Sunday
Morning Bible Study
May
19, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church
loved?
We ended last week with Cyrus conquering the Babylonian kingdom.
(Da 5:30–31 NKJV)
—30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. 31 And Darius
the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Bible critics claim that this proves that the book
of Daniel is a hoax because is it historically inaccurate.
They say that Daniel is referring to Darius the Great. But Daniel will say that Darius was “made”
king (9:1) while Darius the Great took his throne through a coup d’etat. Daniel says
he was 62, but Darius the Great started to rule when he was 28, and he didn’t
rule until 17 years after the fall of Babylon.
And he wasn’t a Mede, but a Persian.
That’s why they say the Bible is bogus.
Some say this is really another name for Cyrus the Great. I’m not too sure.
It was common for ancient rulers to
use different names in various parts of their empires.
Even though Cyrus was a Persian, he
was married to a Mede, and his maternal grandfather Astyages
was called the “Last King of the Median Empire”.
Some suggest that 6:28 could be
translated “So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius, that is, the reign
of Cyrus the Persian.”
The Bible scholars have a better suggestion as to who Darius is.
Gubaru
In an ancient Babylonian historical record called the Nabonidusn
Chronicle, Cyrus appointed a man named Gubaru to be ruler
over the province of Babylon after the capture of the city.
The name “Darius” can mean “king” or “lord”, so this may be more of a title
than a name.
Side note: I might have an idea of
what Darius looked like. He looked like
Yu. The Aramaic word looks like this in
English: Darᵉyavesh. Looks sneaky similar to
that Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish. He looked like Yu.
Cyrus didn’t enter
Babylon until two weeks after it fell.
There are other names
confused with this fellow. Ugbaru was
Cyrus’ general in charge of capturing Babylon.
Gubaru is also known as Gobryas in the Greek histories.
Don’t be concerned because we
haven’t nailed this down.
Perhaps they just haven’t uncovered
the archaeological evidence yet.
They used to think that Belshazzar
was a fictitious person, until they found his name in the cuneiform tablets at
Erech. (Nabonidus Chronicle).
They used to say that Pontius
Pilate was not an historical figure because he wasn’t mentioned in secular
history, until the day that they found the “Pilate stone” in Caesarea, showing
that there was a real guy named Pontius Pilate.
Perhaps there will be a day when we
know conclusively who Darius the Mede was.
Daniel is most likely in his eighties at this time.
He was taken from Jerusalem as a
young man in 605 BC. Babylon was
conquered in 539 BC, 66 years later.
6:1-9 The Plot
:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one
hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom;
:2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel
was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king
would suffer no loss.
:1 satraps
A ruler of a Persian province
:3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above
the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and
the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.
:3 Daniel distinguished himself
Lesson
Excellence at work
The trouble that Daniel’s going to find himself in
all starts from the fact that he had an “excellent spirit”. He was the best at what he did.
excellent – yattiyr – pre-eminent, surpassing, extreme, extraordinary
I believe that a Christian ought to be their employer’s best asset.
They ought to be the hardest working people on payroll (to a point – not to
the detriment of their marriage or their family though).
Yet too often, Christians can come across as flakes:
GOD WILL PROVIDE
A young man gets engaged to a young woman and goes to meet her parents over
dinner. After dinner the father takes the young man into the drawing room to
find out his plans for life with his daughter. “So, what are your plans?” The
father asks the fiancée. “I am a Biblical Scholar” he replies “A Biblical
Scholar. Admirable, but what will you do to provide a
nice home for my daughter to live in, as she deserves?” The father asks. “I
will study” the young man replies “...God will provide for us.” “And how will
you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?” The father
asks. “I will concentrate on my studies, God will provide for us.” the young
man replies. “And children” the father asks “how will you support your
children?” “Don’t worry sir” the young man replies “God will provide.” The
conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father asks a question the
young man insists that God will provide. Later, the mother asks about the
discussion, “So, how did it go?” The father replies “He has no job and no
plans, but the good news is he thinks I’m God.”
Do you understand how people think when we say stuff like
that? God will provide, but by you
getting a job and working hard.
One of the key questions we need to ask ourselves is: “Who do I work for?”
(Col 3:22–24
NKJV) —22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the
flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in
sincerity of heart, fearing God. 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing
that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you
serve the Lord Christ.
Don’t look for rewards from your boss. Look for rewards from Jesus.
Your boss may be an absolute jerk, but you don’t work for
him, you work for Jesus.
When you do excellent work, it is more likely people will
take you seriously when you share your faith.
Play Work
as Worship clip
:4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some
charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or
fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found
in him.
:4 sought to find some charge
against Daniel
Why did these other leaders want to harm Daniel?
They could be jealous of the attention that Daniel is getting.
They want to hold the power.
They could be prejudiced against the Jews.
They might even think that Daniel is too old.
:5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any
charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the
law of his God.”
:6 So these governors and satraps thronged before
the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever!
:7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the
counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute
and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty
days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
:8 Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it
cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does
not alter.”
:9 Therefore King Darius signed the written
decree.
:7 whoever petitions any god …except you
Perhaps this might be sold to Darius as some sort of unifying of the people
under the new government.
The people of Babylon have just been conquered.
Now they will be taught to serve the Medo-Persian
empire.
It’s a little like Nebuchadnezzar making everyone bow to his golden image
(Daniel 3).
Yet this is still pretty heady stuff to be put on the same level as “gods”.
Darius isn’t just “king for a day”, but “god for a month”.
Lesson
Flattery
Don’t get me wrong here – it’s not a bad thing to give others a compliment,
and it’s certainly okay when people compliment you for something you did.
But there are people who have other agendas, and part of that agenda
includes getting on your good side by kissing up to you and laying on the
flattery.
Some people use flattery to manipulate you to do what they want you to do. It’s like setting a trap for you.
(Pr 29:5 NKJV) A man who
flatters his neighbor Spreads a net for his feet.
It may be someone of the opposite sex who flatters you.
(Pr 6:23–24 NKJV) —23 For the
commandment is a lamp, And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, 24 To keep
you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
Play “Emotional
Infidelity” video clip
If you are married, be careful when a person of the
opposite sex gives you a too few many compliments. And don’t be that one who gives the
unnecessary compliments because you love the attention it creates from that
person other than your spouse.
It’s not wrong to give or receive compliments from the
opposite sex. But there is a line you
want to be careful you don’t cross.
6:10-17 The Lion’s Den
:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was
signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward
Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave
thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
:10 Daniel knew that the writing was
signed
Daniel knows what the new law is. He
chooses to disobey the law.
Even though the general rule is
that we need to obey all the laws of the land, there will be times when the
laws of the land come into conflict with the laws of God – like making it
illegal to pray.
Side note: The Supreme Court may have outlawed
state-sponsored prayer in schools in 1962, but they did not outlaw prayer in
school. I imagine every time there’s a
big test, there’s a lot of praying going on!
When Peter and John were ordered to
stop telling people about Jesus:
(Ac 5:29 NKJV) But Peter and the other
apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
:10 prayed … as was his custom
Lesson
The Prayer Habit
Daniel had a habit of praying every day, three times a day.
The people that God uses tend to be people that have learned to pray.
Jesus
His disciples knew He prayed, and they begged Him to teach
them how to pray.
His habit was to pray early in the morning.
(Lk 5:16 NLT) But Jesus often withdrew to the
wilderness for prayer.
Jesus didn’t just pray every once in a while, but “often”.
(Mk 1:35–37 NLT) —35 Before
daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to
pray. 36 Later Simon and the others went out to find him. 37
When they found him, they said, “Everyone
is looking for you.”
How did the
disciples know where to find Him? They
knew His habit of praying.
At the last
supper, we get a peek into some of Jesus’ prayer life:
(Lk 22:31–32 NKJV) —31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked
for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that
your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen
your brethren.”
Jesus prayed for
His disciples, by name.
Apostles
As the early church began to grow, the apostles began to
evaluate how they were using their time and made some changes. They had the church appoint men to help with
the ministry while they worked on the most important things:
(Ac
6:4 NKJV) but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the
ministry of the word.”
give ourselves
continually – proskartereo – to be steadfastly attentive unto; to
persevere and not to faint; to show one’s self courageous for
They had learned how important it was to pray.
Luther
Martin Luther (1483-1546) said this about prayer:
“It is well to let prayer be the first employment in the
early morning and the last in the evening. Avoid diligently those false and
deceptive thoughts which say, “I will pray an hour hence; I must first perform
this or that.” “For with such thoughts a man quits prayer for business, which
lays hold of and entangles him so that he comes not to pray the whole day
long.”
“Prayer is the most important thing in my life. If I
should neglect prayer for a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire
of faith.”
“I am so busy now that if I did not spend two or three
hours each day in prayer, I would not get through the day.”
We think we’re too busy to pray.
Luther thought he was too busy NOT to pray.
How big of a deal is prayer to you? Daniel was willing to face the lions' they
than stop praying.
Eric Liddell
Eric Liddell was
the 1924 Olympic Champion runner about whom the movie Chariots of Fire was
made. After the Olympics, Eric went to
China as a missionary. During World War
II, he would be interned at a Japanese internment camp where he would die in
1945, five months before the camp was liberated. He was known in the camp as the finest
example of a Christian.
His biographer
quotes a woman who was in the camp at the time and with her husband knew
Liddell well: What was his secret? Once
I asked him, but I really knew already, for my husband was in his dormitory and
shared the secret with him. Every
morning about 6 am, with curtains tightly drawn to keep in the shining of our
peanut oil lamp, lest the prowling sentries would think someone was trying to
escape, he used to climb out of his top bunk, past the sleeping forms of his
dormitory mates. Then, at the small
Chinese table, the two men would sit close together with the light just enough
to illumine their Bibles and notebooks.
Silently they read, prayed, thought about what should be done. Eric was a man of prayer not only at set
times -- though he did not like to miss a prayer meeting or communion service
when such could be arranged. He talked to God all the time, naturally, as one
can who enters the "School of Prayer" to learn this way of inner
discipline. He seemed to have no weighty
mental problems: his life was grounded in God, in faith and in trust.
Daniel’s prayer life looked like this:
Intercession
prayed – tsela’ – to pray, to pray in intercession
from – tsala’ – to limp,
be lame, probably with the idea of bowing before God.
He was asking God for things
There are people that you ought to be praying for every
day. There are issues and problems that
you are facing that need to be brought before God. There are qualities in your personality that
aren’t going to change until you start bringing them before God.
Thanks
gave thanks – yeda’ – to praise, give thanks
He was giving thanks to God
Your prayer time shouldn’t just be about asking God for
things. It ought to involve thanks,
praise, and worship.
Regularity
He prayed every day, three times a day
It was his “custom”, he’s done this from his youth (early
days)
A strong prayer life doesn’t happen overnight. It takes practice. Lots of practice. It requires that you stay at it. It requires that you don’t let anything stop
you from praying.
Let’s say you have decided to do something about being
overweight. You have started a diet and
now you are planning on exercising as well.
You have a friend who runs several miles a day, so you decide you are
going to do that. News Flash: If you aren’t used to exercising, you’re not
going to do well. You need to start small,
keep at it regularly, and gradually increase how much you exercise.
It’s the same with prayer.
Start small. But stay at it.
:11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel
praying and making supplication before his God.
:12 And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree:
“Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man
within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?”
The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of
the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.”
:12 law … which does not alter
This is one of the peculiarities of
the Medo-Persian Empire. Their law was
preeminent. Even the king had to obey
the law.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon,
anything the king said happened.
Nebuchadnezzar could change his mind about anything at any time.
The Medo-Persian Empire was built
on their laws. Once a law was signed
into being, it could not be changed.
:13 So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of
the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the
decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
:14 And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased
with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored
till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
Darius realized he had been duped into signing a law that would condemn
Daniel. He spent the rest of the day
searching the law libraries to find a way out.
:15 Then these men approached the king, and said
to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians
that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”
:16 So the king gave the command, and they brought
Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke,
saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”
:17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king
sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the
purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.
:17 sealed … signet ring
The idea is to stretch a rope
across the stone, melt a bit of wax on each end of the rope, and impress his
signet ring into the wax. Whoever broke
the seal would pay a price.
6:18-24 Safe
:18 Now the king went to his palace and spent the
night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went
from him.
Darius is clearly upset with what has happened. He seems to care about Daniel.
:19 Then the king arose very early in the morning
and went in haste to the den of lions.
Apparently the punishment was to spend the night in the lion’s den. Now his time is up.
:20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with
a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant
of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to
deliver you from the lions?”
:21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live
forever!
:22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not
hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done
no wrong before you.”
:23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and
commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken
up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed
in his God.
Play The Bible – Daniel in the Lion’s Den clip
:24 And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had
accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their
children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their
bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.
:24 the lions overpowered them
Just in case you were wondering if the lions simply weren’t hungry when
Daniel was with them, these bad guys and their families are eaten before they
even reach the bottom of the lion’s den.
6:24-28 Fear God
:25 Then King Darius wrote: To all peoples,
nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.
:26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my
kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is
the living God, And steadfast forever; His kingdom is
the one which shall not be destroyed, And His dominion shall endure
to the end.
:27 He delivers and rescues, And He works signs
and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of
the lions.
:28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of
Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
:22 My God sent His angel
Lesson
God can take care of you
We laugh at the joke about the young man that kept saying, “God will
provide”. But there is a sense in which
God does actually provide what you need when you are doing what you are
supposed to be doing.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego weren’t alone in
the fiery furnace. Daniel wasn’t alone
in the lion’s den.
If you are doing bad things and you get into trouble, I imagine that
somebody is trying to get your attention and trying to get you to turn around.
But when you are doing good things and you get into trouble, God doesn’t
want you worrying about the outcome.
(1 Pe 4:14 NKJV) If you are
reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of
glory and of God rests upon you.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego weren’t even
concerned if they died in the fire, because they knew that God was going to
take care of them.
(Da 3:17–18 NKJV)
—17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from
your hand, O king. 18 But if not,
let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we
worship the gold image which you have set up.”
They were stubborn to obey God, no matter what.
Are you in a situation like Daniel where you are being encouraged to
compromise your faith?
Is someone pressuring you to stop being so “religious”?
God can take care of you.
David wrote,
(Ps 34:7 NKJV) The angel
of the Lord encamps all around
those who fear Him, And delivers them.
If your heart is to honor God, you have nothing to be
afraid of.
Maybe you’ve been away from God.
It’s time to come back to the One who gave up His life on the cross to
save you.
It’s time to turn your life around and ask God for His help.
(Jn 3:16 NKJV) For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.