Word of Salvation – Vol. 25 No. 25 – March 1979
The Faithfulness Of God
Sermon by Rev. P. J. Berghouse, Th. Grad. on Daniel 1:8-9
Scripture reading: Daniel 1:1-17
Psalter Hymnal: 414; 235:6,10; 235:4,7; 440; 408; 222:1,2,3,6; 282:3
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Young People, Boys and Girls,
Whenever it is announced that we are going to have a sermon on DANIEL, the likely reaction is: “Ah, now we’re going to have an exciting sermon! We’re going to hear the lions roar, but the ending is going to be good because Daniel is going to come OUT of the lion’s den. And those nasty people are going to get their due! They, instead of Daniel, they themselves are going to be eaten up. Just what they deserved, too!”
Well, there certainly IS going to be some excitement! But it won’t be caused by the lions. Our excitement today is caused by…. the FAITHFULNESS OF GOD!!
Oh, Oh, did I hear some sighs of disappointment? Did I hear somebody think “HOW BORING”?
Isn’t it amazing how quickly people switch off as soon as they hear about anything that has to do with GOD?! Perhaps it is because they feel that, “after all, the things of this world ARE far more exciting than the things of God”.
Isn’t it true, for instance, that the RISK of the lion’s den tends to send the tingles fly up your spine MUCH quicker than a sermon about SIN???
The entertainment of sinful intrigues –
The suspense of murder –
The kicks of drugs, women, and song –
The stimulation of the disco, to be your sinful self –
And a thousand other things used by the world to make life seem so attractive –
Are they not all presented with a lure of being exciting??
We may as well face the fact that these things ARE exciting! They MUST be! Because they find an immediate response in the sinful nature of every human being.
BUT…. (and this will help you in sorting yourself out!) but… a human being has MORE than a sinful nature.
We also have, an ETERNAL SOUL! This gives a much wider perspective to your life! It means that even though your body may die, the real YOU keeps going! One day you shall have a NEW body. It will either be fit for an eternal existence in HELL, OR for eternal Life in heaven!
Now, ask yourself, what excitement is more satisfying???? The lions of this world, in the den of death, OR the Word of the Lord, with its light of LIFE????
You see, THIS was actually the question which Daniel and his friends were facing in our text. And we learn that the answer is found with themselves, and IN GOD!
The message of this passage is:
BE FAITHFUL, BECAUSE YOUR GOD IS FAITHFUL!
There are two aspects to this message:
I. The faithfulness of Daniel and his friends to GOD.
II. The faithfulness of GOD to Daniel and his friends.
Daniel and his three friends were about 14 or 15 years old when they were taken away from their parents and brought into a strange country to be trained as government officials. This was the way some of these heathen conquerors worked. Some of them had more ruthless methods of governing conquered lands. They simply killed all the promising and prospective leaders. Thus they prevented these boys from ever making any trouble in the provinces.
But Nebuchadnezzar had different ideas. He, too, wanted to make sure that these boys would not grow up to give trouble. At the same time he did not want to kill off all potential leaders either! So, he took the boys away to Babylon, gave them a thorough re-training and then, made them Governors over their home country.
It is this re-training that interests us! For, in a way, it was far more dangerous than outright killing! In fact, it aimed at killing the boys… SPIRITUALLY. The process was easy and effective. The boys were allowed to enjoy all the ‘goodies’ of the Babylonian Court. They were trained to forget their family, their home, their country, and… especially their religion, their faith in the God of their fathers.
Babylon was made out to be ‘just it’, no matter in which way you looked at it. The food made Israel’s meals look like something only poor people eat. The entertainment made life back home seem absolutely boring. The Babylonian gods, well, they made you literally dance with excitement. (And these gods must have seemed very powerful to the people of that time, because Babylon itself was so much more powerful than any nation around!)
And then, “man, you should see the technology of Babylon! Israel had nothing compared with this!”
You can see that it was a privilege to be trained in such an advanced nation. Yes, the re-training program was just about assured of success. To top it all off, and to make absolutely sure that these boys became real Babylonians, they even had their names changed! Their Jewish names were no longer tolerated, because Daniel means ‘God is Judge’, Hannaniah means ‘the Lord is gracious’, Mishael means ‘who is like unto God?’ and Azariah means ‘the Lord is a helper’. Each of these names was, in fact, a confession of the faith of their parents. They were constant reminders of their upbringing back home, and of the God of Israel.
It is no wonder that such names could not be tolerated! The covenant life in these Jewish children had to be killed off, quietly and systematically, in order that they might be resurrected as good and faithful Babylonian civil servants!
The change in their names is significant in this respect, that their new names would help them to think more in terms of their NEW country and their NEW gods. Daniel, for instance, becomes Belteshazar, which means ‘Bel protect him’. Azariah has his name changed to Abednego, which means ‘servant of Nego’. Bel and Nego were just two of the gods served by the Babylonians.
Now, these names were given to them, they were enforced upon them. They could not help being called by these names. But it is striking, isn’t it, that we never read that they used these names themselves, Daniel always speaks of himself as Daniel!
Note, however, the totally different situation with regard to the food. These young boys refused to partake of the dainties of the royal tables.
One might be inclined to ask, “what on earth could be wrong with such delicious food? The king’s own must certainly be the very best?”
Well, it smelt and looked attractive enough! And there was plenty on those tables that was not forbidden in the Levitical laws. Here was a real opportunity for these boys to feast themselves. Why then did they not get stuck into it?
The reason for this can be found in the very first commandment: you shall have NO other gods before Me! You see, it was with this Babylonian food like it is with most things in life, ‘there’s more to it than meets the eye’, (or should we say in this case ‘than strikes the tongue’?) The trouble was that before all this food was dished up at the royal table, it had first been brought into the temple of an idol to be blessed by this heathen god. Only then was it food-fit-for-a-king. But then also was it meat and drink of the gods!
Daniel and his friends knew this, you see. That’s why they did not want to have anything to do with it. That’s why they went to the commander of the officials to ask for far more simple food.
These 14 and 15 year old boys did not want their relationship with the TRUE GOD to be polluted with food offered to idols!!! You may find this incredible, but this IS the secret of Daniel and his friends; that they were more excited (even at that age!), they were more excited about their relationship to the REAL God than about all the entertainment, the suspense, the kicks, and any other stimulation which the Court of Nebuchadnezzar could offer. This excitement caused them to remain faithful to their Lord in heaven!
Brothers and Sisters, Young People, Boys and Girls, Do you find the things of God boring???
There are many covenant children today who make no secret of the fact that they do find it so!
Well, I guess, when you have your sights set on the lions of this world, when you start comparing the church services, catechism work and even the Christian school with the entertainment, suspense, kicks, etc., etc., which the world presents to you yes, then you are likely to find the life of the Christian rather boring! We may as well realise the fact that the church just is not in the same line of business!!!
Even when – and as Christians we don’t do this half enough – when we get involved in Christian entertainment, we soon discover this to be totally different from the ways in which the world entertains. A thorough study of this subject may well startle (if not shock) many of us! Do YOU know the biblical teaching on entertainment??? Do YOU know what guidelines GOD has laid down for us so that we might entertain each other to His glory???
In all this let us never lose sight of the fact that we, too, live in a world which is out to kill us, spiritually speaking! We live in a world that wants us to forget anything to do with God, or with Jesus. A world which wants you to forget that you were baptised, that Jesus said, “you are Mine!”, a world which wants you to neglect the fact that you have done public profession of your faith.
Let us make no mistake in this regard. The poison of this world is presented in the sweetest, sugar-coated pills! Many things may seem extremely acceptable, but before they are presented to you, they are offered to the idols-of-the-day. To accept them, or to partake in them, is nothing short of idolatry. And, as such, UN-faithfulness to God!
This is the way in which many children of the covenant have been spiritually murdered. But ask yourself again, what excitement is more satisfying, the lions of this world, OR the Word of the Lord?? The answer, my friend, is NOT blowing in the wind (as the song suggests). It is not even with the church (how the activities are run). The answer is…. WITH YOU, IN the Lord! It is nothing less than your relationship with Him which determines what excites you the most!
Look again at verse 8: “Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself.” In other words, he wanted to remain faithful to God. He had his mind set on this and wasn’t going to give in one centimetre. Why? Because of the faithfulness of God to Daniel and his friends. (This is our second point, remember.)
You see, this is where all the excitement really starts. Verse 9 says:
“Now, God granted Daniel favour….!” Yes, God granted favour!
That’s why the commander was willing to listen. It is hard to believe, isn’t it??? That this man would take notice of a couple of 14 and 15 year old boys. And slaves at that!!! This could get him into trouble with the king. He could lose his head over it! Fancy these foreigners insulting the gods of Babylon. Gods who had always blessed the royal menus.
Yet, the commander listens. He is prepared to give it a go. This alone already brings us great encouragement and excitement. Because it shows that God is the One Who even rules the hearts of unbelieving pagans. This is the way in which God upholds the faithfulness of Daniel and his friends, It also shows how God uses these faithful boys in the affairs of this heathen nation.
It is hard to visualise what would have happened if these boys had forsaken the faith of their fathers and had gone along with the customs of that heathen Court. Humanly speaking it would have changed the history of Israel. But God preserved that history, AND the people, in such a way that one day the Messiah, Jesus Christ, could be born. AND that He could die on the cross!
Thus, God used the faithfulness of Daniel and his friends not only to protect the children of Israel of that time, but also to protect the future of His Own Son. The faithfulness of these boys, then, was an instrument of the faithfulness of God, to bring Jesus to us today. Oh, let us then never forget that the most exciting thing in this world is the fact that God is faithful. God cannot be untrue to His own promises!
One of these promises is that Jesus shall come again. Nothing in the events of the world today can prevent God from keeping this promise! Therefore, we ourselves may place our trust in Him. We, too, may be faithful to Him. His power is SO wonderful, that…. just nothing can compare with it!
And yet, you know, there is another miracle told here. It is that these four teenagers were so faithful. Do you want to know how this could be? Then trace the hand of God at work throughout their lives. Little boys don’t usually grow up by themselves to be so faithful to the Lord in heaven. Human nature would make them go the other way. But these boys had responded to the training in faith. The grace of God had worked in them, and they did not rebel against it. The faithfulness of God was taught them,
They looked forward to the cross in expectation.and they built their hope on this teaching.
Ah, these boys knew that they were not just serving ‘a’ god; but rather THE GOD – Jehovah, the Faithful One. No, God did not help these boys because THEY were faithful. It is rather the other way around. These boys were faithful because God Himself is faithful.
The Book of Daniel teaches us the faithfulness of God.
And so it says to us: “Be faithful, because your God is faithful”.
The roar of the lions can certainly be heard. But… our excitement isn’t caused by them. The REAL excitement in your life comes with your discovery that… “God, HE is faithful”
And this excitement will be so great that it will send boredom flying out of your life.
Don’t think that the church is dull, not as long as GOD is in her midst! Let then everything in your life centre around Him!
AMEN