E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten
Reihe: Preaching the Word
Stortz Daniel (ESV Edition)
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4335-4879-6
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
The Triumph of God's Kingdom
E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten
Reihe: Preaching the Word
ISBN: 978-1-4335-4879-6
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
Rodney D. Stortz (1950-2003) was senior pastor of Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, which he planted in 1990. He also ministered in churches in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Missouri. Educated at Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary, Stortz was involved in a regional radio ministry, Oaks of Righteousness, and served as a board member for Trans World Radio and Covenant College.
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DANIEL 1:1–25
DR. BRYAN CHAPELL tells a story of the wife of a full-time student at Covenant Seminary. Like the wives of many seminarians, Karen was earning money to keep her husband in school and food on the table. In her case, Karen made her living as a quality-control inspector for a major pharmaceutical company.
One day, through faulty procedures, the automated machines produced a large order of syringes that became contaminated and therefore failed inspection. Karen reported the problem to her boss, but he quickly computed the costs of reproducing the order and made a “cost-effective” decision. Because so much money would be lost in replacing the syringes, the boss ordered Karen to sign the inspection clearance despite the contamination. She refused, but this did not get her off the hook.
Because of certain federal regulations, only Karen could sign the clearance forms. If Karen did not sign, the syringes could not be marketed. The boss urged and threatened, but Karen would not budge. The impasse between Karen and her superior led to a visit from the company president. He also computed the costs of reproduction and issued his decision: The forms must be signed. Karen would have the weekend to think over whether or not she would sign the clearances. The president told her that if she was still determined not to sign the forms on Monday, her job would be in jeopardy.
In fact, much more than Karen’s job would be in jeopardy. This was her only means of income, and it was a well-paying job, not easily replaced. Randy’s education and their family’s future were severely endangered. The hopes, dreams, and career plans of many years could be shattered as a result of the choice that had to be made in the next two days. When Dr. Bryan Chapell, the seminary’s president, told this story, he concluded with the following words: “For this young couple, all the theological jargon and doctrinal instruction about consecration, righteousness, and holiness suddenly came down to this one concrete decision: Could they afford to remain undefiled from the contamination the world of business practicalities urged Karen to approve?”1 What would you do?
This couple’s predicament is similar to what God’s people have faced in all ages. The first chapter of Daniel well illustrates that there have always been pressures on God’s people to compromise their holiness. As the chapter unfolds we will also see how important the preparation to pursue holiness is. The chapter concludes with the demonstration of the power of personal holiness.
The Pressure to Compromise Holiness (1:3–8)
The pressure that we all face was experienced by Daniel and his three friends. Daniel sets the stage to describe this pressure applied by the king in verses 3, 4:
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace.
These were top-notch young men from the royal family and nobility in Israel. According to Jerome’s Commentary on Daniel, Rabbinic tradition holds that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were descendants of King Hezekiah, based on Isaiah 39:7.2 In that verse Isaiah speaks these words to King Hezekiah: “And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
Daniel was probably in his early teens when he was taken captive, because he was still alive seventy years later when the captivity ended. Perhaps Daniel was thirteen to sixteen years old when he was taken captive around 606 BC. Ashpenaz, a member of the pagan royal court, began to apply pressure on these teenagers. We and our children experience some of the same pressures.
There is pressure to change our thinking (1:4b): He was “to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.”
Imagine the influence these pagan Babylonian teachers had on these teenagers. The Babylonians’ literature promoted their worldview, their view of man, their view of God, their view of sin, and their view of redemption, which were all directly opposed to everything these young teens had been taught and believed while in Israel.
Through archaeological evidence Tremper Longman III concludes that undoubtedly one of the subjects Daniel and his friends would have been taught was the Babylonian art of divination.3 They learned how to make predictions by interpreting unusual terrestrial and celestial phenomena and by examining sheep livers. In Mesopotamia, omens were considered the primary way by which the gods revealed their will and intentions. When powerful communicators keep telling you the same thing over and over again, it is hard not to be influenced. But these methods of divination would all be diametrically opposed to what these young men had been taught from God’s Word. Daniel probably knew these words of Isaiah:
And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isaiah 8:19, 20)
Though Daniel and his friends went through the classes, they apparently resisted the pressure to change their thinking. This can be seen through the historical accounts of these young men in the chapters to follow.
The pressure on Christians to change their thinking today comes from the print media, movies, and television as well as from teachers. For example, we have all experienced the pressure of our society trying to change our thinking about homosexuality, calling it an alternate lifestyle. Books, even on the elementary level, teach children about “Heather who has two mommies.” They teach children that this is a good alternative. God calls it both shameful and a perversion in Romans 1:26, 27:
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
In some cases the world has succeeded in changing our thinking on such subjects.
In his sermon on Romans 1:24–32, R. Kent Hughes said, “A mainline denomination’s magazine carried an admonishment that said essentially this: Homosexuality should be accepted as a variant lifestyle—the homosexual relationship is neither unnatural, sinful, nor sick.”4
We need to stand firm and resist the pressure. Be encouraged that Daniel and his three teenage friends stood firm against the Babylonian attempts to change their thinking. We will see what these Jewish teenagers and their parents did to prepare to withstand the pressure, because it is not easy. Christian, though the forces against you are great, take heart, stand firm, and dare to be a Daniel.
There is pressure to change our worship (1:6, 7).
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
The name Daniel means “Elohim is my judge.” Elohim is one of the Hebrew names for God. The name Belteshazzar means “May Bel protect his life.” Bel is one of the gods of Babylon. Hananiah means, “Yahweh is gracious.” Yahweh is the personal name of the God of the Bible. Shadrach means, “Aku is exalted.” Mishael means, “Who is what Elohim is?” while Meshach means, “Who is what Aku is?” Azariah means, “Yahweh is my helper,” and Abednego means “The servant of Nebo,” another Babylonian god.
As the March 26, 1976 issue of Christianity Today stated, “Albania has joined the list of countries taking away one of the most personal and private possessions of its citizens: their names. After all, someone named Abraham or Ruth or Mark might someday wonder where his name came from! That could lead to a time-consuming search for a Bible or other religious literature. In the process, the unfortunately named Albanian might absorb some of the teachings of the outlawed book. That result, in the view of the government, would be very bad.”5 The Babylonians changed the Hebrew teens’ names in an attempt to make them forget the true God and change their worship, but it appears throughout the entire book that Daniel never did forget the name he was given, which honored the true God. Even the king (in chapter 6), when Daniel was in the lions’ den, came to him the next morning and used his Jewish name saying, “O Daniel, servant of the living God . . .” (v. 20).
The Babylonians removed God’s name from the Jewish young men then, and today in America secularists are removing God from our schools and from public life. For example, evolution is taught as a scientific fact, and the truth of God being the Creator is either repressed or openly attacked.
In a sermon entitled “Why I...
