Opening illustration: In 1988, Wally Magdangal was pastoring an underground church in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was a Filipino lay pastor of Christian foreign workers wishing to gather for worship. In 1992, soon after the conclusion of the Gulf War, the house church had grown to over three hundred worshipers, the largest church in the country. The Saudi government became alarmed at the positive impact the church was having and Wally was arrested. While he was in prison, Wally was tortured, abused, and eventually falsely charged with blaspheming Muhammad and Islam. He was tried before the Saudi Arabian High Court and was sentenced to death by public hanging scheduled to take place on Christmas Day 1992. Throughout his terrible ordeal, Wally refused to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. Outcries from several foreign governments and agencies, including President Fidel Ramos of the Philippines, Amnesty International, and members of the U.S. Congress were made on behalf of Wally to the Saudi Government. And then just a few hours before his scheduled execution, Wally Magdangal miraculously was granted a reprieve. The Saudi Government decided to deport him to the Philippines instead. Today, Wally is itinerant preacher, sharing how the Lord delivered him from persecution. So, perhaps for some in America, the church seems to be irrelevant, but it can still strike fear into the enemies of the Gospel!
Introduction: A friend of mine once remarked, “A lot of crimes are not sins, and a lot of sins are not crimes.” Our text indicates he was absolutely right. In the sixth chapter of Daniel, this righteous man is convicted of a crime which is not a sin. Daniel purposefully committed this crime because he did not wish to commit a sin, which was not a crime.
This scripture passage is so important to modern believers reasoning that we learn the secret of Daniel’s success. Somehow he managed to survive and thrive in a spiritually hostile environment. That point is a good place to begin because Christians live in a world of spiritual hostility where the temptation to compromise our faith is with us every day. The world doesn’t want its conscience pricked and doesn’t reward those who dare to stand up for what they believe. In some parts of the world, standing up for Christ means suffering and death. In America (and in most countries in the West) it means ostracism, ridicule, scorn, being left out and perhaps being passed over and called a bigot. It often leads to tension at home and on the job. The book of Daniel tells us how to live for God in a hostile environment. His example shows us that it can be done but not without discomfort. If you don’t compromise, you are sure to come into trouble sooner or later. The story of Daniel and the lion’s den reminds us that there is a spiritual battle raging all around us. The devil himself is like a roaring lion who would devour us if he could (1 Peter 5:8). Therefore, it should not surprise us if the devil has an army of supporters whose major call in life is to harass us, trick us, and trip us up if they can. You can tell a lot about a person by the quality of his enemies. Daniel must have been a good man because he had the right kind of enemies. The people who hated him were no friends of God. They came after his faith because they could find no fault in him, and they had no answer for what he believed.
How to stand up for your faith?
1. Be faithful to God during testing (vs. 10-11)
• It is very easy to be faithful to God when there are no tests, trials or adversities in our lives. Isn’t it? It was a testimony to Daniel's character that his adversaries knew this plan would work—and that he would indeed remain faithful to daily pray to God. Can even evil people count on us to be faithful to God? These test and trials talk about Daniel’s faithfulness toward His God! What …
• True to their expectations, Daniel faithfully opened up his window—facing toward Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:29, 30, 46-48; Psalm 5:7; Jonah 2:4)—and, three times a day, prayed and gave thanks to God. This was not meant to publically flaunt his disobedience to the king's foolish decree. Rather it was consistent with his daily habit. If he had done otherwise, he would have been false to God and to himself.
• We're told that Daniel did this, knowing that the writing of the decree was signed. He chose to obey God rather than men—even though his obedience to God would cost him his life. May we be more and more like Daniel in our culture!
• These men could find no fault, ‘forasmuch as Daniel was faithful.’ Neither was there any error’—of judgment, that is,—‘or fault’—dereliction of duty, that is,—‘found in him.’ They were very poor judges of his religion, and they did not try to judge that; but they were very good judges of his conduct as prime minister, and they did judge that. The world is a very poor critic of our faith, but it is a very sufficient one of our conduct.
• Daniel was not a religious fanatic, no, not in any sense of the term, but he was acting in faith and obedience to the Word of GOD contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. He knew what was stated in the prayer of Solomon (2 Chronicles 6:36-39), which he offered at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. He had to choose whether to be loyal to man or God! He chose the latter.
• For Daniel everything was a God-issue and why not? The One who gives life, can also take it away. He feared God above everything else in His life. He was soaked and drenched with God in such a manner that dreams, visions, interpretations, prophesies, prayers and all that he did and practiced just glorified and gave credit to God alone.
• For Daniel that meant a life of daring, defiant, disciplined prayer. If what God thinks matters most, then you consult him most. If what God does matters most, then you ask him to act first. In other words, you live your life by prayer. Let us not forget that Daniel was a very powerful political person the ruler over the whole province of Babylon. His life revolved around God! For Daniel, prayer was more precious than life.
2. Prepare for Adversity (vs. 12-15)
• From our text, it may seem this new law affected only Daniel. Had Daniel not disobeyed the law and been divinely delivered, things would have been quite different for the Jews held captive in Babylon. This law aimed directly at Daniel also affected every Jew. If the law had not been nullified, every Jew would have been prevented from praying legally to the God of Israel. Every faithful Jew could have been charged, convicted, and put to death.
• Daniel could not redirect his prayers to the king. It would do him no good to appeal to the king. The king himself wanted to change the law, but as a law of the Medes and the Persians, it could not be revoked.
• Daniel knew his needs were daily needs and that he should petition God daily for those needs. Petitions could not be delayed.
• If Daniel ceased to pray, Daniel would have sinned against his God. He would have broken God’s law in order to obey man’s laws. He prepared for facing adversity by praying not by using it as the last resort. This was and should be our only resort.
• Daniel was caught praying - guilty as charged. Try as he might, King Darius was powerless to rescue Daniel from the law that he himself had signed.
• King Darius was forced to obey his own terrible law, and Daniel was cast into the lions' den.
• He did not try to escape the consequences of his decision to obey God.
• He did not know what would happen.
• He did not make a deal with God to save himself.
• Evidently Daniel was not afraid to die.
3. Endure the Adversity (vs. 16-18)
• But look at what the king did. He made a statement of faith in Daniel's God that He would deliver him. Then he went home to spend the night fasting, as I'm sure he was hoping the lions would do as well!
• Although Daniel is the one wrongly accused and in the process of his own execution, the entire paragraph is about the king. The king orders Daniel lowered into the lion’s den; the king speaks words of encouragement to Daniel; the king abstains from entertainment that night and sleep eludes him.
• God shut the mouths of the lions so they could not harm his servant. Consider the matter from the lions’ point of view. How frustrating to see a large meal and be unable to eat it. If they don’t get Daniel out of there, the lions will die of hunger. You’ve heard it said that Daniel was in the lion’s den. It turns out the lions were in Daniel’s Den.
• It appears the king suffered more than Daniel. I believe Daniel had a great night’s sleep. The angel of the Lord and the lions watched over him … no one dare come close to him, not even the king, much as He was present with the three Hebrews in the furnace. The mouths of the lions were stopped, preventing any harm to Daniel. I wonder if Daniel had a lion for a pillow that night. It could easily have been so.
• Application: Let me ask you a question? My dear brothers and sisters I insist you are not one of the dead in Christ, Do you pray? Do you really pray? Do you pray habitually? Is there a time when you get down upon your knees and spend some time in prayer? Is there some place in your house which you know as a place where you often pray? As you look at that place you think about the many times that you have knelt by that chair, by that bed, and have spent time in prayer. Is that really an experience of yours? Do you pray, do you pray habitually, and do you intersperse your petitions with thanksgiving for the things that if characterized your life, all the way down, from your salvation, right on through all of your experiences to the present time, both thanksgiving for the good things and for the bad things, humanly speaking, that have happened to you? I wonder what would happen if we had regular prayer meetings at The Well and there should go forth a decree in the land that no one should pray for thirty days and if anyone was caught praying they would be put in the electric chair. After all the decree is only for 30 days after that we can pray! Would you still do it? Is prayer your lifeline or …?
• There are people I am sure who would have had some very rational reasons why Daniel should not have prayed. After all he was a very useful man. He was a useful man for those who are members of the tribe of Judah or of the Jewish people who were in captivity. Probably he was the most important man of all of the company of the captivity. I am sure that if the word had gone out and a discussion was held all kinds of reasons might have been offered by which Daniel might escape the possibility of finding his way into the lions’ den. Daniel, you are so useful to us. And why should you not for thirty days stop praying; it is only thirty days. And thirty days will be over and then you can go ahead. You will outwit your enemies if you don’t do what they think you are going to do. And they have already in their minds put him in the lions’ den. But if you just would not pray for thirty days. Many of us don’t pray for sixty or ninety days or only when it was necessary. Without prayer aren’t we still doing life like everyone else? Just thirty days Daniel and everything is going to be alright. He chose to please God above men and did not sin against Him.
4. Expect God’s Providence (vs. 19-23)
• The king spent a restless night. But as soon as morning came, he went in haste to the den of lions. He cried out to Daniel and asked if God had, indeed, delivered him. And to his joy, he heard Daniel bless the king and testify that an angel from God had closed the mouth of the lions.
• "And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice," a sad sorrowing voice, a voice of anguish, a voice of anxiety, "and he cried unto Daniel," you know, hoping for the best but perhaps believing the worst. "Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God." Now where do you think he learned that? Where do you think he learned that statement ... servant of the living God? I'll tell you where he learned it, from Daniel. Daniel had given him many lessons. "Servant of the living God, is thy God whom you serve continually able to deliver thee from the lions?" Frankly, it's a little late for that question? Is He? Now we're at the crux of the matter, aren't we? Was God able?
• The formal greeting was much more than a form, when it came up from among the lions. It heaped coals of fire on the king’s head, let us hope, and taught him, if he needed the lesson, that Daniel’s disobedience had not been disloyalty. The more religion compels us to disregard the authority and practices of others, the more scrupulously attentive should we be to demonstrate that we cherish all due regard to them, and wish them well. How simply, and as if he saw nothing in it to wonder at, he tells the fact of his deliverance! ‘My God has sent His angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths.’ He had not been able to say, as the king did before the den was opened, ‘Thy God will deliver thee’; but he had gone down into it, knowing that He was able, and leaving himself in God’s care. So it was no surprise to him that he was safe. Thankfulness, but not astonishment, filled his heart. So faith takes God’s gifts, however great and beyond natural possibility they may be; for the greatest of them are less than the Love which faith knows to move all things, and whatsoever faith receives is just like Him.
• Note the reasons Daniel gives for his deliverance. First, he testified that he was innocent before God. That was the testimony of Daniel's long life; and it was the cause of his second testimony —that he had done no harm to the king. Daniel's daily investment in a godly character paid-off in times of trial.
• God makes the wicked to praise him and those who seek to do harm to his people are themselves often exposed to the same judgment that they thought to bring against the servants of God.
• Let me ask you a simple question? Who gets the glory in the chapter? Daniel? Not Daniel ... not Daniel for a minute. Daniel was just there, that's all. God got the glory. I believe that if you see one thread through the book of Daniel, it is not the exaltation of Daniel; it is the majesty of God who stands against the nations of the world and upholds His sovereignty.
Application: Is prayer more precious than your life? Are you afraid to give up your life for Christ …
