It may be the death of a spouse or some other
loved one or meaningful person in one's life.
It may be the result of war. It may be the loss
of health or the loss of one's financial security.
But times come to the life of everyone when the
world collapses. What do we do in times like
that? Well, I believe that Daniel gives us a
wonderful example of what to do when one's world
collapses, when life comes to an end as it always
has been. To understand how Daniel is an example
of this, we need to think a little bit about
the background of this book of Daniel. We need
to back up actually about 400 years. You may
recall that David reigned over the whole nation
of Israel after the death of Saul. He was a man
after God's own heart and God blessed the reign
of David. He was a man who made some mistakes.
There were times when he sinned against God.
He was forgiven because of his repentance and
confession. But he also paid some consequences
because of his sin. When David died, he left
the kingdom to Solomon who reigned in his stead.
In the beginning, Solomon was a good king. But
in the end, Solomon departed from the Lord and
made a mess of his life and made a mess of the
nation. For upon his death, the nation of Israel
divided. into two. There was the southern kingdom
that adopted the name Judah. It was reigned over
by Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. Two tribes essentially,
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Then there
was the northern kingdom. That was called Israel
or sometimes it was called Samaria because Samaria
became its capital city. The first king was Jeroboam.
And in all of the history, some 200 plus years,
of the Northern Kingdom, there was not one single
king who honored God and obeyed him. The Northern
Kingdom, eventually, because of its apostasy,
came under the judgment of God and went into
captivity. The nation of Assyria, Assyria, came
against Israel, Samaria. in 722 and destroyed
the nation. The people were scattered throughout
their empire. They brought in Assyrians to live
with those few Israelites who were left, and
they intermarried and became what were called
Samaritans, who were hated by the full -blooded
Jews. From that day onward, and we see that in
the Gospels, don't we? The kingdom of Judah,
however, the southern kingdom, existed beyond
that. They too had their share of wicked kings.
In fact, most of them were wicked, but there
were eight who were godly. The last of them was
a man by the name of Josiah. You may remember
him because he reigned beginning at the age of
eight. Josiah reigned for some 31 years over
the nation of Israel. Through the influence and
assistance of his mentor, the priest, Josiah
had a remarkable impact upon the nation of Judah.
He undertook the rebuilding of the temple, and
as they were doing that, perhaps as they were
involved with some of the basic stones of the
temple building itself, they came across a scroll,
which was the Law of Moses. It seems incredible,
but that law had been lost along the way. It
was common in that day for nations to put important
documents in the cornerstone of buildings, such
as the temple, that's still done occasionally
today, and time capsules. Well, apparently that's
what happened. They broke open this time capsule,
if you please, and found that book of the law,
and they brought it to Josiah. And when he heard
the law of God, he tore his clothing and commanded
that the whole nation should hear this law of
God, and he himself read it before the people.
And there was repentance in the nation. There
was reform in the nation. They reestablished
their covenant with God. Josiah kicked out all
of the spiritists and the mediums. that had grown
up in the nation and had been used by the people
in their apostasy. The nation, generally speaking,
turned back to God under the leadership of Josiah.
When he was 39 years of age, though, Josiah made
a mistake and it proved to be a fatal mistake.
Perhaps the greatest power in the world at that
time was Egypt. And Pharaoh Neco, N -E -C -O,
as he was called, was going to battle against
Babylon, an upcoming power, a power that was
being renewed to the north and east of Israel.
And in order to do battle with him, of course,
he had to pass through the land of Judah. The
king of Judah, Josiah, apparently in order to
try to gain some favor from this growing power
to his north and east, Babylon, decided to go
out to do war against Pharaoh Nicco to try to
stop him before he went on to do his battle with
Babylon. And in the course of the battle, Josiah
was shot with an arrow and died. The nation mourned
greatly because of the loss of this godly young
leader. And in his place they chose his second
son, whose name was Jehoahaz. Now Jehoahaz, or
Shalem as he was also called, was an evil man.
He lasted, however, only a brief time. Because,
you see, after the king of Egypt had gone on
and done his battle with Babylon, he came back
through Judah and Jerusalem. And he removed Jehoahaz,
after just three months on the throne, and took
him away to Egypt, captive, and put in his place
his older brother, the first son of Josiah, Jehoiakim.
Jehoiakim was also a very evil man. The people
had chosen the second son because they felt he
was better, apparently. But now, after just three
months, they had the man that they did not want,
and that was Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was an evil
king. It is interesting, isn't it, that a man
can be a godly man, a good leader of his nation,
and yet, somehow along the way, lose the influence
of his children. There's a lesson for all of
us, parents. Jehoiakim began to reign in 608
BC. Because he was placed on the throne by the
King of Egypt, Pharaoh Niko, he paid heavy tribute
to the King of Egypt for three years. And then
he got tired of that and sort of rebelled against
having to pay that. I should explain, during
this time of his reign, Jeremiah was preaching
in Jerusalem. And there was bitter feeling in
Jehoiakim regarding Jeremiah. In fact, at one
point he burned one of the scrolls of Jeremiah
that pronounced judgment upon him. He was a man
who, while he was raising this tribute from the
people to pay to Egypt, also built himself a
lavish palace, which was a detestable thing to
the people of Judah. In that sense, he sort of
reminded me as I was reading about him of Chacheshu
in Romania, who in the midst of the great poverty
of his people was just milking them in order
to enrich himself. And you've read the stories
probably about the palace there that he built
in Bucharest. and in which he lived in luxury
while his people are in incredible poverty. Well,
Jehoiakim was that kind of a man. In 605 BC,
in his third year, the Egyptians again went to
battle against Babylon. The place that they did
battle was Carchemish, which was a rather famous
city in that day, an area. And the Egyptians
were defeated. by the Babylonian army at this
point. In fact, never again did Egypt arise to
the greatness that it had known in the many centuries
before that. It really did end the Egyptians.
They never have recovered to this day from the
Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. The general of
the army of Babylon was the prince of the nation.
who was reigning in sort of a co -regency with
his father, Nebuchadnezzar. The prince's name
was Nebuchadnezzar. Now he enters into the story
of Daniel, as you well know. Nebuchadnezzar marched
further south from Carchemish and entered into
the land of Palestine, came to the city of Jerusalem,
and attacked it because, you see, Jerusalem was
paying tribute to Egypt and he was just going
to wipe up some of the spoils of the land. He
took some booty from the city. He also took some
of the young men prisoner, took them captive,
sent them back to Babylon there to serve in the
court of the king. It was not long after all
of this happened that he got word that his father
had died. And he rushed back to Babylon to be
crowned the king of Babylon in September of 605.
So that gives you a little bit of background
regarding this man that we're going to read about
and the nation of Babylon. By the way, Babylon
came against Jerusalem three different times
before it finally took away the nation entirely,
destroyed it, destroyed the temple. They came
the first time in this one we've talked about
in 605 BC, after the Battle of Carchemish, when
they defeated the Egyptians. And then it was
several years later that they came again in 597
BC. And again, they deported some of the best
and the brightest of the nation, among them Ezekiel.
And then once more, a final time, in 586, the
armies of Babylon came against Jerusalem, and
this time they obliterated the city, destroyed
it, and took the Jews into captivity, to Babylon.
Now we want to come to Daniel chapter 1, and
with that bit of historical background, perhaps
what is said here will kind of fall into place
for you a little more. In the third year of the
reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Now it's 6
.05. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Notice
Daniel calls him the king. This is a proliptic
use of the word king. In other words, at the
time that he actually came to do the battle,
he was the prince, he was the leading general,
but he then became the king. And so Daniel refers
to him as the king. The king of Babylon, Cambridge,
Jerusalem, besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim
King of Judah into his hand, along with some
of the vessels of the house of God. There's the
booty. And he brought them to the land of Shiner,
that is to Babylon, to the house of his God,
and he brought the vessels into the treasury
of his God. The God of Babylon was the God Marduk,
which some of you will recognize if you've studied
world history or world religions. one of the
main gods of the ancient Mesopotamian pantheon.
And it says, the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief
of his officials, or his eunuchs, to bring in
some of the sons of Israel, including some of
the royal family and of the nobles, youths in
whom was no defect, who were good -looking, showing
intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed
with understanding and discerning knowledge,
and who had ability for serving in the king's
court. And he ordered him to teach them the literature
and language of the Chaldeans, again another
name for Babylon, especially in this period of
its history. And the king appointed for them
a daily ration from the king's choice food and
from the wine which he drank, and appointed that
they should be educated three years. at the end
of which they were to enter the king's personal
service. Now among them from the sons of Judah
were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Then the commander of the officials assigned
new names to them. To Daniel, he assigned the
name Belteshazzar. To Hananiah, Shadrach. To
Mishael, Meshach. and to Azariah a bednego. But
Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile
himself with the king's choice food or with the
wine which he drank, and so he sought permission
from the commander of the officials that he might
not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor
and compassion in the sight of the commander
of the officials, and the commander of the officials
said to Daniel, I am afraid of my lord the king,
who has appointed your food and your drink. For
why should he see your faces looking more haggard
than the yous who are your own age? Then you
would make me forfeit my head to the king." But
Daniel said to the overseer, whom the commander
of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah,
Michiel, and Azariah, Please test your servants
for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables
to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance
be observed in your presence and the appearance
of the ewes who are eating the king's choice
food and deal with your servants according to
what you see." So he listened to them in this
manner and tested them for ten days. At the end
of the ten days their appearance seemed better
and they were fatter than all the ewes who had
been eating the king's choice food. So the overseer
continued to withhold their choice food and the
wine. they were to drink and kept giving them
vegetables. And as for these four ewes, God gave
them knowledge and intelligence in every branch
of literature and wisdom. Daniel even understood
all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the
end of the days which the king had specified
for presenting them, the commander of the officials
presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. And the
king talked with them and out of them all, not
one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Michiel,
and Azariah. So they entered the king's personal
service, and as for every matter of wisdom and
understanding about which the king consulted
them, he found them ten times better than all
the magicians and conjurers who were in all his
realm. And Daniel continued until the first year
of Cyrus the king. That is, Daniel lived throughout
the whole period of Babylon's greatness and until
the first years of Cyrus, who was the king of
Persia, the nation that then became prominent
in the world after Babylon. But that will all
come to pass as we study through the book of
Daniel. I want you to think with me this evening,
just briefly, how Daniel's whole world collapsed.
How everything was changed for this young man.
The language that is used here would indicate
to us that Daniel was a young teenager. Probably
about 15 years of age when all of these events
befell him. Now remember that during his early
teen years or his late youth his preteen years,
there was a lot of political turmoil in the nation.
Daniel was evidently one of the sons of the nobility
of the nation, maybe even of royalty. There are
some who say that he was a descendant of King
Hezekiah, who was the grandfather of Josiah.
So Daniel was a part of the leading aristocracy,
if you please, of the land of Judah. And so all
of the intrigue and the coming of Pharaoh Niko
and the tribute being paid to Egypt and the Jehoahaz
being taken away to Egypt and this evil king
Jehoiakim, all of that undoubtedly had a tremendous
impact upon his family. And then 605 came. And
Daniel is one of those who is selected and is
taken away. from his family, from his city, his
land, to a far -off place called Shinar, to the
land of the Chaldeans, to the capital city of
Babylon, never to go back again to the land in
which he was raised. As far as we know, never
to see his family again. He was taken away at
the age of 15. He was taken away from a culture
that at least in some sense worshipped Yahweh,
the true God, to a culture that was very pagan,
that had a pantheon of many gods that they worshipped.
Obviously the culture was quite different. You
need to understand that all of this had been
predicted by God's prophets. God had warned His
people again and again and again. that if they
persisted in their rebellion against Him, that
He would come and these things would happen.
Let me show you an example. Isaiah prophesied
about a hundred years before this. Look in Isaiah
chapter 39. Isaiah is here speaking to King Hezekiah,
whom we mentioned a few moments ago. who is counted
among the good kings of Judah. And he says in
verse 5, hear the word of the Lord of hosts.
Behold, the days are coming when all that is
in your house and all that your fathers have
laid up in store to this day shall be carried
to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord,
and some of your sons who shall issue from you
whom you shall beget shall be taken away and
they shall become officials, again here the word
is eunuchs, in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Now think of this, this is a couple of generations
before Daniel's day, a hundred years or so, and
God has warned his people this is going to come
to pass and yet they did not listen to the word
of God. And now Daniel is among those ewes. taken
away in fulfillment of Isaiah's words to serve
the king of Babylon. So I said before, they took
the brightest, they took the best away from Jerusalem.
And then from the language here in Daniel chapter
1, it is quite probable that Daniel was emasculated.
And in that sense became a literal eunuch. That
was not uncommon at all in that day with this
kind of a prisoner and so in addition to losing
his family Losing the culture in which he had
grown up Leaving behind the city that he had
come to love the city of Jerusalem With its great
temple that Solomon had built Daniel probably
at this point lost his identity as a male He
then was put into a crash course of an education
program to indoctrinate him into the philosophies
and the culture of Babylon. He had all kinds
of literature and philosophy and science and
medicine and history and above everything else,
magic. He was to be educated for three years
along with all the other young men who had been
taken prisoner. Now the purpose of this, understand,
was to remove any vestige of his prior culture,
his prior beliefs. It was to make him a thorough
going Babylonian. It was to remove any influence
of the God of his fathers. And it caused him
now to become one who was fully identified with
all that was truly Babylonian. He was to be a
Babylonian person. You need to remember that
these people were quite advanced for their day.
This Neo -Babylonian period that we're talking
about here under Nebuchadnezzar inherited a great
deal of knowledge. Nebuchadnezzar had a fabulous
library in the city of Babylon. all of the writings
and the research that had been done by the Assyrians
and those nations and Sumerians and so on who
lived in this part of Mesopotamia in the centuries
before. In Daniel's day he would have been educated
in the science and among the scientific discoveries
that they shared in were how to calculate time.
They discovered and employed a seven -day week
in Babylon. And have you ever looked at your
watch and noticed that it has 12 hours on it?
And we count that twice in order to make a full
day? Why doesn't it say 24? Why does it say 12?
You ever thought about that? Isn't that a probing
thought? Well seriously, have you ever thought
why it's just 12 on your watch? Well, the answer
goes all the way back to them, because they devised
the fact that each day, night and then light,
each day is composed, they said, of 12 periods.
They calculated these periods in what we would
call double hours of 120 minutes. But that's
why we have 12 in our watches today. because
of what they decided back there in the time of
Daniel and Babylon, that a day is 12 periods
of 120 minutes, not 24 periods of 60 minutes.
They did a lot of research in the area of astronomy.
They recorded all kinds of data. They watched
for eclipses and anything that was unusual in
the heavens. Now this was mainly to predict the
future. And this kind of folded over into their
religion and into their magic, which was astrology,
which God of course condemned. In their science,
they determined that a circle is 360 degrees.
They devised a crude system of latitude and longitude
in order to find locations. In their world of
medicine, they had more than 500 different potions
and drugs, most of them rather disgusting, but
nonetheless these were devised to help cure people
of their sicknesses. And so when it says here
that Daniel and these others were studying literature
and science and medicine, this was all that was
involved. There was a great deal of knowledge
for that day to be had in Babylon. And these
young men were to be put into a crash course.
Undoubtedly they were trained to speak the language
of that day, which was sort of a mix between
Arabic and Aramaic. They were undoubtedly taught
to use Akkadian in writing. And then, more directly,
it says that they were given food and wine to
drink from the king's ration. On the surface,
that seems like a pretty good deal. And for most
of them, they accepted it that way, but not Daniel.
Because Daniel and his three friends understood
that this food, which was delectable and plenteous,
and the wine, which was the best of the nation,
that all of this was first presented to Marduk
and the other gods of Babylon, and then presented
to the king and to his court. so that they might
eat of it. And they wanted these four people,
Daniel and his friends, wanted nothing to do
with that because they felt that that would defile
them to eat that food that had been offered to
these pagan deities. In addition to that, some
of the food may have been unclean according to
the law of God. Some commentators say also that
to sit down in this kind of a meal, which was
provided by the king, would be for them to accept
friendship from him. And they did not want to
do that. But nonetheless, they were provided
all of this very best. And again, it was to fully
make them Babylonians. And then the crowning
thing. we might say in one sense, was the giving
of a new name to these people. They took away
their Hebrew names and each name was associated
with Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, and gave
them new names that each one was associated with
the gods of the pagans in Babylon. So they took
away even the identity of their names, how they
were known. and tried to relate them to the gods
of Babylon. You see, the attempt here is to destroy
anything that had to do with the land, the culture,
the god of which they learned when they were
being raised. Now, with all of that presentation,
do you understand how Daniel's world collapsed?
Do you see how everything that had been brought
up with His own identity, his own personhood
had been attacked. How the very food that was
put before him was given to him in order to identify
him even further with this new place, this new
culture. With all of this pressure to change
and to conform, with every outward support removed,
every visible sense of identity with the past
gone. It would seem impossible, wouldn't it,
that anybody could withstand this kind of pressure?
His world collapsed and he seemingly had no choice
but to adapt to all of this just in order to
survive. But what did Daniel do when his world
collapsed? I want to point out to you in the
first place He held to his faith. He held to
his faith in the God of his fathers, the God
of the Scriptures. When your world collapses,
that is the place to begin. Because that is the
first place that is attacked. When your world
collapses, the first question that comes to your
mind is, where is God? Why did God let this happen
to me? Here I was worshipping God, trying to
serve God, and now look what's happened to me.
My world has collapsed. Daniel gives us the example
of the first thing we must do, and that is we
must keep hold of our faith in God and not allow
that to be set aside. The second thing I see
that he did was that he held to his convictions.
Daniel held to his convictions as to what was
right and what was wrong. It specifically is
related here to the food and the drink that was
set before him. It says in verse 8 that Daniel
made up his mind. King James says Daniel purposed
in his heart. that he would not allow himself
to be defiled by these foods. He had no choice
in the matter of the name. He had no choice in
his education, his re -education. He had no choice
in the fact that he had to live in Babylon. But
he did have a choice about the food. He could
say no to that. And so he did say no. It seems
here that Daniel purposed that he would not defile
himself ahead of time, so that when the trial
came, when the test, when the temptation came,
he was already prepared to say to the commander,
no, I'm not going to eat of this. Oh, that's
wise. Before temptation ever comes to you and
to me, we need a purpose in our heart ahead of
time, what we're going to do at that moment.
else we may, in the pressure of that moment,
make the wrong decision. Daniel, when his world
collapsed, not only held onto his faith in God,
but he held onto his convictions about what was
right and what was wrong, and he determined ahead
of time he would not allow himself to be defiled.
Young people, men and women listening to me tonight,
let us likewise purpose ahead of time in our
hearts that we will hang on to our convictions
come what may. That what God says is right is
right and what God says is wrong is wrong and
God says that for good reasons and we will obey
the Lord. Then I noticed that Daniel held to
his courage. Daniel held to his courage to obey
God rather than to succumb to the pressures,
whatever the cost. Notice that initially, he
simply sought permission from the commander.
And the commander basically said, Daniel, I'm
scared to grant this request to you. Even though
God had given Daniel favor in his sight, his
fear of Nebuchadnezzar was greater than the favor
that he felt for Daniel. But Daniel said in verse
11 to the overseer whom the commander had appointed
over them, please test your servants for ten
days. You see, Daniel didn't give up the first
time. After that first request that they might
not have to eat these things, Daniel might have
said, well, you know, I tried. I did the best
I could. I said no, and I have to do it anyway.
I mean most of the other people are going to
do it and my parents are gone, I'll never see
them again. And I might as well go ahead and
compromise and defile myself. I've tried to hold
my line, I've tried to hold the standards I know
that God wants me to hold, but it just hasn't
worked out. But Daniel held on to his courage
and he persisted. When he couldn't get his way
with the commander, he went to the person under
him who was directly over Daniel. to this man
who's called the commander, or to the overseer
rather, that the commander appointed, and he
offered a test. And he said, test us for 10 days.
Do you see the courage of this young man? Remember,
we're talking about a young man in his mid -teens
here. Daniel was willing here to push it. He
was willing to say no again. rather than to betray
God. Daniel was willing that he should stand
alone with his three friends than to go with
all of the rest. He held on to his courage. When
your world collapses, you need to hang on to
your courage. You need to do what is right, avoid
what is wrong, and keep pursuing that with courage.
And then finally I noticed that he held to his
respect for authority. Daniel is very polite
in verse 8 in his initial request. He phrases
it that way from the language that is used here.
He goes through the proper authorities. We notice
that Daniel was not rude. Daniel was not a fanatic.
Daniel was not belligerent in his attitude. Daniel
gives us a wonderful example here in his respect
for authority. It is possible for us to advance
our convictions in such a way that we destroy
our testimonies. Daniel held on to his convictions,
his faith, and his courage, and at the same time
he was courteous. He was a man who gives us here
a tremendously important example of how to say
no when that's the right thing to do. Daniel
shows us what to do when our world collapses.
There's one final thing I want to point out just
in closing and that is this. Behind all of this
that we see is a sovereign God. Behind what happened
with Jehoiakim, it says the Lord gave Jehoiakim,
King of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
God was behind that. God had warned His people
again and again. In fact, God even said to them,
it will be a time of 70 years. He said, you mark
it on your calendars. It'll be 70 years that
you will go into captivity because of your disobedience.
Why 70 years? A common question is asked, and
God tells us why in His Word. For 490 years,
the people of Israel had failed to keep a law
of God dealing with the land. It was called the
sabbatical year. God had established the law
that His people should till the land for six
years. But on the seventh year, they were to
allow the land to be idle. And then again, they
would till it for six years. But every seventh
year was to be a sabbatical year. And for 490
years since they came into the land, the people
had failed to do that. And so God says, I'm going
to calculate that as 70 years that you've not
kept and the land is going to be idle for 70
years while you're in captivity. That's why it
was 70 years. We notice the sovereign God also
gave the youths favor in the sight of the commander.
God granted Daniel favor and compassion. God
is working behind the scenes here. God sustained
them physically in this test. He allowed them
to eat this vegetarian diet with the result that
they were healthier than those eating this wonderful,
delicious food. God sustained them. And not only
that, God gave them wisdom and understanding
in all of the training they had. That doesn't
mean they didn't study. I know they had to go
through the... The process of studying and laboring
at the scrolls is like some of you are going
to have to do yet tonight before tomorrow when
school begins. They had to study, you see, but
then when they did their part, God blessed them
because of their obedience and gave them understanding
and wisdom. Then beyond this chapter, we see
that God gave to Daniel the privilege of unveiling
what we call the times of the Gentiles. This
is the prophetic portion of Daniel that we're
going to study in upcoming weeks. But God gave
to Daniel the privilege of unveiling what he
was going to do for the next several hundred
years. And in fact, what he was going to do in
time that is yet to come. Maybe, What's going
to happen in the 1990s? Maybe. The times of the
Gentiles began when Nebuchadnezzar carried away
Judah in the captivity. From that time basically
until 1948, that land in Palestine was dominated
by Gentiles. The fact that the Jews have it back
today I think is significant. in the light of
biblical prophecy, but again, that's in the future.
We see God unveiling through Daniel what he's
going to do through the Gentile nations. By the
way, there's a philosophy of history that we
come to because of all of this. That is, a history
is not an accident, but history is what God is
doing in the affairs of man. The Christian's
philosophy of history is that God rules over
the destiny of men and nations. God sets the
limits. God controls history. And we see what
has happened in Russia. Remember Brezhnev? Do
you remember him? Do you remember the American
president kissing him like a Judas? Pardon me.
That's my opinion. Do you remember Khrushchev,
some of you? I can remember the day. I was very
young. But I remember the day when he pounded
his shoe in the UN saying, we will bury you.
Remember that? Where's Khrushchev today? Where's
Brezhnev today? And why is Gorbachev doing what
he's doing? God is the God of history. And I
can't tell you all that's happening over there
and why God is doing this or that, but I can
tell you this, it is no accident that Gorbachev
is here when he is. And it's no accident that
what's happening in Eastern Europe this very
night is happening. For a long time, things just
seem to be rather stable, unchanging. in that
part of the world and all of a sudden in a matter
of weeks literally God has just turned things
loose and I think we'll see some of that as we
work our way through the book of Daniel. We see
God preserving the Jews throughout their time
in Babylon. It was a sad time for them but it
was not a concentration camp. The Jews were able
to conduct business in Babylon so much so that
many of them didn't want to go back home after
seven years. They lived outside the city walls
in a particular area, kind of a suburb -like,
and God took care of them in Babylon. But they
weren't in the land of the promise. It was a
time of judgment upon them. I think the best
way just to bring it to a conclusion is to read
a paragraph from Chuck Swindoll. who says, in
a world filled with people who rebel against
the divine king, it is inevitable that believers
of all ages will face situations in which their
convictions will be challenged. We who are parents
need to repair our children for those occasions
by both teaching them God's truth and modeling
integrity. Just time out for a moment, that's
why Daniel was the teenager he was. Because his
parents taught him and modeled before him, apparently,
their convictions about God and about what was
right and what was wrong. And Daniel so caught
that by the time he was a teenager that he could
go to the situation he did and follow that example.
Swindoll goes on to say, and all of us who are
Christians need to personally commit ourselves
to living God's way, regardless of the temptations
to live otherwise. Recalling and applying two
principles that are embedded in the first chapter
of Daniel will help us keep that commitment.
Number one, inner conviction can overcome any
outer pressure to compromise. That's an important
principle. And number two, God -honoring convictions
yield God -honoring rewards. You know folks,
when we're true to God, God will honor us. It
is possible to live separated in pure life in
the midst of cultural pressure to do everything
wrong. It is possible to obey God when your world
collapses. It is possible to be God's man, God's
woman, God's teenager in the midst of a new Babylonian
culture today. and be blessed of God and succeed
and be used of God to make a difference. Oh,
God, help us to be Daniels in our day. Lord,
I pray that this chapter of your Word will be
richly applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name, amen.