We are going to have some fun during the month of July by looking at some of the truly epic stories found in the Old Testament. These are the well-known stories you always find in children's Bibles. They are stories of faith and adventure that kids love to hear, and we love to tell. Stories like Daniel in the Lion’s Den, David and Goliath, and Jonah and the Whale. One of the problems with these great stories is that because they are so familiar, we forget that we have something to learn from them. These are more than great stories for kids, these are stories that teach us about the power and presence of God. Today we are going to look at the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
To understand this story, we need to understand its setting. Israel had been a great nation during the reign of King David and then his son Solomon, but after that, things began to fall apart. Israel divided into 2 nations and each kingdom had a series of good and bad kings. This period of kings lasted 400 years until the nation of Israel was finally defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Once defeated, many Israelites were taken into captivity to live, serve, and work all through Babylonia. Having the people spread out helped make sure that the nation would not be able to rebuild.
One of the people who was led out of Israel and forced to live and work in Babylon was Daniel. This is where we pick up the story.
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility, young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. Daniel 1:3-7
Nebuchadnezzar was trying to utterly demolish the nation of Israel by taking the best of their people and bringing them into his courts. Here he could indoctrinate them into the culture of Babylon. If the leaders of Israel could be turned from their culture, customs, history, and their God, then they would be integrated in the new nation. Israel would be completely destroyed.
So Daniel and his friends were educated in the ways of the Babylonians. Everything that defined them as an Israelite was taken away from them, even their names. While Daniel and his friends didn’t have a lot of choice in this, when they were told they could no longer eat the clean and kosher food God told them to eat, they said enough was enough. This was the final straw. They were not going to disobey God and defile themselves by eating the king’s food, so they made a compromise with the King’s officials.
Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. Daniel 1:8, 11-16
Even though Daniel and his friends were going through a dark and difficult time, they refused to forget who they were and who they belonged to. They could be forced to live in a different country and be called by different names and learn another language, but no one could take from them their identity as children of God. Their identity was tied into what they ate, so they trusted God to provide for them when they stepped out in faith to remain obedient to God.
When we go through difficult and dark times, it is easy to forget who we are and who we belong to. When things don’t go the way we thought they would, or when we face challenges that seem truly hopeless, it is easy to forget that we still belong to God and that as His children, God will never leave us nor forsake us. No matter what we go through, we belong to God and God is with us.
This is the first lesson from Daniel. Remember who you are and who you belong to. What we eat doesn’t define us today as God’s children; what does define us is how we live in a relationship with God, the people of God, and the world. When things get difficult, we need to hold on to the spiritual disciples that keep us in a strong relationship with God. We need to pray, read scripture, and listen for God’s still small voice. These are things no one can take away.
We also need to stay focused on our relationship with the people of God, the church. Daniel had his friends. He wasn’t alone. In fact, they were in this together and that gave them the strength to take this bold step of faith. We can’t stop meeting together in worship, study, fellowship, and prayer. When things get tough, the tough don't get going, the tough stay together. When we focus on staying faithful and connected to God and others, we find strength and power. We grow stronger, and that is exactly what happened to Daniel and his friends, they grew stronger.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. Daniel 1:17-20.
Daniel and his friends were now strong and respected leaders. In the book of Daniel, the story shifts to the three friends and another epic tale about their faithfulness in worshiping God which lands them in a fiery furnace. Daniel, however, continued to serve in the court of the king and excelled at being able to interpret dreams. The last dream he interpreted for the king predicted the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians and that is what happened.
Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Daniel 5:30-6:3
Daniel was now ruling over ⅓ of the Pesian empire, and the king wanted to place him over the whole kingdom. His faithfulness to God during difficult times brought him to a place of authority and influence. As a leader, Daniel remained faithful to God. He continued to worship God and pray to God. It wasn’t long, however, until the other leaders got jealous. They didn’t want a foreigner ruling over them so they set a trap to destroy him.
They knew that the only way to get rid of Daniel was to force him to stop worshiping his God. So they had the king issue a decree that everyone had to worship and pray to the King for 30 days.
When Daniel heard this, he didn’t hide his faith, he didn’t go far away from everyone and pray in secret, he went into his upper room and in full view of the people, bowed down and prayed to God. When he was faced with a difficult and dangerous situation, Daniel prayed. Even when the laws prohibited him from praying - Daniel prayed. He knew God so well, and trusted God so completely, that he knew his prayers would be honored and answered according to God’s will.
This is the second lesson for us to learn. We need to Pray. When everything seems to be against us, when it seems like we have no hope, and when everyone around us might be telling us that prayer won’t do us any good - we need to pray. Not only can prayer change things, but prayer can give us the strength to stand strong in face of all the powers that try to keep us from God.
I’ve heard people lament the fact that prayer was taken out of school, but the truth is prayer was never and can never be taken out of school as long as we teach children to pray. Nothing is stopping them from praying before a test, before a meal, and when they are in distress. When children or teachers aren’t sure what to do or which way to go, prayer can help them. In a world that often wants to deny the relevance and power of our faith, we need to be willing to stand up and pray, or kneel down and pray, or sit and pray. Just pray and cling to God who said, I will never let you down.
Daniel prayed and his enemies reported it to the king. The king now was in a bind because he loved Daniel and didn’t want to lose him as a leader, but he also didn’t want to lose face among his people by changing his decree. He could have changed it. He was the king and he could have done anything he wanted to, but to save face among his people, the king didn’t change his decree. He held to the power he found in this world and his pride and threw Daniel to the lions.
So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.
At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” Daniel 6:16-21
Daniel had been faithful to God and now God was faithful to Daniel. To the people of God living in exile, forced into situations where they were told to forget and turn from God, Daniel's faith gave them hope and confidence. It told them to hold fast. It told them that God was more powerful than the powers of this world and that if they remained faithful, God would rescue them.
This is the third lesson for us today. God is stronger than any power we see in this world. When all around us people are clinging to political ideologies and social principles that define them, we need to stand firm in our faith and allow our relationship with God to define us. Even if it means that we stand alone in faith or kneel alone in prayer, if we are faithful, God will rescue us and redeem us.
During the time of Daniel, when the people were living in captivity, there were prophets who encouraged them with God’s hopeful message. One of them came from Isaiah who said this.
But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
Isaiah 43:1-3a, 5
God walked with Daniel’s three friends through the fire and they were not burned. God sat with Daniel in a lion’s den and he was not eaten. God was not only with His people during this time, but He was going to rescue them and gather them together from the east and west. God actually started the process of restoring His people just a few years later when Darius allowed God’s people to return to Jerusalem and start to rebuild the Temple.
The story of Daniel in the lion’s den isn’t just an epic tale of God’s protection, it is a story that invites us to stand strong in every situation because God’s love will be there to strengthen us and save us. In Jesus, all the powers and authorities of this world have been defeated. Death itself has been defeated and we can stand victorious in Christ.
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
The story of Daniel is an epic tale of God’s power revealed thousands of years ago, but it has a powerful message for us today. When we face difficult times, don’t forget who you are in Christ Jesus. Don't forget that you belong to God now and forever. And when everything seems hopeless and you see no way out, pray. Pray for the strength to stand firm and be assured that God’s power is greater than any and all powers in this world. There is nothing, not one thing, in all of creation, that can separate you from Christ Jesus our Lord, so stand firm and know that Jesus stands with you.
Next Steps
Epic Stories - Daniel in the Lion’s Den
Read the Story of Daniel. Daniel 1-2 & 4-7
1. How did Daniel and his friends hold on to their identity as children of God? What defines you as a follower of Jesus?
● What are the essential things you need to do to retain that identity?
● What is the importance of meeting with others in keeping this identity?
● Ask God to hold you to these essential disciplines.
2. Why did Daniel continue to pray when the law forbade it?
When have you felt prayer was not worth it nor effective?
● How can you remind yourself that prayer is effective?
● Sign up for the prayer workshop July 16th.
3. God rescued Daniel from the lion’s den.
● How would this story be an encouragement to the people of Israel living scattered throughout Babylon?
● How is this story an encouragement for you today?
● What power or authority feels too strong for you to overcome?
● Stand firm in prayer.
Read Isaiah 43:1-7
● How does this message go hand in hand with the story of Daniel and his friends?
● How would this encourage God’s people?
● How does it encourage you today?
Read Romans 8:31-38
● How does this message go hand in hand with the story of Daniel and his friends?
● How can it encourage you today?
● Consider memorizing Romans 8:38-39
