All right, this morning we're going to be going through Daniel 6. I'll be bringing the word to you from that passage of scripture this morning. Todd has been going through Acts in the morning service regularly, but I've been going through Daniel in the evenings. So this morning I get to bring the evening into the morning a little bit here. So excited to bring Daniel to you this morning. Would you please open up your Bibles to Daniel chapter 6, and would you please stand for the reading of the word once you have stood for that? I would encourage you, if you're not physically able to stand through the whole time, don't feel guilty about needing to sit down if you need to. This is a long chapter, so if you feel the need, don't feel guilty about that. This is the Word of God, the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God, given for you. Hear now. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom, 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. 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 fault 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 complaint 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, O King Darius, live forever. 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 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, sign the document and the injunction. 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. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. And 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 30 days except to you, O king, shall be cast in 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, O king, or the injunction you have signed, makes his petition three times a day. 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. 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 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 a signet of his lord's, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then at break of day the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 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? Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. 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. 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 these 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. Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble in 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. 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. Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you needy. We need to hear your word. What we have not, we ask that you would give us. What we are not, we ask that you would make us. And what we know not, we ask that you would teach us. For the glory of your name. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, in the evening service, we've been going through the book of Daniel, like I mentioned, and Daniel chapter six is where we are at in that series. And in case you haven't been tracking with us in that study, we've seen in Daniel how Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem in Daniel chapter one. He destroyed the kingdom of Judah and he brought to Babylon Jewish exiles. The Jewish elite were taken from Jerusalem, Judah, into Babylon. And Daniel was one of those young Jewish men that Nebuchadnezzar brought from Jerusalem to Babylon. And from the very outset of the story of Daniel, we've seen how Daniel has been distinguished from the rest of his colleagues, his companions. Not just because Daniel is sharper or wiser than his companions, although Daniel is very intelligent, but because Daniel clearly has a special relationship with God. We've seen this phrase repeated over and over again in the book of Daniel. Daniel has an excellent spirit within him. The kings notice how he's filled with the spirit of the holy gods. Daniel has a special relationship with the Lord. And he has the ability not just to tell the interpretation of dreams, but he can even tell Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was that he dreamed before Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel. And so Daniel was clearly a special man of God, given special abilities for a special time in history. And this isn't an extraordinary period in history that we get to read about in Daniel. Daniel gets to see three different kings come to power in Babylon. He has various different experiences with these kings. He's seen Nebuchadnezzar, we've seen Belshazzar, and we've seen how the Lord deals with each one of these kings in a different way. Nebuchadnezzar himself goes through a season of humbling. If you remember Daniel chapter 5, excuse me, Daniel chapter 4. If you remember, Nebuchadnezzar allowed his heart to be lifted up within himself. He allowed himself to glory in all of his achievements. He said, look at what I've done. And because of that, God laid him low. God humbled him. God made him like one of the animals. His hair grew long. His nails became like bird claws. And so God broke Nebuchadnezzar of his pride. And after seven years, Nebuchadnezzar looked up to the God of heaven and humbled himself. Now, Belshazzar, which was a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, took over, if you remember, in Daniel chapter five. And he also was filled with pride. He didn't learn the lessons from Nebuchadnezzar. As we saw in Daniel chapter five, the writing was on the wall for Belshazzar, wasn't it? Belshazzar was proud, and God humbled him as well. If you remember, Daniel said to Belshazzar, look, your time is up. Your kingdom is going to be divided, and it's going to be given to the Medes and the Persians. And that very night, Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. So we've just seen another transition in power in Daniel chapter 5, and now we see the third king in this trilogy of kings. And Darius is now king in Babylon. And so the question is, how is Darius going to respond to the Lord? You know, Daniel 6 is a familiar Bible story. I'm sure many of you have learned this story when you were a child. Someone in Sunday school class probably taught you the story of Daniel in the lion's den. In many Christian circles, we even hear the phrase, dare to be a Daniel. That's the way this story is told, it's thought about in our contemporary culture. In fact, there's even a VeggieTale short film made about Daniel in the lion's den. I think with that popularization of this story, I think we begin to lose the real weight and import of this chapter in the Bible. Despite the way that it's been portrayed, its fuzzy and warm interpretations, look, this is a story of a man going through suffering, real hardship, unjust persecution. In the end, he is delivered from that. Now, the point that I want to show you this morning from this chapter in Daniel is that, look, God delivers his people. God delivers his people from the pit. And so the point of the story is not to call you to be stronger or dare to be a Daniel. The point of this story is to call you to trust in the one who is ultimately delivered from the pit. So I want to encourage you this morning, brothers and sisters, that God has given you deliverance from the pit. So that's where we're going. That's the 3,000 foot view for you this morning. So how do we see this unfolding in this chapter? We see in verses 1 through 9, there's a plot to destroy Daniel. Verses 10 through 19, we see Daniel is unjustly accused and thrown into the pit. And in verses 20-29 we see the preservation of Daniel. So we see the plot to destroy him, we see the unjust accusation made against him and how Daniel is thrown into the pit, and we see how ultimately God delivers him from the pit in the end. So the first thing that we see here though in verses 1-9 is the plot to destroy Daniel. Now, the first thing that we see, though, is that at the beginning of this chapter, Darius, after conquering Babylon, has to reorganize his empire. He doesn't want his empire to be like Babylon, which was just defeated in battle. And so he's trying to organize things. And so we read in verses 1 through 3 of the beginning of this chapter that Darius, it pleased him to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom. 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. 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. So Darius sets over Babylon 120 satraps. Now, what are satraps? The word satrap means protector of the kingdom. So these are lower officials in the empire of Persia who are ruling over smaller portions of that empire. If you think about America, the way that we rule our country is by bureaucracy in many cases. If you think about the Department of Justice, for example, there are deputy attorney generals around the country that are under the attorney general. So like that in America, there's something similar in Persia. There are lower officials that report to a higher officials and the kingdom is divided in such a way and that's how it's ruled. Now, over these lower officials, these satraps, Daniel is presiding as one of the three higher officials. You might call him a vice president in a sense. These men that Daniel is among would be similar to high-level cabinet officials in America. If you think about the Treasury Secretary, the Secretary of Defense, or the Attorney General, these state traps and these higher officials are called to give an account to Darius. And Daniel is one of these higher officials. And Daniel is in charge of making sure the king suffers no loss. And so this probably means that these three higher officials are to make sure that the right amount of taxes are collected and no one's stealing from the king. So they have a high degree of responsibility. And in verse three, we read that this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And so the king saw Daniel, and he saw Daniel's integrity and his responsibility and the way that he acted. And the king saw, wow, there's something different about Daniel. He's not like these other officials who are ruling in the kingdom. Daniel is a smart guy. He probably worked very hard. He had a good attitude. But more likely, what we're seeing here is that the king is recognizing that Daniel has a special relationship with the Lord. Daniel is not like these other satraps, these other officials in the kingdom. He has a responsibility to God, and he recognizes that. Daniel is a man of moral integrity and uprightness, and Darius is recognizing that Daniel is someone who's trustworthy, that he could entrust his kingdom to. You know, people can tell when you have a special relationship with God, can't they? People can tell when you're a Christian. You know, there's something just that they can notice, there's something different about you. I don't know if you've ever been in the airport or a train station and somebody, you know, you're talking to them and they say, you know, you're a Christian, aren't you? They know that there's something different about you. You don't even have to tell them, they can just tell. And oftentimes, you know, you can tell when somebody else is a Christian without them telling you that because of the way they act. And it's the same thing here. Darius can tell there's something different about Daniel by the way he acts. He's not like these other officials in the kingdom. And he wants Daniel to run his whole kingdom. We read at the end of verse 3 that the king had planned to set him up over the whole kingdom. This is very similar to the story of Joseph in Genesis, isn't it? When Joseph, in every situation that he's put in, shows himself to be faithful. And he always rises to a position of authority because he's a man who's responsible and trustworthy. And Daniel is the same here. Daniel is a faithful worker. When you put a prince into a prison, he makes it into a palace. And so too, when you throw Daniel into a dark place, he's gonna shine like a bright light. And these other officials do not like it, do they? In verse four of this chapter we read, 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. So these high officials, they see Daniel and his excellent work, they see how he's trustworthy, he's not taking bribes, he's not stealing from the king, he's not doing anything corrupt, and they don't like it. They say to himself, look, this Daniel, he's making us look bad, so we can't allow this to go on. If we allow this to go on, he's gonna be ruling us and we're gonna be serving him. So we have to do something about Daniel. And so these other officials who are likely corrupt, they're looking for ways to improve themselves, they're now looking for a way to get rid of Daniel. But they can't find any ground for complaint against him. I mean, this is high praise for Daniel here. The scriptures are saying that there's nothing in Daniel's life which anyone could accuse him with. I mean, wouldn't that be great if people could say that about you or me? There's nothing in your life that anybody could find that would be a reason for complaining against you. You know, we've looked in your life and there's no vices. There's nothing that you're doing that is sinful. There's nothing to accuse you with. This is high praise. And it must have been true because these men must have been wanting to find something, right? They must have been looking very hard to find a reason for complaint against Daniel. They wanted to find some kind of dirt on him so they could tear him down. But they can't. He's not taking bribes. He's not going to the bars. He's not hanging out with prostitutes. He's not speaking bad about the king. Daniel is doing the right thing. He is showing himself to be a man of faith in his public life. And they want to tear him down for that. This makes them look bad. You know, when a light shines in a dark place, it makes the darkness around it all the more apparent. It makes the contrast even more apparent. And so, too, the contrast between Daniel and these other satraps is being made very strongly here. Daniel's life is making these satraps look bad. This reminds me of a story I heard one time of a Christian man who was a hard worker in a construction site. And he gets hired at this job, and he goes to work, and he doesn't steal time. He's doing his job. He's doing his job to the best of his abilities. He's honoring his boss. Now, the problem with this was that he was making the other workers look bad, the lazy workers. So, what do they do? They get together and they make up some kind of lie against him and tell it to the boss and he gets fired. So, we see in life, we see examples in our own life where this happens. When you see an honorable man, it creates a distinction between him and those around him. Sometimes, being an excellent man or a woman of integrity makes you enemies in this world. Sometimes doing the right thing in this world will cause you to have opposition. People will hate you for doing the right thing because it makes them look bad. It exposes their faults. You remember Jesus said in John chapter 3 verses 19 through 20, and this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." So what is Jesus saying here? When the light came into the world, Jesus himself, people loved darkness rather than the light because their works are evil. They didn't want to have their works exposed by Jesus. For certain people, Jesus being around them exposed their evil deeds. And the same is true here in this story. Daniel is blameless, and his blamelessness exposes the evil deeds of those around him. His deeds are showing the work of God in his life. And it's showing for others the work of the evil one in their lives. And you can see the situation it's creating here in this chapter. Wouldn't it be great if those who are non-Christians could say the same about us? You know, as Christians, our conduct amongst non-Christians is to be upright and blameless, isn't it? 1 Peter 2.12 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. Our good deeds should be evident to those around us. Non-Christians should not look at us and say, wow, look at, you know, these Christians that I'm with, they're just like me. They're using the same language that I'm using. You know, they're speaking like we are. They're using the same kind of foul language that we use. They're laughing at the same jokes that we joke about. There's nothing different between us and them. Is that what non-Christians say when they're around you? Or do they say, wow, this person is actually different. There's something different about this person that I'm with. That's the way it was with Daniel. He was upright and blameless, and they couldn't find anything wrong with him. And these people wanted to kill him because of it. In verse five, we read, 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. So they say to one another, look, we're not going to find anything wrong with Daniel publicly. There's nothing wrong. We're not going to find some kind of secret vice or sin that he has. So let's look for something in his religion that we can get him on. Let's get him on something that he does to please his God, then we'll get him. That's the only thing that we're going to get Daniel on. Clearly, this means that Daniel was a man of faith and it was evident to those around him. He's not ashamed to let others know that he loves the Lord and that he believes in the God of Israel. And so if anyone's going to find something wrong with Daniel, they're going to have to find it in his religion, in his faith. His only vulnerability lies in his commitment to God. It's interesting to note that here. That's the only thing they try to tear him down on. And so they look for something and they find something and then they come to the king and they say, oh, King Darius, live forever. We've all agreed that you should make a law that if anyone prays to any God but you for 30 days, they should be cast into the den of lions. Now sign this document so it can't be changed. This is a paraphrase of what they're saying. You know, these advisors are clever here. They're using Darius's weaknesses against him. You know, having just been made the king of a new empire, Darius probably would have been looking for ways to consolidate his power and authority. And so this decree would have made Darius essentially the high priest over all of his empire. Everybody would have had to come to him to make their requests known to God. And so Darius, probably being a man who thinks highly of himself, he probably sees himself as a great king. He's like, well, okay, this is not a bad law to have for 30 days. You know, I can get along, I can get on with this train. And so either being arrogant or ignorant, Darius signs this decree and he can't change it. You know, unlike Nebuchadnezzar, who can change a law anytime he wants and essentially kill anyone he wants or elevate anyone he wants, Darius here is constrained. The Medes and Persians laws were much more concrete, it would seem, than the Babylonians before. And so Darius cannot undo what he has done when he signs this law. And so we read that he does indeed sign this law calling for everyone to bring their requests to him for 30 days. And if not, they will be thrown into a den of lions. Now, what does Daniel do when he hears of this decree that has been signed and put into law? Well, we read in verse 10 that Daniel, when he 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." So what does Daniel do when he hears this law being made? He doesn't panic. He doesn't freak out. He doesn't get anxious. Instead, he continues to do what he has always done, which is to go to the Lord in prayer. This decree does not change Daniel's behavior. Decree or no decree, Daniel is going to go and meet with God. Brothers and sisters, let me tell you that Daniel shows us a pattern for holy living here. And let me say, when times get difficult, when you're put in a tough situation, that's not the time to stop praying, that's the time to pray even more, isn't it? When you're put in a tough situation, it's not time to pray less, but to pray more. That's when you should be calling out to God even more. And nothing changes in this regard for Daniel. Daniel continues to pray. And let me tell you something else, brothers and sisters, it was because Daniel met with the Lord in private that he could stand in the day of adversity. It was because he met with the Lord in private that he could stand in the day of adversity. It's because of his private life and his private devotion to God that enabled him to stand. Do you want to stand in the day of adversity? Do you want to stand in the day of trouble and the tough times that come before you? Doing the work of meeting with God in private is what will enable you to stand in that day. It's when you meet with God in private, when you are alone in the secret place, that you gain the strength and resources to go out into the life. That's where you gain the spiritual resources to go out into the world. Prayer is where the power is found, brothers and sisters. You can accuse me of being a legalist, but here I'm calling upon you to pray. I think the Bible calls upon you to pray too. John Calvin said, if a Christian wants to find a source of help for his bravery, he must go out of it himself and look for it elsewhere. He says this in his section on prayer. And where must he look? He must look to God. This is where a Christian looks for, to find help. He looks to God in prayer. If you want to have strength in your Christian life, devote time to prayer, to ask God for help. That's where the strength and power comes from. And that's where it came from in Daniel's life. This is where the strength and power came from for Daniel. It came from his time in prayer. Daniel was a man who depended upon God. In this chapter, it takes the curtain back on his private life and we see who Daniel is in private. It's when you're alone that you are who you really are, isn't it? We see who Daniel is here in this chapter. Daniel was a man who prays. The text says that he prays towards Jerusalem. Now, this is not modeling that we should be praying towards Jerusalem in our own private time. Likely, this is because Daniel and the other exiles, they knew of Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8, where Solomon encourages the Jews to pray towards the temple in Jerusalem. Now, if you remember, the temple is the place that represents God's presence with his people in the Old Testament. And so, in a sense, when Daniel is praying in that direction, he's remembering the promises of God. He's remembering God's promises to his people. And he's putting his faith that God is going to restore his people one day. He's looking forward to the time when God brings his people back to the land of Israel. And so here we see Daniel is making his press requests and petitions to God. He's doing so towards Jerusalem, the place where God had put his presence in the Old Testament. Now, he's doing this with his windows open, so he's not worried about people coming in and seeing him. He's not worried about people barging in. Daniel is not worried. He's not saying to himself, you know, for 30 days, I'm going to just take a break from prayer. I'm going to take a break from my private devotion to God, and I'm going to just go along with what these people are doing. You know, I have this place of influence and power. I don't want to mess it up. He's not saying that. He's saying if there is some conflict between a law here on earth and my duty to God, I'm going to choose God over man every time. Daniel's saying I must obey God rather than man. My first duty is to God. You know, in Daniel chapter 3, we saw how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were persecuted and thrown into the furnace for not bowing down and worshiping this great image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And here in this chapter, the problem is with what Daniel is positively doing, his duty towards God. And so these men are persecuting Daniel based upon his positive worship of his Lord. But Daniel does not stop just because there is the potential for destruction and death for him. He continues on with his devotion to God, no matter what the cost. So we see Daniel, he goes up into his upper room and prays. And after Daniel, he goes up into his upper room and prays. What do these other officials do? What do they do to him? Likely they're probably spying on him the whole time. They're probably peeking around the corner just waiting for Daniel to pray. It's interesting, these officials probably barge in on him and say, aha, we got him, we got him, he's praying to his God. You can imagine, you know, no wonder they make this decree for 30 days. They probably know it's not going to take 30 days for Daniel to pray to his God, right? And so they find Daniel praying and they go complain to Darius. Their plan is being fulfilled. And so they ask the king, didn't you sign that decree commanding that no one should pray but to you? Darius says, yeah, I signed it. And then they say, Daniel, one of those Judeans isn't paying any attention to you. He's praying three times a day. Darius, he hears this, the text says he is much distressed. You know, in this story we're going to see a remarkable change brought about in Darius, unlike perhaps the change that should have been brought about in Belshazzar. Darius is a man who at least is starting to recognize the work of God, isn't he? And he cares for Daniel. He knows that Daniel is an upright man. He knows that Daniel should not be put into a position where he's breaking the law because of his devotion to God, but he was ignorant before when he signed this decree. He wasn't aware of the plot that these advisors had to destroy Daniel. And now he knows why they wanted him to sign this law. He's been duped. He's had the wool pulled over his eyes. And now he's angry because he can't do anything about it. And these advisors have deceived him. And he's angry at himself for being deceived. And so all day long, he sets his mind to deliver Daniel from the lion's den. He labors until sun goes down to find some kind of legal loophole where he can deliver Daniel. There's no way. At the end of the day, these devious advisors, These conmen, they come back to Darius, and they remind him that the law of the Medes and the Persians cannot be changed. And so Darius is in a bind. He cannot change his own law. And so after exhausting every attempt to save Daniel, trying to find some kind of legal loophole to get Daniel out of this trouble that he's in, Darius gives the order. And so Daniel, he's arrested, he's put in change, and he's thrown into the lion's den. But before the stone is rolled over the pit that Daniel's thrown into, Darius, who is concerned for Daniel, shouts, may your God whom you serve continually deliver you. You know, Darius, he doesn't know what's going to happen. He knows there's something special about Daniel and the relationship he has with his God. He knows that, he probably knows that Daniel's God is a real God, and there's something about that God that is different from all the other gods. And Daniel says, Darius says here, May your God save you, deliver you from this pit." He doesn't want to see Daniel die. He doesn't want to see Daniel devoured by these lions, and so he hopes that Daniel's God might save him. And we're going to see how there's a testimony that's made to Darius at the end of the story of the greatness of Daniel's God. But after Darius cries this out to Daniel, the stone is placed over the opening of the den. And it's sealed with the signet rings of the king and his nobles. And so the whole point of that is to say that when the king and his nobles seal that stone, anyone who removes that stone from that pit, somehow they're going to know. And they're going to be directly contravening the order of the king. So the whole point of that was to say, you know, if you move this stone from over this pit, You are going to welcome death upon yourself for disobeying the king's order. It's very similar to how Pilate and the Pharisees actually were worried that the disciples of Jesus were going to steal the body of Jesus. And so what do they do? They go and steal the stone in front of Jesus's tomb, if you remember. There are very many similarities between the story of Jesus and Daniel here. There are very many parallels. And so too, Daniel is sealed in what is meant to be his tomb here. He's in this dark den with no possibility for escape. He's just in there with a bunch of hungry, ravenous lions. He's not getting out. These are not the friendly lions of Lion King either. These are lions that are going to tear you apart and devour you if they get a chance. So Daniel, he's not getting out, he's stuck inside that den. However, Daniel is going to spend the night far more at ease in that lion's den than Darius because what's the truth? It's better to be in the lion's den with the Lord than to be in a palace without Him, right? It's better to be in the lion's den with the Lord than to be in a palace without Him. And Daniel is in the lion's den with the Lord, but Darius, is not with the Lord. And so when Darius goes back to his palace, he spends the whole night sleepless and unable to sleep. He's anxious. He's anxious about what might happen to Daniel. He's unable to enjoy anything, any of his usual enjoyments at night. And he fasts the entire night out of concern for Daniel. And what does he do? When the first light of dawn is seen, he runs to the den. He immediately goes to see how Daniel has been doing. And so they roll back the stone, the den is opened, and Darius cries out to Daniel to see if he is still there. He says, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions? And he hears a voice crying back to him from the pit. O king, live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him. And also before you, O king, I have done no harm." Contrary to Darius's expectations, Daniel had spent the night far more comfortably than Darius himself. What happened? God sent his angel to shut the mouths of these lions so that they could not even scratch him. Daniel is completely protected from any harm from this lion's den. So just like God sent an angel to protect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter three, Daniel is protected from these hungry lions. There's a miraculous preservation of Daniel here in this chapter. He's miraculously preserved. And the end of verse 23 is very significant as we read this chapter. We read, 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. There was no damage found on Daniel because he believed in his God. His faith saved him. Just like his friends in chapter three, when they were put to the test, chose to believe God, whether he would save them or not, so too, Daniel is trusting in his God, whether or not God saves him or not. And it's his faith in God that saves him. He is saved by his faith. Ultimately, this is the mark of his innocence. It's his faith in God. It's not because Daniel is a perfect man. Likely there were sins in Daniel's life that he has. We know that all men are born sinful, and Daniel was a man just like any of us. So he's not completely innocent, but he's found innocent by God because of his faith in him. Daniel's name means, God is my judge. And Daniel is the one who entrusts himself to the one who judges justly in this chapter. He's not saved because he was perfect, but because he trusted in God. And so God declared the verdict of not guilty over Daniel, and he is saved because of that. But there's irony here in this story, isn't there? Because what was planned against Daniel is then turned around on those who planned it against him, just like what happened with Haman in the story of Esther. For those who had falsely accused Daniel, the conspiracy that they had planned against him was now turned around on them. We read in this text that they and their entire families were thrown into the pit. Now, unlike Daniel, who fared well in the lion's den, these men will not fare so well. What do we read here in the text? It says that before they even reached the bottom of the pit, they were overpowered and their bones were broken. These are hungry lions here, aren't they? Imagine being torn to pieces by a lion. That's not a very pleasant thought. But that's what happens to these men who had planned this plot against Daniel. And ultimately, this shows God's verdict on them. They were guilty. And it showed in the end. Ultimately, we see at the end of the story how God reversed every evil thing that was planned here. And in the end of this chapter, we see Darius, he actually reverses the decree that he had issued earlier. Now he commands that everyone should tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. Unlike Belshazzar in the chapter before, we see a change brought about in Darius. Now Darius is acknowledging that Yahweh is king and that he is the one who has power. In fact, Darius sees Yahweh's saving of Daniel as proof of the fact that Yahweh's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And so at the end of this chapter, we see God bringing about his glory in the midst of these terrible events. God reverses a terribly evil situation for his own glory. And we read here at the end of this chapter that Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Likely this means that Darius did what he planned to do, which was to elevate Daniel to the second highest position in the kingdom. So in the end, Daniel receives great honor and blessing, and it's because of his faithfulness to God. Now we see the end of Daniel's life here, don't we? This is the conclusion. And what do we see here? We see God saving those who trust in him, and destroying those who are opposed to him and his people, ultimately. God saves Daniel from the pit of lions, miraculously, because Daniel trusted in the Lord his God. Now, some of you might say, well, what about those who have died for the faith? What about those who have not been miraculously delivered from suffering and persecution? Where is God in those situations? Does God care about them? Why doesn't God deliver everyone who trusts in Him miraculously from persecution and suffering? Clearly, the message here in Daniel is not that every believer should expect to be saved from death in the face of persecution. We know this is not true. We know that God allows people to die who trust in Him and who serve Him. Many believers, in fact, if you think back to the ancient Roman period, were thrown to the lions. They were torn apart by wild beasts. Many believers have been killed by bloodthirsty and cruel haters of the faith. So the point here in this chapter is not to show you or to promise you that God is going to deliver you miraculously from every trial that you're in in the way that you're going to expect. In fact, God often allows us to go through very difficult things and causes us to remain there. He might even cause you to die for His name. And Paul called that an honor, to be conformed to the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Now, the point of this chapter is to show the final deliverance of all believers on Judgment Day. You know, if you were here in Sunday school, Todd, we talked about, you know, the complete, the bans of destruction in the Old Testament on the land of Canaan. And what did we see that that showed? That showed an intrusion. of the final judgment day in that period of history. The people of Canaan were experiencing final judgment in that time. It was an intrusion of the eschatological judgment, the final judgment in that period of history. Now, we see that in the Old Testament, how God brings His judgment, His final judgment, into that period of history intrusively. But it's not just judgment that God allows to intrude into history, into the Old Testament at times. It's also blessing and deliverance. And the point of this chapter is to show the final deliverance for all believers on Judgment Day. Daniel's deliverance here provides the pattern for the believer's life in the end, doesn't it? At the end of time, God will eventually deliver his people. And he's going to give his people final victory over Satan, sin, and death on that last day. And we see a taste of that, a foretaste of that in this chapter. That's not the normative way that God works though. God often allows his people to go through hard times, but we do look forward to the day when God will finally deliver us from Satan, sin, and death, don't we? And we see here God delivering Daniel from the den of lions as a foretaste, a foreshadowing of eschatological deliverance, final deliverance. The lions, which are a symbol of that final judgment, don't harm him. He's innocent. He trusts in his God. But the unbelievers who plotted against him, who wanted to destroy him, who hated God, are ultimately crushed by those lions. They're crushed by God's judgment. And this points to the fate of all of those who oppose God. This is also an intrusion of final judgment here. We find here an intrusion of final deliverance and final judgment. And for those who oppose God, we know what awaits them. We see various examples of this intrusion of final judgment in the Old Testament. You think of Sodom and Gomorrah. Think of how God destroyed that city in fire and brimstone. We think of the swallowing of lives of Korah and Dathan and Numbers. We think of many others. For those who oppose God, fiery judgment awaits. But on the last day, those who submit to Christ as Lord will not be found guilty, while those who oppose him will be declared guilty and be thrown into the lake of fire. This is the end of all things, brothers and sisters, and this is the message of Daniel 6. This is what Daniel 6 is pointing us towards. The pattern of the believer is the pattern of Daniel's. It's a pattern of suffering unto glory. The pattern of non-believers, of unbelievers, those who oppose God, is a pattern of temporary earthly glory unto suffering eternally. Daniel is thrown into the pit of affliction and he is raised to glory in the end. while his enemies are thrown into that pit of affliction forever. Now, why is it that we are delivered in the end? We've spoken so much about how this is an intrusion of final deliverance or final judgment. But why is it that we can expect final deliverance in the end? Well, it's because the greater than Daniel, the Lord Jesus Christ was thrown into the pit of wrath for our sakes. When we read the story of Daniel here, we are reminded of the story of Jesus later. The witness of Daniel's life points towards Jesus. Think of how Daniel's life points towards Jesus. There's so many parallels here. I've already hinted at some. Think about some of these parallels with me. Like Daniel, Jesus is also the victim of conspiracy and betrayal from people whose position is threatened by him. Remember, they brought false accusers against Jesus in his trial, didn't they? Jesus was hated by the ones who should have loved him, wasn't he? They hated Jesus because of the excellent spirit that was in him. And ultimately, Jesus too is brought before a Gentile ruler and condemned. He's condemned on trumped up charges. Furthermore, both Daniel and Jesus are said to have trusted in his God. Like Daniel, Jesus too is thrown to beasts who want to kill him. Just as Daniel was thrown to lions, so too Christ is thrown to the mercy of men whom the Bible describes as beasts. If you think about Psalm 22, it's interesting how Psalm 22 describes Jesus' death on the cross in light of Daniel 6. I'll read a few verses from that. Psalm 22, verse 12 says, many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. Verse 16 says, for dogs encompass me, a company of evildoers encircles me. Verse 21 of that psalm says, save me from the mouth of the lion. Psalm 22 describes a man who has been forsaken by his friends, a man who is put to the mercy of men whom the Bible describes as beasts, as lions. And we know that this Psalm is prophesying of Christ because Christ cries out on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus is surrounded by those who hated him and wanted to kill him, just like Daniel was. Like wild animals, they wanted to tear him apart. But unlike Daniel, God did not protect Jesus from death, did He? God allowed Jesus to go through death. He doesn't merely suffer the threat of death. No, Jesus goes through death itself for us. No angel came to stop the Roman soldiers from nailing Jesus to the cross. No angel came to shut the mouth of those who mocked Jesus. Jesus' suffering and death go far deeper than anything that Daniel experiences here. Jesus experiences real ultimate darkness on the cross. Daniel just experiences temporary darkness for one night. Jesus goes through the ultimate darkness. Jesus is devoured by death. But just as Jesus' suffering goes far beyond anything that Daniel goes through, so too Jesus' deliverance is far greater than anything Daniel experienced as well. Just as Daniel is raised out of that pit, so too Jesus is raised out of the pit of death without a broken bone, just like Daniel had no broken bone. And he is declared not guilty. That's the gospel message, brothers and sisters. That's where our hope is. Jesus goes into the pit of death for us, and He's raised for our deliverance. And those who trust in Jesus Christ, who put our faith in Him, are delivered in the end. That's where our hope is. It's not in being delivered now from our present evils and sufferings. It's being delivered on the last day from death. And brothers and sisters, this is a visible reminder here of Jesus being torn apart for us, isn't it? We see his body broken for us here with the bread. We see his wine shed for us. We remember how Christ died for us on the cross, don't we? He experienced the pit of death for us. And ultimately, he was raised for our deliverance and our righteousness. This is a story about final things, brothers and sisters, and we have a picture of how we're delivered on that final day here and now. It's not because you dared to be a Daniel that you're going to be saved. It's because of the righteousness of Christ that you will be saved. So how does this deal with your problems today? How does this affect you right now? How should this affect you this week as you go into this week? Dealing with unbelievers who may hate you for your faith. Let me just remind you, I just have one last thing to say to you as a congregation. I want to remind you, your greatest problem is not physical death. It's not the people who might hate you in the various places you go. It's not the sufferings or persecutions that you're going through. What is your greatest problem? Your greatest problem is sin. It's your separation from God. And how is that dealt with? It's dealt with here, Jesus, on the cross, dying for you. Jesus meets your greatest need when he is thrown into the pit. Because you deserve to be thrown into that pit yourself. You're not perfect. You have sinned. You have dishonored God. You deserve to be thrown into that pit of lions, just like Daniel was. We all deserve to be thrown into the lion's den. but thanks be to God through Jesus Christ that he has shut the lion's mouth for us. Your greatest enemies, Satan, sin, and death, no longer have any power over you because of what Jesus did. Let me end this sermon by pointing you to Jesus, our greater than Daniel, who went into the lion's den and shut the jaws of Satan and has emerged victorious. so that we might never have to suffer being separated from God for eternity. Praise be to God for this deliverance, brothers and sisters. And that's where our hope is. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this story, which reminds us of the final judgment and deliverance that you're going to bring. And ultimately, Lord, we look to Jesus Christ for our salvation. We look to him for deliverance on that last day. It's not that we that we put our hope in being delivered now, Lord, but we put our hope in being delivered in the end through Jesus Christ. And we thank you that even now we experience all the benefits of salvation in Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, to have faith in him. Strengthen our faith, strengthen our assurance this day that you will reward those who love and trust you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.