Good Morning! - Daniel 6:25-28 - Darius is Converted - 2009.11.13

Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multipliedunto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdomthat which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

He deliverethand rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath deliveredDaniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian (Daniel 6:25-28). (Persia: Iran)

Darius is converted to Daniel's God. He has been brought to the same realization as Nebuchadnezzar. He waxes eloquent in describing the living God in terms of political sovereignty. When a politician thinks he is in charge it is hard for him to humble his heart to acknowledge that God is sovereign and rules in the affairs of men. Actually, one does not have to be a politician to have such a malignancy of the soul.

Nebuchadnezzar finally concluded that God is in charge of the kingdoms of the world …to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men (Daniel 4:17).

And now, Darius is succumbing to a personal faith and surrender to God. That would be the equivalent to the modern day Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran going to the General Assembly of the United Nations and announcing to the whole world that he had found the true and living God, the God of Israel and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and that men over the world should bow their knee to Jesus as Savior and Lord. We would all go into a state of shock if that should happen but it happened to Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. I doubt if anyone of their times said: "Well, that it is just what I expected."

Was the decree of Darius effective? Probably—somewhat effective—but mostly it was effective in outward conformity. If you wanted to keep your head you went along with whatever the king said.

In his short book in 1848, The Law, French economist Frederic Bastiat made the point that in the autocratic governments the king was law. Under a republic, the law is king. Google: Bastiat The Law to find his little book.

But during the "great experiment" of liberty through law in America we are seeing our inability to maintain moral integrity and economic stability because our hearts are depraved and we are wading into a moral swamp. We-The-People are king in America and We-The-People have chosen to embrace a culture of sexual freedom and death. We have legally taken the lives of over fifty million of the most innocent and helpless of our society—in the womb. We have decided we will define "good" and we will be "good" without God and God's definitions and restraints upon us. And it appears that God has said: "Go ahead and show me what you can do. It's going to cost you dearly."

A nation cannot be forced to "fear and tremble before the God of Daniel." Every man and woman is in charge of his or her own heart. Elijah was an awesome prophet of God with awesome power to call down fire from Heaven and consume a wet sacrifice and even to consume the stones. Let's look at the record:

Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. (38) Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (39) And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. (40) And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there (1Kings 18:37-40).

You would think that after the fire from Heaven and 450 prophets of Baal have been slaughtered and left for the rain to wash out to the sea—you would think —wouldn't you think?— that the whole nation would get it and turn their hearts to God? But they didn't get it in their hearts. And after Jezebel had been eaten by the dogs and Elijah and gone up in the chariot of fire to Heaven, the nation remained so wicked that after a while God sent the Assyrian army to carry the northern ten tribes of the nation of Israel into Assyria to disperse them until they simply disappeared from history.

So, how are you doing in your heart toward the Lord? I hope you've given the Spirit of God the rightful place in your heart. In every Christian, the Holy Spirit is resident. But in every Christian the Holy Spirit is not president. This is a good day to honor Him as president.Ω

Memory Verse for this week:

(Psalm 103:13-14) Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust (Psalm 103:13-14).

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