Rescued from the Lion’s Den
Living in Babylon: An Exposition of Daniel

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Good to see all of you here this morning. I know a lot of you stayed up late last night and then you had to get up early today, right? You watched a basketball game last night and had to get up early today. But we’re glad to have you here with us this morning as we continue through the book of Daniel.

We’ve entitled this series, “Living in Babylon.” We are in chapter six today. If you’re here for the first time, let me explain to you why we’ve named this series, “Living in Babylon.” It’s because, in the book of Daniel, his friends were citizens of Israel, citizens of Jerusalem. A king named Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem and carried them into exile in Babylon. For these six chapters, we’ve been learning how they lived as exiles in Babylon. Babylon is symbolic of the world system, the world’s government, the world’s religion. And so, when we talk about Babylon, we’re talking about living in the world because His believers as Christians were citizens of heaven. Yet, we still live in this world. And so, as we’re going through Daniel, we’re really asking, “How can we live in this world as citizens of heaven?”

Now, in chapter six, we’re actually in a chapter that’s one of the most well known in the book of Daniel and, perhaps, the most well known, even in the whole Bible. We’re talking about how God rescued Daniel in the lion’s den, how He rescued him from death in the lion’s den. That word, rescue, is an important word in the Bible, wouldn’t you agree? The dictionary defines it as, “to save someone from a dangerous or distressing situation, to save them from danger, to save someone’s life, to come to the aid of, to set free or to deliver deliberate release.” This is what the word, rescue, means. It’s a major theme in the Bible

I wonder, this morning, if you’ve ever needed to be rescued. If you’ve ever been in trouble. Your car has broken down or you were somewhere out of gas and someone came to your rescue. I think all of us probably have a rescue story.

I wonder, this morning, if you’re in need of rescue today because some of you may be here today and you’re in bondage to an addiction and you can’t break it. You can’t get out of it. You need a rescuer. You need someone to help you, to liberate you, to set you free. Others may have been given a life-threatening diagnosis or your marriage is in trouble. As a parent, you’re having difficulty with a teenager. I could go on and on. I need somebody to help me, to set me free, to liberate me and to rescue me.

Today, we’re talking about how our God is able to rescue. In the sixth chapter of Daniel, King Darius learned that God was able to rescue Daniel from the lion’s den. I believe today that we can know that God is able to rescue us from sin and death. How can we know it? How can we know that He is able? As we look at the text today, I think we’ll discover three reasons that we can be confident that our God is able to rescue us. So let’s look at the text today. In chapter six, we have a new king. Last week, it was Belle Shazzer. In the first four weeks, it was Nebuchadnezzar. We’re on a new king now; his name is King Darius. And so, let’s dig in.

Daniel 6:1-28 (ESV) 1 “It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” 6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. 10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.” 14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” 16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. 19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. 24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. 25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. 26 I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” 28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” This is God’s word.

Three reasons God is able to rescue us because:

1. He is the living God.

Because He is the living god . Who is this King Darius? What we’re going to do is we’re going to find the three reasons that our God is able to save from King Darius’ decree. We find his decree in verses 26 and 27. We’ll find our three reasons there from his decree. Who is this King Darius? He is King Darius, the Mede. We found out earlier, in the last verse of chapter five. It says, Daniel 5:31 (ESV) “And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.”

If we were to look in other places outside of the Bible, we wouldn’t find any record of him. That’s always troubling to those who have a low view of scripture; people who say they question the validity of scripture. By the way, Daniel is one of the most challenged books by liberal scholars who question its historicity and whether or not it is valid.

As I said last week, for years and years and years, they said Bell Shazzer was a literary device of whoever wrote Daniel. But then, in 1853, they dug up, in the ruins of Babylon, a cuneiform tablet that actually identified BelShazzar as the crown prince; the firstborn son of Nebuchadnezzar, who had been king before that. And so, they had to eat their words because, it turns out, Belshazzar really is historical, and he wasn’t a literary device.

For those of you that are serious bible study students, you’re going to find that there’s going to be a group of people who question whether Darius existed or not. Here’s what I want to say to you: be careful, because the last crowd that doubted Belshazzar had to eat their words. We just haven’t found it yet, but we will, because every time archaeologists dig something up, it always verifies the Bible . Archaeology is one of the best friends of the Bible. We just haven’t found it yet.

I believe Darius really existed because Daniel said he did. Daniel’s gotten everything else right so far. Now where does that leave us, since we have discounted the possibility that he’s just made it up? Who is this Darius the Mede?

If we look at Daniel, chapter five, verse 31, it says he received the kingdom, which kind of sounds like Cyrus is the Persian king over Darius, who is king of the Medes. Persia has now conquered all this land, including Babylon. Whenever they overthrew Belshazzar, it looks like Cyrus may have left Darius in charge of that portion. Remember how, in chapter five, it said that the Kingdom of Babylon will be divided between the Medes and the Persians? I think, what’s going on here, is Cyrus, King of Persia, is over all. And then, he divides that portion for Darius. That’s why we have this kind of language, “received the kingdom.”

Then in chapter six, verse 28, it says, Daniel 6:28 (ESV) “…during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” This is during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. I believe these are two separate people and Cyrus is over Darius.

And then, we see in chapter nine, (we haven’t gotten there yet) Daniel 9:1 (ESV) “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.” He identifies who Darius’ father was; his name was Ahasuerus; he was a descendant of a Mede. And so, we have this information about Darius. I believe that what we have here is Darius is under Cyrus. He is over that portion of Babylon that was overthrown.

Okay, so that’s who Darius is; he makes a decree. He’s like Nebuchadnezzar. Remember when Nebuchadnezzar made a decree? It went out everywhere, all across his land. I think one of the reasons that God scattered the Jewish people into Babylon in these places is because He had told them , “I want you to be a light to all the peoples to the Gentiles. I want you to spread my name to all the people.” They really hadn’t done it; they kind of turned inward.

Church, we have to be careful about turning inward and not sharing the gospel with the world because God might scatter us. He might send us out if we don’t do it willingly. He wants us to gather the nations.

And so, here they go to Babylon. And now, here’s a Gentile; King Darius. He’s publishing it; He’s declaring it all over the place about his God and how wonderful He is. We see him show here that He is a living God. Look at Verse 26, “I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever.” Why is God able to save? It’s because God is alive. He’s not dead; God is not dead. He’s alive and He’s able to save. Darius makes this decree.

We get our working title for the sermon from verse 20 where Darius had not been able to rescue, he had not been able to save Daniel from the law. And so, he appeals to Daniel’s God. Daniel gets thrown into the lions. It says in Daniel 6:20 (ESV) … “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” He says, I hope your God has been able to deliver you. That’s where we get that God is able; He is able.

How did Daniel get into this fix? What caused this to happen? We go back and we see that in chapter six, God gave him favor with King Nebuchadnezzar. When Daniel was a teenager, he served him all the way into his fifties. And then, he served all the other kings that followed Nebuchadnezzar until he served his grandson, Belshazzar.

By that time, he’s in his late seventies or early eighties. Here he is, serving Darius the Mede He’s coming up on 90. He’s an old man; he’s outlived all of these kings because God has given him a favor along the way. He’s given Daniel favor with Darius. Darius’ best guy is Daniel, he gave Daniel 40 regions, 40 satraps. Daniel’s 40 have outshone the other 80; they are more prosperous. They are more organized; Daniel is the best manager. The word got out that Darius was about to promote Daniel. Darius planned to put him over all 120 “satraps” ( governors, civil administrators). He was going to be second in command to Darius. The word got out . What did they do? They got jealous. They got jealous and so they began to do a “background check” on Daniel. They interviewed friends and family. They checked to see if he had a criminal record. They checked his bank records to see if he had ever declared bankruptcy. They went through it all. They checked everything. They couldn’t find anything wrong with him; everything he touched was gold. He was faithful.

What about his religion? He’s pretty crazy; he’s kind of a fanatic when it comes to his religion. Maybe we can trip him up on that. And so, that was how they conspired. They came to Darius the Mede and they came with a proposal. It’s kind of like chapter two, when Nebuchadnezzar set up that statue with the golden head and all that and the prophecy that Daniel gave him afterwards. It’s kind of like, instead of a fiery furnace, with Shadrach, Meschak and Abednigo, King Nebuchadnezzar orders out of pride. Maybe, King Darius didn’t say yes to this decree out of pride. Follow me for just a second on this.

They came to King Darius and said,for the next thirty days, why don’t we have everybody in the kingdom pray to you? And if they pray otherwise, we’ll throw them in the lion’s den. King Darius signed it, probably thinking, well, I’m the new king and this will be a good test of loyalty to see if the people that I’m now over are actually following me truthfully and faithfully. We really don’t know why he did it. But he signed it .

They conspired. They did this whole thing to get Daniel in a trap. They were also conspiring against King Darius because King Darius had a plan to elevate Daniel. So they go to him and he signs it. This is what happens. And so, Daniel now has been given over to this. They have found a ground of complaint; Darius is overwhelmed by this. He signs this petition and what’s the first thing Daniel does? The first thing he does is he goes to pray. That’s the first thing he does as soon as he hears about it.

The book of Acts says this, Acts 14:15 (ESV) “… we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” This is Paul and Barnabas; they went into the city of Lystra and they preached and some people had been healed. People came to them and said, Barnabus you must be Zeus and this is your sidekick Hermes. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and said, we are not Gods; we are men like you. And we bring you good news that you should turn from those vain things to the living God; to the living God who made heaven and earth.

This is why Daniel is there; to turn Darius and the people of Babylon and the people of the Medes and Persians to the living God. The Book of Psalms says, Psalm 90:2 (ESV) “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

In Daniel 6:26 he said, “for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.” In other words, He’s been alive for eternity, and we can grasp the idea. He’s forever, from today into the future; we can sort of get our minds around that. But this is more problematic for the human mind that he’s he’s been forever alive all the way into the past. In other words, God has no beginning and no end; we have a little bit more trouble with that because we’re trapped within time. But God created time. There’s never been a time when God did not exist. He’s the self-existent One. He’s the forever God.

In Genesis chapter 1, it says He made time, space and matter in the beginning. God in the beginning, that’s a time where God created the heavens. That’s a space word and the earth. That’s a matter where he created everything. He created time. He stands outside of time. He’s the timeless One. He’s eternal. This is what Darius is decreeing.

When I say that God is alive, I have to say, our Jesus is alive. We’re coming up on Easter Sunday; He’s alive. He’s alive. He’s alive. When we pray to our Father through His Son , Jesus, we say He’s alive. We’re not praying to a dead God because He’s alive. He’s the son of God.

Matthew said this, he said in Matthew 16:16 (NKJV) “Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And then, in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (ESV) “… you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” Jesus is able to save. He’s able to rescue you from wherever you are right now because He is alive. Will you trust Him? He’s alive. He’s able to rescue. He’s able to save.

Here’s the second reason that we can trust that our God is able to rescue. It’s because…

2. He is the eternal King.

Look at verse 26 again. We’re still looking at Darius’ decree. Here’s what he learned about Daniel’s God; He says this , “for he is the living God, enduring forever.” And then he says, “his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.” In other words, He’s the King of Kings and his kingdom is eternal. It’s ever so; it’s everlasting.

This is odd for a king to say He’s actually the King over me and He’s the King of all Kings. That’s what Darius is saying. He published it in a decree and sent it out to all peoples. At that point, the Persian empire encompassed all of the Middle East. They had overthrown Egypt. They had overthrown part of what would be modern day Turkey. It was a huge kingdom. They were over there bumping up against the Spartans and the Greeks. (It’s a crazy movie. I don’t necessarily recommend it, but the movie, “The 300,” talks about the story of how the Persians are actually bumping up and attacking the Greeks.)

This is a huge kingdom, and King Darius publishes it throughout. This God is the eternal King, and he talks about it.

Here’s what Daniel is up against. All of his life, he’s been serving foreign kings and he’s been faithful and obedient because the Bible teaches that we are to submit to the authorities that God has placed over us. We are not to be a rebellious people. We’re supposed to be people who are law abiding. We obey the governor, the president, the mayor, the police officer… We are not to be rebellious, unless a law is passed that goes contrary to God’s law. That’s what happened to Daniel. They passed the law in Babylon that made it against the law to pray, except to pray to the King.

It would be like if someone passed a law in America that said, “No prayer in schools.” Can you imagine a thing like that happening? We know that it has; we take prayer out of schools and other things have filled the vacuum. Wouldn’t you agree? A lot of the trouble we have today, I think, is because we took prayer out and other things came rushing in.

They said, “Don’t pray.” Well, to be fair, this was not a particularly long term situation. It was just thirty days. Back there, what the three Hebrew children were facing was public. When the music plays, bow down to the idol that Nebuchadnezzar insists or you’ll get thrown into the fiery furnace. That was public. They made a stand, they got thrown in the fiery furnace, and God rescued them.

Here’s this situation; Daniel’s coming up on 90 years old. Just make it 30 days without praying. Just don’t pray for 30 days. That’s a simple little law, and many of us here would be thinking that you could handle that. You hadn’t prayed for the last 30 days anyway. That’ll be easy. Or you might say, “Well, I’m going to rebel against that law but privately, I’m not gonna tell anybody. I’m going to go into a closet and pray silently and no one will know.

What does Daniel do? He goes straight home, where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. Come on, Daniel. You could at least shut the windows. You went up on the upper deck where the windows are open and everybody around Babylon saw you. Here you are, an 80+ year old man. He got down on his knees and cried out to God. Maybe he’s praying , “God, I don’t know what You want me to do. I’ve always obeyed the king, but I can’t obey this.” You could tell from across the way that he was praying, but he’d always done that because he prayed towards Jerusalem, towards the temple that was torn down. God had said to Solomon, “Whenever people pray according to this place, I’ll answer their prayers.” And so Daniel prayed towards Jerusalem. He’d figured out the direction; he had a window built in this house that went towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he prayed , which was the practice of the Jews all the way up to the time of Jesus, the morning prayers, the midday prayers and the evening prayers.

If you remember, Peter and John were walking up for the midday prayers when they encountered the cripple and the cripple was wanting money. He said, “silver and gold have I none but what I have I give to thee. Rise up and walk.” And he healed the man at the midday prayers.

Daniel was praying in the morning, the midday and the evening, and he never stopped. The conspirators got him and they didn’t have to work hard. They had spies everywhere. They spied that he’s definitely praying; he’s down on his knees in front of that open window again.

Here’s what Daniel decided. My God is king over all areas and His law overrules man’s law. That’s what he decided. He’s not a rebellious man; we already know that about Daniel. He serves faithfully. He obeys the law. He didn’t run out and say, “I’m gonna break this law.” No, he very conscientiously said, “I’m gonna have to break this law; this law I cannot follow. I’ve been obedient, but I cannot follow this particular law.”

Daniel’s decision greatly distressed King Darius. Those conspirators immediately ran to the King and said, “Didn’t you pass a law that said everybody must pray to you?” “Yes, I did.” The law couldn’t be revoked. By the way, Daniel, (the one who was an exile from Judah) do you see that over in verse 13? That’s a prejudice comment; it shows their jealousy. They belittled Daniel. “You know, he’s one of those exiles from Judah. That guy. He’s been praying three times a day ever since you passed the decree. We got him.”

But the king didn’t respond the way they had hoped. In verse 14, the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed. He cared about Daniel. He was impressed with Daniel. But he was also distressed because he now saw what they had done. They had conspired against Daniel and Darius, but now the king has locked himself in with the law.

Do you remember that Nebuchadnezzar had the dream and Daniel gave him the prophecy of the golden head, the silver torso, the bronze, the iron legs and then the toes mixed with iron and clay? You need to go back to this. If this is your first time here, you must be wondering, “What kind of preaching is this?” Go back and read it; he said to Nebuchadnezzar that Babylon is the head of gold. But then, he said, and the silver will be the next kingdom. We now know that the next kingdom is the Medes and the Persians. The kingdom will be divided between the Medes and the Persians. So now, we’re in the silver; the arms are here in that prophecy and the differences.

Remember how Nebuchadnezzar gave the law? He could say, “You’re dead. You live. Burn your house down. Build him a new house …” There was no law above Nebuchadnezzar. Whatever he wanted to do, he did.

But now, with the Medes and the Persians, the law, once they signed it, was over the king. So now, the king can’t break the law. The law that he approved now handcuffs him from being able to deliver Daniel. Do you see that? And so, that’s the situation. The king is distressed about it. He labored. It says in verse 14, that he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. He is torn up about it. He can’t figure out how to rescue him. He tried to deliver Daniel. He tried and tried and tried, over and over again.

We have that word, “deliver,” in the chapter 64 times. The word, “rescue,” is in the chapter 62 times. The word, “save,” is in there once. If you put them all together, 127 times, he’s saying “rescue, deliver and save.” Here’s what we notice; he couldn’t do it. Darius couldn’t do it. He couldn’t get him rescued. But what he was not able to do, God was able to do. God was able to rescue him because he’s the King.

It says in 1 Timothy 1:17 (NLT) “All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.” He’s the eternal King. Our God is able.

Now listen to this. Darius was handcuffed by the law. It says in verse 14, “And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.” Early in the morning, they came and said that Daniel prayed all day yesterday. He prayed three times. King Darius is distressed; he tried to rescue Daniel from the law. He worked all day with his legal advisors to try to find a loophole, but could not rescue him. The law could not be “revoked.” They can’t find a loophole that said he could rescue Daniel.

The whole day passes and the conspirators come back in because the Persian law said that once the sentence had been passed, the execution had to take place before sundown. So the clock’s ticking and they come back and say, “Hey, we thought you passed the law because I did. It can’t be revoked.” He goes and calls for Daniel to be thrown into the lion’s den. He couldn’t rescue him and here’s why: The law can’t save.

Here’s what the law does. It tells us that we’re a sinner. It tells us that we’re going to die if we’re not righteous. It lets us know that we’re lawbreakers, but it cannot save us because we can’t keep it. We can’t keep the law.

Look what it says in Romans 8:3 (ESV) “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.” Jesus condemned sin in the flesh what the law could not do. God did what the law could not do. God has done what Darius could not do because the law God did when he rescued Daniel and what we could not set ourselves free from Christ did. He’s the one who’s rescued us. He has been given all authority. He is king.

In the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) “Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” There’s a new King here; it’s Jesus. The Father, when He raised Him from the dead, He says here that He is putting Jesus over everything. Jesus gets the keys to heaven and earth. It’s all His.

Someday, when Jesus comes again in the book of Revelation, it says on His robe and on His thigh, He will have a name written, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Now listen, you can put Nike on your clothes, or you can put all kind of things, but that’s the coolest thing you’ll ever see when you see King Jesus come with “King of Kings and Lord of Lords “ down the side of His robe. He’s the King of Kings. Who do you bow the knee to? Who do you let rule your life? There’s a lot of laws being passed these days that I would have to say go against God’s law. They go against God’s law; I could list some of those but I hope you know what they are. We have to decide what we follow. Babylonian law, the law of man or the law of God. We must decide who is king. Will you trust Jesus as your Lord and King today?

Here’s the third reason that we can trust that our God is able to rescue. It’s because…

3. He is the almighty Savior.

He’s the living God. He’s the eternal King. He’s the almighty Savior.

Look at verse 27. We’re back in Darius’ decree. He’s already said He’s the living God. He said He is the eternal King. And then, in verse 27, three times we get this synonym, deliver, rescue and save. 27 “He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” He’s a Savior. He’s an almighty Savior. He could break the power of the Lions. He has more power than the lions. He’s able to save, and he proved it by saving Daniel.

Let’s think about the “power of the lions.” We think that’s the king of the jungle right there. No one wants to take on a lion. I’m one who has to study things; when did they first come up with the idea of execution by a lion? I’m sorry; that’s how I’m wired. I have to look up things. Then I started looking up way more stuff than I wanted to know. Way back in history, we started executing people by beasts, by elephants and by hooking up people to horses and pulling them apart and having elephants step on them and having lions eat them. Even during the Roman times, during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd century, they made a game of it. When they would, they would put christians in the Roman coliseum and they would release a wild beast to devour them as the people cheered. It was not a pretty thing. I don’t know if the Persians brought it there. There was no list under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar preferred to burn your house down and kill all of your people or in the fiery furnace.

Now, we have this new way of killing people called the lion’s den, and maybe they want to break it in on Daniel by throwing him in the lion’s den. Peter said that Satan was like a lion. He said this in 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

There may be someone here this morning that’s under the power of Satan. He’s consuming your life; he is destroying your marriage. You could lose your kids; he is affecting your health. He is not just some fictitious thing. There really is a Satan. He’s real. There really is evil on planet Earth. He’s an adversary but the almighty Savior has overthrown him. He’s real but God is able through Jesus to save.

Darius comes upon the place. I like reading about Darius. There’s so much emotion here. He must have really cared about Daniel because look at how he spent his night. The last thing he says to Daniel, before he puts him in there, he says, “may your God whom you serve continually deliver you.” And then they threw Daniel in and put the stone over the lion’s den. It says this, 18 “Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.” The king went to his palace and he spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him and sleep fled from him. In other words, he didn’t turn on Netflix; he didn’t eat or call people over. He left all of his wives and concubines. He didn’t call for any of them over from the harem. He didn’t have anybody entertaining him juggling or blowing fire. He had no entertainment that night, as was the normal custom. He couldn’t even sleep.

Have you ever had sleep flee from you, like it’s running away from you? He had a tough night. His night was way worse than Daniel’s. Daniel had a good night because God sent an angel of the Lord over there to Daniel. It has been suggested that, while Darius had sleep fleeing from him, Daniel lay his head on the side of a lion and went to sleep as the cat purred beneath his head. He had a good night’s sleep. Maybe that’s what happened. The angel kept them all calm and their mouths clamped shut. Perhaps, like Paul and Silas, when they were in the Philippi in jail, and they sang hymns until the jail flew open. Perhaps Daniel and the angel got in a chorus and started singing some hymns, and the lions purred along a low bass note.

A fella by the name of Pat Terry, a Christian contemporary musician back in the sixties and seventies, wrote a song about this, and he imagined that Daniel was conducting a choir of lions and they were clapping their big brown paws. I don’t know what Daniel did that night. I’m going to ask him someday when I get to meet him in heaven. “Hey, Daniel. what did you and that angel of the Lord do that night while Darius was sleepless?” It’s kind of like the fourth man over there in the fiery furnace that rescued Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo. I believe it’s the same angel. They’ve been keeping him pretty busy.

What if that angel is the pre-incarnate Christ, What if this is a Christophany, a special appearance of Christ before He came as a baby to the Virgin Mary? What if that is Christ who went down into the pit of the lions and rescued Daniel? What if Daniel had a conversation that night; the both of them lying down with lion pillows? I don’t know. I’m gonna find out one day, but we know that this is what happened whenever Darius went to that pit.

King Darius said, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” And Daniel said, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” And they brought him up out of there. And there was not one mark on him. He may have gotten hurt when they dropped him down in there. He may have sprained his ankle but there was not one mark on that old man.

Now we’re troubled by Middle Eastern justice because when he got Daniel out of there,Darius turned and looked at the conspirators. Oh boy, what have we done? He turned and looked at them and he said, 24 “And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.” We don’t like that; I don’t like that. God’s not saying that that was his justice. That was Persian justice. They had a reason behind it in those days. If you killed somebody, you would kill the whole family because of the law of the Middle East where you had to take vengeance. You had to take revenge. You had to kill them. And so you just wipe them all out so there was no possibility of vengeance. But it’s ugly. Human justice always falls short of God’s justice. I’m not vouching for it, I’m just saying this is Daniel reporting. This is what happened. They were all thrown in.

Some have said, “Well, maybe the lions weren’t hungry. Maybe that’s why they didn’t eat Daniel. Maybe it’s because he was 87 years old. He was tough and they didn’t find him appetizing.” No, because when they dropped those people in after Daniel, the lions leapt up before they even hit the bottom and began to break their bones. It’s graphic, isn’t it? It’s ugly. They were consumed.

Isaiah 43:11 (ESV) ‘I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.” Darius couldn’t save him, but God did. The law couldn’t save him, but God did. Isaiah 60:16 (ESV) “… you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” You shall know that I am the Lord your savior and your redeemer. He is the mightyone of Jacob. God rescued him and our God is able to rescue us today through Jesus his son. That’s who has sent as the almighty Savior to save us because what the law could not do God did by sending Jesus.

We can’t keep the law and the law condemns us because none of us are righteous. Hebrew says this, Hebrews 7:24-25 (NLT) “But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.” That’s from the NLT. The EVS says, Hebrews 7:25 (ESV) “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him…” I like the word, “outermost,” don’t you? That means He can save you no matter where you are, and He can save you completely where there’s not a mark on you. He can save you to the outermost. He can save you. He’s able.

Have you trusted Him as Savior? Have you found your need in Him? Do you recognize that He’s alive today? When you pray to him, He hears you. He’s alive.

As we close this wonderful chapter, chapter six, about how God rescued Daniel from the lion’s den, we can’t move on without making this observation: Throughout the Old Testament, there are Christological types. It’s called a typology; they were throughout the Scriptures so that the Jews would recognize Jesus when He came. And so they put examples of people in the Bible who came close to what the Messiah would look like in order to prepare them for the real thing when He came. That’s called a typology or Christological type.

Let’s compare for a moment the life of Daniel in chapter six to the life of Christ and let us recognize how God wants us to see Jesus. King Darius sought to put the whole kingdom under Daniel. God has put all things under Christ. Officials conspired to have Daniel killed. Jewish leaders conspired to have Jesus killed. The officials could find no fault , and Daniel that the Jewish leaders could find no fault in Jesus. Officials conspired to incriminate Daniel, using his religion as a test of loyalty to Darius. Jewish leaders conspired to incriminate Jesus by claiming that he was disloyal to Rome and wanted to be king. Officials conspired to get Darius to execute Daniel. Jewish officials conspired to get Pilot to execute Jesus. Darius tried to avoid executing Daniel. Pilot tried to avoid executing Jesus. Daniel prayed before his execution. Jesus prayed the night before His execution. Daniel was thrown into the pit of lions to die. Jesus was crucified and His body was put into the tomb. A stone was rolled over the mouth of the den, and the king put his royal seal upon it. A stone was rolled over the mouth of the tomb and Pilot put his royal seal upon it. God sent his angel to rescue Daniel. God raised Jesus from the dead and sent His angel to roll away the stone so the women could witness it. Daniel prospered after his rescue. Jesus prospers and lives today and he lives forever.

He’s the eternal king. He’s the living God. He is the Savior and He’s coming again. What will you do about it? Are you convinced when you recognize Him for who He is? Let’s pray, dear Lord, thank You for this. Thank You for Your word and how it convicts us and moves us to a decision to trust You as our rescuer. I pray for that person right now that the Holy Spirit is stirring their heart and moving them towards a confession like this. You can pray this with me, my friend, right now. It’s not the words so much as your faith that you believe what you’re saying. Pray that with me right where you are, right in your seat. Dear Lord Jesus, I believe that You’re alive. I believe that You died in my place and three days later God raised You from the dead and that You live today. I believe You died for my sins and You’ve been raised to life. Would You come and live in me? Forgive me of my sins. I want you to be my King and my Lord. I want you to be my Savior, to rescue me from sin from death. Make me a child of God. I want to follow you. If you prayed that prayer right now believing in your heart, then God will rescue you. He will save you. He is able through Jesus to do it. Others are here today and needed to be reminded of our God and how we must follow Him. No matter what the laws of Babylon dictate, we must choose whom we will serve. Just as Peter and John said to the Sanhedrin, “Should we obey the laws of man or the laws of God? As for us, we’re going to obey God.” May we be convicted this morning. May we be ones that are certain of who we follow. We pray it now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.