Faithful in a Foreign Land 4 – October 25

“When I read messages from people I had never met who were praying for my family, my heart overflowed with gratitude.” - Kateryna

“Even though we are far apart, I feel that I am not alone. I feel supported by people who have never even met me.” - Natasha

“Your prayers give me strength and confidence that the Lord is near and holds me in His hands.” - Oleksandra

“I no longer feel alone in the trials I face. Your prayers inspire me to continue serving God and sharing His love with others, despite the difficult times my country is going through.” - Yuliia

SERIES RECAP

Today we are going to conclude our series on the book of Daniel. It’s been short but I think so good.

We’ve been exploring what it looks like to remain faithful in a foreign land… even when that “foreign land” is in your own backyard.

Remember: as followers of Christ we are “citizens of heaven.” We don’t belong here. So how should we live as foreigners in a broken world?

What does it look like to stay true to your faith when the world around you looks nothing like your home?

In case you’re just joining us, the story so far has followed a young Israelite man named Daniel, and three of his friends, who are effectively royal “hostages” in Babylon during the Babylonian exile.

Bottom line, what we’ve seen so far is that Daniel and his friends have chosen to serve faithfully in the court of the Babylonian kings, but they’ve never compromised their faith. And God has honored their sacrifice.

Through it all we’ve seen, like our spiritual ancestors in the early Church, that these stories can be an encouragement and challenge to us even today as we try to follow Jesus in a world that wants us to compromise - the “foreign land” that is our home.

So grab your Bibles once more and let’s read Daniel 6, We’re going to look at one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament. Maybe in the whole Bible: The story of Daniel in the lion’s den.

A NEW KING

A bit of historical context before we read.

Up to this point in the story, as I said, Daniel has been serving in the court of the kings of Babylon. They’re the ones that God allowed to conquer Israel in 586 B.C. and carry its people off into exile.

But after the time of exile was over, God allowed the Persians to defeat the Babylonians, end the exile, and allow the Israelites to return home.

Their leader was Cyrus the Great, and he conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., 47 years after the start of the exile. From that point on, Babylon was a Persian city.

We see that massive shift take place at the very end of chapter 5, where the author tell us:

Daniel 5:31

Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

Now, there is a lot of academic debate about this verse. Because I just told you that it was Cyrus, not Darius, who took over Babylon.

I’m not going to bore you with the details, but if you’re curious, I put a big fun fact in the app notes with 5 options that scholars propose. Let’s just say, I’m of the opinion that the author had Cyrus the Great in mind when he wrote this.

Anyway, what matters here is that this change in kings took place 47 years after the start of the exile.

Two things are significant about that. First, this means that if Daniel started out in chapter 1 in, say, in his late teens or early 20’s, he’s now pushing 70. That’s a lifetime of faithfulness in a foreign land.

Second, this means that even after many exiles returned home, Daniel chose to stay. Perhaps he felt that God had not yet released him from this calling to represent him well first to the Babylonians, then to the Persians.

A FAITHFUL ADMINISTRATOR

Ok, let’s read how the story begins.

Daniel 6:1-5

Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”

Alright, let’s pause here for a second. At this point it should come as no surprise that Daniel is absolutely crushing it in his new job.

This has been a theme throughout the whole story, and again it echoes ideas from the story of Joseph in Genesis, who was also a skilled administrator for the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Even in a foreign land, God rewards the faithfulness of his people.

A little about the World Behind the Text. The Achaemenid Persian Empire had a very innovative approach to administration, which made it possible for them to become the largest empire the world had ever seen.

Instead of trying to rule vast territory from a single location, they subdivided the empire into provinces ruled over governors called,

Satraps - governors of Persian provinces (satrapies)

The Persians also built an amazing road network and developed a kind of Pony Express communications system which was basically the ancient equivalent of laying a global fiber optic network. Nobody had seen anything like it.

But, with so many people given authority and power throughout the empire, it was inevitable that some rivalries and backbiting would develop, which is what we see happening here.

The other administrators don’t like how skilled Daniel is, so they try to take him out, using his religious faithfulness as the trap.

INTO THE DEN OF LIONS

I’m going to skip a few verses, but basically these rival administrators convince the king to create a law that nobody is allowed to pray to anyone except the king on pain of death.

And not just any death, but death by being ripped apart by hungry lions.

So the king signs the edict into law. Which is a problem for Daniel, because as a faithful Israelite, praying to God is a major part of his faith.

So is he going to compromise? Is he going to stop praying to save his skin? Well, you can probably guess the answer.

Daniel 6:10-14

When Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions?” “Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.” Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament.

But of course, the king can’t find a way. It’s kind of a trope in ancient literature - the king who gets trapped by his own edicts - but it’s important to the story. Daniel chose to pray knowing full well that it would likely cost him his life.

Daniel 6:16-17

So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.”A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel.

Hmm… A stone placed over what was effectively going to be Daniel’s tomb. That’s interesting… We’ll come back to that.

A real quick note about the whole “den of lions” thing. I know the story is very familiar, and if you grew up hearing it in Sunday School like me you probably imagine cute cartoon lions with smiles on their faces.

If you’re an ancient reader, this is a horror story. This wasn’t the zoo. If you met a lion out in the wild, you’re dead.

One time I was on safari in Kenya in a van with an open roof and a mother lion about 15 feet away full-on roared at us. I cannot describe to you the sheer, primal terror I felt in that moment.

Lions were wilderness beasts. They weren’t cute. They were deadly. This was a horrible way to go.

NOT A SCRATCH

Alright, let’s see how the story ends.

Daniel 6:19-24

Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.

Now, I’m going to go on the record and say that I am not a huge fan of the innocent-wives-and-children-being-throw-to-the-lions thing. But the fact that all these people are killed instantly plays an important part in the narrative.

It’s a way for the author of Daniel to confirm for us that Daniel surviving the night in the lion’s den was not just a fluke. It wasn’t just because the lions weren’t hungry.

It serves the same narrative purpose as the guards who were incinerated throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace. That furnace is hot! These lions are hungry!

The only reason these men survived these ordeals is because their God delivered them (the “God they serve so faithfully,” as the Persian king says).

Remember that there was an angel in the furnace with those three men? Well, the angel shows up again here. Verse 22. “My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths…” I think we are meant to imagine the same angel from before sitting through the night with Daniel.

Regardless, Daniel emerges without a scratch.

The big idea here is this. Just like we said in week 1, God honors our devotion & sacrifice when we’re in a land far from home.

Daniel made a risky choice. To put the outward demonstration of his faith above anything else. To put his devotion to God front and center, no matter the consequences.

Think about it. Daniel could have just closed the windows when he prayed and avoided all of this. He could have kept his faith a private thing and nobody would have bothered him.

But Daniel chose to live his faith out loud, and God honored his devotion. Oh, and not just by protecting him from death.

The chapter ends with the Persian King sending out a message to the whole empire (presumably using that same Pony Express communication network I mentioned before)… and his message declares the power of Israel’s God.

Daniel remained faithful and because of it the whole world heard about the goodness of our God.

FAITHFUL AND UNAFRAID

So, what is our lesson in this story for today?

I mean, we are not - as American Christians - being threatened with a violent death just for believing in Jesus. Not like our spiritual ancestors were.

Remember I mentioned that early Christians painted this story of Daniel in the Lion’s den on their tombs? [image: catacomb] Well, one of the reasons was because many of them were being fed to hungry beasts by the Romans for their faith.

So how does this story speak when we aren’t facing immanent death for believing?

Well, there are two takeaways I want you to remember this morning.

Your faithfulness alone tells a story.

One of the things I love about Daniel 6 is that Daniel’s small, faithful actions had massive repercussions. He simply chose to pray with the windows open, and it led to the whole Persian Empire being told about Israel’s God.

That wasn’t Daniel’s plan. That wasn’t his objective. He was simply remaining faithful in the small things, and God was faithful in the big ones.

Where might you be invited to do the same?

Let me give you a visual example of what this looks like. I took this video in Ukraine a week ago Friday and I wept as I filmed it.

“What? You cried at that?”

Let me explain what we’re seeing here. This is the Mission to Ukraine staff doing their work with children with disabilities down into their bomb shelter because literal explosions were rocking the city that day.

Constant air alerts and sirens all morning and they’re down there doing physical therapy.

Do you know how easily they could have “shut the window to pray,” so to speak? They could have closed up shop until the war was over. They could have reduced their services to only what is easy and manageable and safe.

But what have they done instead? They’ve doubled down. They’ve adapted. They’ve continued to faithfully serve the vulnerable children that God had called them to love and they’ve ramped up how much they serve their neighbors with food and medical care and community.

And let me tell you. Their faithfulness alone is telling a story. Mission to Ukraine is like a beacon of light in the darkness right now.

It is the last moment you’d ever expect the gospel to spread (war!). And yet many people are coming to know Jesus simply because they are staying faithful in the small things.

The parents of these kids see their work and say, “If you love my children that much perhaps your God loves me as well.”

Their neighbors are saying, “You have so much joy and life. I need some of what you have.”

They have kept the windows open and they are living their faith out loud.

So my question for you is this. Where are you keeping the windows open? Where are you staying faithful in the small things when everything around you is urging you to go quiet?

• Is it in the way you love that unlovable person in your life?

• Could it be your clear commitment to reject the hatred and tribalism of our time?

• Maybe it’s your simple, faithful generosity towards people who don’t really deserve it.

• It could even be, like Daniel, a faithfulness to pray daily or keep studying Scripture when it feels like everything is falling apart.

It may feel like nothing you’re doing for Jesus is having an impact. But I want you to understand that your faithfulness alone tells a story. So keep the windows open.

Stay faithful in the small things so that God can stay faithful in the big ones.

The second takeaway from the story is this:

You have nothing to fear.

Do you remember that small detail in verse 17? Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den and then we read this.

Daniel 6:17

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone…

Now, on one hand this is just a natural way to seal up a cavern. Stones are heavy. End of story.

But I find it so interesting that all four gospel writers go out of their way to make sure we know that when Jesus was buried after his crucifixion, his body was sealed up in the exact same way.

Matthew 27:60, 66

He rolled a great stone across the entrance… they sealed the tomb…

I think the parallels here are too strong to pass up. The lion’s den and the tomb… these are places of darkness and death from which there is no escape, right? When you go in, you don’t come out.

And yet Daniel and Jesus… They went in and they came out!

Why? Because our God is a God of life. He shuts the lion’s mouths. He overcomes death itself. It’s what he does for those who put their trust in him.

Daniel’s story was just a sampling of what God can do. Just a foreshadowing of what was to come. Christ’s resurrection was the main event this story was pointing towards.

So let me ask you. What do you have to be afraid of as you live your faith out loud? Ridicule? Christ faced it first. Pain? He knows it well. Loss? His own friends betrayed him.

Maybe you’re afraid of death itself. Well guess what. Christ has already tasted it for you and he has already broken its power. As the Apostle Paul once wrote,

Romans 8:31-32

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

You have nothing to fear because Christ didn’t just go into his tomb. He went into yours!

Put your trust in him and when you face the brokenness of this world… when you take risks to stay faithful… when you go into the den of ravenous lions called death itself, you’ll discover New Creation waiting for you on the other side.

You have nothing to fear.

—

Daniel prayed with his windows open and trusted God to take care of the rest. God honored his devotion in a land far from home and he shut the lions’ mouths.

Just like Daniel, your faithfulness alone tells a story, and you have nothing to fear.

It’s time to start living your faith out loud and let God astound you with what is possible.