Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of the Weekend Sermon. I am glad to be able to post the sermon this week, and I am thankful to the Lord for giving me this opportunity. I hope that everyone is doing very well this week.
This week, we begin a new series of messages on Daniel. This is not going to be a series that goes through the book in a verse by verse fashion, and I am not intending to do a study of the prophecies that are contained in Daniel. The focus of this series is going to be on the events of Daniel's life. What can we learn from Daniel and how he lived for the Lord.
In order to understand the events in Daniel's life, we need to review some of the history of the period. After Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel was split into two different kingdoms. The ten northern tribes followed Jeroboam, and that nation was called Israel. The two southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah followed Solomon's son Rehoboam. That kingdom became known as Judah.
Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and ceased to exist. The kingdom of Judah carried on for a longer period of time. Many of kings of Judah were not followers of the True and Living God, and they worshiped idols. Some kings were righteous, and they tried to lead the people to worship God.
The last king who tried to turn the people back to God was Josiah. While he was alive, the nation turned to the Lord. However, as soon as he died, the people went right back to idol worship.
Because of the people's sin, God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah telling the people that judgment was coming from the Babylonians. And that is what happened. Beginning with the reign of Jehoiakim, the Babylonians began their assault upon Judah. As it says in the Daniel, the Babylonians came and took many valuable items out of the Temple, and they took away some of the sons of the nobles to serve in the Babylonian court.
Jehoiakim would continue to reign for a few years. After his death, his brother ascended the throne for a short time, but he was removed by the Babylonians. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. He attempted to rebel against the rule of Babylon, and he was overthrown in 586 BC. The Temple was destroyed, and the people were taken into captivity.
Daniel would have been from one of the noble families of Judah. He would have been taken to Babylon during the first incursion by Babylon into Judah during Jehoiakim's reign. Nebuchadnezzar who was king of Babylon wanted to train Daniel and others to serve as court officials. He desired to provide them with three years of training so that they could become governmental officials.
Part of the new training regimen was to get the young men like Daniel to forget about the old ways of doing things and accept the Babylonian ideas. The king ordered that Daniel and those with him be given the best food and drink from the king's table. However, this is something that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that they couldn't do.
Now, some might wonder what the problem was with eating the king's meat and drinking the king's wine. There were two problems. One of the problems is that the meat given to Daniel and his comrades would not have been kosher. The Torah clearly states how clean animals were to be slaughtered before they were eaten. The Torah also declares that certain animals such as pigs are not to be eaten. The meat given to Daniel would not have been slaughtered according to the regulations of the Torah, and pork would more than likely have been given to them on some occasions.
The second problem is that the king was trying to wipe out Daniel's identity. He already was given a new name by the king that contained the name of one of Babylon's false gods. He wanted Daniel to think like a pagan and abandon the beliefs that he held.
Right away in this first chapter of Daniel, we see what kind of person that Daniel was. First of all, Daniel was only a young person when all of this was going on. Most Bible scholars believe that he would have been around 14 or 15. We also see that Daniel and his three comrades were not like most of the people of Judah. Even though young, they had decided to worship and follow the true God and not worship idols. Even when they were in difficult circumstances in a strange land, they determined to follow the Lord and preserve their identity as God's chosen people.
Daniel and his friends worked out a compromise. They would not eat the king's meat and drink the wine. They would eat vegetables for ten days, and then their health would be assessed. After the ten day period, Daniel and his friends were in better health than those who ate all that the king provided.
Daniel and his friends would continue to study and learn. After their time of study, they appeared before the king. Daniel's wisdom and advice was greater than the pagan magicians and counselors. In all things, he had done what was right in the sight of the Lord even in very difficult circumstances.
One thing that we will see right away in our study of Daniel is that Daniel was a righteous man. In the book of Ezekiel 14:14, Daniel is listed with Noah and Job as one of three righteous men. I believe that what the verse in Ezekiel is saying is that these were the three most righteous men who had lived up until that time.
This first incident recorded in the book of Daniel has a lot to teach us today. It teaches us to stand up for what is right and to stand up for the way of the Lord no matter what the circumstances. We live in a time where there is much injustice in the world. The poor are exploited by the rich and the weak are taken advantage of by the strong. We as followers of Jesus have the obligation to be a voice for justice and goodness in the world. We are called to stand up for the fatherless and widows who represent the most vulnerable members of society.
What we learn from Daniel in this encounter has another meaning. We will face decisions in our lives where we are tested. We might be asked to do something at work that we know isn't what Jesus would have us do. We have a choice in these moments. We can go along to get along, or we can be like Daniel. We can determine to follow the way of the Lord regardless of the consequences.
As we go through Daniel, we will see that throughout his life, Daniel had to again and again make the choice that he would follow God. We must do that too. Everyday when we get up in the morning, we must make the choice to follow the path of Jesus or follow the ways of this world. Amen.
Prayer Requests And Other Matters
I'm sure that the coronavirus situation is on the minds of almost everyone. Where I live here in the United States, there are no cases in my state. However, I believe there are now over 200 cases in other parts of the country. The last time that I heard, there were over 100,000 cases around the world. We need to continue to pray that this virus will stop spreading. Let us pray that the sick will recover. Let us pray that the leaders of the world will have the wisdom to do what is right in this situation. Pray that leaders will listen to doctors and scientists and not there own ideas that are not always right.
I would like to thank the Lord for allowing me to have a lot of writing work this week and for letting the money I was owed for writing get to me.
While we are concerned about the coronavirus, there are people in Congo still dealing with Ebola, and the flu is a problem in some areas of the world. Pray that the sick will recover.
Please pray regarding the situation with the Syrian refugees. Pray that they will get the help that they need. Syria needs our prayers for peace, and we need to pray for peace in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and India.
In the state of Tennessee here in the United States, there were some terrible tornadoes that caused great damage and loss of life. Pray that people will receive the aid that they need. Pray for those that mourn that they will be comforted.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in Bahrain and Taiwan. Pray that many will hear of the love of Jesus.
Next week, we will continue with our series about Daniel. I will post the message on Saturday. On Monday, I will post the verses. I will post a review or a poem on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
