We are beginning a study of the book of Daniel, and this is truly a dynamic book. I'm a little bit overwhelmed to think of studying, teaching, preaching through some of the sections of this book. It's centered on the life of Daniel, a faithful young boy from Judah who is kidnapped and taken to Babylon in 605 BC. He, along with perhaps a hundred or so other young men, are chosen to be conformed through a system of three years of training into a Chaldean to serve in the king's presence. His name is changed, his customs are changed, his culture is changed, even his diet is transformed. All for the purpose of taking him from being a Jew, one from Judah, into a Babylon from Shinar. 

Daniel finds himself in a less than ideal circumstance. His country and leaders have been conquered, his religion mocked and destroyed, many of his family and friends killed, and he's been taken to a strange land very far away in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold, the sovereign ruler of the known world. And yet, Daniel realizes that to be in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar is not to be removed from the sovereign hand of God. 

What we see is that Daniel is faithful to who he is, trusting in and depending on God in this most difficult circumstance, amidst this massive influence and pressure from the world. Daniel purposes in his heart that he would not be defiled, and we will see that this has much more to do with his identity than it does with his diet. But he chooses, he purposes to remain who he is, to hold on to his identity as a child of the true God, regardless of the cost. God worked in amazing ways through the life of Daniel, and this is really the great message of this book: the sovereignty and providence of our God. 

We will see that it is God who raises up nations and rulers for his purposes and removes them according to his will. It is God who works in the affairs of men, who keeps his own and works out his will through faithful believers for his glory. The sovereignty of God is all over this historical account of the life of Daniel and what God was doing in this time among the nations in Judah and the unfolding of his salvation plan over the epochs of time. 

But this book also tells us the future. God reveals through the life of Daniel much of what was future to him and his people in the rise and fall of nations and the captivity of his people and the working out of God's plan. And it goes yet further, telling us of things yet to come all the way to the future kingdom of Christ and the fulfillment of the promises to Daniel and his people. We see explicit prophecies that foretell what will involve the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. These prophecies are quite clear that they are as spoken to Daniel: "for your people and your holy city," and Gabriel explains some very specific purposes that God will accomplish over the time foretold.

This is a dynamic book. It's fascinating. It's comprehensive. It's true. The greatest criticism of this book by its detractors is that it could not have possibly been written before the events took place because it is far too accurate. It's not much of an argument. God gave this book, these revelations, to Daniel for Daniel himself, for the captives, for the nation, and even for us, to show us his power, his grace, his promise, his justice and judgment, to show us who he is and what he has planned from 605 BC to the coming of Christ and establishment of his kingdom. 

It is a bit intimidating to study these things, but in this endeavor there is tremendous reward, and we will trust the Holy Spirit of God to guide us, teach us, to give us wisdom and discernment as we work verse by verse through these great chapters of the book of Daniel. I do not have wisdom, but I look to God and ask Him for wisdom. I do not have the ability to understand these things, to make sense of them, to interpret and apply them with accuracy, but God is our sufficiency. 

Jesus promised that if we will to do His will, if we search His word with honest anticipation of knowing the truth, He will guide us, He will show us what is true, and I trust Him. I always think of Spurgeon; it is said that when he ascended the pulpit to preach, he could be heard quietly praying, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, I believe in the Holy Spirit." I used to joke with Pastor Krenz that when we were singing the last hymn before I would preach, it was at this time that I struggled least with pride.

There are a lot of mysteries in this book, a lot of dates and history and kings in the context of this book, and many prophecies, what seem to us to be complicated, perhaps confusing details. There are a myriad of commentaries and opinions and ideas, most of which are meant to fit someone's theological system. But we will, by the grace of God, as we always do, seek to know what God says through a verse by verse study of His word. 

And we will trust Him to guide us and teach us and keep us from error, because, my brothers and sisters, this book, the Bible, is kept and preserved for us as a revelation of God. His desire is that we know Him. He did not write it to conceal but to reveal, and we praise Him and trust Him for that. 

So this morning, as we begin, I'd like to set the context: the context of Daniel, who he is, his life, his experience, the context in which he lived, so that we might better understand the things that we read. We will do that by looking at the geopolitical context, as well as the theological context of Judah in that time, and the unfolding of God's salvation plan over time by His sovereign purpose. 

So let's read Daniel 1:1-8. 

"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his God. And he brought the articles into the treasure house of his God. 

Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel, and some of the king's descendants, and some of the nobles, young men, in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. 

And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies, and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them. So at the end of that time, they might serve before the king. Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them, the chief of the eunuchs gave names. He gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach, and to Azariah Abednego. 

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. For he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." 

I've given you four points on your outline this morning. 

First, geopolitical context. 

Second, theological context: Judah in 605 BC. 

Third, unfolding of God's salvation plan. 

And fourth, the sovereignty of God and the faithfulness of Daniel. 

Well, I wonder if you ever get a little disconcerted about the happenings of our geopolitical world. Do you worry about the things that are going on in our government, or in the governments of China, or Russia, or North Korea, or even Canada these days? Are you concerned about men like Bill Gates and George Soros? Do these things keep you up at night on occasion? 

Well, the book of Daniel, as well as the rest of the scriptures, has some really great news for you. God is in control of all these things, and He's working all things together for your good, the ones who love God, the called according to His purpose. Perhaps nowhere in the Bible is this more clearly illustrated than in the life of Daniel. God is sovereign over the kings and rulers and governments and affairs of men. 

This does not mean, listen now, because this is important, this does not mean that all things are good. All things are not good. Sin is not good. Hurting other people is not good. Deceiving and plotting and scheming against God and His will is not good. And all of these things happen regularly in the governments and politics of our world. 

What Romans 8:28 promises us is that God takes all things and works them for our good. So we may suffer in this world, there is injustice in this world, but God loves us and has us in His hand and will sustain us and keep us, and use us for His purposes, His very good purposes for our good. We see this so stunningly in the geopolitical context that Daniel was born into, and we see it right in the scriptures. 

We don't have to go to a lot of historical documents or commentaries; we find these things in the scriptures. There was a major realignment going on in the world at this time, and God was doing it. The Babylonian Empire is perhaps the most ancient in the world; it dates all the way back to the time of Hammurabi and existed up until about 1595 BC. But then it diminished and no longer was a great ruling nation on this earth. It has a rich history in humanism and false worship all the way back to the Tower of Babel and the cults that developed there. 

But in the time leading up to Daniel's life, it was the Assyrians that were the dominating power on the earth. In 722 BC, it was the Assyrians that God used to take the ten tribes of the northern kingdom captive and scatter them. This was effectively an end to Israel due to the assimilation that took place with the pagans. The nation had been united up until the time after Solomon in 930 BC. It was then divided into the ten northern tribes of Israel and the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin called Judah. It was in Judah where Daniel lived. 

After the division of the kingdom in 930, Israel moved far from God and worshipped idols and married pagans. God sent his prophets warning them over and over and over again. Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Amos all warned the people for their idolatry and predicted the coming of the Assyrians. In 722, they came. Judah would last a bit longer, but there was awful evil in the leaders of that kingdom as well. 

In the years before Daniel, Manasseh ruled and was known for his wicked rule, including idolatry, false worship, and child sacrifice. His son Ammon was no better. There was a long line of wicked kings in Judah as well. The prophets of God were constantly warning against another army coming to Judah to take it captive. Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, as well as Isaiah and Micah warned about the judgment of Judah. 

What is so fascinating is that God was raising up that old Babylonian empire for just this purpose. Assyria and Egypt were great powers at this time, but God brought a man to power in 626 BC. Now Daniel would have been born in about 620, so he brought this man to power in 626 in the new Babylon. His name was Nabopolassar, and he was the father of Nebuchadnezzar. 

In 605 BC, there was a strategic battle at Carchemish. Anybody heard about the Battle of Carchemish? Did you study that in school? Nobody. All right. So there was a strategic battle of Carchemish. It's in the scriptures, by the way. You can read that in Chronicles and Kings. Babylon had joined forces with the Medes and were warring against Assyria and Egypt. So these are the big powers of the time. We find accounts of this in the Word of God in the time leading up to the Babylonian captivity of Judah that we read about in the first verses of Daniel. 

So listen to Jeremiah 25 at verse 9. It says, "Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. 

And say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal pavilion over them." God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant. He raised him up for the very purpose of bringing Judah into captivity in Babylon, and this for 70 years. 

We will see that the kingdom only lasted as long as God needed it. This was perhaps the greatest kingdom on earth. Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold with absolute authority and sovereignty, as God allows. We'll see later in the Medo-Persian kings that they were bound by their own laws; not so for Nebuchadnezzar. He could kill anyone at his whim, do anything he wanted; he was completely sovereign, the head of gold. But God raises this great nation up, uses it to accomplish his purposes with his people, and then ends it with the coming of Cyrus, who is another amazing story of the sovereignty of God in the affairs of men. It's truly quite fascinating and encouraging when we think about the geopolitical cares of our world and our time. God is in control.

Turn over to Jeremiah 46, and we'll read another passage in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 46:25. "The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Behold, I will bring punishment on Ammon of Noah and Pharaoh in Egypt, and their gods and their kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him, and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and the hand of his servants. Afterward, it shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord. 

But do not fear, O my servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest, and be at ease. No one shall make him afraid. Do not fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord, for I am with you. For I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I've driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished." 

We have to remember that these prophecies were given before the coming to power of Babylon and the defeat of Assyria and Egypt at Carchemish. This wasn't on anyone's radar, yet he prophesied through Jeremiah by name exactly what would happen. God planned and promised exactly what he would do and brought it to pass in the kings and nations and mighty men of this world. God raises up kings, he puts them in place, and he removes them according to his will. 

We'll read about Nebuchadnezzar when he looked out over the amazing kingdom he had built, the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the world, and he said, "this I built for my glory." And what happened? He found himself eating grass like an ox and growing eagle's feathers and nails, and the dew would settle on him. God is able to put down the proud, it says at the end of that passage. 

God was not only doing a work in the geopolitical world around the time of the birth of Daniel, but he was also at work in the theological world in the nation of Judah, his people. We mentioned before that there were many wicked kings in Israel, and they led the people into awful idolatry and even sacrificed their children. But in 640 BC, now remember Daniel's birth around 620, in 640 BC a good king came by the grace of God to Judah, and his name was Josiah. That's right. 

Josiah turned Judah back to the Lord, repaired the temple, and found the book of the law covenant in the house of the Lord, which had been neglected and ignored by his father and grandfather. Let's look at 2nd Chronicles 34; I'll give you a little exercise around your Bible today. 

2nd Chronicles 34:29, "Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites and all the people, great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord." So they had not had the law, they had not had God's revelation, they had not read it; they didn't know it. 

Josiah restores the temple, ends the false worship, he finds the book, he gets everybody together, he reads the book. Verse 31: "And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days, they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers." 

2nd Kings 23 also recounts how Josiah removed all the false worship and altars and priests from Judah, killing them and burning their bones on the altars. Daniel was born, as I've said, about 620, right in the midst of all of this. Jeremiah began to prophesy in the 13th year of Josiah, about 627 BC, seven years before Daniel was born. 

God was working with his people as well. And Daniel was born and was raised perhaps to the age of 15 in this context of King Josiah, faithful to Jehovah. But Josiah was a good king that had a bad ending. In 2nd Kings 23:29, it says, "In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went to the aid of the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and king Josiah went against him, and Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him." 

Pharaoh Necho was on his way to Carchemish, the key battle that we spoke of before in 605 BC, where God changed the world powers from Egypt and Assyria to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar. On his way, he wanted to pass through Judea. You can see a map on the back of your outline showing these routes of travel, just a little visual aid to wake you up there. 

So you see where they're positioned geographically, and coming up from Egypt is Pharaoh Necho, and he wants to pass through Judea. In 2nd Chronicles 35:20, it says this: "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. But he sent messengers to him, this is Necho sending messengers to Josiah, and he said, 'What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war. For God commanded me to make haste; restrained from meddling with God who is with me, lest he destroy you.' 

Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho, listen to what the Scriptures say, 'from the mouth of God.' So he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo, and the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, 'Take me away, for I am severely wounded.' His servants, therefore, took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had. They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah." 

Verse 22 says that Necho's warning was from the mouth of God. God told Necho to make haste to Carchemish. So for all the good that Josiah did in the culture and context he provided for young Daniel and all of Judah, he unfortunately made a bad decision at the end. 

Then Judah came under the control of Necho of Egypt. Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish and was utterly defeated along with Assyria, and God had his man in place, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. In Judah, Jehoahaz replaced Josiah for only three months, and then Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years in Judah as sort of a vassal king. Both of these men did evil in the sight of the Lord, the scriptures tell us. 

And Jeremiah gave this prophecy. Turn over to Jeremiah 25 with me, 25 verse 1. "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying this: from the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me. 

And I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. And the Lord has sent to you all his servants and prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, 'Repent now every one of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land the Lord has given you and your fathers forever and ever. Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, and I will not harm you.' Yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 

Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring him against this land." And that's a passage that we read earlier. Jeremiah warned them, but they would not listen. 

We will see in the book of Daniel, by way of prophecy, the unfolding plan of God to bring salvation to Israel and the nations. The book will span from the captivity in Judah in 605 BC all the way through the subsequent captivities of the Medo-Persian Empire, of Greece, Alexander the Great, of Rome, and we will see the Messiah brought forth through the nation of Israel. He will be crucified, die, be buried, and rise again the third day, and we will see the final fulfillment as Jesus comes and judges all the nations and sets up his kingdom on earth. 

All of these things help us to understand the book of Daniel and the greatness and glory of God, and form the context that brings us to Daniel chapter 1, as we see the sovereignty of God and the faithfulness of Daniel. 

Daniel 1:1 again, this account of what happens at the beginning. Daniel, now a young man, Nebuchadnezzar comes and besieges Jerusalem, Judah, takes these young men back to Babylon and starts them in a brainwashing program to make them Chaldeans, to teach them the Chaldean literature, to immerse them in the culture, to change their diet, to change their name, and to teach them and train them for three years so that they might be servants to the king, perhaps as liaisons back to the nations that he's conquered, or to advise him and work for him in his court. 

But in verse 8, it says, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." 

Now God had brought Daniel into favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. God arranged all the details that brought us to this point, working with the will of men, both sinful and faithful. He brought up nations, brought down others, raised up kings, and brought mighty men low. All of this God did for the express purpose of accomplishing His will in the life of His servant Daniel and in the nation of Judah. He will give favor to Daniel among the pagans, cause him to excel in Babylon, and serve kings and have an influence for the will of God in that time. 

At the same time, we see the faithfulness of Daniel in these very difficult circumstances. We will look at this more next week, but we see in verse 8 again at the very beginning of the training program, Daniel purposes in his heart he'll not defile himself, not abandon his identity to the world, but will remain faithful to God. You know, at this point in the program, your country has been demolished, you've been taken captive, you've been taken all the way east to Babylon, you're in this pagan foreign place under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. 

In this program, at this point, I would imagine the best plan would be to keep your head low and go along to get along. The king most certainly could kill any of these Hebrew slaves, and the eunuch would be able to get rid of any troublemakers or rebellious spirits. It was no small thing that Daniel asked this request. He was determined; he purposed in his heart to remain faithful to Yahweh, and he maintained this purpose through the course of his life, his amazing, fruitful, and God-honoring life right in Babylon. 

I'm not sure we could ever really appreciate the circumstances and situation of Daniel. Many believers through history have been in similar dire circumstances, certainly they will be in the future, but we have not experienced such things. Yet we know something of what it is to live among the pagans in a pagan world and culture. We do know the danger of being conformed by that world and the pressures that come in many ways. 

Daniel is a tremendous example to us and a wonderful lesson about the sovereignty and purpose of God in the lives of his own. We need not fear the Nebuchadnezzars of our world; all they can do is take our lives, and they are in the hand of God, our loving Father, who always does what is best. 

We need not fear sickness or disease; we need not fear men or the forces of this world, because we are secure in Christ for eternity, and God is working out His plan and His purpose through our lives as we abide in Him. In Philippians 4, Paul makes this New Testament application; he says, "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

Paul says, "I have learned." He knew what it was to suffer need, to be sick, to be hungry, to be naked, to be persecuted, to be stoned to death. He knew what it was to be full, to be satisfied, to have plenty. He said, "I have learned." We learn through the circumstances of life. Grace teaches us as God guides us and conforms us to the likeness of Christ. So whether we are abased or abound, we must find our contentment in Christ. 

I want to challenge you a bit as we close this morning. Our world is consumed with amusement. I made this point when I preached on this text 11 years ago, but how much more are we now addicted to amusement? Constantly scrolling through our phones with the attention span of a gnat. The world is all about avoiding musing. Musing means to roll over in the mind, to meditate on, to spend time thinking about. The world does not want to think about truth and error, eternal things, because in their hearts, man knows that God is and that he will have to stand for judgment. 

So, he seeks amusement, and this can take many varied forms in our world system. But we, my brothers and sisters, are not of this world. We need to think. We need to muse. We need to ponder the greatness of our God and be quiet before Him. We need to search His Word and seek Him in prayer and abide one day at a time in Jesus Christ. 

This is not a simple book, this book of Daniel, but it's very full. And my desire for each one of you is to come to know God more through this book and to learn and to grow and to be encouraged. But that will take time on your part. Focus, study, musing—muse often. I'm encouraging you to do this regularly as we spend the next year or so in this text in the life and times of Daniel and learn from him. 

And the promise is that you will find great reward for your time in the Word. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you that we can trust you and believe you. We thank you that you're in control of all things, that you're our Father, that we can come right up into your lap as it were in a throne of grace to find help in time of need. Thank you that we can know you and have access to you through Jesus Christ. Thank you that our eternity is secure and that you're working out your will in our lives in this time. Help us to be faithful. Help us to choose to believe you. Help us to seek to know you through your Word and to think on these things. In Jesus' name, amen.