DANIEL 6 PART 1: tHE AUTHOR OF FAITH

King Belshazzar of Babylon
died the same night
that a human hand appeared
and wrote
“Mene Mene Tekel Parsin”
on a plaster wall
in his royal palace.

That is when Darius the Mede
took over and began
the process of dividing the Kingdom!

Of course,
to human eyes it didn’t seem
that Darius was in the process of dividing -
in fact, it looked just the opposite!

It appeared he had added
a whole kingdom
to the sum of the Median Empire
which today is known as
the region of Iran and Turkey.

I wonder... 
why don’t biblical scholars
recognize the Median Empire 
as the chest of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue?  
Oh...I guess they do -
but through the combination of
the Medo-Persian Empire. 
In my limited mind,
this doesn't quite make sense.
I mean...
Darius the Mede ruled
before Cyrus the Great -
at least this is what
the Book of Daniel says.
  
Apparently, there is minimal
historical evidence
about Darius the Mede,
or the Median Empire.
But obviously,
this time period is significant
to the Kingdom of God.

There were 120 regions to rule over,
once Darius the Mede took over.  
And he appointed 120 high officers
to rule over each one of them.  
Then he assigned three men
to supervise over the 120 of them.

Guess what,
Daniel was one of the three
who proved himself more capable
than the rest!

Darius the Mede
was ready to elevate
Daniel to be like a king.  
Scripture says,
“he made plans to place Daniel
over the entire empire.”

But then,
the other administrators
and the high officers
began searching to find ways
to condemn him.  

“They attempted to find Daniel
at fault with government affairs,
but they could not find anything
to criticize or condemn” -
so they went after his religion.

They began colluding,
and came up with a plan
to trick the king into signing
a ridiculous order into law -
a law that would surely
pull Daniel down.

Hmmm...
this sounds much like
the Law of Moses,
but in an opposite kind of way.
God's law was given so that people
could see how sinful they were -
unlike the men in this story
who created their own kind of law
that went against worshipping
the Most High God!

The Law of Moses
was created by God
to show the human race 
how sinful we really are!

As people sin more and more,
they become aware
of God's wonderful grace
because they know that in their own flesh
they are incapable of following it!

The law the men created,
in Daniel 6, was this,
“For the next 30 days
any person who prays to anyone -
divine or human
except to Darius the king,
will be thrown into the den of lions.”

I know...
the order had a short time-frame, 
much like the Median Empire,
before the Persians came along -
but it was long enough
to carry out the will of God.

When Daniel heard
the law had been signed,
he went home and prayed.
He prayed the same way,
he had always done.  
In his upstairs room,
with its window open
towards Jerusalem.  
He prayed three times a day,
always giving thanks to God.

It was then,
in the middle of prayer,
that Satan rushed into the room.  
Just like he would do again,
in the Garden of Gethsemane
through Judas Iscariot’s betrayal kiss.

Actually, it was the jealous men
who pushed through the door
of Daniel’s home
to catch him red-handed
in the act of worshipping God.

When they Daniel
worshipping his One True God,
they immediately ran to the palace
to tell the king what he had done.

Darius was deeply troubled.  
He had an affection for Daniel.  
He was one of his best men,
and he wondered how
he could get him out of this mess?

But the men of the government
continued to press on the king,
they would not let him have an inch
to let Daniel breath.

They reminded Darius that laws 
signed into action
by the king of their nation,
which at that time,
consisted of both
the Medes and the Persians,
could not be changed.

So Darius despairingly
had Daniel arrested
and brought straight to him
to be thrown into the den of lions.

King Darius said to Daniel, 
“May your God,
whom you serve so faithfully,
rescue you.”

And just like the tomb of Jesus,
a stone was closed
over the mouth of the den of death.

“And the king sealed the stone
with his own royal seal,
and the seals of his nobles,
so that no one could rescue Daniel.”

Can you see the analogy?
The seal of the king
was used in place of the seal of God,
the Supreme Ruler of the universe!

The next morning the king got up early,
and hurried to the den of lions.  
And once again,
we see the foreshadowing
of what is written in Luke 24,

“Very early on Sunday morning
the woman went to the tomb,
taking the spices they had prepared.  
They found the stone
had been rolled away from the entrance.  
So they went in,
but they didn’t find the body
of the Lord Jesus.  
And as they stood there puzzled,
two men suddenly appeared to them,
clothed in dazzling robes.  
The women were terrified
and bowed their faces to the ground.  
Then the man asked,
“Why are you looking among the dead
for someone who is alive?  
He isn’t here!  
He is risen from the dead!  
Remember what he told you back in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be betrayed
into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified,
and that he would rise again
on the third day.”

Daniel was only a man,
but God was able to save him!
Just as He has done for us.

The king asked,
“Daniel, servant of the living God,
was your God, whom you serve so faithfully,
able to rescue you from the lion’s den?

Daniel answered,
“Long live the king! 
My God sent his angel
to shut the lions’ mouths
so that they would not hurt me.  
I have been found innocent in his sight,
and I have not wronged you,
your majesty.”

The king was overjoyed
and ordered that Daniel be lifted
from the den.  
Not  a scratch was found on him
for he had trusted in his God.

King Darius gave orders
to arrest the men
who had maliciously accused Daniel,
and had them thrown into the lions den,
along with their wives and children.

It’s hard to think
that God will do the same with people
who choose not to accept Jesus
as their risen Savior.

Some may decide
this is why they don’t need him.  
I’ve heard it said that
if God is full of wrath,
then they do not want anything
to do with him.  

I’ve also heard it said that
a God who can allow hurt to come,
is not a god
that they choose to serve.

And it is true,
I’ve heard this too -
that God is so good
that He will not allow anyone to perish.  
A person can be bad to the bone,
they can even die and go to hell,
but God will not allow
anyone to be harmed -
he will swoop right down
at the last minute,
and save them
from an eternal death. 

But sadly I tell you this,
none of this is said in scripture -
the inspired Word of God
written through Holy Spirit wisdom.

You see the lions leapt on
the evil men,
and their wives and children -
the accusers of the brethren,
and every branch
that extended from them!  

The lions tore them apart,
before they even hit the floor.  
The pit of hell,
devoured them whole,
until every last piece 
was totally gone.  

This is the promise of our God,
the Creator of both
Heaven and Earth.  

He is the Author
of the Book
that tells the story of Him
and of us.  

And it is all written, perfectly -
with no falsehood or contradiction.
Everything is woven, perfectly -
through the Old and the New Testament.
  
He is the author and perfecter
of our faith,
and when our eyes are set on Him,
so is our heart.  

The more you pay attention,
and the more you spend time with Him,
you're faith becomes less wavering
and the Word starts to make more sense.

I promise you this,
Scripture says that God is fully love,
and fully wrath!  
And He has set a final judgement day
when all of the books will be opened.

He knows the beginning to the end
because He is the Alpha and Omega!

He has authored several books,
which are all part of the same series,
"The Story of Us and God."

And when He decides
to unroll the scrolls, 
the Book of Life will be opened.
  
And we will see,
what is foretold to John,
in Revelation 20,
“During the time
of final judgement day
when all of the dead,
both great and small,
will stand before God‘s throne,
the books will be opened
and the dead will be judged
according to what
they had done
as recorded in the books.”

“The sea will give up it’s dead
and death and the grave
will give up their dead.  
All will be judged
according to their deeds.  
Then death and the grave
will be thrown into the lake of fire.  
This lake of fire is the second death.  
And anyone whose name
is not found
recorded in the Book of Life
is thrown into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:11-15

The good news is this,
just like God sent an angel to Daniel,
He sent Jesus to us!
And Jesus saves
everyone who believes,
first the Jew then the Gentile.  
The blood of Christ
washes us clean,
and makes us right, in God's sight.
And this is accomplished,
from start to finish, by faith.  
As the scripture says,
"it is through faith
that a righteous person has life.”
Romans 1:16-17

So hold on, Children of God!  
You do not belong to the Tree of Satan!  
You have been cut and grafted,
into the Tree
of the King of Righteousness.  

The Lord has seen your heart!  
He sees you from the inside out!  
There is nothing that can be hidden
from the Eyes of God.  

Take his yoke.  
Trust and believe.  
The yoke of Christ is simple,
it’s easy -
and all it takes is to have
a mustard seed of faith
to believe that your story
has already been written!

I, like King Darius,
not a king,
but a humble servant, 
send this message into all the world -
to the people of every race
and every nation, 

Peace and prosperity to you!
I believe that everyone 
throughout the world, 
on earth and in Heaven,
should tremble with fear 
before the God of Daniel
for He is the living God 
and he will endure forever!
His Kingdom will never be destroyed
and His rule will never end!
He rescues and sees his people 
He performs miraculous signs,
and wonders,
in the heavens and on earth!
He rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions,
and He has rescued us
from the second death!