Making a Daniel

We were at a service once where they prayed first and then sang afterwards, and I sat down too. So it's not the first time I figured out the culture moves around a little bit here and there.

I've done that in other cultures, in other places in the world too, so you just smile and learn and go along with it. I appreciate being able to come speak to you again. It's been a year or so, or whatever. The guy came with last year's ABC group, I think, a year ago, and I forgot what I spoke on there. But I know I'm not giving the same sermon that I did there, so it should be okay. Travel around different places, and then you go to Cincinnati and they broadcast all your sermons out, so you start wondering what you said where and when. And try to make sure you keep everything moving and help people as much as you can. Appreciate being invited to your killing the fatted goat.

Buried goat. We used to do buried cow out in California with a thing there, so if you put the coals in right, do a deep nut. It's a wonderful way to cook meat. It's just hard to do that on a regular basis every night. Digging those holes gets to be tough, unless you have a big backhoe or something to make it work. Appreciate the sermonette and planting a garden. I have a little tiny garden at my house, and it seems to be working pretty good. The soil up here in Ohio is pretty decent. It's beautiful coming over here. I love coming over, especially the last 30 or 40 miles where you're curving around. It reminds me of my motorcycle days, which I still have a motorcycle, so I'm still doing that, but most of it's freeway now, and I don't like that as well. So I like the nice streets and the hills and the green. It's always a beautiful way to just enjoy God's creation, provided there's nothing coming at you bigger. It's interesting, as I speak to you today, title my sermon, Making a Daniel, which I think you'll understand when I get through with it. It's interesting, when we look at what Jesus Christ did for us in giving up His divinity and coming down to be born a human and to go through human life to understand what we go through humanly and to set an example for us of what we should do. He didn't come for himself. Really, we had nothing to offer Him coming down here, but He had everything to offer us.

Nothing we could give Him, really, could do what He did for us. He set a perfect example. He made perfect choices, starting with the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve made the wrong choice in choosing the tree of knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of life. He, when He came here, always made the perfect choices.

And if we shed selfishness, we also can help others as He did, because He set an example for us that we should live as He did. This world is too concerned with self-preservation, with self-aggrandizement, with self-gratification. It's not wrong to enjoy things, but are you doing it in the way the world does it, or the way Christ would do it? Christ undoubtedly enjoyed life. It would have been fun, in so many ways, to be with Him. In a few other ways, being able to read your thoughts might have been awkward at times for all of us, because we all have thoughts we just keep to ourselves. And it wouldn't last very long if you had someone who could read every thought you had, because you'd always be being corrected. Which is probably a good thing, but not necessarily what we enjoy. Most people don't enjoy correction. But we have to develop the humility that Christ showed us, and the meekness. And true humility leads to righteousness.

And we need to help other people. If Christ set an example, and He lived His life for us, then we should live our lives for someone else. For God, of course, who gave us life, but also for our fellow men, especially our fellow Christians, to run interference with weaker people, to be able to set examples. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10, if you would, to start the sermon today. It's not easy. Israel was a rebellious nation, even though it started out with Abraham, who was a man of faith, obviously, close to God. But it's interesting, in 1 Corinthians 10, God gives us a promise that He's not going to desert us, but He's going to test us and do things to us to make us like Him.

1 Corinthians 10, verse 1, it says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant. If you don't read this book, you are ignorant, obviously. How that our fathers were under a cloud, and all passed through the sea. And they were baptized into Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea, and that eat the same spiritual meat. And did drink of that same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

Of course, Christ was the God of the Old Testament. He was talking to people, and it's amazing how many people they loved of Christ, because He's so loving. But that God of the Old Testament, He was just so bad, you don't realize it was the same person.

And it says, With many of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples, examples of how they lived as judgment, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted.

Look at all the things that they did.

Verse 7, Neither be idolaters, some of them were. This was written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. There's nothing wrong with eating and drinking. We're all going to enjoy that this evening. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Of course, that's one of the commandments. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

Again, Paul writing, they were tempting Christ, even though Christ had not been born yet back at that time. But he was the God of the Old Testament. Neither murmured you, as some of them murmured and were destroyed.

Verse 11, The scripture I've always liked. Now, all these things happened to them, for examples. We're to read those and understand what they did, what they did right, and what they did wrong.

And they are written for our admonition, Upon whom the end of the world are come, An urgency.

Because when you finish your life, that is the end of the world for you. And we know the rest of the world is about to come to a climax here in the next few years. Because six thousand years are about up, and mankind is ready to destroy himself.

Wherefore, let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. Verse 13, There is no temptation taken of you, but put such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

I always thank God for this scripture, because there have been a lot of trials and tests in my life that I have seen ever since I was a little kid, going through and being close to the church, because it seems like that's where Satan is always attacking, is inside the church. And the fact that he doesn't tempt you beyond what you are able. Some people, I just can't bear it anymore. Not if you are going through it, you can bear it. God will help you bear it.

And so when you realize that, you think, okay, it can't be that tough. I can get through this. I can make it. I can do it. With God's help.

Sometimes it doesn't look that good for the home team, when you are going through these things.

And he finishes in verse 14, Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee idolatry. Why this statement, flee idolatry? He's talking about these other sins and things. Because anything that gets in the way of your obedience to God is indeed idolatry. Anything. Because when Christ gave the two great commands, love God, love your neighbor. Anything that gets in the way of God is indeed idolatry.

Ahead of us are many challenges that we'll have yet to face, as the world draws close to its conclusion. And we can be deceived. Matthew 24 tells us that. When Jesus told them, He said, Take heed that no man deceives you. Matthew 24, talking about the prophecy that is going to come. Matthew 24, 15, it says, When you see the abomination of desolation, Spoken up by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, You shall let him read, let him understand.

Christ's pro to Daniel. Daniel is a great example in the Old Testament. When you think about Daniel and what he went through, you've got to ask yourself, How was Daniel made? How was he what he was? What brought him close to God?

Of course, we read Matthew 24, 21, Then shall be great tribulations. Such as never was, Not then or since, The beginning of the world of this time, Or ever shall be. That's something that we, that are younger, probably, May face in our lifetime. A time with the weakest of people facing the worst tribulation. Of course, Daniel spoke of that as well. How will we handle the events yet to come?

How will we do it? Will we be deceived? Will we give in to the difficulties that are ahead of us? Or will we stand strong? We're told to come out of Babylon, To not be partakers of our sins. So is that in Revelation?

Since we're to look at these examples, I'd like to look at some examples in the Old Testament today. I want to go back to the story of the time around Nebuchadnezzar's time when Babylon was rising to preeminence, time when Israel had been taken into captivity already, and Judah was facing difficulties.

Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom became a world-ruling empire. It conquered all the known world.

And it came at a time when most of the world had been torn upside down by so many different things. Nebuchadnezzar had 43 years of the 70 years of Babylon's reign as a world-ruling empire. He had defeated the fiercest of enemies during his lifetime. He had defeated the ruthless Assyrian empire, which was known for its evil.

That empire had conquered Israel and tried to conquer Judah. About 120 years before the Nebuchadnezzar reign, though, Hezekiah had reigned, and he was told that Babylon would come and take. It was prophesied.

And now it was coming around 605 BC when Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the Egyptians, whom Judah had paid to ally with them.

Judah had aligned itself with Egypt, thinking that they could protect them.

And in reality, the only person or the only being that can protect you is God. But yet mankind, when it seeks its own way, goes different directions. And I'd like to set the stage for this period for Daniel. And I may start in an unlikely place if we're talking about making a Daniel, but I'd like to look at 2 Kings 22. Turn there, if you would.

I'm going to start with the reign of Josiah.

That's a considerable time before Daniel. In 2 Kings 22, we read about Josiah starting his reign at 8 years old.

And he was most likely talked by one of the few priests at that time who still was recognized by God. Of course, Josiah was left over because that queen, Apheliah, who was trying to reign, was killing all the children of the king, and Josiah was taken out. And it's interesting, we look at Josiah and how many people in the young age sometimes follow God more righteously than those that are older.

And it was interesting during his time what Israel found and learned. In 2 Kings 22, verse 1, it says, Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.

Verse 2, he did that which was right in the sight of the Eternal, and walked in all the ways of David his father, or his grandfather or ancestor, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. Good comment to say about Josiah.

And it came to pass in the 18th year of King Josiah, after he had reigned 10 years, and was already trying to turn to God because of what he had been taught, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshulim, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hechiah the priest, that he may count the silver which is brought into the house of the Eternal, which the keeper of the doors have gathered to the people. He was collecting, they were collecting offerings and things of the temple. And he said, Let them deliver it to the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Eternal, and let them give it to the doers of the work, which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house, because they had been torn down. They had used that money to do the wrong things.

Verse 7, it says, How be it? There was no reckoning made of them with the money that was delivered into their hands, because they dealt faithfully. Interesting what you have to do in a faithful society. You don't have to have accountants, and lawyers, and auditors, and all that stuff. They were faithful.

And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hechiah the priest has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read the book before the king in verse 10.

Verse 11, It came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes. Why did he do that? The book of law is a good book.

The king commanded Hechiah the priest, and Ahichom the son of Shaphan, and Achor the son of M'chai, and Shaphan the scribe, and Aschiah the servant of the king, saying, verse 13, Go inquire the Lord after me, for the people, for all of Judah, concerning these words of this book which is found, for great is the wrath of the Lord who has kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book. He recognized that the land and the gods and the altars and things that were there were not according to the book, according to that which was written concerning us. And he saw the plagues that God had described in the book on those when he said, Choose life and choose death. So the king was concerned. He sent and asked, inquire to the Lord, What should happen? Second Kings 23. The king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah out of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Eternal, and all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the words of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before God to walk after the Eternal, to keep his commandments and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all their heart, with all their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to this covenant. They said, we're going to follow God. We recognize the fact that we've been wrong, like a repentance, repenting for their forefathers and their ancestors. Verse 19, And all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, not just in Judea, but up in Samaria, up in the north. And he did to them according to all the acts he had done in Bethel. And he slew the priests of the high places that were upon the altars, and burned men bones upon them, and then returned to Jerusalem. He recognized that Israel had been taken captive because of those places, and he wanted to make sure he destroyed them, that he had taken those out of his life. And he commanded the people, saying, Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. They hadn't been keeping it. He'd been on the throne for 10 years before they found the book. They hadn't been keeping any of the feasts. They didn't know about them. And surely there was not held, verse 22, a Passover from the days of the judges, the judge Israel, nor in the days of the kings of Israel, nor in all the kings of Judah.

He was celebrating. He found that great pearl of great price, the book of the law.

And he was celebrating with the people. And it was interesting. Verse 23, but the eighteenth year of Josiah, wherein the Passover was held to the Lord in Jerusalem. The works, it says, verse 24, more were the workers with familiar spirits, those who dealt in witchcraft or whatever, the wizards, the images, the idols, all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah. And in Jerusalem did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that He will carry the priests found in the house of the eternal. And like to him, there was no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with his might according to the law of Moses. And neither after him rose any like him. A young man who came to the throne at eight years old, who with the training he had, because he was hidden away and that was the priest that hid him, was taught to reverence God. And even though there was so much evil in the land, he repented and changed that. But it didn't last. It didn't last at all. Verse 31 of 2 Kings 23, Jehoshua was 23 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Verse 32, he did that which was evil on the side of the Lord according to all that his fathers. Sadly, the fathers before that. And Pharaonech, 2 Kings 23, 33, and Vida put him in bands in Riba in the land of Haema that he might not reign in Jerusalem. And he put a tribute to the land, a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. That's typical when they were taken over and didn't serve God. God let them go.

And Pharaonech made alike him, the son of Josiah, in the room of Josiah's father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. So thus began the reign of kings after Josiah, who just had short terms because he didn't turn to God. And Israel and Judah, Israel being captive, but Judah now was being looted again.

And they kept changing the guard. Verse 36, Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Zabudah, and the daughter of Paddiah, Aruma. And again, he did that which was evil on the side of the Lord according to what his father had done. It was interesting. A few kings after Josiah, a few short reigns, and they went back to the evil. It's so easy to return to those things if you don't stay close to God.

And now it was time for the prophecies that Hezekiah had had when he showed the treasures of Judah to the Babylonians who visited. And Isaiah had asked him, well, what did you show him? He said everything, and he said, well, the Babylon's going to take everything, and it's time for those prophecies to come to pass. Babylon was going to satially seize the Jerusalem in a series of three separate warfares from 604 to 585 BC, and the final conquest saw evil king Zedekiah taken captive, the final king of that time period. Nebuchadnezzar was ruthless if you crossed him, and Zedekiah had crossed him. He tried to fight back and make Judah independent again.

And he made examples of people that dealt treacherously, that didn't serve him, as they had agreed. And in his case, he took the sons of Zedekiah, he lined them up, and he killed them all while Zedekiah was watching. And then he took and put the eyes out of Zedekiah, so the last thing he would see would be his children dying.

Notice how ruthless he was. A very ruthless man, full of superlatives. Everything in his life, it seemed, of Nebuchadnezzar had to be the biggest and the best. He had to be in control of everything.

It was interesting. Like I said, he had destroyed Assyria, the great empire before him. He had destroyed Tyre, and Moab, and Ammon, and Egypt, and Israel, and Judah, and Egypt. There was no real army left for Nebuchadnezzar to fight against in that time period. In inscriptions and documents and letters written during the 23-year reign of Nebuchadnezzar, it gives you an idea of the power and wealth of Babylon. So if you want to turn to Herodotus, which you don't have in your Bible, he wrote it this time. I'll have to read some of the things he said. He was a historian who documented the Babylonian empire. He talks about it in book one of page 178, 186, and Herodotus' writings about Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. Again, to set the stage of what Daniel was being pulled into, because he was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and brought to Babylon. Herodotus writes, the city was in the form of a square, 14 miles on each side and of enormous magnitude. So the city itself was 196 square miles. That's pretty big when you think about how far that is.

The brick wall was 56 miles long, going around the city, 300 feet high, 25 feet thick. Pretty formidable. They had chariot races, Herodotus writes, on the walls of Babylon. It was wide enough and long enough they raced on those walls. Behind this first wall, 75 feet behind it, was another wall. That wall extended 35 feet below ground. So even if you tried to dig under it, you'd have a difficult time. He says there were 250 towers that were 450 feet high. That's one and a half football fields high, the towers around that thing, so they could see anything coming from far around. He writes that outside the main wall was a wide and deep moat that encircled the city. As if the wall wasn't big enough and high enough and strong enough, on the inner wall, they put a moat around the city. They held boat races in the moat. It was filled with water from the Eurysprates River, which flowed directly through the middle of the city.

To enter the city, there were ferry boats and draw bridges. One of those bridges was a half-mile long coming into the city. And the gates were closed at night to protect the city. Of course, the hanging gardens of Babylon were known as one of the great wonders of the ancient world. It was watered by a series of hydraulics, engineering feats that weren't matched again. Probably until the 19th and 20th century. It was interesting how much knowledge was there in Babylon, humanly. There were eight massive gates that led to the city, with a hundred smaller brass gates, each weighing tons. Herodos writes, the streets of Babylon were paid with stone slabs three feet square. Not like the little red bricks we see in some of our roads, but they're like little teeth. They go down in. These were three feet by three feet by three feet. Giant blocks that made the roads pretty solid. Probably better than some of our freeways today, I would imagine.

So there were great ziggurat towers, and there were 53 temples, including the great temple of Marduk. And there were 180 altars to Ishtar in the city. So there was a solid gold image of Baal and a golden table, both weighing over 50,000 pounds. Solid gold. He said there were two solid gold lions and a solid gold human figure 18 feet high coming into the city. Nebuchadnezzar's palace was considered the most magnificent building ever erected on earth. This is what Daniel and the captives of Judah were brought into. You can imagine their eyes getting big as they approached from miles away and saw the giant walls looming up ahead of them. And the towers, one and a half football, feels high. The pure splendor and wealth. And as they approached, seeing the bridges and the moat and the river and the gates being hauled through the city, the altars, the gold, the images, so much splendor and wealth, with a king that didn't want to take no for an answer from anyone.

How would Daniel remain unleavened, remain sin free in the city as a captive? What would God, what made him do the things he did for God? You'd think he'd be overcome with the surroundings.

Daniel was interesting. Turn to Daniel 1, if you would. We're going to look at this story.

Because that was what Daniel was brought into. Now, it's interesting if you go back and look at how old Daniel was. He was a young man when he was taken, probably 17, 18 years old. He was probably born about the time of the end of Josiah's reign. Josiah, who had found the book of law, who had reestablished God's Word. He was most likely trained by one of the honorable priests that Josiah had had in the temple, one who was not held accountable because of their honesty.

Without Josiah's restoration, there probably would have not been a Daniel. He wouldn't have known about God's laws. He had probably heard of the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar and the atrocities as they approached Judah. He most likely knew or knew Jeremiah because Jeremiah had more on the death of Josiah. Daniel, because he was trained in the temple, a man of learning, had probably read the scrolls. He certainly read the book of law because he had been found and probably copied more and more at that time. And Daniel probably had the examples in that book that he read in the other scrolls, the story of Ruth, the story of Gideon, the story of Samson, and various things because of Josiah. If there had not been a Josiah, there probably wouldn't have been a Daniel. In Daniel 1, verse 4, 1-4, it talks about him taking the best. You know, Nebuchadnezzar had done conquests all over the known world, and he had taken the brightest and the greatest of the world to Babylon because he wanted it to be a city, renowned, unknown.

It was interesting. Daniel was considered a young man to be trained, that Nebuchadnezzar would want. And so we look at Daniel, in verse 4, and we see that Daniel and his friends refused to take of the delicacies that the king had offered, the royalties, the riches.

Verse 4, it says, The children, to whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding, science, and such as God, had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and to whom they might teach the learning of the tongue of the Chaldeans. So these Hebrews were being taught the Chaldean language.

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them for three years, and at the end of that they might stand before the king. So they was going to take care of them, teach them Chaldean language, take care of them for three years.

And it says, among them, verse 6, were the children of Judah, Daniel, Hennoniah, Mishael, and Azariah. And then to them were given new names. Oftentimes when people were taken captive, they were moved and relocated and given names, anything to take their identity away, so that they wouldn't want to go back to what they were, because they were trying to groom them or something else. And so we learned their names. Daniel was built of Shazar, and had an Iowa Shadrach, Mishael, Meshach, and Azariah, a vetan ago. Different names. But Daniel purposed in his heart, verse 8, that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat.

And I'm sure those delicacies and dainties that they had were good to look at. And everybody else, I'm sure, was eating them, certainly the other nations that he had captured. And they weren't alone as young men. There were other people from Assyria and Moab and Eden and others there at the same time. But he requested that the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself with the unclean things, especially. It says, verse 9, God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. So God helps. If you want to do what's right, He'll help you.

And Daniel certainly did. But the eunuch was afraid. And it's often that way when you ask someone to do something that's a little bit out of the norm, and obeying and serving. And we're going to start with different kings when you're asking about protocol and things, and you're asking them to do something out of the norm. They don't really like to do it. They don't know how the king will handle it. And I'm sure in Daniel's case, in the eunuch's case, because of Nebuchadnezzar and the ruthlessness that he had, I mean, when you're killing a king and killing his sons and putting his eyes out before the last thing he sees, and when you're doing all the things that he did to conquer the other nations, you didn't want to offend that guy. And so the eunuch was there in verse 10. He said, I fear my Lord the king, who has appointed your meat and your drink. For why should be seen if your faces are worse than the others? You know, if you look skinny and everybody else looks fat and healthy, I'm going to be the one that loses my head, and you'll endanger my head to the king. He just pleased the king. He lost your head.

And Daniel said, prove us. Give us this for a few weeks for time and look on our countenance, and if we're not healthy, then we'll do it. But if you don't see us unhealthy, then let us go. It was interesting to see he and his friends and the power of friendship in choosing your friends carefully how it works, how it can help. And so, of course, we found out that these four men, not only were they healthier than the others and looked good, they also, it says, God gave them knowledge and skill and learning and wisdom so that they would rise up and be recognized by the king and given different positions among them.

It says in verse 19, that the king communed with them, and among them all was found none like Daniel, Haddaniah, Michelle, and Azariah, therefore they stood before the king. Three young men, probably in their 20s by this time, early 20s, could find no one like them. Why? Because they followed God. And how did they do that? Because Josiah stood up for God and found the book of Allah and reintroduced it.

And now here they were in Babylon, in Judah, in the prosperity and enjoying keeping the law in the way Jerusalem had done under Josiah, but in the king's quarters in Babylon, that they had to try to keep God's law. And it was difficult, I'm sure.

Do we look at it the way they do? Daniel 2, of course, tells of the dream that the king had.

And he calls for all the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers about this dream. Anybody. And none of them knew what the dream was about. And I'm sure that they didn't want to come before the king because you didn't say no to King Nebuchadnezzar without losing your head. You didn't keep him waiting. In verse 4, they answered, Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac. O king, live forever! Flattery, flattery, flattery. Tell your servants the dream and we'll show you the interpretation. Ah, it's a cop-out. Anybody can create a dream and make it up. Easy to do that.

And you make it so that whatever you tell him is going to happen happens after his death. You don't have to worry about him killing you for it. King recognized this. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, This thing is gone for me. If you will not make it known to me, the dream, with the interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces and your howlers shall be made at donegill. Oh my, we've got a problem now, don't we? But if you show the dream and the interpretation thereof, you shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the dream and the interpretation thereof. Wow, would they love to have that? Problem, though. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream and we'll show the interpretation. The king said, No, I know of a certainty that you would gain that time because you see the thing has gone from me. You want to gain some time, you want to buy some time, you want to do these things, you want me to tell you what it is, then you can create the reason. I'm not doing that. Verse 9, But if you will not make the dream known to me, but there is one decree for you, for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, time, till the time be changed. Therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me the interpretation. If you tell me the dream, if you can come up with a dream, I know you'll interpret it right. If you can't, you're in trouble. And they knew that. And they answered the king. Verse 10, There is not a man on earth that can show the king this matter.

Therefore, there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asks such thing of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. No one has ever asked us anything like that before because no one can do it. Is that true? It's a rare thing that the king requires this, and there is none other that can show this except the gods whose dwelling is not with the flesh. We've got our idols down here, our 18-foot statue of gold, but it's not telling us anything. And the king, what did he say? Remember, I say he's a man of superlatives. For this cause, the king was angry and very furious. He was always very whatever he was. And he commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Oh, now who are the wise men of Babylon? Ooh, he got Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Ben-Diggo. They are well known for their wisdom, right? Uh-oh. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain. So they sought out Daniel and his fellows to be slain. And Daniel answered with the council and the wisdom to Ariach the king and said, please go back to the king. He said, why are you so hasty?

And so Ariach made the thing known to Daniel as why the king was very, very angry and he was going to kill you all. And Daniel went into the king that he would give him time and he would show the king the interpretation. Daniel didn't really know if God was going to do that, but he just told him, give me time. He trusted God enough to know, hey, God will tell me I can tell the king and if he doesn't, I'm going to die anyway. So the interpretation was there. It probably wasn't very pleasant to go before the king in his anger. And Daniel went, as he always did, and prayed.

Stay close to God because he had read the book of the law. He had been trained that, and the secret was revealed to him. In verse 19, you read about that. Daniel went to the right place. He went to God, which is where we all have to do for any problem we have. Not just if we're going to be killed, but whatever problem you're going through. It was interesting because, and we've read the story, I'm not going to read the whole story of the image, because Daniel told him the head of gold and the arms and chest of silver and the belly and thighs of brass and the iron feet and the clay. And he answered it, told him what the dream was, and he interpreted it.

And like the king said, he knew the interpretation was right, because if you can tell someone their dream, then you can probably, obviously, give them the interpretation. And I'm sure the king remembered his dream when he said it. He knew that's what it was. And it was good for him, because he was the head of gold, and it was nice. And he gave his answer in the presence of the king. Nebuchadnezzar's response is in verse 46. Verse 46, Daniel 2, Then the king, Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshiped Daniel, and commanded they should offer an oblation and sweet odors to him. And the king answered unto Daniel, and said of a truth it is, that your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and the revealer of secrets, seeing you could reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Interesting. So young, and yet to do this, obviously brought jealousies against him from the other people, who were older and the astrologists and magicians. After all, they had just told the king, no one can do it. Now this guy did. What happens if you're not humble and not meek? What happens when someone does something you say can't be done? Makes you look bad. It brought problems, but never can desert-recognize God. And Daniel requested the king that he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province. And Daniel sat in the gate of the king. That's where he was, this great city with its walls, its chariot races, and all the pagan gods, all the riches of the world, the knowledge. And with that knowledge, I'm sure he had access to all the books and all the knowledge of the known world at that time that Nebuchadnezzar had collected.

Do we say things can't be done, or do we go to God like Daniel?

A lot of times people think it can't be done. And you try to find it. It's interesting, Mr. Armstrong, once, the last six months of his life, I read to him a lot because he couldn't see and couldn't go outside because of his health, and his red blood count was low, and his immune system was down. It was interesting. He asked me to find something for him, and he said, I want you to find something that Jesus said something to someone about something. And would you find that for me? That's pretty broad order. And I thought about Daniel thinking, okay, I'm trying to figure out what he thought that he thought he wanted to know, or Christ said something to someone about something. And that's an impossible task. But I didn't say that. I just started reading Matthew, and I told him, you have to be a little more specific. You want me to look it up. And he said, well, just read Matthew. And we read Matthew, and then we read Mark, and then we read Luke, and then we read John. Well, maybe it was something Paul said. So we read Acts and Romans, and we read the whole New Testament at the time we were done.

I figured he probably just didn't want me to hear the Bible and didn't want to ask me to read the whole thing. But it was interesting. It can be done. He forgot the question at the time we were done because he didn't ever come up with what it was that somebody said to something about someone, but we did enjoy reading the New Testament. It was interesting because in Daniel 3 we face another challenge. It's interesting because in this chapter Nebuchadnezzar, who Daniel, your God, is the only God, he's the only one, he's the king of kings, he's the Lord of kings, he's everything. All of a sudden, what does Nebuchadnezzar do? He makes a giant image of gold, verse 1. Three score cubits, 60-some, 70, 80 feet high. The breadth of six cubits, set it up in the plains.

And he makes a decree. And it's interesting when he dedicates this image.

And it could have been similar to the image that Herodotus talked about.

But he tells them and commands the people, verse 5, that when you hear the sound of the corner of the flute, the harp, the sacraments, the sultry, the dulcimer, all the kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, has set up.

And if you don't fall down and worship it, verse 6, the same shall be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Therefore, at that time when the people heard the sound, they all fell down and worshiped, because he would throw them in the fiery furnace. They all knew that. It was interesting.

I wonder if he was set up for this decree. Because again, there were jealousies, like I said before. Verse 8, it says, wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews and spoke to them, the king, saying, Oh, king, live forever. And you gave this decree that everyone should bow down and that you should worship that image. And we've got these men here that aren't doing it. And you're the king. They're not honoring you. And Nebuchadnezzar, the same one who told Daniel, yep, your God is the only God. But he now asked people to worship his image. He got upset. And when he found out that it was Chatea and Meshach and Abednego, he wanted to give them another chance, because he liked these three young men. They were friends of Daniel. Daniel must have been off somewhere at this time, so he was probably out of the city. But Chatea and Meshach and Abednego are famous for their answer. Verse 16, Chatea and Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer this matter.

Everybody else in the city was shaking their boots if they wouldn't have done it. But they're not careful. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. We won't do it. God will deliver us, either now or with salvation in the future. And if he kills us, it still doesn't change who's God. We have to come to that point ourselves where we choose right, no matter what the consequences are. And then our superlative Nebuchadnezzar again. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury. He was very, very upset again, as always. And his form changed. His vision was changed. He was importuning them to, you know, go ahead and do it now. You didn't hear it. Let me, come on, do something here. We'll be okay. And they said, no way, king. And he's really upset with him, as he always was. And he commanded the furnace be seven times more than it would needed to be heated. Again, burning you up isn't hot enough. You want it so hot that you just kind of be incinerated when you threw in there. And so he ordered them the fire furnace. The minutes you read, you find out that the men who carried them up to throw them in, the fire jumped out and scorched them and killed them. But it didn't kill Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And once again, this king Nebuchadnezzar had to face himself and face God again. You think he would learn?

Always full of fury. And it's interesting, verse 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spoke and said, didn't we throw three men bound into the fire? And they said, oh yes, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth was like the Son of God. It's amazing how evil is always surprised when God protects good people. Wow! Amazing! Because they only understand strength. God has got a strength. When God delivers, they're always surprised because they don't really believe in God. But then when He proves it, they've got to, okay, there's something I better watch out here. Sad. And oftentimes, that's how people react when they should be obeying God all the time. And Nebuchadnezzar had already been witness with Daniel. Now he's witness here. And again, he humbers himself, but he can't really get it. He doesn't see it, unfortunately. Verse 28, though, he blesses God until Nebuchadnezzar spoke, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's words, and yielded their bodies that they might not serve or worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language that speaks anything amiss against their God shall be cut off in pieces, and their houses made a dunghill. He really liked that term, didn't he? Because there's no other God that can deliver this sword. He wanted to make sure you were down the manure with everything else. Yeah, no other God. So anybody says anything bad about them, we'll take care of them now. He figured it out a little bit against the relative. If anybody goes against this God. And then Daniel 4, once again, we have another dream, a great tree.

It was interesting. Verse 24, I'm going to drop down to there, Daniel 4. It says, Whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass and the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts into the field till seven times pass over him.

What was the dream again? Daniel didn't want to interpret this one. It wasn't good news. This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come to my lord the king. They shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you to eat grass as the oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, seven years, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will. He was going to be cut down. But where else they have commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, your kingdom shall surely come back to you after you have known that the heavens rule. It was interesting, because Nebuchadnezzar had gone up and looked at how great a place he lived. Let's go back to verse 1 of chapter 4 and see what he had done that brought this on. Nebuchadnezzar the king, and to all the people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to show you the signs and wonders the high God has wrought toward you. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders!

They are wonderful. He's going to show what will happen. How great are the signs!

Nebuchadnezzar in verse 4 was arrested in my house and flourishing in my palace, and I saw the dream that made me afraid.

He saw all these things, and it scared him. But he was always out looking at his walls, in his city, in his gardens, the magnificent things he has done.

And pride entered in. This often does.

So Nebuchadnezzar was going to have something happen to him.

Verse 27, chapter 4, King, let my counsel be acceptable to you, break off the sins by righteousness, that your iniquity is by showing mercy to the poor, that it may be unlinked of your tranquility. Daniel had no doubt read about Hezekiah, and I got to give it him extra years, and other people that had changed and repented. He wanted Nebuchadnezzar to do this. But Nebuchadnezzar didn't look that way. Verse 29, at the end of 12 months, he had forgotten the dream, perhaps that even affected him for a while, after reviewing the dream that Daniel had given, and Chadamishat and Abednego, and the furnace. But time goes by, and as it happened, 12 months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. Verse 30, the king spoke and said, "'Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of my kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?'" Not too self-centered there, was he?

"'And while the word was in the king's mouth, their fellow voice from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from you.'" And at that point, God apparently withdrew the spirited man that he had, and he became like an animal in the field. And he was still king, but out with the oxen, out grazing in the grass.

It was sad.

And so, it's because he'd forgotten what God had done. God, are we like Nebuchadnezzar? Do we acknowledge God after we do something, when a great dream is revealed, or when men are saved by God? Or do we like Daniel? Do we stay close to God throughout our entire life? Do we acknowledge our sin and stay humble?

Or do we, like Nebuchadnezzar, after 10, 12 months go by, oh, nothing's happened and haven't thought about it? It was interesting because Daniel faced that. And Nebuchadnezzar, who was brought back after seven years, he says his reason returned to him, verse 36 of Daniel 4, verse 37, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. All those works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Last thing he remembers doing was talking about my kingdom and my government and my Babylon and my, my, my. And now he realizes that that was pride. Didn't seem to change him because like father, like son. Daniel chapter 5, it's interesting because it says, The king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before them. So now we have the story of the handwriting on the wall. And Daniel's still there, still trying to help Babylon, serving faithfully. But it was interesting.

Belshazzar, of course, what he does, he orders the vessels that were brought from the temple in Jerusalem to drink out of them. And he calls his feasts and wine and marimaht and all these things, and he has those, and all of a sudden a finger comes out and writes on the wall.

And it writes, Mene Mene, tekul yufarsim, your kingdom is numbered, you're found wanting. Verse 22, Daniel says the same thing again about being humble to Belshazzar. You've not humbled yourself in your heart, though you knew all these things of your father.

Verse 23, But you've lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven, and you've brought the vessels of the house before you. You and your lords and your wives and your concubines have drunk wine in them. And you have praised the gods of silver and the gods of gold and of brass and iron and wood and stone, which don't see and don't hear, and they don't know anything, and the God in whom your hands your breath is, and who are all your ways.

You've not glorified the God, the only God. And this is why the hand was sent from him, and it's written. Verse 25, this is the meaning that was written. Meenie, meenie, tikka, you farsome. This is the interpretation again.

Eudaniel, God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. You tikka, you are weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perez, thy kingdom is divided, given to the Medes and the Persians. You're going to lose your empire. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made him a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

They're always trying to reward people with gold and riches and things. So if you can buy God, people have done that before. It doesn't matter how much wealth you have, it wasn't what he was looking for. That night, Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain. How was he slain? It was interesting if you read the history of Babylon. The Achilles heel of Babylon was pride. They took the city by mechanical means, the Medes and the Persians, because Euphrates went through and the gates where the river went through the city were bronze and heavy, and they went down to the water.

Far enough, that would be difficult for anyone to try to swim under at least with any weapons or swords. But what the Medes and the Persians did is they dug big holes way upriver, and they diverted the water one night of the Euphrates, the night of this feast, because they were under siege. And I'm sure with the walls we described, you know, so high and so wide with chariots and the moat and the second wall and the ziggrets, they were comfortable in their feast that no one could take them.

But the Medes and the Persians diverted the water that night, and all the river water went into these great lakes that they had built, and the moat emptied, and the river was stopped for a time, and the army went under those gates on dry land and took the city. They weren't prepared for that, but it wasn't the water being pulled back that let them conquer. It was pride and arrogance, a tool so often used by Satan. It can be used in all of us if we're not humble and close to God. And so they took the city. Babylon fell, and Daniel, who had been clothed in gold and told to be the next ruler, knew he wasn't going to be because he knew the city was going to be taken.

And Daniel was wise enough, and thankfully the emperors back at those times tended to value wisdom and knowledge. In chapter 6 we read that Darius said over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole kingdom, and over these presidents of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give account to them. The king would have no damage. So Daniel was still a wise man, and Darius used him. But it was interesting because again jealousy came in.

In verse 4, the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find none occasion or fault for as much as he was faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him.

How wonderful for God to be able to say something like that about us. Then they said, we will not find any occasion against Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. So what do you have to do to be obedient to God?

Since you won't do anything else, we'll have to find something that goes against your God, that we can make something up. And so they did. That's what they did. They made a law that they couldn't pray for a certain time. And they tried to make him disobey his God. And again, when the world starts falling apart, they'll probably try to do that to us. If you look at the laws in the land now, how you can't say this, you can't hire that person, you can't... Everything is coming to the fact that you have to be politically correct, even though it's incorrect with God. Those days are coming probably on us. And the story of Daniel could help you, as it's helped me over so much time.

It's interesting, God didn't stop them from making the law.

He doesn't usually choose to deliver us by not letting them test us.

It's over 30 days, there's supposed to be no prayer. In verse 10, Daniel knew it was signed.

It says, When Daniel knew the writing was signed, he went to his house, and his windows being opened in the chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before God, as he had always done before. He didn't change what God expected him to do.

He wasn't worried about disobedience to men. He was worried about God.

It was interesting, though, when they bring Daniel before the king, and the law of the Medes and the Persians can't be changed. It's interesting, in verse 15, when they brought him there, it says, Then these men assembled to the king, and said, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and the Persians is, that no decree or statue which the king established may be changed.

And the king commanded that they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. And the king spake, and said to Daniel, By God, whom you serve continually, he'll deliver you. He didn't want to do this. He was displeased with himself that he made that law.

And he recognized the fact that it was a setup. And I'm sure there are times when we can be set up, and we can maybe say things or do things we don't like. You need to watch what we do and say.

Verse 18, it says, The king went to his palace and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music brought before him, that his sleep went from him. He was very concerned because he knew Daniel was a just man.

He made a decree that actually damaged and would harm a just man.

It was interesting, though.

The king, in verse 19, arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. When he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice to Daniel. He expected Daniel to be dead. Oh, Daniel, why did I do this?

And the king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, server to the living God, is your God whom you serve continually able to deliver you from the lions?

He wanted to be so. And then said, Daniel, king, live forever. My God has sent his angel, and has shut them out the lions, and they have not hurt me. For as much as before him, innocence was found in me, and also before you, O king, have I done no harm.

Nothing I have done was to harm the kingdom of the people, or you, or my God.

The king was exceedingly glad for him and commanded they take Daniel out of the den, and no matter of hurt at all was found on him.

And then he commanded all those who accused Daniel to be thrown in the den. And it says they broke them in pieces before they even hit the ground.

It wasn't because the lions were fully fed that Daniel was saved, because Daniel had a heart toward God. Daniel knew about God. It was interesting.

Chapter 9. We read more about Daniel.

Verse 3, it says, And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and cycloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments. Who does he hear? Those who keep his commandments, and that love him. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. He was praying for Israel, not himself. He hadn't done anything to God.

Neither have we hearkened to the servants of the prophets, which spoke in your name, to our kings and our princes and our fathers. We are in this captivity because we didn't honor you. We are wrong with God because we sin, not because of Him.

He made intercession for the people. He prayed for the sins of the people. We are indeed a nation given to sin in this country. Do we pray for repentance? Do we lay the sin of this country before God?

We should be. Even if we're not sinning, we're not causing it. We're trying to stop it.

But Daniel's attitude toward the king and toward people was made when he was young. A young man, taught by a priest. It was an old priest that was taught through Josiah's obedience.

And Daniel had a background and a basis and a trust and a simple faith in God that he had.

In Daniel 12, he talks about a time of trouble, the same one that Christ spoke of in Matthew 24, a time of trouble that would never be. What lessons do we learn?

It was interesting because Daniel physically may have been in Babylon.

But spiritually, Daniel was always in God's presence. Are we in God's presence continually in prayer before him? No matter where we are, whether we're here in Portsmouth or Peebles or Cincinnati or LA or New York or Rome or anywhere in the world, are we always seeing ourselves in God's presence, looking to him? And what lessons do we learn? Do we worship God in good times?

Only? Or do we worship Him in bad times? Do we recognize that tests may come our way, maybe for Him to prove us, to show that we're willing to be cast in the furnace? We're willing to be throwing the lions down, willing to put our faith in Him and say, yes, God will show me the dream before we even ask Him to give us that. That's the kind of faith that we have to have. It has to be in the front of your mind all the time. Turn with me to Luke chapter 10 and Luke 10 and verse 25. There are men in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. Everybody wanted the prize, eternal life and salvation. Luke 10 and 25, it says, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? I'm being a lawyer, and to make sure legally he did everything right. So make sure I do the letter of the law. It's not about the letter of the law, it's about the mind. And he said to him, Christ answered, what is written in the law? How do you read it? That same law that Josiah had read, the law that Daniel had undoubtedly read. In the library of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel had access to all the books. And I'm sure he read the book of the law that was there. He lived it, he believed it, he practiced it. What did the book say? The man answered, verse 27. He was a lawyer, he knew what was in the book. Verse 27, Christ answered, the man, the lawyer answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your might, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Christ said to him, you've answered right, this do and you shall live. If you truly love God with all your heart and your soul and your might, your physical life really becomes less valuable to you in the sense of what you can do to baby it and take care of it. More valuable to God as you can set an example. People in the Old Testament were examples to us. People in the New Testament are examples to us. We also should be examples to all those around us in living our lives. This do and you shall live. Love God with all your might, love your neighbor with yourself. Daniel did this and lived, and he was who he was because of Josiah, and others are who they were because of the training and understanding that they gained. Daniel loved his God and his people, even Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. He loved the pagan kings that had taken captive his people. God is about love and relationships. Do we have the same love and relationship with God and with each other? We've got a lot of relationships broken. Broken is the result of sin, broken is the result of pride and vanity, broken is the result of a lack of humility. We need to be humble before God and express love in everything we do.

Isaiah 6.6.2 shows who God looks at. It's a memory scripture, which I'm sure you've heard before, memorized. You don't have to turn there. For all those things is my handmaid.

And all those things which have been, says the Eternal, but to this man will I look. To him that is poor and of a contrite spirit trembles at my word. That's who he looks at.

Daniel and his friends fit the scripture. They trembled at God's word, not the decrees of the king, a king who was fearful, who was full of fury, who was very upset, who commanded that they die.

But they never took credit for anything they did.

They had a total trust in God. And even in front of the most magnificent empire and the most ruthless kings, who were arrogant and ruthless in times of great stress, when they were offered the good things of the land, they chose the good things of God. They always resisted and turned down the human rewards for God's gifts, because that was what they valued. And they gave credit to God and always acknowledged God and His power. Daniel, when he did the dream, he says, I didn't do it. There's a God in heaven that does this. Daniel, Shaddar, and Misha didn't say, well, we're going to deliver ourselves, but God will deliver us if He chooses to. He's still God if He doesn't.

And Daniel, the lion's den.

God delivered me. Even Darius saw that when he said, did your God deliver you? Yes, He did. He knew it was God. And they acknowledged God.

They didn't chase money and power and fame. And yet, they had fame and they had power that was given to them by the king. Babylon is gone. Its ruins are with us today. Its greatness in its walls and its city disappeared, basically. There's excavations going on there, but no one living there to speak of. Can we stand up in good times and bad, no matter how powerful the forces against us may be? Or will we compromise? A lot of the Jews that went with Daniel only mentions the four of them. It doesn't talk about the others. They took captive more than four.

You can't afford to compromise. No matter what human power orders, you have no choice but to obey God at all costs. To be honest, sadly, people get scared and people do things. And you do take account for human weakness. You forgive others for it. You think people are lying because of fear? Yeah, they do sometimes. Abraham lied and said his wife was a sister. Others sinned and had to repent before God because we grow in faith and knowledge. We don't have it all when we start. At baptism, you get the seed, like in the sermonette, and it begins to grow. And if you pray to God, it becomes a healthy plant.

And if you stay close to God, it gives you the power through His Spirit to be able to stand up before any Nebuchadnezzar or any Darius or anyone who might challenge you or promise rewards to you if you disobey God. God would deliver you from any Nebuchadnezzar, any evil man, any problem, but He does it in His way. He doesn't do it the way you want it. He's never done it the way I wanted it. I have yet to have God deliver me in the way I wanted. They were all tough tests. They were all basically when you're at the end of your rope and they're about to pull the switch so you can be hung. That's when He breaks in and saves you. Not before. Sometimes it's years. Some things that I saw happening, I've waited years for God to change it. But if you serve Him, He does change it. But if He doesn't change it, you learn a lesson because God's still in charge.

We're brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to keep the Spirit together and help each other. There's Josiah who lived to worship God and taught the priests and brought Israel around. And Daniel is a very young man. He wouldn't have been there without the teachings and the examples of that. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and the other godly men give us an example that we can know that God does deliver. I ask, are we an example for others, for our children, for those who yet to follow us in the future? Will our stories be written for those in the millennium to read? We don't know.

All we know is we have to extol the righteousness of God in times of trouble and in times of good. And in times of good. It doesn't say Daniel went up and prayed because they said, I can't pray, or I better go to God now. He said, the ask was his custom. He was doing it when times were good. If we do the right things when times are easier, it's not so hard to have God close to you.

Why should He be close to you if you don't want to be close to Him?

We understand these men were close to God. We have to stand strong before God, no matter what. If you or I want to help create a Daniel like Josiah, we have to set an example and live a way of life. Teach the young. May your story, my story, all of our stories be one of faith and obedience, an example to others. It has to be that if you want to stand before God. If we stand strong, and we obey God, we also can help make a Daniel. That could be a help to the future of the people and help them to achieve salvation, because they can see God in you and see Christ in you, and we can be like Him.