It was May 1940. The allied French and British forces had been badly defeated by Germany in the Battle of France. Around three hundred fifty thousand men, including the entire British army, were backed up against the sea at the port of Dunkirk, on the coast of France. They were sitting ducks. Their days were numbered. They were certain to be wiped out at any moment.
Three hundred fifty thousand men. Far too many to evacuate by sea. And the Germans were certain to take advantage. German planes only had to bomb and strafe the troops from the sky.
The British commander at Dunkirk issued a cryptic three-word message to the people of England, he simply said: "But if not." People back then actually knew it was a reference to the three Hebrews in the book of Daniel, who refused to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's image, saying, "The God we serve is able to save us … but if not, we will not bow." It was a message of courage and defiance against impossible odds.
The king of England issued a call for prayer, and a call for help. The weather forecast changed, often grounding German planes. And soon nearly eight hundred fishing boats, yachts, and merchant vessels joined the navy to ferry those soldiers to safety over the course of ten very tense days.
To this day, it is called the "Miracle at Dunkirk." It turned certain annihilation into a reason for hope. Apparent victims lived to fight another day … and eventually emerged victorious.
It's a story that still defines and inspires the British nation, as many of the stories of the Bible define and inspire us. They explain where we've come from. They shed light on who we are. They guide our steps as we move forward in life.
We have seen salvation in the previous weeks of our study, with stories that have foreshadowed the person and work of Jesus Christ. One story after another of how God takes us from death to life, from slavery to freedom, and now today from victims to victors.
The stories of the Bible through the age of the patriarchs like Abraham, the Exodus, the wanderings in the wilderness, the conquest of Canaan, the period of the judges and Kings - eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of God's people in Babylon.
The entire nation was reduced to rubble, they were victims, and the Lord allowed it, even told about it years prior through his prophets. But God had a plan, as he does for every one of us. His plan was to work redemption in such a way as to turn them from victims to victors, and from exiles to evangelists. And the stories in the book of Daniel give us some inspiring insights into how God's great salvation changes us from victims to victors.
The book of Daniel is known well for its relationship to the book of Revelation and the prophecies, but it's also a story of one of the most faithful people in the Bible. He was at age 15, one of the exiles forcibly taken from his homeland after king Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. If you want to know how bad it was read Jeremiah and his lamentations.
If there was ever a time to lose faith, this would be it, more than 500 miles from home, a long way back then, amoung people who didn't know or worship his God. But largely because of his faithfulness he became an advisor to the very king that tried to make victims of him and his people. Our clip today depicts when this happened….
That is a dramatic summary of what happened in Daniel chapter 2 showing us that:
I. I can be victorious because simply - "there is a God in heaven" (Dan 2:1-48)
We're going to study parts of chapters 2, 3, and 6 this morning to see what God might have to say about our situation by looking at Daniel and his situation.
Daniel had already become one of the king's many court advisors, and when none of the advisors could tell the king his dream or interpret it, he issued an order to have them all killed. So Daniel wanting to save these men talked to Arioch - the king's assassin - and told him he could interpret the dream so don't harm the others.
So that's where we'll turn to chapter 2 and read verses 25-28a…
That's much the same scene shown in the video, except that the clip summarized Daniel's wording, "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries," with the phrase, "But my God can."
There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. And because of that truth, you do not need to be a victim. You do not need to resign yourself to your current circumstances. You don't have to settle for the status quo, any more than Daniel did.
He faced a royal decree, a kingly contract on his life; "but there is a God in heaven."
You may feel like your situation is impossible;
"but there is a God in heaven."
You may be burdened by sin or sickness;
"but there is a God in heaven."
You may see no way to improve your dead-end marriage,
your dead-end job,
your dead-end life;
"but there is a God in heaven."
There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, who can redeem you from your past and who can give you boldness and confidence in your future. This God can and will reveal what you need to know when situations are truly desperate, otherwise He seems to let you try to figure it out on your own - sometimes because we don't ask him for what we really need, or because our situations are not as desperate as we perceive them to be, and don't really need God's intervention.
Isn't it true that sometimes at least, we are submerged in fear when a situation is really not that desperate? We perceive it that way from our own limited viewpoint without remembering that God did not give us a spirit of fear, and that there is little to fear even in truly desperate situations if God is with us.
But that's not all. Because Daniel's story is your story in another way, too, and that is:
II. I can be victorious because "my God is able to save". (Dan 3:8-27)
Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold that was 9 stories tall. The guy had big money and an even bigger ego. He required everyone in his kingdom to bow down to that statue or be cast into the fiery furnace. And everyone did bow down except three young Jews named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They refused, at the risk of their life. Let's pick up the story in verses 13-23 of chapter 3…
That is such an amazing story. What did these three young men really have to lose? Couldn't they have just bowed down but in their hearts only been loyal to the true God? Surely God wouldn't punish them if they went through the motions with the statue and secretly worshipped God with their hearts.
You and I can be in similar positions as they were.
We, too, are children of God.
We, too, face difficult choices.
We, too, have to decide between compromise and conviction.
And we, too, can be victorious because, as they told the king, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us."
Let's see how it concludes starting in verse 24 (read 24-30)
Now this doesn't guarantee that we'll never have to endure injury or pain, but remember that Psalm 34:17 promises: "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
And we must remember the incredible faith that these three men showed. They said to the king, God is able to deliver us… but if not, we still won't bow to an idol." I wonder if that was more their moment of victory than even when they walked out of the furnace unhurt.
It was their trust in God demonstrated through their loyal obedience that brought them victory. That is the same God we serve, so we can have that confidence too. He was able to save Noah and his family from the flood… He was able to save a whole nation from slavery in Egypt… He was able to save the kingdom of Israel from oppression many times, and He is able to save and deliver us here today.
I can be victorious because there is a God in Heaven, because He is able to deliver us from anything, and finally:
III. I can be victorious because "my God sent". (Dan 6:22)
Years later after the Persian empire had taken over Babylon and a new King reigned, Daniel was still serving in the royal courts at age 82, and still praying faithfully to God. Some guys who were jealous of Daniel tricked the king into making an edict that no one was to pray to any god or man besides the king for thirty days.
Anyone here ever been able to go 30 days without praying? I'm sure most of us could, and some of us have. What if you would be killed if you did? I bet we could do it pretty easily. Well Daniel couldn't do it and these guys new it.
Of course he got caught and we see another miraculous intervention for a man who showed that nothing was more important than his God, including his very life. I'm sure he knew he was going to get caught, he didn't try to hide his prayer or close his windows. The king liked Daniel but he was forced by the Law that he made, to throw Daniel into the Lion's den.
Now I imagine they made sure the lions in this den were hungry - they didn't eat unless someone fed them - and they would get down to business quickly. But after the king's sleepless night the Bible says this in chapter 6:19-23…
Let me focus on verse 22, notice Daniel said, "my God sent his angel". Daniel was saved because God sent someone, specifically his angel. I'm pretty sure this is the same one he sent to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who appeared like a son of the gods.
Isn't that what we can all say? In our case He sent the very Son of God, even greater than an angel if this angel wasn't Jesus himself. The most familiar verse in the Bible puts it this way in John 3:16: "God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
I can be victorious over temptation and sin because "my God sent".
I can be victorious over shame and guilt because "my God sent".
I can be victorious over death and the devil because "my God sent".
I can be victorious over all the evil and filth in this world because "my God sent".
All of us can be.
I want to close by just looking at three things that were said in those three passages today. First is what Daniel said after the mystery of Nebu's dream was revealed to him in chapter 2.
"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong all wisdom and might. He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells within him".
After Daniel's friends were saved from the fire, Nebu said: "No other God can rescue this way".
And king Darius says this after God saves Daniel from the lion's den: "For He is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. 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."
God clearly gives victory to those who are truly faithful. We see a pattern emerge in the Old Testament, which continues through the New and should continue to the end. We have faith first, demonstrated by our actions. As we act in faith God does some kind of miracle that can only be attributed to Him. Someone witnesses God work because of the person's faith, and they come to believe and worship God. Then we worship the God that we have faith in even stronger than before.
For how many of us has worshipping God become dry and routine? If the music doesn't stimulate us, if the sermon doesn't grab our attention and give us something, we're kind of disappointed with the whole thing. How many of us spontaneously worship God in the middle of the day just because we think of Him?
Could it be that our worship has gone dry because our faith has gone dry? Can we even remember the last time we really stepped out in faith for God so that we could see him do something? You may only be given very few opportunities to do this and see God, so take advantage when you can.
Faith and true worship are the same thing if we believe what Paul says in Romans 12:1, "by the mercies of God present your bodies (physical) as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
Notice which comes first in that passage? As you worship with physical sacrifice it becomes your spiritual worship. This is the pattern we see. Faith makes us act, and the results of acting in faith cause us to worship spiritually with praise and glory to God because see Him act.
The majority of the world doesn't know God, and some of that is because we are not showing Him to the world. We may not even know Him that well if we have not been walking with Him every day allowing him to give us opportunities to act in real faith and see Him, making Him more real to us than just an invisible Spirit that is waiting for us to die and go to heaven. Showing Him to the world is more than reading Bible verses, and being nice people.
Don't you want to experience God saving you from a fiery furnace or a den of Lions? Don't you want to see God miraculously provide because you give away more than you think you can afford? Wouldn't you like to be used to see a king or the president of Iran to come to faith in Jesus Christ?
These are just examples, but these kinds of things are what build faith - which is trust. It's hard to trust an invisible God that we have never seen do anything other than send Jesus 2000 years ago. It's difficult to worship from a place of utter awe and reverence when the last thing God did for us was what we read in a book.
Why has the Christian church become irrelevant and spiritually comatose for so long in the prosperous areas of the world? Could it be because we go through the motions of worshipping our idols, our church, our pastor, our music, our building, our sound equipment on Sunday mornings? Rather than every day putting ourselves in His presence, acting in real faith and seeing God move, being living sacrifices that are coming to life spiritually.
And it doesn't have to be life or death. I keep thinking of last year. We may never have 21 baptisms in a year ever again, and that's OK. All I did was tell you what God told me He wanted to do, and preach what He told me to preach. God told me, that in itself makes me get goosebumps, God spoke to me in my thoughts, but they weren't my thoughts. If nothing else had happened I would still be on my knees. We all need to remember who this God is that we serve. He hasn't changed.
Maybe it's not the same for you, but I can't stop worshipping him because I saw him do something that I really didn't believe could happen, but actually saw it happen because even though my faith was weak, I obeyed. My faith and trust in Him has increased exponentially as a pastor because of that. And it humbles you like you wouldn't believe, makes you feel so small and in some ways fearful, but in a good way because you trust his bigness. I could give you a handful of other experiences like that, including ending up here in Killarney.
I told this to the group at our district conference back in October and most of the people were in tears because we're not used to hearing about God actually doing something. We talk about our programs and goals and so on, but we have not acted on what God tells us to do unless we believe it's going to actually happen. And we base our belief on what we think is humanly possible. That is not faith. We want to believe, we want to have these experiences, but we are afraid to act in faith, and it brings us to tears when we hear it happen because it's so rare in our church culture.
Do you think Daniel was super confident when he went into that lion's den? We know Shadrach, Meshach and Abednago were not certain. They said, he can deliver us but even if he doesn't…
The world outside of the church needs to see God for sure, but I am afraid that we need to see Him more so that we will show Him to them. Just like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did, and Nebu and Darius were never the same.
