Participants:
Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ003110S
|
00:01 ♪ ♪
00:28 Lions. They are considered ferocious predators and known as 00:33 the king of the jungle. A very popular song goes like this: 00:38 In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight. 00:44 But in actual fact lions don't live in the jungle at all. They 00:49 live on grass lands in Savannah. These majestic animals are part 00:55 of the big cat family. They are the second largest of the big 00:58 cat family and live in groups called prides. The female lions 01:03 hunt while the males patrol the territory and protect the pride. 01:08 Now lions can run up to speeds of 80 km/hr when chasing their 01:14 prey. They chase zebra, antelope wildebeests and other animals 01:19 that cross their paths when they are on the hunt. Lions need to 01:23 eat about eight kilograms of food every day which means they 01:27 spend a lot of their waking time thinking about food. 01:31 The splendid male lion can weigh up to about 200 kilos and is 01:37 nearly three meters in length and they are the only big cats 01:41 with a mane. The female lion is smaller and weighs about 130 01:46 kilos. One of the greatest sounds of the African night is 01:52 the lion's roar. Now a roar is a sign of dominance and a signal 01:57 of the lion's power and strength so the louder the roar the 02:02 better. In fact, a lion's roar can be heard up to eight 02:07 kilometers away. Lions use their impressive roar to warn rivals 02:12 and to instill fear into all who hear it. Lions used to run all 02:20 over the middle east and one thing is for sure; you wouldn't 02:24 want to get too close to a hungry lion. But that was the 02:29 fate of an elderly man who lived in Babylon 2600 years ago. In 02:36 fact he found himself in a den of hungry lions and survived. 02:42 How did he do it? How did he survive the lions' den? What's 02:48 the secret of his bravery and courage? Well, today we're going 02:53 to take a close look at this old lion tamer, Daniel and discover 02:57 his secret of inner strength that will provide us with the 03:01 key to surviving the challenges of modern life and more 03:05 importantly, the end time. His amazing story will inspire and 03:11 encourage you. 03:12 ♪ ♪ 03:36 It's one thing to hear the roar of danger off in the distance or 03:39 far in the future. It's one thing to make promises to God 03:44 in a safe and calm here and now, but what if that roar 03:48 suddenly 03:50 erupted in your face right now? What if your faith was tested by 03:54 the fiery gaze of a lion? Would you be able to stay committed? 03:59 Well I'd like to tell you about a man who stood very much alone 04:03 in a time of widespread corruption, a man who was tested 04:07 by the roar of danger up close. His career took him to the 04:12 courts of the Medo-Persian empire during the reign of King 04:17 Darius. The man, Daniel, was considered by many to be a 04:22 prophet. 04:23 ♪ ♪ 04:32 Our story begins with the destruction of the sacred city 04:35 of Jerusalem during a series of fierce battles that started in 04:40 605 B.C., just over 2600 years ago. The greatest empire of the 04:47 ancient world, Babylon, attacked and plundered the nation of 04:51 Judah, luting the temple and carrying of many of the sacred 04:56 golden vessels. Daniel was captured and with the cream of 05:01 the city's youth he was carried off to Babylon as a war hostage. 05:05 By a remarkable turn of events he eventually rose to a position 05:13 of trust under King Nebuchadnezzar. 05:16 His unique character is demonstrated by this remarkable 05:21 fact. Daniel survived the fall of one empire and its 05:25 replacement by another. He stood by the Babylonian king and the 05:29 Persian monarch who conquered him. Not many people are valued 05:33 enough to make that kind of transition. In the kingdom of 05:45 Medo-Persia Daniel became what we would call the first vice 05:49 president. The book of Daniel records this remarkable story. 05:55 Notice what it says in chapter six verses one to three: 06:31 Notice that Darius made his 120 bureaucrats accountable to the 06:37 three administrators so that he might not suffer loss. Bribery, 06:42 extortion and fraud were as much a problem in the ancient world 06:46 as they are now. Many of the officials who had managed to 06:50 occupy positions of influence were interested only in 06:55 furthering their own careers. They tended to pocket a good 06:59 portion of whatever tax money passed through their hands and 07:04 they often enriched themselves at the expense of the King by 07:07 keeping false financial records. Daniel's responsibility was to 07:12 see that the books were kept honestly. He was supposed to 07:16 deal with corruption in the court and apparently he did a 07:20 very good job because he distinguished himself by his 07:23 integrity. So Darius wanted to entrust the whole kingdom into 07:29 Daniel's hands. Daniel was on his way to becoming the second 07:34 most powerful man in the Medo-Persian empire. But not 07:39 everybody was pleased with this. Some very much wanted to keep 07:42 the status quo. They wanted to keep enriching themselves with 07:46 government funds and this strange Hebrew who didn't fit 07:50 in, the man always intent on straightening things out, he was 07:55 now going to be elevated to a position over them. They just 08:00 couldn't let that happen. They couldn't handle it. So they 08:03 huddled together in a quiet palace passageway and they 08:07 planned a strategy. How could they move Daniel out of the 08:11 picture. Darius trusted him implicitly so they thought why 08:17 not find grounds for charges against him in his handling of 08:21 the government affairs. These officials set about to dig for 08:26 dirt and they dug long and hard. But they came up empty. Not even 08:32 a hint of corruption. Not even a trace of negligence. Daniel was 08:37 not the kind of man who wears his religion like a cloak that 08:41 he can take off when circumstances seem to require 08:43 it. Daniel's faith went to the _but that was it. Somebody 08:51 finally realized how to get him, his faith. The Bible tells us 08:55 what these men concluded. Notice Daniel chapter 6 and verse 5: 09:10 Daniel could not be bought off. He could not be blackmailed. 09:17 There was only one way to get rid of him and that was to enact 09:20 a law that would put Daniel in the position of disobeying his 09:24 God. Now the book of Daniel not only gives us prophecies 09:29 regarding the future, the end time. It also shows us how to 09:34 survive the final crisis. You know, it's interesting to note 09:40 that Daniel's enemies decided to attack him through the law of 09:45 his God. Specifically in this case they decided to test him 09:50 regarding the commandment to worship God and God alone. So 09:56 one day the conspirators arrived at the palace and presented King 10:01 Darius with a very flattering proposal. We read about it again 10:06 in Daniel the 6th chapter, this time in verses 6 and 7. 10:35 These men suggested a sort of King Darius month, a 30-day 10:41 period in which 10:42 everyone would honor the monarch exclusively. Well 10:46 naturally Darius took a liking to the idea. Such spontaneous 10:51 devotion from his chief administrators. That was nice 10:55 to hear, after all his problems with their dishonesty. So he 11:01 signed the decree into law, an irrevocable, unchangeable decree 11:05 that carried the death penalty. The trap was set! Sooner or 11:11 later Daniel was bound to fall into it. They would catch him 11:16 worshiping his own God during the next 30 days and bring the 11:20 king's decree down on his own head. Now think about that for a 11:30 moment. What if the simple act of praying was made a criminal 11:34 offense. It might seem a simple easy act to worship the God of 11:39 heaven and earth in the privacy of your own home. But what if it 11:45 were made a criminal offense? What if to worship the true God 11:48 made staring into the face of a hungry lion. That sort of 11:53 changes the picture doesn't it? What faith, what courage, what 11:59 commitment to God. This man's response to the threat is 12:04 recorded in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10: 12:27 What a remarkable act of devotion. Daniel could have 12:32 tried to hide his religion. He could have tried to go along 12:35 with the decree. Surely God would understand if he took a 12:39 break from his worship routine. After all, he'd been so faithful 12:45 before. But now he prayed toward Jerusalem by the window just as 12:50 he had done before. There's a beautiful testament of courage 12:55 in that simple act. Decree or no decree, Daniel was going to give 13:00 his ultimate allegiance to the God of heaven and earth. 13:05 ♪ ♪ 13:18 There's something else that impresses me about Daniel's 13:21 praying. He wasn't in a panic begging God to give him a way 13:25 out of the dilemma. He wasn't a desperate man. It wasn't a 13:29 desperate prayer. It was a prayer of thanksgiving. That's 13:34 what it says. Daniel was giving thanks to his God as was his 13:39 custom. This tells me something about this man's religion. It 13:44 shows me why it stood the test of time during a crisis. Daniel 13:49 treasured his relationship with his Lord. To him that was most 13:55 important, the most important thing in his life. He was 13:58 thankful for the privilege of communicating with the Almighty. 14:02 That was worth any price. A religion of convenience isn't 14:08 going to make it when we find ourselves in a real pressure 14:12 situation. Nor is it going to make it when things really get 14:16 tough now or in the future. Religion as a once-a-week 14:20 supplement to our lives just isn't going to make it. Only a 14:25 relationship with God, a God that we value above all else is 14:30 going to stand. Like Daniel the great reformer John Huss based 14:36 his life on obedience to his Lord. When Huss was condemned 14:41 to be burnt alive at the stake he had to undergo what was 14:45 called the ceremony of degradation. Church dignitaries 14:49 at the scene publicly stripped his identity as a priest and as 14:54 a Christian. First the cup of communion was taken from his 14:59 hands and the dignitaries denounced Huss. He responded by 15:05 saying, I hope to drink from the cup in the kingdom of God. Next 15:09 the officials removed his garments one by one pronouncing 15:13 in each instance the appropriate curse. Huss replied that he was 15:19 quite willing to suffer shame for the name of the Lord. 15:24 Finally a tall paper crown was placed on his head. It pictured 15:29 three devils fighting for the position of his soul and read 15:34 this is an arch heretic. The bishops entoned a final curse: 15:39 We commit your soul to the Devil John Huss calmly replied and I 15:48 commit it to the most merciful Lord Jesus Christ. What this 15:53 courageous man expressed was this: You can take everything 15:57 away from me, you can degrade me publicly, but you can't take 16:01 away the most precious thing in my life, my relationship with 16:07 the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the kind of testimony 16:10 that Daniel made even under the threat of certain death in the 16:14 lion's den. He still treasured communicating with his Lord. He 16:20 would not betray that relationship. Well needless to 16:26 say, his enemies spotted him praying and rushed into court 16:31 with the news that someone was not celebrating King Darius 16:35 month properly. When he learned who it was the King was dismayed 16:41 He realized he'd been tricked into signing the death warrant 16:45 of the one man 16:46 in his empire who he trusted completely. But his hands were 16:51 tied. The law could not be revoked. Let's read what 16:56 happened in Daniel chapter 6 verses 16 and 17. 17:16 Now let me ask you, how would you feel if you were thrown into 17:22 the lion's den and told I hope your God may rescue you somehow? 17:27 That might not be much comfort to any of us. Well the grate was 17:32 closed and the stone was lowered into place overhead sealing 17:36 Daniel in with those hungry beasts and appeared to seal his 17:41 fate. Not many would expect to survive the night in a den of 17:48 lions and there'd be absolutely no chance of spending a restful 17:52 night in there. But here's the fascinating thing. King Darius 17:57 was the one who tossed and turned all night in his palace. 18:01 He lost his appetite and couldn't eat a bite. 18:04 He dismissed his attendant. Darius was filled with guilt and 18:09 anguish over what had happened. He was genuinely concerned for 18:14 Daniel and had a great affection and respect for him. He couldn't 18:19 sleep at all that night. Now Darius already knew of Daniel's 18:25 God and he had some inkling that he could intervene on Daniel's 18:29 behalf. So at the crack of dawn he called his attendants and 18:34 they rushed to the lion's den. King Darius was stressed and 18:41 impatient. He impatiently told the guards to hurry up and open 18:44 the entrance to the den. He'd had a dreadful night and now 18:48 he was desperate to know what had happened to Daniel. 18:52 He called out to Daniel wondering if there would be any 18:58 response. Daniel just had a nice quiet evening in the company of 19:03 the lions. He probably fell fast asleep with his head against one 19:08 of those big cats. How did he do that? How did he remains calm 19:12 and relaxed in the lion's den? Well that's what King Darius 19:16 wanted to know as he helped his friend out of the lion's den and 19:21 gratefully embraced him. How did he survive? Well first of all 19:30 because he had his mind fixed on God, the God who can give us 19:36 peace in the midst of terrible circumstances and most 19:40 importantly as Daniel told Darius, My God sent his angel 19:46 and he shut the lions' mouths. Daniel believed in a God who's 19:52 sovereign over all, sovereign over history. He could turn the 19:57 captivity of Israel into a blessing. Sovereign over 20:00 individual lives, he had saved Daniel's three friends from the 20:05 fiery furnace and used him as a witness in a heathen land. 20:09 Sovereign over every situation. God could tame the lions in the 20:14 darkness of the den. Remember the angel that came down to shut 20:20 the lions' mouths was coming from the creator, the one who 20:24 made these magnificent creatures in the first place. 20:27 He was their master. With the Creator's authority that angel 20:33 could've made the lions do just about anything. God took care of 20:39 his man in a time of crisis. And we have a promise of the same 20:44 kind of protection. Listen to what it says here in Psalm 91: 21:44 Isn't that reassuring? God promises us the same kind of 21:51 protection that he provided for Daniel. One cold winter day 22:02 toward the end of World War II an elderly woman walked out of 22:06 what seemed even worse than a lion's den. She was leaving the 22:11 Ravensbruck concentration camp where countless human beings had 22:16 been systematically starved and worked to death. As the heavy 22:19 gates closed behind her, Corrie Ten Boom could hardly believe 22:24 that she was alive and free. Corrie had been arrested by the 22:29 Nazis for hiding Jews in own home. She and her family 22:34 believe in a God who gives refuge to all and they committed 22:38 themselves to this dangerous work. This quiet matron in her 22:43 50s had not imagined she could survive the horrors of the labor 22:48 camp. But God had sustained her during the ordeal. Corrie saw 22:52 many women brutalized at Ravensbruck, many perished, 22:56 including her dear sister Betsie. But many of those woman 23:02 died with the name of Jesus on their lips because of the 23:05 witness of those two sisters. And those women, Corrie wrote, 23:11 were well worth all our suffering. Finally as a result 23:17 of what turned out to be a clerical error, Corrie was 23:22 released. One week later, can you imagine it, a week after her 23:26 release, all the women her age at Ravensbruck were gassed. As 23:31 she walked out of this lion's den, the place of unspeakable 23:35 suffering, Corrie had learned something invaluable. This is 23:39 the testimony she would give all over the world. There is no 23:44 place on earth so dark, so deep that God's love is not deeper 23:51 still. Yes Daniel discovered that God's love is deep enough 23:56 to penetrate that stone sealing the lion's den. He found his God 24:00 to be a very present help in trouble because Daniel had 24:05 always been very present with his Lord. You might be dealing 24:09 with your own personal den of lions right now. Just remember 24:14 that the same Lord who delivered Daniel will deliver you too. 24:20 Daniel had confidence in God in the midst of the lion's den and 24:27 that same God can shut the mouths of the problems called 24:32 lions in your own life. If you'd like God to do that for you, why 24:37 not ask him right now as we pray? Dear heavenly Father, 24:44 thank you for giving us the example of Daniel in the lion's 24:47 den. Thank you for your promise to stand by us as we face the 24:52 challenges of life. We want to trust you more completely today. 24:56 Our aim is to please you and always stand true for you just 25:01 like Daniel. Accept our commitment now in the 25:05 name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. 25:10 ♪ ♪ 25:24 The story of Daniel in the lion's den has encouraged and 25:27 inspired people all over the world. It's a story about 25:31 courage and bravery, but most of all about true faithfulness. 25:36 About faith in God through all things. Sometimes we can feel 25:42 our faith wavering when we seem overwhelmed with the challenges 25:46 of life and feel as if we're right in the lion's den 25:49 ourselves. But if you are looking for ways to strengthen 25:53 your faith, live a better life and find inner peace and true 25:58 happiness, if you'd like to get closer to God, then I'd like to 26:01 recommend a free gift we have for all our viewers today. It's 26:06 the Bible reading guide entitled About Your Future. 26:10 This guide is our gift to you and is absolutely free. 26:14 I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So 26:20 make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive the gift 26:24 we have for you today. Here's the information you need: 26:29 Phone or text us at 0436333555 in Australia or 26:37 0204222042 in New Zealand or visit our website TiJ.tv to 26:45 request today's free offer and we'll send it to you totally 26:49 free of charge and with no obligation. Write to us at: 27:06 Don't delay. Call or text us now 27:10 If you've enjoyed today's journey to ancient Babylon and 27:15 our reflections on the life of Daniel and his experience in the 27:18 lion's den, then be sure to join us again next week when we will 27:23 share another of life's journeys together. Until then remember 27:27 the ultimate destination of life's journey. Now I saw a new 27:32 heaven and a new earth and God will wipe away every tear from 27:36 their eyes. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor 27:39 crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have 27:44 passed away. 27:46 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2020-06-03