Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20070204.htm

THE PREINCARNATE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST
Part XXIII: Christ's Work With Daniel: Aiding Those Who Heed Him Above All Scheming Opponents
(Daniel 6:1-28)
  1. Introduction
    1. Heeding God when we have great human support to do so is vastly easier than obeying the Lord when strongly opposed by many powerful foes who wrongly scheme and politick to undermine us.
    2. Daniel effectively faced such many, powerful, wrongly scheming, politicking foes with God's help:
  2. Christ's Work With Daniel: Aiding Those Who Heed Him Above All Scheming Parties, Dan. 6:1-28.
    1. The Preincarnate Christ Who we before learned appeared as the "Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Gen. 16:10) is the One Bible scholars think may have been the Angel Who delivered Daniel in the lion's den in Daniel 6:21-22, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1349.
    2. Since God promised to send His Angel Who as deity had His Name in Him to go before Israel to aid in her conquest and settling of Canaan (cf. Exodus 23:20-23), and this aid is similar to the protection of Daniel and the defeat of his foes in Daniel 6 [as we present in this lesson], it is reasonable to conclude that the Angel of the Lord, the Preincarnate Lord Jesus, was the One who aided Daniel in Daniel 6.
    3. As such, the Preincarnate Christ aided Daniel in facing many, powerful, scheming foes, Daniel 6:1-28:
      1. When Darius became king, he set up one hundred and twenty satraps over his kingdom, and over these he put three administrators, Daniel being the chief of them due to his excellent spirit, Dan. 6:1-3 NIV.
      2. The 120 satraps and 2 assistant administrators did not like this arrangement: they either resented a captive Judaean being elevated above them or they were jealous of his abilities, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1348. Thus, all 122 conspired to bring Daniel down from his position, Daniel 6:3a, 4a.
      3. However, their conspiracy effort was initially thwarted by Daniel's moral excellence: his life gave them no just cause to accuse him of an impeachable offense before Darius, Daniel 6:4b. Accordingly, they sought to entrap Daniel by planning to get his acts of obedience to God's Law to conflict with an edict by the king that they planned to lure the king into enacting into law (as follows), Daniel 6:5-9:
        1. The conspiring officials noticed Daniel closely observed the Law of his God, Daniel 6:5.
        2. Now, that Law included the directive that Daniel pray toward Jerusalem for God's help and forgiveness of Israel for the sin that had led to Israel's Babylonian Captivity, 2 Chronicles 6:36-39.
        3. As we found in Daniel 1:1-7, Daniel had been taken captive with Judah's king Jehoiakim by Nebuchadnezzar, and Jeremiah 25:1-11 discloses that this captivity came due to Israel's idolatry.
        4. Thus, Daniel 6:10 reveals he sought to heed 2 Chronicles 6:36-39 by habitually praying toward the Jerusalem temple 3 times a day, confessing his nation's sin and asking God for help, cf. Dan. 9:1-5.
        5. Hence, Daniel's 122 conspiring foes lured Darius into making an unalterable decree that every royal subject petition only him for help for 30 days versus praying to any god or be thrown into the lions' den, Daniel 6:6-9. This would entrap Daniel into violating the king's decree so he would be slain!
      4. When Daniel learned of the decree, he chose to keep obeying God and prayed toward Jerusalem, 6:10.
      5. Accordingly, the 122 conspiring foes reported this fact to Darius, and he was dismayed to find he had been lured into condemning Daniel to death, Daniel 6:11-14. However, his edict was irrevocable, so Darius assigned Daniel to the lion's den and hoped that God might save him, Daniel 6:15-17.
      6. The next morning, the king discerned from Daniel's testimony from the den that, to his delight, the Angel of the Lord had shut the lions' mouths so that no harm came to him, Daniel 6:18-22.
      7. Darius put Daniel's foes and their families in the lions' den where they died in a "cruel . . . typically Persian" way, and ordered his subjects to revere Daniel's God, Dan. 6:23-27; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 6:24.
      8. Daniel then continued to minister until the time of Cyrus when his habitual prayer for deliverance from Babylon began to be answered with the return of Israel's captives to their land, Daniel 6:28; Ezra 1:1-4.
Lesson: When Daniel heeded Scripture above the threat of death for doing so that was caused by entrapment by many strong, politicking, scheming foes, the Preincarnate Christ protected him and dealt vengeance on his foes so that Daniel could live to see his hope of Israel's return to her land realized!

Application: May we heed God's Word above the threats of scheming foes to enjoy God's help, His effective vengeance and the fulfillment of our hopes regardless of the efforts of such foes!