The following message is brought to you by Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. To learn more about our mission to train the next generation of gospel ministers, visit us at cbtseminary.org. for the privilege of worship, the privilege of gathering together in your presence and among your people, and the privilege of setting our minds' attention and hearts' affection on you and praising you for who you are and for what you've done. Thank you for reminding us of that this evening. Grant by your grace that we might have ears to hear. For we ask this in Christ's name and for his sake, Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, open them to the book of Daniel. My assignment this weekend was a simple one, and I was asked to bring really three expositions, three optimistic expositions, amen? Can't talk about optimistic amillennialism without bringing some optimistic expositions. And so I'll be looking at Daniel chapter one tonight and then Jeremiah 29 tomorrow and Revelation one in the last session. And the idea behind this for me is that I had to learn to be optimistic about eschatology. Amen. I don't know if any of you had that experience, but I had that experience. And I had the experience for the same reason that some of you had it. And that is that I learned an eschatology that was pessimistic. But even before that, I didn't grow up in the church. I didn't grow up around Christians, Christianity. I was raised by a single Buddhist mother. And the first time I ever heard the gospel was my first year in university. And I remember as a new believer getting a Bible, and for some odd reason, I just thought it would be a good idea to start at the end. So the first book in the Bible I ever read all the way through was Revelation. Not the best way to develop an optimistic eschatology, I'll say. No idea what I was reading, no idea what I was doing. So I was not very optimistic. Fast forward many years later, and in our church in Houston, we preached through the book of Revelation, worked our way through it as elders and then preached through it. and preached through it from an optimistic, amillennial perspective. And one of the things that we continued to hear was how encouraged people were that an eschatological book could be something other than frightening or confusing. Amen? And more specifically, that it could be relevant that we can actually look at eschatological books and they can be for something other than looking at the newspaper and trying to figure out where we are right now. Amen? That we can actually have God-honoring, gospel-saturated messages from these literary sources in the Bible. So that's my hope. So let's look at Daniel chapter one. I really want to concentrate on verses eight through 16, but we've got to sort of back up to the beginning so that we can understand this in its context and why this is so incredibly optimistic. If you looked at beginning in verse one, The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. This is one of those wonderful texts in the Bible that locates us very specifically in terms of history. Because we know that this is happening in 597. We know that this is when this siege happens. A few years earlier is when Jehoiakim decides that he's going to rebel. Josiah has died, Jehoiakim comes on the throne. He's anti-Egyptian and the Egyptians are in control of the region at the time, so he's deposed. The Hoia Kim is a vassal of Egypt who's put on the throne, and then the famous Battle of Carchemish that happens in 605. Amen? That was like the only thing I got an A on in church history, right? 605, the Battle of Carchemish. And all of a sudden, the balance in the region shifts, and Nebuchadnezzar is now the big man on the block. And so now, all of a sudden, Jehoiakim is under this influence. But Nebuchadnezzar doesn't go in and invade Egypt, and Jehoiakim decides that he's going to rebel and hope to get help from Egypt, and that doesn't happen, and instead, they're sieged. So that's where we are historically. And that's incredibly important for us to remember for a number of reasons, but look at verse two. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God." Don't miss that. Why? Why are we doing this? We're doing this because In that age, war was understood not to necessarily be a battle between brute forces or technological forces or economic forces. At the end of the day, there were seen to be battles between divine forces. Us and our God versus you and your God. And we don't just defeat you. If we defeat you, we don't turn around and say to our people, look how strong our economy is. Look how advanced our technology is. Look how advanced our weaponry is. Look how well-trained our soldiers are. No, we turn and we say to our people, our God is God, and that is why we defeated them and their God. This is incredibly important to know. That's why they took these things away. It's also important to know because it allows us to get inside the minds of our main characters here in Daniel 1, really in all of Daniel. Because here are the covenant people of God living in the land that God promised to them as his covenant people. And these covenant people of God have been warned. They've been warned that this bloodthirsty people will come and that they'll be carried off, that they'll be judged by God, that they'll be disciplined by God. But hear me, brothers and sisters, when this is happening, the knee-jerk reaction is not to say, hey, the prophets have told us about this. It's just discipline. We're going to be okay. No, when this happens, you think like a product of your day and you think their God has defeated Yahweh. Now you don't talk about that at church. You don't bring that up in your small group, but in the quiet moments of your heart, can't help but wonder. And that's what this book is about. This book is about reminding us that the kingdom of God is undefeated. Even when the people of God experience defeat, the kingdom of God is undefeated. By the way, these vignettes in the beginning of Daniel are all about that on the micro level. These are not the only stories of God preserving his people during this time, but these stories serve to remind us that the kingdom of God is undefeated, that God is in control, that God disciplines his people, but he will never forsake them. And therefore, we must always be optimistic and have hope, regardless of our sociopolitical situation. Somebody probably needs that right about now. Amen? Amen? as we stand. Anyway, look at the next verse. Verse three. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skilled in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans." This is incredibly important to note as well. Oftentimes we think about the characters here that we're about to read about as boys. You refer to them as the three Hebrew boys, right? Oftentimes we think about them as individuals who were snatched away, and perhaps they were incredibly young, maybe even babies or something, and that they learn and they grow when they're taught within the context and confines of this Babylonian empire. But if you read the text carefully, what you discover is these are men. They are men who've been fully trained and discipled. Look at it again. Verse three, king commanded Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance. So give me some young, strong, beautiful people, skillful in all wisdom. some well-educated, young, strong, beautiful people, skillful in all wisdom. I want people who already know stuff. I want people who are brilliant. So these are people who've been brought up, trained, educated, discipled. They are the creme de la creme in Israelite society. Competent to stand in the king's palace and then do what? Teach them the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. People who are sharp enough to be trained in our literature, trained in our language. People whom we can take from their culture and turn them into Babylonians. people whom we can take from their culture and have them to stand before me, the king who has defeated them and who has defeated their God and fully assimilate them into our culture so that they become part of our kingdom and forget their own. King assigned them a daily portion of food that the king ate. and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel he called Belshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael, he called Meshach. Azariah, he called Abednego. He changes their names from references to their own God, Yahweh, to names that refer to Babylonian gods. So here they are. They've been taken away from the promised land. They've been taken away from their families. They've been stripped of their culture. They've been stripped of their names. They're in this training center that is designed to completely assimilate them into the Babylonian culture so that they can serve the Babylonian king. there doesn't seem to be any reason to be optimistic. Amen? And that's the point here, that there doesn't seem to be a reason to be optimistic. Chapter one, verse eight, now we get to our text. But Daniel. Amen. Something good's about to come, you all right? But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my Lord, the king, who assigned your food and your drink For why should he see that you are in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.' Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you and deal with your servants according to what you see. We have to be careful here. We have to understand that this happens within the context of a book that is eschatological in nature. When we understand that it happens within the context of a book that is eschatological in nature, then we can avoid some of the pitfalls of those who try to make this about something other than eschatology. Some try to make this about dietary laws. This is not about dietary laws. They're not saying, don't make us eat the food because the food is not kosher. In fact, the vegetables that they were given were probably not going to be made in ways that would suffice in terms of the kosher laws. That wasn't it. That wasn't the point. This was also not about them saying that vegetarianism is superior. Thank you, Jesus. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord. They were not saying that meat was bad. They weren't even saying that wine was bad. That wasn't the point. They also weren't saying that this was bad because it comes from the king and perhaps it would have been sacrificed to idols because the fact of the matter is, if food was being sacrificed to idols, they're vegetables. could have been defiled as well. That was not the point. This also wasn't about health and fitness. I love the people who talk about the Daniel diet, and we're gonna do the Daniel diet so we can lose weight at the end. They're fatter. I'm just saying. That's not what this is about. This text doesn't exist so that it can give us rules about eating. This text exists so that it can give us encouragement in the midst of dark days. This text is saying, you took us from our land. There was nothing we could do about that. You took us from our families. There was nothing that we could do about that. You changed our names. There's not really anything that we could do about that. You're going to call us what you call us. You've changed our education. We don't have our books. There's nothing we can do about that. But there's one area where we can resist. and not only resist, but we can resist in such a way that in this vignette, we can remind ourselves and we can remind you and we can remind everybody who reads the book of Daniel that the kingdom of God is undefeated. Test us and see what God does. That's what this is about. Test us and see what God does. And that's precisely what they do. Look at verse 14. So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days. And at the end of 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables." This is the first opposition that we see. There's other opposition that's going to come, but all of the opposition that we see is here for the same purpose. And that purpose is to encourage all of those who find themselves in exile. And here's a newsflash. All of us find ourselves in exile. Amen? No matter how good our situation and our circumstances may be, This is not the new Jerusalem. Amen. I even say that in Texas. There are people who want to pull me aside afterwards and say now, brother, listen, I'm all right with almost everything you said, but you got to know that the capital of the new Jerusalem is going to be set up somewhere around Austin. But it's not, it's absolutely not. This is our Babylon, amen? And we are absolutely being opposed. We are absolutely being challenged. And there are individuals all around us who are clutching at their pearls because of the ways in which we are being challenged. And there are some Christians right now, today, who are worried about whether or not God is still on his throne, and whether or not he is still in control, and whether or not this is all going to be all right, and whether or not this is the end, and they are absolutely terrified, they're afraid. Daniel, in this one little episode, All of the episodes that are to come says the kingdom of God is undefeated. God may discipline his people, but he does not forsake them. Well, Daniel's vindicated. And not only is Daniel vindicated, but all of those who serve the one true and living God are vindicated. And we're vindicated why? What is our hope? What is our answer? Again, if we read this text as though somehow it's designed just to give us rules about what we eat and when we eat and where we eat, we miss it. But if we read this text within its proper historical context, then we're reminded of where our hope comes from and what it is that we ought always to hold on to. But here's the issue. God remembers his covenant people, Israel, And ultimately, his covenant people, Israel, are delivered and we know and we'll look tomorrow in Jeremiah chapter 29 and we'll see that that deliverance is going to come, but it doesn't come for everyone. In fact, no one here is going to be there when that deliverance finally comes. Why? Well, we'll see tomorrow, because that deliverance is not about these individuals who went into captivity. That deliverance is about God's covenant people as a whole, those people who bear his name. And that's incredibly important for us. because it reminds us that our hope, our eschatological hope is not bound up in our individual circumstances or even in this individual life. Some of you know that three years ago, I came really close to going to be with the Lord, amen? And I remember when we finally got the last piece of news, and I'd had one heart procedure and thought that everything was okay, and I went for one last test, and my family was in the hotel room. I took the shuttle. We were all packed up. I took the shuttle over for this last procedure, and I was gonna take the shuttle back, and then the next morning, we were gonna drive off, I was gonna drop them off with our oldest daughter in Jackson, Mississippi, and then I was gonna go off, you know, because I had a book coming out that Monday, this was Thursday night. I go there Thursday night for that quick little procedure, and they go in for that quick procedure, and about 10 minutes into that quick procedure, everything stops, and everybody starts packing up. The cardiologist comes over and says, We found some things, and we're not going to be able to deal with it here. We're going to admit you, and you're going to have to have open-heart surgery. Very interesting thing about that. When I was in college, there was a friend of mine who had gone to medical school. He came back looking for another friend of ours who was considering going to medical school, and he was going to take him with him. to the hospital where he was doing a rotation. I wasn't there, so he asked me if I wanted to go. So sure, I went. Turns out that I was actually going to get to scrub in and go into a surgical theater where there was a very fascinating procedure taking place. Open heart surgery. I watched it. I saw them bring the saw. I saw them cut the sternum. I saw them take the spreaders. I saw them. I saw it. I saw it. I watched it. And until that day three years ago, it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I dreaded a number of things that day, but I don't think I dreaded anything more than the moment I realized I was going to have to call my wife, tell her that I'm not coming back and that I'm going to have open heart surgery. Please don't Google it. Please don't look at it on YouTube. She got off the phone and she Googled it and she looked at it on YouTube. She calls me back and she says, wait, they're not going to do that to you. And I said, yes, they're going to do that to me. We had to wait a couple of days for the next couple of days. We sat there and we contemplated. What if this is it? And there were a lot of people who tried to encourage my dear wife. And I heard one of the conversations where she said to this dear friend of ours, who was trying to say, listen, he's serving the Lord. The Lord's going to bring him through this. God's not finished with him yet. And my dear wife said, you know what? God is no man's debtor and he doesn't need my husband. So I appreciate it, but there's no guarantees here. And she got off the phone and she looked at me and she said, I think I'm ready. And I said, I think you are too. See, an optimistic eschatology is not a happy, happy, joy, joy. We're gonna make it. We're going to see the victory. I'm going to rise up out of this bed. That's not what's meant here. Daniel, never sees the promised land again. Please don't forget that. Daniel and his friends never see the promised land again. And yet Yahweh is good. Yahweh is faithful. The kingdom of God is undefeated. And for God's people, there is always hope. We may be here when the Lord returns. Amen? It could happen tonight. Or all of us could be gone. But whether it does or not, is not the determining factor in God's faithfulness to his people. It may just be him vindicating his people in small ways here and there while we wait for the ultimate vindication of the kingdom of God. on that day when he returns and everything that is wrong is made right. In the meantime, we trust him. In the meantime, we serve him. In the meantime, we look for his faithfulness and thank him for it every time we see it. In the meantime, we have hope. God is faithful. The kingdom of God is undefeated. And in the end, he will deliver his people. For those of us who belong to him, that's enough. Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you for your mercies that are new every morning. We praise you and we thank you for ways, large and small, that you remind us that you are absolutely in control. Father, I pray for those people under the sound of my voice right now. who are facing situations in their own lives that caused them to doubt this truth. And I ask that by your grace, you would cause them to see Christ and his glory and his majesty, that you would cause them to rejoice in his kingdom anxiously anticipate his coming and to celebrate his rule and his reign in their lives and in his church. Thank you for the victory that is ours already and not yet. Thank you for the hope that is ours. and for reminding us of the source of that hope tonight. We pray these things, believe these things, and hope these things. In Christ's name and for his sake, amen. We hope you were helped by this session from the Annual Conference of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. CBTS relies on the generous gifts of supporting churches and individuals. If you would like to invest in the next generation of gospel ministers, visit us at cbtseminary.org slash give. Thank you for listening.