Daniel.

The book of Daniel comes to us from Babylonian exile, a dark and difficult time in Jewish history.  The Israelites were captured and taken to as slaves, the temple in Jerusalem was pillaged and destroyed, families were torn a part, land and livelihoods were lost, cultural and religious practices were threatened.  The first six chapters of Daniel center around four young men taken in the first wave of deportation before the fall of Jerusalem.  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were chosen from among those of noble or royal Judean descent for their physical strength, their intellectual aptitude and their exceptional qualifications. The men were given new names and were trained in the language and literature of Babylon for three years before entering the King's service.  This was a strategic and intentional attempt to annihilate their cultural practices, their worship of Yahweh and indoctrinate them with Babylonian propaganda.  However, this proved to be not so easily done. From the beginning the four young men refused the rich food and drink from the King's table opting instead for a diet of vegetables and water.  Whether it was out of strict observance to mosaic law or their own fear of cozying up too much with the King and forgetting who they really were, they held their ground.  "Test us!" Daniel said,  "Let's see who is healthier and stronger after ten days: those who eat off the Kings table or those who eat this simple diet from the earth."  Well, after ten days the four young men looked so robust and healthy that the King's chief official changed the diet for everyone: vegetables and water it was!  God was with these young men.  Not only did God grant them physical strength but he also gave them incredible capacity for understanding literature and learning.  And to Daniel he gave the ability to understand visions and dreams of all kinds, which won him the admiration of the King but created jealousy and dissension among his colleagues.

You know Daniel's name and remember him best for surviving a night with lions. You might know the other three better by the names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - the three men who were thrown into a fiery furnace for not bowing down to the image of gold that the maniacal King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all his subjects to worship.  Though the were upright men and good servants of the King they remained free from him; he could not gain their full allegiance.  Shaddrach, Meshach and Abednego retained their worship of God.  The King was in rage, his best attempt to control these men had failed. The only thing hotter than his anger was the temperature of the furnace which burned seven times its usual temperature.  It was so hot that the servants who tied the men up and threw them into the fire were killed just by approaching the blazing furnace.

As Nebuchadnezzar looked on, he became puzzled and leapt to his feet in amazement:"Weren't there three men we tied up and threw into the fire?" he asked his advisers. "Certainly, your majesty," they replied. "But, look!" exclaimed Nebuchadnezzar, "I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."Nebuchadnezzar approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted: "Come out! Servants of the Most High God!"

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers gathered around.  They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, not one hair had been singed; their robe was not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. A holy fear of God came upon Nebuchadnezzar and he ordered that no one say anything against the God of these men, for he was unlike any other.  And Nebuchadnezzar promoted all three men in the province of Babylon.

In these times Nebuchadnezzar, and the Kings who followed, relied heavily on Daniel for wisdom and for his interpretation of dreams - there was none like him in all the land.  So Daniel lived his life, an Israelite, in service to governments who had taken his people captive and oppressed them. He was a man in the inner circles, who was always an outsider.  He had a greater allegiance to his God than he did to any ruler of Babylon.  He was a principled man of deep integrity, who was without fault before God and before rulers of Babylon.  In his longing for home, he held fast to God, his true home, instead of settling for the ways of Babylon.

Daniel was by now an older man with great wisdom, experience and growing influence.  When King Darius came to power Daniel had so distinguished himself that the King planned to set him over the whole kingdom.  You can just imagine the jealousy that gripped the men in places of power.  Daniel was an outsider! He was too aloof! He wouldn't join in their games, in the endless amount of plotting and posturing that went on! Even after all these years they could not manipulate him.  They hated him and they wanted to bring him down and yet, they could find no corruption in him, no negligence in him.  "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel, unless it has something to do with the law of his God," they said to one another.  The one thing that they knew Daniel did every day, three times a day, was go to his room, open his window towards Jerusalem, and pray to his God.

So they went before King Darius, they told him how wonderful the King was, how he was the best King that had ever ruled, they swore their allegiance to him and to Babylon.  They buttered him up real good.  Because of their flattering words and because there were so many satraps, rulers, administrators, advisers present in the room at one time, the King listened to them intently. They advised the King that he should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or any human being, other than the King, during the next thirty days should be thrown into the lions' den.  Yes, it might be important to do something like this they reasoned, something to establish the authority of the king, to create some fear of the King in order to keep order in this unwieldy kingdom.  And so it came to be that  a law was made, which could not be repealed.

Daniel heard the law and he knew exactly what had been done.  They wanted him in their hands, they wanted him dead.

The men were so giddy about this coup they had pulled off that they could hardly keep a straight face when they went before the King:

"Oh Your Most Glittering Highness, your law says, does it not, that everyone must pray to you alone, Sire"

"Yes," Said the king.

"Oh, Magisterial Brightness, then correct us if we are wrong but.... it would seem that Daniel is praying to God - NOT TO YOU." 

(Jesus Storybook Bible)

When the King realized what he had done, he was greatly distressed.  He he had been played a fool.  What had been done, had been done.  He went to Daniel with remorse in his heart and said, "May your God whom you serve, always, rescue you."

And with that Daniel was thrown into the lions' den, a hole in the ground, at the bottom of which hungry lions paced about. A stone was placed over the opening of the hole; all Daniel could see were the eyes of the lions glowing in the dark, their golden fur shimmering, teeth glowing white when they opened their mouths.  But, into the dark pit God sent another light, an angel, who closed the mouths of the lions and stayed with Daniel all throughout the night.  

The King did not sleep a wink that night.  He had been tricked, he had dissension in the ranks, and his top official was paying the ultimate price that night.  He knew he had to act.  If Daniel was, by a miracle of his God, saved, what would he do to order his government?  If Daniel perished what would become of this kingdom, with such dishonest, power hungry men advising him? This was a critical moment in his leadership.

When the dawn broke, the king leapt out of bed and ran to the den, he moved the stone that covered the hole.  A silence rose up from the bottom of pit.  "Daniel?" Daniel!" he cried.  "Has your God rescued you?"

"Yes," Daniel shouted, "God sent an angel to close the lions' mouths!" As the sun shone in the king could see Daniel curled up and keeping warm against the body of a lion.

A huge smile broke across the face of King Darius, somehow he knew God would rescue Daniel.  This was too good to be true! This is the God who rescues, the true God. Pray to the God of Daniel, he told his people, "for he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed and his dominion will have no end.  He rescues and he saves; her performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth.  He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."(Daniel 6:26&27)

Daniel who was faithful to God amidst the intense pressure of leadership, the lonliness and the grief of exile showed people in the highest places of power who God really is.  Jesus came to earth to show us Gods very self, he would also suffer pressures of leadership, intense lonliness and misunderstanding and would be away from his true home with God for all his time on earth.  Like, Daniel, Jesus would be blameless before God and others and yet wrongly accused by jealous, threatened, power hungry people who wanted him dead.  Death would not defeat Jesus, God would raise him on the third day and pull off the greatest rescue plan the world has ever known.