The decision you make today could
change the path of your future. You must be strong and courageous. God
reminds His children of this importance of this inner resolve especially
when He is getting ready to put them into a pressure situation. Moral
strength comes from strong
convictions. To be courageous is to act on those convictions
no matter the
cost.
Daniel 1 contrasts how a
nation and an individual had pressure on them to conform. Judah did not learn from seeing
the Northern Kingdom of Israel
go into captivity into Assyria in 722BC. They refused to repent and
refused to listen to God because
they lacked strong
conviction
Judah's sin is two-fold
(1).
Did not follow God fully
(they had a form of godliness)
(2).
Had gone into idolatry. God
had warned them--they did not listen to His Word
In Judges we see the pattern of a downward spiral:
|
APATHY: Loss of passion for
God's Word
APOSTASY: Turning away from what
they once had embraced
ANARCHY: State of lawlessness,
denial of an authority or order
|
In Jeremiah God confronted the sin of
Judah,
For My people have
committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water
(Jer 2:13)
They had abandoned the true and living God
and gone into idolatry, the worship of false gods. (Ed note:
Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of
the Creator Himself.)
In Deuteronomy Moses
"spoke these
words to all Israel. And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years
old today; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to
me, 'You shall not cross this Jordan.' "It is the LORD your God who will
cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you
shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just
as the LORD has spoken. And the LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He
destroyed them. "And the LORD will deliver them up before you, and you
shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded
you. Be strong
and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD
your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake
you. Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all
Israel, "Be
strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the
land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall
give it to them as an inheritance. And the LORD is the one who goes ahead
of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not
fear, or be dismayed." (Deut 31:1-8)
God's warnings
before Israel entered into the promised land break down into three main
commands
(1) Drive them out
(2) Put them to
death
(3) Do not to intermarry |
Israel was a holy people unto the LORD and was not to learn the ways of
the pagan nations. Israel was to be strong and
courageous.
Ed note: see Deut 7:1-6 ""When the LORD your God
shall bring you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and
shall clear away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites
and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and
the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the
LORD your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall defeat them,
then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant
with them and show no favor to them. Furthermore, you shall not
intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons,
nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn
your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger
of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars,
and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim,
and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people
to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for
His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."
Be strong in your
convictions. Obey God and His Word and you will enjoy the promises
of God.
God had commanded Israel that every 7 years...
1) Set the slaves free
If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or
woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the
seventh year you shall set
him free. Dt 15:12
2) Let the land have a sabbath
rest
during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath
rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your
vineyard. Lev 25:4
Fear of God is shown by believing what He says, by respecting Who He is...
'I know You are Who You say
You are, that You do not change,
that You act according to Your word and I will have an awesome and
reverential trust and respect of You’.
Hear > learn > fear > be careful
to observe all the words of the law.
In Daniel's youth during the reign of
Josiah the priests found the book of the law which had been lost in the
house of God (read 2Ki 22:1-20) and the result was sweeping
reforms introduced by King Josiah. (read 2Ki 23:1-37).
The book of Daniel opens with events that reflect God’s anger against Judah
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the
Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the
vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to
the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his
god." Da1:1-2)
two MAIN reasons Judah
given over to captivity
Idolatry
Refusal to keep Sabbath
1). Had not followed God
fully and had gone into idolatry
Deut 32:15-17 (Moses’ "Song" cf
Dt 31:30)
But Jeshurun ("upright
people"used as a name for Israel) grew fat and kicked-- You are grown
fat, thick, and sleek-- Then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the
Rock of his salvation. 16 "They made Him jealous with strange gods; With
abominations they provoked Him to anger.17
"They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not
known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.
Israel grew ‘’fat, thick and sleek’’ (Listen, O Church in America!)
to the point that they sacrificed to demons who are not God. In 1Cor 10:20 Paul teaches that demons are
behind idolatry writing
that the things which the
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice
to demons, and not to God.
Ed note: The psalmist records
that
They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons
and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom
they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with the
blood. (Ps106:37, 38)
2). Had not kept the
Sabbaths for 490yr
Every seventh year they were to keep the Sabbath year
(cf Lv 25:4). If you divide 490 years
by 7 you get the number "70",
which is the number of Sabbath years Judah had neglected! Judah's captivity was
to last for 70 YEARS.
Clearly Judah was
reaping the harvest of conforming to the mold of the pagan world, of not obeying
God and His Word and of not being strong and courageous.
Babylon
the land of idols
God said to Judah in essence
If you
want IDOLS, I will give you over to the land of idols."
In the Revelation John recorded
the name
BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS’ (Rev 17:5-note)
In other words all false religion
stems ultimately from Babylon, the "fountainhead" of idolatry! (Ed:
see also
Babylon of Old)
JEHOIAKIM BECOMES
KING OF JUDAH
King Josiah was killed at Carchemish
by Pharaoh Neco. When Pharaoh Neco came against Assyria (
May-June, 605BC
), Josiah
went out to fight him. Neco even told Josiah
"I am not coming against
you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has
ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who
is with me, that He may not destroy you." However, Josiah would not turn
away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor
did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make
war on the plain of Megiddo and the archers shot King Josiah..." (2Chr
35:20, 22, 23)
Josiah was succeeded
initially by Joahaz (also spelled Jehoahaz).
Chronicles records that
the people of the land took Joahaz the son of
Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem. Joahaz was
twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in
Jerusalem." (2Chr36:1-2)
Joahaz
(Jehoahaz) was succeeded by Jehoiakim,
Chronicles recording that
"king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king
over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took
Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt. Jehoiakim was twenty-five
years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in
Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with
bronze chains to take him to Babylon." (2Chr36:4-6)
(See more discussion below)
In Jeremiah we read that the
Egypt's power was utterly broken, the prophet recording...
That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah
the prophet concerning the nations. To Egypt, concerning the army of
Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at
Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah" (Jer
46:1,2)
So Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt in the
4th year of Jehoiakim,
but Daniel says that "in the
3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim".
Is this an example of an error in the
Bible? NEVER! How then can this difference be explained? The answer is in
the timing of when the king took office.
DIFFERENT TIMES
FOR OFFICIAL COMMENCEMENT OF KINGS
There were two different times when
kings could begin the first year of their reign e.g., We elect U.S.
President in November but he assumes office in January.
a).
Assyria and Babylon
: used Nisan (about
April) for commencement of kings. Anyone who became king before NISAN would not be
officially recognized as having begun their first year until Nisan.
b).
Judah: inaugurated
their king in Tishri
(about October).
The time that elapsed between the king's
accession to the throne and the first of Nisan or the first of Tishri was
called his accession year
and did not count numerically.
When Jeremiah was recording his
prophecy (4th
year of Jehoiakim), he
used the Assyrian Babylonian system because he was referring to what
related to Babylon but Daniel used Judah's system when dating his prophecy
(3rd
year of Jehoiakim)
In we read that "This is the
message which the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt" (Jer 46:13)...The LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel, says, "Behold, I am going to punish Amon of
Thebes (chief deity of Upper Egypt), and Pharaoh, and Egypt..."
(Jer 46:25)
God is saying that He is going to
punish Egypt by allowing Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Egypt.
(Jer 46:28) "O Jacob My
servant, do not fear," declares the LORD, "For I am with you. For I shall make
a full end of all the nations Where I have driven you, yet I shall not make a full end of you;
but I shall correct
you properly and by no means leave you unpunished."
In 2Chronicles 36 we read that
"the
king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and
changed his name
to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to
Egypt. 5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the
LORD his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and
bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also
brought some of the articles of
the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his temple at
Babylon." (2Chr36:4-6)
To summarize, Jehoiakim was reigning as
king of Judah when Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
Jeremiah says this occurred in Jehoiakim's 4th year and Daniel says it
occurred in Jehoiakim's 3rd year. As elaborated on this is not a
discrepancy.
god gives his word to Jehoiakim
that he might repent
In Jeremiah 36 God sends Jeremiah
to Jehoiakim to call him to REPENTANCE. Jeremiah records this event writing
that
it came about in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim (605BC)
the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the
LORD, saying, "Take a scroll and write on it all the words which I have
spoken to you concerning Israel, and concerning Judah, and concerning all
the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah,
even to this day. "Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity
which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will turn from his
evil way (REPENT); then I will forgive their iniquity and their
sin." (Jer 36:1-3)
In 605BC Nebuchadnezzar defeated Neco
at Carchemish and then took Jerusalem without a battle! Nebuchadnezzar
then received word that his father Nabopolassar had died and left the
throne vacant, so he returned to Babylon, taking the Jewish boys (Daniel,
et. al.) and some of the temple vessels. He left Jehoiakim to rule over
Jerusalem. In Jeremiah we see that God gives him an opportunity to repent.
Had he repented there would not have been a 2nd siege in 597BC followed by
total destruction in 586BC. The message is that the Lord is slow to anger,
merciful and full of lovingkindness but He judges sin of those who do not
repent.
Jeremiah goes on in chapter 36 to
record that
all the people in Jerusalem and
all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a
fast before the LORD. Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah
in the house of the LORD...to all the people."
(Jer 36:9, 10)
So from Jeremiah's description, we see
that the people of Judah respond appropriately to
the Word of God and eventually this word (Jeremiah has written this down
on a scroll) gets taken to King Jehoiakim who is sitting in
front of the fire in his winter house. After hearing only 3-4 columns of
Jeremiah’s prophecy, King Jehoiakim
cut it with a scribe's knife and
threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was
consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. Yet the king and all his
servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend
their garments. (Jer 36:23, 24)
When the pressure is on you to
conform
you need to be strong and
courageous
Where does strength to remain strong
and courageous come from?
Strength comes from knowing ''Thus
saith the Lord'' and listening to it. King Jehoiakim refused to
listen to God and the result was two more captivities for Judah! On the
other hand, a young man named Daniel, did listen to God, even though he
was taken into captivity because his nation would not listen to God. Here
is the question you each of us must answer "If America were to face a
similar judgment of God and we were to end up in chains, we too must dare
to be Daniels."
Daniel was to be ‘’Babylonianized’’,
poured into that pagan culture, totally reformed and reshaped into the
‘’Babylonian’’ mold...we too are living in a culture literally filled with
idols everywhere! In Romans
Paul instructs us to
present
(our) bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is (our) spiritual service of worship and do not be
conformed to ("poured into the mold of") this world,
but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Ro 12:1,
Ro 12:2)
Babylonian education was calculated to
"renew" Daniel's mind to the Babylonian worldview.
How will daniel
make it?
By remaining strong and courageous
and by
holding to his convictions. We too must must have convictions if we are going
to HOLD OUR CONVICTIONS: We are raising a generation without convictions
because we live in a society of situation ethics (everything is right in
our own eyes - Jdg 21:25).
Babylonian Food
Daniel
could not eat it because (1). Jews were allowed to eat only certain meats
(cp "kosher") (2) The meat could not have blood
in it (Lev 17:11, 12) (3) The king's choice food may have been (probably
was) offered to the Babylonian gods and so for Daniel to
partake of this food would be tantamount to giving praise to the false gods.
There would also be
temptation
pressure on Daniel to conform because he was ‘’away from home.’’
So Daniel is in midst of a society
which is opposed to God and
OPPOSED TO
the Word of God
(Beloved, does this sound
familiar?)
But Daniel made up his mind
(heart) that he would not defile (pollute, stain)
himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he
sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not
defile himself. (Da1:8)
Daniel was strong and courageous
Daniel realized that God's "commandments
are not burdensome" (1Jn 5:3) -- God says if we walk within the bounds
of His precepts, He will bless us. If we step outside of these
commandments and precepts, He will have to judge and discipline us. Daniel
had determined, NO MATTER THE COST, that he would be strong and
courageous. God will not fail you or forsake you (in Joshua God says "I
will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you" Josh 1:5, cf
Heb 13:5-note) -- He granted Daniel favor and compassion.
Ed Note: What would the first chapter of a book
with your name on it reveal about you?
pressure
TO CONFORM
1). Spiritual
Pressure
Daniel was in the middle of the birthplace of idolatrous pagan
religion. We see God bringing about a humbling of the Jews. The pagans said where is your God,
Daniel? If He is so great, why are you in Babylon? And so Daniel would have to hold on to what he
knew was true from the word
of God-- Daniel was a man of the
Word -- he knew from the Word that this exile would come to
pass and was not caught off guard -- times are coming when it's going to
look like other gods are in control - your faith, like Daniel's,
will be challenged and at that time the only way to endure is to remain
strong in the Lord, having firm convictions and choosing to hold
fast to those firm convictions that are found on the sure Word of God.
2). Intellectual Pressure
Our society is filled with
intellectual pressure seeking to mold us and coerce us to conform.
Undoubtedly Daniel was made to study anti-God subjects --
What held
Daniel's heart and mind and intellect firm?
Knowing God's Word! As the psalmist
affirms
Thy
commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. (Ps
119:98)
In our culture we must refuse to
bow to the intellectual pressure of the "intellectualism" of evolution.
3).
Psychological Pressure
How were Daniel and the boys pressured
psychologically? By being forced to change their names. Their Jewish
names honored God but their Babylonian names honored the pagan gods. In
Daniel's day if you could change
someone’s name, it indicated authority over them -- you belong to a weaker people--the
pressure of being captive -- don't be led astray by humanistic psychology.
4). Social Pressure
Daniel and the boys naturally would
have experienced "peer pressure". We don't hear of any other Jewish boys
refusing to bow to Babylon. And so we see there was for Daniel (and for
genuine believers in America) the social pressure of being in
the minority. Yes, God gave Daniel into Nebuchadnezzar's hand (note
Who is in control), but he survived and was successful. He made up his
mind (the head and the heart together) he was faithful in the ‘’little
things’’. Are you?
HOW TO HANDLE
THE PRESSURE TO CONFORM
1).Be strong in your
convictions
You must know the
Word of God (cp Heb 11:1-note
"conviction")
2).Be
courageous -
Fear God and He will be with you.
The fear of man brings a snare (=
bait or lure in fowler's net), but he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted." (Pr
29:25)
3).
Be tactful
-
Daniel was not brash. Daniel made an appeal to the Babylonian overseer:
Please
test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to
eat and water to drink." (Da 1:12)
4). Be tenacious-hold on to what you
believe
It's not how you start the race but how
you finish.
Moses concluding His explanation of the
Law's stipulations, then calls for Israel to make a total commitment to
the LORD and to His Word:
This day
the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You
shall therefore be careful to do them
with all your heart and with all
your soul. You have today declared the LORD to be your
God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His
commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. And the
LORD has today declared you
to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you
should keep all His commandments and that He shall set you high above all
nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall
be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken." (Dt
26:16-19)
Did Israel walk in His ways and keep
His statutes and listen to His voice?
In Jeremiah
God declares
for as the
waistband clings to the
waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole
household of Judah cling to Me,' declares the LORD, 'that they might be
for Me a people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not
listen." (Jer 13:11)
So are we to cling to our God no
matter what...Israel did not cling...Daniel however did determine
in his mind and heart to cling...Dearly beloved, you and I need to determine
in our mind and in our heart to cling and we will prosper in God's
way and we will be successful for God's promise to Joshua is still true
today...
This book of the law shall not depart
from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you
may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you
will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." (Joshua
1:8-note)
