Good Morning! - Daniel 6:12-13 - Daniel's Tattle Tale Enemies - 2009.11.05

Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, butmaketh his petition three times a day (Daniel 6:12-13).

Human nature does not change. If a man hates God he will invent engines of war against God and against God's servants to put them down…in Daniel's day…in Jesus' day…in our day.

With one deceptive overture to King Darius, the enemies of Daniel and his God triumphed over Daniel. The vehicle for attacking God was through a political prohibition on prayer. We are seeing a similar vengeance in America by those who want to gag the mouths of people in our courts and military and all public places from praying in Jesus' name.

It is a big mistake to assume that such a political hatred of God is confined to centuries ago in more primitive times. In our day many determined people who hate God and hate the Bible have worked tirelessly for many years to silence the voice and religious practice of God's people in America. It doesn't matter what the Constitution says if there is a political mood for stripping away layer after layer of religious liberty.

When Jesus passed through Jericho, moving toward Jerusalem, he encountered the little Jewish tax collector, Zaacheus . He had climbed up a tree to see Jesus because he could not see over the crowd. Jesus bid him to come down and you know the story.

But Jesus told a story that related to the people who expected the promised Messiah to stage a revolution and throw the Roman army out of the nation of Israel. It was not going to unfold that way because Israel needed to repent of their rebellion against God, which they did not intend to do.

So the story was about a nobleman who left to go into a far country for a while and then to return. The story was actually about Jesus, himself, and Israel. His trial would come up soon and the fickle masses of people who had gathered around him for three years to be entertained by his miracles, these people did not want any part of his ruling over him. Jesus had not come to earth to soothe and stroke hard-hearted rebels who did not want God the Father nor God the Son to rule over them. So he told them the story. The heart of the story was:

But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us (Luke 19:14). When he returned from his journey, there came the day of reckoning: But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me (Luke 19:27).

This actually took place. Archelaus went to Rome to obtain from Augustus a confirmation of his title to reign over that part of Judea which had been left him by his father, Herod the Great. The Jews, knowing his character (compare Mat_2:22), sent an embassy of 50 men to Rome, to prevail on Augustus "not" to confer the title on him, but they could not succeed. He "received" the kingdom, and reigned in Judea in the place of his father. As this fact was "fresh" in the memory of the Jews, it makes this parable much more striking. By this part of it Christ designed to denote that the Jews would reject "him" - the Messiah, and would say that they did not desire him to reign over them. See Joh_1:11. So it is true of all sinners that they do not "wish" Jesus to reign over them, and, if it were possible, would cast him off, and never submit to his reign.

Memory Verse for this week:

Let the word of Christ dwell in richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)