Daniel 1:1-8 PRINCIPLE #1 THE LORD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE KINGDOMS OF MEN. Isaiah 40:17, Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing, Isaiah 40:22-24, He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. Jeremiah and Isaiah, prophets of the only living, true and almighty God had told the people in Jerusalem what the Lord was going to do. Jeremiah 25:1-12, Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: For twenty- three years the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. And though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. They said, Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you. But you did not listen to me, declares the Lord, and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves. Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, declares the Lord, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt, declares the Lord, and will make it desolate forever. Isaiah 39:1-7, Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Jeremiah prophesied for 23 years. His ministry spanned the reigns of three kings. Although Jeremiah had spoken to the people again and again, they would not listen to his warnings to repent. God gave them ample time to repent, but they refused. If the people in Jerusalem had heeded the warnings of God s servants and prophets, God would have graciously let them stay in their land. But unfortunately the people did not listen to God s servants and prophets. They continued in their idolatry and brought harm to themselves. God sent them in exile to Babylon for 70 years. Sermon 2 Aug 2015 Daniel 1:1-8 Page 1
Daniel 1:1-2, 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 delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. APPLICATION All cultures and all religions are not created equal. The God revealed in the Bible, the Sovereign, Almighty, Creator, Holy, Faithful, compassionate, merciful, Loving, Triune, God who became flesh and died on the cross and rose again the third day, is the only true living God. All other gods are not Gods at all. They are simply products of sinful people s imagination. Cultures built on God s Word found in the Bible are superior to all other cultures. The fact that the one and only living, true and sovereign God has blessed the United States with freedom and prosperity for almost 240 years is a result of His grace. He may not be gracious to us forever. NEBACHUDNEZZAR IDENTIFIES THE BEST YOUNG MEN FROM JERUSALEM. Daniel 1:3-4a, Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility - young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king s palace. Nebuchadnezzar wasn t content just having Jerusalem and Judah under his control. He captured their future leaders and took them to Babylon with the hope of turning them into Babylonian government personnel. By taking these young leaders back to Babylon Nebuchadnezzar accomplished several objectives: 1) They would serve as hostages and as long as he had hostages the royal family in Jerusalem would not step out of line; and 2) If these hostages could be reformed, they would serve him well in the future administration of Jewish affairs. Notice that Nebuchadnezzar wasn t interested in taking just anybody back to Babylon. He wanted to take only the best. So he gave Ashpenaz six characteristics to look for in his captives: 1) They had to be from the royal family and nobility; 2) They were to be young men. The Hebrew word describes young people between the ages of 13-15 years old. He probably figured that young men who would be easily molded by their new environment; 3) They had to be without any physical or mental defect; 4) good looking; 5) intelligent in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and have discerning knowledge; and 6) have the ability to serve in the king's court. NEBACHUDNEZZAR TRIES TO CHANGE THE WAY HIS CAPTIVES THINK AND WORSHIP Nebuchadnezzar wasn t content with capturing the bodies of the best young men from Jerusalem; he wanted to capture their minds as well. So he set about a process of training, indoctrination and education. These young men were Jews and worshipers of the Jewish God, but Nebuchadnezzar thought if they were given the right education they could be valuable to him and the country of Babylon. In order to understand Daniel we must realize that the Babylon to which Daniel and his three friends were taken Sermon 2 Aug 2015 Daniel 1:1-8 Page 2
was a secular, worldly place. The lifestyle, tradition, and religion of Babylon was completely different from the Jewish way of life. Therefore, the three years of training, indoctrination and education given to these young Jewish men was designed to separate them from their Jewish beliefs, Jewish culture, and their worship of the Jewish God Yahweh. First, they were to be taught the language and literature of the Babylonians or Chaldeans. Daniel 1:4b- 5b adds, He (V. 3, Ashpenaz, chief of Nebuchadnezzar s court officials) was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king s service. The word Chaldeans refers to a class of influential Babylonian priests who were noted for their learning in astrology, divination, and magical arts. And the literature of the Chaldeans included omens, magic incantations, prayers and hymns, myths and legends. The language they were to be trained in refers to the Sumerian tongue which was the sacred language used in the intricate and mysterious rituals performed by the priests in the worship of their gods. To separate them further from their Jewish beliefs, Jewish culture, and their worship of the Jewish God Yahweh the four Jewish teenagers were renamed after Babylonian deities. Daniel 1:6-7 tells us, Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Misbael and Azariah. The thief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadradi; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. The Jewish names of these men each contains a name of God. Daniel and Mishael each contains the syllable el, which means God and is the frequently appearing name elohim. The other names Hananiab and Azariah, both contain a shortened form of the name Jehovah. The Jewish names also have a spiritual meaning. Daniel - God is my Judge or My judge is God to Beltesshazzar - May Bel protect his life Bel was a god of Babylon. Mishael - Who is like God? to Meshath - who is what Aku (the moon god) Hananiah - Jehovah is gracious or Jehovah has been gracious to Shadrach - command of Aku (the moon god) Azariah - Jehovah is my helper to Abednego - servant of Nebo - Nebo was considered the son of Babylonian God Bel. One obvious goal of this kind of training, indoctrination and education was to convert the monotheistic Hebrews to Babylonian polytheism. Nebuchadnezzar wanted these Israelites to reject the God they worshiped and the lifestyle they had been taught and embraced in Judah, and to serve the false Gods of Babylonia and adopt the Babylonian lifestyle. These captives were to be trained, indoctrinated and educated so that they would no longer think or act like Jews, but think and act like Babylonians. The interest of Nebuchadnezzar in training, indoctrinating and educating these young Jewish leaders in his three year plan has had many parallels in many generations. Many leaders throughout history have chosen the choicest young people for his purpose. They attempt to train, indoctrinate and educate them according to a given philosophy to insure that they think and act in accord with the leader's ideology. Sermon 2 Aug 2015 Daniel 1:1-8 Page 3
Probably one of the greatest examples of reeducation occurred in Germany during Hitler s reign. In 1932 he had fewer than 1 million youth in his Youth Movement. By 1939 he had over 8 million youth in his Youth Movement. In a 1933 speech Hitler said, When an opponent declares, I will not come over to your side, I calmly say, Your child belongs to us already... What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community. Some German parents did not want their children indoctrinated by the Nazi state and sought to keep their children from joining the Hitler Youth Movement. These parents eventually were met with heavy prison sentences. If the parents refused to surrender their children, the next step was legal coercion. William Shirer wrote: Rebellious parents were warned that their children would be taken away from them and put into orphanages or other homes unless they enrolled. Hitler did not stop with the children and parents. In 1936 he abolished all Christian schools in Germany. Two years later all public school teachers were ordered to resign from any denominational organization. (P.90 The Stealing of America, John Whitehead) As God s children we must be aware of the Enemy s brainwashing program. Satan and his spiritual forces of evil wants to change the way Christians think and act, so that we do not think or act like Christians. But think and act like the pagans around us. He uses the powerful influence of the media - movies, television, and the press. In 1923, members of the German Communist party set up at Frankfurt University an Institute for Marxism. It became known as the Frankfurt School. The Frankfurt School began to retranslate Marxism into Cultural terms. To Old Marxists, the enemy was capitalism; to new Marxists, the enemy was Western Culture. To old Marxists, the path to power was the violent overthrow of the regimes as in Paris in 1789 and in St Petersburg in 1917. To the new Marxist, the path to power was nonviolent and would require decades of patient labor. Victory would come only after Christian beliefs had died in the soul of Western Man. And that would happen only after the institutions of culture and education had been captured and conscripted by allies and agents of the revolution. (P. 78, 79 (The Death of the West) 1 - I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods before me. New - There is no God. We evolved from nothing. We are going nowhere when we die. However, I am important. I am my own God. 3 - You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. New - Swearing and blasphemy is acceptable and encouraged even on prime time TV. Just don t use the name of the Lord in reverence or in prayer in public meetings. 4 - Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. New - Sunday is to be used for work, shopping, sports activities, and pleasure. Don t waste your Sunday going to church; it s boring and old fashioned. 6 - You shall not murder. New - You shall not have the death penalty for criminals or terrorists but it is ok to murder innocent unborn children as long as they are in the womb, children with handicaps and old people who want to die or don t have a good quality of life. Sermon 2 Aug 2015 Daniel 1:1-8 Page 4
7 - You shall not commit adultery. New - All voluntary sexual relations are permissible. All lifestyles are equal. The old Christian moral code that condemned sex outside of marriage and believed homosexuality was unnatural and immoral was rooted in prejudice biblical bigotry, religious dogma, and barbaric tradition. 8 - You shall not steal. New - Take from the rich by force (or law) and give to the poor. 9 - You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. New - It s ok to Lie, steal and to cheat as long as it helps you get what you want. There are no moral absolutes. Whatever advances the revolution is moral, what obstructs it is not. The bigger lie you can get away with, the better it is. Pat Buchanan says, In a third of a century, what was denounced as the counter culture has become the dominant culture, and what was the dominate culture has become a dissident culture. (Chapter 3 - The Death of the West) In our culture we are being trained, indoctrinated or brainwashed, and educated by our culture so that we will no longer think or act like Christians, but like pagans. And I might say, They are doing a great job of it. Our culture is having a much greater impact on Christians than we as Christians are having on our culture. NEBACHUDNEZZER TRIES TO CHANGE THE WAY THEY HIS CAPTIVES LIVE. Daniel 1:5, The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king s table. Even the food and drink that the young Jewish men were to be served had been chosen for the purpose of forcing them to compromise their religious convictions. It is possible to explain the rejection of meat dishes. 1) The meat provided did not meet the requirements of the Mosaic Law. It may have not been prepared according to requirements of the Mosaic Law. The Law insisted that the blood was to be drained from the meat before it was eaten. Blood was never to be eaten (Leviticus 17: 10-14). 2) The food may have included meat from forbidden animals. (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14:3-21). In Babylon, pigs were not offensive and pork was highly prized. The Babylonians also ate horse meat freely. 3) The law also frowned on eating the meat of animals that had been sacrificed to pagan deities (Numbers 25:1-2, Deuteronomy 32:37-38). It is also probable that most of the meat items on the king s menu were taken from animals sacrificed to the patron gods of Babylon (Marduk, Nergal, and Ishtar). There was no complete prohibition in the matter of drinking wine in the Law; but here the problem was that the wine, as well as the meat, had been dedicated to idols as was customary in Babylon. To partake thereof would be to recognize the idols as Gods. Therefore, Daniel could not have lived on this diet without violating God s law. DANIEL DETERMINED NOT TO DEFILE HIMSELF BY EATING FOOD FORBIDDEN IN GOD S LAW. Daniel 1:8a, But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. Sermon 2 Aug 2015 Daniel 1:1-8 Page 5
The problem of whether Daniel and his companions should eat the food provided by the king was a supreme test of their commitment to God s law. Daniel committed himself to remaining pure regardless of the disgrace or danger it could have brought him. APPLICATION These young Jewish captives have to decide how they will live in a culture opposed to their religious beliefs and convictions. As Christians living today we have to decide how we will live in a culture opposed to our religious beliefs and convictions. (1) Daniel realizes that the Babylonian culture was in conflict with the Word of God. How does he know that? He knew the Word of God. As Christians we must realize that we are in an intense spiritual war. We must realize that every day our culture and the laws of our country are becoming more and more opposed to the teachings found in the Bible? Satan and his evil spiritual forces want to change the way Christians think, live and worship. Do we know God s word well enough to know when our culture conflicts with God s Word? (2) Daniel had the moral courage, boldness and spiritual maturity to say No! to the cultural pressure to disobey God. It s interesting to me that Daniel didn t object to the study of the polytheistic literature in which magic, sorcery, charms and astrology played a prominent part, though these had long been banned in Israel. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) Daniel didn t object to having his name changed, but Daniel draws the line and refuses to eat food forbidden in the Mosaic Law. We must know God s word well enough so we can know where to draw the line and say, No! I will not disobey God s Word. Do we have the moral courage, boldness and spiritual maturity to say No! to the cultural pressure we face to disobey God s Word? I hope so. Sermon 2 Aug 2015 Daniel 1:1-8 Page 6