A Long Way from Home

So today we're starting a new series in the book of Daniel called Daniel's World.

Daniel's a great book, also a great name if you're having a baby anytime soon.

Really strong name.

And today we're going to do chapter one, which is called A Long Way From Home.

When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man,

when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part,

when he yearns with all his heart to create so great and bold a man

that all the world shall be amazed.

Watch his methods, watch his ways.

How he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects,

how he hammers him and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him

into trial shapes of clay which only God understands.

While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands,

how he bends but never breaks,

when his good he undertakes,

how he uses whom he chooses

and which every purpose fuses him,

by every act induces him

to try his splendor out.

God knows what he's about.

That anonymous poem speaking about how God shapes and molds and uses unlikely people

in his world to bring him glory.

And this would be so true of Daniel and his three friends.

These people that we're going to take ten weeks to look at together.

How God used Daniel and his three friends to influence the most pagan nation on earth.

How God shaped, gifted and transformed Daniel to be his man

in the courts of four different emperors

and two different empires over a span of seven decades.

These men who refused to let a hostile society squeeze them into its mold.

Daniel a book that is vital in encouraging us to remain faithful to God

despite pressures to compromise and conform.

Daniel's Babylon, as we shall see, is very similar to our Edinburgh.

Our gods just have different names

and our temples are less clearly defined.

Daniel is a believing individual

swimming against the tide of the surrounding culture.

And so his story resonates with our experience.

We know what it is to be vastly outnumbered.

To be the only believers in our families, our workplaces.

To be the only believers in our friendship groups and social spheres.

Daniel and his friends, who from their teenage years

set their faces like flint to remain believers both publicly and privately.

In a society dripping with idolatry.

At great personal cost.

And so it has so much import for us today.

As we're called to glorify God both publicly and privately.

Even in a hostile culture.

Daniel is a unique book in many ways.

It's a book of two halves.

The first six chapters are six narrative stories.

The final chapters are four apocalyptic visions.

It's also written in two different languages.

Chapters one and the first bit of chapter two are in Hebrew.

Chapter two to the end of chapter seven are in Aramaic.

And chapter eight to the end of the book are back in Hebrew.

So in the middle of the book you have an evangelistic tract.

In Aramaic, which would be the language that most of the world spoke.

An evangelistic tract talking about the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar.

What a useful book this would be.

It's also a wonderfully accurate book.

We know lots about the Babylonians.

We have loads of extra biblical evidence that perfectly line up with what we read in Daniel.

They write their voracious chronologists.

They chronicle everything in this weird cuneiform language which Daniel and his friends would have to master.

So let me read Daniel chapter one for us and then we'll have a few thoughts.

Daniel chapter one.

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.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his courts, to bring into the king's service 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.

He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table.

They were to be trained for three years.

And after that, they were to enter the king's service.

Among those who were chosen were some from Judah.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

The chief official gave them new names.

To Daniel, the name Belteshazzar.

To Hananiah, Shadrach.

To Mishael, Meshach.

And to Azariah, Abednego.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.

And he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way.

Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel.

But the official told Daniel,

I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink.

Why should he see you looking worse than the other men of your age?

The king would then have my head because of you.

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel,

Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,

Please test your servants for ten days.

Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food

and treat your servants in accordance with what you say.

So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished

than any of the younger men who ate the royal food.

So the guard took away their choice food and wine they were to drink

and gave them vegetables instead.

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding

of all kinds of literature and learning.

And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service,

the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.

The king talked with them and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

So they entered the king's service.

In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them,

he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Let's pray.

Father God bless us as we look at your word.

Teach us and change us.

Glorify your son.

Father thank you that you are the same God who was with Daniel in Babylon

who's here with us this morning.

So Father help us we pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

First thing I want us to see is the deportation to Babylon.

Verses 1 and 2 are absolutely shocking.

It is the day that no one in Judah ever thought would come.

The sacking of Jerusalem was close a hundred years before during the reign of King Hezekiah.

Sennacherib, the Assyrian emperor, had marched on Jerusalem.

And then just as they were about to engage, Sennacherib unexpectedly withdrew and Jerusalem was temporarily spared.

Over the preceding century, the geopolitical scene had totally changed.

Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria was the big man.

He was the one in charge.

But a hundred years later, Babylon is the big power.

They are the unrivaled superpower in the world.

And their position had been swelled, particularly through a coalition with the Medes,

who are going to turn up a little bit later on in the book of Daniel.

This unstoppable force, this Babylonian war machine,

had in 612 BC decimated Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire.

Seven years later, Babylon had struck the decisive blow against the Egyptians

at the enormous battle of Carchemish.

They are now the unrivaled superpower in the world.

The undisputed champion of the world.

The Tyson Fury of the global scene.

Having dispensed with Assyria and Egypt,

the Babylonian war machine fixes its gaze on minute Judah.

Judah standing all alone.

605 BC, the northern territory of Israel had been conquered

and decimated by Assyria many years before

and consigned to the pages of history.

So in 605 BC,

the third year of the ineffective puppet king,

King Jehoiakim,

Nebuchadnezzar having conquered all that stood in his way,

now besieges Jerusalem.

The outcome is a foregone conclusion.

It is a highly skilled, mechanized, battle-hardened, gargantuan Babylonian force

coming up against parochial Jerusalem.

It is challenger tanks versus pea shooters.

And Babylon is bound to win.

And as we read in verse 2,

Jehoiakim is defeated.

Jerusalem is occupied.

And the temple articles are plundered and placed in the treasure house of Marduk,

King Nebuchadnezzar's chief god in Babylon.

This is a crushing blow to the Jewish people.

What does it say about everything they believed?

What does it say about their gods?

Their god who was supposed to be supreme and in charge.

The only real god in the whole world who made the heavens and the earth.

What does it say that these pagan hordes have just destroyed

and robbed

his nation's capital?

Perhaps Yahweh wasn't that big a deal after all.

Perhaps he was just a tribal deity for a small people

who told great stories to improve their self-esteem.

What does it say about God that his people have just been utterly routed

by the Babylonians?

And not only that, but what does it say about God's promises?

That God's people living in the land that God had given him,

who had placed his name in a very symbolic and special way in Jerusalem.

What does it say now that that has the Babylonian flag hoisted up?

The Jerusalem flagpole.

And what about the promise of a king?

The promise that a Davidic king would reign on David's throne forever,

ushering in peace and prosperity on earth.

And now King Jehoiakim, who was a rubbish king,

gives way to no king.

Not just not a Davidic king, but no king at all.

Was it time to write God off?

Was it time to say that Yahweh had utterly failed

and had made promises beyond his ability to deliver?

And just to top it off, it wasn't any invading party,

it was the Babylonians.

The Babylonians from Babylon or Babel on.

That place that symbolically shakes its fist at God.

That place from Genesis 11 that said,

let's build a tower for ourselves.

That reaches up to heaven to make a great name.

Utterly defiant of God.

And though it seems to be a great tower in their eyes,

what does it say in Genesis 11?

That God had to come down to see it.

It was so small in his eyes.

That tower on the plains of Sheena.

If you look at the footnote in verse 2,

these he carried off to the temple of his God in Sheena,

it's the same place.

Almost like going back to square one.

Almost like God's dealings with his people

over the last millennia have been utterly in vain.

Now they find themselves back on the plain

under the heel of a people who have got no time for Yahweh,

no time for his promises

and real hatred for his people.

Had it all been utterly in vain?

Well, to the secular historian,

it makes perfect sense.

The dog with the biggest teeth gets the biggest dinners.

The one with the biggest army conquers the biggest territory.

The conclusion was obvious.

Of course Babylon overran Judah.

It's to be expected.

But this is not how Daniel saw it.

This is not how he writes his book many years later

as he's reflecting on this.

Eighty years in Babylon court.

What does he say?

Look with me at verse 2.

And the Lord and Yahweh delivered Jehoiakim,

king of Judah,

into Nebuchadnezzar's hand.

The first thing Daniel says about his God in this book

is that God is in charge.

God is sovereign.

He's involved.

Daniel doesn't just inform us of what happened.

He tells us why it happened.

Why did it happen?

Because God allowed us.

The God of the universe allowed his people to be vanquished

by the Babylonians.

Daniel is a Bible guy.

He's been well taught by his parents.

He was nurtured during the wonderful reformations

ushered in by King Josiah.

Daniel had heard the words of Jeremiah ringing in his ears

who had warned Judah a few years before Nebuchadnezzar arrived.

God warns Judah through Jeremiah

telling them to do what is just and right

with the warning.

But if you do not obey these commands,

declares the Lord,

I swear by myself that this place will become a ruin.

For this is what the Lord says about the palace of the king of Judah.

Though you are like Gilead to me,

like the summit of Lebanon,

I will surely make you like a wasteland,

like towns not inhabited.

I will send destroyers against you,

each man with his weapons,

and they will cut up your fine cedar beams

and throw them into the fire.

People from many nations will pass by this city

and will ask one another,

why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?

And the answer will be,

because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God

and have worshipped and served other gods.

This was not purposeless suffering as a result of chance

in a pointless, rudderless universe.

This isn't the result of might is right.

This was discipline enacted by the sovereign Lord

for his glory and the ultimate benefit of his beloved,

but wayward people.

Daniel was a Bible guy,

and it enabled him,

it enables him to remain faithful to his sovereign Lord,

even when it seemed everything was crumbling around his ears.

It means that even when he is taken as a prisoner of war

to the capital of a distant land

for a radical program of social education and indoctrination

into Babylonianism,

he will not capitulate,

because he understands the ways and the will

and the discipline of the sovereign Lord.

If we too interpret our circumstances through the lens of God's word,

resting in its truth,

understanding the God who reveals himself to us,

then it will ensure we will not be swamped,

even when what we see with our eyes

doesn't line up with what we believe in our hearts,

even when it involves suffering,

we'll still be those who can say,

God, you're in control and I trust you.

Isn't that what we learn in the book of Job,

who loses everything?

And yet, what does he say?

I'm better for it because I now see you better.

I now see you, Lord, and understand your ways more.

If there's one thing we learn from Daniel chapter 1,

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

it is that we're to build our lives

on the unshakable truth of God's eternal word.

And this will enable us to stand firm

even when the storms blow and the floods come up.

First thing we see is the deportation to Babylon.

And then they arrive in Babylon

and they undergo a process of assimilation.

Look at verses 3, 4, and 5.

Look at the criteria you need to reach

in order to be deported.

From the royal family or nobility,

young men without physical defect,

handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning,

well-informed, quick to understand,

qualified to serve in the king's palace.

Think I'd probably be able to remain at home.

But this was part of Nebuchadnezzar's genius.

He would take the top 1% of a conquered civilization,

he would deport them to Babylon,

he would then indoctrinate them with all things Babylonian.

He would assimilate them into the Babylonian society,

and then he would send them back

to be vice-regents of the conquered nation.

It was a political bit of genius

that he shored up his conquered territories.

Daniel and his friends are selected,

and the package they receive is remarkable.

A three-year scholarship at the Babylonian University,

the most highly reputed educational institution

in the ancient world.

Then they would be fast-tracked to the top

of the civil service.

Not only that, but they would get full board and lodging

consuming food that was literally fit for a king.

It's a pretty good deal.

15-year-old, full scholarship,

highly reputed institution,

banqueting like a king.

And the city of Babylon would make Jerusalem

look like a small market town.

It would be like moving from Edinburgh

to the city of London in scale terms.

The architecture was awesome in every sense of the word.

Nebuchadnezzar, whose wife was from the countryside,

had built the hanging gardens of Babylon

so she could walk out of the palace and feel at home.

This, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world,

just so your wife could feel at home

in a sprawling metropolis.

That's real love.

Nebuchadnezzar's palace was a picture of opulence and grandeur,

with his throne room being 50 feet by 160 feet,

which is enormous.

Protruding out of the skyline was the ziggurat Etimanaki,

the cubic skyscraper,

which is called the foundation of heaven and earth,

with its seven platforms rising 100 meters in the air

as a reimagining of the ancient tower

that once stood on this site

in a culture just as defiant as the one back in Genesis.

Around the city was 120 feet high wall,

80 feet thick.

He could ride a chariot around the top

and it would go all the way around

the 56 mile diameter of the city.

Entrance into the city was through one of the gates

dedicated to various gods,

the most famous of which is this one,

the Ishtar Gate,

which you can see the actual gate,

which has been reconstructed

in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin.

Has anyone seen that?

Pete Buvert,

he'll tell you how impressive it is,

with its blue tiles and pictures of lions

all over it.

Babylon was dripping with idolatry.

Within its walls were 1,197 temples.

Every emotion,

every phenomena,

every bit of produce would have its own gods.

The temples were libraries,

training institutions,

trade guilds,

and cultural centers all rolled into one.

It was a city submerged in idolatry,

drowning in idolatry.

The pinnacle of the year was the spring festival,

where King Nebuchadnezzar would go out

in front of all his people

and would be slapped by various priests

until the tears ran from his face,

showing to everyone that it was in fact the gods

and their priests that were in charge,

not the king at all.

As Daniel and his friends roll into Babylon,

imagine the awestruck wonder

at beholding such a sight of civilization.

A culture centered on learning,

making great strides in astrology,

science, literature, architecture,

and the arts.

Everyone on their wrist

has a mark of the genius of the Babylonians

who invented the sexy decimal system,

which splits minutes into 60 seconds

and hours into 60 minutes.

That is preserved by us today.

Daniel and his friends were in Babylon

to become Babylonians.

They would be fully immersed in the culture,

affronted by the idolatry

and indoctrinated with the learning and language.

They were there to be rewired

from their antiquated Hebrew ways

into the cutting edge life

of Babylonianism.

And look at verse 6.

The curriculum starts with

their names being changed.

As they matriculate at the Babylon University,

they're told that they need

some better identifying names.

To name someone is to show your power over them.

And so their names are changed.

And it's not just for convenience.

It's an attack on their very identity.

Daniel, whose name means

Yahweh is my judge,

has his name changed to

Belshazzar,

which means Marduk,

the chief god of the Babylonians.

He protects my life.

Yahweh is judge too.

Marduk protects my life.

Hananiah, whose name means

the Lord shows grace,

has his name changed to

Shadrach,

which means

I am under the command of Aku.

Aku is the moon god.

Again, totally changed.

Mishael,

there is no one like Yahweh.

And his name is changed to Meshach.

There is no one like

Aku,

the moon god.

Azariah,

whose name means

the Lord is my help,

has his name changed to

Abednego,

which means

servant of Nabu.

And Nabu,

in case you were wondering,

is the prince of the Babylonian gods,

the son of

Marduk.

Every part of their life

in Babylon

is designed to strip away

their witness

and dismantle

their identity.

Daniel and his friends

are powerless

to stop their name

being changed.

They also give themselves

fully to their studies,

engaging wholly

and heartedly

in their learning,

understanding

and gaining wisdom

with the aim

of mastering the subject.

Look at verse 20.

In every matter

of wisdom

and understanding

about which

the king questioned

these men,

he found them

ten times better

than all the magicians

and enchanters

in his whole kingdom.

Literally

ten hands better.

They could do

everything

better

than even

the most established

professors,

priests,

enchanters

and magicians.

so well

had they taken

to their studies.

But the reason

wasn't so much

their industry,

it was their devotion

to Yahweh.

Because verse 17

says,

but to these

four young men

God

gave

knowledge

and understanding.

However,

Daniel and his friends

are in Babylon,

they are learning

about Babylon,

but they never

are of

Babylon.

Their hearts

continue to beat

wholeheartedly

for Yahweh

even when

saturated by

their surrounding

culture.

May that be

true for us.

We as Christians

are immersed

similarly in exile

and a different

version of Babylon,

bombarded by

worldviews from

every side

that are an

affront to our

identity in Christ.

A society

that tries to

strip us of

our confidence

permits only

a privatized

faith and

relentlessly tries

to squeeze us

into its

secularized

anti-theistic

mold.

So what do we

need?

We need the two

things that Daniel

and his friends

have,

discernment

and devotion.

Discernment to

understand that

nothing is

neutral or

objective,

that everything

is proselytizing

a worldview

in our culture.

Every film,

every news report,

every article,

every advert,

every political

standpoint,

all of them

are sponsored

by different

modern day

versions of

the king of

Babylon.

We need to

be discerning,

not necessarily

shutting our ears

or adversely

our eyes,

though that might

sometimes be

necessary,

but using our

God-given

discernment not

to be naively

taken in by

their message

and assimilate it

into their way

of thinking.

An example

would be

children going

to school

and they're

told repeatedly

that they are

the products

of matter

plus time

plus chance

and have no

dignity or value

and are just

like the animals.

They're just a

little bit further

up the evolutionary

chain.

We must be

those who offer

them the true

minority report

that they are

known,

loved and made

in the image

of the creator

God and are

therefore those

of intrinsic value,

dignity and

worth,

not allowing our

children to be

assimilated.

We need

discernment.

Our workplaces

tell us that it

isn't appropriate

to talk about

God at work.

Again, we need

discernment.

Why should the

public propaganda

of secularism

demand an absolute

silencing of

believers?

Persecution is

when believers

are punished for

speaking about

their faith.

Assimilation is

when believers

don't talk about

their faith,

having swallowed

wholeheartedly

the worldview

that it's not

appropriate.

When we do,

just privatize

our faith.

We'll do it

on Sunday

and behind

closed doors,

but never publicly

before a watching

world.

We also need

devotion.

A Red Hawk

deep devotion

to the Lord

our God.

A heartfelt

faith in the

truth of God's

word and a

sheer dependence

on the grace

of our God.

Unless our

heart is beating

wholly for the

Lord Jesus,

we will easily

be assimilated

and swamped

by the competing

worldviews propagated

in our society.

And our identity

will be eroded

in the process.

The final part

of Daniel chapter

one is taken up

with the stand

that him and

his friends take.

Keeping with

the sound,

the postulation,

the taking of

a stance

in Babylon.

It seems like

a really weird

thing, doesn't

it?

Seems like a

really weird

thing out of

all the learning

and the name

changing,

out of being

deported from

your home in

Judah,

that the thing

you're going to

take your stand

on is your

food.

And commentators

write endlessly

about what is

going on

in this

scenario.

And they offer

things like this.

perhaps they

didn't eat

the food

because of

the Jewish

food laws.

They weren't

sure of the

origin.

They thought

actually Nebuchadnezzar

might be partial

to a bit of

rock badger,

which they

weren't allowed

to eat,

and therefore

we won't eat

it because we

can't trace

where it's

come from.

And rather

than defile

Yahweh,

we'll just

eat veg.

The problem

with that is

they also

refuse the

wine.

And there's

nothing in

Leviticus 11

and 12

about the

food laws

saying that

wine,

under any

circumstances,

makes you

defiled.

Which brought

them to the

second view.

Perhaps they

didn't eat

the food

because it

was offered

to idols.

That would

be very in

keeping with

the teaching

of Deuteronomy,

and particularly

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6.

I'm sure that

is part of

what is going

on.

But so

imbibed with

idolatry is

Babylon,

that there is

a God of

agriculture and

farming.

there is a

God of

produce and

vegetation.

So to

think these

vegetables

weren't also

offered to

the gods

first,

is probably

not the

case.

Ishtar,

the one that

gate is named

after,

has a real

part to play

in farming.

And almost

certainly the

farming guild

would offer

their produce,

their veg,

to her

first,

before it

made its

way to

Daniel and

his friends.

So perhaps

they were

just making

a point.

Perhaps this

was just

their only

means of

protest.

Well it's

a bit weird

going on

some kind

of hunger

strike,

but not

doing it

publicly,

but going

to see the

person in

charge of

you and

saying,

I don't

really want

your meat,

please can

we just

have

veg and

water?

Oh and

if it

doesn't

work then

in ten

days we'll

revert to

exactly what

you want

us to

eat.

No

problem.

So I

wonder what

are they

doing in

their

vegetarianism?

Well here's

the kite I'd

like to

fly.

What if

their

vegetarianism

is a

means of

them showing

their dependence

on God

to supernaturally

intervene in

their situation?

What if

they were

disciplining

themselves and

reminding

themselves that

the source of

their health

provision and

sustenance

wasn't

ultimately from

Nebuchadnezzar

and his

plethora of

gods but

was from

their God

Yahweh the

God who

is over

all?

Let me

try and

show you

where I

get this

from.

They only

eat vegetables

for ten

days and

are then

set to be

compared with

their peers.

The official

is fearful.

Why is he

fearful?

Why should

he see you

looking worse

than the other

young men of

your age?

Worse is a

word for

scrawny.

Why should

he see you

looking thin

and emaciated

amongst your

peers?

And then

verse 15.

At the end

of the ten

days they

looked healthier

and better

nourished than

any of the

young men who

ate the

royal food.

That phrase

healthier and

better nourished

is a bit to

our 21st century

sensibilities.

It says they

were fatter and

fuller in

flesh.

flesh.

It seems

that in

Babylon

overall diameter

was something

you were

looking for.

And so it

seems to

my eyes that

they said

let's just

eat vegetables.

Trusting that

God was able

to take

vegetables and

supernaturally

intervene in

order that they

would outperform

their peers in

their kind of

anti-weight

watchers kind

of society.

I've never

seen a fat

vegetarian and

therefore it

seems that God

has so intervened

that they look

fatter and

fuller in

flesh even on

this diet of

veg and

water.

It must be

supernatural

intervention.

If you're

banqueting at the

king's table

breakfast, lunch

and dinner and

you're doing

that for ten

days you might

put on a bed

of timber I

think and

yet the guys

eating veg are

fuller and

fatter in

flesh.

If that is so

then what an

interesting application

for us.

What choices

are we making

or my making

or you making

in your life

to show that

our ultimate

dependence, our

ultimate security,

our ultimate joy

is bound up

with God.

My fear is that

we're all too

self-sufficient,

too self-sustaining,

just doing what

we can do and

never trusting.

Our society

says that

security is to

be found in

money in the

bank for the

rainy day.

And therefore I

wonder is the

way we use our

money a way to

show that our

ultimate dependence

is on God.

To be generous,

to hold it

loosely, to

not stockpile the

blessing we

receive but be

a reservoir of

it funneling to

other people.

A way of

showing that by

the use of our

treasure that our

treasure is not

our treasure but

Jesus is our

treasure.

Our treasure says

that academic

success is of the

most paramount

importance to

forge a good

future for

yourselves.

So when

coursework,

revision and

studying comes,

it takes priority

over everything

else.

even gathering

together on a

Sunday is

forsaken for

time in the

library.

Is committing

to local church

at the sacrifice

of a few hours

of study a way

of showing that

actually our

future is not

ultimately bound

up in our

ability to

comprehend

textbooks but

is bound up in

a red hot

devotion to the

Lord Jesus.

Worshipping him

through our

work, not

worshipping our

work.

our society

pedestals

family and

silos family

life away

from and over

everything else.

Is having a

permeable family

life, open

homes and a

sacrificial

investment in

our wider

church family,

a way of

showing that

our supernatural

family formed

in Jesus is

of equal and

eternal worth

when placed

alongside our

natural families?

God

is the

ultimate source

of our

faith in

Jesus Christ

is the

ultimate source

of our

identity, the

ultimate source

of our worth,

the ultimate

source of our

security and the

ultimate fountain

of our joy.

What for us is

going to be like

the vegetables of

Babylon?

How we do life

differently to

show all that we

have in Jesus?

us.

Daniel and his

friends lean

wholly on Yahweh

to intervene and

provide in their

lives in a way

that marks them

out from their

peers and

testifies to

God's goodness

to them and

his sovereignty

over them.

The deportation

to Babylon,

our God, is

sovereign and

in control.

The assimilation

by Babylon,

our God, they

say, is the

source of our

identity.

The

postulation in

Babylon, our

sovereign Lord,

is our hope

and our help.

And see how

God intervenes.

He intervenes in

history, verse 2.

He intervenes in

relationships, verse

9.

He intervenes in

the life of the

individual, verse

17.

He's interested in

the big stuff and

the little stuff.

He does global

politics at the

same time he does

your individual

academics.

Behind the

relaying of

history, there is

the sovereign Lord

who is working

out his purposes

in and through

individuals in

the course of

his history.

And this

phrase in

verse 2 and

verse 9 and

verse 17, God

gave, just

building up as

this small story

in the story of

God's enormous

intervention, that

it would be this

God who gave

his only son to

transform absolutely

everything.

God who intervened

most decisively in

the person of the

Lord Jesus given

by God in order

that those who

have been in

exile in Babylon

for all of their

lives would have a

home forever with

God.

Daniel is a tiny

story in the

unfolding story of

God and his

sovereign plan to

redeem a people for

his very own

possession.

who will worship

him alone above

the competition of

this hostile

society.

Let me pray.

Father God, thank

you so much for

this story of

Daniel.

Thank you how it

speaks so relevantly

to where we are as

people in this

place in history.

Thank you that it

speaks of your

sovereignty and your

goodness.

Thank you that it

speaks of your

absolute control over

absolutely everything.

And so Lord, I

pray we would trust

you as Daniel did.

we would seek to

show that trust to

the watching world.

And Father, through

it, you might use us

to influence many in

the way that you used

Daniel for such a

long period to make a

real difference in the

society in which you

placed him.

So Lord, we would say

you are our trust,

you are our hope,

the source of our

identity and the

fountain of all of

our joy.

So Lord, would you

keep your rightful

place in each of our

lives.

For the glory of your

Son, we pray these

things.

Amen.