We're going to be in the book of Daniel. So I invite you to open your Bible there. And as you're turning there, I'll lead us in prayer. Again, let's pray for Pastor Eric and Cindy as they're away. They'll be back again with us this week. I hope they've enjoyed their time away. Hopefully they were able to benefit from some nice weather. I know there's a family here early getting a picnic outside. We're able to give thanks to the Lord for how he's blessed us. So let's pray and we'll jump right into a survey really, an introduction to our series in Daniel. Father God, we thank you tonight for your word to us. We thank you for the word made flesh who dwelt among us. We thank you for Jesus. Father, we thank you that even with his work done on the cross and as he's He's even with you now at your right hand. He's not left us alone. Thank you for the spirit of Christ who dwells within us, who leads us and guides us into what is true. And so we pray tonight that you would show yourself, you would prove yourself again and again to be faithful in this. You would not leave us without hope. Lord, as we approach this study and Daniel, and as we look at ancient history and as we contemplate contemporary issues and Maybe we get caught up in a lot of the things in between. Lord, don't let us lose sight of the future hope that we have in Christ. We do thank you for a time and a place here now to gather, to look at your word. So give us ears that are open to hear, Lord, what you have said. And Lord, give us minds that are engaged to understand. Help our hearts to believe these truths and give us lives that are open to live them out. And may that even tonight, just even as there's time for discussions, may you work in our hearts to testify and to speak and to edify one another in the discussion as we are able to do so. We pray you bless this meeting and bless us as we go with the truth of your word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. We are in Daniel chapter 1. This evening I hope to just, and oh, by the way, did everybody get a handout? If you've ever been in Soul Focus, this is just a little nod to make you feel like you're back at home, okay? I'm a half-sheet guy. And then on the back, there's just a bunch of lines. So you're welcome to just fill in some notes there. But if anybody has a handout, go ahead and raise your hand. There's some in the back. Okay. There's some there in the back. So this is just to give you just kind of a structure of tonight. And again, tonight's really an overview of a lot of things. There's a lot to Daniel we're not going to talk or really get to. look at indefinitely, but we want to get the big survey and really do look at the first chunk, these first seven verses of the text. So we just hope to wet really our appetites on really the great hope that we have in Jesus, just as I prayed. Hope that we see rooted in ancient history and that causes us to live soberly where we are today. And hope that it takes wisdom really to see it applied well in our day. So read with me, follow along verses 1-7 of Daniel chapter 1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house. 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. Then the 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 and skillful 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. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and 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 Belteshazzar. Hananiah, he called Shadrach. Mishael, he called Meshach. And Azariah, he called Abednego. As we take our first look at a new series. We have much to take in. Sunday morning, we've been in the New Testament for quite a while in our study in Matthew. My other series that has become an epic series, I think, in Philippians, we kind of have to step back into a different time. Really, even in our family Bible class hour, I think back of our study in Jeremiah. And that would do you well if you've been hearing that so that you can maybe pull from that because Jeremiah is a contemporary of the prophet Daniel. There are many ways in which we could describe the book of Daniel as very, very foreign to our own experience. Daniel's is a story of barbarism and captivity, a world of fiery furnaces and lion's dens. You don't see those driving down High Street. Where children are kidnapped and indoctrinated in foreign cultures. And this seems to just be the way that business is done. And kings, in this day, seem to be ruled at the mercy of their dreams and the magicians who are somehow able to interpret them. It's a different time. And so, for as otherworldly as it may seem, Daniel's book truly does demonstrate the wisdom of Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verses 9 through 10, where it says, what has been and what will be and what has been done is what will be done. And there's nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, see, this is new? It is already in the ages before us. And so for as much as there's something that's otherworldly to Daniel's book, there's so much that really relates to our current time. It's also a world filled with power hungry rulers, oppressive governments, political corruption, self-idolization, secularization, and really just an outright affront to public and even private worship. So this observation of really there's nothing new under the sun can even be said for Daniel's place in the history of God's people. If you think on the macro level of the Old Testament, up until even today, there's always been an enemy to God's people. And here we just see just a sliver of that. But when we think of the enemies of Israel and Judah, who do we usually begin with? We think definitively of Egypt, am I right? Well, first there was the Egyptians, and then there was the Canaanites. After the Canaanites, there was the Philistines. And after the Philistines, there were the Assyrians. And then comes, as we see in our text today, and this time, the Babylonians. But that's not where it ends, right? What's next? The Persians enter the scene. And then not much long after that, what? The Romans. And then even more closer to our time, what? The Third Reich. And even today, the Islamic State. God's people, His chosen people of the Old Testament, have always understood what it is to have those who push against everything they stand for. So as we approach the book of Daniel, Inevitably, we come with a great many questions surrounding really the goodness of God in all this, and how we can bring such things as we find here to pass upon his people. And at the center of its message is an appeal to our hearts to recognize that God is sovereign, even in judgment. This is the theme we begin to see developing this evening. But to do that, we must first enter this era of exile. And if you're following your notes here, and again on the back there's lines you can fill in your own notes. You can write some of these things. But we see an era of exile. We have to enter this Babylonian world of the 6th century BC. And that's what we see here in verse 1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. So the political drama of Daniel's story begins with the death of Judah's last godly king of the Old Testament. Anybody know who that was? The last good one? It's not a trick question. We could say Jesus, right? But in the Old Testament, who's the last good king? Josiah. So this predates Daniel a bit, or at least where we pick up here. Josiah, who had brought really widespread religious reform in his day to the land, was mortally wounded in and a conflict against Egypt and was killed. And so his son, you just got to follow these names. And I mean, we tried really hard with Korah to not get a complicated name. Okay, I don't know what these people were thinking. So Josiah had a son named Jehoahaz. He filled his seat at the throne, but for only a few months before Nebo, or Neco II, who was the pharaoh of Egypt, has him removed and deports him from Judah. So in his place on the throne of Judah came his brother. So Jehoah has. He also has another son named Jehoiakim. And he steps in. And this is the man featured in our text today. Jehoiakim's reign, if you know anything about it, was one of defiance towards the Lord and of oppression on the Lord's people. And to demonstrate this, if you recall from our family Bible class hour, You can be reminded that Jehoiakim is the infamous ruler who, as Jeremiah brought a prophecy to him, and it was being read to him, he'd say, stop reading that, give me that piece of paper. And what did he do? He cut it in half, shredded it into pieces, and threw it into the fire. Okay, keep reading. Oh, stop, give me that. Scrap it up, throw it into the fire. This is a man who's defiant before the Lord. He also brought personal anxiety to Jeremiah, if you know anything about the story of Jeremiah's days in the city, as well as to the rest of the inhabitants during Jerusalem's downfall. And so it's a time, as you see here in the subheading, in the year 605, it began really a time of national subjection in which Judah was subjected to Babylonian influence, and really not just their influence, but to invasion. So when the commencement of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion comes, Judah enters an era of submission, and they would never recover from it, in which Jehoiakim becomes a vassal to the Babylonian throne, subjected even to chains, it evidently says, chains of bronze. And during this initial period of Babylonian aggression, we find the sad report that we find here in chapter one, where people are taken away. There was a number taken, and it wasn't just people who were taken, but we'll get to that in a minute. This is where Daniel is taken. Year 605 BC. And what will follow throughout the rest of Daniel's lifetime, a man who, as we understand, never gets to return to his homeland, would be a time of national surrender. And that's what we see in your next point. So from subjection now to surrender, well, it surrenders because as Daniel was being indoctrinated in Babylon in the year 597 BC, Jehoiakim would push back against the heavy hand of Nebuchadnezzar. Spelling out his own personal demise, as well as those in Jerusalem. And this is all in accordance to a prophecy given by Jeremiah. If you recall this, Jeremiah says, no, no, don't resist anymore. You had your chance to turn back. This is God's sovereign hand of judgment. You have to swallow this pill now. But he pushed back against it, and it brought surrender. And so his son, Jehoiachin, that's his son. Okay, this is a grandson of Josiah. was installed temporarily as a vassal ruler. But Nebuchadnezzar quickly removed him, along with the rest of the upper crest of society, including the prophet Ezekiel, who was also contemporary of Daniel. He takes them into captivity in Babylon. And so Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, who is Jehoiachin's brother, are you following me? Josiah's other son, he's put in, this third son of good King Josiah. is put in his place and Zedekiah would be the last king of a national entity of Judah, which of course foreshadows what you see next is ultimate destruction. In the year 586 BC, Zedekiah would follow suit with his royal family and direct affront to Jeremiah's words from the Lord. He rebels and the city is sieged into famine and utter destruction. And the last of the kings of the nation of Judah is carried away blind into captivity. And it's against this dark backdrop that the story of Daniel proves the truth that God often channels his sovereign faithfulness down rocky rivers of providence. And as we approach just the first little section here, these first seven verses of the book of Daniel in our time here today, I'd like to front to highlight a number of key elements that we will be developing in the future as we assess really the lessons from the text. So there's a number of these tonight and you have them kind of bullet pointed these main points. And the first that we see here is that of God's sovereignty. So again tonight a bit of an overview as we look at these major themes that give us a glimpse at the we just looked at the ancient history. Now we see some of these themes that speak to even our our day our current day. And we'll conclude with our future hope. God's sovereignty. We see here that the Lord is sovereign to judge. And this unfolds itself clearly in verses two through four. Typically, though, when we consider God's faithfulness, it's a great cheery thing, right? Well, that's not quite the same edge that comes with what we see here in Daniel's case. The calamities that befall the people of Judah are not by accident, nor are they dished out by a grumpy God who just didn't have his Monday morning coffee, okay? This isn't a God who's just, I'm kind of done with this. No, these people of Judah brought these calamities upon themselves. This didn't happen by accident. The issues transpiring in and around Jerusalem are direct judgments from God on his own people. And it's not without warrant. His people had violated their covenant with him by giving themselves to the false gods and the idols of the pagan nations around them. And as we've already reviewed, in just a few minutes already, they had received plenty warning to repent. And they would have nothing of it. They would only spurn God's wrath as they doubled down in their sin. And so we see within God's sovereignty, God, Adonai, the Lord, as the transcendent actor in all this. So concerning God's sovereignty, it should be noted that except for chapter one, The Lord is a transcendent actor in this story. That is, beyond chapter one, we never see God directly ascribed as being the one who does anything. And yet, this sets the precedent whereby we understand all the events that follow as they are sovereign outworkings of God's providence. So this is not to say that God is a minor character in this story. Chapter one makes it very clear of God's divine involvement. Beginning in verse 2, we recognize the first of three things in chapter 1. This is the only one we'll notice tonight. But we notice that his role in the rest of the story is very clear. Look at verses 2 through 4 again with me. It says here, "...and the Lord. He alone gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand," that is Nebuchadnezzar's 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. 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." And he goes on to describe the qualities of these men. He takes them to learn the language of the Chaldeans. And so the Lord alone releases his people. You know, much like, yeah, I was trying to think how to illustrate this, but of course, all illustrations fall down. But have you ever walked a dog that just did not want to stay with you? Okay. Sometimes it's like the dog is walking the human, right? Okay. And at some point, you never would do this. Okay, I'm just letting you go. Okay. You wouldn't do that, especially if it's not your dog. You know, but it's just, it's like, okay. We see God permitting these sinful wayward people to demonstrate their waywardness. And he permits Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans, also known as the Babylonians, to enter in. And this is a truth that we see these Babylonians did not quite comprehend. That's a theme in and of itself, as we see the vindication of God's people later on, is that often these evil people think that they really are the ones doing this. And it comes back to bite a number of them really hard. The Lord humbles these people. So a recurring theme throughout this history is God showing case after case, ruler after ruler, king after king, that he does as he wishes with all the affairs in the estates of mankind. He can bring them up and he can knock them down on the way. Yet for as dismal as this is to see Jerusalem, the city of God's people, being brought to nothing, he is a comforting sovereign, isn't he? His sovereignty is comforting in spite of all this. Even in spite of exile, there's comfort to be had here. But to fully appreciate this, we have to turn to Leviticus chapter 26. So go ahead and hold yourself there, Daniel, but turn, if you would, to Leviticus chapter 26, where we get to fully appreciate really where it is that these actions from the Lord are coming from. Because we see here that God's sovereignty will never intersect with His Word. He will never contradict himself. So we find in Leviticus 26 that he had spelled out all of this very clearly long before. And so it speaks really to what we see in Romans chapter 3 verse 4 which says, let God be true and every man a liar. God's not going to miss the mark when it comes to his word. In Leviticus chapter 26 verse 14, maybe you see a heading there in your Bible. Mine says what? Punishment disobedience. This is the covenant God makes with his people. And let's look at verse 14. But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you. I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease, and fever, and consume the eyes, and make the heartache, and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you even sevenfold for your sins." And if you just... let's just scan for a second the rest of this chapter. Verse 21, then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I'll continue striking you. Verse 23, if by this Discipline you are not turn to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will also walk contrary." Just he continues, and he spells it out in such detail, of just the punishment that is due to people who violate the covenant with God. God's not bringing anything to them that they should not have already anticipated, given how they acted. Things go bad very quickly for those who violate their covenant with God. And two things are relevant to notice here in Daniel chapter 1 verse 2 and 3. Go ahead and keep yourself there in Leviticus though. In Daniel 1 verse 2 we see that these vessels are removed from the temple. And that's spoken of, look at verse 31 here in Leviticus chapter 26. This is spoken of specifically. Verse 31 it says, and I will lay your cities waste and I will make your sanctuaries desolate. And then this is key, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. And this is not new. There's many times where the Lord spoke to his people through the prophets and says, I'm done. Stop with the sacrifices. Just please repent and give me your heart. He was done listening to or smelling these sweet, fragrant offerings. He's like, I don't want that. I want your heart. And it's like God says, I'm done with you going through religion. And he actually removes those instruments so that they would stop. It's like you ever had someone doing something and you're like, stop it. Stop it. And then you just take what they're doing and you put it aside. God literally removes... I've not done that with Korah yet. God literally is removing from them the opportunity for them to try to think that they can, you know, use religious rights to get God's attention back. No, it's going to be repentance. That's the only road back. So these vessels are removed. God had enough of those rituals in religion. And so we also see in verse 3 in Daniel chapter 1 that vassals or the people were removed. And so look at verse 33 here in Leviticus 26. and I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. The people will be taken." And that's exactly what happened to Daniel and his three amigos. They're taken. They're removed from their homeland. You can turn back if you'd like to Daniel. Well, I'll be referencing Leviticus again, but you can turn back. Not just those items that were set apart for worship, but now we see, and even the descriptive language in Daniel chapter 1 says that these young men were without blemish, which is the same word used to describe the vessels used for worship. These are the people you want to be here, the people who would repent on behalf of the people. God's saying, I'm removing them. And so the Babylonians carried away the cream of the crop, the best that the future had to offer. took the children, taken to be assimilated and used for Babylonian political advantages. But if Leviticus isn't clear enough for you as a mere covenant warning, 2 Kings chapter 20 gives a vivid forecast of what takes place here in Daniel. And if you know anything about 2 Kings chapter 20, which king is being referred to there? One of my favorite characters in the Old Testament, King Hezekiah. There's probably a number of folks. Nice try, Jason. Hezekiah. And for the longest time, you've always, you know, you're perplexed at the end of Hezekiah's reign with this little episode where he allows some political agents from Babylon to come and view the treasuries. And you're like, what's going on there? Because there's some pretty stiff consequences of that. And so in 2 Kings chapter 20 verses 17 through 19, Isaiah gives Hezekiah, a stiff warning, he says this, "'Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says the Lord, "'and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" And the sad thing is Hezekiah, after that, he's like, well, at least it's not happening in my day. For as the great things that could be said of Hezekiah here, we see just really a blot. Well, what was he really doing there, though? Really, we see a solicitation to join an alliance with Babylon to get rid of the Assyrian problem, because before the Babylon, there was the Assyrians that already obliterated all the tribes of Israel. And here we see Hezekiah, the one that we thought couldn't do anything wrong, even following suit with so many of the other kings before him, appealing to this idea of alliance with foreign nations and not depending on God. It was going to cost him dearly. So if the Levitical covenant wasn't clear enough, there was a prophecy given through Isaiah that testified this was going to happen. The people in Jerusalem in Daniel's day should have seen it coming. And though his people would prove to be unfaithful, God would and will keep his word, and he will do so sovereignly. And that's what we see next is an immovable God. an immovable God. There's still hope in spite of all this. There's still hope. It's a twofold hope. And this is where, let me read, if you're still in Leviticus chapter 26, you're welcome to look at verse 40, where there's the but clause. It says, but if they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, and their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walk contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob. And I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham. And I will remember the land. And it goes to verse 44, yet for all that when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them. neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them for I am the Lord their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their forefathers whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations that I might be their God. I am the Lord." So even in spite of all the breaches of this covenant God still says even if for a time they are stubborn in their sin, and I even have to bring about the total demise, it seems, of my people, I will not leave them utterly abandoned. God is an immovable God. He's unchanging in this. And so there will always be a remnant. God promises a remnant. And God graciously offers his mercy that will endure. And it also speaks of a return. And we see this spoken of in Ezra chapter 1, verse 7, that there will be a time that comes when the remnant will return, even to a desolate land, but they will come. Ezra 1, 7 says, Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of the gods. So we see a time where those vessels are even brought back, and the people are sent back. And so this has been a really big deep dive into the ancient history. of the book of Daniel. And I have a few questions for us here to consider. We've just seen how, through adversity, God acted sovereignly in accordance with his Mosaic covenant, right? That he made with his people. So for us today, how does God's sovereignty in light of the new covenant, how does that impact your handling of adversity. And a nation in which it seems like nothing left is sacred. So let me clarify that question. I want to hear from you guys. What has God assured us of in the new covenant that helps us in our adversity? What are your thoughts? Yeah, Rick. He will never leave us and forsake us. This is a comfort. And we know that because he's, what's kind of like the down payment, the seal of that? The Holy Spirit. Yeah, good. What else? Yeah, he tells us in the New Testament that these trials are for purging from us the dross, right? So that we would be refined so that we could be Christ-like, right? And that we can identify with Christ and those things, right? Chris. Yeah, there is an end. And even the book of Daniel, tonight we're not going to really get into the prophecy element of it. But it is prophetic. And it complements really the New Testament book of Revelation. There is an end to this. There's a beautiful hope in this. Good. Other thoughts? Do you see the connection I'm making here? How in Daniel's day, they had this covenant. They could look back and they could bank on it. Unfortunately, they completely Well, they did one to themselves in this, didn't they? We have in the new covenant of Christ all these assurances that help us in our affliction, that give us future hope. Kind of a follow-up question to that even is, how does this impact our understanding of God's people today, distinct from a nation, right? So how does this make us view living in a turbulent United States of America? Would you say Daniel was being carted away into a turbulent Babylon? How does the New Covenant encourage us in a world and in a society where, again, it seems like all the sacred things are being canceled. Am I right? Is that the right way of putting it right now? Everything's getting canceled. Nothing's sacred anymore. How can we be encouraged by the New Covenant? Yeah, Brock. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. We need that. And I think we've seen People go to extremes to try to make sense of it, and it just comes to nothing, right? Dave, yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, I think with that comes, you know, to know we're not alone. You know, and we see how much really them being together was a huge part of their, You know, being able to stand in an evil day. And what do we have here? We have the church. We get to do life together. In fact, we need to do life together. And there's a beauty in that. Yeah. We get to be the conscience in really a dark society. Yeah. Paul. Right. Yeah. Right? Right. Yeah, that's another one of our points really next, this vindication of God's people. Yeah, good point. Yeah. Jerry. Every year, every day, we meet a person who's been burned alive. This is very obvious. The thought that Jesus said, by the way of the fruit of the vine, we've been clinging to that fruit. Because there isn't a structure, kind of like an altar right now, for example. We're having to listen to people on televisions or in the air flying through all the time. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And again, it's just as God was sovereign, and his sovereignty is not going to intersect and, you know, nix his covenant. We can have confidence that when Jesus provides in the ways that he does and gives us these an opportunity for confident hope. We can bank on that. It's good. So yeah, I think we recognize from what we're saying is that we as, I think often we lose our way thinking that the church in America had glory days to where it's like we're not exiles anymore. We're in America and we're Christians. No, we're exiles just as Daniel and his companions in America. And we need to recognize this. But as we continue, we see another major theme here that I want to bring. First, again, was God's sovereignty. Secondly, is this idea of the vindication of God's people. This declaring them to be righteous or really to demonstrate them to be the people that they really are. People who are endowed with the grace of God. And that's a spectacle to society to see. And that's what we see really just kind of really the stage being set for in verses five through seven. Where we see the king assigned them That is Daniel and his friends, or we'll see that these are included, a daily portion of the 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 Beltasar. Hananiah, he called Shadrach. Mishael, he called Meshach. And Azariah, he called Abednego. So we approach a bit more of the, as we approach more the bit of the who's who and the what's what, we come face to face with the main characters of this story as it unfolds. So we see these characters, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and I just want to put a little footnote here. I think it's a shame that we don't refer to Daniel's friends by these names. You know, growing up it was always Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Well, one of the points tonight that we see here is really that even though they're in this, they're exiles and they're in this culture seeking to assimilate them, they still remain distinct. They don't lose sight of who they really are. So these four, along with really the countless others, there was many in this generation that were taken. They most likely were teenagers, probably about 15 years old, susceptible as a 15-year-old to the strongest of desires and impulses that adolescence and really new experiences can bring. These are very vulnerable people as teenagers. And we'll see these four young men exhibit the profound, really, impact of what Proverbs 22, verse 6 goes to say. We train up a child in the way that they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it. That cannot be understated here. Because these four teenagers didn't get to leave with their Bible when they got carted away. No textbooks, no emails from home. They went with the faith that they had instilled in them from a young age. And they went with God's sovereign heritage of care upon them as well. Let that be a testimony for us as parents to train up our children in a way that they should go. And I know that in really doing Daniel, this is actually a study that I've started with a number of men. I'm just going to give a little commercial. Thursday mornings, six o'clock in the morning, you can come here. We'll bring coffee. And we're working through Daniel. But there's a number of fathers in this group. And there's, it gets really kind of touchy when it's like you start to think about you're caring for your children and the world they're growing up in and what society is going to seek to teach them and do with them. And I'm praying now already that God in his kindness would grant little Cora repentant faith in his providential time, and that she would be able to stand in the evil day. So we ought to commit our ways to this even now. So these four men stand as a beautiful example of really unexplainable, except for God's grace, unexplainable resolve. And that's because what was going on was reprogramming and indoctrination. The text makes clear here that in picking the best of the best, Nebuchadnezzar's aim was to fill his cabinet with officers, these vassals who could both identify with a subjected nation or state under his control while providing him unwavering support and loyalty and bringing his bidding to pass upon their native countrymen. He wanted them to simply be a tool in his hand, and really, as Dave was preaching this morning, so much of everything you talked about as far as the text and looking at what slavery meant, I think enriches what we have here, what was going on with these men. This was customary in an age in which broad expanses were gained through strategic military conquest. And so by the end of three years, though, they would, as it says here, stand before the king, talking like the king, Thinking like the king, dressing like the king, these Jewish boys would eat, drink, and sleep Babylonian. And this seemingly required the removal of everything old about them. This is what we see here with their names, as the text gives attention to. What's in a name? What's in a name? Well, everything we see with the renaming of these young men indicates the outright attempt by the world powers to eradicate any remnant of Jewish distinction. As a polytheistic society, the Babylonians made a point to snuff out the profound monotheism inherent to the names of these young men. The name Daniel means, God is my judge. Belteshazzar means, Belitu, protect the king. See, the head of the unit, we can't have your God trouncing around in Babylon. We're going to have to change this. Hananiah's name means, Yahweh is gracious. Shadrach means, command of Aku. Aku is a pagan god. Mishael means who is what God is. Mishak is who is what Aku is. Azariah means Yahweh is my help. Abednego means servant of Nebo. And so we see here an affront against everything that they sought to purport, everything they sought to demonstrate and live out. And with this indoctrination and this assimilation and this changing of the names, there also was just to think of the appeal of Babylon itself. I mean as teenagers coming from Jerusalem, and Jerusalem I think when all this siege stuff was going on for year after year, it's not a pretty cool place to be. And now you're going from that place to the capital city of the empire of the day. and all that it has to offer. Along with the multi-point reprogramming came the tempting prospect of perhaps making a new start in the capital city of the empire. And given the conditions of Jerusalem, this is probably very appealing. And we see this. They were to be educated, it says in verse 5. They were to be educated for three years. They were to learn the language. We even see later on the food is a factor here. And I think the reality is, is much. Much of the generation of Daniel enjoyed this. But not these four people. They had uncompromising faith. And so rather than rebelling against Babylonian rulers, I think this is a key thing for us to have to wrestle with. Rather than rebelling against this oppressive governance, these men learned what their kings back in Jerusalem never would. That to resist God's method, even when that takes the form of a perceived enemy, is to resist God's providential will. Thus, these four young men sought to honor God within an evil society. Within. They complied with God's providence. They did not refuse God's sovereignty. Rather, they committed themselves to it all the while, countering in some way, some essential way, this pagan assimilation. And so while the world thought one thing of them, they never truly lost a bearing of who they really were. And I don't think that means that they lived dishonestly or inconsistently. I think the examples we have, the extreme examples of their lives in the rest of this book demonstrate that they were people of integrity. They certainly answered to their Babylonian names, I'm sure. But they never surrendered their Jewish identity. You know, Daniel never did become Balthazar. Hananiah never became Shadrach. Mishael never became Meshach. Azariah never became Abednego. This is key. And the fruit of their lives demonstrate this resolve of uncompromising faith. And ultimately they were vindicated. That is, their superiors all around them, case after case after case, as we'll see as we go through Daniel, they all declared them to be the righteous men that really they were, according to God's grace. Everybody around them recognized there's something different about these people, and it's better. The things about them that at first could be perceived as foolish by a watching world, ultimately they all were like, yep, they were right. They were vindicated. And yet there's still this dilemma of dual citizenship. This was the calling of God on their lives of an entire generation. And scripture indicates that only these four men really committed themselves to it. And with all the trials, all the discomforts, and can you imagine all the ethical dilemmas that came with it? I mean, we know some of them. Bow down or you're going to get thrown into a fire furnace. These men were good citizens of both Babylon and of heaven. So the testimony of these men calls us to resist any sort of Christian isolationism, I think. To the extreme that we're neglecting what Romans 12 verse 18 says, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. We don't have to go make some sort of Christian ghetto. We're to be disciple making people in the world. as a New Testament people. So another question for us to consider here. How should Christians view their citizenship as Americans? How ought Christians to live when authorities and power mandate a life that is pagan throughout society? And inversely, another question to consider, how do Christians often compromise in this area? How do we even fail to live with a proper perspective of dual citizenship? And a little picture of that is that, like, what a sham and a shame it was to see people carrying banners of Jesus on the United States Capitol a few months ago. Am I right? How should this impact emphasize our church fellowship? How should this change how we do church and how we appreciate that citizenship? What are your thoughts? How should Christians view their citizenship in America as Americans? This is not a new theme to us, is it? We have another citizenship just as Daniel and his friends did. Is this easy? Is it easy? Rick? Right. So, what is that, what are you implying? Right. And so, as I said in Romans chapter 12, as we're able to do life in America, let's do it. You're not going to find more of a, I mean, I'm not going to challenge anyone's patriotism. I mean, I'm a heartland of American farm boy. I love America. But this, there's something bigger and better than America going on in the world today. And it's God building his church. Other thoughts? Yeah, Brock. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, that's huge. It made me think, really, of Dave, again, his message today. Why didn't Paul come out and just completely get rid of this institution? I think often we get so mixed up as Americans and Christianity and how that manifests itself. Other thoughts? Yeah, Jason. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, and I think sometimes we think, it's not just American citizenship. Like Dave gave an illustration this morning. I'm really piggybacking on your sermon, Dave. When you worked in painting, when you painted and people wanted you to make an unethical claim on your time card, and you said, no, I'm not going to do this. It's not to say you go along with what's going on here, but it takes what? It takes, as we'll see at one of our other points, wisdom from above. It takes wisdom from above to discern these things. But we're not called necessarily to be these rebels. We live in a nation where even it's controversial to consider. Was the American Revolution, like, was that really right? We're beneficiaries of it, I think, in many, many super ways. But that's a discussion for another time, perhaps. But I think we find here that it takes wisdom from above to live within the sovereign providence of God's calling on our lives, where we are now. Other thoughts on that? Yeah, Hannah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. It's so easy for us to think of our persecuted brothers and sisters in other parts of the world saying, oh man, they're really exiles. We forget that we're exiles too. And we are assimilated in so many ways. And we'll get to that at the end. So often we do assimilate. We have, we buy into the materialism of this age and all that that means. And we lose our way. So that brings up another theme as we look to conclude here. this theme of grand reversals that are throughout the story of Daniel. The book of Daniel features several reversals that confound the wisdom of men, and in many cases, miraculously demonstrates the purposes of the divine, God's purpose. And so just four of these that just come really as talking points that we could just focus on, just consider. is this issue of sustenance. And we see that immediately next in the context here. This idea of nutrition and the king's meat. What's all going on there? This nutrition debate. And let me just say, simply put, this is a case where the base stuff, the meager stuff, was better. You know, this was a miracle, folks. This is not a nutrition plan, okay? Just let me This is not a nutrition plan. Do I need to say it? No. We'll talk about that again I'm sure, but sustenance. Where is your dependence laid? Then also interpretation. We see throughout this book the magicians of Babylon failed to interpret the king's dreams, but God's man can. Daniel can. There's plots of destruction. And those who are plotting ultimately are consumed by the plot. Think of the lion's den and other things. I also have here a standard operating procedure. You're like, what is that, Michael? Well, if you just look at the macro view of Daniel here. This is a Jewish vassal to a Babylonian king. By the time we get to the end of Daniel's life, guess what's Is Babylon still a thing? No. You know what standard operating procedure is whenever a new nation or a new empire comes onto the scene and wipes out the old one? Usually it means wiping out all of the government officials. And yet what we see is when the Persians arrive on the scene, Daniel is still not just alive, he's still a man of influence. This just doesn't happen. It's because person after person notice that there is something about this person. There's a grand reversal here, just where things just are different than what you first perceive them to be. But then a last major theme before we look to the conclusion here that I just want to touch on, and I know I'm really cooking the time here, is this idea of wisdom. And this is a huge theme. In fact, It could be said that Daniel, as a genre, is very much wisdom literature, as much as it is prophecy. Wisdom here is contrasted. The wisdom of the world versus the wisdom that is from above. And so we find in Daniel this contrast with Babylon. And Babylon is a polytheistic society, so their writings are polytheistic. They dabbled in occult practices. And these are things that certainly Daniel and his three friends had to be exposed to at some length. Occult practices, astrology, divination, and magic. And those things are to be contrasted to what we read in Romans chapter 12 and James chapter 3. James 3, 15 through 17 speaks of wisdom that's from above. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthy, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." And then Romans 12, 1 through 3 says, "'I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world. Oh, what a testimony of Daniel and his friends. But be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern wisdom. What is the will of God? What is good and acceptable and perfect? So there's a contrast of the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of the age, of the earth, to that of heavenly wisdom, that which comes from above. There's also these paradoxes within Daniel where you see Babylon contrasted to the true Jerusalem. The kingdom of the earth versus the kingdom of heaven. The world in general at a front against God. Secular humanism which is man's glory or as we'll see Nebuchadnezzar's pride is contrasted with worshipful monotheism, God's glory and Daniel's humility. Where we see here the state is against the people of God and the government ordinance is against religious conviction and worship. So Daniel though again could in many ways be understood to have so much of an element to wisdom literature in it. So the book of Daniel allows us to see, and by that I mean he allows us to see how one ought to live in light of what God is doing behind the scenes in difficult times. Much like we do when we read the book of Job. There is wisdom rooted in the fear of the Lord. And for us today, that fear, that wisdom draws us to look toward Jesus. And so in conclusion, I want to read from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20 through 25. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand the signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. And stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." And so, the more we look at the life of Daniel, we develop a taste for Jesus. And Daniel's life, as a prophet especially, is meant to point us in that direction. The commentator George Schwab says this, and I think it's really fitting to conclude these thoughts with, Daniel's integrity and reputation are never impunged. for his indoctrination into the Babylonian elite. There is no guilt by association. Far from it. He and his companions are the heroes of this period in Jewish history. Heroes intended to be imitated. The reader is invited to imitate the faithful Jews and to identify with them. We ought to today, I submit. The reader is invited and they must They had seen it all, everything Babylon had to offer, and they had rejected their new identities. They remained true to their heritage even while being of great service and importance in the pagan kingdom. The reader is expected to go and do likewise. And I think this is a good point for Schwab to make because when we get to Hebrews chapter 11, you know who we read of in the hall of faith? Daniel. Following by example is one of the very points of wisdom literature. That's why I think there's so much to glean from Daniel, more than just simply running to eschatology, as so many people do. But we have a problem. Daring to be a Daniel isn't good enough. Because we're not Daniels often, are we? The reality for many of us is that we look at Daniels in our own age, the type of people who are Daniels with a lot of contempt. We often, we in general, are a lot like maybe the other unwritten companions of Daniel and his three amigos. We have assimilated to the world system. We share its values, we eat its food, we drink its drink, and we've become a lot like the Babylonians. So daring to be a Daniel isn't enough. We're left thirsty for even more. And we have more, much more in our Jesus. So you see in the gospel, we see God's careful sovereignty on display, even through the atrocities of the cross, just like we see in the atrocities here that took place in Jerusalem. Because it's through Christ's perfect life and sacrificial death that His people truly are vindicated, just like Daniel was vindicated. There really is a grand reversal in Christ, right? We who once were dead, and trespasses and sins are now alive. What seemed to be a defeat on the cross led to victory. This gospel is high above any wisdom of man. So we see in the book of Daniel another foretaste of our riches in Jesus. This is our future hope. So the lessons of this book are for the people of God awaiting an exodus. That's you and me. The reality is for each of us today is that we're all exiles. We're all aliens traveling in a foreign land waiting to return to a land whose builder and maker is God. So just a final question and with this I'm done. I know I've just gone over. How has trouble in your life fronted or highlighted heavenly wisdom and how valuable that is? How has heavenly wisdom changed how you endure trials and affliction? How has the gospel brought a great reversal in your life even in those circumstances? How has the gospel done that? Can we end celebrating those things tonight? How does heavenly wisdom free you from your affliction? Yeah, Beth. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so much of it's just having an eternal perspective solves so much of the little mundane issues we run into. Why am I getting upset about this, you know? And I need that, I need that preached to myself more than maybe anybody, Beth. I get more frustrated about like, you ever like just you're carrying something and you're not meaning any ill will towards anyone or anything. and something like slips out and it falls on the ground and you trip or something, I get upset. I'll get belligerent about that. And it's just like, come on, Michael. This doesn't affect anything in eternity. Here we go. You know, and it's because it's because it's like, I didn't, I didn't do anything morally wrong. Why is this happening to me? I don't deserve it. That wasn't the heart of Daniel. So I need, I need God to work his grace in my own thinking. Even those little, even those little things, much less when we're living in a day and age, much like Daniel is. Other thoughts here? How the gospel brings a great reversal of trials in life. Tyler. Yeah, God's faithfulness shows itself in ways that we often don't like. It's his sovereign kindness. Yeah. Good. Final thought or other questions? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Future hope. Ancient history. Contemporary issues. All right. Let's pray and ask God to help us as we continue to contemplate these things. God we do thank you tonight for Christ, a greater prophet, the prophet who did fully make known to us God in the flesh. We thank you for your good work and we pray Holy Spirit you would work these themes into our lives. Lord may we love and know and recognize your sovereign care. You're sovereign even in trials. That those are according to your faithfulness and the new covenant that we have in Christ. And so we pray for grace and mercy and discernment in these things. We pray for a day of vindication as we live in a dark world. I'm sure every generation has thought about how perverse the next generation is going to be. Lord may we May we see a vindication of your people in our day. And we long for the day in which we stand before you. So give us uncompromising faith by your spirit. Lord may we testify of your goodness at work in us and may society be blown away as they see, really as we see in the New Testament, a love that we have one for another that just causes the world to just be perplexed. May this great reversal be what distinguishes and marks us out. Lord give us wisdom that's from above. May we have the mind of Christ as we do life and may we preach him crucified, resurrected, ascended and coming again. May this future hope be what anchors us. Thank you for this. We pray it all in Jesus name. Amen.