SERMON OUTLINE:
• Conquest (vs 1-2)
• Conscription (vs 3-7)
• Courage (vs 8-16)
• Choice (vs 17-21)
SERMON BODY:
ill:
• I have a list of opposites,
• I will give you a word and collectively shout out the opposite.
• Happy x sad
• Above x below
• Broad x narrow
• Ability x inability
• Import x export.
• Interior x exterior
• Optimist x pessimist
• Maximum x minimum
• Include x exclude.
• Majority x minority
• Superior x inferior
• Accept x refuse.
• Difficult x easy
• Bright x dim
• Acquire x lose.
• Ancient x modern
• Confess x deny.
• Admire x despise.
• Blunt x sharp
• Death x birth
• Peace x worry
• Freedom x slavery
• TRANSITION: This passage the people of God go from,
• Freedom to slavery, from peace to worry, from independence to captivity.
The year was 605bc;
• And the news boomed out all over the nation; “The enemy is coming!”
• This news was shocking, devastating, terrifying;
• And the people knew that the enemy;
• Would leave behind them a trail of destruction and despair.
• This foe was Babylon (modern day Iraq – near Bagdad);
• They were ruled by their new king Nebuchadnezzar.
(1). Conquest (vs 1-2)
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god”.
Ill:
• History is full of war and conquerors,
• We see that even today with President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.
• Other infamous conquerors were,
• Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun. Napoleon Bonaparte & Adolf Hitler.
• TRANSITION:
• In 605bc the name that sent fear around the Near East was Nebuchadnezzar,
• History records him as the greatest king of the Babylonian empire,
• He is credited with constructing the famous hanging gardens of Babylon;
• Which he made for his wife;
• Because she was homesick for the mountain springs where she grew up.
• But don’t think he was a softy!
• He was a cruel, brutal, powerful and ambitious king;
• He captured Judea and Jerusalem and he destroyed the temple of Solomon;
• And he started the Babylonian Captivity of the Hebrew people.
Note: The backdrop to the book of Daniel is devastation!
• The unimaginable had happened…or so it seemed:
• Daniel’s country had been invaded by a military superpower.
• Babylon was a massive military power;
• And Daniel’s country Judah was small and military ineffective.
• ill: Like U.S.A. declaring war against the Isle of Wight!
• There was only ever going to be one winner.
Daniel’s country had been invaded and destroyed,
• Daniel’s temple defiled.
• And evil had triumphed!
• And verse 2 tells us that God allowed it to happen:
• “And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand”
• For Daniel and his people this would not make sense!
Ill:
• On February 15, 1947 Glenn Chambers boarded a plane bound for Quito,
• Ecuador to begin his ministry in missionary broadcasting.
• But he never arrived.
• In a horrible moment, the plane carrying Chambers;
• Crashed into a mountain peak and spiralled downward.
• Later it was learned that before leaving the Miami airport,
• Chambers wanted to write his mother a letter.
• All he could find for stationery was a page of advertising;
• On which was written the single word “WHY?”
• Around that word he hastily scribbled a final note.
• After Chamber’s mother learned of her son’s death, his letter arrived.
• She opened the envelope, took out the paper, and unfolded it.
• Staring her in the face was the questions “WHY?”
• TRANSITION:
• There are no simple answers as to why things go wrong in life;
• No simple answers to why we experience pain and injustice and suffering.
Ill:
• “We don’t look alike, we don’t act alike.
• We don’t dress alike.
• We have different tastes in the food we eat.
• The books we read, the films we watch, the cars we drive and the music we enjoy.
• We support different football teams or have different leisure interests;
• We ascribe to different philosophies and differ over politics.
• Our weights vary, our heights vary,
• So does the colour of our hair and skin.
• But we all have one thing in common;
• We all know what it means to hurt!”
TRANSITION: Suffering is a universal language.
• We all know what it means to hurt.
• And at some time in our lives we will all ask the questions “Why me, why us?”
• There are no simple answers as to why things go wrong in life;
• No simple answers to why we experience pain and injustice and suffering.
• There are theological explanations;
• But most people don’t want to hear them.
• I hope as you study the life of Daniel;
• We will find encouragement and help to deal with life when it gets difficult.
(2). Conscription (vs 3-7).
“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— 4 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. 5 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.
6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.”
• Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of service,
• Usually against a persons will!
Ill:
• In the UK, National Service spanned from 1947 until 1963,
• And in that time more than two million men,
• Were conscripted into the British Army, Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force
• National Service was mandatory.
• Generally all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 30 were called up.
• National Service conscripts were expected to serve 18 months.
• TRANSITION:
• Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael & Azariah were conscripted by the Babylonians.
• They were taken from one country to another,
• There they were re-educated, re-trained to be Babylonian.
Note:
• Military conquest is easy enough if you have a big army or powerful weapons;
• You just go and kill lots and lots of people.
• That is the easy bit.
• The complicated bit is how do you run an empire?
• How do you govern your new territories with limited resources?
• Because that is pretty difficult.
• We know from contemporise experience,
• i.e. winning a war in Iraq was one thing;
• But winning the peace and establishing orderly rule always proves rather harder!
So in the ancient world, the kings subdued people by two methods:
• Crushing – military victory;
• Inclusion – Assimilating your selected captives into your culture and people.
• Assimilation is what is happening in this chapter.
• On this occasion the Babylonians took the top layer of Jewish society.
• i.e. The royal family and the court officials.
• Among those taken were four teenage boys:
• Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael & Azariah who may have been as young as fifteen.
• They were chosen because they are young, good looking and intelligent.
• Who will day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year;
• Will be turned into Babylonian’s so that they think, talk and act like Babylonian’s!
Note: From now on of course everything of course will be different:
• New names:
• Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael & Azariah will now be called:
• By Babylonian names: Belteshazzar; Shadrach; Meshach and Abednego
• And it allows preachers to tell the old joke:
• That Daniel’s friends were called: ‘Your shack, my shack and a bungalow!”
• i.e. How would you feel if I told you that from now on you will have a new name;
• You will no longer be called ??? but we will call you Mohammed!
• New language:
• No longer will they speak Hebrew as their main language;
• From now on they would have to learn Chaldean.
• New food:
• How many of us older folks grew up saying; “I don’t like foreign food?”
• And yet today the experts tell us;
• That today ‘Curry’ is more popular than a traditional roast dinner!
• New clothes:
• Walking around Hyde Park, London this afternoon,
• I will see a variety of styles of clothing, Western European, African, Islamic etc.
• What a contrast there will be!
• New gods:
• Every nation had its own gods and its own feasts and festivals.
• Daniel and Co would have to encounter these false deities sooner or later.
(3). Courage (vs 8-16)
Ill:
• In the operating room of a large hospital,
• A young nurse looked the surgeon in the eye and told him:
• “You’ve only removed 11 sponges, doctor,”
• The doctor did not look impressed and replied:
• “We used 12, I removed them all, so close the incision now.”
• The nurse objected;
• “No, we used 12 sponges and I can only account for 11”.
• The surgeon said grimly; “Carry on and I will take full responsibility,”
• But again the nurse objected: “You can’t do that! Think of the patient.”
• The surgeon then smiled, nodded towards the floor and lifted his foot,
• Underneath it he had secretly disregarded the 12th sponge;
• “There it is!” he said; “…and you will do!”
• TRANSITION:
• It takes great courage to stand up for your convictions!
• Notice: This chapter has a pivotal verse, a key moment, a defining sentence.
• Which the whole of the rest of the chapter hangs on.
• And verse 8 is this significant moment of decision.
“But 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. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favour and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 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.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.”
• Now in the Hebrew text the word translated into English as ‘resolved’ is very strong;
• It emphasises to us that Daniel was determined,
• He was unwavering, he was single-minded in his convictions.
• This was not a spur of the moment feeling;
• This was a conscience definite moral choice he was making!
• He would not eat the wine and the food being given to him by his leaders.
Note:
• This is not a lesson on how to be a ‘teetotaller’ (someone who does not drink alcohol);
• This is not a lesson on how to be a ‘vegetarian’ (someone who does not eat meat);
• Now being a ‘teetotaller’ or a ‘vegetarian’ is a life-style choice;
• And that life-style may have some points that commend them.
• But that is not the point of this passage;
• A much more important principle is at stake here!
Daniel and co have made a number of compromises:
• i.e. new names, new clothes, new language etc.
• But when it came to this food & drink Daniel would not compromise!
• Actually we don’t know why!
• Some people say that Daniel refused the drink and food;
• Because it was probably sacrificed to their gods – the false gods of the Babylonians.
• And yet the vegetables he ate would also have been sacrificed to the false gods!
• Others say it was because the food was not kosher;
• It violated God’s dietary laws;
• And so they asked the man in charge of their training if they could change their diet.
Note:
• Another translation of the word ‘Royal’ in verse 8 can be ‘Rich’ food.
• And rich food is not necessarily healthy food.
• i.e. Pigs Trotters in garlic followed by Chocolate Gateau with extra cream
• These conscripts were being fed to look fat;
• In many cultures obesity was a sign of prosperity.
• And so in the royal courts you would have had an abundance of food;
• And much of this food would be indulgent food.
• Daniel & Co were able to eat gourmet, decadent foods in abundance;
• Without any guilt regarding calories or getting obese!
Ill:
• What we eat does of course affect us - ‘You are what you eat!’
• Reminds me of the film: Super Size Me
• Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary film;
• Directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock,
• His independent film follows a 30-day period (February 1 to March 2, 2003):
• During which he ate only McDonald's food.
• The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effect;
• On his physical and psychological well-being;
• In fact his health so deteriorated that his life was in danger!
• We don’t know why Daniel made this issue the moment of defiance;
• But to him he had compromised and compromised so much;
• But there came a point where he could compromise no more and so he spoke up!
ill:
• Eric Henry Liddell was nick-named the "Flying Scotsman";
• After the record breaking locomotive;
• He was born 16th January 1902 (he died 21st February 1945).
• If you have seen the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire;
• You will know part of his story;
• He was a Scottish athlete, a rugby union international player,
• And an incredible missionary.
• He became front page news on the world's newspapers;
• At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, when as a devout Christian,
• He refused to run in a heat held on Sunday (to him it was the Christian Sabbath);
• And was forced to withdraw from the 100-metres race, his best event.
• The highest authorities tried to get him to change his mind;
• Even the British royal family tried to persuade him to run - but he would not!
• If you know the story or watched the film;
• He switched races and took part in the men's 400 metres;
• Eric ran and he won gold!
• TRANSITION:
• Many of us as Christians might not hold the same convictions that Eric Liddle did;
• Regarding Sunday and how to observe it.
• But all of us will have to at some time or other;
• Make a stand regarding our Christian convictions and Christian values!
• Others may disagree with us or not share the same opinion;
• But before God we are to be true to our conscience!
• Now Daniel like Eric Liddle;
• Made a line in the sand and refused to cross over it!
Note:
• Daniel & Co made a stand over what would seem a small issue;
• But there is a profound lesson here.
• If you can stand your ground over a little issue;
• You’re likely to stand your ground over a big one.
• Your character is formed in small decisions on little issues;
• Which enable you to stand later when the big crunch comes.
• Quote: Jesus said in Luke chapter 16 verse 10 (NLT):
• “Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones.”
Notice:
• In verse 14: Ashpenaz, chief of the court officials grants Daniel & Co’s request;
• They are allowed to eat only vegetables;
• And to his surprise they pass the test with flying colours!
• Verse 15 always brings a smile to my face:
• Notice all the other conscripts also had to go teetotal and vegetarian as well!
• I bet that made Daniel & Co very popular in the palace courts.
(4). Choice (vs 17-21)
• Four men would be chosen for royal service.
• It reminds me again of a bit from the Eric Liddle story:
Ill:
• On the day of the Olympic 400 metres race came,
• Eric Liddell went to the starting blocks,
• An American Olympic Team masseur walked over to him
• And slipped a piece of paper into his hand with a quotation from the Bible:
• It was from 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 30: "Those who honour me I will honour."
• TRANSITION: Well these four men honoured God;
• And he honoured them!
“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.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 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.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus”.
Note:
• I love the fact that God is at work in this situation;
• He is pulling the strings and arranging for Daniel & Co to move from political prisoners;
• From conscript students, to men of influence and power.
• We might say that the unseen God is always at work;
• Watching and arranging circumstances for his people.
Ill:
• Some of the newspapers reported true story regarding a shop break-in.:
• It was 3.30am and two burglars were trying to rob a shop.
• In the town of Exmouth in Devon.
• What they did not know was a man called Andrew Pritchard who lives in Australia;
• 12,000 miles away;
• Was watching them on the webcam (CCTV) of Exmouth in Devon.
• Now I am not sure what kind of sad man watches the Exmouth webcam at 3.30am;
• For entertainment – but that is what he was doing!
• So Andrew Pritchard living in Sidney, New South Wales, Australia,
• Assesses the situation and takes action;
• He is already online so decides to ‘Google’s’ the phone number of the Devon police,
• He rings them up from Australia and reports the crime;
• He then watches on his computer screen as the police arrive and arrest the burglars!
• TRANSITION: Talk about the all-seeing eye!
• Remember this God may seem distant or absent at times but he is not!
• He is active and alert and aware of our circumstances – so keep on trusting!
Ill:
• A lecturer who was an atheist;
• Notice one of his students was wearing a fish badge and decided to have some fun.
• “Tell me, young man,” continued the teacher,
• “Tell me where God is, and I’ll give you this chocolate bar.”
• The student looked up at the man, and promptly replied,
• “I will give you a chocolate factory if you can tell me where He is not.”
• TRANSITION:
• Remember this God may seem distant or absent at times but he is not!
• The book of Daniel reminds us that everything may change in life..
• That is everything but God!
• He is active and alert and aware of our circumstances – so keep on trusting!
In conclusion:
• Don’t miss verse 19:
• I think it is making a very important point!
“The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service”.
• Notice that the writer of this chapter calls these men by their Hebrew names;
• And not by their Babylonian names.
• Names (especially in the Bible) are what define us;
• And it is as if the writer is saying despite all their changes;
• New country, new culture, new language, new….everything!
• These men have not compromised and diluted their characters!
Ill:
• In 1882 (Irish writer and poet.) Oscar Wilde visited the U.S.A
• He was asked by customs officials if he had anything to declare.
• He replied: "Only my genius."
• Fifteen years later, alone and broken in prison,
• He reflected on his life of waste and excess and wrote:
• "I have been a spendthrift of my genius...
• I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character."
Quote:
• Charles Swindoll writes in his book ‘Living Above the Level of Mediocrity’:
• THE WORLD NEEDS MEN...
• who cannot be bought;
• whose word is their bond;
• who put character above wealth;
• who possess opinions and a will;
• who are larger than their vocations;
• who do not hesitate to take chances;
• who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
• who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
• who will make no compromise with wrong;
• whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
• who will not say they do it" because everybody else does it";
• who are true to their friends through good report and evil report,
• in adversity as well as in prosperity;
• who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning,
• and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success;
• who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
• who can say "no" with emphasis, although all the rest of the world says "yes."
• May we be those men and women of character!
• May God bless and apply his Word to each and every heart! Amen!
