Daniel 6:10-12,16-23
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”
The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.
19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Stand Firm to the End in Unflinching Faith
How do you respond to adversity?
That’s a big question. There are lots of different kinds of adversity. It can be something as simple as a zipper that won’t zip when you’re already 5 minutes behind schedule. Adversity can also be a targeted, malicious attack by someone who actively wants to see you fail. How we respond to either – or anything in between – reveals a lot about who we are as people, but especially who we are as Christians.
Today, we are celebrating the 509th anniversary of the start of the Lutheran Reformation. 509 years ago, Martin Luther faced his own adversity that ranged from thunderstorms and whittling accidents to the most powerful person in the world putting Martin Luther’s face on a “Wanted” poster “Dead or Alive.” How did Martin Luther respond? With a mixture of abject terror, crippling anxiety, and steadfast faith.
Martin Luther had his doubts. He recorded “conversations” he had with the devil where he could practically hear Satan’s voice saying to him, “Are you the only person in the whole world who knows the truth? Is the whole Christian church wrong and Martin Luther alone right?” Luther dealt with his fair share of guilt and fear – guilt over sins he knew should disqualify him from heaven; fear that what he wrote would be taken out of context and abused, that they would put him directly into harm’s way.
But Luther was also able to stand before the Emperor and in the face of an ultimatum to recant or die say, “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.”
500 years later, we still remember it. We are grateful to God for it, because Luther’s steadfast stand in steadfast faith restored the truth of the Gospel to God’s people and as a direct result we get to be here, holding God’s Word in our own hands and understanding correctly what God’s Word means for me – that I am saved by grace, through faith, in Scripture alone.
It’s the precious privilege of our Lutheran heritage, but in reality, it’s a privilege and heritage that God has extended to believers for thousands of years before the world ever heard the name Luther or Lutheran.
Daniel lived 600 years before Jesus (2,000 years before the Reformation), and he faced adversity too. The Babylonians had come, and for the first time since its inception, the Kingdom of Judah was utterly defeated. 400 years of royal succession from the days of King David gone as the best and brightest in Jerusalem were carried off into 70 years of captivity 500 miles away from home.
Daniel was a young man at the time. He had grown up in the Promised Land God gave to Joshua after Egypt, but Daniel had the distinction of being the first generation in 800 years to be forced to leave it. He had come from a noble Jewish family, but was pressed into service in the court of the pagan kings of Babylon and Media and Persia. If anybody had a reason to be disillusioned, depressed, resentful, it was Daniel, but he wasn’t. He was resilient.
He remained faithful to God in the face of temptation to assimilate into the ungodly world around him. He retained the practice of his faith despite all obstacles to prevent it, including what we read in our First Reading today – an outright ban on the freedom of religion.
“Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”[1]
If the government of Alberta or Canada issued such a decree, what would you do? Take to social media and voice your outrage? Stand on a bridge with a homemade sign? Move 150 miles south? Would you hide at home? Would you feel deflated and discouraged? Would you say a silent prayer that God would change the situation?
Daniel prayed. I find it amazing how. Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home.[2] He didn’t wait for the next regularly scheduled synagogue. He didn’t wait for the day to be over. He went home right away.
And notice, he went home. He didn’t make a show of it. He didn’t protest. He didn’t beg and plead. He didn’t mumble in a corner with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He went to the privacy of his own home.
But he wasn’t scared. He wasn’t trying to hide. He went to the roof, with the windows open. Scholars suggest that there might not have even been any real walls up there, just latticework. That’s not going to keep you free from the scrutiny of prying eyes.
And he did it over and over and over again. Three times a day, just as he had done before. That’s courageous. That’s committed. He wasn’t daunted by the decree of the king. He was faithful to his God over everything.
But the most amazing thing to me about Daniel’s prayer? Giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.[3] Daniel wasn’t about to break the habit of gratitude, even when the circumstances would have broken the spirit of most of us. Imagine what our prayers would have sounded like on a day like that – the grumbling and complaining, the fear and anxiety, the anger and outrage, the demand that God change something. Daniel said, “Thank you.”
How is that even possible? Because Daniel understood the world he lived in. He wasn’t lost pining for the good ol’ days back in Judah. He wasn’t under the delusion that life was going to be any easier wherever he was. Daniel understood the warning that Jesus gave us today: “You will be hated by everyone because of me.”[4]
Daniel’s expectations were properly calibrated. He didn’t expect life to be easy. He didn’t expect the ungodly world around him to respect the exercise of his faith. He expected it to be hard. He had already lived through so much hate, and was prepared for more. But he also remembered the promise, i.e. the same promise Jesus used to finish this sentence: “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”[5]
Every once in a while, when I read the children’s version of this story, I get a little peeved. Publishers are so keen on explaining how Daniel could do this unthinkable thing and put his life at such unnecessary risk that they say something reckless like, “Daniel knew God would keep him safe from the lions,” or, “Daniel had a promise from God that he would survive.” Daniel didn’t. He had a better promise – that the one who stands firm to the end will be saved, not from lies or lions or kings, not from conspiracies or controversies or cancer, but from sin and death and damnation.
When we read about heroes of faith like Daniel, it can be equal parts inspiring and depressing. We want to be like that, but we’re not. How little of a thing does it take to set you off and lose your cool? How little of a thing does it take to discourage you and deflate you to the degree that you stop trying anymore? How often do you set gratitude aside for grumbling, or replace faith with fear?
It’s hard to live the Christian life, and we’re not even standing before Emperor Charles or Pope Leo or King Darius or a den of lions. But just like Luther and Daniel and every generation of believer, we have the same promise, that the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.[6]
That’s what Jesus came to do for you. And he faced so much adversity too – the rejection of the people who were supposed to love him, the backroom conspiracies of government officials to get rid of him, the murderous intent of kings – our own unrealized sinfulness – that all ultimately led him to the cross. But before he got there, he stopped for prayer too in the Garden of Gethsemane and committed himself to his Father’s care if it meant death for him.
Unlike Daniel, God didn’t send an angel to spare Jesus’ life, because what Jesus was accomplishing on the cross was more than a demonstration of faith. It was a sacrifice for sin. It was substitutionary atonement for you. Your failures, your weakness was transferred to him and his righteousness was credited to you, so that he would die for your guilt and you would live forgiven by his grace. So that you can do what Daniel did and you can face even death for your faith knowing that death isn’t the end. You’ve seen it before.
It’s uncanny the similarities of Daniel’s den and Jesus’ tomb. Both sealed with a rock and a signet ring, both in an attempt to prevent tampering, but both ultimately confirming God’s miraculous power. Because just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn’t find a way to let Daniel out, the disciples didn’t steal Jesus’ body. God raised them both out of situations where you’d expect to find a dead man, only he was alive, because of the power and sovereignty of our God.
And that’s the same God you pray to and we worship. He doesn’t promise that you’ll beat cancer. He doesn’t promise that life will be easy. But he does promise forgiveness for your sins and an eternal life that no king or controversy can threaten. So that even if we have to stare down the barrel of the grave, we can do it with the unflinching confidence that Daniel did, knowing the promise of Jesus that the one who stands firm to the end will be saved because Jesus stood firm then laid down his life only to take it back up again, so that you can stand fast in your faith too.
Adversity often reveals the condition of our hearts. God uses it to bolster the strength of your faith. When trying times come for you, don’t be afraid. Do what Daniel did. Continue in your habit of faith and thank your God for his salvation and love and promised abiding presence through his Son Jesus Christ. Trust in him. He has and will deliver you eternally. Amen.
[1] Daniel 6:12
[2] Daniel 6:10
[3] Ibid
[4] Matthew 10:22
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid