God Who is with Us in Crises and Incidents (Dan. 6:1-10)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” I think the more time passes, the more powerful and amazing the choir and praise has become. Today, the title of the message is, “God Who is With Us in Crises and Incidents,” and may this take place in your life. God is the eternal God, and the God Who was with Daniel is with us today as well. He is the eternal God Who transcends time and space. Even now, that God is with those who believe in Him today.
1. Babylon
Today, through Daniel, may you hold onto the eternal covenant of the Triune God. The background of the age of the Bible passage we read is that, the superpower nation was Babylon, and they were conquering the surrounding nations.
1) Israel became captives
There was also the nation of Israel who were the descendants of Abraham. But one day, the King of Babylon attacked the King of the kingdom of Israel, completely destroyed their temple, and dragged all of the smart elites to Babylon. Even today, America does the same thing; it maintains its superpower nation status by bringing all the smartest individuals from other nations, with wealth and power. Age by age, God raises up a superpower nation, and that is connected with Israel. Why is it that Israel’s temple was destroyed in war and they were taken as captives?
(1) Jehoiakim king of Judah (Dan. 1:1)
(2) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Dan. 1:1)
(3) God handed over – Captive (Dan. 1:2)
In Daniel 1:2, it says that God had actually given the Israelites as captives. It means that God made this happen. Then, why is it that God delivered His people into the hands of nonbelievers?
2) Daniel and his friends (Dan. 1:6)
(1) Learned the literature and language of the Babylonians (Dan. 1:4)
(2) Those who knew the reason why they were captives of Babylon (Jer. 25:6-9)
In Jeremiah 25:6-7, God continues to warn the Israelites, “Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.” However, the Israelites thought lightly of the Word of God and they lived with the idols and gods of the Gentiles in their hearts, then exactly according to what is in our hearts, we will be dragged in that direction. Same thing for you and me; depending on what is in our hearts, our lives will be dragged in that direction. The result of our life is a result of what’s in our hearts.
(3) Captives of Babylon for 70 years (Jer. 25:11)
In Jeremiah 25:11, God said He would make the Israelites captives of Babylon for 70 years.
3) Trained in Babylonian literature for 3 years
As part of that captive movement, the first wave of people they brought as captives were the kings, the nobility, and the elites, to make them assimilate into the Babylonian culture. There, they would train the Israelites who were taken captive, with the language and the literature of Babylon to make them completely assimilated into the Babylonian culture. This is the way that Satan is using Babylon to hold onto the captives.
The people of God must belong to God, and we are bound to live only by the Triune God. That word must be only the Word of God. We must live by only Christ, Who breaks down curses and disasters. We must live by only the power of the Holy Spirit. That is how God designed us from the very beginning when He created mankind from Gen. 1:27-28: God created mankind in His own image, and blessed them to be abundant and to rule over the earth.
However, Satan prevents us from living like that on earth. The Israelites were taken as captives to Babylon, but this is actually talking about the people living in America today. Satan desires people who live without any thought, they think, “Babylon is so developed and strong. If my children become assimilated into Babylon, then they will become powerful as well.” What happens if you and your children get assimilated into American culture? We will fall directly into the American culture, the American language, and the American spiritual state. Yes, we do have to learn of those things, but we shouldn’t be swept into them.
The central core that Satan uses to control America is making the individual their own god. He has completely dominated with the ideology and culture of individualism, starting from the New Age movement. The individualism movement means that I am my first priority. My emotions are my priority and my thoughts are my priority. The New Age ideology and the individualism ideology prevents anyone else from interceding with my life. That is where we get concepts like personal freedom, personal equality, and rights. President Roosevelt started spreading this American ideology throughout the world through the United Nations.
People who don’t know about this will think the way for us to quickly succeed in America is to take on its culture, but that is actually Satan’s trap, because we have the freedom to not do anything that I do not want to do. “If somebody tells me something I do not want to hear, I avoid them. I am my own standard. If I don’t feel good, then I don’t like it.” So, establishing this American culture is actually the perfect way for Satan to control, but the result of that is all of these shootings and drug addictions, because if the individual becomes their own standard, then they have to fight with everyone who doesn’t get along with them, and if somebody brings me a loss or a disadvantage, I will not meet with them. And if somebody hurts my pride, then I will never forgive them. This is how Satan makes all of us and all of our children turn, the longer we live in America.
Then, even if we listen to the Word of God, if I don’t agree with it, then I will even reject God’s Word. Because God’s Word is no longer absolute; I will only accept it if I agree with it. That means that my own brain is my standard. If I agree with it, it means that it must align with what I’ve experienced and what I’ve learned, for me to accept it. So, America is the place where Satan can rule most efficiently and powerfully. Because of that, there are more and more people who are mentally powerless. That is why there is such an alarming rate of increase in mental illnesses, like depression or PTSD, because Satan has Americanized the world. Everyone says, “If I feel this way, that’s the standard.” Whether it’s homosexuality or heterosexuality, I go with whatever I feel, and that is the postmodern ideology. In the past, we used to live based on objective logic, but now we reject that and go towards “my feelings.”
(1) Had to eat and drink the daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table (Dan. 1:5)
After the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon, the Babylonian king would feed them food, would educate them, and would give them everything they need in order to make them established in the Babylonian culture.
(2) Daniel’s resolution (Dan. 1:8)
But Daniel makes a resolution, “I will not eat the food and the drink offered to idols, because ‘If I eat this food offered to idols, then little by little, my mind and my heart will start going towards idolatry.’” Daniel knew what would happen after that, so he made a resolution. God gave the guard the grace to allow Daniel to live like that, and later on, they can see the evidence that Daniel’s face looked stronger and healthier than those who ate the food. Back in the Old Testament days, the only way for them to serve God was to not eat the food offered to idols. Now in the New Testament, after Jesus Christ was born on earth, things had changed. 1 Cor. 10:31 says, “Whatever you eat or drink, do it for the glory of God,” and this can be used to save people.
(3) God gave wisdom (Dan. 1:17,20)
Then in Daniel 1:17, it says that when they resolved to live with only the Word of God, God gave these four men knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning, and Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. God has given every individual a talent. Daniel received wisdom and the talent to interpret dreams. There is also a talent God has given to each of you. God has given the talents to nonbelievers as well and He makes it diverse so that we can maintain this world, and the only difference is that nonbelievers will use their talents for themselves, but we use it for God. Even among nonbelievers, those who discover their talents will succeed, but because they are living for themselves, they will ultimately fall.
2. Incident of Babylon
1) King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan. 2:1)
In that way, these individuals were trained in Babylon, and they were raised up as politicians who would help the king, and God gives the king a dream they could not interpret.
(1) Called the palace magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers in crisis (Dan. 2:2-5)
King Nebuchadnezzar is paying for all of these palace magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologists, in order to solve problems like this uninterpretable dream, and he gives this command, “If you are not able to interpret my dream in this period of time, I will kill all of you.”
(2) Daniel evaded crisis with his wisdom (Dan. 2:14-16)
When that time had passed, the king sent his guards to kill all of his wise men, and Daniel at that time said, “I can interpret the king’s dream.” Daniel actually received the interpretation of the dream from God in a dream, and it’s amazing.
(3) Daniel interprets the dream (Dan. 2:23-45)
There was no sorcerer or leader who could interpret the dream, but Daniel, who was taken as a captive of war from Israel, could interpret his dream. God created the incident of the king’s dream in order to reveal Himself through Daniel. It was not by Daniel’s own ability, but God gave Daniel that talent to reveal to all people that God is alive.
How can King Nebuchadnezzar know of God? King Nebuchadnezzar is the king of the most powerful superpower nation, and he has his own god; how could he know of the God of the Israelites? There are two reasons why God brought the Israelites and Daniel into captivity in Babylon: the first is yes, because of their idolatry, but it was also to reveal to the surrounding Gentiles Who God is.
2) God of Daniel (Dan. 2:20-22)
(1) Praise be to the name of God forever and ever
Then King Nebuchadnezzar confesses with his own mouth that the God whom Daniel serves is the eternal and everlasting God, and all must praise this God.
(2) Wisdom and power are His
(3) He changes times and seasons; he deposed kings and raises up others
King Nebuchadnezzar confesses that wisdom and power are His, that He changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others. Then he also confesses that inside of Daniel and his three friends, there is a Holy Spirit.
(4) He reveals deep and hidden things, knows what lies in darkness
Then this Gentile king confesses that God reveals the deep and hidden things and knows what lies in the darkness. There are things that the scholars and scientists cannot reveal, and God will reveal it. 1 Cor. 2:10 says that the Spirit of God will reveal the deep things of God. The Holy Spirit of God knows and can reveal the answer to the problems that mankind cannot solve, the mental problems that doctors cannot solve, and the problems of addiction that scientists cannot solve.
God can also reveal the flow of global finances to you. The Holy Spirit that revealed to Joseph the seven years of abundant harvest and the seven years of famine, can reveal the future works. That God is with me and with us. But what’s important is that we resolve to live with only Him alone, that is the only way I can only concentrate on God. God wants to reveal that Jesus Christ is the One True God through the person who makes that resolution in their fields. Your job is actually a mission field to reveal the fact that Jesus Christ is the One True God. What you must do in that mission field is to resolve to only live with the Triune God alone, then God will reveal Himself through that person. Then, that means that God is looking for and raising up the people like Daniel in today’s society. If you live by the ways of America, it might seem to work out physically in the beginning, but you cannot know the deep things.
3) King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:47-48)
(1) God – God of gods and Lord of kings
Then, King Nebuchadnezzar confesses that this God is the God of all Gods and the Lord of all kings. Then he threatens everyone saying, “Anyone who rejects or opposes the God of Daniel will be torn up, bit by bit.”
(2) God, the revealer of mysteries
(3) Daniel ruled over entire province from the royal court
Then he raises Daniel up as the governor. People struggle so hard to be successful and they still can’t do it, but God raises you up. During that biblical time, the Babylonian kingdom was so vast and powerful that it controlled all the way from Asia to Africa, and because the king could not handle all of that territory by himself, he set up three governors to rule over those regions. The success, the finances, and the honor that comes from serving only God is hidden in only Christ. The fact that it’s hidden within Christ means that it is only revealed when you resolve to live only by the Triune God. There are many intelligent and capable people, but they cannot save America.
3. Babylon and today’s incident
The laws of God and the benefit of God is only going to come out through the one who resolves to live by and for only the Triune God. Only the God Who created mankind knows and can heal the problems of mankind. God is the One Who gives and takes away. God is the One Who can call us away even tonight. Instead of living for God and God’s will, if you only live for yourself, physical things, and your success, then it becomes nothing in the end. That’s not “only,” that means you believe in God, but you want to rely on the world as well, and then, because you lack spiritual strength, you will spiritually suffer and barely receive salvation. Even then, you will live your entire life on earth under the suffering of slavery, and then you will go to heaven. However, for the people who live only by the Triune God, it doesn’t matter to them whether they’re in Babylon or they’re in Israel. It doesn’t matter at all whether they are in America or whether they’re in the nation they were born in. Why? Because God works here and there.
It doesn’t matter whether your studies are easy or difficult because if God is answering your studies, then no one can compete with that. We need the student, the employee, the business owner who has this resolution of “only.” We do not need the business or the studies of just a churchgoer, but God is waiting for the one who resolves in only the Triune God and their business and studies.
1) Daniel ruled over the whole kingdom (Dan. 6:3)
Then, God raises Daniel as the highest of all the satraps, and that is where there is a lot of political warfare taking place. These other politicians are looking at Daniel saying, “He’s not even a Babylonian, he’s from the Israelite nation, so how can he be more powerful than us?” So they plotted to try to take him down, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. If you go to the seat of success, then people will try to drag you down. Especially in American society, if there is a person of another ethnicity who is in the seat of success, they will not leave you alone, but they will try to take you down by some point. Let’s say for example, people who got up to their position by using a history of humanism, they will be taken down because of their humanism.
(1) Those who pray to another god except to the king will be thrown into the lion’s den (Dan. 6:7)
So these other politicians researched into the Ten Commandments because they knew that was what Daniel believes in, and it says, “You shall not bow down to another God,” so they make a law that they should only bow down to the god of King Nebuchadnezzar. They changed the law and got it approved and sealed by the king. They knew that every day, Daniel prays, facing his window, three times a day, and that is to another god, not the king of King Nebuchadnezzar, so they made this law to throw him into the lion’s den.
(2) Knew about the decree but still prayed and gave thanks to God (Dan. 6:10)
However, it says that Daniel had already known the law had been passed when he bowed down to pray towards the Temple of Jerusalem three times. I believe that most Christians today will think like this, “Well, the Spirit of God is inside of me and just because I don’t bow down doesn’t mean I’m going to lose my salvation, so I’m just going to worship by myself, quietly; I’m not rejecting God,” and they will start looking down on worship. It’s because those individuals do not know this is a trap laid by Satan. In Matthew 4, the devil goes to Jesus Christ Who is the Son of God Himself and gives Him this temptation, “I will give you all of the glory and the splendor of the world, if you don’t worship God and you worship me instead.”
So, if you’ve become Americanized, then you will 100% follow the ways of the devil, because you follow whatever is convenient for yourself. You will make that decision using your freedom, then you’re going to justify yourself, saying, “Oh, that doesn’t mean I’m going to lose my salvation,” but already, your spiritual state is separated from God. We have a spirit, soul, and body, so if our spirit is separated from God, then our mental state will have problems too, and this will flow invisibly. Once we start to get those mental problems, we will have physical problems in our lives. So, what does the word, “only” mean? That isn’t talking about narrow-mindedness. It means, what is our way of living? There is nothing other than the Triune God; there is nothing other than the faith that believes in Him. Then, whether I die, I will die, and I will make that choice.
(3) Daniel who survived the lion’s den through faith (Dan. 6:23)
Of course, the law must be followed, so they throw Daniel into the lion’s den with hungry lions. Then, the angel of the LORD comes and blocks the mouths of the lions so that they cannot eat him. In Dan. 6:23, it says that no wound was found on Daniel because he had trusted in His God. Think about it like this, “He could have bowed down to the Gentile idols; that doesn’t mean he rejects faith in God,” we try to justify it like that, but the faith that God desires is to only believe in God. Even if it’s to a loss or disadvantage to you, choose that, and God will be revealed through that person.
That faith of “only,” the one who wants to live by only the Triune God, that’s who God needs. If a new believer comes into the church, they will meet many kinds of people, but the people they meet will determine the color of their faith. I hope you will meet the people who have concluded in, “only.” If somebody is wishy-washy, then that is going towards the path of death. That’s not just a strategy we use, but there is no other way that we can live, other than the way of God. He is our Creator and He is the God Who controls everything. He is the God Who knows when we stand and when we lie down and the deepest things of our heart. During that time, Daniel might have died, and God decided that His glory would be revealed through others by saving Daniel, who refused to bow down to any other idols, just according to God’s Word.
There are other people who actually do die as a martyr for God, and that is the best way to glorify God in that situation. We are very interested in the result of whether we live or die, but even before that result, what’s important is our faith. It’s the same thing with the God that Daniel believed in and the God we believe in today. In America, which is the current day Babylon, God is looking for those who have the faith of Daniel. God desires to save the company from a problem that nobody can solve, just as He did through Daniel and Joseph. God reveals through this person, the problem plaguing America that no successful person can solve.
2) Early Church within persecution
(1) Jesus Christ – Answer to life (Jn. 19:30)
The Early Church were also Christians who were persecuted. What is the “only” they had that they evangelized all the way to Rome? This means that God used these people to reveal that Christ is God to all of Rome, that Jesus is the Christ, He has solved all the problems of mankind and He is the only answer. You must not stray from that. Only Christ is the answer to every problem of our lives, and upon the one who confesses that, God establishes His Kingdom.
(2) God’s kingdom – Background, mission (Ac. 1:3)
Though I live in this world, I am living with the background and the blessings of the kingdom of God. God will fulfill His mission that He has given to me to spread God’s Kingdom through me. “The kingdom of the world” is talking about anything that is needed to maintain the physical world, for example, our studies, our food, our basic necessities, our work, but there are some people who only live their lives to maintain their physical bodies. Yes, that is necessary because we have a body, but that is somebody who lives in the kingdom of the world.
How does Satan work in the kingdom of Satan? Satan tells us to live as God. For example, the individualism we talked about, being centered on that, “Do whatever you want, do what you like,” that’s the kingdom of Satan. So, “Go in the direction that helps you, go in the direction that elevates your name,” but that is the way that Satan drags us.
(3) Only the Holy Spirit – Authority, witness (Ac. 1:8)
What is God doing even now? Only Jesus Christ is God, God is looking for and raising up the disciples of God’s Kingdom who will live only by the Kingdom of God and for the Kingdom of God. For those people, God will give them the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit is the power that worked in the creation of the universe, so the power of creation and the infinite power of God will be upon this person. That’s why He said, “You will receive power and be a witness until the ends of the earth.” With that strength, God began to work to take them to Rome. In America, there are so many good things physically, but God desires for you and I to live only by Christ, only for the Kingdom of God, only by the power and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
3) Works of the Holy Spirit
Then, the works that happened in Daniel will take place in America today. Even if you don’t succeed, God will raise you up. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re not saying that success is bad at all, but we don’t want you to be a slave to success; instead, we want God to raise you up to the position of success so that that success can reveal that Christ is God to everyone. The things you learned in school are not enough, but with the power and the wisdom God gives you, giving the answer to save people in the world; that’s what God desires.
As evidence that this is not taking place, people go to church but they still suffer from addictions and mental illness. God tells us not to worry about eating and making a living, but we continuously worry about just that. There’s no reason for us to fight or conflict with others, but we do that every time we see people, why is that? It’s because you’re living with something else inside of you. You are not living with the Word of God; you are living with your own standards, and that person is bound to collide everywhere they go. If that person were God, then they wouldn’t need to conflict with anyone else, but they don’t even have an IQ of 200, so they have to fight with everyone. But there is one way to not have to fight: you can just accept them, you can transcend them, and only hold onto God. Everywhere that person goes, God will work upon them.
You only fight with others because you reveal your own thoughts; you are fighting with others because you speak from your experiences, you fight with others because you speak from the things you’ve learned. Those things may be needed in the kingdom of the world, but they cannot be the standard in the Kingdom of God. You think what you’ve experienced is everything, but you haven’t even lived 100 years. We have countless ancestors of faith from the Old Testament until now, and that is why all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden within Christ.
(1) Evangelism, mission of 15 nations (Ac. 2:9-11)
Through that person, God will give them power and wisdom and finances and people for missions and evangelism; everything will follow them. God desires you and I to live for that “only.” You have to resolve: “If I die, I’ll die.” You keep on using your brain because you want to survive. If you accept death, then the devil can no longer work on you. Accepting your death means you want to live only by the Triune God, then the invisible God will reveal Himself through that person. May you have a blessed week.
(2) Antioch church – Missions (Ac. 13:1-4)
(3) Rome – To the whole world (Ac. 19:21, 27:24)
Conclusion
1. Proclaim the Gospel to all nations, people, ends of the earth
2. With God
3. Do God’s Word with God’s power
Message Prayer
We have all individually received a word from God; let us pray individually, holding onto it.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We desire to live with the faith of Daniel, only relying on only the faith of salvation, only the Word of God, and only the power of the Holy Spirit. In our fields, we desire to reveal the fact that only Christ is our answer to life and God. We have returned Your material blessings as offering. We believe You will work with the economy of light to save the 237 nations and the 5000 tribes, upon all the hands that have given the offering, for the tithes for themselves, for the Temple Construction and the church, the missions offering for world missions, the future generations offering for the future generations, as well as the miscellaneous thanksgiving and Sunday offerings. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that You will give these two newcomers the same faith that Daniel had, and that You will use them as business people who will reveal to America that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the True God. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer
2. Remnant day and Remnant training is on 2/24(Sat.).
3. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to testify and live by only the Triune God in the midst of incidents and crises, and testify of Christ, be upon all their businesses, studies, and ministries, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.