Thrown Into the Lions Den

 “Into The Lions Den

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Aug 23, 2020

Text: Daniel 6 // Series: In the Fire: Daniel   

Hello.  Welcome, friends into this online space together.  My Name is Brad and I’m part of the teaching and leadership team here at Jericho Ridge.

Now, if I was to write a book about your life, there would likely be a few iconic moments that would define or sum up who you are.  Moments where you were at your best. Moments where you character was tested and you either came out on top or your bucked under the pressure.

We’ve come to what is perhaps the defining story in Daniel – the account where Daniel – after having been taken as a boy from his homeland,– after interpreting dreams by supernatural insight, after his friends are thrown into a fiery furnace and survive; after he explains by God’s grace the supernatural handwriting on the wall…  After all this, Daniel has his defining moment – the story that most comes to epitomize his life occurs when he is [sung] thrown into the lions den. 

So just as a reminder, by this time in his life, Daniel has been serving faithfully in exile in ancient kingdom of Babylon in Persia for around 70 years.  As Pastor Wally reminded us last time, King Belshazzar, the Babylonian is killed and Darius, the King of the Medes takes over.  Daniel 6 tells us that Darrius decided to divide the kingdom up into 120 provinces. “The king [king Dairus] also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests.   

Look with me at Daniel 6:3 – “Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.”

 “Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.”

Yet again, because of his incredible faithfulness and wisdom and reliance on God, Daniel earns a place of trust.  A place based on his leadership capabilities and “great ability”. So as the king is considering this promotion, the other leaders around Daniel begin to worry and plot and scheme, and… well… I’ll just let the good people at VeggieTales tell it.  [CLIP]

In our book study earlier this summer, Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies, I found the chapter on ENVY to be one of the most convicting.  In defining it (over and against jealousy), author Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung says this:

“Envy’s view of the world is essentially antagonistic: it’s me- vs-you; my good OR your good - never both. In this zero sum game… the natural reaction of the envious is to undermine & destroy the good of their rival.”

Daniel’s enemies don’t just want to bring him down a peg or two, they want him gone. Destroyed. Out of the picture.  But they know they can not do this on the basis of Daniel’s competence.  He is “faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.”  So they need to come up with another angle, another plan.  Look with me at verse 5:

So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”

Notice here that even “perfection” does not exempt Daniel from persecution.  Daniel did everything right and was highly regarded but he still was targeted by those around him.  The envious conspirators use some tactics to undermine and trap Daniel that you might recognize because they are still around today.

• They convince the king this is a matter of national security
  Nationalism or tribalism is a powerful force. And when you can convince a group or its leader that nothing less than their security is at stake by stoking fear and hatred of others, you create a powerfully toxic environment. 

You then further stoke this by the use of charged language  (“all of us feel this way”)  Really?! The whole 120 group of smart people got in the same room (or on the same Zoom call) and rationally, deliberated about this?  I don’t think so – the language gives us the impression this was likely driven by a small inner circle of antagonists and agitators who want to get rid of Daniel.  But I’ve seen this time and time again in churches – me and all of my friends feel this way about this issue.”  At Jericho, you need to know, we don’t stand for that.  When you have an issue, we welcome you to come and chat with leadership.  But you don’t come with nameless concerns “well, a lot of us feel this way”.  That’s not how we do things here at Jericho. 

The next thing these antagonists do is that They make this a test of loyalty

The envious leaders convince the King there is a threat to this new kingdom so immanent that they should devise an immediate litmus test of loyalty so that the king’s interests can be protected. 

Now, there has been requests for capitulation and bowing down earlier in the book.  Be it to giant statues, or to food laws or other opporutnies for compromised or misdirected worship.  BUT this is a new twist: the envious scallions (or were those chives?) make this a test of a religious nature.  They make this about a matter of religion: they make a law about prayer. 

In the ancient world, particularly in Persian cultures, the king was often the representation of the chief god.  And often when Persian kings conquered new regions or territories, they would invite dignitaries to come and pay homage to their king – to bow before him in reverence and awe and to acknowledge the king as lord.  And because they saw the king as the representation of the gods, the king was infallible.  That is why once a law was signed by a Persian king, it could not be changed.  Why would the gods change their mind?  They were considered infallible or without error. 

So the other envious administrators and high officers trick the king into making a law that for the next 30 days, anyone who prayers to anything divine or human except for the king – will be [sung] thrown into the lions den.

And the king signs the law. Look with me at Daniel 6:10: “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.”

Here's what is intriguing to me about this.  Upon hearing the news, Daniel didn’t complain to the King (though he could have).  He didn’t take his case to the tribunal for religious rights and freedoms (though there are times and places where that is appropriate).  Daniel simply goes home and opens his windows and practices his usual fixed hour prayers.  He doesn’t hide his faith.  He doesn’t move his prayer time to a closet. He takes the same posture as he has always taken: a pray-first posture.     

You might wonder, why pray with his windows open facing Jerusalem?  That sounds a bit like the Muslim practice of facing Mecca to pray.  Well, in places like I Kings 8;44 and 2 Chronicles 6 or even Psalm 5:7 the ancient Hebrew people felt that God’s eyes were turned toward Jerusalem and so they wanted their eyes to be turned toward the place where God’s eyes were focused.  I want that for my life – to be focused on where God is. 

There’s something powerful about keeping our practices in place when trouble comes into our lives.  When storms are beating against you, that is TOO LATE to start battening down the hatches.  

Daniel has built into his life YEARS of faithful prayer.  His faith was already well developed so that when trouble hit, he was already deeply rooted in his connection with God.  Friends, can I express a note of concern here for some of you?  I sense that some people in the time of COVID are coasting spiritually.  They are not continuing to invest in deepening their relationship with God or with other people.  They are simply hoping that their prayer life that they had pre-COVID can sustain them.  That their previous Bible knowledge carries them through this season. 

Daniel had the opportunity to take a 30 day break from his prayer life and this would ALL have gone away.  But Daniel did not choose to coast.  He pressed in and pressed on in his prayer life.  So I want to challenge you – I know it’s hard to keep on growing when sometimes you feel like you are missing the usual structures of in person gatherings.  But keep on persisting with spiritually healthy habits of gathering in community for accountability and growth.  I was meeting with Pastor Wally this week and we are excited to launch a whole set of in person and on-line small groups this September to help provide you the tools, the support and accountability you need to keep growing and keep going.  Do not give up.  Do not simply take a break from church or from prayer.  That is a bad plan!   

And note the content of Daniel’s prayers: they are prayers of THANKSGIVING to God.  Daniel is not complaining to God that no other Jewish captives seem to be targeted by this plot.  Daniel is not making a deal with God “if you get me out of this mess, I’ll pray 6 times a day!”.  Daniel simply trusts himself to God’s care and keeping.

And he has to because the officials rush off to Darius and tattle tale on Daniel.  The king gives orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions.  The king then spends a sleepless night wondering what has happened to his friend Daniel.  Look at verse 19…

“Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?”  There’s this note of doubt but hope in the king’s voice.  Is your God able? 

And we see Daniel’s now famous response: “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.”

Now, if I am Daniel, I am not in a mood to give glory to Jesus.  I am royally angry at this moment – with the nobles who conspired against me out of envy, with the king who went along with the stupid law… But Daniel is an old and wise man who has walked with God for a long, long time.  And in this moment, as he has been at every step of his journey, Daniel is concerned not with his own vindication or career advancement, but with the glory of God.  And this leads King Darius to send a message to the people of every nation, every tribe and language throughout the world about the power and might of the One true and living God.  The God who rescues and saves. 

So what challenges are you facing today friends?  Not all of us are facing “den of lion” level challenges.  Some of you are facing the challenge of a simmering low grade anxiety that just will not go away.  You’ve been camping your been having fun and ignoring it, but your anxiety and fear is still every present.  Maybe it’s about the unknown of sending kids back to school.  Maybe it’s a health concern or life circumstance that seemingly will not change.  Friends, I want to invite you and remind myself to take the same posture as Daniel takes – in the face of massive challenges, he gets down on his knees and gives thanks to God in prayer. 

Matthew Henry in his commentary on Daniel’s prayer notes that “Those who throw away their souls (as those certainly do that live without prayer) to save their lives make but a bad bargain for themselves”  Maybe for you this is the season when you dig in and develop a new prayer practice.  Maybe fixed hour prayer like Daniel is something you want to try to put into your life.  There’s a app called Common Prayer based on the book “A liturgy for Ordinary Radicals” and it can prompt and guide you through morning, mid-day & evening prayer if that’s something you want to grow in. 

Maybe for you, it is something different.  Sometimes we see ourselves as the heroes of the stories of the Bible.  But maybe you need to put yourself in the role of the scallions, or high officers.  Maybe you need to examine the role of envy in your life.  I know I do.  I need to think about how often I compare myself to others and how easy it is for me to develop a sense of unhealthy desire not just to have what someone else has, but for them NOT to have it.  Proverbs 27:4 says “who can stand before envy?” No one.

Friends, final lesson here for us is a lesson on God’s power and might.  In the end, Daniel is saved not because of his righteousness, but because of God’s mercy and power demonstrated in shutting the mouths of the lions.  And it is not because these lions where not hungry – we see in verse 24 that the king has Daniel’s accusers and all their families thrown into the den.  This is another one of the sad laws of the Medes and Persians – they believed hat all in your family were guilty if one was found to be a culprit.  Even through God in the Mosaic law explicitly forbids this. 

So if you are still trusting your own power and might and strength to get through this pandemic or to start school or to figure out what your finances or your health or business will look like, it’s time to stop.  To admit that you are not God.  To turn your life over again to the God who loves you, who send His Son Jesus to die for your sins.  So that you might be free and experience life abundant and rich and joyful that starts now and goes on forever.  If you have never made that decision, raise your hand to indicate you want someone to pray with you if you are watching on our live stream platform.  Or email me: and I’d love to start a conversation about saving faith with you. 

One of the ways that we can remind ourselves of the truth of who God is and the power and might of God is through worship in song.  And so as we respond to God’s word, Jared and Ruth Ellen are going to lead us in song.  And as we worship together, I want to think of that area of your life that fear that seems to loom so large that it is, well, lion-like.  And I want you to take it to the Lord.

“For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. 27 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.” And friend, he can rescue you. 

Let’s pray together.