08 August 17, 2014, Daniel 6;1-28, Never Give Up On Prayer

DANIEL 6:1-28
NEVER GIVE UP
ON PRAYER
AUGUST 17, 2014
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

I Corinthians 15:58
“Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always
abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that your
labor is not in vain in the
Lord.”

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What’s the number one thing?

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The Glory of God!

1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you
eat or drink, or whatever
you do, do all to the glory
of God.

What three things are
going to Heaven from this
earth?
1) _________________.
2) ___________.
3) _________________.

What three things are
going to Heaven from this
earth?
1) All of __________.
2) Some ______.
3) Some of _________.

What three things are going
to Heaven from this earth?
1) All of God’s Word.
Isaiah 40:8
2) Some ______.
3) Some of _________.

Isaiah 40:8
2) Some people.
Revelation 21:7
3) Some of _________.

Isaiah 40:8
2) Some people.
Revelation 21:7
3) Some of our works.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15

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Ray Stedman 1917-1992

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The book of Daniel,
together with the book of
Revelation, marvelously
unfolds future events as
God has ordained them in
the program of history.

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By no means have all of
the prophecies in Daniel
yet been fulfilled,
neither have
those in the
book of
Revelation.

These two books, one
from the Old and one
from the New Testament,
remarkably complement
each other in their
symmetry and harmony.

The book of Daniel lays
the basis for the book of
Revelation.
The book of Revelation
explains the book of
Daniel.

If you would like to know
God's program for the
future, it is essential that
you understand this book
of Daniel.
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Everything that is
happening in our world
today is working out
God's purposes on earth.
These will all end exactly
as God has foretold.

*We can understand what
is happening today only if
we know what God’s
prophetic program is.
*The Lord has taken two
precautions in this matter
of unveiling the future.

First, He has clothed these
prophetic passages in
symbolic language.
He has given them to us
in figurative form.

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That is why in Daniel that
very unusual things appear,
strange beasts with many
different heads and horns
sticking out here and there,
and images of all kinds, and
other indescribable visions.

You have the same thing
in the Book of Revelation-
--bizarre beasts with
strange combinations of
characteristics.

You can't just sit down
with the book of Daniel
and the book of
Revelation and read them
through and understand
them as you would a
novel.

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You have to study them,
taking the whole of the
Bible to interpret the
symbols in the books of
Daniel and Revelation.

This is one of the locks
that God has provided to
keep curious minds from
getting into these books
without an adequate
background in Scripture.

You cannot understand
what is going on in them
without first knowing a
great deal of the rest of
the Bible.
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These symbolic things are
signs erected by God, and
signs are given to us so
that we may understand
facts that are otherwise
hidden.

God's program for the
future is hidden for us
(not from us) until we
spend time understanding
the signs, and these books
are full of signs.

A second precaution God
has taken in Daniel, and
even more especially in
the book of Revelation, is
that He doesn't introduce
the prophetic section first,
but brings us through six

chapters into an
understanding of the
moral character He
requires of the reader
before the prophetic
program can begin to
make sense.

John 14:21-22 NKJV
21 He who has My
commandments and keeps
them, it is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be
loved by My Father, and I
will love him and manifest
(disclose) Myself to him.”

In other words, you can't
understand the last
section of Daniel unless
you have lived through
and understood what is
involved in the first six
chapters.

There is no way to
understand what the
prophetic program means
unless you first grasp the
moral lessons of the first
part of the book and there
is no way to cheat on this.

You can't just read it
through, and then turn to
the prophetic program
and hope to understand.
You will find that you get
nothing out of it.

You really have to
carefully analyze these
initial chapters, think
them through, begin to
walk accordingly, and
experience them, before
the prophetic program

You really have to
carefully analyze these
initial chapters, think
them through, begin to
walk accordingly (obey),
and experience them,
before the prophecies

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come to life and that is the
glory of God's book.

You can't understand it
with just the intellect.
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You can sit down with the
prophetic outlines of
Daniel and of Revelation,
draw charts, spend your
time explaining to people
what all these things
mean and how God's

program is going to work
out, and analyze it down to a
gnat's eyebrow---but unless
you have incorporated these
lessons of the first part of the
book into your own life, you
will discover nothing there to
enrich your life.

*The Lord Jesus Himself
points this out during the
Olivet Discourse when His
disciples asked Him to name
the sign of His coming and
what the symbol of His
return to earth would be.

Matthew 24:15-16 NKJV
15 “Therefore when you see
the ‘abomination of
desolation,’ spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing
in the holy place” (whoever
reads, let him understand),

16 “then let those who are
in Judea flee to the
mountains.
Matthew 24:15-16 NKJV

When Jesus told them
parenthetically:
“(whoever reads, let him
understand)”, He was
saying,
“Don't read through
Daniel superficially.

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Think it through.”

You have to understand
what Daniel is talking
about before you will be
able to recognize the
abomination of
desolation, when it comes.

This is why the Lord went
on to say that the world in
its superficial approach to
truth will not understand
when it cries, "Peace,
peace, peace," for there
will be no peace; sudden

destruction will come
upon them and they will
be swept away just as the
people of Noah's day
were swept away when
the flood came.

Now all of this is a
warning to take the book
of Daniel (and the rest of
the Bible) seriously and to
endeavor to understand
the structure of this book
as we delve into it.

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This book divides very
simply into two sections.

The first six chapters are a
history of the prophet
Daniel himself and his
friends in the land of
Babylon---men of faith in
a hostile world.

There is no section of
Scripture more helpful to
someone who is trying to
live as a Christian in
difficult surroundings,
than these first six
chapters of Daniel.

If you are working in a
company surrounded by a
godless crowd who are
taking the name of God in
vain every moment, who
agree with the ideas and
attitudes of the world and

its ways, and who make
fun of the things of God,
showing little interest in
what God says to
mankind, then carefully
read the book of Daniel.

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Like Daniel, God's man
comes through, as he
always does when he is
willing to stand and obey
God despite the pressures.

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Life is never determined
by mere superficial
pressures.

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The outcome that seems
logically inevitable as you
face a situation is not
necessarily the outcome that
will happen if you are
trusting in the invisible God
Who rules the affairs of men.

*That is the great lesson of
this book all the way
through.
*You find it beautifully
expressed by Daniel in his
prayer to God in Daniel 2.

Daniel 2:20-23 NKJV
20 Daniel answered and
said:
“Blessed be the name of
God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might
are His.

21 And He changes the times
and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises
up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those
who have understanding.

22 He reveals deep and
secret things;
He knows what is in the
darkness,
And light dwells with
Him.

23 “I thank You and praise
You,
O God of my fathers;
You have given me
wisdom and might,
And have now made
known to me what we

asked of You,
For You have made
known to us the king’s
demand.”
Daniel 2:20-23 NKJV

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J. Vernon McGee's
Thru The Bible

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The message for us today
is found in 1 Peter 5

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV
8 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary
the devil walks about like
a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour.

You and I live in a lion's
cage.
That cage is the world,
and there is a big roaring
lion prowling up and
down the cage.

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Peter calls him our
adversary, the Devil.

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Daniel 6:1-2 NKJV
1 It pleased Darius to set
over the kingdom one
hundred and twenty
satraps (princes), 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. Daniel 6:1-2 NKJV

Daniel was number one of
the three governors
(presidents), and he was
probably about eighty
years of age at this time.

Daniel 6:3-4 NKJV
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.
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.
Daniel 6:3-4 NKJV

In Philippians 2:15, the
apostle Paul enjoins all
believers:
Philippians 2:15
15 that you may become
blameless and harmless,
children of God without fault
(just like Daniel) in

the midst of a crooked
and perverse generation,
among whom you shine
as lights in the world.
Philippians 2:15 NKJV

Daniel 6:5 NKJV
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.”

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When Daniel was first
brought to the court of
Nebuchadnezzar as a boy
slave, he had asked for a
different
diet.

From then on, the life of
Daniel was different, and
these men were aware of
that.

Daniel 6:6-9 NKJV
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.
Daniel 6:6-9 NKJV

Darius yielded to his
weakness (vainglory,
vanity – flattery), and now
this decree which has
gone out, signed by the
king, could not be
changed.

Even the king of the
Medes and Persians
himself could not change
it after it had been passed.
All this puts Daniel in a
bad spot.

Daniel 6:10 NKJV
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.
Daniel 6:10 NKJV

*The posture of the spirit
of the man is what is
important.
*However, if you want to
select a posture for prayer,
it is kneeling, and that is
set before us here.

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It is difficult to stumble
when you are on your
knees.

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Beth Moore

Beth was born June 16,
1957 in Green Bay and
then raised in
Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
*She suffered abuse as a
five year old child
through the sixth grade.

Her mother died of cancer
and she suffered through
self-esteem problems as a
teenager.

When she was volunteering
as a Sunday School teacher,
Beth realized she needed to
learn more about the Bible so
she attended a Biblical
doctrine class that gave her a
deep yearning to know God
and the Bible.

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God used all of the
setbacks in Beth’s life to
create a ministry for
women based in Houston,
Texas.

Beth then began sharing her
expanding knowledge through
a weekly Bible study class and
by 2008, she held a simulcast of
her "Living Proof Live" seminar
that is estimated to have been
watched by 70,000 people at
715 locations.

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Beth Moore conferences in 2014.

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Daniel was already in the
holy habit of prayer.
*In Daniel 6:10 it says that
Daniel prayed “just as he
had done before”.
*He was in the habit of
walking with God daily.

I want my voice to be one
God is accustomed to
hearing every day.
I don’t want only a crisis
relationship with Him.

“He got down on his
knees” shows that Daniel
submitted himself to
God’s authority, trusting
Him to override anything
contrary to His will.

The word “prayed” in
verse 10 translates a
Hebrew word rarely use
in Scripture.
It means “to limp as if
one-sided”.

*In his own strength,
Daniel knew he was too
handicapped to walk the
path before him alone.
*Through prayer he cast
his weight on God and
took one step at a time.

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Daniel unashamedly
asked God for help but he
did not receive the sort of
help that he anticipated.

He probably asked for the
edict to be overturned or
maybe he simply asked
for courage to die for the
glory of God.

*It may not have occurred
to him to ask God to shut
the lion’s mouths.
*But God showed that it
was not Daniel’s courage
nor King Darius’ change
of heart, it was God!

God doesn’t always
provide the sort of help
we anticipate – but His
method always
provokes the
most glory.

We are living in our own lion’s
den.
*Victory is ours when we walk
with God daily in habitual
prayer, when we know His
Word well enough to trust His
sovereignty, and when we cast
ourselves on Him and make an
honest plea for help.

*He derives great
satisfaction from shutting
that lion’s mouth!

Psalm 55:22 NKJV
22 Cast your burden on the
LORD,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the
righteous to be moved.

1 Peter 5:5b-9 NKJV
5b be clothed with
humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the
humble.”

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6 Therefore humble
yourselves under the
mighty hand of God, that
He may
exalt you in
due time,

7 casting all your care upon
Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the
devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom
he may devour.

9 Resist him, steadfast in
the faith, knowing that the
same sufferings are
experienced by your
brotherhood in the world.
1 Peter 5:5b-9 NKJV

Beth Moore
Whispers of Hope
(Nashville: LifeWay Press,
1998), 51.

Daniel 6:11-19 NKJV
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
everyman 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.”

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.

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.

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.

19 Then the king arose
very early in the morning
and went in haste to the
den of lions.
Daniel 6:12-19 NKJV

Daniel may have gotten a
pretty good night's sleep.
The interesting thing is
that the king was more
disturbed than Daniel
was.

Daniel 6:20-22 NKJV
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.”
Daniel 6:20-22 NKJV

The lions did not want to
eat something that had
that much backbone in it!

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Daniel evidently had been
given the same assurance
as had his three friends in
the fiery furnace that God
could and would
deliver him.

"His angel" was evidently
the same One
Nebuchadnezzar had seen
in the fiery furnace –
the preincarnate Christ
Himself!

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Daniel 6:23 NKJV
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.

The king loved Daniel and
was sincerely delighted at
his preservation.
Daniel was saved by his
faith: (Hebrews 11)

Hebrews 11:33 NKJV
33 who through faith
subdued kingdoms,
worked righteousness,
obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of
lions,

Daniel 6:24-25 NKJV
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.

25 Then King Darius
wrote: To all peoples,
nations, and languages
that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to
you.
Daniel 6:24-25 NKJV

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Darius sent out a
worldwide decree which
was his
personal
testimony.

He had found the same
peace that had come to
Nebuchadnezzar
(see Daniel 4:1).

Daniel 4:1 NKJV
1 Nebuchadnezzar the
king, To all peoples,
nations, and languages
that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to
you.

This testimony of peace
comes from the same man
who could not sleep the
night before.

Daniel 6:26-28 NKJV
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.
Daniel 6:26-28 NKJV

Daniel's position was
secure, and he maintained
it to the end of his life
which came during the
reign of Cyrus.

It was Cyrus who made
the decree permitting the
Jews to return to Palestine
(see 2 Chronicles 36:22-23;
Ezra 1:11).

This concludes the strictly
historical section of the
Book of Daniel.

From this point on the
book will be mainly
concerned with the visions
and prophecies which
were given to Daniel over
the long period of his life
spent in a foreign land.

Copyright © 1996-2014
Lamb & Lion Ministries.
All rights reserved.

One of the most remarkable
Scriptures in the Old
Testament is found in the
book of Jeremiah where he
says that when history is
over and done with and the
Jews look back on their
history,

they will no longer swear
by the God Who delivered
them from Egyptian
captivity, but they'll swear
instead by the God Who
regathered them from the
four corners of the earth.

But wait, it's the same
God, so what is Jeremiah
saying?

He's saying that they are
going to consider what's
going on right now with
the regathering to be a
greater miracle than their
deliverance from
Egyptian captivity.

We're witnessing that
today!
The average Church
member has no idea how
important it is or that it's
even a work of God.

Next week:
Daniel chapters 7 & 8
Live to Win in the End
What can give me
confidence when I
consider the end times?

Begin
Beth Moore pages 109-130
DANIEL
Lives of Integrity
Words of Prophecy
LifeWay Press
Nashville, Tennessee

Cultures are stronger than
individual human leaders
because they are dictated
by masses and cultivated
by time.

Cultures are also stronger
than human leaders
because they are
influenced by unseen
powers.
Invisible principalities.

Ephesians 6:10-13 NKJV
10 Finally, my brethren, be
strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might. 11 Put on
the whole armor of God, that
you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly
places.

13 Therefore take up the
whole armor of God, that
you may be able to
withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to
stand.
Ephesians 6:10-13 NKJV

The force behind the
Babylon mentality is
bigger and darker than
any king history can
name.

Still, One sits high above
him, enthroned between
the cherubim and cloaked
in unapproachable light.
*Babylon’s king is running
out of time and he knows
it!

The first six chapters of
Daniel (the Babylonian
mentality) relate to the
postmodern mindset of
the prosperous and
pompous West.

Also, as we look at the
Book of Revelation, we
will gain a much deeper
understanding of the
Babylonian mentality
from an eschatological
perspective.

Revelation’s description of
Babylon splashes
fluorescent color all over
the black-and-white
images of the Book of
Daniel.

There are portrayals of
Babylon in Revelation 17.

In Revelation 18 we will
see that, just like in
Daniel 5:30-31, God
addresses the fall of
Babylon – a future
Babylon.

Revelation 17:1-6 NKJV
1 Then one of the seven
angels who had the seven
bowls came and talked with
me, saying to me, “Come, I
will show you the judgment
of the great harlot (Babylon)
who sits on many waters,

2 with whom the kings of
the earth committed
fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth
were made drunk with
the wine of her
fornication.”

3 So he carried me away in
the Spirit into the
wilderness. And I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet
beast which was full of
names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten
horns.

4 The woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet, and
adorned with gold and
precious stones and pearls,
having in her hand a golden
cup full of abominations and
the filthiness of her
fornication.

5 And on her forehead a
name was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS
AND OF THE
ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk
with the blood of the saints
and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus. And
when I saw her, I marveled
with great amazement.
Revelation 17:1-6 NKJV

The word “mystery”
suggests that we should
not be dogmatic about
exact interpretations of
the details in this passage.

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Look at the differences
between the mystery
Babylon in Revelation 17
and the Babylon where
Daniel resided.

Some believe that the
Babylon of Revelation will be
a future city built in the same
vicinity as ancient Babylon
and called by the same name
since the Euphrates River is
mentioned twice in the Book
of Revelation.

The first mention of
Babylon is in Genesis 10.

Genesis 10:8-12 NKJV
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he
began to be a mighty one
on the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter
before the LORD; therefore
it is said, “Like Nimrod
the mighty hunter before
the LORD.”

10 And the beginning of
his kingdom was Babel,
Erech, Accad, and Calneh,
in the land of Shinar.

11 From that land he went
to Assyria and built
Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,
Calah,
12 and Resen between
Nineveh and Calah
(that is the principal city).

As we look down through
history at empires of
various world rulers, we
come to the first world
ruler in Scripture –
Nimrod.

The contrast between
God-rule and world-rule
manifests itself in
Scripture right here.
*Nimrod represents the
desire of man to rule his
own world.

Mark Hitchcock describes
Babylon as the “capital
city of the first world
ruler.”

Hitchcock goes on to say that
“Babylon is pictured
throughout Scripture as
Satan’s capital city on earth.
In the end times, Satan will
once again raise up this city
as the capital of the final
world ruler.

With the exception of
Jerusalem, no other city is
mentioned more than
Babylon in the Bible.
Scripture refers to Babylon
290 times and presents this
city as the epitome of evil
and rebellion against God.”

Revelation 18:2b NKJV
2 Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and has
become a dwelling place
of demons,

The fact that Revelation 18
records the fall of Babylon
the Great just before
unveiling the New
Jerusalem in Revelation 21
is no coincidence.

The Bible depicts them as
being total opposites.

Revelation 17:18 NKJV
18 And the woman whom
you saw is that great city
which reigns over the
kings of the earth.

The glitter of Daniel’s
Babylon was no less a
ploy by the enemy of God
to lure away the faithful.

Even in the lesser
splendor that wooed the
Medes and Persians, her
cup was full and
intoxicating.

Revelation 18:10b NKJV
10b ‘Alas, alas, that great
city Babylon, that mighty
city! For in one hour your
judgment has come.’

Babylon is symbolically
described as a prostitute in
Revelation 17 because of
her ability to seductively
lure people away from
God by offering false – and
instant – fulfillment.

In Revelation 18 we see
the form some of these
allurements took.
Her powerful art of
seduction will ultimately
earn her God’s wrath.

Revelation 18 describes
Babylon’s excessiveness
and wealth (like the USA).
Compare Genesis 11:4
and Revelation 18:5.

Genesis 11:4 NKJV
4 And they said, “Come, let
us build ourselves a city, and
a tower whose top is in the
heavens; let us make a name
for ourselves, lest we be
scattered abroad over the
face of the whole earth.”

5 For her sins have
reached to heaven, and
God has remembered her
iniquities.

7 she glorified herself and
lived luxuriously,

17 For in one hour such
great riches came to
nothing.’

The Babylon that
surrounds us is figurative
and cultural in nature, but
it is neither less seductive
nor destructive.

You can easily see our
Babylon-like culture
becoming less tolerant of
Christians (war on
Christians).

23 Your (Babylon)
merchants were the great
men of the earth, and by
your sorcery all the
nations were deceived.

Americans are so easily
deceived and are
spellbound over the
seductive beauty of
worldly merchandise.

The excessive luxuries of
Babylon and of the USA
“pile up to heaven”.

Nebuchadnezzar had
bathed himself in luxury;
he detached himself
completely from those in
need who lived around
him.

We should be careful to
avoid the corruption of
gross excess that catapults
us so far into our wants
that we cease to recognize
other’s needs.

Abundance can lead to
pride, decadence, or an
insatiable lust for more
and it is easy to become
corrupted by it.

As you walk up and down
the sidewalks of our
present Babylon, stay alert
to Satan’s seductions and
to the songs in his town
squares.

In reality, he is the cheater
and Babylon is his queen,
offering false fulfillment
for any taker.
Buyer beware!

Daniel 6:4 NKJV
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.

God desires for us to be
light-bearers in this dark
culture and to be highly
effective fruit-bearers for
the glory of His name.

Are we able to live in this
excessive, self-absorbed
culture without becoming
corrupted by it?
*The boat is built to be in the
water but woe be it if the
water gets in the boat!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/2374182-3x2-940x627.jpg

Satan uses Babylon, the
symbolic persona of all
that seems beautiful,
enticing, and instantly
gratifying in the world, as
a puppet to corrupt
people.

Daniel is proof that
corruption in Babylon is
not compulsory.
We really can live out life
with integrity but we will
never do it by accident.

Nothing in our lives will
have to be more
deliberate.
Daniel walked a tightrope
upon which God alone
could have secured him.

That Daniel wasn’t
negligent tells us that he
did his job.

God wants His
representatives to be Daniels
in our worlds:
distinguishing ourselves
with exceptional God-given
qualities (v3) and performing
our tasks as if God Himself
were our boss.

Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV
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.
Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV

In the process, we must
guard ourselves
voraciously from both
corruption and
negligence.

*Some environments make
the tightrope, that fine line,
virtually impossible to find,
let alone walk.
*Our goal is to become a
Daniel, a person void of
negligence and corruption.

Those who have received
Christ as their Savior are
inhabited by the
empowering, consecrating
Spirit of the living God.

Psalm 137:4 NKJV
4 How shall we sing the
LORD’s song
In a foreign land?

Daniel served among the
chief counselors under the
43-year reign of Babylon’s
mightiest king.

He no doubt saw the
flagrant activity of a
miraculous and mighty
God more vividly within
the walls of that pagan
city than in Jerusalem.

Daniel learned that God’s
presence accompanied
His faithful children no
matter where life took
them.

He watched firsthand the
prosperity a sovereign
God could assign a
polytheistic king.

From an equally close
vantage point, he also
watched the insanity that
same sovereign God could
give a king who took too
much credit.

Daniel saw Babylon’s
greatest monarch proudly
bow his back and then
humbly bend his knees.

*Surely a thousand images
danced in Daniel’s head as he
witnessed the funeral festivities
following Nebuchadnezzar’s
death.
*Violence and betrayal kept four
other kings from occupying
Babylon’s seat of power for very
long.

In the meantime, Daniel
aged and continued his
civil service with relative
obscurity.

A party gone awry led to
Daniel’s summons to
interpret handwriting on
the wall for baffled
Belshazzar: God’s basic
message? “I’ve seen and
you are done!”

Before the night was over,
the Medo-Persian army
flooded the city through
the riverbed and slew the
king who had profaned
the holy.

Over the coming weeks,
Daniel watched the
establishment of a new
administration and
gained the favor of Darius
the Mede.

In no time at all, jealous
colleagues conspired
against Daniel and placed
a dismayed Darius in the
position to follow through
with a hasty edit.

Instead of meeting his
death in the lion’s den,
Daniel met God’s angel
(Jesus).

King Darius issued a
decree throughout his
kingdom that Daniel’s
God must be feared and
reverenced.

The Persians took over Babylon
in 539 B.C. and within a year,
Cyrus the Great issued a decree
to free the exiles and allow
them to return to their
homeland of Jerusalem … just
as God foretold through the
prophet Isaiah.

Seventy years had come
and gone.

After chapter 6, the book
of Daniel shifts to
prophecies he received
during the reigns of
Belshazzar, Darius, and
Cyrus.

We are exiles of sorts in
this Babylon-like culture.
*God tucked a telling
chapter into the pages of
Psalm 137 that will
provide a fitting
benediction to our study.

Psalm 137:1-6
This psalm is not written
by King David but by one
of Israel’s exiles in
Babylon.

Psalm 137:1-6 NKJV
Longing for Zion in a Foreign
Land
1 By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we
wept
When we remembered Zion.

2 We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the
midst of it.

3 For there those who
carried us away captive
asked of us a song,
And those who plundered
us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the
songs of Zion!”

4 How shall we sing the
LORD’s song
In a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O
Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget
its skill!

6 If I do not remember
you,
Let my tongue cling to the
roof of my mouth—
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.
Psalm 137:1-6 NKJV

Imagine being taunted by
the mockers of your faith
and told to sing one of
your silly God-songs.

Imagine being made fun of
for your faith.
For the self-proclaimed
intelligentsia to act as if you
are stupid and gullible for
believing the Bible.

At times we may feel so
outnumbered and
outclassed that we are
tempted to “hang up our
harps.”

We must keep singing the
songs of the Lord in this
foreign land in which we
live.

We must remember that
we have a new and
heavenly Jerusalem
coming where we will
make ourselves right at
home.

But until then, our job is
to keep singing the songs
of our God by the rivers of
Babylon until all who
have ears to hear can
listen.

How can we keep singing
the songs of our God in
our Babylon?

The apostle Paul posed a
wonderful answer in
Philippians 4:4 -
“Rejoice in the Lord
always, again I say,
Rejoice!”

The world can’t help but
notice those accosted by
joy.
The world also can’t help
noticing a life that works.

Our lives can become
flesh-and-blood felt
boards of the great and
glorious paradox: life is
found by losing it for the
sake of Christ.

A vessel is filled by
pouring out.
The key to receiving is
giving.

The key to living is dying
to self.
The greatest in the
kingdom is the servant of
all.

God has been right all
along.
His upside-down path is
the only way to true
contentment and
satisfaction.

The world’s claim of
happiness is betrayed by
an ever-increasing lust for
more.
Nothing ever suffices and
nothing ever will.

Christ alone satisfies the
ailing human soul.
Cyrus the Great freed the
Israeli captives of Babylon,
but until further notice, you
and I are still living in
Babylon.

We remain exiles, chosen
like Daniel to influence
our over-indulged, self-
absorbed culture for the
kingdom of God.

We – believers in Christ in a
post-modern, increasing
profane western culture – may
feel like a small handful amid
a scorning populous; but
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah were only four in
the midst of thousands.

Our path to success is
theirs: uncompromising
resolve in big and small
things alike.

Janet Folger said, “it is highly
probable that if Daniel had
compromised by eating the
king’s food, he would have
compromised about other
things too, like bowing to the
man made image.

“Oh, I’ll still pray to God,
but I’ll just bow to this
thing to spare my life,
because after all, I can do
a lot of ministry for God if
I survive.”

That wasn’t how Daniel or
his uncompromising
buddies (Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego)
thought.

When you obey God in the
small things, it becomes a
lot easier to obey Him in
the big things.
That’s when God shows
up.

He can shut the mouths of
lions and protect you from
the flames.
Do you have a nagging
feeling in an area of your life
that appears relatively
insignificant?

Does it seem like a small
thing, but you can’t shake
the feeling that you are
supposed to act on it?

Could God be insisting on
obedience in what seems
like a small matter in
order to prepare you for
obedience in matters that
are not small?

Amid a tidal wave of
temptation, Daniel and his
friends stood firm and so can
we.
We cannot seclude ourselves
indefinitely in Christian
hideouts.

Our lives must be poured
out like healing ointment
onthis injured land.

We must not forsake
meeting together
(Hebrews 10:24-25) and
holding one another
accountable to walk in
truth.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV
24 And let us consider one
another in order to stir up
love and good works,

25 not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves
together, as is the manner of
some, but exhorting one
another, and so much the
more as you see the Day
approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV

For now we live in this
Babylon-like culture, but
we can proactively guard
ourselves from being
corrupted by it.
*Otherwise, like the
masses in Daniel’s day,,

*Otherwise, like the masses
in Daniel’s day, we, too, will
be absorbed into virtual
irrelevance.
Talk to God about your
remaining time in Babylon.

Pour out your heart to
Him.
He is a refuge, your ever-
present help in times of
trouble.

Sing the songs of the Lord
with all your might…and
for all your days.
Not one will go unheard.

End
Beth Moore pages 109-130
DANIEL
Lives of Integrity
Words of Prophecy
LifeWay Press
Nashville, Tennessee

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08 August 17, 2014, Daniel 6;1-28, Never Give Up On Prayer

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