Character Over Conformity

Posted: May 21, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Babylon, Character, Conformity, Discipline, Favour, God, Jesus, Sermons, Wisdom | Leave a comment

The fiery furnace. The handwriting on the wall. Being thrown into the lions’ den. These are all phrases and stories that we use today, that come from the Book of Daniel written over 2500 years ago. Today we begin a new series in the Book of Daniel. Why Daniel? Recall last week in 1 Peter 5:13 where we studied, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings and so does Mark, my son.” The church lived in Babylon. In an ever-increasing hostile world, so do we live in Babylon. The term Babylon casts a long shadow from Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel to the Book of Revelation including the churches that the Apostle Peter wrote to and then the Apostle John wrote to later on in Revelation 18. Babylon has always represented opposition to God. This evil thread of Babylon throughout Scripture will eventually be cut off by God, which is part of Daniel’s prophecy and which will be our focus this fall, Lord willing. However, we start with Daniel’s life for the next 6 weeks in chapters 1-6. Here is a man who never compromised and kept his integrity throughout his whole life – a hero of the faith. Nevertheless, we are not daring to be a Daniel as the old song goes. Let’s not lower ourselves to just get some moral messages and takeaways. Let’s keep our eyes locked on Jesus and our God. The theme for Daniel will help us in this effort: Despite what we see around us, God is still in control! And in order to understand the context of Daniel, we actually need to read 2 Chronicles 36:1-21. Please turn in or on your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 36! If you do not have a Bible, we would love to give you one. You can remain seated because I am going to 2 Chronicles 36 and then we read Daniel 1. Read 2 Chronicles 36:1-21 and Daniel 1!

Aren’t you amazed with God? He has the audacity to take an ancient adversary and repeat offender and use them for His good purposes! As one commentator writes, “The Book of Daniel portrays God’s interest in, and care over, His chosen people, even when they are being punished for sin.”[1] God even multi-tasks. He disciplines His children while defending against His enemies. It would be like a father correcting his son while at the same time taking on a robber. God is awesome! 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 summarizes it well, “The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by His messengers, because He had compassion on His dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against His people, until there was no remedy.” “The Bible asserts clearly that the LORD announces ahead of time His plans through his prophets as a means of vindicating His sovereignty and encouraging His people.”[2] In this case, there was no other remedy. God had exhausted His attempts to get His children’s attention. Parents, can you relate? In other words, things got so bad that God had used His arch enemy as discipline against His own people. “No longer was the national Israel a light, which should lighten the Gentiles and point them to Mount Zion, the dwelling place of the Holy God. Instead, she was a rebellious and stiff-necked people, ripe for judgment.”[3] God had to judge His people. In fact, “Daniel’s name means ‘God is my Judge.’”[4] It is a clue to what we learn about God – He is judge and He is sovereign. In that judgement, it looks from all appearances that God is losing. Daniel 1:2 is shocking, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into His hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.” Underline the words, “the Lord gave” because they are a clue to what God is doing in Daniel 1. What did God give to the Babylonians because of evil King Jehoiakim? The Temple vessels! These vessels were used in worship to Yahweh. It would be like us giving away our Communion trays and all of these music instruments to the Church of Satan. Despite what we see around us, God is in control and gives us His discipline (v. 2). I find this so helpful because it doesn’t make sense when we see leaders who are so harmful and seemingly get to have their own way. They are even corrupting and misleading the next generation. Confusing them about even what is basic such as identity and gender – a subject we are trying to address at our Chesterton Lectures this coming weekend. Where is God in all this? He is disciplining us as His people[1] . We share the blame in this confusion as the Church [2] because we have conformed to the world rather than being transformed by the renewing of our minds to follow Christ. Our sexuality is broken and our identity confused. There is nothing new under the sun. What did Nebuchadnezzar do? Look at verse 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, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.” “This was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy to King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 30 a century earlier.”[5]Remember, despite what we see around us, God is in control and gives us His discipline. That discipline may seem harsh. “Nebuchadnezzar not only took the best talent to expand his empire, but to serve as a warning to the people at home, not to revolt.”[6] Nebuchadnezzar took something more valuable than the gold vessels, he took the brightest youth! This was a forced brain drain! It was not unlike what Adolf Hitler said in June 1933. Adolf Hitler declared, “If the older generation cannot get accustomed to us, we shall take their children away from them and rear them as needful to the Fatherland.”[7] Isn’t this the same path we see when parents are not even consulted anymore by educators when a child is confused about their identity?

If we were shocked by God giving the worship instruments away, there is an even more shocking gift God would give His best young people to His enemy. What is God doing? Now some might think of this as an opportunity. The nobility would be thankful their children were spared and then essentially enrolled for 3 years into the Harvard or Cambridge of the day. What fortune! “Babylon was the center of the knowledge in the known world at the time. The various areas of science appear to have been more advanced there than anywhere else in the world.”[8] “The language and literature of Chaldeans was immense and included wisdom and esoteric literature, creation stories, magic incantations, theogonies (origins and genealogies of the gods), legal corpora, ancient histories, letters, dream journals, vision manuals, mathematical and astrological materials. The education of these young men rivaled that of Moses under Pharaoh and Alexander under Aristotle.”[9] Maybe you and I are driven by having our children and grandchildren succeed in life? We want our kids to go to the best schools. Marry somebody up from them. Get a great job. Watch out! Such pursuits for success can cut us off from God’s blessing. 

And speaking of being cut off, there is always compromise and pain when we choose conformity over character. We feel like we are losing our youth, how do you think the Jewish parents felt? “It was necessary that the young men be old enough to make the adjustment psychologically and young enough yet to learn easily and come to feel at home in the new cultural surroundings.”[10] Or at least so goes the thinking – we can mold them. Daniel and his friends never felt at home in Babylon. They were elected exiles (homeless, but hand-picked by God.) But what is more shocking is that these young men were most likely sexually violated through forced castration and became eunuchs. Ancient kings would often castrate their courtiers so they were not a threat to the royal wives or harems. We can surmise this based on Daniel not being married and having to report to the chief eunuch (v. 3), a group that Daniel may have belonged to. Furthermore, this fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy to King Hezekiah 100 years earlier in 2 Kings 20:18 after Hezekiah foolishly showed of his kingdom to a Babylonian envoy, “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.” Being a eunuch meant that one could not worship God in the Temple (Deuteronomy 23:1) and would be considered outcasts and yet, the temple vessels went with the eunuchs to Babylon. Years later, Jesus would recover what was lost for eunuchs when He declared in Matthew 19:12, “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” I bring us to Jesus’ redemptive work just to remind us that God is in control and gives us His discipline because He loves us. And yet He can redeem what seems to be lost.

We see this in Daniel. We can’t be certain if their bodies were changed and if that altered their gender in the minds of the Babylonians that they were considered less of a man, but we do know their names were changed. Daniel’s name (which means what? “God is my Judge”) was changed to Belteshazzar. “Belteshazzar means “Bel will protect his life.”[11] The world was saying that their education and religion would protect Daniel. Can you imagine how that would feel so annoying? Every time people called out your name you would want to scream, “Yahweh is my Judge, not the god Bel protecting my life.” Then think about Daniel’s friends. “Hananiah means ‘Yahweh is gracious’ became Shadrach which means “command of Aku, the Babylonian god of the moon”; Mishael means ‘Who is what God is?’ became Meshach, which means “guest of a king”; and ‘Azariah means ‘Yahweh is a helper’ and his name was changed to ‘servant of light.’”[12] Meshach and Abednego’s name changes may seem benign, but not when your names testifies to who God is. And yet, God is in control. Humans may change your name. But God will remember it. “Daniel is called a ‘prophet’ by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 (Mark 13:14).”[13] What favour and validation by God! God may have given His discipline, but also His favour. 

And yet, despite what we see around us, God is in control and gives us His discipline and also His favour (v. 9). Look at what we read in verse 9 and we will see the second gift of God’s control, which is His favour, “And God gave Daniel favour and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.” We get such favour from God as we trust and have faith in Him. Daniel and his three friends trusted God and lived differently. Their “court stories generally would have fostered nationalism among audiences that shared the ethnicity of the captive heroes.”[14] They didn’t pout or protest. “Too many Christians do this in comparable situations, that if God has not been ‘fair’ with them, they do not have to obey Him.”[15] But Daniel was different. I think this is the point more than trying to institute a Daniel fast where our takeaway is to only eat vegetables. Look at verse 8, “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank.” What was the problem with the choice food and drink of the king? It wasn’t about eating meat. It was about eating food most likely was sacrificed to idols, but that was also unclean and violating God’s commands about food in Leviticus 11. It is important to note as we try to keep our character over conformity in navigating a hostile world that “Daniel accepts re-education and a new name, but makes his protest on eating food that God forbade.”[16] WHAT WILL BE YOUR RED LINE? Friends, it has to be the clear violation of God’s Word. God may put you in a horrible and hostile situation and yet He may be favouring you. Examples include being bullied at school for your Biblical views or having a horrible boss or spouse and yet God is using that in your life and others to bring glory to Himself and to strengthen your faith. Daniel and His friends did not compromise their character and conform to the culture. I believe this teaches that there is always a way out, but it requires the third gift God gives us to show His control.

The third gift is that despite what we see around us, God is in control in that God gives us His wisdom (v. 17). Look at verse 17, “As these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” God’s sovereignty is shown in the wisdom He gives us. “Daniel and his friends were not placed in Babylon to do work among their own people… Daniel’s personal integrity was so great that he could be heard and trusted even by those monarchs who did not believe in his God.”[17] What a reminder that some of us are called to minister amongst God’s own people. Maybe you homeschool or send your kids to Christian school? Others of us are called to the marketplace amongst God’s enemies. Maybe you send your kids to the public school system? Both are needed, but both must be distinguished by their integrity. What is encouraging is what Old Testament scholar Joyce Baldwin writes: “On foreign soil, the God of gods reveals Himself in a meaningful way to the new culture and background.”[18] “The unseen hand of God directs the whole course of events.”[19] “Real power has a heavenly origin.”[20]

We get a hint of this heavenly power in the very last verse of Daniel 1, “And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.” God was in control and faithful throughout all the Babylonian kings in Daniel’s lifetime as this chart shows. But God wasn’t just sovereign and faithful, He was redeeming what was lost. We know this from Ezra 6:3-5, “In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered and let its foundations be retained … Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.” Isn’t God amazing?

My friends, despite what we see around us, God is in control. He may be disciplining us, favouring us, and giving us His wisdom or all three at the same time. Daniel teaches us this, but points us to a better Daniel. Daniel kept his character over conformity, but he was not perfect. He needed Jesus, like you and I did, to come. You see, Jesus experienced the unfair discipline of suffering and being taken away because others were disobedient. And yet, Jesus was favoured and given wisdom to show God’s Kingdom and that real power has a heavenly origin. Let’s keep our eyes on Christ who gives us the character to not conform to the pattern of this world.

[1] Leon Wood, A Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1973), 23.

[2] Duguid, 1581.

[3] Edward J. Young, The Prophecy of Daniel (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980), 17.

[4] Iaian Duguid, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 1581.

[5] Duguid, 1586.

[6] Wood, 27.

[7] Source: https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/nazi-germany-quotations-children-education/. Accessed May 15, 2023.

[8] Wood, 43.

[9] Eugene H. Carpenter, The NLT Study Bible (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017), 1392.

[10] Wood, 33. 

[11] Carpenter, 1392.

[12] Duguid, 1586.

[13] Leon Wood, A Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1973), 22.

[14] Wendy L. Widder, The Story of God Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 8.

[15] Wood, 38.

[16] Joyce Baldwin, Daniel – An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) (Madison: IVP, 1978), 82.

[17] Young, 19.

[18] Baldwin, 53.

[19] Baldwin, 84.

[20] Tremper Longman, Daniel (The NIV Application Commentary) ( Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition), 56.

What does this look practically? How is God disciplining us in the area of conforming to the world’s standards of sex and gender?

Temple included? It may be good to elaborate on how this plays out or what you mean by this.