Daniel 6

Good morning, church.

We are looking at Daniel chapter 6 this morning.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

Go ahead and turn there with me.

That's page 743 in the Pew Bible.

Daniel chapter 6, we're going to look at this whole chapter this morning.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

Page 743.

If you're new to the Bible, the big numbers are the chapters and the small numbers are the verses.

Daniel chapter 6.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

Let me read this text for us.

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 an 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,

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 30 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 30 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,

O 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 a signet of his lord's,

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 in 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.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we ask that you would grant us in these few moments as we've come before you,

and as we are now attending to your word.

God, we ask that by your Holy Spirit, you would allow our hearts to be open

to what this text has to say to us.

Lord, you tell us that your word is living and active and sharp like a sword,

that it burrows down into the deep recesses of our souls,

and Lord, shows us what lies there.

So God, we pray that that would be the case this morning,

that you would uncover our hearts before you,

help us to see you, Lord Jesus, in your glory and in your grace,

and in worshiping you, Lord, may we be changed more and more into your image.

We ask this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Well, friends, I wonder if you've ever been in the place where you've had to stand alone.

In the fourth century, the church leader Athanasius was in a place a bit like that.

In his day, something called Arianism, a teaching that Jesus wasn't fully God,

that is of one substance with the Father, but a lesser created being.

This false teaching in Athanasius' day seemed to have swallowed up the entire church.

The emperor, the leading bishops of the day, the whole world, it seemed, was on the side of Arius.

And so Athanasius, standing up for biblical faith, seemed at times to be standing alone.

Five times he was exiled from his home city and his church where he was a bishop for holding fast to the truth of the full Godhead of Jesus.

A saying was even coined,

Athanasius contramundum,

Athanasius against the world.

Now there were others holding fast to orthodox biblical faith in Jesus.

Of course, Athanasius wasn't the only Christian literally standing up,

but at times it must have felt like he was standing alone.

In our passage this morning, this famous passage of Daniel and the lion's den,

we see Daniel doing just that, courageously standing alone.

Remaining faithful even when it seems like his whole world has turned against him.

You know, many of us in our workplace or at school or even among our own families,

we're in a setting where many or most of our coworkers or friends or family members don't share our faith in Christ.

What does it look like to be faithful there?

Especially when it feels like we're standing alone.

Well, let's consider three points that we see here in Daniel chapter 6.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

The first point is this.

I think we see quite clearly here that this text is teaching us that God's people will often face unjust opposition.

You see this in verses 1 through 9 as the plot begins to unfold.

Now, it's good to keep in mind that at this point in the story of Daniel,

remember that the Persian Empire has just taken over Babylon.

So this is an entirely new regime, a new kingdom, and they're setting up a new administration.

And notice that Daniel is given a position of great responsibility and authority in the new government.

He's one of three high officials who oversee the 120 regional officials, the satraps.

And Darius is even intending to put Daniel at the head of those three.

In other words, Daniel is slated to become the sole prime minister.

So notice then how Daniel is approaching his life in exile here.

In this very secular pagan city, in this very, in some ways, hostile environment to biblical faith under a pagan regime,

Daniel is doing what God, through the prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 29, told his people to do.

Seek the welfare of the city to which I have sent you into exile, God said.

And pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.

That's Jeremiah 29, 7.

Daniel's using the gifts and talents God has given him to seek the welfare, the peace, the shalom of the city.

And this is in many ways the call upon God's people wherever we are.

To seek the good, the flourishing of those around us.

To have a posture toward our city, toward our schools, toward our families that seeks their good.

Even when many elements in those places are adverse to faith in God.

And for Daniel, at first, this faithful service of his results in what?

In the favor of Darius the king.

We see in the rest of the chapter, too, how highly Darius regards Daniel.

But then, just as Daniel is about to get his promotion, his co-workers begin to plot against him.

Jealous that Daniel is being given such a high-ranking position.

They devise a plot to bring him down.

But they find that it's not so easy to do that at first.

So they crack into the files on his hard drive.

And they tap his phones.

And they corner his old interns and assistants.

But they can't seem to find any dirt on this Daniel.

Imagine, here is a man, probably about 70 years old at this point.

He's been in civil service and politics for nearly his entire life.

And he has a clean record.

But there's one area where they know they can trap him.

In his relationship with his God.

So they trick Darius into signing this law.

For 30 days, no one can pray to anyone but you, Darius.

And, oh, by the way, make it binding according to the law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.

And notice how they come with flattery in these verses.

Oh, king, live forever.

We should just be praying to you for about a month, right?

Wouldn't that be a great way to start off your kingdom?

Notice how they come with much deception.

We're all agreed.

Of course, I'm pretty sure Daniel wasn't all agreed.

And so the trap is set.

Now, I should mention here, kind of as a sidebar in passing,

that this chapter presents some interesting historical questions.

The first, as we sort of get into the weeds here,

is the identity of this man named Darius.

You know, outside the book of Daniel,

we don't have any other historical records yet

that speak of a ruler named Darius

who lived before or during the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

There was a king named Darius a couple of generations after Cyrus,

but none that we know of before or during Cyrus' reign.

And this has led some scholars to view the book of Daniel as untrustworthy

when it comes to getting its history straight.

But, you know, I think it's worth remembering what we saw last week in chapter 5.

For many years, scholars thought that Belshazzar didn't exist either

and made some fairly confident pronouncements to that regard.

But then in the 19th century, archaeologists discovered a number of cuneiform tablets

that give just undeniable and ample evidence

that Belshazzar was indeed a real person in the Babylonian dynasty,

just as Daniel describes.

So I think we should be cautious to pronounce on these things too quickly

with respect to Darius.

In fact, just a week or so ago,

I was over at the Babylonian collection

at Sterling Memorial Library at Yale,

and the very gracious host there was telling us

how they just keep unearthing these cuneiform tablets from the Middle East,

and there's just stacks and stacks of them to be read and interpreted.

So who knows what we're going to turn up?

Interestingly, it seems like the Bible's always confirmed by these discoveries.

So I think we should be a little humble as we come to the text.

But with the evidence available to us,

it seems that there are two reasonable options for understanding who Darius is.

On the one hand, he could be a general

who served as sort of a sub-king under Cyrus,

along with him,

over this particular province of Babylon.

Some scholars have proposed that.

On the other hand,

some think that the name Darius

might have actually been a throne name,

another name for Cyrus himself.

In that case,

the last verse of our chapter here

should be translated this way.

So this Daniel,

prospered during the reign of Darius,

that is

the reign of Cyrus,

the Persian.

In other words,

clarifying who this Darius is.

Darius,

that is

Cyrus,

the Persian,

which is a totally legitimate translation.

The Hebrew word for and

can often function like that.

So either are reasonable options,

but, you know,

whereas the identity of Darius

might not be completely clear to us,

it's much too hasty to say that he never existed

or that the book of Daniel

simply gets its history all wrong.

The second interesting question

is this issue of the law

of the Medes and Persians

that cannot be revoked.

A number of times

it comes up in this chapter.

It's a key part of the plot.

Was there ever really such a thing?

It sounds a bit odd

that a king couldn't revoke

a law that he had made.

But if you think about it,

such a custom

ensured

that everyone was treated equally

under the law.

It made it so that the king

couldn't willy-nilly

just revoke laws

or bypass them

depending on whether he liked

the person or not

or whether it was convenient

for his situation.

It was a way to ensure justice, actually.

And again,

there are historical precedents

in the ancient Near East

for this sort of thing,

so there are good reasons

to think that Daniel's giving us

good historical information here.

Which then leads us back

to our main point.

The reality is

that what we find

happened to Daniel

can often happen to us.

There can be envy

and malice

and hatred

aimed against us.

Not that we go seeking it.

Not that we go looking for it.

But it comes.

And perhaps no one

will plot to have you murdered

because you're about

to be made prime minister.

I get that.

But you know,

there are plenty of Christians

worldwide who suffer

under unjust laws

and discriminatory policies

just because they are Christians.

For most of its history,

the church has been

a suffering church.

And I think the initial lesson

to learn here

in Daniel chapter 6

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

is a lesson of the heart.

It's a warning

against putting our trust

in human approval

or in human institutions.

You see,

Daniel started out

under the new

Persian administration

gaining lots of favor,

lots of approval,

being handed a position

of immense influence.

Things were going great.

But then things turned on a dime.

And not even Darius

was able to help him.

He was tricked

into signing a bad law

and was powerless.

And you know,

as we go about

seeking the good

of our city,

of our neighborhoods,

it's not a bad thing

to be appreciated,

to be acknowledged,

to be recognized,

to find favor.

It's not a bad thing

to work through

good institutions.

But realize

that such approval

is a terrible place

to put your hope.

It's a shaky foundation

to build upon.

It's one that will be

washed away

sooner or later.

But not your trust

in princes,

the psalmists

often say.

But if the first thing

we see here

in Daniel chapter 6

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

is that we can

often expect

unjust opposition,

the next point

shows us how to respond

to it.

So here's point number two.

The right way

to respond

is often

quiet

faithfulness.

We see this

in verse 10.

The law has been signed.

If anyone prays

to anyone

other than Darius,

they'll be thrown

to the lions

and Daniel

knowing that

the document

had been signed.

Isn't that a great line?

In full knowledge,

he goes home,

he goes upstairs

and same as always,

he prays.

On the one hand,

he doesn't make a scene.

He doesn't

march to the king's throne room

and put up a protest.

But on the other hand,

he doesn't hide.

He doesn't cower in fear.

He just does

what he always does.

Now,

we've seen various responses

in the book of Daniel

to navigating

life in exile,

life in a pluralistic world,

haven't we?

Remember,

in chapter 1,

Daniel and his friends

try to find

a creative third way.

They respectfully

negotiate an agreement

about what foods

they will and will

not eat from

the king's table.

In chapter 3,

however,

remember,

Daniel's three friends

are forced to make

a bold confession,

a public demonstration

to resist the king

right to his face.

But here in chapter 6,

Daniel isn't negotiating

a third way

and he isn't

sort of doing

bold,

public defiance.

No,

he's choosing

the path of quiet,

deliberate faithfulness.

Friends,

it's helpful to see

those various paths,

isn't it?

It's helpful to see

that there isn't always

a one-size-fits-all response.

And part of our community life

together is prayerfully

discerning

how we should respond.

Sometimes the right path

is the path of quiet,

deliberate faithfulness,

which sometimes

is the most courageous

path of all.

Now,

if you think about it,

there are lots of responses

Daniel might have taken here.

I mean,

put yourself in his shoes.

How might you have responded?

On the one hand,

just think,

you know,

it struck me

as I was thinking

about this chapter

compared to chapter 3,

a few weeks ago,

I preached on

Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

in the fiery furnace,

and here I am

three weeks later

preaching on Daniel

in the lion's den,

and as I was scratching

my head this week

thinking,

what am I going to say

that's different

from what I said

three weeks ago?

These are kind of

the same story,

aren't they?

Both guys get in trouble

with the law,

they both get thrown

into things

that try to kill them,

and they both come out.

All right.

But you know,

it struck me

that one of the differences

between that story

and this story

is that for Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

in chapter 3,

they were young men.

They were just sort of

breaking their way

into the public sphere,

coming into their own.

And yet Daniel here

is an old man.

He's in his 70s probably

at this point in his life.

He's run his race

for many years.

He's been faithfully

following God in exile

for nearly his whole life.

And now,

as he's reaching

his final years,

God puts him

in a position

where he has to make

a choice between

having his quiet time

or getting thrown

to the lions.

He has to endure

his entire department

at work.

the most powerful

men in the empire

turning against him

and literally

plotting his death.

You know,

just think of how

Daniel could have

responded to that.

Really, God?

After all these years

of faithfulness,

you're going to throw me

into a lion's den?

That's my reward

for 50 years of service?

You know,

some people get

a gold watch.

I get to be lunch

for a beast

at the bottom of a pit.

Friend, let me ask you,

what do you think

you deserve

for following God?

A comfortable ride

through life?

Health?

Comfort?

Ease?

Deep down,

don't we all feel

like God owes us

something?

Well, friend,

he doesn't owe you.

That is the truth

of the matter.

God owes us

nothing.

And Daniel realized

that.

His years of faithfulness

didn't make him proud

or make him think

that he deserved

anything

from the holy

creator God

of the universe.

But those years

of faithfulness,

those years

of praying

three times a day,

those years

of having his character

shaped

through decision

after decision

after decision

in the hard work

of the mission

that God

had given him.

His years

of faithfulness

made him

all the more

trusting

in God.

Not thinking

that God

owed him anything,

but trusting

and knowing

that God

was good.

And it made him

more trusting

in God's

sovereign ability

to save.

Daniel had seen

empires

come and go,

enemies rise

and fall,

and here he was

watching

God's kingdom

continue

to endure.

Well,

even if we

wouldn't have been

shaking our fist

at God,

I think it might

have been tempting

to sort of

change things up

a bit

for my normal

prayer routine.

Wouldn't you?

I mean,

it's only 30 days,

right?

Maybe I'll just

pray somewhere

where no one

notices.

Maybe I'll just

sit quietly

on my couch,

pretend like I'm

reading this

Pottery Barn

catalog that I

got in the mail,

and just sort of

pray quietly

in my mind.

And whoever

ends up peeking

through the window

will just see me

shopping for a new

table or something.

No need to get

unnecessarily in

trouble, right?

I mean,

let's just let

this whole thing

blow over.

No need to be

legalistic about

prayer times and

places and postures,

wouldn't you say?

After all,

doesn't God know

what we need even

before we ask?

And so on.

But you know,

here's the problem

with that strategy.

If Daniel had

happened to fly

under the radar

for those 30 days,

the following month,

his enemies would

have just devised

some other strategy

to get rid of him.

The word came

by agreement

in verses 6

and 11 and 15,

it's the same word

that we find

in Psalm 2

that means

noisily assembled

or even raged.

Why do the nations

rage,

the psalmist says,

and the people's

plot in vain

against the Lord

and against

his anointed one?

Daniel knew

that they had it

in for him.

And it wasn't

going to stop.

So he wasn't

going to play

their game.

He wasn't going

to keep ducking

and dodging.

For his entire

life in exile,

it seems,

Daniel had prayed

facing Jerusalem.

Just as Solomon

in 1 Kings chapter 8

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

had said

the people would.

Daniel, you see,

knows where he's at

in God's

redemptive history.

And he knows

how to act in line

with the word of God.

And this threat

isn't going to stop him.

We must obey God

rather than men,

the apostle said

in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

And for Daniel,

he's ready to face

the opposition

when it comes.

And that brings us

to our third point,

isn't it?

Where do we get the courage

to stand like this?

It's great to talk about

daring to be a Daniel,

that how many of us

cower?

You know,

the contrast between

Daniel and Darius

is striking in verses

16 through 18,

isn't it?

I think there's something

of our hearts there.

Daniel is confident

and courageous,

and there is Darius,

anxious,

fearful,

sleepless.

Two men,

both old,

both at the top

of their professions,

and yet one is weak

while the other is strong.

There's that thick irony here,

is there not?

Darius was happy

to receive prayer

as if he were a god

in the opening

of the chapter,

and now he sits powerless

before his own law.

Darius sits in the middle

of his royal palace

and has no peace.

And yet Daniel,

stripped of his office,

thrown into the pit,

a stone rolled

over the mouth of the den

and sealed

with the king's own seal

so no one can tamper

with it,

and no one can come

secretly in the night

and rescue him.

Daniel descends

into death,

and he does so

with confidence.

How do we get

such confidence?

This brings us

to our third point.

The courage to stand alone

ultimately comes

from seeing what God

has done,

not just through Daniel,

but through the true

and better Daniel,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we know how

this story ends, right?

God rescues Daniel

from the lion's den.

An angel comes

and shuts the lion's mouths,

and Daniel emerges

from the pit

without any kind of harm,

without a single scratch.

And that's meant

to encourage us

as if to say,

God promises

to preserve

and vindicate

those who cling

to him in trust.

Daniel clinged

to God

as he went down,

and God rescued him.

And indeed,

as the history

of Israel rolls on,

we see that this is

what God will do

for the people of Israel

as a whole

in Daniel's own day.

Cyrus,

the Persian king,

will issue a decree

in 538,

probably about a year

after the events

of this chapter,

and he will send

the Jews back to Judea

to rebuild Jerusalem

and to build the temple.

The whole people of God

will emerge

from the lion's den

of exile,

and they will be brought

up from the pit,

and they will be

miraculously brought home.

But you know,

as the book of Daniel

unfolds,

we realize that

this promise

of God's protection

and vindication

isn't necessarily

a guarantee

of physical safety

in this life.

Starting next week,

we embark

on the second half

of this book.

And chapter 7

opens with a vision

of four horrifying

beasts,

a lion's den

of nightmarish

proportions.

And Daniel

is told that

after the return

from exile,

persecution will come,

and suffering,

and even death

for many of God's people.

people.

But the hope

of emerging

from the lion's den

in chapter 6

becomes an even

greater hope

in the face

of all these things

in chapter 12.

As the persecution

fires intensify

for God's people,

as Daniel sees it

coming,

the hope

becomes even greater.

And as this book

comes to an end,

it's not just hope

of rescue from death,

but rescue through

and after death.

God shows Daniel

the hope

of the resurrection,

that God will undo

death and evil,

that he will defang

the greatest of lions,

that he will release

his people

from the greatest exile,

the exile of their sin.

But how will God

accomplish such a thing?

Think again of Darius

in our chapter.

He's caught

in quite a dilemma,

isn't he?

How will he,

Darius,

the king,

save his subject Daniel,

whom he loves,

and yet who has

broken his law?

How will he save

the one who has

broken his law?

The story of the Bible

tells us

that God also

faces such a task.

How will God

save the people

who have broken

his law?

Wasn't that the whole

question of exile?

The people had rebelled

and God sent them away.

But of course,

Darius was a weak king

who signed

a stupid law.

God, however,

is the perfect king.

Utterly good

in every way.

And his laws

are pure

and perfectly just.

God's laws

are so just

and so right

that if you

and I were to live

our whole lives

by them,

you know,

it wouldn't feel

like obedience.

It would feel

like freedom.

Like the joy

of riding a bike

downhill,

lifting your feet

from the pedals,

feeling the wind

rush in your face.

that's what it would

have been like

for us creatures

to live by our

creator's perfect law.

The law of liberty

as the New Testament

often describes it.

But instead of loving God

and living in the rightness

and the freedom

of his good laws,

have we not broken them

again and again?

Have we not chosen

our own laws

and our own ways

and our own paths?

And now instead

of enjoying freedom

and life,

we stand under

the just sentence

of death.

And so how will God

save the people

who have broken

his law?

How will he remain

true to his holiness

and justice

and utter goodness?

a goodness

that can't

countenance evil

and still extend

his mercy

and his grace?

You know,

Darius was caught

off guard

by his dilemma,

wasn't he?

Surprised,

the conspirators say.

We caught Daniel

praying,

time for the lion's den.

And how does Darius

respond?

He's panicked.

He labors all day.

He fasts all night.

And still,

he can't find a solution.

He has no plan.

But friends,

God was not surprised

in any way.

from all eternity,

God had a perfect plan.

And when the fullness

of time had come,

God sent his son,

born of woman,

born under the law,

to redeem those

who were under the law

so that we might receive

adoption

as sons

and daughters.

Jesus Christ

united himself

to our humanity

in the incarnation.

God took on flesh

and he lived

a totally blameless life

as our representative,

fulfilling God's law

for us

to give us

a perfect record

with the Father.

But then one night

while Jesus

was praying,

much like Daniel,

an envious mob

arrested him

and came before him

with malicious accusations.

And they dragged him

before a weak

political ruler

who cowered in fear.

And Jesus was crucified,

thrown to the lions.

But unlike Daniel,

Jesus didn't come out unscathed.

The claws

and the fangs

of sin and death

ripped down

and he died.

And his body

was buried

in a tomb.

And that tomb,

too,

was sealed

with a stone.

But that wasn't the end.

On the third day,

Christ rose from the dead

to prove

that his death

was the perfect sacrifice

to pay for our sins.

You see,

when Daniel came up

out of the lion's den,

everyone standing around

got to see

that this man

was innocent.

How else would he come out?

But friends,

when Christ emerged

from the tomb,

it was a demonstration

not just

of his innocence,

but of the fact

that he now

had paid for the sins

of all

who would repent

and believe.

That his righteousness

could now be given

as a gift

to those

who would come

to him.

How does God

save those

who have broken

his law?

Through Jesus Christ,

who went down

into the lion's den

in our place

and emerged

victorious

in the resurrection

to reconcile

us to God.

Friends,

that's our confidence.

That this God

has rescued us.

this is the message

that Daniel

wants ringing

in our ears

in this carefully

constructed book

before we launch

out into chapters

that might scare us.

He wants us

to know

that God

rescues.

And that gives us

great courage

to stand.

This chapter

begins and ends

with a royal decree,

does it not?

Darius begins

by demanding

prayer

to himself

alone

as God.

What a foolish thing.

And yet Darius

ends

by commending

praise

to God

alone

as God.

And this is

the reason why.

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 saved

Daniel

from the power

of the lions

and who through

Christ

will rescue us

as well.

Friends,

let's pray.

our Lord,

we confess

that often

we are

so afraid.

Lord,

we ask

that you would

meet us

this morning

in our fears

and in our doubts

with the great

confidence

that comes

from knowing

Christ

our Savior.

Savior.

And Lord,

would you grant

us

persevering faith?

Would you help us

to fix our eyes

on Jesus,

the author

and perfecter

of our faith,

who for the joy

set before him

endured the cross

despising the shame

and is seated

at the right hand

of you,

God our Father,

and who promises

to blaze that trail

and to bring us

with him

in his train.

We ask all this

in the name of Jesus,

our Lord.

Amen.