6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 Then the high officials 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.”
6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement1 to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an 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. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
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.”
16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared2 to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 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. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
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, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. 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. 24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
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. 27 He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”
28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Footnotes
[1]6:6Or came thronging; also verses 11, 15 [2]6:16Aramaic answered and said; also verse 20
6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 Then the high officials 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.”
6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement1 to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an 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. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
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.”
16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared2 to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 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. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
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, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. 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. 24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
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. 27 He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”
28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Footnotes
[1]6:6Or came thronging; also verses 11, 15 [2]6:16Aramaic answered and said; also verse 20
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:
Our reading tonight comes from Daniel chapter 6. Listen carefully, for this is the word of God. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom. And over them 3 high officials of whom Daniel was 1. To whom these satraps should give account so that the king might suffer no loss.
Speaker 1:
Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then, the high officials 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. Then these men said, we shall not find any ground for complaining against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, oh, King Darius, live forever.
Speaker 1:
All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any god or any man for 30 days, except to you, o king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, o king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore, King Darius signed the document and injunction. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house, where he had windows in his upper chamber open towards Jerusalem. He got down on his knees 3 times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously.
Speaker 1:
Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his god. Then they came near and said before the king concerning the injunction, oh king, did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within 30 days, except to you, oh king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, the thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked. Then they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, oh king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition 3 times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel.
Speaker 1:
He labored till the sun went down to rescue him. Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, know, oh king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed. 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. 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.
Speaker 1:
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from from him. Then, at the break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. And as he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, oh Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions?' Then Daniel said to the king, oh king, live forever.
Speaker 1:
My God sent His angel and shut the mouth shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him. And also before you, o king, I have done no harm. Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. 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. And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions.
Speaker 1:
They, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. 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.
Speaker 1:
He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. This is the word of the lord.
Joel Brooks:
Pray with me. Our father, we thank you for this time that we could come and open up your word and hear from you, and we need to hear from you. Well, we're living in a land that's becoming increasingly hostile towards you, laws being changed to oppose you, but we know they in no way limit you, or limit our effectiveness to proclaim your goodness, to proclaim the gospel to the nations. Give us that boldness to do that. Lord, may you teach us now through this word before us.
Joel Brooks:
Teach us your gospel. Teach us your goodness. Teach us of the joy that we have in you. Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground, and blow away, and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:
We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. This is the last and the most famous of the narratives that you'll find in the book of Daniel. If you remember when, Daniel started in Daniel chapter 1, Daniel was 15 years old when he was ripped from his homeland in Judah, and he was taken in exile to the pagan city of Babylon. This happened 65 years later.
Joel Brooks:
He is 80 years old at this point. For for 65 years, he has been serving the city of Babylon. He's gone through 4 different kings. Now he is serving King Darius. If you remember, and we looked at this weeks back, as Daniel was being sent off, the prophet Jeremiah sent him and all of the exiles a letter that we find in Jeremiah chapter 29, telling them, hey, when you're going to Babylon, as you're being sent off there, remember, it's God who is doing this.
Joel Brooks:
And He's doing this in order that you might be a witness to me. He's doing this in order that that city might prosper. And so we read these words in Jeremiah 29. To the exiles, he says, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. And pray to the Lord on its behalf.
Joel Brooks:
For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. And so, God told Daniel to to seek the welfare of a city whose laws, whose songs, whose educational systems, religious structures, all those things were opposed to God. He said, I know they're all opposed to me, yet I want you to seek the welfare of all those things. Jesus would put it this way, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, he says, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.
Joel Brooks:
Later in the same sermon, Jesus would say, to those following him, he would say, you are the salt of the earth. You're a city on a hill. And when he calls you salt, we we looked at this weeks ago. He's not saying, you know, you're the spice of life. He's not saying that salt was a preservative.
Joel Brooks:
The purpose of salt was to work into things that would decay, or things that would rot without it. That's our role. When Jesus calls His people the salt of the earth, He's saying that your job, your mission is to find people, find structures, find find systems that are decaying, and work your life into it. Act as a preservative. Work the gospel into it.
Joel Brooks:
So you're to find that coworker whose whose life is falling apart, maybe whose marriage is falling apart, and and you're to get messy with them. You're you're to entangle your life with them. You're to act as a preservative. You're to find that neighbor that doesn't know the Lord. That neighbor who's angry all the time, hard to deal with, and and you're to pour into them, entangle your life with them.
Joel Brooks:
It's what salt does. You're to find the neighborhoods. You're to find the school systems that are falling apart, and you're to keep them from rotting. So so if you're salt, you're gonna be drawn to those things. That that's your purpose.
Joel Brooks:
You're gonna be attracted to decay. You're gonna seek out all these peoples, these structures, these communities that that are in decay, and pour yourself into them, and and you're not gonna be drawn to the communities that have everything to offer. The people that that have everything to give you. Because that's not your purpose. Jesus said, if if if that's your attraction, if you're gonna go to the healthy, the healthy people, the healthy communities, then as salt goes, you're worthless.
Joel Brooks:
I I actually, I could probably end the sermon right there. It's a lot to chew on, a lot to pray on right there. Are we being salt in the communities and in the people that God has placed us in the midst? Now apart from Jesus, apart from Jesus, whom we're going to see later, Daniel ultimately points us towards. Apart from Him, Daniel is the best example we have in scripture of being salt.
Joel Brooks:
What it means to be salt, and to seek the welfare of the city, because that is what Daniel does here. He seeks the welfare of Babylon time and time again. He acts as a preservative. He he took Jeremiah's letter to heart, and he he neither jumps right in and becomes completely a Babylonian. He doesn't assimilate, yet he doesn't isolate and say, well, I'm gonna just keep in my holy huddle.
Joel Brooks:
He walks that fine line. That fine line of being in the world, but not of the world. And so I wanna see how he did that. I want us to look at how how he was enabled, how he was empowered to do that, how he was so effective. And I'm gonna give 3 points.
Joel Brooks:
I'm not really a 3 point guy. There's not gonna be 3 points in a poem. There'll be 3 points in a long quote. But let me give you these three points that we're gonna go through. We're gonna see how Daniel made no distinction between the secular and the sacred.
Joel Brooks:
No distinction between the secular and the sacred. We're gonna see how Daniel let God be the judge, and we'll see how Daniel looked to the heavenly city. And those three things enabled David or Daniel to be salt. So let's look at that first point point. Daniel made no distinction between the secular and the sacred.
Joel Brooks:
Daniel's not a minister. He didn't even work at a nonprofit or or some charity. He was just an advisor of the king, and and then he worked up and he became a government official. He has a secular profession, yet I don't think there's anybody here who would say he wasn't doing his job for the glory of God, in the midst of a very secular field. He used his profession to seek the welfare of the city, however he could do it.
Joel Brooks:
To be a light to both his coworkers and to the entire community. Over and over again, you're gonna find in this book, people will recognize how Daniel is different. How he does his his job with excellence. You know, they're gonna give him a new name, Belteshazzar, meaning the spirit of the gods is in you. So they they misunderstood a little bit, but they knew he was different.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, here we have in verse 3, it says, an excellent spirit was found in Daniel. You could translate that a spirit of excellence was found in Daniel. Everything Daniel did, he did well. He did it well because he did it to the glory of God. I mean, how's that translate here?
Joel Brooks:
Nobody should have to decide between, hiring a Christian plumber or a good plumber. Okay? You shouldn't have to make the distinction, or or hiring a Christian lawyer versus hiring a good lawyer. Because Christians should excel in what they do. Christian music, good music.
Joel Brooks:
There there's a little distinction there. But we can glorify God in any profession. Whether it's reaching our coworkers, whether it's doing things with excellence to his glory. Daniel ate to the glory of God in chapter 1. Just as Paul said, whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, you do all to my glory.
Joel Brooks:
And so Daniel, he finds himself in his position. He says, well, I'm gonna eat to the glory of god. I will not eat meat sacrificed to idols. Give me the Daniel will find a way in the midst of a secular profession to give God the glory, and he does time and time again. He saw no difference between the secular and the sacred.
Jeffrey Heine:
2nd point.
Joel Brooks:
Daniel understood that God and God alone was his judge. He didn't judge or value his life, by how much success he had, how much wealthy had, how much power he had accumulated. He wasn't influenced by those things. God was his judge, and actually, that's what his name means. Danny means, my judge, and then it's El God.
Joel Brooks:
God is my judge. Daniel El. The fact that God alone was his judge, drove these 2 presidents. Crazy here. Those 2 other presidents, they they couldn't figure out Daniel because he played by a different set of rules than they did.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, when Daniel gets promoted, they act very much like what anybody would do if somebody got promoted, and you thought they didn't deserve it. You get jealous, you get angry. And so, they wanna bring Daniel down, so they get the investigators. They try to dig some dirt. They do all this, and they find out that Daniel is squeaky clean.
Joel Brooks:
Which what politician, what government official could possibly be squeaky clean? But what they started realizing was because Daniel didn't mishandle funds. He he didn't, you know, have, all these mistresses on the side. Daniel didn't do all these things that Daniel wasn't motivated by the things that motivated them. They rose to the top by embracing power, by embracing wealth, by working the system, and doing all these things.
Joel Brooks:
And they mistakenly thought that Daniel was doing the same thing. And then when they try to dig dirt on him, they realized, wait a second. Daniel is nothing like us. And it infuriated them even more, because now they didn't know how to control them. The things that made Daniel tick, didn't make them tick.
Joel Brooks:
Daniel didn't find his worth in the things that they found their worth in. Therefore, he couldn't be controlled by anything. God was Daniel's judge. Another way of putting this was, what God thought about him was the controlling factor in his life. Not what anybody else thought about him, but what God thought about him was the controlling factor.
Joel Brooks:
And this infuriated these guys, because they realized they couldn't control him. And so let me just ask you a question. What are the controlling factors in your life? What's what's the carrot that needs to be placed in front of you to get you to move? What is that?
Joel Brooks:
Is it the promise of a promotion and you'll do whatever? Is it is it wealth? Somebody throws money at you and you'll do whatever? Or perhaps it's the fear of it being taken away, then you'll do whatever. Just as long as I don't lose this.
Joel Brooks:
Perhaps are controlled by praise. Some of you might be workaholics simply because you enjoy the praise of your boss or your coworkers, and you love telling people how busy you are or how your plate is full. But it it's a driving factor in your life. It makes you feel good that you work so hard and that people praise you for that. Perhaps you're a stay at home mom, and you are killing yourself trying to be the perfect stay home mom.
Joel Brooks:
You know, the the mom who has the spotless home, who has the spotless kids, who cooks the gourmet meal every single night, who always dresses like, you know, a supermodel or something, and and then has to, on top of that, give the air of, this all came really easy. This this all comes naturally. But you're killing yourself. For what? What's the motivating factor?
Joel Brooks:
What's the carrot placed in front of you to do that? Simply the praise of other women? Simply so they will think you're something? That's your motivating factor. Is it you might feel judged by them if you didn't meet some standard.
Joel Brooks:
God is our judge. Now listen, pastors are not immune to this. For once, I would love to hear of a pastor of a really large church feeling called to go to a smaller church with less money in a worse neighborhood. When do you ever hear that happening? Somehow it's always money, it's always numbers, it's the promise of an extra half bath, That's pretty much all you need, and it'll move a pastor away.
Joel Brooks:
God is our judge. 3rd point. Daniel looked to the heavenly city. These 2 other presidents knew that the only way to get rid of Daniel is they're gonna have to change the law, and they're gonna have to attack his faith. It's the only way to do it.
Joel Brooks:
So they come up with this plan, you know, King Darius, live forever, you know, yada yada. People want to worship you, so let's let them. Alright? For 30 days, let everybody pray to you. Just 30 days.
Joel Brooks:
And Darius thinks, Well, that's a good day. It's a limited amount of time. We'll unite the kingdom, and so he signs it into the law. And so it's a trap laid out for Daniel. So Daniel, he knows the law.
Joel Brooks:
He knows the consequences of the law, and he intentionally breaks the law for the glory of God. He still prays to Yahweh, just like he has every day. 3 times a day, he prays, Says he would open up his window, and he would face Jerusalem. Odd detail. Odd detail.
Joel Brooks:
Why does he face Jerusalem when he prays? It's not because he thinks that's where God lives. You know, God lives in Jerusalem, so I I have to be facing towards His throne there where He lives because that's that's not the case. All throughout the book of Daniel, he's talking about God is the Yahweh is the Lord over all the earth, that the Lord reigns in heaven. He does as He pleases.
Joel Brooks:
You find that all through Daniel. He know that he knows that the Lord does not live or dwell on the throne in Jerusalem. And he's not praying towards the temple, because the temple has been raised to the ground. If he could actually look all those miles and see Jerusalem, he would see mostly rubble, because they have yet to rebuild it. The walls are still crumbled down.
Joel Brooks:
The temple is gone. So so he's not looking to Jerusalem for for any of those reasons. What he's doing is praying in that direction, out of hope. Hope and faith and the promise of God, in which God has promised through His prophets that there will be a heavenly city, a new Zion that will come, and He will come there, and He will reign forever. And Daniel's eyes are looking towards that moment, that day.
Joel Brooks:
Daniel, through faith, although he's in Babylon, through faith, he is already a citizen of another greater city to come. That's why he's praying here. Richard Baxter, probably a number of you aren't that familiar with him. He was an English Puritan. He wrote his most famous book was he wrote The Reformed Pastor, which has nothing to do with a Reformed faith.
Joel Brooks:
It's really about just how to be a good pastor, because he was a fantastic pastor. I first read that book in college. I've read it a number of times since then. It has really had a profound impact on my life. When Richard Baxter, when he was 21 years old, he became ill, and he would suffer physical pain for the rest of his life.
Joel Brooks:
He lived another 55 years after he became ill at 21. And when when he got ill early on and he was just wracked in pain, he thought, what what can I do? What can I do? He goes, I'm going to think about heaven. I'm just gonna meditate on heaven.
Joel Brooks:
And so as he's laying in bed, he just he's like, I'm gonna think about heaven. Think about heaven. Get my mind off the pain. And he found that so beneficial that he meditated on heaven for 30 minutes a day for the next 55 years. Because he found that if he could just have that view in mind, he could serve the people, he could serve the communities.
Joel Brooks:
He could serve the city in which he lived far better than if he didn't. And I just want to read a a quote from him about this. He says, a heart set upon heaven is evidence of your sincerity. If you ask, how can I know that I am truly sanctified? This will provide a sure sign from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself.
Joel Brooks:
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. God is the saint's treasure and happiness. Heaven is the place where they must fully enjoy him. A heart, therefore, set upon heaven is a heart set upon God. The noblest of Christians are they whose faces are set most directly for heaven.
Joel Brooks:
The heavenly mind is the best way to have a life of comfort. The countries far north are cold and frozen because they are distant from the sun. What makes such frozen uncomfortable Christians, but they're living so far from heaven? And what makes others so warm, but they're living higher and having nearer access to God? When the sun in spring draws nearer to our part of earth, how do all things congratulate its approach?
Joel Brooks:
The earth looks green. The trees shoot forth. The plants revive. The birds sing, and all things smile upon us. If we would but try this life with God, and keep these hearts above, what a spring of joy would be within us.
Joel Brooks:
How we would forget our winter sorrows. How we would praise our great creator. Oh, Christian, get above. Those who have been there have found it warmer. Those who have been there found it warmer.
Joel Brooks:
That's what Daniel is doing. As he looks to the heavenly city, his heart is warmed. And it enables him to serve the city he's in. He didn't feel the the pressures of all of this kingdom, because he was really part of that other kingdom. Now as his heart was being warmed, it it warmed the hearts of some others.
Joel Brooks:
You you would sing see King Darius. King Darius loved Daniel. He didn't want Daniel to die. Daniel's life and Daniel's joy was infectious. But also it brought out the worst in people.
Joel Brooks:
People wanted to kill him, and this is what living a gospel life does. People will either love you, or people will either hate you. People will either find you a fragrance of life, or they will find you a fragrance of death. But if you are truly living out the gospel, you'll have one of those two reactions. If you're getting no reaction to the people you are around, you're not living the gospel.
Joel Brooks:
Our next study that we're going to be looking at after Daniel's 1st Peter, And really, you can read all of chapter 2 if you want to in light of the story of Daniel. Chapter 2 of first first Peter just goes great with this. But in particular, verse 12, and let me read it to you. Says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. So that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Joel Brooks:
Now we're gonna look more at that in the weeks ahead, but I want you to notice that that people around you for living out the gospel, they're gonna have 2 reactions. 1, they're gonna look at you and say, you are evil, but they're gonna praise your good deeds. And what that means is they're they're gonna look at you and be like, man, I I really admire the way you tutor the kids. I admire the way you feed the hungry. I admire the ways you work in the schools, you build the hospitals.
Joel Brooks:
I admire the way you do all of these things, but I hate you when you were evil simply for what you believe. That's the reaction that Christians are going to get. They will praise our good works, but we will be hated simply for what we believe. Daniel did nothing wrong. He was hated for what he believed.
Joel Brooks:
Now, by by this point in the message, all of you should be feeling good and guilty, I hope you look like it. You know, if Daniel was simply an example for us to follow, come on. We're all doomed. Alright? There there's not a Daniel in our midst.
Joel Brooks:
Come on. Nobody has lived a life like Daniel. And he is in some way, he is an example to inspire us. He is written to be that. His life was recorded for us to, to have that example, but but he's not just an example.
Joel Brooks:
He's mainly a sign pointing us to somebody far greater than him. Daniel points us to another man who wasn't just good like Daniel, but somebody who is perfect. He points us to another man who, people either loved him or people hated him. Points us to another man, who just like Daniel, people conspired against him in order to kill him. A man like Daniel, who was thrown into a pit, a stone was rolled over it, and it was sealed.
Joel Brooks:
A person whose bones were not broken. Yet here, the story is different. Daniel never died and rose victorious, but Jesus whom he points died, and then was risen victorious. Jesus took on one more enemy. He took on death itself.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus actually fulfills Daniel's name. God is my judge. Because on the cross, God was the judge of Jesus. When Jesus took on our sins, and he took on our pains, and he was judged for those things, not for anything he did. He fulfilled Daniel's name.
Joel Brooks:
This isn't a moral tale about how we need to all become better people, try to make a difference in the world, and if you're really good, if you really trust God, good things are gonna happen to you. Because Jesus really, really trusted God, bad things happen to Him. Jesus was sent to the lions, and Jesus was consumed. Lions, we read it earlier actually in Psalm 57, and there's a number of other scriptures. Lines throughout scripture often connote the judgment of God.
Joel Brooks:
Probably the most famous place you see this is in Psalm 22, the Psalm that Jesus cries out from the cross. We know verse 1 so well, my God, my God, why have you why have you forsaken me? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But right after this in verse 12, he says, these people, they open their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. The final plea for deliverance, the final petition for pleas comes in verse 21, and he says, save me from the mouth of the lion.
Joel Brooks:
That's what the judgment of God was like. It was like being thrown to the lions, and Jesus was torn apart. Jesus did bleed. Jesus was consumed. He was not spared.
Joel Brooks:
And when he cried out, save me from the mouth of the lion, God said, no. He was utterly forsaken for us that we might not be. Just as Daniel was risen victorious, just as Jesus more so was risen victorious, we will be raised in victory through his work. That's what this ultimately points to. And I want to just close with a few things.
Joel Brooks:
I want to spend some time in prayer. I just want us to look at the hope that this story gives. Here's the hope. God is the one who gives meaning to our lives. God is our judge.
Joel Brooks:
We are citizens of a heavenly city, And we will be citizens in that city forever. So let me ask you, Christians, in light of that, what can the world possibly do to you? And do you live in light of this present and this certain future? Pray with me. Lord, the truths we hear, and I I try to simply and as clearly as I could just to simply present them, because I don't wanna get in the way.
Joel Brooks:
God, now I ask that in this moment, those truths that are from you would just hit us with force. Your word would go forth like a hammer shattering a rock. The embers of our heart would be awakened. May the truths that we hear be transformative. Lord, you are a judge.
Joel Brooks:
And through Christ, you've called every person here your child. May we live in light of that. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.