1990 Issue 4 - The Triumph of Daniel's God - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 4 - The Triumph of Daniel's God - Counsel of Chalcedon

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JD mnileliQ GOO

by

Reverend Wayne

o ~ e r s

Everyone

is

familiar with the story of

Daniel in the Lion's Den. However,

most people miss the real significance

of that miraculous deliverance. The real

issue isn't simply God's miraculous

power to deliver His people from

danger,

but

TilE

TRIUMPH OF TilE

KINGDOM OF GOD OVER Tiffi

KINGDOMS OF MEN

The Book of Daniel is not primarily

about Daniel but about Daniel's God.

Daniel 6:26

, "I

issue a decree that in

every part of

my

kingdom people must

fear and reverence TilE GOD OF

DANIEL." That is the point of the

book: THE TRUJMPH OF DANIEL'S

GOD

The particular message of Daniel

6

is TilE TRIUMPH OF GOD'S LAW

OVER mE LAW OF MAN.

In Daniel 6 we see the conflict

between the law of God vs. the law of

man

, the law of the Medes and the

Persians, 1: 5

7,

8, 12, 15, 22, 26.

There is a struggle between the law of

God and the law of man. Whose law

shall prevail - that is

the

issue.

What is the

goal of

the Kingdom of

God? The goal

is

a new heavens and a

new earth in which righteousness

dwells. This is stated clearly in 2 Peter

3:13, and in many otherways in many

other places.

The vision that

God

gave Daniel in

7:27

was

of all the nations being given

to the "Saints" (holy ones), and all

dominions will SERVE and

OBEY

Him The message of the vision in 9:24

focuses on a putting an end to

transgression and iniquity,

and

the

establishment of everlasting

righteousness. Like Revelation 22:11,

Daniel12:10 ends with reference to the

victory of the righteous over the

wicked.

The goal of the Kingdom of God is

the vindication and the establishment of

righteousness and

holiness

among the

men who

are

the objects

of

God's grace.

The message

of

Daniel

6

in

particular

is

that the Law of God

prevails and triumphs over the law of

man. The Righteous Law of God

prevails over the wicked laws of man

The law

of

Moses triumphs over the

law of

the

Medes

and

Persians

When we speak

of

the law of

God,

do

not

confuse that with legalism. To

preach the law is not to preach

legalism. The law is not the Gospel,

but the Gospel is not lawless The law

of God is holy, just, and good, (Rom

7:12). It is a transcript of the character

of

God. We all believe that in the New

Heavens and

Earth

there will

no

longer

be

any sin, or lawlessness; there will be

only holiness and righteousness. The

law is not

an

end in itself. It is a

revelation

of

God's will for man

in

order

that he may live in fellowship with

Himself, the righteous

and

holy God

who cannot look upon sin. Habakkuk

1:13, "Your eyes are too pure to look

on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong."

It should be apparent that what is

good for evangelizing the lost, i.e.,

pointing out their sin against God's

law, guilt, condemnation, and need

of

a

Savior, ought to be just as good for

Christians. Do we tell the lost that

they

are condemned for breaking God's

law? Yes. Then do we tell them that

they need to be saved so that they can

go on breaking God's law and living

in sin? Or,

do

we not tell them that

Jesus came to save us from the guilt

and condemnation of sin by His death,

and by His power we are also

redeemed from the bondage of sin that

we may also walk as new creations in

holiness, righteousness, and truth?

I ONLY THE LAW OF GOD

DEFINES GOOD MEN.

Darius was concerned about the

problems of dishonesty, theft,

corruption,

in

his government and

kingdom. He created a system

of

governmental oversight, (6:1-2), in

order that "He might not suffer loss."

He was afraid that his people would

not pay their taxes, and that his

120

"Governors" would also steal from

him.

He faced the problems of his

own governors lining their own

pockets and feathering their own

nests; bribery, corruption. He

appointed

three

Commissioners under

him

and over

the

rest

of

his kingdom

to protect his possessions. And,

ultimately, he planned to make Daniel

the sole administrator of his whole

kingdom. Why? BECAUSE

DANIEL WAS THE ONLY

HONEST M N IN IDS WHOLE

KlNGDOM

What made Daniel good? He was a

good

and

honest man, keeping the law

of God, because he had a different

Spirit,

(6:3).

Only God can make

people good. No amount

of

law or

legislation,

or

even education, can

make people good.

It is ironic that "the law of the

Medes and Persians" was irrevocable.

Darius had

the

power

of

life and death,

the power to enact laws that could not

be changed, (6:

8,

12). BUT, HIS

LAW COULD NOT MAKE ONE

MAN GOOD

OR

HONEST. HE

COUlD NOT TRUST HIS OWN

GOVERNORS

A. The law of man is impotent,

powerless to make men good,

trustworthy, honest And yet,

legislators still try

to

make men good

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon May 1990 Page 9


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by legislation. They are going to

create.a gOod society, do away

with

crime

by

more legislation and

education. THEY, HOWEVER,

CANNOT PRODUCE GOOb

OTIZENS.

The

purpoSe

of law is to punish evil

doers and to

reward the gOOd,

(Rrinums

13:lf).

But the law, man's'law, or even

God's law, cannot make anyone

gOOd.

Only GOO can make people good, can

change the heart. Such was DanieL

Daniel possessed a different Spirit,

(6:3). He was good because God had

given

him a

good heart, 1 : 8 ~ 5:11,

6:22). ' .

God's iaw is the standard'of goodness

and morality. God's law defines what

is

right, jus4 andgood. And, only God

can

n:take

a man good by giving him

a

new heart. Rejecting the law of God as

the

standardof good and evil, rejecting

the role of the Civil magistrate to

punish and'reward good and evil, men

have sought 'to create good citizens by

legislation. It cailnot be done.

The

only hope for the society of men is

men who ate

l w ~ b i d i n g

citizens

by

God's grace and Spirit.

B. The

aw of

man is subject

to

perversion. Here wicked men used, or

misused, abused, the law

to

accomplish

their own wicked purposes,

to

evert

justice, to'persecute

the

righteous, and

to further their own agenda.

ln 6:3f. we see how

the

Kin'g's

govenors used

the

power

of

law

to

trap

Daniel so that they could pursue their

own careers. They encouraged P;ui'\IS

to enact a law which would put Daniel

in the position of having to disobey the

king's law in order to obey God.

When there is no absolute s t a n ~

for law, but the law is subject to the

desires and deterni.inations of itien then

there is no justice, or, at least.JusUce

may he

~ i l y

perverted forpersonal

purposes.

. Darius was subject tci

political

pressure groups

and

a media blitz. that

appealed to his own ego. Notice how

the media Was USed tO misrepresent the

truth.

In Vs.

7 we are tolci .that

"AI.L"

tt,e commissioners had

s r e e ~ v .

tells us that there were only three

commissioners and one of them

was

Daniel. Daniel hadn't agreooto this, or

even been consulted. We must

l(larn.

that

the media supports its own agenda

by its reporting of stories slanted to

foster its own purposes.

Law is not our safeguard for our life

and

property.

Law can

be

c h ~ g e d

inteq>reted, or perverte


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C. We should pray that G ~ s law

and kingdom prevail over the

kingdoms

of

men.

The praying and the prayer of

Daniel is so very important for

us.

1. Daniel prayed regularly, three

times

a day. Notice that this was his

custom,

(6:10).

He didn't just start

praying when the decree was enacted, .

prayer had been his daily practice.

What is your

daily

practice?

2.

He prayed

toward

Jerusalem.

This

is

not some

mystical

or magical

practice such

as

the Muslims who pray .

facing

Mecca five

times

a day. Why

was he praying

facing

Jerusalem?

Remember that

Daniel

was in

Babylon.

The

temple and

the city of

Jerusalem, the

city of

God, lay in

ruins. Remember how that Nehemiah

prayed when he saw the city

(Nehemiah

1). Daniel 9

is parallel

to this

and

probably

precedes Daniel 6.

Both

took

place in the first year of Darius.

Daniel

already had this custom of praying

before

the

governors

used it as a trap

to

ensnare him.

Daniel

was

praying for

the restoration of

Jesrusalern,

for the

vindication of the name and glory of

God

(Daniel

9:'6-19}. This was

no

self- .

centered,

materialistic, prayer for.

personal comfort and possessions.

Daniel

was

praying for the restoration

of

the

kingdom of God three times a

day. Jesus taught

us

to pray the Lord's

Prayer.

It has the same message,

Ow:

Father,

which

art

in

Heaven, hallowed

be

thy name, thy kingdom

come,

thy ,

will

be done on earth

as

it is in

heaven ..." That's what Daniel was

praying.

3. Daniel was praying humbly, on

his

knees, (6:10). You

will notice that

in

Chapter 9, Daniel

humbles

himself,

identifying with the people of God,

confessing their

sin

against God and for

having broken His

law. But,

Daniel

was a righteous

man.

The whole a i n ~

of Chapter 6 is his intergrity and

obedience to the

law

of God. What

does this mean?

n

the first place,

God

hears and

answers the fervent

prayers

of a

righteous man, (James 5:16).

Throughout

the

Psalms David prayed to

God for deliverance

because

of

his

personal integrity, see Psalms, chapter

26 and chapter

66:18.

This is not

arrogant presumption, but honest

evaluation. And God will not hear and

honor

the

prayers of people whose

practice, character, and

motives are

not

godly,

pure,

and holy.

You

ask and

do

not receive because you ask amiss that

you

may consume it upon your own

lusts,

(James

4:2-3).

We

must be men

and women of integrity in prayer.

and

the Persians. Only

this time

he

decrees to all nations, tribes, and

tongues, that in his kingdom all men

are to

fear and tremble before the God

of

Daniel, (6:26).

Secondly, we must humble

ourselves

and

confess our sins and the

sins of our people (Daniel 9) . A

man

of integrity is a

man

whose

heart is

broken for sin. He

is

not self-righteous

or complacent The more righteous

he

is, the more sinful he sees himself and

those around him. There

is

no conflict

here. Daniel truly identified with the

sins ofthe nation and pleaded for God

to forgive according to His word and

promise.

Therefore,

God

heard

and

delivered

Daniel - because he prayed. He prayed

based

on the

word and

promise of

God,

for the purpose and

glory

of

God,

on

the platform

of

a

holy

life, confessing

his

and their

sins.

Again, we see

how

the law ofGod prevails

and

triumphs

over the law of men. Because Daniel

honored

God,

God caused him to

prevail,

because God found

him

innocent,

(6:22), and he trusted in his

God, (6:23).

m. ONLY GOD'S LAW IS

UNIVERSAL

The fact

is

that not only is God's

law universal, but that it should be the

universal law

of all

the

nations.

The

triumph of Daniel is the triumph of

Daniel's God and

the

law of Daniel's

God

over

the

law of

the

Medes

and

the

Persians.

A.

The

Universal Scope of God's

law.

Notice that Darius

now

i

ssues

another decree, the

law

of the Medes

Did Darius just declare the law of God

as the basis for his . o c i e ~ Did he

j11st mix.

religion and politics? I

believe he did.

B.

The

Universal Blessing of

God's

Law.

Darius begins his decree

with May

your

peace

abound ", (vs.

25).

The

only basis and hope for peace

and

prosperity is life under the holy, just,

and

good law of

God.

C. The Universal Extent of God 's

law.

Darius decrees that

all men

are

to

tremble and to fear Daniel's God. He

decrees that God is the only living and

enduring

God

and His kingdom and

dominion

is

the

only kingdom which

will not be destroyed. Only He

saves,

delivers, and rescues men from danger.

This

is Darius' Great Proclamation

which is echoed in Jesus' Great

Commission,

(Mat

28:18-20). "All

authority

in heaven and earth

has

been

given unto me . Go, ye, therefore, into

all

the world

and

make

disciples

of

all

the nations, baptizing them in the

name

of

the

Father,

the

Son,

and

the

Holy

Spirit, teaching them to observe

everything that I have commanded you.

And lo, I

am

with you

to

the end of the

ages.

What is the Great Commision? t

is

to see the triumph

of the dominion

and

kingdom

of

Jesus Christ over

all

the

nations; nations living in peace

and

prosperity; nations practicing

justice and goodness, according to the

law of God. Is this your prayer, as it

was the prayer of Daniel? Is this your

vision? Is this the focus

of

your effort

and witness?

Is

this

the

commitment

of your church?

The Counsel of Chalcedon May 1990

Page 11

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1990 Issue 4 - The Triumph of Daniel's God - Counsel of Chalcedon