Thursday, May 29, 2008
"Prophets who through faith . . . shut the mouths of lions" (Hebrews 11:33).
IDEA: God calls us to trust Him in the most difficult circumstances.
PURPOSE: To help listeners trust God when we're in difficulty.
Do you ever watch the Animal Planet channel on television?
Why is it fascinating?
There is a story in the book of Daniel that would make it onto Animal Planet. It is one of the most frightening yet satisfying stories in the Bible. It describes a great victory that even the pagans recognized as supernatural.
Children love the story because it involves conquering wild animals. But the biblical writer tells us the story for more than our amusement.
I. Daniel 6 records the story.
Here is Daniel's story from the New Living Translation:
NARRATOR: Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a prince to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the princes and to watch out for the king's interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and princes. Because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. Then the other administrators and princes began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling his affairs, but they couldn't find anything to criticize. He was faithful and honest and always responsible. So they concluded:
ADMINISTRATORS/PRINCES: Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the requirements of his religion.
NARRATOR: So the administrators and princes went to the king and said,
ADMINISTRATORS/PRINCES: Long live King Darius! We administrators, prefects, princes, advisers, and other officials have unanimously agreed that Your Majesty should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human—except Your Majesty—will be thrown to the lions. And let Your Majesty issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, a law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked.
NARRATOR: So King Darius signed the law. But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. The officials went together to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking for God's help. So they went back to the king and reminded him of his law.
ADMINISTRATORS/PRINCES: Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human—except Your Majesty—will be thrown to the lions?
DARIUS: Yes, that decision stands. It is a law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked.
ADMINISTRATORS/PRINCES: That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is paying no attention to you or your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.
NARRATOR: Hearing this, the king was very angry with himself for signing the law, and he tried to find a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. In the evening the men went together to the king and said,
ADMINISTRATORS/PRINCES: Your Majesty knows that according to the law of the Medes and Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.
NARRATOR: So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him,
DARIUS: May your God, whom you worship continually, rescue you.
NARRATOR: A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel from the lions. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refuses his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night.
Very early the next morning, the king hurried out to the lions' den. When he got there, he called out in anguish:
DARIUS: Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you worship continually, able to rescue you from the lions?
DANIEL: Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.
NARRATOR: The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him because he had trusted in his God. Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped upon them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.
Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:
DARIUS: Peace and prosperity to you! I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.
NARRATOR: So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Both the Old Testament writer and the Hebrews 11 writer underline that it was through faith that the prophet was protected in the den of lions. Clearly it was God who "stopped the mouths of lions."
II. It's easy to miss the fact that this great victory came because the prophet had opposed the power structure in the kingdom.
Every story has the possibility of agony and also the possibility of victory. Every venture that we make by faith also has the same tension. This story doesn't make sense unless there is the possibility that the lions would win and Daniel would lose.
In the early church Christians were fed to the lions and they died. Yet by their death they more an eloquent witness.
III. Within all of these victories there was the possibility of defeat. But within all possibilities of defeat, God can bring about great victories. Both have to be embraced by faith.
Sometimes when we are in peril, God intervenes miraculously. Other times He gives us the strength to deal with the threats against us. In all cases we are called to believe that God is with us for good.