Daniel 1:1-21 – Who Is The Director?

We're starting a new sermon series today in the book of Daniel.

And so we're going to be in Daniel chapter 1 this morning, page 875.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

We're going to kind of clarify the setting and the context and the history as we go, and so we're not going to do any of that at the beginning.

And so Daniel chapter 1, we'll read all the chapter.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

It's on page 875, if you're using the church Bible.

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 gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinnar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God.

Then the king commanded Aspenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skilful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank.

They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.

Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

And the chief of the eunuchs gave them new names.

Daniel he called Belshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishel he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank.

Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has signed your food and your drink, for why should he see that you are in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age?

So would you endanger my head with the king?

Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Ananiah, and Mishael, and Azariah, Test your servants for ten days.

Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.

So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.

At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food.

So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and he gave them vegetables.

As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

At the time at the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Therefore they stood before the king, and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in his kingdom.

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

This is the word of the Lord.

Well, let's pray and ask for God's help.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning.

Would you open our eyes to see wonderful things?

And would you open our hearts to grow to trust you?

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, Daniel is an incredibly important book, and yet also a challenging one.

And so it's incredibly important.

And so there are lots of connections and implications for the New Testament.

And so that's part of why we're looking at this book this fall, is that if you remember, a lot of the themes and the terminology from the Gospel of Luke get pulled from Daniel.

In a similar way, if in the future we were to study the book of Revelation, Daniel is really a foundational book for Revelation.

And so extensive quotations and connections from Daniel into the New Testament.

But it's also a challenging book in this way.

On the one hand, it's almost too familiar.

And so some parts are kind of classic Sunday school stories that you might know too well.

Other parts are so difficult, they're difficult kind of visions and apocalyptic sections that you either never read or never understand.

And so our job during this series is to try to be good readers, to be good listeners, to try to give the story a chance to work.

And so it's helpful for us then to start here at the beginning.

You know, Daniel, it's one of those unusual parts of the Bible where we may not have given the start of the story any attention.

And so, Genesis 1:1, you know, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

For most of the gospels, you know how they start.

And so we love to remember the birth narrative of Jesus each Christmas season.

But when it comes to Daniel, you can know about the Lion's Den and the fiery furnace without ever really knowing the setting of the story.

And so our first job this morning in our introduction is to set it straight, to get the setting straight.

And so think of some of the very classic first lines of literature.

And so here's a little quiz for you.

All right?

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

Tale of two cities.

That one's easy.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Pride and prejudice.

Classic.

Happy families are all alike.

Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Oh boy.

Toll story.

Anna Karenina.

Here's one for the kids.

All children except one grow up.

Peter Pan.

You know, great first lines.

Great first lines.

They tell us so much about the story and they draw us in.

Similar to the fairy tale, right?

Once upon a time.

You know what kind of story you're in right away.

All right.

This is a once upon a time type of story.

This is a fairy tale.

And so I expect you to learn things about life in a way that's kind of unbelievable.

In a similar way, the first lines of the book of Daniel do a lot of heavy lifting that we would miss if we move too quickly.

And so there's really two parts of the setting that I want to draw our attention to.

And it's exile and Babylon.

That Daniel is an exile story.

And so if you look back at verse 1, we're told that in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And so the writer tells us the time right away.

And so the date is 605 BC.

The Babylonian Empire has been growing increasingly powerful and influential.

And so there's actually kind of two high points of the Babylonian Empire.

The one is a long, long time ago, around the 1700s.

The ruler then was Hammurabi.

Maybe you remember him, him and his laws, kind of a classic ancient figure.

This is the second peak between 626 BC and 539.

Only 87 years long.

The Babylonian Empire that Lore says set up the ancient wonder of the world of the hanging gardens.

Only 90 years long.

It was between Assyria and Persia in terms of the great empires.

And more importantly, this is a time when God's people, the people of Israel, they are facing God's discipline.

And so if you remember kind of the brief story of the Old Testament, and so the people of Israel, they get set up in the promised land as a nation.

David is their best and greatest king.

He kind of extends their borders to the farthest extent.

He establishes them in safety, so much so that the nations of the world are drawing near to seek out their influence.

And so people come to Wiz for Solomon for wisdom.

People come to David for trade.

And so the people, it seems like God is doing what he promised, that he would make them great, that in this crossroads of the ancient Near East, Israel would be the small nation who becomes a great nation.

And yet that's not how it went.

The people of God they turned their back on him, they turned towards idolatry, and then they lived in idolatrous ways.

Their land was racked with violence, false worship, bloodthirsty relationships.

And so after warning them over and over again through the prophets, eventually God said, You are doing a disservice to my name.

You are meant to show people how wonderful I am, and instead you are doing the opposite.

And so I'm going to send you to exile.

And so the big shock of these first verses is there in verse 2.

The Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into Nebuchadnezzar's hand.

And so you've got to slow down.

Jerusalem was besieged and captured.

A national tragedy.

Siege works and siege warfare in the ancient world was hideous, horrible.

Jerusalem was besieged and captured.

It's a national tragedy.

It's not a throwaway line, you can imagine.

So if like Russia invaded England and took over London, world shattering.

And the Judean king was given over into his hand.

It's a political tragedy.

The royal family who was promised to David to be on the throne forever.

A forever dynasty, this king is given over into Nebuchadnezzar's hand.

And then notice it's a spiritual tragedy as well.

Nebuchadnezzar, he took some of the vessels of the house of God in verse 2, and he brings them to the land of Shinnar, to the house of his God, and he places the vessels in the treasury of his God.

You see, the God of the Israelites seems to have been defeated.

Notice the building language here.

He brought them to the land, to the house of his God.

He put the vessels in the treasury of his God.

The verdict seems to be clear.

The Israelites and their God are thoroughly defeated.

And to make it worse, the Lord gave.

The Lord, it's the covenant name of God there, Yahweh.

The covenant God, the one who would love them forever.

Actually, not defeated, but seems to have abandoned his people.

The Lord gave Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, into his hand.

So what is this story?

It is an exile story.

Worst case, how to live when God seems to be distant and delayed.

Or you wonder if he's delinquent.

Best case, how to live when God is allowing suffering for the sake of discipline and training.

That's the story of Daniel.

Second part of the setting, Babylon.

So exile in Babylon.

The second part, see the writer, he makes an interesting choice.

In verse 1, he talks about the king of Babylon, and so this Babylonian empire that we're familiar with.

But then in verse 2, he he changes and he references the land of Shinnar.

It's just a different name for the same place, the same city or region of Babylon.

But the reason the author is making this change is that it is a throwback, a look back, to the ancient story of the Tower of Babel.

Maybe you remember that story in Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

And so the Tower of Babel was being described as being in the place of Shinnar.

And so Babel was a story of where humanity decided we're not going to go God's way.

Instead, we're going to gather together and we're going to make ourselves great.

And so they build the great tower that was really the point of saying, no, no, we don't need to fill the earth, we don't need to scatter.

Instead, we're going to gather on our own.

And so in the Bible, Babylon becomes symbolic for the power struggle between humanity wanting to go their own way to build their own kingdoms instead of and against God.

Babylon.

That Daniel is a story of living in exile, waiting for God to come through to restore and to redeem his promises.

Living with struggle and disappointment, living in a foreign place, longing for home.

You know, the New Testament, it picks up those themes for the Christian life.

It's the passage we read in 1 Peter.

Peter is writing, he says, to the elect exiles, to the dysporia, those who have been dispersed all throughout the world.

You see, to be a Christian, Peter says, is to live waiting for God to make his promises full.

To be a Christian is to wait for a better reality where God makes all things new.

To follow and live out the kingdom of Jesus, not fully yet.

But Daniel has also a story of living in Babylon.

Aligned to God and his kingdom, but reality on the ground is Babylon and all the influences and power struggles of a world that doesn't want to follow God.

So citizens of a new world living in this world.

And so in this way, the story of Daniel is how to grow in faith and life, trusting God in the midst of an exile in Babylon.

And so before we get into the details, let me just suggest why getting this setting straight matters.

First, if we miss the exile, we're gonna have misplaced timing.

If you miss the exile, you're gonna have misplaced timing.

And so if you forget that now is exile, you think that things should be already done.

And so either a victory, triumphant Christian life, name it and claim it, the blessings of God, all here and now.

That's what we should expect.

Jesus is alive.

Or defeat.

Things are going so horribly, the best bet is just to survive.

And so salvation is fire insurance.

You look forward to the time when you're floating in your clouds and the buy and buy.

No, see, misplaced timing now is exile.

It's the time of living by faith, of waiting and witnessing.

What if you miss Babylon?

I think this one can lead to misplaced location.

If we forget about Babylon, we maybe fall too much in love with this world.

I think that might be my temptation as I study the book of Daniel, and it brings up the danger and the opposition of this world against God, and I wonder, is it really so bad?

You look around, it actually looks pretty good.

Or maybe we grow too dissatisfied with this world, expecting more, and so we're crushed when it doesn't come through.

But no, no, this is a Babylon story.

A spiritual battle with Babylon is ongoing.

God's not done yet, and yet we want to make sure we are on God's side.

Not content with Babylon, but not against its people or the parts of this world that God will redeem.

And so the main theme of really the whole series in the book of Daniel is growing to trust God and knowing how to live well in exile in Babylon.

And so, in particular, for this first chapter, we're gonna see God's generosity in real life situations, right?

And so this first chapter is all about growing to trust God's generosity in real life.

And so to help us along the way, we just have two points that'll take us through the rest of chapter one here.

First, growing to trust God's favor in Babylon, and then growing to trust God's training in exile.

And so, first, growing to trust God's favor in Babylon.

I say it this way because I think this whole first chapter of our reading is creating a tension that eventually gets resolved in verse 9 with God giving Daniel favor.

And so chapter 1 is organized all around God's giving.

I wonder if you notice that in the reading.

In verse 2, God gave Judah into Babylon's hand.

Boo.

That's the bummer about God's sovereignty.

More than just allowing bad things to happen, the Bible seems to make clear that God has planned and controlled the bad things.

That this is from God's hand.

He gave it to his people.

What a bummer.

But then in verse 9, God, he gives favor.

In verse 17, God, he gives learning.

And so this point seems to be that God's sovereign hand that had sent his people into exile in Babylon had also gone with them to give favor and training.

And I just want to say that this is one of the advantages of doing maybe serious or robust theology, and so doing some like hard thinking about what we believe.

You see, we struggle with God's sovereignty.

But if we do that struggle with God from the Bible, we actually find a much more robust and therefore meaningful answer.

And so, yes, God's sovereignty is hard to understand.

There's nuance about God not being the cause of evil, not being the source of evil.

But don't we need the sovereignty of God to be big enough to deal with real life?

Otherwise, you are left with bad alternatives.

Consider some of the bad alternatives.

Is it fate?

Is your life and the direction of this world determined by fate?

Is it determined by the powerful people?

And so, really, just the power players of this world.

Are they determining the way things go?

The Putins and the Trumps?

Or is it all up to self?

Self-determination.

If you do things just right, it'll go.

I think if we're honest, we don't love those answers.

You actually need a sovereignty of God that is robust enough to actually deal with real life.

And that's why I think studying the Old Testament is so helpful, because theology from the Old Testament, it's most often taught through narrative instead of propositional statements.

And so the propositional statement, God is sovereign over all things.

And so in our catechisms, we can have a question and answer that will tell us the specific truth, and it's good for us to memorize that and know that.

But actually, the Old Testament narrative, it forces us to look for what God is doing and teaching in mixed up, often in messy ways of real life.

Nuanced, robust theology.

That's what we can get.

And so for this first point, we are growing to trust God's favor in Babylon.

And so as we go through the series of Daniel, I'll try to give us some tools to understand Old Testament narrative and so things to look for for how the writer is telling the story.

And so for now, just let me give you an overview, an overall tool.

The key for Old Testament narrative is to follow the camera.

The key for Old Testament narrative is to follow the camera.

Almost all kind of the director skills that you see in modern movies and TV shows all really come from the Bible.

It's ancient storytelling where the camera angle will show you what you're meant to see if we're careful.

And so I'll try to point out other ones as we go.

And so things like conflict, character development, repetition, flashback, flash forward, all those things come up in Old Testament narrative.

But for now, notice how complete and relentless the power of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian influence seems to be.

That's where the camera takes you at the beginning.

God has given his people into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and for the first eight verses, seven verses, God is not there.

Notice the downward spiral of the king.

He captures the king, captures the vessels, he takes them into the temple, into the land.

And notice in verse 3 then that experience is matched by the people.

Then the king commanded Ashpenes, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both from the royal family and the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace.

And so you notice what is happening.

Babylon is pillaging the conquered land.

Brainwashing, re-educating the best and the brightest.

From an earthly perspective, it's a brilliant move.

You build up Babylon with the best that Judah has to offer, and you cripple the oppressed people.

So you notice then that this is a personal tragedy for Daniel.

For Daniel and these other friends we hear about, they were probably only a teenager when they were taken, probably around 14 years old.

And so, kids, can you imagine that when you're 14 years old?

Daniel's family has probably passed away.

Almost certainly they were killed in the destruction of Jerusalem.

Your homeland, your city, was destroyed after a long siege where people were dying of starvation.

And then you had to journey 900 miles from Jerusalem to Babylon, almost certainly by foot.

The unrelenting power of Nebuchadnezzar.

And then we're added with this idea in verse 4.

It seems like if the light Gives you lemons, and you make lemonade.

And so in verse 4, the king he wants to teach them literature and the language of the Chaldeans.

He assigns them a daily portion of the food that the king ate.

They were to be educated, and then they were going to stand before the king.

Not all that.

The best of the schools, the best food, and then a chance to make it, to start over, to stand before the king.

And so, verse 6 and 7, it brings out the heart of the conflict facing Daniel and his friends.

Notice the camera angle, the big picture, the king and the city has been destroyed.

Everything has been carried off into Babylon.

And then the camera zooms in on these four people in particular.

Among these, notice, big, big crowd of people, but among these, four.

Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names.

Daniel he called Bel Shazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Meshael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

He gave them new names.

Literally, he placed new names on him.

It's almost like an anointing.

You see, the conquering of Babylon would now be complete.

You've been taken from your homeland, you've been re-educated, and now you have been renamed.

So away from your Hebrew name that has honored the God of Israel.

And so Daniel, it means God is judge, given a new name, but to Shazzar, it means something like, may Ba guard his life.

And so not God of Israel is his judge, but now Baal the God of Nebuchadnezzar, would he guard his life?

And all so that they could stand before the king.

King's men lined up all in a row.

So if you're following the camera angle, who will be king in Babylon?

Whose favor will matter most?

Really, it seems like Nebuchadnezzar.

Unrelenting power.

He can do everything from the large scale to the small scale.

Control your life, change your name, you stand before me.

You're mine.

I think that puts then verse 8 in context.

And so I want to say from the very beginning here, it's not about being a vegetarian.

All right?

For those of you who would prefer that lifestyle, no problem.

But who eats vegetables to be fatter in flesh?

I don't think so.

You see, it's not about being a vegetarian, not even about drinking wine or not, I don't think.

We're actually not told while Daniel decided that this was the line of faithfulness.

We're not told.

And it's probably not too helpful to spend too much time speculating because we do know why he draws the line, or we know what line he's drawing.

In verse 8, Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or the wine that he drank.

Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him what?

To not defile himself.

And so maybe eating the food and drinking the wine was connected to idol worship.

Maybe it was just a conviction of Daniel that this stops here.

This is the line I need to draw.

But that was the point.

Even though I am Babylon, I'm in Babylon, I will not become just like everyone else.

And so to not be defiled is to be set apart, to be holy for God.

And look at the camera angle.

Daniel resolved, it's actually the same word for when the eunuch renamed him.

And so the eunuch had set a new name on Daniel, and so Daniel had set his heart not to be identified with Babylon.

Follow the camera.

And so it just so happens that this resolution of Daniel is blessed by God.

And the God who had given over to Babylon now gives him favor.

Verse 8.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

Is one the result of the other?

The narrative doesn't really say.

See, it leaves it a bit ambiguous.

That's not the question.

That's not the point.

This is robust theology we're doing here.

What is the point that God has not abandoned his people?

Daniel and his friends are not left just to play the game of Babylon, to place their identity in this new king and the new kingdom.

No, God is worthy of their continued submission.

And as they place themselves under his care, as they seek to follow his ways, God can and will be close enough to give them favor, even all the way in Babylon.

Favor, it's the word for grace in the Old Testament, the word Hesed, his everlasting long-term love for his people.

And so here's the shock.

God gave his people into Babylon, but he did not remove his Hesed love.

And so we'll learn more about this dynamic as we go through Daniel.

But for now, living in Babylon, living in a world and a place not in submission to God, will often drive us to the question of whose favor we will seek.

Who will we allow to determine our identity?

And you know, knowing which line to draw will sometimes be difficult.

But the themes are right here for us.

So two fault lines.

Who will name us?

Who will name us?

You know, the naming is in a position of authority and identity.

And so what will the world say about you?

Will you care more about that or will you care more about what God says?

Who will name you?

And then will we defile ourselves for the sake of gaining favor of the anti-God dynamics in our world?

You know, it's gonna take wisdom.

It's gonna take wisdom to know where those lines are.

But if we follow who we're trying to impress, that'll get us pretty close.

Right.

So caring more about God's opinion in his favor then, I think it leads into point two.

So we grow to trust God, that his favor can be there even in Babylon, which will allow us then to grow to trust God in his training in exile.

Grow to trust God in his training in exile.

And so remember we're following the camera angle of the story, and so we might now see a kind of a montage of all the other ways that Daniel and his friends made wise choices about how to prioritize God in Babylon.

Because in verse 17, then we get the third time that God gave in this chapter, and it seems to be the broader summary of training to live well in exile.

Verse 17, as for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill and all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding and all visions and dreams.

You see, it becomes clear that God's favor was not just a response or a reward for a vegetarian lifestyle.

You're free.

No, this reads like the ongoing wisdom and care from God, training for life in exile.

If God gave his people over to exile, he would also give them the training to live well.

Including, this is amazing, including wisdom and learning in the things that matter and were needed in Babylon.

That God would give them what they needed to live well in Babylon.

So let me say that your faithfulness to God is not just seen in the lines you set to stay away from Babylon, but even in the ways you embrace a full life of Babylon.

You know, that contrast there can be a key to much wisdom in the Christian life and much peace in Christian communities.

Your faithfulness is not just seen in the lines that you set to stay apart from Babylon, but it's also seen in the ways that you embrace a full life in Babylon.

This is really the context behind that famous verse from Jeremiah, you know, seek the welfare of the city of where I'm sending you.

It's much stronger about submission and service to God than about the inherent worthiness of the city.

No, no, God has put you here.

And so you seek to do his good.

And so, in this way, wisdom, it becomes a big theme in Daniel.

And so it's going to be a big theme as we look forward.

Remember, wisdom, it's skill in the art of living.

And so these young men, in a way, became better Babylonians than anyone else around them.

Ten times better when the king of Babylon, a pagan who knew nothing of the ways of God, would ask them what to do in life.

They were ten times wiser and better.

So let me talk about a common application when we look at the story of Daniel.

You know it from the children's song, perhaps.

Dare to be a Daniel.

I want to say kind of.

Kind of.

You know, application in Daniel and in the Old Testament, it typically goes this way, and it'd be helpful for us to keep this in mind.

Top level application that you can always find is who is God?

What we're most meant to find is who is God?

Who is the God that is revealed in the story?

Because that God has not changed.

So top level, who is God?

Under that, then, is how characters then prepare for Jesus.

And so, how is God going to save the world?

How is God going to bring redemption?

And so the characters in the Old Testament, they often either provide positive or negative contrasts to how that needs to happen.

And so then the ground level, after you've done those two things, the ground level then allows us to ask: who are we in relation to God?

See, we travel the right direction, God and what he's doing, and then it helps us find ourselves.

And so apply to Daniel here.

As we go through the book, there are going to be extraordinary events in Daniel that are necessary for God.

Extraordinary events that are necessary for him to demonstrate his care for his people.

There are extraordinary events that are necessary for him to demonstrate his authorization for Daniel as his prophet.

That's what Jesus calls Daniel, that he is a prophet, one who would speak for God.

And so God did things for Daniel in particular that would authorize him for that role.

But there are lots of ordinary and typical ways that God cares for his people in this story.

And so even just look in this chapter.

All four are given wisdom and learning.

Only Daniel gets understanding of visions and dreams.

That's tied up to the prophetic role.

We'll see it as the story goes on that Daniel is going to have a role of speaking for God even in Babylon.

So let's try to apply to us.

I think the promise, who God is, is that he will be close and generous towards us in exile.

That he will train us for what he has for us to do.

He will train us for what he has for us to do.

And it may not be as extraordinary as we want, but it will always be gracious and generous.

And so remember some robust theology here.

And so maybe you know this line: God will not give me more than I can handle.

Not exactly.

1 Corinthians chapter 10.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

God is faithful, he will not let you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with temptation, he will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

Robust.

God will be with you to give you what you need to endure.

Or maybe you know this one.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Yes, but right before that, Paul writes in Philippians 4, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

And in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Yes, you can.

Robust theology.

And so as we go through Daniel as careful readers, we will learn that these characters, they show the wisdom of living in exile.

For them, what it meant in verse 20 is that in every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king cared about, he found them to be ten times better.

That they were gifted, God gave them the wisdom for their particular circumstance.

But let me give you a hint: this wisdom also leads to the lion's den and to the fiery furnace.

It's the wisdom that often brings them in conflict with the world around them.

So one of the old pastors from seminary said that today's trial is the training ground for tomorrow's battle.

You could also say it the other way.

Today's training is preparation for tomorrow's trial.

And so as we come to an end here, let's come to this end in the story of chapter one.

The goal of Daniel in verse 19 is that they would stand before the king.

In verse 21, the author ends with this note Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.

And so if you're following the camera angle, verse 1 begins in 537 BC, the rise of the, or it begins, um, what date did I say?

605.

It becomes in 605, the rise of the Babylonian Empire.

Chapter 1 ends in 537, 80 years later, the rise of the Persians.

Babylon has fallen.

Israel returns from exile.

Who seems to have all the power in chapter 1?

Nebuchadnezzar conquers Judah, carries off the best people, trains them in Babylon, forces them to work for him.

And notice, think about the background of the story, all the not so pleasant moments of being a slave and being conquered and being taken away, being re-educated.

Not so pleasant.

But who actually has the power?

Daniel outlasts them all.

God and his servants who embody the truth.

Hananiah, it means Yahweh has been gracious.

Mishel, who is like God.

Azariah, Yahweh has been my help.

And Daniel, God is my judge.

For Daniel in particular, for the rest of the story, his Babylonian name is never used without also listing his Hebrew name.

A constant reminder that he and his life stands before the real judge of the universe until the very end.

And so, in this way, this story is meant to help you stand before God.

That is the goal that God would want you to stand before him in this particular time and place.

And so go back to the camera.

Who is the director in Daniel?

Who is behind the camera?

God is judge.

Oftentimes in the Old Testament narrative, you have to look back and notice and see what God is doing behind the scenes, not always actively speaking.

You're not always sure what's he doing compared to other people, but who is behind the camera, who's writing the story for you to see.

He is the one who is sovereignly and graciously directing and providing all things so that Daniel and his friends, and by extension, all of Israel can stand in Babylon.

In this way, he's also the director who entered the film.

Always impressive in real life, right?

The actor who can direct as well.

Most of them can't do it, but sometimes they can.

And so, once again, notice the application here that in Jesus, God once again sent his representatives into exile.

Once again, he directed his life to stand before kings.

It's one of the big themes for the New Testament Christian who stands with Jesus.

Romans says that we stand in his grace.

Ephesians says that we stand dressed in his armor, and then by the end of 1 Peter, we stand firm in his hope.

You see, God will so direct the story of our lives attached to Jesus so that at the end, as the empires of the world rise and fall, at the end we will stand.

So let me give you one more tool of the Old Testament narrative, a foreshadow.

And so if your Bibles are still open, just turn a couple pages to the very end of the story of Daniel.

The 80 years have gone by now.

Daniel has stood before the presence of multiple Babylonian kings, and now he'll stand before Cyrus, king of Persia, who will send the people back.

The very last verse of the book of Daniel, chapter 12, verse 13, as Daniel is ending with this prophecy about the time of the end of all things.

Daniel 12:13

This is what he's left with.

Go your way until the end, and you shall rest and stand in your allotted place at the end of days.

The point of Daniel is that you, in the midst of exile Babylon, the time we live in, would be built up by God's generosity to stand.

So let's pray that God will lead us through this story for his glory and our good.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the start we can make in Daniel in this chapter one.

We pray that you would help us to open our eyes to see the world around us.

Yes, the challenge of living in Babylon in exile, and so forgive some of us for being too at home in this world, but also raise our eyes to see the story of redemption that you're doing.

That we and many others have the chance to stand before you now and into eternity.

And so give us a firm standing on that hope, we pray.

And we ask all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.