Good evening. Welcome to the sixth of our twelve sessions in our January Intensive. We are working our way, chapter by chapter, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night, through the book of Daniel. And so take your Bibles please and turn to Daniel chapter 6. Daniel chapter 6.
Daniel has now survived through the regime of Nebuchadnezzar in chapters 1 through 4, and Belshazzar in chapter 5. And at the end of chapter 5, Belshazzar was overthrown by Darius the Mede, in whose court Daniel must continue the precarious business of living faithfully for the Lord his God. Darius the Mede, not to be confused with the later Darius the Great. Darius the Mede is actually an unknown figure in the historical record, although that fact shouldn’t cause us any doubt about the reliability of Daniel’s account since scholars at one time said the same thing about Belshazzar, whom they alleged was entirely a fictional character invented by Daniel and who has now since, of course, been demonstrated to be a real person who did in fact rule in Babylon. The note in chapter 5 verse 31 that Darius was sixty-two when he came to power in Babylon might be meant to indicate that his reign was short-lived, hence the lack of historical records for us to discover. What matters for us isn’t really the identity of this man but his behavior and the way that Daniel, and indeed the way that God through Daniel deals with him.
This might be the most famous chapter in the book of Daniel of course. It certainly is one of the most famous in the Old Testament. Everyone knows about Daniel in the lion’s den. But as spectacular as that moment is in the story, being thrown into the lion’s den was not the central crisis for Daniel in Daniel chapter 6, and it’s not really the focus of this chapter. The real crisis works itself out not in the big cats enclosure of the Babylonian zoo, but in the upper room where Daniel retired to pray three times a day. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at the passage together. We’ll pray in just a moment. Let me quickly give you our headings as we consider its teaching. First of all, I want you to notice the repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes. The repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes. A new king sits on the throne, but the same old behaviors reign in Babylon nevertheless. The repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes. Then secondly, we’re going to consider the preserving power of habitual prayer. The preserving power of habitual prayer. This is the real heart of Daniel chapter 6. So the repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes. The preserving power of habitual prayer. And then finally, we mustn’t miss the subversive dynamic of God’s kingdom, God’s kingdom that turns everything on its head. The subversive dynamic of God’s kingdom. As the story plays out, everything is turned upside-down, all the wickedness gets reversed, and the kingdom of God turns the plans of evil men on their heads.
Okay, so have you got it? This is where we are going. The repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes, the preserving power of habitual prayer, and the subversive dynamic of God’s kingdom. Before we read Daniel 6, let’s bow our heads and ask for the Lord to help us. Let us pray.
O Lord, our God, our hearts are an open book before You. Every one of us is naked and exposed before the gaze of the God with whom we all have to do and to whom we must all give an account. We pray that by Your Holy Spirit You would wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God from Daniel chapter 6 in all our hearts to slay our sin, to show us our Savior, to draw us to Him, to teach us and disciple us and instruct us in the way of obedience that all our lives might be to the praise of the glory of Your grace. For Jesus’ sake, amen.
Daniel chapter 6 at the first verse. This is the Word of God:
“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 ground 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 thirty 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 signed the document and 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. Then 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 thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into 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, but 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 that 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 the signet of his lords, 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 those 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 in all the earth: ‘Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and 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.”
Amen.
In Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, again and again Lucy would somehow persuade Charlie Brown to aim a running kick at the football. She’d hold the ball and this time she promised, this time she really wouldn’t swipe the ball away. Just as Charlie Brown let fly and of course she always did and Charlie Brown always ended up flat on his back, delivering his famous punchline, palm to the forehead, “Good grief.” One wonders whether poor Daniel wasn’t beginning to feel like Charlie Brown here when yet another megalomaniac ascends to the seat of power in Babylon. “————————” – everything has changed in Babylon, but of course everything stays exactly the same. A different king; same old story. Here in the first place is the repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes.
Babylon is under new management, and a bit like the incoming Trump administration, there are Senate hearings for new cabinet appointments. When a new government sweeps to power, it often cleans out the old leadership in the civil service and puts in people loyal to the new regime. And Darius does exactly that in the opening verses of chapter 6. He sets up these 120 satraps over the kingdom with a three-man cabinet at the top, reporting directly to him. They are going to run the government. And remarkably, given his past loyalties under Darius’ predecessors, Daniel is chosen as one of the three. But it’s no surprise to us is it, really, to see that Daniel quickly rises even to the top in this triumvirate. Likely now at this point in his 80s, he’s learned by his years of experience in the Babylonian court to manage both complex affairs of state and crazy despotic leaders with finesse. And so verse 3, Darius resolves to make Daniel prime minister. But like Lucy, once again setting Charlie Brown up for a fall, this is an all too familiar scenario in Daniel’s life. His promotion, yet again, places him in the crosshairs of jealous and ambitious officials who are preparing to rip the football away just as Daniel runs up with a kick.
In verse 4, the high officials and satraps begin to plot to take Daniel out. Like a modern political campaign, they have conducted extensive opposition research, trawling through Daniel’s backstory looking for any dirt they could find to dish up at the most inopportune moment to ensure maximum damage to Daniel’s career. But notice what verse 4 says about Daniel. The high officials and the satraps, “Could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful and no error or fault was found in him.” What a remarkable testimony. This is what his enemies are saying to each other about Daniel. No ground for complaint. No fault. No error. Faithful!
Real godliness gets noticed. In 1 Peter 2:11-12, we are urged as sojourners and exiles – that’s our condition, just as it was Daniel’s – we are urged to “abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 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.” That’s actually what’s happening here, isn’t it? Try as they might to malign his character, his enemies nevertheless are forced to acknowledge his godliness.
Someone showed me a clip of a Joe Rogan interview the other day in which Rogan acknowledged – it was an extraordinary, amazing moment – “Having met many serious Christisns,” he said, “these people are inescapably different.” There was something beautiful and compelling about their character that he couldn’t deny. “It works,” he says. “It’s real.” Genuine godliness gets noticed. Would anybody notice it in me? In you? What do your enemies say about you? Of course the unimpeachable character of Daniel wasn’t exactly what this Babylonian political action committee was hoping for, and they came to realize in verse 5, the only way they are going to be able to take Daniel out is to leverage his faith against him. They will engineer a scenario that will force him onto the horns of an impossible dilemma. They know that Daniel prays to the Lord consistently, faithfully, routinely, and so they come to Darius in verses 6 through 9 with a proposal.
Look at what they say. Verses 6 through 9, “O King Darius, live forever! The United Satraps of Babylon had their national conference this week, and some genius made a motion – we thought it was fantastic; we were unanimous. We all think you are really something special, O king, and we’ve come up with a way to show the world just how special. Make a law that no one be allowed to pray to their gods or ask for the intercession of their priests. Instead, require them all to make their requests only to you, just for one month. For that one month you will be the only mediator between heaven and earth. We’ll call it our Darius Intensive, how about that? If anyone refuses, I suppose we can throw them to the lions. For your convenience, we’ve taken the liberty of drafting the legislation for you. All you need to do is initial it here and here and sign here, here and here, and once that’s done, you know, nothing can stop it. It cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
Unsurprisingly in verse 9, Darius rather likes the sound of all of this. He is flattered and he signs on the dotted line, so far as we know, with no questions asked. And now the trap is set. Daniel isn’t about to stop praying to the Lord and he is certainly not about to start praying to Darius, and these wicked men know that. Catching him in the act was a cinch. Verse 11, “Then these men came” – notice the repetition of this phrase – “by agreement.” This is a conspiracy. “They came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.” All they need to do now is remind the king of the legislation that he signed. Verse 12, “Wasn’t there something that you signed recently? Remind us, what was it about again? Something about no one praying to anyone except you? Being thrown to the lions if they didn’t comply?” And as soon as the king confirms it, the steel jaws of the bear trap that they have laid slam shut on poor Daniel’s shins. Verse 13, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunctions you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.” When the king tries desperately hard to spare Daniel – Daniel has been a useful and loyal servant – the plotters need only to remind the king that it is a law of the Medes and the Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed. “The matter is out of your hands, Darius. Daniel is cat food.”
It is a riveting story, isn’t it? But it sounds awfully familiar if you’ve been tracking with us through this first half of the book. Early on, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were caught on a very similar, the horns of a very similar dilemma. They will not worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue, even defying the king’s decree to the contrary, and the jealous enemies of the people of God seized upon that to ensure that they were thrown not into the lion’s den but into a fiery furnace. On that occasion, you will remember, Daniel managed to avoid the dilemma altogether, but this time he is caught on the horns of it and there is no escape.
The point I want you to see is that the tactics of hell are rarely novel. The devil uses the same strategies over and over again. In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul writes about not being outwitted by Satan “for we are not ignorant of his designs.” And in Ephesians 6:11, he calls us to “put on the whole armor of God so that you will be able to stand against the schemes, the stratagems of the devil.” He has designs, tactics, strategies, plans and schemes, and to a degree we can learn them and know them and be prepared for them because the Scriptures testify to them. They tell us about him and what he is like and what his tactics are. They tell us that he is a liar and the father of lies. He masquerades as an angel of light, seeking to deceive even the elect of God if such a thing were possible. He is a prowling lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is the accuser of the brethren. He is the tempter. He has been a murderer from the beginning. He sows the seeds of division and false teaching and moral failure and external persecution. And he does all of it to undermine the witness of the church and to ruin its peace and its progress. But as terrible as his attacks can be, Christian maturity learns to see the familiar patterns that emerge in his favorite assaults. And one way to stand firm when the devil marshals his forces to oppose and undermine and hinder the cause of Jesus Christ, is to see clearly the repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes. So first of all, the repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes.
Secondly, the preserving power of habitual prayer. The repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes; now the preserving power of habitual prayer. Verse 10 is fascinating, isn’t it? Verse 10. Look at verse 10. It tells us a great deal about Daniel. “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed” – what? What would you do? Your death warrant has been signed if you utter a word of prayer for the next month. What would you do? Would you flee the country? Would you rationalize your accommodation of God’s law? “It’s only a month. I’m not very consistent in prayer at the best of times anyway, so I probably won’t even really notice. Making it through a month without prayer won’t exactly be a hardship for me.” What does Daniel do? “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had his windows in the upper room opened toward Jerusalem, got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously.”
Now here is the real crisis moment, the real crucible of temptation. It’s not the lion’s den; it’s the prayer closet. This is where the spiritual assault reached its zenith. All the pressure to abandon his devotion to the Lord now bears down upon him. Here he marches serenely into the lions’ den because he has already fought and won the war on his knees. In Ephesians 6, Paul urges us to put on the whole armor of God “so that we will be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” But how do you put on the armor of God? “Put on the armor of God.” Paul says. “The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of Gospel readiness, the shield of faith. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” And how do you do that, Paul? How do I put it on? How do I take each of these elements of the armor of God that will protect me from the evil one and enable me to stand firm when the enemy comes in like a flood? How do you do that? How is Daniel enabled to stand?
Paul says, “Put on the armor of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” You thought you could do without prayer, that it didn’t matter if you skip here or there. That prayer is an appendix, you know, like your appendix that you can have removed and be just fine. Does it really do anything anyway? No, no. Prayer is your principle defense. You put on the armor of God praying. You take the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit and the breastplate of righteousness and all the rest, you take them praying. Instead of thinking that this crisis gave him a reason to leave off praying, he understood that prayer was his only recourse in the crisis. In this respect, he reminds me of Martin Luther. Martin Luther once said, “If I fail to spend two or three hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business that I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer. I’m too busy not to pray.” The situation did not exempt Daniel from prayer; it pushed Daniel ruther into it. What does a crisis do in your life? Does it drive you from the throne or does it buckle your knees before the One who reigns on the throne? Daniel knew he could not afford to go without prayer. “When he knew the document had been signed, he got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God.”
And by the way, it’s worth noticing that this climactic crisis in the life of Daniel, this supreme moment of temptation in his life, it did not come to him as a young man. Right? Remember? He is in his eighties. Sinclair Ferguson – “Daniel’s experience runs counter to what we often assume is characteristic of Christian experience. In this respect, it is like Christ’s. His greatest test came toward the end of his spiritual pilgrimage, not at its beginning. We tend to assume that the greatest tests in Christian experience occur in its early stages.” So listen up, you older saints of First Presbyterian Church, do not think because you have weathered the storms of your younger years, that the remaining days of our pilgrimage will all be fair skies and plain sailing. Do not think that your sharpest tests are all in your past. Do not run well all the race of your life long, only to fall in the final furlong. Put on the whole armor of God in your sixties and your seventies and your eighties. Put it on in your closing decades. Resolve to stand firm there in the evil day. Determine now, as you see the final battle in the long war of your life come closer, determine now to take hold of every element in the panoply of spiritual defense and to take it praying.
And look again at Daniel’s prayer habits. Aren’t they instructive for any of us who wish to become proficient prayers over the long haul like he was? Notice first the place and the posture. Neither are entirely irrelevant. Verse 10 says he has an upper room with west-facing windows open toward Jerusalem that he resorts to whenever he prays. This is a hallowed spot for Daniel where he met frequently with his God. Having a prayer place – a chair, a desk, a corner of the room where you have your Bible, maybe some devotional materials – where you go to pray can really help you build some routine. The memory of the times that the Lord met you there and blessed you there at that spot will help awaken in you a prayerfulness every time you go there and an expectation that the God who has met you and heard you and blessed you there will keep doing so in days to come.
Verse 10 also says he got down on his knees to pray. There are various postures for prayer in Scripture. We can find examples of standing praying, sitting prayers, lying prostrate on your face in prayer. The point is, though, that the posture of your body isn’t completely irrelevant. It can help express, it can even help awaken fitting humility in your heart and in your head as you turn to God. It can certainly help keep us focused and awake, can’t it? And so look, it’s not wrong to pray lying in your nice warm bed, last thing at night with the eclectic blanket on! But it might not be the best posture to adopt for your regular devotions for the simple reason that you will be in the land of nod before you’ve said “Amen”! But do think a little bit, please, where and how, place and posture. They’re not the main thing, but they’re not irrelevant.
But much more important, and in the second place, notice that prayer like this was Daniel’s constant habit; his constant habit. He got down on his knees three times a day “as he had done previously.” He had set times throughout his day, every day, where he lifts his heart and his petitions to the throne of heaven. And he does it as a matter of daily routine and custom. Now some people foolishly despise habit in spiritual things. They think that authentic spiritual experience ought always to come spontaneously and suddenly. They think lists and plans and organization and calendars and reminders on your cell phone, they can’t possibly be instruments that the Holy Spirit would ever stoop to use. Well they must be far holier than I am and certainly far holier than Daniel was, but for my part, I’ll confess that without a plan and a habit and a routine, prayer falls quickly by the wayside. My Bible will remain closed and my soul parched and unwatered. I’ll let you giants of the faith to your spontaneity, and may the Lord bless you, but I know that my wretched heart is “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” And so I am going to try to follow Daniel’s example, and I hope you’ll join me. If you struggle to pray, make a plan. Create a simple, regular, usable, not overly ambitious plan. Put some reminders on your phone. Use a decent organization app to keep your prayer points in order and to schedule them for you. Block out time on your calendar. You have an appointment with the living God. Is there any other appointment in your day more important? Cultivate the habit of prayer, so that like Daniel, prayer becomes the instinct and the reflex of your soul when the crisis comes, as it certainly must.
Then thirdly, you’ll notice Daniel prayed “toward Jerusalem.” You see that little detail in the text? Muslims pray toward Mecca, don’t they? Various branches of Judaism and even some strands of the broader Christian tradition have made a habit of turning east, toward Jerusalem, to pray. Is that what this is? I think, sadly, that’s actually a misunderstanding and a misapplication of Daniel’s example. Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem not because the direction that a person faces has any bearing at all on the validity of their prayers. He prays toward Jerusalem because Jerusalem, and specifically the ruined temple, as it then was, was the holy place of God’s dwelling and glory and presence. It was the place where atonement was made and sacrifice was offered, where sinners could be reconciled to God.
Daniel is praying here much like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18. Do you remember him? He comes into the temple and he will not even lift his eyes to heaven, but he beats his breast and he cries, “O God, be merciful to me, the sinner.” That phrase, “be merciful,” is actually, “O God, be propitious toward me.” That is to say, “Here I stand within sight of the altar where blood is shed and the wrath of God is propitiated, satisfied, where sin is atoned for. O God, here I am, the sinner, but look on the blood shed. Look there. Here, I can see it over there. Because of the blood, be propitious. Have mercy upon me.” In other words, this is Gospel praying that Daniel is doing, not arid, ritualized praying. Gospel praying. Praying toward the altar. Praying toward Jerusalem, toward the temple, because that’s where God meets sinners and deals with their sin by the shedding of blood, reconciling them to Himself. And the New Testament equivalent, you know, of praying toward Jerusalem like this is praying as our Savior taught us to pray, in His name; praying in Jesus’ name. We are to pray, that is, in view of His atoning, propitiating sacrifice for sinners. We are to pray depending on Him who is Himself the dwelling place of God with man. We are to pray in His name as our great High Priest who reconciles us to God by His blood. This is Gospel prayer. Prayer looking for, resting on the blood atonement of God’s sacrificial sin-bearing substitute; not the blood of bulls and goats but the blood of Jesus Christ. Prayer in Jesus’ name.
You know, when you pray in Jesus’ name it’s not just a form of words, a mere custom that you use to sort of signal that you’ve come to the end of your prayer. I once heard a minister, who shall remain nameless; he’s not in this room so all of you pastors here can breathe a sigh of relief! I once heard a minister completely forget himself in public prayer. He was so caught up in the moment, pouring out his heart in prayer, that he ended the prayer like a phone call to his wife – “In Jesus’ name, love you, bye.” That’s not what it means to pray “in the name of Jesus, in Jesus’ name.” It’s not a formula to bring the conversation to a conclusion. It’s not a convention for signing off. To pray “in the name of Jesus” means to cling to Him by faith as the only ground of your hope that God would ever hear you. It’s to look to Him, much like Daniel looks to Jerusalem. Jesus is the place now where God dwells and may be found by every sinner that needs Him. Jesus is the Word who became flesh, who tabernacled among us.
One more thing about Daniel’s prayer. Look again at verse 10. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed “and gave thanks before his God.” Isn’t that extraordinary? His neck is in the chopping block, his enemies are lurking under the window sill, listening in as he prays, you know, with their tape recorder held up to catch every word. Who has a tape recorder anymore? Where did that come from! But he’s in real danger in this moment, risking everything to call on his God, and he gives thanks. He gives thanks. Thanksgiving is not an occasional practice when everything is going swimmingly, in other words. It is a discipline that Daniel practices whether things are good or bad, easy or rough. He gives thanks. Do you practice the discipline of thanksgiving? The discipline of thanksgiving? Daniel gives thanks, doesn’t he? Does he remind you here of the apostles in Acts 5:41 who, after being beaten for preaching Christ, went their way, Luke says, “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.” He sounds like Paul and Silas in jail in Philippi in Acts 16:25, praying and singing hymns to God in their chains. Do you practice the discipline of thanksgiving, in the dark, when it hurts. Daniel gives thanks.
The instructions of the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 might just as easily been written by Daniel as a crucial take-away from his life and example here. Listen to what he says. First Thessalonians 5:16 – “Brothers and sisters, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” It’s because of a prayer life like this, tested and tried and made strong in the crucible of affliction, not just in this moment but over eighty years in exile in Babylon, that Daniel is able to face the lions’ den with such remarkable poise and courage. The real battle, the real crisis isn’t in the den of lions, but in the place of prayer. All who seek to follow Jesus Christ will quickly discover that for themselves. Very often the hardest part of facing any crisis is battling through in prayer until you are able to rest at last in the wisdom and goodness of God who does all things well.
So first, the repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes. Secondly, the preserving power of habitual prayer. And now finally, the subversive dynamic of God’s kingdom. The conspirators spring their trap. In verse 16, Daniel is thrown into the lions’ den. Notice the words of the king in verse 16, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.” It seems like the testimony of Daniel has impressed the king. Daniel’s continual and uncompromised faithfulness and his quiet and calm demeanor in the face of imminent death have given the king some pause. When the king returns to the lions’ den at the break of day the next morning, it’s hard to explain his question without concluding that Daniel’s testimony has had a dramatic effect on Darius’ worldview. Look at the king’s words. “O Daniel, servant of the living God! Has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Why as that question in a tone of such anguish? Why go to the tomb at all if there hasn’t been at least the possibility in the king’s mind that God was indeed able to rescue Daniel?
Now Daniel has said a lot in the chapters before this one, hasn’t he? We have extensive speeches from him, particularly in chapters 2, 4 and 5, but you noticed I’m sure that the only time Daniel says a word in this chapter is in verse 21 where we have one single short sentence from him. He is silent the rest of the time. The wordless, faithfulness of Daniel’s godly conduct has a profound and lasting impact on this man. Some of you, I suspect, think because you are not public speakers, because you get tongue-tied in front of more than two people at a time, that you can never be any use in the kingdom of Jesus Christ in evangelism, in discipleship. You think that yours is an inferior witness when compared to the extraverted crusaders who are always telling strangers on the street about Jesus, although I’ve got to meet some of those guys because I don’t know any of them. Be encouraged by Daniel’s remarkable testimony in this chapter please. It is not Daniel’s mighty words so much as it is his faithful prayers and his compelling, godly life that bear eloquent testimony to the fact that his God is the living God, unlike the lifeless blocks of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone that the Persians worshiped.
What use are all the grand evangelistic words if they are not spoken by a life that demonstrates that they are true? Talk is cheap, brothers and sisters. Holiness is a powerful apologetic. Words are necessary; you’ve got to tell people. But a life transformed by the Gospel that we share with our words is a mighty weapon in the hand of God. J. R. R. Tolkien famously coined the term “eucatastrophe” to describe a crucial feature of what he believes makes a good story. Eucatastrophe means “a sudden, happy reversal, unexpected, unlikely and glorious.” He once wrote in a letter that he had been “led to the view that eucatastrophe produces joy at the turn of a happy ending because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, capital T. Your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. The resurrection was the greatest eucatastrophe possible and produces that essential emotion – Christian joy.”
The ending of Daniel chapter 6 is a delightfully multi-layered eucatastrophe, isn’t it? The conspirators have tried to influence and manipulate King Darius and destroy Daniel, but in the end, Daniel is delivered and it is Daniel’s witness and not their wicked plotting that has left a profound mark on Darius. And so when Daniel survives his night with the angel and the lions, you’ll notice he prefaces his answer to the king’s inquiry in verse 21, “O king, live forever.” It was a customary and respectful form of address. “O king, live forever.” But when he walks unharmed from the dungeon, it’s not to himself now that King Darius ascribes immortality, is it? No, he writes to all people in 25 through 27, they’re all now to honor Daniel’s God “for He is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed. His dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” So Daniel is preserved from the lions.
Lest any cynics in the room think that the king’s lions actually had no teeth, verse 24 tells us the conspirators and their families became their next meal. This is, let’s remember, brutal, pagan Babylon, after all. This is Babylonian justice. It’s ugly and dark. But as tough as it is to read, this dark note is also a reminder to us of the flipside of deliverance that we mustn’t ignore. The Psalms sing often of the judgment of God on His enemies, a judgment which is simultaneously the deliverance of His people. Psalm 7 is a really good example and actually very appropriate for the situation here in Daniel chapter 6. The psalmist prays, “My shield is with God who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil. He makes a pit, digging it out and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head and on his own skull his violence descends.” That’s exactly what happens here, isn’t it? Let the enemies of the purposes of God beware. He who delivers His people will make their enemies fall into the very pit they have dug. Tolkien would say this is all one big eucatastrophe.
Charlie Wingard needs to put his fingers in his ears at this point, but to quote him again, Tolkien – not Dr. Wingard – “Everything sad is coming untrue.” Everything sad is coming untrue. Darius falls under Daniel’s sway. Daniel is delivered from the lions’ den. The mischief of the conspirators returns on their own heads. It’s a eucatastrophe, a sudden reversal. And Tolkien was right to remind us that eucatastrophes like this are really designed to point us onward to the final great climactic eucatastrophe of them all. Daniel’s deliverance here points us to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You’ll notice in verse 22 the same mysterious figure who rendered the flames of Nebuchadnezzar’s ovens benign in chapter 3, the angel of the Lord came once again to stand with Daniel in the den of the lions. And we made the case, if you were with us last Wednesday evening, that this mysterious figure, the angel of the Lord, is the preincarnate Christ. That’s who now comes and stands with Daniel here in the den of the lions. The Lion of the tribe of Judah comes in person and gentles these ravening lions. In His presence they become meek and harmless like kittens.
Of course when Jesus Himself was unjustly condemned and crucified and thrown into His own tomb and a great stone sealing Him away from the living, when all of that happened for Him there was no rescue. There was no deliverance from the grave’s hungry jaws. I think we can say that Daniel lived only because the Jesus who came in person to save him from the gaping maw of death, that Jesus Himself died. He was not saved from death so that Daniel would be. And here’s the very heart of the Christian Gospel. At the cost of His death, Jesus gives life to all who believe in Him. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” – gave Him up to the fearful pit of the cross and the grace – “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
One last thing. When Daniel walked alive from what should have been his grave, because of his blamelessness he says in verse 22, we are meant to hear the first bars of a melodic line that will continue to sound throughout the whole Biblical story until it reaches its crescendo – at break of day, when another stone was rolled back and the sinless sin bearer Jesus Christ walked free from death’s now broken clutches to reign as risen Lord and the Savior all people. Daniel’s deliverance was meant to be a sign to the suffering people of God who were exiled with him in Babylon that nothing – not the malice of political conspirators, not the tyranny of pagan kings, not even the giant incisors of hungry lions can make the promises of God fail. He will save and He will deliver His people. But brothers and sisters, how much more ought Jesus’ resurrection from the grave itself demonstrate and prove to us that God really means what He says when He tells us He will save us and keep us and govern and preserve us no matter what. Beloved, as you live in this contemporary Babylon, never forget, never forget the tomb is empty, the wild predator of death has been tamed by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Your hope for time and eternity is anchored here in the victory of Jesus Christ who has triumphed over the grave.
The repetitive pattern of Satan’s schemes, the preserving power of habitual prayer, and the subversive dynamic of God’s kingdom. In the death of Christ, death died and in His resurrection life now reigns forever. Praise the Lord. Let’s pray
Our God and Father, how we praise You that the tomb is empty and Jesus lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God who is blessed forever. He is the perfect Savior of sinners. Help us in our contemporary Babylon and in our own crises, when the enemy comes in like a flood, when we find ourselves in the evil day, hard pressed and besieged, help us to run to the throne and not from it, made bold to go there with confidence because the One who sits on that throne has descended into the lowest pit of them all and secured for us the victory and all the help we could ever need. Help those of us, especially those of us who are senior saints, to run with renewed determination whatever is left for the race marked out for us; not to run well all the rest of our lives long and now to fall here at the last, but like Daniel in his eighties, three times a day persisting in prayer and earnest in treaties for his God. Make us, O God make us a praying church that Jesus may have all the glory and the praise. For we ask it in His name, amen.