Sermon - Daniel 1:1-7 - Focus on God - January 19, 2020

This morning we are starting our walk through, what is probably my favorite book of the Old Testament, the Book of Daniel. The book starts with a historical look at a man and his friends and how they lived their faith during some very trying times. It includes actual accounts of things that happened, visions of what was then the future, and visions that point to the return of the One True King.

Daniel is a book that can truly help to build your faith in God as it shows that no matter what is going on, He is in control.

It is believed that the Book of Daniel was finished when Daniel was in his mid-eighties, somewhere around 535 BC. There has been debate on if Daniel wrote all of the book himself since some of it is written in first person and some is written in third person. The primary school of thought is that while Daniel may have not written every word himself, he oversaw the completion of the book.

Some have questioned the timing of when the Book of Daniel was written due to how accurate the visions and prophesies have been. They argue that there is no way someone could have written the words without actually living in the 170-160 BC time frame. Daniel penned these words 350 years before they happened, and fragments were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. While people have tried to discredit the book, I would say that the level of accuracy found in the Book of Daniel shows us that Scripture is God breathed. Meaning God wrote every word.

When we look at the Book of Daniel we find that the first 4 chapters take place during the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar. The fifth and sixth chapters take place around the time of Bablyon’s fall and they end at roughly the same time as the seventy-year exile of Judah draws to a close. When we get to chapter 7 we will be looking at Daniel’s prophetic visions that were received during the rule of several other kings but that predict what will happen roughly 350 years later when Judea was ruled by Greece in the 175-164 BC time frame.

The Book of Daniel is an inspired work of God. It gives us examples of how we can put our faith in God and trust in Him. We will see that He is in charge, that He is faithful, and that His Word is true.

We are going to start in 2 Chronicles for a little background information.

2 Chronicles 34:1-2

“34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or the left.”

King Josiah was a man who sought after the Lord God. He did what he could to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem from the worship of false gods. He repaired the Temple, had the Book of Law read, and dedicated his life and reign as king in service to the Lord. After thirty-one years as king, Josiah died in battle against the Egyptians.

2 Chronicles 36:1-5

“36 Then the common people took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father. ² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³ The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold. ⁴ Then King Neco of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt. ⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.”

Faithful Josiah passed and his son Jehoahaz was made king and then replaced by his brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim after 3 months. He did not follow in his father’s footsteps, he did not honor God, instead he ‘did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.’ Scripture does not tell us what he did, but we can make some educated guesses such as him allowing, participating, and maybe even promoting the worship of the pagan gods that his father got rid of. Basically Jehoiakim made other things more important than God.

Which brings us to Daniel.

Daniel 1:1-2

“1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.² The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon, to the house of his god, and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.”

Jehoiakim was one of Judah’s worst kings. He was handed a kingdom that honored God and then turned his back on everything that his father had done and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 36:8

“The rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, the detestable actions he committed, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of Israel’s Kings. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place.”

Jehoiakim was a wicked man who did detestable things, he was leading Judah and Jerusalem down the wrong path and God judged them. God used the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar to punish them for turning their back on Him. He allowed Nebuchadnezzar to conquer the Israelites and He allowed for sacred temple artifacts to be taken. He allowed the king and the people to be judged and punished as was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 25:1-11

“25 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon). ² The prophet Jeremiah spoke concerning all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows: ³ “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed. ⁴ The Lord sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention. ⁵ He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever. ⁶ Do not follow other gods to serve them and to bow in worship to them, and do not anger me by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. ⁷ “‘But you have not obeyed me’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘with the result that you have angered me by the work of your hands and brought disaster on yourselves.’ ⁸ “Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹ I am going to send for all the families of the north’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever. ¹⁰ I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them—the voice of the groom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.”

Enough is enough, God had sent them messengers, He reminded them of what they needed to do, but the people would not listen. He knows exactly what is going on, He knows what is going to happen before it happens, He sees everything, and when the time comes, He will say enough is enough. He will judge His people. He will use whatever resource necessary to carry out His judgement. The people had heard the Law, for a time they had cast out the false gods, they were celebrating the Passover, and even after all of that they followed a young king and turned their back on God.

Two things are standing out so far. First is that we need to keep our focus on God no matter what. We cannot let other things distract us from following Him and Him alone. The second is that God is in control. He can use anything and anyone to bring about His will. He had Jeremiah tell the people that since they did not listen, judgement would come. He then used a pagan king to bring that judgment.

When we think about all that is going on in the world today, we may question when God is going to intervene and bring judgement to those who have turned their back on Him. Our God is a loving God and is giving all a chance to repent of their sins and turn to Him. Even with that our Bible does tell us that a time will come when God will say enough. There will be a point where the wrath of God will be poured out on this world. Everyone will stand before the judgement seat of the One True King.

As followers of Jesus, we need to remember that God is in control. He is still at work in our lives. We need to trust in Him and trust in the hope we have found our Lord and Savior Jesus. We may not understand the delay, we may not understand why things continue as they do, but we need to trust that God knows what He is doing.

Daniel 1:3-7

“³ The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility— ⁴ young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the Chaldean language and literature. ⁵ The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to attend the king. ⁶ Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁷ The chief eunuch gave them names; he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah.”

Let the indoctrination and brain washing begin. It was one thing for your army to overpower the army of another nation. It is another thing for the conquered people to accept the new king. A constant military presence will result in people being reminded that they are subjects being ruled, not citizens part of the new country.

In hope of truly winning over the people the king wanted people to see the benefits of living as the Babylonians lived. Taking these young men was part of that process. They were to be taught the Chaldean language and literature. In a way it makes sense. If we were to move to Mexico, it would be to our benefit to learn Spanish and to study the culture. It would help us connect with our new home. In many ways adapting is a good thing, but it can and does go too far especially when it is forced on you.

These young men were not only just being taught how to speak the language and to know the stories the people. They were being taught to think as Babylonians thought. They were being taught to follow the pagan gods and not follow the God of Israel. From what we can read in the Bible and other ancient literature we see that people ‘worshipped’ these false gods but really lived their lives the way they wanted. The false gods were there to explain things, offer sacrifices to, and then turn and ask them to bless what they were already doing. Some of these gods existed so that they could essentially have an excuse to act as they wanted to act, like how it was ok to be with those who served the goddesses of fertility.

The indoctrination and brainwashing was part of trying to get these young men to turn away from the God of Israel and accept the Babylonian way of life. Even the food from the kings table had a part of this. It was part of trying to get them to accept a lifestyle that was no longer focused on following God, or even to convince them that going through the motions of following God was more than enough.

Even their name changes were an attempt to get there focus off of God. Daniel means ‘God is my Judge’, Hananiah means ‘Yahweh has been gracious’, all four of them had names that were reminders of who God was. Their new names were not. Meshach means ‘I am despised by my god’, Abednego means that he is a servant of the pagan god Nebo.

The teaching, the food, and the names all were part of getting children of God to turn away from the One True God. Trying to get them to accept what today we would call ‘the world.’

As followers of Jesus we need to make sure that our focus is on the One True God. We cannot let the things in this world, the things that other people accept, influence us in ways that counter God’s Word. Society today will tell you that the morals we should follow today are not the same as 20 years ago, let alone 2,000 years ago. In 2020 as we head toward the next major election, we will hear people tell us that Biblical views are outdated, and we need to change.

The truth is people have it backwards. The Word of God is what we need to hold on to. The Word of God has not changed and will not change. We need to cling to the Bible; we need to make sure that it guides our lives.

Do not let the things of this world distract you. Cling to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Read the Word of God, talk to your Lord, and let Him guide your steps.

May the Lord Bless You!

Robert