richard cimino route66 - 20150831 danielpart266/20150831_danielpart2+(2).pdf · we read the record...

Richard Cimino – Route66 - 20150831_DanielPart2

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ROUTE 66 Destination: Daniel 2-6 Well, tonight our road trip through the 66 books of the Bible picks up where left off in the

book of Daniel. We’re going to pick up in Daniel chapter 2.

The book of Daniel is not about Daniel, especially as we look at this passage.

The book of Daniel is all about God, and in particular –

how God is sovereign,

how He rules over the kingdoms of this world,

how His plan and His kingdom trumps and triumphs over the plans and the

kingdoms of this world that’s organizing itself without God and against God.

But last week, as we launched into our study, we saw that the Holy Spirit does give us a

look into the heart and the life of the prophet Daniel. And without doubt his life is one of

the most compelling in all of Scripture. So we spent a lot of time last week looking at

Daniel, the man. So before we resume our drive through the book of Daniel I want to

reemphasize one of the things I said about him last week. Daniel lived in a city of idols.

And that city was trying to strip him of faith in the one true and living God. And

remember, he was brought to this city of idols at about the age of 12. When Daniel was

around 12 years old Nebuchadnezzar subjected Daniel, along with three of his Hebrew

friends, to a three year intensive immersion into the pagan culture of Babylon. And it

was nothing less than social engineering with one goal in mind, that by the time they

had finished with Daniel he would be an insider in their culture of idolatry, not a

foreigner whose faith threatened the pagan culture of Babylon. And needless to say, as

we read the record of the book of Daniel the project failed. Rather than strip Daniel of

his faith in the God of Israel, Daniel’s faith flourished, and ultimately left a massive

imprint on both the Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires. As we read through the

book of Daniel we find that Daniel led two polytheist pagan kings to saving faith in the

one true and living God – Nebuchadnezzar and a guy named Darius.


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Now what I want to do, before we get going, is I want to take a moment to revisit the

close of our time together last week. And at the close of our time together last week I

was inviting people to make a response, and especially young adults to make a

response to what we learned about Daniel. And I think I was less than clear in the way

I presented that response. And I thought I had said that if anyone in the room,

especially young men and women, not to the exclusion of older men and women, but

especially if young men and women wanted to be like Daniel, wanted to make the same

decision as Daniel, to say right here right now I purpose in my heart to not be defiled by

the idolatry of the culture we live in, I said, “if that’s you I want you to stand up”. And in

that moment I have to confess that I was kind of taken back by the lack of response.

There was like four or five young people who stood up, period. And I will confess that it

almost took the breath away from me. And I was like sitting here frustrated, going,

‘Lord, am I missing something here?’

And what’s really interesting is that yesterday morning a very precious sister that’s been

going to Metro for years, she came up to me after yesterday’s service; and she says,

“Can I have a few moments of your time.” And we sat down here in the front row. And

with tears in her eyes she started to tell me how she was watching last Monday’s study

via the live stream from here. And, by the way, thank you so much, you guys who labor

at every time we meet to stream the services out. It’s just a blessing to so many people.

And anyway, this young lady was telling me that when it was time to respond, sitting in

her home, she felt like the Lord wanted her to stand up in her home, right there where

she was watching. And she said, with tears in her eyes, she said, “I didn’t. And I just

resisted the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And I can’t give you a reason. But it was like I

just couldn’t and didn’t do it.” And in a sense it was so comforting to me to know, like

what was happening here was not like I was misunderstanding what was going on.

There was actually something happening here that was happening in her home, and

that there was just this frozen moment where it’s like, “I know the Spirit’s speaking to

me, but I can’t. And I have no answer why I can’t. But I won’t.” And she sensed that

there was something in her own heart that resisted the prompting of the Holy Spirit.


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Now after the study on the way home I was talking with Valerie. And she’s my best and

most cherished critic. And she challenged me to think about the way that I framed the

response, that perhaps I was unclear; because that’s just my wife; she’s always thinking

that surely there’s some reason why people didn’t respond. And it’s probably not

something with them that was the problem. And maybe you could be clearer than you

are. And I’m surely it’s not beyond me to communicate badly the things that are in my

heart. Like, she’s down in Southern California. We moved Nathan down there last

week. He starts the School of Worship tomorrow morning. And she’s there tomorrow

morning. Actually very early I’m flying to LA; and then I’m meeting my son, Shaun; and

we’re flying to Nashville because, believe it or not, I’m going to play guitar on a record

tomorrow or Wednesday in Nashville. And I haven’t played a guitar in ten years. So

somebody’s not smart. That’s all I can say. But anyway, I’m going to meet her on

Thursday. And I’m anticipating a drive home on Friday or Saturday that’s going to be

very long and very quiet and very tearful, right? And she’s challenging me now that for

the first time in 35 years we will not have a child in the house. And she’s saying,

“You’ve really got to up your game, buddy? You have got to communicate.” So there

are times I think I’m communicating. But I’m obviously not communicating well. So I

agreed with her.

So here’s what I want to do. I want to start tonight where I left off last Monday, but

hopefully with more clarity, okay? See if it’s going to be clear. How many here tonight

don’t want to be like Daniel. Raise your hand if you do not want to be like Daniel. Look

around. Now I’m serious. Please everybody look around, okay? No hands are raised.

If you didn’t raise your hand, that means that you do want to be like Daniel. And that

means that you do want to live in a way that goes against the flow of neo-atheism and

the culture of idolatry that we find ourselves living in. By you not raising your hand

you’re saying that you want to be used to lead men and women to faith in Jesus, and

perhaps influential people to faith in Jesus, even as Daniel led kings to Jesus. So if

that’s what you’re saying I’d like you to begin to make that stand by standing up. So if

you didn’t raise your hand…. So I think I was clear! I’m serious. So if you’re left sitting


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down, you’re ambivalent; and you’re undecided; and you really have made a decision. I

want you to see. There’s a reason why we’re doing this.

Check out this quote by C. S. Lewis from Mere Christianity –

“A promise must be about actions. No one can promise to go on feeling a certain way.”

So I so felt like we needed make an action, take action, rather than just leaving it as a

feeling in our heart of something we ought to be doing daily, but right here and now take

action –

actually move,

actually get up,

actually say,

“I’m going to take an act right now, a step.

I’m going to do this thing that says this reflects my heart.”

So I want to pray for all of you who are standing, saying,

“Yes, that’s me. I want to be like Daniel.”

Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters. And, Lord, I stand with them. And I stand

saying, Lord, I can’t just keep it a feeling in my heart. I can’t expect to walk out of these

doors, and think I’m going to live like Daniel if I can’t stand up to say, “Lord, here I am;

help me be a Daniel.” So for all of us, Lord, we pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit

you would enable us to be so much like the man you worked and formed and shaped

who stood the course of kings and kingdoms in his commitment to you. And I ask these

things of you in Jesus name. And, Lord, while we’re all standing we want to pray for

tonight’s study. Lord, would you please, Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit on us? Lord,

we pray that you would flood our hearts with the light of the knowledge of the glory of

God in the face of Jesus as we study your Word. And, Lord, I pray that you would

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, Lord, to make disciples, to


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save souls. Father, I pray, Lord, that we would leave here different, that we would leave

transformed by the renewing of our minds, all to the glory of the name of Jesus. For it’s

in His wonderful name we pray, amen.

And, by the way, I think this is a healthy habit that we just started; because I think if –

You guys know how much I love you.

You guys know how much the pastors here love you.

We pray for you.

We study the Word to teach you.

We try to minister to you in any way possible that the Lord would direct us to do.

And I want to tell you – If there’s a little weakness in this thing that we call Metro, it’s in

the area of openly responding at the end of Bible studies, of actually saying, “No, that

would be me. I’ve got to do something about it right now. And the easiest way to do

that is to actually make a stand, raise my hand, come for prayer.” Like there are times

where even when Mike Harris was here, I was told that, like it was just, the Holy Spirit

was just dumping. And it was time to respond. And like hardly anybody responded until

like minutes after the study ended. And then they started triple forward. That’s the way

the Devil rips you off. Remember Jesus talked about the sower, sowing that precious

seed. And He said, “And sometimes the seed never had a chance to grow because the

Devil comes, and he snatches the seed up off the ground of the heart.” We don’t want

to be that. We don’t want to give him a chance, because we’re saying, ‘Oh yeah, I am

going to do that.” But then we never do it because before you get out the doors that

precious seed has already been snatched.

So I really want to challenge you;

I need to be challenged –

to make responses to the Lord in the now,

to not hesitate,


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Because I think it grieves the Holy Spirit when we do it.

And the Bible says, “Don’t quench Him.”

And the Bible says, “Don’t grieve Him.”

So myself thrown into that lot of like,

‘Man, I purpose to respond;

But I don’t make a response.’

Let’s make this a strength in our ministry, guys.

Let’s make it a strength.

So Daniel – the book of Daniel divides evenly into two parts.

1. The first 6 chapters contain a historical narrative. And that involves incidences in the

life of Daniel and his friends, as well as prophecies, dreams interpreted, that reveal

God’s dealings with humanity, from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, until the time of the

return of Jesus and the setting up of His kingdom.

2. The last 6 chapters is a series of prophecies and visions that Daniel receives from

the Lord that map out the succession of world powers, and the future of Israel out to

the return of Jesus.

Now in the first section of the book –

each chapter, chapters 1 through 6,

each of those chapters can stand alone.

You don’t have to read and understand chapter 2,

in order to understand chapter 3.

It’s a narrative.

But it’s not a continuing narrative.


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Daniel 1, as we saw last week, does serve as kind of an introduction to the whole book,

because it introduces to us Daniel and his three friends who are best known to us by

their Babylonian names – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Or if you’re a Veggie

Tales fan you know them by their nicknames – Rack, Shack, and Benny, right?

Remember those guys. I thought that was so cool! How clever was that! They help

little kids remember the names of these characters, brilliant! - Rack, Shack and Benny.

CHAPTER 2 – Now we don’t have a specific timeframe for this chapter. But Daniel 2

opens with this. So turn in your Bibles there – Daniel 2:1. We’re going to read chunks

of Daniel as we move through these 12 chapters to get a sense of –

why this book is so important,

why the Holy Spirit inspired it,

why He preserved it,

and why it’s so important for us to be familiar with it so that we can go to it,

and especially relative to things pertaining to the way God has said things

are going to roll out in human history.

“1 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.” The King James Version – I love it – it says –

“you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dung hill.” “7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” 8 The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9 if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. ”


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And it goes on at the end of that verse –

“Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”” So in their very pagan idolatrous worldview they at least have a sense of, like there are

things outside of man; and there needs to be something outside of man that

understands these things. And, of course, they’re processing it in the realm, by way of

the grid, of polytheism.

And verse 12 says - “12 Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.” Now that meant that Daniel and his friends were on the hit list, right?

So Daniel called for the king’s guard, a guy named Arioch.

And he said in verse 15 – “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” “Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.” And here we see another stellar trait in Daniel’s life. He prayed.

And we’re going to see more on that in a bit tonight.

Daniel got together with his three friends; and they sought the Lord.

And look at verse 19 –

“19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals deep and hidden things;


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he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” So Daniel goes to the king; and the king says, “Can you tell me –

what I dreamed,

and what my dream means?”

“27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 28 but there is a God” Remember his guys were saying, “only the gods can know this.”

Then Daniel’s coming in. And here’s this kid. Remember he’s probably in his late

teens, maybe, you know? And he says –

“28 there is a God in heaven” – “a God” - singular - “who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.” And so he says to Nebuchadnezzar –

“31 In your dream you saw a great image.” “32 It had a gold head.

It had a silver chest. Its mid-section and thighs were made of bronze.”

“33 It had iron legs. And then it had feet that were made of iron mixed with clay.”

“34 And then you saw this huge stone. And the stone hit the image in its feet.

And when it did the image crumbled to powder. And it was blown away.”

“35 And then you watched as the stone grew, and became a massive mountain that covered the whole earth.”

And the king goes, “That’s exactly what I dreamed.”

And then Daniel told him that the dream was a picture of the succession of world

governing powers. He says -

“44 But the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it (God’s kingdom) shall stand forever,”


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That is one of the great themes of Daniel – the kingdom of God –

It’s everlasting in character and nature;

the God who is most high, who –

rules over that kingdom,

and rules over everything.

So as a result Nebuchadnezzar –

he honored Daniel;

and Daniel and his friends get promoted.

CHAPTER 3 stands in contrast to the favor that Nebuchadnezzar bestowed on Daniel.

It’s an account that probably everyone in this room has at least heard of.

It’s the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego getting thrown into the fiery furnace.

And here’s how it rolls out. Nebuchadnezzar decided to build an image, not a novel

idea, right? He just had this dream with this massive image. And he saw an image in

his dream. He decides, ‘I’ll build an image.’ And remember in the image that he saw in

his dream the head of gold represented his kingdom, the Babylonian Empire, just the

head of gold. But what did he do? He built a massive image that was entirely made of

gold. And he was essentially telling God, the one God, the true God of Israel, who

Daniel said, “He’s the God who knows these things”, he was essentially telling God that

There was no way his kingdom was going to go down.

There would be no chest of silver.

There would be no mid-section of bronze.

There would be no legs of iron.

There would be no kingdom of iron mingled with clay.

He’s saying his kingdom’s not going down.

He was essentially saying that his kingdom would outlast God’s kingdom.


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So he builds this massive golden image. And then he calls the leaders from all over the

empire to come and bow down before the image. And here’s the decree that he made.

He says - When the music starts to play everyone was to bow down before this massive

golden image that represented Nebuchadnezzar and his empire. And if they didn’t bow

down they were going to be thrown into a massive furnace. When the music played

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow. Word got back to

Nebuchadnezzar that the guys he just promoted weren’t getting with the program. And

the Scriptures tell us that Nebuchadnezzar was furious. And he calls for them. And he

tells them that all would be well if they would just worship his image when the music

plays; but if not, he would throw them into a burning fiery furnace –

not just a burning furnace,

not just a fiery furnace,

but a burning fiery furnace.

And he adds this –

“15 … And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” That’s totally in keeping with this image that he made, like, ‘No, my kingdom won’t fall,

even though God said it would. No it won’t. My kingdom will outlast His kingdom

“15 … And who’s this god who will ever deliver you out of my hands?” Well, notice their response. Their response is radically relevant to us as fallen culture is

demanding that we bow down to it.

“16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 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. 18 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.”” Man, that speaks to us in our culture.


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In his fury, Nebuchadnezzar has these young men thrown into the burning fiery furnace.

And it was for sure burning and fiery because the guys who threw them in were burned

alive just trying to get them in. But the burning fiery furnace didn’t consume them.

Instead Nebuchadnezzar saw something that absolutely blew his mind. He threw three

men into the burning fiery furnace; but a fourth guy joined them. Nebuchadnezzar

witnessed one of the most amazing theophanies in the Old Testament. A theophany is

a pre-Incarnate appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament.

“24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”” Or the King James Version says – “is like the Son of God.”

Interesting – The only thing that was burned by the fire was the rope that bound them.

And these guys walked out of the fire without even being singed. They didn’t even

smell like smoke. Guys, you can’t do that when you’re barbequing, right? Like, you go

outside and you’re barbequing; and you go in and you smell like it. These guys came

out –

not singed,

not smelling like smoke.

Jesus was with them in the fire.

And as we were singing that song –

I will exalt…

It’s your presence is all I need.

It’s all I want.

It’s all I see.

Without it, without it there’s no meaning.

Your presence is the air I breathe.”


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Now this might be a stretch; but in my mind I’m thinking - Man, in a big fire, fire is taking

all the air, right? It’s eating oxygen. That’s what the fire is living off of. And here are

these guys in this burning fiery furnace. And the presence of Jesus is the very air they

breathe, His presence with them. Guys, we want to know. Jesus said, “I will never

leave you or forsake you.” That’s our Jesus. What an awesome foreshadowing of

how Jesus is with us in our fiery trials. In the midst of the intensity of all of them we can

breathe because He’s with us.

And their courage and their faith led them to an incredible experience of the presence of

Jesus with them in the fire. They would have never had that time with Jesus if they had

bowed down to the idol – never! We do everything we can –

to avoid difficulty,

to avoid suffering.

These guys stood up for the Lord. And in their stance they experienced the presence of

Jesus like they could have never ever experienced it otherwise. And, by the way, their

witness, that moment was a big part of Nebuchadnezzar being incrementally moved to

real faith in the true and living God.

CHAPTER 4 – interesting chapter! Nebuchadnezzar has another dream. In this dream

Nebuchadnezzar sees a massive tree. And he sees all of these birds gathered together

under it. But then he sees that someone came down from Heaven, and cuts down this

tree, and just left the stump. And so he calls for his advisors again. Only this time he’s

willing to tell them the dream. Then he tells them, “Can you tell me what it meant.”

And, again, none of them could answer. None of them could answer.

And, again, Daniel interprets the dream.

He says, “Nebuchadnezzar, you’re the tree. And God has placed you in this position.

People from all over the world gather. People from all over the world benefit from you,

like those birds that were gathered under the shade of that tree. But the watchman that


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you saw that came down from Heaven, that’s the Lord. And He’s going to cut you down

because of your pride.”

Verse 23 – it says – “but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him,’ 24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High,…” That phrase is crucial to the book of Daniel.

The book of Daniel is about the Most High.

“24 … It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, 25 that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Daniel says, “Nebuchadnezzar, the purpose of this whole thing is that you are going to

realize that –

it’s not your greatness;

it’s not your greatness;

it’s not your wisdom;

it’s not your military advances and wisdom;

it’s the Most High God that rules and set you where you are.

Now, guys, Daniel is saying these things to a guy who can cut you up into pieces and

turn your house into a mountain of dung. But he doesn’t care. He loves this guy

enough to tell him the truth.

“27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.” Daniel tells him the truth. And it is that truth, the truth that the Most High rules the

kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will, that’s the theme of Daniel’s book. And


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how gracious is this God, who is Most High, and who rules over everything! He is so

gracious that He tells this man, this proud man, “Look, here’s the way it’s going to go,

Nebuchadnezzar. This is going to happen in your life until you get this, that I’m the

Most High, not you.”

And just as the dream was interpreted – it’s exactly what happened.

12 months later Nebuchadnezzar is walking on the walls of his city; and he says –

“30 Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” “31 While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven,” “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Daniel had told him that.

Habakkuk had said it.

Jeremiah had said it.

They all said that God raised up the Chaldeans for His own purposes.

It had nothing to do with Nebuchadnezzar.

It had everything to do with God, God who chose Nebuchadnezzar -

to be His servant,

to work His purposes in the Earth.

That’s all Nebuchadnezzar was.

“33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.” Guys, in this amazing moment we learn that God, the Most High God, can step into our

life; and He can rip it all away from us without moving us an inch. Nebuchadnezzar


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stamped the millions of bricks that they used in the construction of the city wall with the

inscription that said,

“I, Nebuchadnezzar, have built Babylon.”

But those bricks were just made of clay, like Nebuchadnezzar was made.

But the stamp that came down from Heaven, if you would, said,

“I, the Most High God, have made Nebuchadnezzar.”

So during this time, Nebuchadnezzar – he’s living in the gardens outside of the palace.

He actually thought he was an animal.

In the mid-20th century there was a doctor, a guy named Richard Harrison, who worked

in a mental institution in Great Britain. And in 1946 he documented the case of a man

with a condition known as ‘Boanthropy’ – it’s a psychological disorder in which human

beings behave like a Bovine. And for five years this man ate nothing but the grass

outside the grounds of the mental institution. And they actually let him graze. For five

years he went around on his hands and knees; he ate nothing but grass. Now I have to

say, that was hard core paleo back in the day!

So there’s Nebuchadnezzar. He didn't communicate. He’s on all fours. He’s eating

grass. He completely lost his mind for these seven seasons, whatever the length was.

And here’s what’s amazing - The Talmud tells us that Daniel cared for Nebuchadnezzar

for those seven years. He took care of him; because Daniel knew from God that

Nebuchadnezzar would be restored. And, again, Daniel is such a challenge to us. You

know, the Gospel tells us that the grace of God restores and makes whole! And

Daniel’s life stands to challenge us that we would stand by others while they are in the

process of being broken and humbled. Imagine what it would be like being the

caretaker of a guy who thought he was a cow.

“34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom


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endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” 36 At the same time my reason returned to me…… 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” Nebuchadnezzar is giving his personal testimony of that fact. When his understanding

returned, the first thing he did – and try to imagine – I imagine with tears coming down

his face - those long fingernails sticking out - his hair all freaked out – the first thing he

did was extol and exalt and praise the one true God whose dominion is over the Earth,

and who lives forever and ever – tremendous lesson.

CHAPTER 5 – In chapter 5 Nebuchadnezzar is off the scene; he’s died. And in our

study last week we looked at, and we learned about Belshazzar and the handwriting of

God on the wall that said there in chapter 5, verse 26 –

“26 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 on that very night, in September of 539 B.C., Cyrus the Great, ruler of the Persian

Empire, and the one who united the Medes and the Persians, he had his armies come

against Babylon. And by October, he had done something that no one had ever done.

He diverted the Euphrates River. Remember the Euphrates River ran right through the

city. And according to Herodotus the level of the Euphrates was now, because it had

been diverted, only as high as a man’s thigh. And it made it possible for troops to wade

in. And one evening, under the leadership of the General of the Medo-Persian army, his

troops walked into the Euphrates river, and went under the bronze gates of Babylon.

And they opened those gates from the inside for the rest of the armies who marched

into the city and took the city in a single night - just as Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 45,

verses 1-6 200 years earlier – stunning – the prophecy of Isaiah 45 fulfilled in Daniel

chapter 5.

And, by the way, guys, all of us are weighed in the balances –


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every one of us in this room,

everyone on planet Earth!

And in the balances of God’s righteousness we all are found wanting.

Would you please write this in the margins of your Bible next to Daniel 5:26-27?

Would you write John 16:8, actually verses 8-10, John 16:8-10?

“8 And when he…” Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit. “when he comes, he will convict the world concerning –

sin and righteousness and judgment:

9 (He’ll convict the world) concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 (He’ll convict the world) concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father.” In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to convict us of this fact –

Our only hope of entering Heaven is to be as righteous as Jesus.

The only righteousness that God will accept is the righteousness of Jesus.

So think of the scales of justice, if you would. And you are in one side of that scale.

The other side of that balance is not going to be some other sinner.

There’s you and me on one side of the balance -

And on the other side of the scale is Jesus.

And we’re left wanting - unless we can somehow be as righteous as Jesus.

And here’s the good news!

Literally, here’s the Gospel!

The Gospel promises us that if we believe with our heart on the Lord Jesus,

God will impute the righteousness of Jesus to our lives.


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2 Corinthians 5: “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Now if you’ve never done that, if you haven't trusted Jesus for salvation, we'll give you

an opportunity in a little bit to pray to receive Jesus. And by faith in Jesus,

your sins can be forgiven;

and you will receive the righteousness that God demands, but you don’t possess;

you’ll receive the righteousness that God demands for you to go to Heaven with

your faith in Jesus.

CHAPTER 6 - The famous story of Daniel in the lions’ den. In chapter 6 Daniel is an

old man, between 80 and 90 years old. The empire has changed hands. The Persian

Empire – remember the chest of silver in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream back in chapter 2 –

the Persian Empire was ruled by this guy Cyrus, who happens to be the subject of one

of the most amazing prophecies in the whole of Scripture.

Isaiah 44: “28 (speaking of the Lord) who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’” What’s radical about Isaiah 44 is that it was written 200 years before Cyrus was born!

God named Cyrus by name. In Daniel 6 the man ruling in Babylon was a guy named Darius. And Darius is a mystery

to us in some ways. There are a number of different views as to who Darius was. Some

believe that Cyrus was Persian and Darius was a Mede. And hence they were the

heads of the Medo-Persian Empire. There are a lot of archeologists and scholars who

feel that Darius was a title, much like the title Pharaoh, and not a name, because there

would be five Persian emperors named Darius.

But here’s the deal –

The most important thing in this chapter is not the identity of Darius.

The most important thing is who God is in this chapter and who Daniel is.


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And what we discover about Daniel is he’s the same man at the age of 80 that he was

at the age of 12. As a 12 year old, we saw last week –

Daniel resolved in his heart that he would not serve the Babylonian idols.

He resolved in his heart that he would walk with his God.

And that decision set the trajectory of his entire life.

At the end of Daniel 1 it says –

“21 And Daniel was there (or Daniel continued) until the first year of King Cyrus.” It wasn’t just that he made a decision that day.

What you guys did tonight was not some token little thing. It was you saying –

I’m going to take a stand.

I’m not only just feeling something in my heart.

I’m going to stand and say, ‘I’m going to move on this thing that’s in my heart,

that the Holy Spirit has planted there.’

But it wasn’t just for Daniel a decision that day that he made as a 12 year old.

He continued for 70 years in that decision.

He continued for 70 years in that direction.

He never waivered;

He never got off track;

because the compass of his heart was always pointed to God!

And, guys, that’s why responding,

making a literal stand from the depth of your heart is such a big deal!

The decision that he made as a young boy would place him alongside of world rulers.

And even as an old man, under the rule of another empire, Daniel was so gifted, and

possessed such integrity that he found tremendous favor with this guy, Darius.


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Look at Daniel 6: “1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these three satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.” Now political corruption is nothing new.

It’s not new because the heart of man has been corrupted since Genesis 3.

And that’s why politics have always attracted jealous, power hungry men.

But look at verse – “4 Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” You see, these guys knew that Daniel had faith in the God of Israel that translated into

the way he lived on a day in – day out basis.

It made him a man of integrity.

It made him a man who just was going to live and follow the Lord.

And they knew that Daniel was a man who loved the Old Testament Scriptures.

And they knew that he was a man who loved to pray.

Every day Daniel would go home. He’d open his window. And he’d face Jerusalem.

And he’d pray for his countrymen.

He would pray for the city of Jerusalem.

He would be praying for God to restore what sin had destroyed.

And he did that because he knew the Scriptures.

Guys, our prayer life must be deeply connected to the Word of God.

He knew what Solomon said in 1st Kings 8.


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1st Kings 8: “33 When your people Israel” - Solomon’s praying this - are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 34 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.” Here are these guys, these power grabbing, jealous politicians. They knew that the only

way they could get Daniel in trouble was going to have to be based on Daniel’s living

faith. And this afternoon I’m thinking, ‘Wow! I wonder if the only way somebody could

get you and me in trouble is if they made a law that made our living faith illegal!’ Would

we be so, having such living vibrant faith in Jesus, that if they made a law, so that by

that law, because our living faith is so real that –

we’re not breaking laws;

we’re keeping the laws of man;

we’re living right before God;

we’re living right in relationship to everybody living around us.

But if they said, “Look we have just got to deal with these Christians;

So let’s make a law that makes it illegal for them to live by faith in the Son of God” –

I wonder how many of us would have charges brought against us.

I wonder how many of us they’d go,

“Oh you’re doing that Christian thing. You have to go to jail.’

I wonder how many professing Christians would even be standing out as people

who had living vibrant faith in a culture that would want to make it illegal.

And, you know, there’s histories filled with men and women who have gone to their

death because they lived in cultures that made it illegal –

to live as Christians,

to live with a vibrant faith in the Son of God.

Daniel 6: “7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an


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ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now in the Babylonian Empire the king was above the law.

But in the Persian Empire the law was above the king.

Once a law was written the king couldn’t change it.

And we see that in the Book of Esther.

The law was passed.

And they just waited;

And they watched,

until the windows in Daniel’s home opened.

You see –

they knew that his windows had been opened every day for 70 years;

they knew that he had a reputation,

for going to his house, opening the window, and praying!

Guys,

it’s so important for us to keep our windows open, if you would;

it’s so important for us to have an active prayer life.

And that window of prayer can be opened to you and me because Jesus paid for the

privilege with His blood. The cost for us to pray was utterly and completely on Heaven’s

side of the ledger. And we are foolish if we don’t avail ourselves to the fact that we have

an open window to Heaven. We can look to God in prayer.

So here are these guys.

And they see Daniel praying.

They arrested him.

And they told the king.


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Daniel 6: “14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. 15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” Now Daniel is not going into the lions’ den because he was a loser.

70 years of deeply committed faith in God –

And now because of his faith in God he’s going to get thrown to the lions.

He’s going into the lions’ den for being good.

He’s going to be thrown to the lions because of his love for the Lord.

He’s going to be thrown to the lions because of his love for the Scriptures.

He’s going to be thrown to the lions because of his love for the people of God.

Now you and I will probably never be thrown into a den of lions. But your lions’ den –

might be a divorce;

it might be an illness;

it might be a financial struggle;

it might be depression.

Tim Keller made this statement – he said –

“Jesus didn't suffer on the cross so that you would not suffer.

He suffered so that when you suffer, you become more like Jesus.”

You see, we have suffering so wrong in our culture.

Now I’m not saying run and look for suffering.

But I think we have such a horrible view of what life is going to be.

And I think again this nestles so – it’s so hand and glove –

with what we’re learning about from the life of Joseph on Sundays.


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“16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”” Now does it ever bother you when the person who’s not in the lions’ den says,

“Hey, bro, “Everything is going to work together for the good””?

And you’re thinking, ‘

Really? Why don’t you come down here and let everything work together for the

good in your life”, right?

I can’t imagine being in a lions’ den.

And we need to remember Daniel has never read Daniel 6.

Daniel doesn’t know how the chapter ends!

“17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.” The King James Version reads –

“that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.”

I like that, guys, because we need to realize that the purpose in all of this was God’s

purpose. We’ve been seeing that Daniel’s been used to make known that the Most High

God – He rules in the kingdoms of men. The purpose was God’s purpose. It was God’s

purpose that all kinds of seals were placed onto this entrance to the lions’ den door in

order to make sure that nothing would be changed, because God wanted a clear

testimony of who He truly is the next morning.

“19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, …” Guys –

don’t you just hope,

don’t you just pray that -


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the people who work with us, or that we work with, or that we work for,

the people we go to school,

the people that live next door to us,

that they would identify us as servants of the living God?

“O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God …” Wow! When you’re in the lions’ den He has to be your God.

He can’t be your wife’s God.

He can’t be your kid’s God.

He can’t be your friend’s God.

He can’t be your boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s God.

If you’re going to be in the lions’ den He’s got to be your God.

I love how the Psalmist says, “God, you are my God.”

“22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths… 24 (toward the end of it) … So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” Again, this is so hand in glove with what we’ve learned from the life of Joseph

yesterday. The Lord’s repeating Himself. And we even talked about that yesterday,

right? The Lord repeats Himself. He moves from different places – the same concept,

the same truth – so that He can establish that truth in our lives.

“25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. 26 I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.” Now I still have 6 chapters to go. And we’re obviously not going to get there in 10

minutes. So we’re just going to wait on the Lord. And as the Lord has ministered to our


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hearts tonight, here’s what I want to ask you to do. I want to ask you to, when you’re

thinking, ‘Okay, God, that part was for me’ –

I don’t want you to think about how you’re going to take care of that.

I want you to take care of that between you and God.

And if you want, that means back away from your table, and get on your knees, and

maybe put your elbows on the seat of your chair if you want.

Or if you’re in the back there, you can go into the back where there’s some empty

space, and just get on your knees before the Lord.

If you just want to get out of your seats and come up here, and be before the Lord, and

seek the Lord in prayer, awesome!

But let’s just get this straight, that there’s so much here tonight! I’m not kidding you, I

was up till 1:30 last night working on this. And then I was working from 7:30 forward on

this, all day today. And it’s so rich. And there’s so much.

And I’m thinking, ‘Lord, that just is for me!’

And then the next thing, ‘Lord, that’s for me!’

So I want to encourage you, I know I need to do business with the Lord. As we’re

taking the bread, as we’re taking the cup, as we’re worshipping the Lord in song, please

let’s not sit on our hands. The windows of Heaven are open for us, guys. There’s been

a new and living way. The Bible says, “Come boldly before the throne of grace to

obtain help and to find mercy in a time of need.”

Let’s seek the Lord.

Let’s draw near to the Lord.

Let’s press into Him as we wait upon Him tonight.

Father, you know everyone here. And, Lord, your Word it’s so complex; it’s so

nuanced; it’s so amazing that, Lord, at every turn, Lord, there’s ways that you would

speak to one person, and from the same verse be speaking to another. Lord, I pray that


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we, Lord, we would have so clearly heard what the Spirit is saying to us tonight, that,

Lord, we would be going, Lord, that thing, Lord, that truth, that without a hesitation we

would move towards you, knowing that you’ve been waiting. You’ve purposed. Your

Word always accomplishes what you purposed it to do. So, Lord, as you purposed it to

do certain things in our lives individually, we know that you’re so big. You can take care

of us as individuals all at once. So may we come to you, Lord. May we press in. May

we wait on you, Lord. Let’s worship.

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