Babylon University
His Kingdom Come • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 32:36
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· 126 viewsHis Kingdom Come / Sovereignty; Nationality and Political Identity / Daniel 1:1–21 Uprooted and taken away from home, Daniel and his friends enroll in Babylon University under King Nebuchadnezzar's care. During their first day of orientation, they must decide to trust God or go along with the nation. Our identity is contingent on who we let into our story. To choose God is to disown Babylon and trust God's total control of our situation.
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If you were afraid of flying, do you know what is worse than being thousands of feet in mid-air? It would be you being trapped inside an airplane flying through a turbulent jet while trying to contain your composure. Most likely, you know it's going to be alright, but your mind tells you we're preparing for a crash landing.
Many of us feel the same when it comes to this unprecedented year. We firmly know that we're going to pull through and make it to next year, but our world is screaming that end is near! It's only 71 days until the presidential election; the coronavirus is going to kill thousands of more Americans. All of California is burning, and two tropical storms are heading to the United States. What will we do?
That is why we're doing this sermon series, His Kingdom Come." In Daniel's book, we get a glimpse of his volatile world and how he and his friends react during the ever-changing political, social, cultural landscape of their day. In what ways do we challenge the powers of this age? And how do we stand on the foundation of something never fading, such as the kingdom of God?In this series, we will ask these hard questions.
But now I want you and myself to imagine that we're not the only ones going through an unprecedented time in world history. You see, over 2,600 hundred years ago, there was a significant shift in political, social, and cultural near the Middle East that change the lives of millions of people forever.
For a moment, I want to take us back to the year 606 BC. At the moment in history, the people of God live during the time of the divided kingdom of Israel. The Assyrian nation has conquered Israel, and all that remains is the Southern nation called Judah. King Josiah reigns from the throne, but here's the catch. Judah is a vassal nation. Which means they must pay financial tribute to the Assyrian kingdom. They have no real freedom or independence; they can continue to exist as long as they obey and pay.
I think you can relate to their feelings towards the Assyrians, especially as we are dealing with this year. To those with power, the Judaeans feel apathetic towards them. They wish nothing good for their political enemies. And luckily for them, the empire is starting to weaken. Another kingdom is advancing from Shinar. The nation that is coming to conquer is none other than Babylon. In this war that's raging, the Judeans are hoping for Assyria to be defeated. Possibly there is the hope of reestablishing liberty and independence.
However, Necho Pharaoh from Egypt is threatened by the upcoming Babylonian and sends troops up through Judah to help the Assyrians keep their nation. In anger, king Josiah fights the Egyptian and loses the battle and his own life. Then Necho replaces Judah's king with Jehoiakim, who would not be pro-Babylonian. Eventually, Egypt and Assyria lost to Babylon, and it became the world super over the Middle East.
Now, instead of Judah being a vassal nation to Assyria, they belong to Babylon. I don't believe that's what they expected, but hey, maybe it is better! Knowing this, you'll have a better understanding as we travel through Daniel's story. If you have your bible, please open up to the opening pages of Daniel, chapter one.
The opening pages speaks about Babylon's domination because three years later, king Jehoiakim had enough and rebelled against the conquering nation. This is what Daniel story says.
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
After king Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against Babylon, the worse possible outcome occurred. Jerusalem was besieged, and the strange part about the story is it was God who made this possible. The Lord gave his people over to King Nebuchadnezzar. All the spoils were taken from the temple and delivered to the house of Babylons gods. Typically when this happened, the victorious nation would take the idols that represented their other nations' gods back to their temple in doing so they showed who's deities were better and how the weaker nations gods could not save them. But for Jews, they would have no statues or idols because the Lord prohibited it, so the Babylonians just took the spoils of Judah back home.
3 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,
4 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.
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.
6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
By uprooting them from their Hebrew culture and migrating them to the Shinar or precise location of the city of Babel, the young men were given no identities by changing their names. They were losing their Jewishness to become indoctrinated for the Babylonians and serve in the palace. Also, they might be castrated too, so while losing their Jewishness, they lost their sexuality. Talk about identity change. Yikes! While being trained up in the Babylonian culture, the young men learned everything they needed to know about how to be a wise man.
Expanding the empire requires more administrators, and the king wanted smart and handsome men who would be indoctrinated his Babylon University so he could watch over his vassal nation. Becoming a part of the Babylon court was no small task for Daniel and the boys. It was the relocation and transformation of their lives. They would learn to read Akkiadan, know the ancient myths stories of creation and the flood, which would fly in the face of their God. And then learn how to interpret dreams with books, uses sheep organs for divination, and become astrologer to predict the future. All this needed to happen, or they would at risk of being killed.
Mostly, Daniel and his friends had to erase their Jewish identity and take up a new culture. Can you imagine this series of events happen to you? As Christians, where do we stand when it comes to the political, social, and cultural movement of this world? How will we react when the world is trying to change identity?
For Daniel and his friends, they did come to a tipping point where they drew a line in the sand.
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,
10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.”
11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”
14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.
16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
They drew the line when it came to full participation in the kingdom of Babylon. It wasn't a sin for them not to eat the king's food because they participated later, but they wanted God to enter into the story and present that he is in control of the narrative. For ten days, which represents suffering according to the biblical authors, Daniel and his friends ate only vegetables and water, and God's supernaturally made them fatter. To defile oneself is to cut yourself off entirely from the Lord; he is the sanctifier of our lives without him; we are unclean.
17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
18 At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king.
20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
21 And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.
After standing the test and trusting God to fatten them up, the Lord gave Daniel and his friend's wisdom and understanding because of their faithfulness to God. In doing so, they become top of the class. It means that they can read Akkadian better than anyone else. They have mastered the epics and myths that praise false gods. It means that they can read a liver to discern the future better than anyone else. It means that they are skilled astrologers and that they can interpret dreams by consulting the commentaries. These would be the standards by which Nebuchadnezzar would judge them. They have gone to Babylonian University, and they have become the valedictorians.
King Nebuchadnezzar would have surely believed that he is in total control of everything. However, as the author of Daniel mentions, it is the Lord who gave Nebuchadnezzar over Jehoiakim, and Daniel and his friends secretly were eating vegetables behind the king's back. It was the Lord who fattened Daniel and his friends, not the kind’s food. Lastly, God was giving the boy everything they needed so they could be top of the class, just where the Lord wanted them. The Israelites would have known that Yahweh is in charge and not the powers of the world.
So what does this story have anything to do with me? It speaks volumes about us that there is always another path. We do not have to be defiled just because a world surrounds us; following the powers of darkness is not our only option. God is waiting for us to let him into our story because he is running the show.
Like Daniel and his friends, we too can live in a hostile political, social, and cultural landscape and still choose to live in a way that honors God and invites us to our lives. King Nebuchadnezzar thought he was in control of the boys, but ultimately it was God, and that only happens when we choose who's going to come into our story. We must realize this truth.
My identity is contingent on who I let into my story.
My identity is contingent on who I let into my story.
The world only has authority over us if we give it to them! Daniel submitted to the Lord over the king; that is why he rejected the king's orders to eat the choice foods.
Defilement only comes when I shut God out of my story. When we live for the political, social, and culture of the day, our soul dies and defile ourselves. We must live for the eternal rather than temporary and fading kingdoms of this world
No matter the situation, God is in control. With this fact, we stay confident that the Lord is working in our world in and for us.
Let your identity be contingent on God let coming into your story.