This sermon delves into the stories of Daniel in chapters 4 and 5, highlighting the rise and fall of King Nebuchadnezzar's descendants, the opulence of Babylon, King Belshazzar's arrogance, and the miraculous deliverance of Daniel from the lion's den. It emphasizes the importance of unwavering faith, commitment to prayer, and standing firm in one's beliefs even in the face of adversity.

Daniel chapter 4, 5 and the year is approximately 536 BC. There's probably 26 years that have elapsed since chapter 4 and chapter 5. King Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 after ruling for about 43 years. He was succeeded by his son, who was known as Evil Muradach, who ruled for only two years and he was murdered by Negrogelezar, who was Nebuchadnezzar's son-in-law and Evil Muradach's brother-in-law. Nerogelezar ruled for about four years and he was killed in 560 or 556. He ruled from 560 to 556 and he had an imbecile son, Labashni Marduk, who ruled for about nine months and he was beaten to death by Nebonidas, who ended up reigning for 17 years. And so you say, well then who is Belshazzar? Belshazzar was the oldest son of Nebonidas and his father was co-regent. He was co-regent with his father. In other words, they were ruling together. The term father in the Hebrew can also mean ancestor. So when it says Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, he was actually sort of a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, but he again was just a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar and when it says son, it can mean ancestor of Nebuchadnezzar. King Belshazzar ruled in Babylon and it was the most beautiful city probably in the world or ever in the world. Nothing could rival the city of Babylon. It was about 16 miles square. The walls of the city of Babylon were 300 feet high, 80 feet thick. They could have race horses along the top of the walls of Babylon and it had beautiful avenues and parks and the river Euphrates ran through the middle of the city of Babylon and the hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and in the city of Babylon was this temple of Bel who was their chief god and it was an eight-story structure and there was also the magnificent Palace of the King and it was actually a complex of buildings that have now been excavated and a great bridge spanned the river Euphrates and it connected the eastern section and the western section of the city. The bridge was later supplanted by a tunnel mentioned by Deodorus. One of the chief attractions of the palace that we mentioned was that it was located in the center of the city. It did not have an average dining room but the dining room was immense. The central table in the dining room could seat 1,000 lords, wives and their concubines. It was set to be in a horseshoe shape and trained peacocks with golden harnesses pulled golden carts loaded with wines and meats up and down the tables in the garden and there was an orchestra of 32,000 players that furnished the music. Large feasts were common. 10,000 were invited to the Feast of Alexander the Great there in that palace. Persian kings often had 15,000 guests at daily banquets. Belshazzar was cocky because he felt secure behind the walls of this great city and the double wall surrounded the city and it was about 87 feet thick. There was enough room for six chariots to drive side-by-side and they were as high as 350 feet high. It had 250 towers that equally went up to 450 feet and around the walls there was a moat that was fed by the River Euphrates and food would not be a problem because they could store enough food in the city of Babylon to last for 20 years. Belshazzar was pompous, he was proud, and his attitude led to his perverseness. So that gives you a little background to the fifth chapter, the history of Belshazzar. Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. He drank wine before the thousand and Belshazzar while he tasted the wine commanded to bring the golden and the silver vessels which his father and as I said his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was at Jerusalem that the king and his princes and his wives and concubines might drink therein. And so they brought in the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was in Jerusalem and the king and his princes his wives and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver of brass of iron and wood and of stone. Rather than praising the true and the living God drinking out of these vessels that when the king was a little tipsy he ordered them brought. They were vessels that were taken by his grandfather Belshazzar from the temple in Jerusalem. They were the vessels that were used for worship in the temple in Jerusalem and now he converts them and uses them to you know drink at this drunken kind of a debauched situation. You think of you know today a person who is given over to alcohol we say well he has a disease. You know we used to just say well he's an alcoholic but that isn't politically correct so you say well he has a disease. If alcoholism is a disease it's interesting because it's the only disease that can be bottled and sold. It is the only disease that can be contracted by the will of man. The only disease that requires a license to propagate it. The only disease that requires outlets to spread it. The only disease that produces revenue for the government and the only disease that provokes crime. The only disease that is habit forming. The only disease that brings violent death on the highways and the only disease that spreads by advertising and the only disease without a germ or a virus cause. In 2nd Chronicles 36 23 we read of Cyrus the king of Persia and so the same hour there came forth when here he is in this banquet hall this big huge banquet hall a thousand of his lords with their concubines and wives and all and so in the same hour as they were there drinking and all from these vessels that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand and it rode over against the candlestick from the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. I don't know you've ever been so scared that your knees just you lost control of them and they began to smite against each other. I had a very close call with an accident when I was in high school in my dad's car and I can remember that it was I don't know how I got out of it except that the Lord just saw me I thought for sure you know that was it but somehow I escaped even crashing and but my knees didn't escape I mean I tried to stand up and they began to smite against each other so I understand what this talk is talking about when it says his knees were smiting against each other and so he was very troubled and so the king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers the Chaldeans the soothsayers the king spoke and said unto the wise men of Babylon whosoever shall read this writing and show me in the interpretation thereof shall be clothed with scarlet have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be a third ruler in the kingdom because he was co-regent with his father the best he could offer would be third in the kingdom he and his father sort of shared the kingdom but he is offering now a third of the kingdom to whoever could interpret the writing that was there on the wall and so the king Belshazzar greatly troubled his countenance was changed and the Lords were astonished now the Queen that would be the wife of Belshazzar the I mean the wife of Nebuchadnezzar and she was still alive at this time and she came in and was brought in actually to the banquet house and she spake and said O king live forever don't let your thoughts trouble you nor let your countenance be changed there is a man in the kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods and then the days of your father that is your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods was found in him whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father the king I say thy father made master of the magicians the astrologers the Chaldeans and the soothsayers for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding the interpreting of dreams the showing of hard sentences and the dissolving of doubts were found in this same Daniel whom the king named Belshazzar now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation so then Daniel was brought in before the king and the king spake and said to Daniel are you that Daniel which are of the children of the captivity of Judah whom the king my father brought out of Jewry I have even heard of thee that the spirit of the gods is in thee and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee and now the wise men the astrologers they have been brought and this writing that they should read this writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof but they could not show the interpretation of the thing and I've heard of thee that you can make interpretations and dissolve doubts and now if thou canst read the writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof you will be clothed with scarlet I have a chain of gold around your neck and you shall be third ruler in the kingdom and so then Daniel answered and said before the king let your gifts be to thyself give your rewards to another yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation so Daniel is offered this great reward if he would just read to the king the writing that was on the wall but he said no you can keep your rewards but I'll go ahead and tell you what it says anyhow so so Daniel answered and said to the king let your gifts be to yourself give your rewards to someone else I'll read the writing to the king and make him know the interpretation O thou king the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor and the majesty that he gave him all of the people and nations and languages trembled and feared before him whom he would he slew whom he would he kept alive whom he would he set up whom he would he put down but when his heart was lifted up his mind was hardened in pride he was deposed from the kingly throne and they took his glory from him and he was driven from the sons of men and his heart was made like the beast and his dwelling with the wild donkeys and they fed him with grass like oxen his body was wet with the dew of heaven until he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men and he appointed over it whomsoever he would and thou his son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart though you knew all of this but you have lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven and they brought the vessels of his house before thee and you and your lords and your wives and your concubines have drunk wine in them and you have praised the gods of silver and gold and brass iron wood stone which see not nor hear nor know and the God in whose hand your breath is you and whose are all thy ways have you not glorified so it's interesting Daniel is brought in to interpret this writing on the wall for the king but he takes the opportunity to first of all sort of rebuke the king for his prolific life style that he had and so he is telling him that you know you profaned these vessels that were used in the temple of God brought by Belshazzar or brought by your uncle Nebuchadnezzar your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem and you've drunk your wine out of them and you were praising the gods of gold and silver but the God in whose hand your very breath is they tell us that our lungs are an involuntary muscle in your body we do have certain voluntary muscles in our body they are attached to the skeleton of the body and they are controlled by your mind you can you know say you know you can order your hand to you know move out and your fist to double up and you have control over these muscles that are in your arm in your hand and in your feet legs and so forth as your moms used to tell you you know you know go get that you know and just you know you have the control of those muscles and can you know order them and they will obey but you also have what they call involuntary muscles one of the involuntary muscles of course is your heart and you don't have to tell your heart beat beat beat you know think how long you would live if you had to control your heart with your brain you know it's interesting to me that those muscles in your body that have to do with the preservation of your life God doesn't give you the control of those he keeps the control of those muscles he only lets you control those muscles that can help you facilitate picking up a pencil off the table and writing a note and so forth but the the muscles that upon which your life really depends you don't have any control over those so with the lungs you don't have to think to breathe now there are some people that have some kind of a problem and they do have to think to breathe and so they can only sleep in about 21 seconds and they have to wake up and they take a breath and then go back to sleep I forget what the thing is called narcolepsy or something like that but it's a it's a sad thing when you don't have control of the lung muscles but God has control and you can be thankful for that and here he is saying the God in whose hand your very breath is God is controlling our breath and what is it we breathing some 60 70 times a minute and so forth but the God in whose hand your very breath is I guess from 20 to 60 times a minute you can breathe but uh God is controlling the breath the God in whose hand your very breath is you have not glorified and so uh it was a part of the hand that was sent from him and this writing was written and this is the writing that was written meaning meaning teckle you farsen and so it is he is interpreting it for him and the meaning is God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it in other words your number's up buddy it's over and teckle you are weighed in the balance and found wanting it's interesting it's it's talking about balance or scales where they use the balances for the way you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting uh it's probably a truth about all of us if God is weighing us in the balances and uh you know what is the weight that we are being weighed against well righteousness but whose righteousness sits on the scales over here uh the righteousness of God and uh of course if you compare your righteousness to the righteousness of God you are along with Belshazzar going to find yourself wanting I mean how can we possibly hope to be as righteous as Jesus Christ and that's the righteousness that we're going to be measured by if we are going to want entrance into the kingdom of heaven now there are a lot of people that are trying to use their own righteousness as the basis of being accepted by God well if that is your position I feel sorry for you God help you you don't have a chance and uh and and so that is why it is so foolish for man to think that somehow I can be righteous enough I can be good enough that God will accept my righteousness the Bible tells us that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God and uh that it is not by the works of righteousness but by the righteousness which is of Christ through faith that God has justified us and so the importance of in being weighed in those balances the importance is that I am not depending upon my righteousness to give me an entrance into heaven but the righteousness which is of Christ that has been offered to me through faith in Jesus Christ so this is the interpretation you've been weighed in the balances you've found wanting and Paris your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians and then commanded Belshazzar that they clothed Daniel with scarlet put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be a third ruler in the kingdom and that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about three score and two years old or 62 years old so the transition from the head of gold the Babylonian kingdom to the Medo-Persian kingdom and so we are moving now into the chest of silver the Medo-Persian empire that replaced the Babylonian empire the conquering of the city of Babylon as we read earlier the size of the city and the size of the walls and so forth we realized that you know how difficult it would be to take a city of that size with walls that high 350 feet high and 87 feet thick with a moat around it and how in the world could you possibly conquer a city of that kind of defenses of walls that are that big and that tall and so it's interesting to note in history how that Cyrus was the general who was in charge of the Medo-Persian army that took the city of Babylon. Cyrus became the king of the Medo-Persian empire some three years later but Darius was the king at the time that the Medo-Persian empire conquered the Babylonian empire and he was he only ruled for three years until he died and then Cyrus king of Persia took over so it's interesting history to look at and as we get into chapter six we find the history of Daniel to the ascension of Cyrus the king so through the three years of Darius the king of the Medo-Persian so it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes which should be over the whole kingdom and over these three presidents of whom Daniel was the first that the prince might be given account to them and the king should have no damage then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and the princes because of an excellent spirit that was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm and so Daniel was just accepted immediately by Darius and made the ruler over the three major presidents that the king had set up over the whole kingdom but that created a jealousy among the other princes and so they conspired against Daniel to try to bring him down and so they were jealous of Daniel and the promotion under Darius so jealousy is a horrible thing and and of course it's manifested in these fellows that were jealous of Daniel it robs a person of joy it makes you angry it makes you unreasonable and it causes you to magnify your malice and magnify the menial problems little problems become huge when jealousy gets involved it disqualifies the deeds and the accomplishments of others you can't rejoice in their successes and in things that you should be able to say well that was a great job or my that was wonderful the way they were able to handle that it causes you to want to falsify the facts of the situation to alter and to change the facts it gives you a desire for greed and for revenge and to try and get get revenge against them it identifies the imperfections of the other person and it justifies your jeering and your jealousy of them and it petrifies your passion and your concern for people it vilifies the victories and the veneration of the people of whom you are jealous Solomon warned of the ruthlessness of jealousy in proverb 634 he said for jealousy is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance so here are the men who are jealous over the promotion of Daniel interesting here's a changing now of kingdoms the Medo-Persian kingdom has surplanted the Babylonian kingdom but Daniel immediately is placed he's recognized as a leader and he's placed over the three men who were chosen as the ones that were to oversee the kingdom and to keep the Darius from any damages and so they were there as governors as men running the kingdom so these presidents and princes verse 4 sought to find an occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find no occasion nor fault for as much as he was a faithful man neither was there any error or fault found in him it's interesting in the bible there are heroes and men that are uh they you know you read of their uh their exploits and all for the lord and uh but you know the bible is is very straightforward i mean it it doesn't try to paint a rosy picture of everybody and where there are problems where there are failures it you know it tells you of their uh it tells you of their pimples and and and the you know the things that are not perfect in the person in other words it doesn't gloss everyone as just perfect david a great man but boy he wasn't a perfect man by a long shot and the bible tells you of the problems of david and so you'll find with most of those in the bible gideon you know god used him in a mighty way but he had some real problems and the bible tells you of the problems of gideon and so what is in the bible it doesn't try to gloss over the problems that exist in people but with daniel uh you don't find anything negative about daniel in the scriptures and he's about the only one that was used mightily of god and we don't read of any uh really things that would disqualify him as being an instrument that god could use in a very special way so uh i uh i i really like this guy daniel and uh i wish i could be like him oh my uh but uh it created the jealousy with these other presidents and princes and so they were looking for just something to accuse him of uh and they were looking for some kind of a fault and an occasion of fault in him for as much as he was faithful and neither was there any error or fault found in him so these men said we will not find any occasion against this daniel unless we can create one concerning the law of his god and so these three presidents and princes assembled together to the king and they said unto the king king darius or darius live forever all of the presidents of the kingdom the governors the princes the counselors the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for 30 days save of thee o king he shall be cast into the den of lions and now o king establish the decree sign the writing that it is not changed according to the law of the medes and the persians which altereth not wherefore king darius sign the writing and the decree so we find that these guys are using flattery they're using lies they're saying you know that all of the presidents and of the kingdom the governors the princes in other words all of the counselors we've all come to this uh you know conclusion they were only three of them that did but they tried to make it as something that everyone you know is approving of this and and so often we hear people speak in generalizations well everybody's doing and you know that's one of the things that we used to use with our parents isn't it when we wanted to go somewhere and they would not want us to go we said but everybody's going you know well not everybody but you know you try and make it look like everybody's in agreement with it where in reality they were not so they were buttering him up and as a result he did sign this decree no one can make any petition or request from anyone except the king himself uh darius unless uh you know he was the only one wouldn't that be a horrible thing to think that you couldn't ask anybody for anything you know you want to borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor and you have to get darius's uh permission to go ask him for a cup of sugar i mean what in the world was he thinking to sign a decree like that to put him in the position where people uh couldn't ask anybody for anything unless they would ask it through him and uh so he he did sign the writing and the decree uh the blindness of of pride and they sort of appealed to that and uh he he fell for it so uh uh he signed this decree decree but it was through flattery that they actually got him to sign that decree and proverbs 29 5 says a man that flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet so be careful when people come around with flattery quite often they're just setting a net for your feet as they were with darius these men who were jealous of daniel another effect of jealousy of course is that you become difficult when you lose your joy jealousy can make you critical and ungrateful you do not appreciate what you have because you're focused on what you don't have for example the laborers were not grateful for the wages they had received and agreed upon in matthew 26 to 14 we read jesus tells this parable about the 11th he went out and he found others standing idle he went out in the morning found these fellows standing idle in the marketplace they go out and harvest my field and in the evening i'll pay you your wages for the day so these fellows went out in the early morning and they labored harvesting the field and about noon as as this uh owner was in the marketplace he saw other fellows standing idle and he said go out and harvest in my field and you know at the end of the day i'll pay you and and then about four o'clock in the afternoon in the marketplace again other fellows standing idle he said go out and harvest in my field and you know at the end of the day i'll pay you so they went out and they also harvested in his field so the 11th hour they went out and he found others that were standing idle he said unto them why stand you're idle all day they said unto him because no man has hired us he said unto them go out into the vineyard and whatever is right you shall receive so when the evening was come the lord of the vineyard said to his uh steward the foreman call the labors and give them their hire beginning from the last to the first and when they came uh those that were hired at the 11th hour they received every man uh a day's wages uh but when those that came first they thought that they should receive more and they likewise received every man a day's wages and when they had received their money they murmured against the uh owner of the field and uh they said these lasts were only there for one hour and you've made them equal to us and we have borne the burden of the heat of the day but he answered and he said to them friend i do they know wrong did you not agree that you would work for so much during the day then uh how much did we give you so take that which is yours go your way and i will give unto the last even as unto thee so uh it's interesting jealousy because uh you know it seems like i did more and they got the same amount and and so jealousy causes you to become difficult the third effect of jealousy is you become disgusted and disapproving saul was bitter at the angry and he was bitter and angry toward david because of his jealousy of david he could not do anything right because saul was so upset about what the people were singing instead of being thankful for david's military service he griped in first samuel 1869 came to pass as they came when david was returning from the slaughter of the philistines that the women came out of the cities of israel they were singing and dancing to meet king saul with the tablets of joy instruments of music the women answered one another as they played they said saul has slain his thousands and david his ten thousands and saul was very angry at the saying and it displeased him he said they've ascribed to david ten thousands and to me they've ascribed but a thousand why can he have more but the kingdom and saul i david from that day forward jealous of him rather than uh being thankful that david had been used of god killed goliath he's just angry with david and now after david so saul focused on david's every move and this is what jealousy does it makes you bitter it makes you angry and causing to use causes you to use up emotional energy and strength william penn put it this way the jealous are a troublesome to others and a torment to themselves proverbs 14 30 a sound heart is the life of the flesh but envy is rottenness to the bones a peaceful heart leads to a healthy body but jealousy is like cancer in the bones jealousy is a trait of carnal worldly immature person first corinthians 3 3 for you are yet carnal for whereas there is among you ending and strife and divisions are you not carnal and do you not walk as men so the fourth effect of jealousy it damages relationships we have seen this already in the life of joseph and his brothers the relationship with saul and david when we are jealous of others we reveal the lack of love and our concern for them and this is jealousy is to be flushed from our lives first corinthians 13 for love suffers long and is kind love envieth not bonds not itself and is not puffed up a love and concern for others will help you conquer jealousy and jealousy in the lives of others who may be jealous of you d.l moody told two merchants between whom there was great rivalry and bitter feeling one of them was converted he went to his minister he said i'm still jealous of that man and i don't know how to overcome it well said moody if a man comes into your store to buy goods and you cannot supply him just send him over to your neighbor he said he wouldn't like to do that well said the minister you if you do it you will kill the jealousy and sure enough when he began sending customers over to his rival for goods he himself did not have the rivalry ceased having a servant spirit loving and being concerned about others giving credit or praise to those that helped you will promote unity and will subdue jealousy romans 12 10 be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another paul makes it clear that we're to be devoted to each other with genuine love and affection we're no longer to be eager and excited we are to be eager and excited about honoring each other john 4 11 first john 4 11 beloved if god so loved us so we ought also to love one another the fifth effect of jealousy is it brings disunity and disorder jealousy creates dissension and disorder it divides people by the conflict that is created by pride anger selfishness selfishness is a real relationship killer pride is the gasoline that fuels the flame of jealousy james warns of the problem he said if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth james 3 16 for where there is envying and strife there is confusion and every evil work the men of ephraim tried to get in on account of their jealousy over israel's military victory they were upset that they were not included in the battle which means that they would not get the spoils also in judges 8-1 the men of ephraim said to him why has thou served us thus and you didn't call us when you went to fight with the midianites and they did chide with him sharply and so we've seen the effects of jealousy it causes you to delude to lose your joy to become difficult and to become disgusting and disapproving and it damages your relationships it leads to distress in the home we've already noted the tension that plagued jacob's home when rachel envied leah in genesis 31 when rachel saw that she bared jacob no children rachel envied her sister and said to jacob give me children or else i die uh it disrupts spiritual growth we're to lay aside every uh desire uh every envy we lay aside our envy and desire the sincere milk of the word that we might grow spiritually jealousy will hinder your spiritual growth paul peter wrote wherefore laying aside all malice all guile hypocrisies envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you might grow thereby if we're going to desire and crave anything then crave that which will not make us jealous or hurt us peter said crave the right things crave the word of god so uh here was this jealousy from these fellows and we see how it led them to try to destroy daniel so the thing that i like here they they had the king sign this decree you couldn't ask anything of anybody they knew that daniel was a man of prayer and so they figured that's the only way we're going to trip him up is to make this decree have the king sign it and with the medes and the persians once a decree was signed there was no altering or changing of that decree so when daniel knew that the writing was signed he went to his house his windows being opened in his chamber toward jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day he prayed and gave thanks before his god as he did before time and then these men assembled and found daniel praying and making supplication before his god so i love this daniel knew that it was signed he knew that it was against him and it was aimed against him but rather than backing down and this is why we sing dare to be a daniel dare to stand alone dare to have a purpose firm dare to make it known and and that's why as children we always admired daniel so much is these stories of daniel and his facing really the consequences of of disobeying the order of the king knowing what it would cost him and yet he's he's his principles are so high he's not going to change his actions just because this decree was designed against him so knowing that it was uh signed he went to his room open window toward jerusalem three times a day praying for the peace of jerusalem and making supplication before god so they came near and they spoke to the king concerning the king's decree have you not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of thee o king ask a petition uh o king uh save from the o king shall be cast into the den of lions the king answered and said that's true according to the law of the medes and the persians which altereth not then they said to the king daniel the son of the children of the captivity of judah did not regard the o king or the decree that you have signed but he made his petitions three times a day then the king when he heard these words was very displeased with himself and he set his heart on daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down of the sun to try and deliver him from the decree and then these men assembled under the king and said under the king no o king that the law of the medes and the persians no decree or statutes with the king is established may be changed and the king commanded and they brought daniel and cast him into the den of lions now the king spake and said to daniel thy god whom thou service continually he will deliver thee and i find this is interesting here's a pagan king and he's encouraging daniel saying you know you're god he's able to deliver you and a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet and the signet of his lords that the purpose might not be changed concerning daniel then the king went to his palace and he passed the night fasting and neither were the instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him then the king arose very early in the morning he went in haste to the den of lions and when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice unto daniel and said uh the king spake and said oh daniel servant of the living god is your god whom you serve continually able to deliver you from the lions and so uh i know can remember when my mom would tell us this story of of daniel and the lion's den and we always loved it as boys uh she would you know use this lamentable voice uh oh daniel you know uh the king you know the god that you serve was he able to deliver you and uh so daniel uh said to the king oh king live forever my god has sent his angel he has shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me for as much as before him the innocence he was found in me and before thee oh king i have done no hurt and then was the king exceeding glad for him and he commanded that they should take daniel up out of the den so daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his god and the king commanded and they brought those men which is accused daniel they cast them into the den of lions and their children and their wives and the lions had mastery over them and broke all their bones in pieces for before they ever hit the bottom of the den then the king darius wrote all the people nations languages that dwell in all the earth peace be multiplied unto you i make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the god of daniel for he is the living god steadfast forever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end he delivereth and rescues and he works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth and who has delivered daniel from the power of the lions so daniel prospered in the reign of darius and in the reign of cyrus the persian so he lived on through to the reigning of cyrus in fact we do read that in the third year of cyrus daniel was still serving him so he was in his 90s at this time now the interesting thing to me is that god was able to use the testimony of this one man really to almost shape kingdoms and he you see what favorite brought daniel into the into these kings so secular history indicates that darius reigned for only two years uh after uh he conquered babylon this would mean that daniel's service under darius after the trial of the lion's den was probably only for a year or so but when cyrus took over after darius died daniel continued to prosper in the reign of cyrus we're not certain how long this continued but we do know that it was daniel was still around as late as the third year of cyrus in daniel chapter 10 verse 1 in the third year of cyrus king of persia a thing was revealed to daniel whose name was called beltas chaser so uh you know it's an interesting thing some aspergian uh in talking about daniel in the lion's den uh said the lions got lockjaw uh he said after all how could the lions eat him when he was uh made of grit and backbone uh so uh talking about daniel and a man of faith a man who had great confidence in god and how god used him as a witness to these kings and how often after god would use daniel as a witness and these kings would make these great proclamations you know there's no god like the god of daniel none that can deliver out of you know the lion's den or none that can deliver as god delivered daniel in uh under or the friends of daniel out of the fiery furnace and uh the proclamations that were made as a result of one man or a group of men who have made their commitment to the lord and i would pray that god would help us that we might have such a strong commitment such strong convictions that it'll be a it'll be a real witness to the world around us of our god and the ability of our god to bless and to honor those who will dare to make a stand for him dare to speak up in the in the times when you know things are looking bad but just have that confidence god is able god's gonna do it don't worry god's on the throne