk about that as we get into the book.

Daniel is a man of God. The chapter opens up and it was not unusual for this, this is a preparation when he is taken it seems that in the context that many believe that Daniel was from the royal family because Daniel and his three friends are you will see in verse 3: “The king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court,” and they were to learn the literature and language of the Chaldeans; so good reason to think that Daniel was probably of royal lineage. At least he is of important family background and would have had the kind of background and training and so Nebuchadnezzar is really taking the best of these men to come and serve as his advisors. It shows something of the leadership skill of Nebuchadnezzar; going to take the best of these people that I have conquered and train them. They have to be the best all around, have demonstrated something of their training and of course if you are in the royal family you have had the best of training and you can find out, obviously, who are the wisest and who seem to be the best learners, have the best intelligence. Already, Daniel is still a teen-ager because this is 605. The last sure date we have for him is 536 and he is still functioning in the book of Daniel. So we start adding that up and you see well wow, if he is 15 you know he is going to be living until he is 85 or 90 years of age in here. So he is a man who as a young man has shown in the training he has been given if he is part of the royal family now he is going to learn the Babylonian ways, their literature, their language. You know, not a bad life. He will be provided food from the king’s table. That doesn’t mean he goes and eats with the king but the same food that is provided for the king, the livestock and all of that, is shared with these because these have to be the best all around.

So Daniel is a quality young man and given an honored position but it doesn’t go to his head. He is already a godly young man and that will be the focus of what happens in this first chapter which establishes Daniel’s character and he will serve through all the Babylonian kings and into the kings under the Persian Empire so he has a long time of being an influential person. It seems his power and influence may wane over time obviously with the change of governments but he still maintains a position to be used of God.

You see the sovereignty of God. What a tragedy for Israel. The judgment of God comes but He still has a plan for His people, those who are trusting Him. Daniel is just not caught up in the events that are out of his control. Daniel is a man prepared by God for this time but how terrible. You know, Israel has been conquered by a foreign power, they were now under the domination of the Babylonians. It’s going to get worse. I am carted off to a far and distant foreign land. I don’t know their language. I don’t know their practices. I am a Jew, a fish out of water so to speak. I don’t even need to say as a Jew I can’t eat the same food they eat. Lord, what have you done? How could You let this happen? I want to be a godly person. Why wasn’t I left in the land? Why? You don’t find that in Daniel. He will be showing complete respect and honor to those who have authority over him and complete trust in God and that will characterize the book.

And the thing you like about Daniel is it’s true of him at his youngest age when we meet him and it will be true in his elderly years. What he’s like as an older teenager and what he is like as a man in his 80’s is the same in the sense that he is a godly man fully trusting that God’s plans and purposes are being accomplished and his responsibility is to be faithful in serving Him.
A good reminder for us in the days in which we live and there is turmoil. There are changes taking place in governments and nations. We wonder what is happening to our own nation.
I was reading about the fall of Assyria and the writer was saying, “Why did Assyria fall to the Babylonians?” They had become soft and degenerate. And what happens to the nations, not interested in war.

Francis Schaeffer’s Personal Peace and Affluency; the degeneracy that overtakes. Now I just want the time to enjoy my sin and nations come and go. We shouldn’t be discouraged. United States falls from power what we are told in Daniel chapter 4, the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind. Will we be shaking our heads and wondering who will save them? That’s Daniel’s strength. That’s our testimony in a world of confusion. Let me tell you about the God who rules in the realm of mankind, the God whose purposes are being carried out. Aren’t you frustrated, aren’t you irritated, aren’t you angry, aren’t you upset? No. I mean I am not upset with my God. I believe what He is doing what is best and right. I believe His plans are being accomplished.

For Israel at this time it is a negative. It is judgment, it’s a crushing of the nation in these three deportations with the last one being the worst, the northern kingdom already being gone, for their sin but men like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego it is still not a cause of frustration because they are believers in God. They trust Him. They are faithful to Him so the turmoil going on and the destruction of the nation that they love and are a part of isn’t a frustration of God’s plan for them. That is an encouraging portion of the book of Daniel.

A reminder, nations come and go. True believers cannot avoid being caught up in the turmoil of this world and of the nations. That’s because it is part of God’s plan to have His believers there and we learn to trust Him and we stand as a testimony for Him. Think if Daniel had spent his time bemoaning and complaining and pointing out all that was wrong with Nebuchadnezzar and all that was wrong with the Babylonians. That was not his job. His job is to be faithful in the situation God put and God uses him and continues to use him today.

So we don’t want to miss our day of opportunity. This is our time. It will be great to look at Daniel and to admire him and his faithfulness but this is the time that God has placed us. You know we have the song, “Dare to be a Daniel,” dare to stand alone. We want to manifest the same godly character. Well you say the situation is different. They are. Everything changes and nothing changes God is still on the throne. His purposes are still being accomplished. The world is not out of control. The world is under control. We know where it’s going. We know the ultimate end. Our Lord will rule and reign on this earth even as God, who is sovereign among the nations, moves everything toward that appointed end.

Let’s pray together, thank You Lord for the book that we are looking into. Lord, our mind and Your promises, Your blessings, Your judgment but Lord ultimately You will accomplish everything You have said. Nothing is out of control. Lord we are grieved as we look at our nation and its sin and its rebellion, its open flaunting of sin, its disregard of You, Lord that is the characteristic of a fallen world. How You have blessed us as a nation, given us great opportunities but Lord, nation refuses to recognize You. We thank You for Your promises to Israel, a nation that has suffered greatly and the greatest suffering is yet ahead but Lord through it all You will be faithful to the covenant You have established with Abraham and his believing descendants. You will establish a kingdom on this earth. Your Son will rule and reign and we as Gentiles who have experienced Your saving grace will share in that kingdom and rule and reign with our Savior. Lord may we be shining testimonies for You in these days. How sad it is that we should be caught up in the turmoil of the world and the frustration, the fears, the complaining, the discontent. Lord, we have a peace that comes from You, a confidence that knows that You are in control. You rule in the realm of mankind as You prepare to bring all things to the conclusion of when Your Son will rule personally on this earth. May our study of Daniel encourage us and challenge us. May our testimony be strong and clear that we might be concerned about being faithful to You individually and as a church regardless of what is going on in the turmoil of the world around us. We are safe, we are secure. We are looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of all that You have promised. Thank You for the evening. We look forward to our fellowship together. Bless the time we pray in Christ’s name amen.