3/22/21 

INTRO TO DANIEL

As we've talked about the prophets in this series, we've seen how they all bear God's Word to the people. They all speak God's truth to the powers of this world. Nathan spoke the truth to David about Bathsheba and Uriah. Elijah spoke God's truth to Ahab, Jezebel, and the hundreds of false prophets of Ba'al. Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and Micah delivered God's truth to Israel's leaders against their idolatries. Ezekiel railed against the unrighteousness of Israel and her foreign neighbors. And last week, we heard of Jeremiah who bore God's Word to the people—the whole people—of Israel and Judah. 

In all cases, the prophets stood alone in their integrity, representing the Word of God. Their own opinions meant nothing in the balance. They were messengers, servants of the Lord, and to the extent they selflessly bore God's Word to the People, they were prophets. 

Today, we look at Daniel, who lived his life in exile in Babylon. Although he had a few friends there with him, he was treated as one alone in his integrity, serving the Lord even in Babylon when there was no earthly benefit in doing so. 

DANIEL 6: 10-13

10 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. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 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.”  13 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.” †

Daniel

 Daniel, who grew up in Babylon during the Exile, distinguished himself early as a man of wisdom and integrity. His prophecy largely consists of dream interpretations. His truthful interpretations elevated him above all of King Nebuchadnezzar’s other advisors. 

At one point, these advisors tattle on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—saying they refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s great statue. Nebuchadnezzar has them thrown into a fiery furnace, but an angel accompanies them, and they emerge unscathed. 

Later, when Darius becomes king, Daniel is elevated above every other advisor and becomes one of three presidents over 120 governors ( these were the congressmen and senators of ancient Persia). Daniel is known to be a man of extraordinary integrity. He can’t be bought, bribed, or otherwise exploited—which in some government circles—renders him useless. The governors resent Daniel, perhaps for his integrity alone, so all they all lawyer up to find any dirt they can on Daniel so they can have him impeached. But Daniel is squeaky clean.

But some of their lawyers come up with a plan. They forward a bill that says no one can pray to anyone other than Darius for thirty days. Darius signs the bill into law. 

Daniel’s response is to go into his room, and three times a day gets down on his knees, faces Jerusalem, and prays to the Lord as he always did. Daniel’s opponents knew that a man of integrity would not—could not—keep from praying to his Lord. It is this that gets Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. 

ONE GOD FOR ALL PEOPLE

The main witness of Daniel is that he continues to serve the Lord even in Babylon. The ancients tended to believe that their gods were local—that each country or region had its own gods—but the God of Israel is not confined to one location. God isn't in Jerusalem alone but is present everywhere. He is the one true God of every nation, whether they acknowledge Him or not. 

You might say Daniel is a Jewish evangelist. He lives his life as a witness to God, even in Babylon. He and many other Jews with him will not serve the local gods of Babylon but continue to trust the Lord, even though Jerusalem has been sacked, the temple ransacked, and its people taken away as slaves. 

This is also unusual, for in the Pagan world, once your local gods proved ineffective, you served the conquering gods. It would have been the norm for the Jews now to worship the Babylonian gods. But the God of Daniel is above the gods of this world. God cannot and does not fail. As the other prophets rightly proclaimed, Israel had failed, not God. 

Israel serves The Lord, not vice versa. That makes the God of Israel different from every otherworldly god—all of whom are false.  

But Daniel not only kept his faith in the Lord when all Israel was overthrown, but he leads the Babylonian kings to worship his Lord. King Nebuchadnezzar, the king who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ends up worshipping and honoring The God of Israel. So did Darius, who puts Daniel in the lion's den. Both of these pagan kings finish by praising Daniel and Daniel's God—the God of Israel—the one, true God of all. 

We don't think about this much, but these two Babylonian kings turned out better followers of God than most of Israel's kings, including Solomon. So we can say that one result of Daniel's prophetic ministry was turning world leaders away from false gods toward the one true God. 

Palm Sunday: Dark Humor

As we enter Holy Week, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Palm Sunday tends to be a very upbeat, celebratory Sunday, but it’s packed to the brim with dark humor, and there are notable parallels with Daniel’s story. 

Just as Daniel in Babylon kept integrity though surrounded by people who worshiped false gods, Jesus—Jesus alone—has integrity as He rides into Jerusalem. All of Israel gathered around, lining the streets, shouting, “Hosanna!” have little idea of what’s really happening. 

The people at the grand parade had wrong ideas about Jesus. Half of them believed he was a revolutionary—a militant, political revolutionary—come to overthrow the oppressive Roman regime that occupied the Holy Land. They hated Rome—hated Caesar even more—and had prayed for a Messiah who would liberate them from Roman chains, a Messiah who would crush the powers of oppression and establish justice for Israel and the pride of her people. 

On the other side of the path, they celebrated their new king who would make Israel great again! Someone who would take back the government to God’s people and whose reign would mean law, order, morality, and prosperity for the nation. 

Both these groups had the wrong idea about the Messiah, so they are both like the people of Babylon who fall prostrate before a great, golden statue. Jesus was not coming to overthrow Roman power. In fact, he said the Romans would win completely—and he was right—Jerusalem was sacked within that generation. Not one stone was left upon the other of the Temple. Its treasures were taken to Rome, and its gold put to use in pagan temples. Those who shouted “Hosanna!” to Jesus, hoping for security, did so for the wrong reasons. 

And those who followed Jesus as a strategy for self-care—as a means to personal security, financial security, freedom from harm or hardship—all these were shouting in vain as well. They may have been saying “Hail, Jesus!” but the subtext was “Hooray for ME, Hooray for US!” These were the ones Jesus would tell to head for the hills because trouble was coming. 

And so our Palm Sunday today is filled with dark humor and irony. Palm Sundays in church tend to be upbeat—we celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and cry, “Hosanna!” “Oh, save!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”—but this parade is not headed to earthly glory of any kind. It leads straight to Golgotha, Calvary, the Cross. 

Are you sure you want to be yelling, “Hosanna!” Should we be cheering at all? Do we forget every Palm Sunday that it is still Lent and the dark horrors are still ahead? We should be dressed in black or sackcloth and ashes. 

By Friday, these parade crowds would be ashamed that they cheered for Jesus. Many of them would instead be chanting, “Crucify HIm! Crucify HIm!” because he will most certainly violate their expectations. 

WHY WE FOLLOW

It’s not hard to imagine voices in the crowd: 

“What? No earthly kingdom? No overthrowing Rome? What? Are we going to lose Jerusalem entirely? Why are we following this guy?” These are the right questions. 

“What?” say others, “No personal protections from the storm?” “No guarantees of our safety or prosperity?” “He’s telling us we’re going to lose it all? Why are we following this guy?” “Do we have any other Messiah candidates in the pipeline?” 

Daniel worshipped The Lord when no one else around him did. He worshipped God when Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel had all been overthrown. He worshipped The Lord despite worldly circumstances and foreign domination. Because The Lord is God, and there is no other. 

Jesus rides that donkey through the cheering crowds outside Jerusalem, knowing that His road leads to the cross. He knows that their love of Him is shallow and self-serving—they love Him for what He can give them—pride, security, and prosperity. And yet he rides, yet he makes His way to the cross, and that is the perfect picture of love and integrity. 

Why did Daniel worship The Lord in Babylon when it was illegal to do so and would only get him thrown to the lions? Because The Lord is God, and the Lord is worthy of worship no matter what happens in our world. 

Why did the crowds cheer for Jesus on Palm Sunday? Is it because they knew Him to be the true Messiah? If so, would they have stopped following Him after His arrest? Would they have fled for their lives and gone into hiding? Would they cover their tails by lying? No. They followed because they stood something to gain, and when the probability of earthly gain—in whatever form—was taken away from them, their devotion dissolved, their commitment crumbled. 

What is the reason we follow Christ when He only offers us a cross? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died in a Nazi prison yard, puts it simply: 

When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. 

The path to the cross is the only path toward Christian integrity. We follow not because we stand to gain from it but because it is the true path. We worship The Lord, even in Babylon, because He is the Lord and He is worthy of worship. Daniel proclaims it, Jesus demonstrates it, and we are called to follow. It is not a path of riches, pride, and security, but it is the path of truth. The path of the cross is the path of Christian integrity. Every other path is part of a false parade—a bowing down to some giant, phony statue of one kind or another. †