Raising a Daniel
“Courageous Living in the Midst of a Hostile world”
Daniel 1:1-21:
1In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Baby lon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
3Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,
4youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, under standing learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and lan guage of the Chaldeans.
5The 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. 6Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shad rach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
8But 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.
9And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 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.”
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.”
14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.
15At 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. 17As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
18At 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.
19And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king.
20And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found
them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his king dom.
21And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.
The book of Daniel is set in the context of Israel’s seventy-year exile in Babylon (Jewish captivity, 6th cent. BC).
• Is it possible to remain pure (or faithful) amidst all the pressures that try to lure us away from God? • As we come to our text we find Daniel, the teenager (Daniel was probably in his early teens when he was taken captive, because he was still alive 70 years later when the captivity ended. Perhaps Daniel was 13-16 years old when he was taken captive around 606 BC), facing a crisis in a foreign land among a foreign peo ple steeped in pagan practices. Daniel’s resolve to stand up for his faith and not compromise his standard is a great example for us to follow.
I. The pressures to compromise with the world
A. There is pressure to change our worldview.
• The king commanded Ashpenaz “to teach them the literature and language of the Chalde ans” (1:4b).
• The Babylonian’s literature promoted a worldview that is directly opposed to everything Daniel and his friends had been taught from God’s Word (e.g. polytheism, art of divination, idolatry) • The temptations to change our thinking may arise from social media – things like binge watching, internet searches, movies and television, video games, shopping, etc.
B. There is pressure to change our worship.
• Read 1:6-7 – The Babylonians removed God’s name from Daniel and his friends. • From Daniel (God is my judge) to Belteshazzar (May Bel protect his life)
• From Hananiah (God is gracious) to Shadrach (Aku is exalted)
• From Mishael (Who is what God is?) to Meshach (Who is what Aku is?)
• From Azariah (God is my helper) to Abednego (The servant of Nebo)
• Today in America and other parts of the world, secularists (modernist, port-modernists, post Christian propagators) are removing God from our schools and from public life (e.g. Evolution)
• Illustration: (Dr. Allan Sundage and Dr. James Gunn, Time Magazine)
C. There is pressure to change our way of living.
• Read 1:8, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way.”
• It might surprise us where Daniel and his friends drew their moral line in the sand. What drove them to resolve not to eat the meat and wine of the king’s table?
• There were two problems with the royal food the king offered, (1) Some of the meat was unclean according to the Mosaic law; (2) All the meat served at the king’s table was offered to idols before it was eaten (Source: Preaching the Word, Rodney Stortz).
• Daniel resolved to be holy.
• Where is your heart? Does it truly belong to God? Or is your heart fixed on the things of this earth?
II. The preparation to pursue holiness at all costs.
How could they stand firm against the pressures of the king and Babylon’s pagan
culture? There had to be some serious preparation.
A. Influence from their community in Jerusalem.
B. Influence from their parents. We don’t know anything about their parents except that they gave them names that speak about God. Their Jewish names speak to the value their parents placed on God.
⇒ The Psalmist likens our children to “arrows in the hand of a warrior” (Psalm 127:4)
⇒ The Psalmist says that we need to “tell the coming generations the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” (Psalm 78:4)
C. Influence from God himself.
⇒ And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of eunuchs…” (Dan. 1:9- 10)
III. The prize for courageously standing up for God.
A. God honors faithfulness.
B. Daniel inspired his friends (E.g. Daniel 3:16-18)
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’”
C. Daniel influenced others (Daniel 1:21)
“And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.”
⇒ Daniel influenced King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar until the reign of King Cyrus the Persian king who overthrew the Babylonian empire. Daniel was able to influence these kings and leave an indelible impact in their lives because of his faithfulness to his covenant God.
Application:
A. How do we prepare our kids for a life of holiness with no compromise?
⇒ Parents have a God-ordained responsibility to teach their child/children truths about God. What if I don’t know enough? What if my children won’t behave?
B. Young people, stand up for what you believe! Take a stand for God!
C. God’s faithfulness gives us hope. Iain Duguid said, “When the world does its worst, God’s faithfulness is enough.”
D. Focus your gaze on the greater Daniel, Jesus Christ.
Hebrews reminds us to glance at the example of men like Daniel (Heb. 11:33). But we must not stop
there. Turn your eyes on the greater Daniel and gaze upon Him, gaze upon his beauty, majesty, and glory (Heb. 12:1-3). Fix your eyes on Jesus who, though without sin, experi enced the ultimate exile on the cross. He was abandoned so God might adopt us as sons and daughters. Only by trusting and treasuring Christ can we be holy in our times of exile. Only by trusting and treasuring Christ can we say:
No to sin and YES to Jesus Christ.
No to going along with the crowd and YES to standing alone.
No to temptation and YES to God.
No to cowardice and YES to bold witness for Christ.
No to rebellion and YES to obedience.
No to the chains of sin and YES to freedom in Christ.