(These are the notes I preached from yesterday. You can find the link to the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVB03w_Qys .
INTRODUCTION – Last Sunday morning I had the privilege of teaching our elementary aged children some lessons from Daniel chapter 4. In so doing I introduced them to the concept of a “lethal weapon”. A lethal weapon is any weapon that a person or an army or the evil one might use to kill and destroy a person or one’s enemies.
I reminded them that Satan is actually called the Destroyer in the book of Revelation. That he lives to destroy humans in any way possible. And one of his primary lethal weapons throughout the milleniums is that of using pagan or secular, atheistic kings or presidents or leaders of nations to wreak mass destruction – often on the people in their own nations.
In the last two centuries here are a few of many examples of this: Chairman Mao ZeDong – President of China - Especially in the years 1958-61 &1966-69 in China; and then 1949-1950 in Tibet– it is estimated he had killed 49-78 million people. To give you some perspective on how many people that is it would have been as if all the 39 million people who live in CA were killed and all the people of Nevada as well.
What about Adolf Hitler in Germany? 1939-1945 – he was responsible for 6 million Jews killed; That would have been similar to all the people of Pennsylvania or Illinois being totally wiped out.
Then in WW II he left around 3 million Russian soldiers (POW’s) to die which could be compared to the whole population of Arkansas being wiped out.
He was also responsible for many others such as Blacks, people with disabilities, etc., being killed towards his goal of the purification of the German population.
We could go on and talk about the six million killed by Jozef Stalin in Russia or the millions killed by Pol Pot in Cambodia. What all of these leaders had in common was no Judeo Christian foundation or influence in their thinking; no fear of God. They were secularists who saw themselves as the ultimate authority.
As far as Biblical history goes - we could talk about Pharoah’s attempted destruction of baby boys in Moses’s day; King Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jews when he conquered them in Daniel’s day; or King Herod’s destruction of male children in Jesus’s day.
Satan is a vicious ruthless destroyer and one of his most lethal weapons is leaders of nations who do not fear God and do not see the inherent value of all humans (whether in the womb or outside of the womb). This is why when we citizens of a given nation are oppressed by the evil and wickedness among our government leaders – we must remember what the apostle Paul stated in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Now none of this has caught God by surprise, nor is He in any way hindered from accomplishing His purposes by this. So what are His divine weapons to overcome Satan’s lethal weapons? Well one of them is that of raising up godly men and women who by God’s help can win favor with evil pagan rulers, and either totally stop their evil intentions or at least minimize them. Principled men and women who know and walk with God and fear Him far more than any man, and who exude or manfiest His character in everything they do are powerful weapons that Satan greatly fears and God greatly delights in.
Queen Esther’s favor with King Ahasuerus that stopped his servant Haman from destroying the Jews is a great example of this, though her walk with God is not clearly seen in the book of Esther. Daniel, whom God used to keep all of the magicians, sorcerers, conjurers and Chaldeans from being destroyed by King Nebuchadenzzar is another one; and the one we have been learning from in the last 4-5 weeks. Daniel is the ultimate model of being used by God to affect people of great influence since he served under four different godless kings.
Because God does not in any way fear evil men (or women) of influence (whether in government, the military, our universities, media, etc.) and because God loves and cares for the people who could be negatively affected by these evil men or women of influence; and because God wants each of His children to become like Him in every way (including this way), He will often insert His seasoned children or servants into places and positions where they can be salt and light. That is - where they can be used by God to avert or minimize destruction and hopefully foil Satan’s wicked plans and purposes through these wicked leaders.
Satan of course hates such men and women and thus tries his best to have them destroyed or jailed or shut up and that’s what we see in Daniel chapter 6. So why don’t you turn there in your Bibles.
Ch. 6 starts off, “It seemed good to Darius…” Who is this Darius? Well we learned last week at the end of ch. 5 that Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain (or assassinated). “So Darius the Med received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two” ch. 5 vs. 31 tells us.
But how did he receive it? By conquering it? Most likely not. Rather it appears this assignment to rule over Babylon, a comparatively small portion of the vast Medo-Persian Empire was given to him by Cyrus. Chapter 9:1 seems to confirm this, which states, “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans –“
As Darius began to get a feel for what this assignment was going to entail, vs. 1 tells us he chose “…to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom…” A satrap is basically a Governor or Mayor over a province. Their responsibility? To “..be in charge of the whole kingdom.” Vs. 1 continues. But who was going to keep them in line and on task? Vs. 2 answers that question: “and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss.” Inefficiency and dysfunction in government is not merely a modern thing. Government workers that were hired and not called have always been a major cog in the wheels of government. And thus they need constant and effective supervision.
OK, that’s the opening context of Daniel chapter 6. So if one of Satan’s primary lethal weapons to destroy as many humans as he can is by raising up godless and ruthless kings and queens and presidents of nations and giving them a hatred and disgust of certain sectors of their population, not to mention a desire to destroy their enemies in other nations; and if one of God’s primary weapons is to raise up modern day Esthers and Daniels to serve under those administrations and help them think twice about their evil intentions and the consequences of them, then how can we be the kind of people that God might use to help these leaders of our own nation see a better way? Another question we ought to ask from this chapter and this book is how can we in the church develop the kind of culture in our particular congregation that best produces men and women that God can use to positively affect influential leaders in our nation? The reality is most of us will probably not end up serving close to a leader of our nation. But all of us by the Spirit of God within us can do a lot more than we think to help the church in our nation and among the nations be the kind of church that modern day Daniels and Esthers and Josephs and Nehemiahs can come forth out of, not to mention prophets and prophetesses, whom God has often used to positively affect the trajectory of a nation.
Another reality is – the people we vote for may not be elected – especially for disciples of Jesus Christ who vote according to Biblical principles and truth in states like California. But as disappointing as that might be, God’s hands are not tied by ungodly people being voted into office. He has many other weapons and strategies – especially as His church learns to pray aright.
So allow me to suggest a few things from this chapter that can especially guide our intercession:
First, we must by the Spirit of God learn to cultivate in our hidden life what Daniel 5:12 and
Daniel 6:3 call an “extraordinary spirit.” Let’s read vs. 3, “Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.”
In chapter 5 the queen reminded her husband King Belshazzar, who was freaking out about the human hand appearing out of nowhere and writing on the wall of his palace, that there was a man in his kingdom greatly esteemed by his father King Nebuchadnezzar because he had and I quote, “…an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretations of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems…”. 5:12
So what can we make of this “extraordinary spirit”? Well first of all I would say it is a human spirit that is very sensitive to God’s Spirit. Daniel knew his flesh or his human nature was never going to be sufficient for the mission God had called him to accomplish no matter how hard he worked or how hard he tried. He knew that ultimately the problems of nations are supernatural problems that require supernatural solutions. Most of his contemporaries had not learned that important truth or reality.
The second thing I would say about this extraordinary spirit of Daniel’s is, he very early in life learned what the apostle Paul would later pen in his first letter to the church in Corinth and that is: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” I Cor. 6:12
So when Daniel was first brought into the service of King Neb as described in Daniel chapter 1 we find that he and these other young men being groomed for the service of the King were basically invited to Cruise Ship eating and drinking every day for the rest of their years of service. Daniel had every legal right and even expectation to imbibe along with the others. But he refused. Because Daniel had already learned in his Jewish upbringing – very likely under godly parents – that intimacy and favor with God is greatly affected by our inner life and character. He very likely learned this from the Psalmist, who declared in Psalm 24, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, ….” Vs. 8 of chapter one tells us that “…Daniel made up his mind or better literally it should read, “Daniel set upon his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank…”
Daniel knew that intimacy with and usefulness to the holy God of Israel depended at least in part on his refusal to have anything to do with the things everyone else around him didn’t think twice about enjoying. He knew these foods and wines had been dedicated to idols and thus uses the word “defile” twice.
The third thing I would say about this extraordinary spirit of Daniel’s is he somehow had come to the point where money and things had no hold on him. When King Belshazzar – as recounted in ch. 5 – offered riches and power to Daniel if he could interpret the handwriting on the wall – Daniel shockingly replied, “…Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation know to him.” Now if the king had offered these things to any of Daniel’s contemporaries or any of the conjurers, Chaldeans or diviners - they would have salivated all over themselves. But bling meant nothing to Daniel. The satisfaction and fulfilment he got from walking with God and pleasing Him far outweighed any earthly pleasure or perks that the world might give him.
Another thing I would say about this extraordinary spirit of Daniel’s is he had somehow cultivated early in his life and never departed from the truth and reality that intimacy and influence with God depended to some degree upon his refusal to engage in the corruption and lying and falsehood that most of his contemporaries walked in almost unconsciously. Perhaps more of that foundational Psalm 24 was lodged in his heart, where King David wrote, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.” You see – the more Daniel walked with God the more he knew God was true through and through; and that God greatly valued truth and hated falsehood, and thus Daniel through his communion with God and reliance upon God learned to do the same.
I don’t know what demons were assigned to bring about destruction in Babylon at that time in history, but I can promise you Daniel was a major headache to them. For just as God routinely and strategically seeks to raise up and establish Daniel and Esther and Joseph types among every nation and people, the enemy seeks to get rid of them. And one of the ways they seek to do so is by causing the contemporaries of God’s servants to rise up in jealousy, envy and resentment.
This is what we see as we read on in Daniel 6:4,5, “Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. Then these men said, We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” Why pray tell would all of these government workers want to get rid of someone who never once cheated, never cut corners, never got in late or left early, or took too long of a break, who worked hard and diligently every day, helped solve problems, probably prayed for people’s personal crises….? Well ultimately this is a spiritual war with unseen demons stirring up jealousy and resentment among those who fairly regularly probably did cheat, cut corners, get in late and leave early, etc.
So how do you get rid of such a faithful helpful guy, who also is one of Darius’s 3 commissioners?
Let’s read on, vs. 6-9, “Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: ”King Darius, live forever! All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.” Therefore, King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.
Sadly often leaders of nations have so many responsibilities and commitments that they neglect their inner life; …. they ignore the God who made them and placed them in office, and thus have minimal discernment about the true motives of those appearing to help them. Such was the case with Darius at this point.
Daniel being one of the three commissioners was not unaware of this wicked scheme of his envious colleagues. But what is fascinating is how that awareness affected him (or rather how it didn’t affect him). For you see Daniel was a principled man - - that is he operated according to core convictions, not current pressing circumstances. This is another secret for how he was able to walk in an “extraordinary spirit.” Let’s read vs. 10, “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”
Not only had Daniel cultivated a practice of daily prayer and three times a day prayer, but he also didn’t try to hide his praying. He didn’t flout it. His windows weren’t open to show people how religious he was. Rather they appear to be opened because of his passion for God’s glory and God’s highest purposes for Israel and its worship center Jerusalem to be accomplished. Daniel knew how God felt about His people Israel and about Jerusalem, and thus he felt it important when praying to not lose sight of that. The open windows towards Jerusalem helped him keep that in focus.
How did Daniel cultivate this “extraordinary spirit”? Well one way for sure was he set his heart to make prayer and communion with His God a high priority, and nothing - - not busyness, pressing responsibilities, or even the threat of a horrible death in a lions den could keep him from it.
S.D Gordon was used greatly of God in our nation in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He was a praying man and he wrote these words about the spiritual discipline of prayer:
“The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray”.
Daniel took the time to pray every day of his adult life at least. Small wonder that his contemporaries and colleagues – most of whom were pawns of the evil one – tried to get rid of him. All of you who have read the rest of the story or at least heard about it, know that God, who was so pleased with His servant Daniel told every one of those hungry man eating lions to close their mouths and wait a while for a promised feast that would satisfy them all. King Darius didn’t eat or sleep all evening and night. And then first thing in the morning he ran to the den of lions and called out to Daniel who probably slept like a baby in between those docile lions. Daniel gave glory to God as did Darius when he heard Daniel’s voice. Darius then had Daniel’s enemies and their families all thrown into the lion’s den – this time with their mouths wide open.
The final aspect of his extraordinary spirit I want to comment on briefly is that of Daniel’s commitment to honor those in authority over him regardless of their wickedness and foolishness. We see this yet again in his response to King Darius when he ran to the lions’ den and asked if he was ok. Please note Daniel’s response could have been, “Well no thanks to you Darius!!” or something else of a cynical resentful nature. But instead he replied, “O King, live forever!...” vs. 21
I don’t know about you but I think we could use some Daniel types today in our local, state and federal government, not to mention in our major media organizations like NBC, Google,Facebook, CNN, etc.
You may not be a candidate for such, but you are definitely a candidate for paving the way through prayer – especially for the 30 or so children who attend here regularly..
So we are going to spend some time in prayer for this, but before we do I want to make sure no one leaves here today unsure about where you stand with the God of the Universe and our risen Savior Jesus Christ. You need to know that while God was happy to deliver Daniel from the lion’s den; He did not deliver Jesus when wicked men tortured and killed Him. God didn’t intervene because you and I desperately needed a Savior – a Sacrificial Lamb, who could deliver us from our slavery to sin and Satan. Jesus Christ was and is that Savior. You and I deserve to die in our sins and be forever punished for our rebellion against such an amazing God. But Jesus provided a way out. He’s given you life and breath this long so that you can cry out to Him for forgiveness and mercy. There Is no guarantee such amazing mercy and grace will continue. Turn to Him now while you still have the opportunity to do so. I and others here would love to help you seize this opportunity.
Time of prayer for God to raise up men and women of extraordinary spirit in our halls of influence.
Comments