Daniel's Protection

We’ve been making our way through Daniel chapter 6 and last week we ended with Daniel being thrown into the Lion’s den and a huge stone, sealed with the signets of the King and the other political leaders being placed over the opening of the den.

Part of what we looked at last week were the charges that were brought against Daniel.

The fact that he was a Jew

He was charged with giving no regard to the King (which was untrue)… and

He gave no regard to the decree that Darius had signed (that part was true)…

These were the charges that the other political leaders brought before King Darius and ultimately had Daniel thrown into the Lion’s Den.

Quick question… what or who was the motivating force behind their hatred of Daniel?… … Satan… … now, it is no secret that Satan hates the Jewish people… but why does he want this specific one, Daniel, to be killed?

Now that is a very interesting question… … a question that you might not even think about as you skim over a seemingly familiar passage of Scripture.

Keep in mind, Daniel is in his mid to late 80’s at this point. These first 6 chapter are historical records of events that Daniel was directly involved in… And the final 6 chapters of this amazing Book are the prophetic writings of Daniel that talk about events that are still going to take place in the future.

As I stated when we first started our study of this book, Daniel most likely wrote all of this down towards the end of his life sometime after the events of these first 6 chapters took place.

But the question remains then… why does Satan want Daniel to be killed?… … I believe the answer to that question can be found in the beginning of the following chapters…

Daniel 7:1 NKJV

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.

Daniel 8:1 NKJV

1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me the first time.

Daniel 9:1 NKJV

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—

So during the time of King Belshazzar (between chapters 4 and 5) and then King Darius (chapter 6), before being thrown into the Lion’s Den, Daniel was given 3 prophetic visions from God… Visions that he had not revealed to anyone else yet and had not put together collectively as any sort of writing.

Do you think Satan knew that Daniel recieved these visions?… absolutely!… Given the content of the visions and how they reveal Satan’s defeat, do you think Satan would be motivated to keep that information from spreading?… you betcha…

What better way, than to smear Daniel’s name and reputation with such bogus charges and have him eaten by a bunch hungry Lions… Satan figured his problem was solved… What Satan didn’t consider… was…

Daniel’s Protection

And that is exactly what we are going to look at this morning…

Turn in your Bibles to Daniel 6… (Read vv.18-28)

Meat:

As we consider Daniel’s protection this morning, the first point that I want to make is the fact that…

Daniel’s Protection Was...

1. Hoped For By Darius

Obviously it wasn’t hoped for by the other political leaders… in fact, they were hoping for the complete opposite… they wanted Daniel dead. They were hoping to find a pile of bones the next morning and several satisfied lions with full bellies.

But Daniel’s protection was hoped for by Darius… who was…

1.1 A Worried King

We can see this beginning in v.16…

Daniel 6:16 “So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.””

As I stated last week, I am certain that Darius had heard the stories of King N and Belshazzar and how they went against Daniel’s God… Now he gave the order to put Daniel to death for worshipping his own God…

v.18 says…

Daniel 6:18 “Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him.”

King Darius was so worried about Daniel that…

1.2 He Wouldn’t Eat

He “spent the night fasting”.

So often, one of the go to ways to try and relieve stress is eating… Its been a rough day, a lot of things have transpired, you open the freezer and there it is… an unopened half gallon container of chocolate moose tracks ice cream… … y’all better right that down… “Pastor looks stressed - get him some chocolate moose tracks ice cream”…

We stress eat… some people have other vices that they turn to… smoking or drinking being some common ones…

But Darius was so worked up that he wouldn’t eat…

Also…

1.3 He didn’t want any Entertainment

I believe that the ESV translates this verse the best… it says

Daniel 6:18 ESV

18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

When we are worried about something that we can do nothing about, we try to find things that will take our mind of from it… watch tv, hang out with friends, listen to music…

When King Saul was going through bad days, the only thing that would settle him down was David’s harp playing…

Oriental kings were given all kinds of diversions to entertain them and help them relax; It could be music, women, dancers, food, drink… anything to divert the king’s mind off from whatever was troubling him.

Darius wanted none of that… “no diversions were brought to him”

and to top it all off…

1.4 He Couldn’t Sleep

“His sleep fled from him”

How often have you laid down in bed and thought… “I am just going to go to sleep and this feeling will be gone when I wake up” or how about “everything will be fine in the morning”…

Darius had a rough night. He returned to his palace as a troubled man, very distressed and filled with worry and anxiety. He had been forced to execute his most trusted and capable official, all because he had been misled by a group of conspirators.

The more he thought about the situation, the more disturbed he became. He spent the night without eating, without being entertained… and probably spent most of the night tossing and turning in his bed or pacing the floor.

A little bit of speculation here… Darius didn’t sleep a wink that night,… but I bet Daniel did…

Do you remember the account of when the Angel came and loosed the chains from Peter’s arms, opened the prison cell and led Peter out of the prison?…

This was the night before Peter was to be brought to Herod for a trial that would most likely end with Peter being executed…

Acts 12:6 NASB95

6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.

and then in v.7

Acts 12:7 NASB95

7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.

The main cause of Peter’s peace was the knowledge that Herod could not do anything to him unless God approved of it first…

Daniel knew the same thing… and so I speculate that Darius’ night of anxiety and sleeplessness was a night that Daniel slept soundly with the plush mane of lion as his pillow.

Moving on… … the second point that I want to make is that … Daniel’s Protection was…

2. Revealed

Daniel 6:19–20 “Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions.

Basically, as soon as the sun came up, he was gone… headed to the den… trying to get there as fast as he could. It is speculated that Darius was 60-65 years old during this time, so however fast a low to mid sixties fella can run (or shuffle) that is how fast he was going…

20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel.

A sad sorrowing voice, a voice of anguish, a voice of anxiety,… of voice of someone who has been up all night worrying about what the morning would bring… … v.20 goes on to say…

The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?””

I don’t want you to miss this… Darius says something remarkable here. He confesses that Daniel’s God is “The Living God”… not a dead idol,… but a miracle working, living God.

As we move on to the next verse, we see that Daniel’s protection is revealed…

2.1 By Daniel’s Voice

Daniel 6:21 “Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!”

Now this shows Daniel’s respect for King Darius… He answers with standard greeting that you would give to a King… when I am sure most of us would’ve probably responded with something like…

“Yeah, I am fine… no thanks to you”

I wonder if Daniel answered right away or if he had to wipe the sleep out of his eyes first… either way… To Darius' surprise… Daniel answered.

So his protection is revealed by his voice and it is was also revealed…

2.2 Through Glorifying God

Daniel 6:22 “22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.””

Daniel is always quick to give God the glory… the den was sealed, no one could see in… I am sure we all know someone that would come up with an elaborate story of how they wooed the lions with their singing, or wrestled each one until the lions were so exhausted that they fell asleep, or they took off their chain necklace and, through hypnosis, put the lions into a trance...

Not Daniel… no elaborate story about himself… He immediately give glory to God and says “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me… ” And by the way, that’s got to be extended to mean that He sort of took care of their paws too, because they could have easily ripped Daniel to shreds.

Many believe that the phrase “His angel” is a reference to the Pre-Incarnate Christ, and this is the same Angel that met Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) in the fiery furnace...

And what did they do when they came out of the furnace?… and actually the Septuagint suggests that they started while they were in the furnace… … but the fact of the matter is… they glorified God.

Pastor Thompson says this in his notes… “One reason why God lets bad things happen to His people is so that He may be glorified by the response of His people to the bad thing” (Repeat)

And here is something else that sicks out to me with Daniel’s situation and S, M, & A’s situation… and that is… God’s faithful servants are immortal until their work is done.

If you are doing what God wants you to do and you are doing it in the way that God wants you to do it… then until you complete whatever God’s plan is for your life, you are basically immortal…

You may get some bumps and bruises, you may have some medical emergencies… unfortunately, we still have to deal with our temporal body… but if you still have air in your lungs and a functioning brain… guess what… God still has a plan for you! He’s not done with you yet… and until He is, death cannot touch you.

We’ve got to move on…

Daniels protection was revealed by Daniel's voice, it was revealed through Glorifying God and it was revealed…

2.3 Through Celebration

Daniel 6:23 “23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.”

Joy flooded the King's heart, and he immediately ordered Daniel taken out of the Lion's den. Standing in utter amazement, the king looked Daniel over very closely and found no injury whatsoever on Daniel's body. Again, notice the reason. Because Daniel had trusted in the Lord.

But the celebration was brief as there was another matter that needed to be addressed… The King had been duped… he had been manipulated into throwing his most trusted advisor and friend into the lions den… and that needed to be dealt with right away…

Notice that Daniel’s Protection was…

3. Followed by Punishment

Obviously, not Daniel’s punishment, but the punishment of the ones that manipulated the King…

Daniel 6:24 “And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.”

It seems cruel that the families were destroyed along with the conspirators, but that was official Persian law. Jewish law prohibited punishing the children for the sins of the fathers…

Deuteronomy 24:16 NASB95

16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.

However, we are not dealing with Jewish King, we are dealing with a Medo-Persian one and he took a different view. He didn’t want any remaining member of a traitor’s family to conspire to kill the ruler who ordered the fathers execution… and so their law was…

“On account of the guilt of one, all his kindred must perish.” - Medo-Persian Law

There is a lesson here for anyone that is a parent or may become a parent at some point… and that lesson is this – Your sin will have a consequence on your children… … If honoring God is not very high on your priority list, then there is a good chance that it won’t even be on your child’s priority list…

If being involved in church is not a high priority for you, then it is very likely that your children will choose not to go as soon as they are old enough to do so.

These families were affected by the choices that their husbands and fathers made…

v. 24 says “… the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.”

This is a gruesome description, but it proves that Daniel was not in the presence of old, non-hungry lions… as some critics of Scripture would suggest…

But the point of this text here is to show you they weren’t old and toothless. They weren’t filled up. They were hungry. And they were so ferocious they shredded those people before they ever hit the ground.

God did a miracle, by protecting Daniel.

And finally this morning…

Daniel’s protection was…

4. Followed by a Proclamation

Daniel 6:25–27 “Then King Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. 26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, And steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, And His dominion shall endure to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues, And He works signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Darius issued a proclamation declaring that all people must fear and reverence the Lord, the God of Daniel, because:

He is the living God

He is the eternal God

He is the ruling God

He is the rescuing God… and…

He is the all powerful God

Warren Wiersbe says “The theology expressed in the decree of Darius is as true as anything written by Moses, David, or Paul.”

I don't know about you but I feel that Darius was more of a god-fearing man now than he ever was in his life.

v.28 says…

Daniel 6:28 “28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”

Closing:

As we close out this wonderful chapter that contains, what you may have thought was, a familiar story…

I want to mention this…

It doesn’t happen this way ever time… not every faithful servant of the Lord is delivered from trial and death in some miraculous way…

Hebrews 11 is full of names of faithful servants of God, that witnessed and experienced some miraculous events… But the end of that chapter also says

Hebrews 11:36–38 “36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”

These unnamed “others” had just as much faith as the one who are named at the beginning of the chapter... but God, in His sovereignty, did not grant them special deliverance.

I say that, to say this…

God may ask you to walk through some dangerous places and situations… but He’ll never ask you to go alone… He will be there, with you, the entire time.

As you become more faithful to God and He decides to use you, in different ways, to share His gospel, you can bet that Satan will try to stop you in whatever way he can…

You will face your share of lions… sickness, death, business problems, relationship problems… anything to get you distracted from God’s plan…

But when you are facing the lions of life, I encourage you to do one thing… … remain faithful to God… So often we want to blame God and that is exactly what Satan wants us to do… … but like Daniel, we must remain faithful to God and to what He has called us to do.

And when all is said and done, those who honor God… will be honored…

I will close with a statement made by Pastor Thompson…

“God, in His Sovereignty, permitted Daniel (His Faithful servant) to be discredited and attacked so that He could ultimately get rid of his evil enemies and bring His faithful servant to an even greater level of honor and use him to reveal more truth”

Prayer:

Father use us to reveal your truth…

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