Redemption Church Plano, TX

Long Story Short – Recap

The children of Israel were given a law and a land.

They were meant to be God’s special people, but they wanted to be like the nations around them.

They wanted a king – Saul looked like a king, but didn’t follow God
God has Samuel anoint David – God looks on the heart

David was a great king.
His son Solomon was a good king – he built the Temple
Solomon’s son Rehoboam was not a good king – The nation is split

Israel has some good kings and some less good kings
But over time the people are turning away from God’s laws and worshiping other gods like the nations around them

God had told them what would happen back during the time of Moses
Deuteronomy 28 If they did not obey His commands (v 15)
their sons and daughters would be taken away by another people (v33),
another nation will eat their produce and oppress them (v34), and
they will eventually be taken captive to another nation (v36)

So God sent word to people through the prophets

Last week we heard about the prophet Jonah. He was sent to the city of Nineveh in Babylon and (eventually) told them God was going to destroy them for their evil ways. They repented and God spared them.

God sent prophets to Israel too, but Israel didn’t listen like Nineveh.

The people of Israel continued to turn away from God and worship false gods like the nations around them, until they were invaded, defeated, and taken captive by an evil pagan nation – Babylon

The temple is destroyed. The nation is destroyed.
For Israel, it looks like this is the end of the story.

DANIEL – But this is where Daniel’s story begins.

It is important to know the story of your Bible and which books tell which parts of the story (because they’re not in order)
Last week we looked at the Book of Jonah; this week we are looking at Daniel. Daniel’s life took place after Jonah, but the book of Daniel comes before Jonah.

Who was Daniel? The Bible doesn’t tell us much about him before he was taken to Babylon. He was part of the royal family, so he was descended from king David.
Daniel was a young man (probably a teenager) when he was captured and taken to Babylon, and he lived there for the next 70 years.

What was special about Daniel? He knew God’s story.

It looked like the story of Israel was over.
Daniel knew the story wasn’t over. He remained faithful to God.

The book of Daniel tells about events throughout Daniel’s life in Babylon, and they show us how he remained faithful.

DANIEL’S LIFE

Chapter 1 – Babylon has defeated Israel; and the king of Babylon decides he wants to take some young Israelites and put them in his “wise-men” apprenticeship program. So Daniel and some of his friends are taken to Babylon. They are basically taught to be Babylonian; they are even given new Babylonian names. Daniel’s new name is Belteshazzar, but it doesn’t really catch on.

Daniel remembers God’s story. He remembers that he is an Israelite, and he remembers who God has called him to be.

Don’t let things around you tell you who you are if it is different from who God says you are.
Don’t let the world tell you who you should be if it is different from who God has called you to be.

As part of this training program Daniel gets to eat from the king’s table.
But Daniel has to cause trouble. He asks if they have a vegan option.

Daniel is committed to following the commands that God gave them about what they were allowed to eat. It doesn’t matter that they are in Babylon, Daniel is still going to follow God’s command.

It is a bold move for Daniel, as a captive, to complain about the food, especially when it is from the kings table. But Daniel makes his request respectfully and after a trial period, they get to stick to a kosher menu.

Daniel remained faithful to God.

Chapter 2 – The king of Babylon has a dream. He realizes it is important, and he wants to know what it means. So he consults his wise-men, and it is like the game that we played at the beginning of this message. Tell me my dream, and tell me what it means. And if they can’t, he will have them all killed and he will get some new wise men.

This is impossible because nobody knows the king’s dream except the king. But Daniel remembers that God must know the dream as well as its meaning. Daniel prays and God reveals the meaning to him. Then Daniel goes before the king:

DANIEL 2:27 NIV Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about,

DANIEL 2:28a NIV but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come…

DANIEL’S LIFE

Daniel correctly interprets the dream. The king acknowledges Daniel’s God and puts Daniel in charge of all the wise-men.

Chapter 3 – The king sets up a big golden idol, 90 feet tall, and he commands that when the band plays everyone must worship the idol or they will be thrown into a blazing furnace and burned to death.

Daniel is out of town, but there are three Hebrew children who would not bow. They would only worship the true God.

These were Daniel’s fellow Israelites. They remembered God’s commands and they were not going to worship an idol, even under threat of execution. They had been given Babylonian names, but they stayed to faithful to the God of Israel.

This makes the king very angry, and he has the furnace heated “seven times hotter than usual.” It was so hot, it killed the soldiers who threw them into the furnace. But God protects them through the fire and they aren’t harmed. And again, the king acknowledges the true God.

Chapter 4 – Daniel interprets another dream for the king. The king is proud and arrogant and he credits himself for the greatness of his kingdom. God humbles him by making him go crazy for seven years, just as Daniel predicted from his dream. Then his sanity returns and he praises God.

Chapter 5 – There’s a new king in Babylon, and he throws a big party. He gets out all the fancy stuff that they stole from the temple in Israel to eat and drink with at the party, while worshiping their false gods.

Then God gives him the finger. God’s finger writes on the wall, but no one can understand what it wrote. He has to get Daniel to explain what it means. Daniel tells him that he has not humbled himself before God, and it means that he is about to be concurred. That very night the king is killed and the Medes take over.

Chapter 6 – Daniel is old now, possibly in his 80’s, but he is still faithful to God. Some of the administrators of the government aren’t happy that Daniel has a prominent position, and so they try to get him in trouble. They convince the king to pass a law that anyone who prays to anyone other than the king will be thrown into the lions’ den. Daniel prays to God, and he is arrested and thrown into the lions’ den. But God protects him and he is brought out unharmed.

Chapters 7-12 describe prophetic visions that Daniel has prophesying events that will happen after that time.

Long Story Short

What can we learn from this story? God wants us to be faithful.

God’s story is not over!

Think back to the beginning of the book of Daniel: it looked like the story of Israel was over. But it couldn’t be over.
There were still promises that God has made that hadn’t been fulfilled.

Daniel remained faithful to God, knowing there had to be more to the story that God was revealing. And God used the events of Daniel’s life to encourage Daniel, and hopefully to encourage us.

The events of Daniel’s life parallel the story of Israel.

Captivity in a foreign land

Interprets a dream and gets a position of prominence

His people are persecuted, but God delivers them
(there’s even a golden idol)

A prideful king is humbled and worships God

An idolatrous king is sent a message by God through a prophet, and then his kingdom is conquered

Do you see how these events follow the some of the major events in the story of the Bible that we have studied so far?

Daniel probably recognized some of them too.
Daniel’s God was the true God back then, He is still the true God now.
He is still God today.
God’s promises were true back then, His promises are still true now. They are still true today.  

God’s story isn’t finished.

But if Chapter 5 lines up with the beginning of the book of Daniel, then what about Chapter 6? God is starting to foreshadow things that are going to happen.

Daniel is captured and thrown into a dangerous place, but after a time he is brought back out unharmed and restored to his place.

This foreshadows that the Israelites were taken out of their land and forced to live in Babylon, but after a time they would be restored to the land of Israel.

God’s story isn’t finished, and He has some amazing things still to do.

But if Chapter 6 foreshadows things that are going to happen after Daniel’s time, lets see if we can recognize anything else.

An innocent man is arrested and sentenced to death. He’s put in a stone chamber and a stone is rolled over the opening. But then later he is found to be alive… does this sound familiar at all?

#LongStoryShort #AllAboutJesus

Jesus shows up throughout the book of Daniel. In his prophetic visions in the second half of the book, some of them are describing Jesus

DANIEL 7:13 NIV In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

DANIEL 7:14 NIV He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

And in Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream, do you remember the rock that smashes the statue? This is Daniel’s interpretation of its meaning:

DANIEL 2:44 NIV “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

DANIEL 2:45 NIV This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

Who is the only King whose kingdom will endure forever?

GOD’S STORY IS NOT OVER

It might have seemed like the story was over before Daniel’s story even began. But it couldn’t be. God had promised to send a Savior who would reign forever, but He hadn’t sent Him yet.
Daniel knew that the story wasn’t over. He remained faithful to God;
and he became part of God’s story and a model of faithfulness to us.

It looked impossible that Israel would come back. But God does the impossible.

Whatever situation you are facing; The story is not over!

Is it still true? Was God able then? He is still able today.