The King of Kingdoms - The Book of Daniel
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
March 2, 2025 :: Daniel 6:1-28
Daniel chapter 6 is about the living God.
Daniel chapter 6 is about the God Who is alive. Forever alive! The God Who is real. The God Who is active. The God Who is powerful. The God Who is not dead, no, He is alive. He is the living God.
That’s what the king in this story says about Him, not once, but twice.
Daniel chapter 6 is about the living God. And we don’t want to miss that because while it’s kind of obvious–every chapter in the Bible is about the living God–it’s also kind of easy to miss when you read an exciting familiar beloved Bible story like this one.
I mean, if I were to say, this chapter tells the story of “Daniel and the ....” how would you fill in the blank?
“The Lion’s Den,” right? And you wouldn’t be wrong. This is one of the most famous stories in the whole Bible, and with good reason! It’s a great story.
A courageous old man gets thrown into a pit of hungry hungry lions!
Were they hungry, by the way? Were the lions hungry?
But in all of the excitement of this exciting story, we cannot miss Whom this story is actually all about.
It’s not ultimately about Daniel, though he does shine in this story! Dare to be a Daniel like the Daniel of chapter 6! But Daniel would be the first to say that this story is not about him or how about how hungry the lions were.
And it’s not about the king either. Not King Nebuchadnezzar. He’s long dead. And not about King Belshazzar. He’s dead now, too. As we saw last week, the writing was on the wall for King Belshazzar, and he died that same night of his famous feast in October 539 BC when the Medes and the Persians took over the city of Babylon.
And this story is not about King Darius the Mede either. Even though the spotlight is on him for most of the chapter. In fact, it is King Darius the Mede who tells us that this story is about the living God. Not once but twice!
This is the story of Daniel and the living God.
And it begins with a conspiracy.
Let’s look together at Daniel chapter 6, verse 1.
“It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss” (vv.1-2). Now stop there for just a second.
The King Darius of verse 1 is the same King “Darius the Mede” as verse 31 of the previous chapter. Darius was around 62 years old and had taken over the kingdom of Babylon after the death of Belshazzar.
We don’t know that much about him outside of what the Bible tells us. In fact, scholars go back and forth about who Darius might be identified as from the historical sources outside of the Bible. Different kings often had more than one name in those days, so King Darius might be another name for King Cyrus himself (the high king of the Medes and the Persians) or King Cyaxares II (according to Xenophon) or another of several other people including somebody unmentioned in historical sources outside of the Bible.
I read many many pages in the last couple of weeks of the different evidences for the different options. I count at least 6 leading scholarly opinions. If you are interested in all of that, I’d be glad to point you to some good historical research. [The best and fullest discussion I've found so far is in J. Paul Tanner's EEC commentary, pgs. 45-60).
But for our purposes, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. The Bible says he was Darius the Mede and that he was king over Babylon at this time. And that he recognized Daniel as an able administrator.
Darius was a shrewd administrator himself. The Bible says that when he took over Babylon, he did a reorganization of the kingdom and appointed 120 “satraps” which were like governors or lieutenants to extend his rule throughout his kingdom. They kept track of things and made sure that the taxes were being paid and the people were under control. And Darius picked three administrators (some versions say “presidents”) to hold accountable those 120 satraps. Maybe 40 each? 40, 40, 40. And one of those top three administrators was Daniel.
That’s amazing all by itself! How old is Daniel? He’s at least 80. Maybe 81, 82, somewhere in there. And he’s been out of leadership for some time. Remember, Belshazzar had to be reminded of Daniel in chapter 5!
But now Daniel is in charge! Belshazzar promised that he’d be the number three guy in the kingdom, but that was only good for one night. But Darius recognizes quality when he sees it! Look at verse 3.
“Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”
He was going to make Daniel number 2! Right under him and over all of those others. How far Daniel has come since he was taken captive and drug off to Babylon nearly 70 years ago! He’s still got it. And Darius recognizes it.
And his co-workers hate it. Look at verse 4.
“At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”
Way to go, Daniel! Well done, you.
Some of Daniel’s co-workers (probably not all 122 of them but the other 2 administrators and some number of the satraps) wanted Daniel to go away. They were probably jealous and probably hated that he was a Jew. This part is very similar to what we saw back in chapter 3 with Daniel’s friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Their co-workers hated them, as well, and wanted them out of the way.
And these hated Daniel so much that they searched high and low to find some dirt on him to get some leverage on Daniel to force him out of office. But they couldn’t find a thing. Daniel was squeaky clean. He didn’t have any skeletons in his closet.
Dare to be a Daniel and faithfully work at your secular job for decade after decade and be a man or woman of integrity! Dare to be a Daniel and be completely trustworthy at work!
I pray that we, as Christians, would be the best employees at our jobs. The most trustworthy, neither (v.4) “corrupt or negligent.” Daniel did his job, and he did it right.
And Daniel was in government! He was a civil servant. Daniel shows that it is possible to be a true believer and work in the administration of a thoroughly pagan government and do it faithfully, maybe for decades on end. We need Christians to do that today. Some of you in this room may be called to serve in government on some level for some time. It’s hard to do, but Daniel shows that it is possible.
Daniel was “in” Babylon, but not of “of” Babylon. And his co-workers hated him for it.
When I was in college, I worked for a temp agency for a few weeks during spring break. And on one job they sent me to, we were supposed to dismantle an old department store. Stacking all the shelves and everything up and loading it all to be carted away. And I was just doing my job. Whatever they told me to do. And a couple of the other workers took me aside and asked me to slow down. Because I was making them look bad. I was getting too much done! But I couldn’t do that. It wasn’t that I had a lot more energy than they did. I had to do my job as unto my Lord!
And Daniel has been doing that for nearly 70 years! We saw it in chapter 1, and he’s still doing it in chapter 6. Dare to be a Daniel and faithfully work at your job for decade after decade and be a man or woman of integrity!
I have three points today to summarize what we learn about the living God in chapter 6, and here’s number one:
#1. THE LIVING GOD IS WORTHY OF SERVING CONTINUALLY!
Daniel obviously believed that, and it showed.
He was good at his job because he was serving his God. And his enemies figured out that if they were going to get rid of him, they had to find a way to use his values against him. Look at verse 5.
“Finally these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’
So the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: ‘O King Darius, live forever! The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den” (vv.5-7).
Now, that was a lie, wasn’t it? Did you spot the lie when they put it across? They said that “all” of the “administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors” have agreed to this plan.
Is that true? No. There was at least one administrator who didn’t! And his name was Daniel. This whole edict thing is actually a conspiracy against him!
So, keep in mind as you do your work in our world with integrity and faithfulness (not perfectly but faithfully), that may earn you some recognition, but it may also earn you some enemies.
But also keep in mind that the living God is worth having those kind of enemies!
Daniel’s enemies play to Darius’ vanity. Remember, being a king should be humbling, but it’s often not. It doesn’t take long being a king and everybody treating you as if you were the best thing ever to begin to think that you’re the best thing ever!
They suggest that for 30 days we have “King Darius Appreciation Month” (Thanks, Dale Ralph Davis! ☺).
And for 30 days nobody prays unless they pray through Darius.
Which is maybe the most audacious thing so far in this whole book? It isn’t just a big gold statue (which might stand for one of the gods), but to or through a man. Maybe not that he himself was a god, but that at least he was like a high priest and a mediator between the people and the gods.
And the satraps say that everybody is on board with this idea! No church for 30 days unless it’s the Church of Darius.
This is a great idea for pulling the nation together, isn’t it? “Let’s all rally behind our king! Let’s make sure that we are unified as a nation. Especially because Babylon is a conquered nation now. It’s now a part of the Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. Let’s make sure that everybody bows before King Darius the Mede!”
And nobody else.
Or else. Did you see what the punishment would be for disobeying this 30 day law?
“Anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.” Which is a gruesome way to die.
And Daniel’s enemies win. They press for Darius to sign this decree, and he does. Verse 8.
“Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered–in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.’ So King Darius put the decree in writing.”
The double kingdom of the Medes and the Persians were famous for their laws, especially that once they made a law, it was impossible to repeal it. You couldn’t roll it back. Even if you were the king who made it.
And they made a big deal of that. They were pretty proud of that.
And being consistent and being governed by laws is good. No man is above the law, but the best of men are men at best and men’s laws are never perfect.
And this law was far from perfect! In fact, it was conceived just to get one good man in trouble. And it worked.
Now, what would you have done when you heard about the new law about no praying for 30 days?
I think that I would be tempted to wait thirty days before praying anywhere that anyone could see me. I mean, it’s not like the statue in chapter 3, where they all had to bow. This law doesn’t say that they have to do anything!
And nobody could tell if I was praying in my heart. I couldn’t get in trouble for that. And they couldn’t tell I was praying if I was praying at home with the windows closed.
But that’s not what Daniel did. Daniel did what he always did. Look at verse 10.
“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”
Dare to be a Daniel and keep on praying even if the whole world tells you not to.
Daniel believed that the living God was worthy of serving continually. And the living God had told him to pray and pray and pray.
In fact, King Solomon had prayed that the exiles would pray in just this way. Do you remember that? Hundreds of years before this when Solomon was dedicating the temple, he prayed this in 1 Kings chapter 8:
Lord, “When [your people] sin against you–for there is no one who does not sin–and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near [sound familiar? Like, say to Babylon?]; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy; for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace. May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you."
Daniel had read it. I think that’s why Daniel prayed three times a day at his windows which were opened towards the destroyed city of Jerusalem and the torn-down temple of the LORD.
Daniel believed this with all of his heart. The living God was worthy of serving, worshiping, praying towards continually.
He gets down on his knees! A humble old Jewish man. I’m only 51, and it’s a lot farther down to get on my knees than it used to be. He’s 30 years older than I am or more.
But he’s doing it morning, noon, and night.
And he’s doing it morning, noon, and night.
And he’s doing it morning, noon, and night.
And he’s ready to die for doing it!
Are you ready to die for praying?
Often, it doesn’t that much to keep us from praying. Just about anything can disrupt our routine or take precedence over praying. It doesn’t take much to keep us from gathering for worship. There are good reasons to miss gathered worship from time to time. Don’t come if you’re delirious or contagious! Don’t come one Sunday if you’re going to go in a ditch or fall in the parking lot. But sometimes any old excuse will do.
Daniel was willing to die for praying! That’s not because he had a death wish.
It’s because He believed that the living God was worthy of serving continually.
When we get to chapter 9, we’ll see some of things that Daniel prayed. He prayed for his people in exile. He prayed for their restoration to the land. He prayed for God’s promises to be fulfilled for them. He probably also prayed for protection from this bad law. And he probably prayed for King Darius the Mede and maybe even for his enemies that wanted him dead.
Verse 10 says that he prayed prayers of thanksgiving! Can you imagine?! This is his situation, and he’s finding things to be thankful for even this day?! He’s been a captive in Babylon going on 70 years. He’s been hauled before at least 2 different kings and just about to lose his life. He’s gotten old and not gotten to go home. And he’s giving thanks.
Dare to be a Daniel and give thanks in every circumstance (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
I’d say that this probably qualifies as a miracle just as much as the one we’re going to see later in this chapter. Just an old believer who is faithfully praying, morning, noon, and night to his God and asking for help. And being willing, if he must, to die for it.
Notice, that he doesn’t draw attention to himself. He doesn’t send out a press release or post a big manifesto on social media. He just keeps on doing (v.10) as he had done before. A quiet “long obedience in the same direction.”
Which is just what his enemies wanted. Look at verse 11.
“Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. [That wasn’t hard! He was just where he always was. Doing what he always did. But they now had proof. Verse 12.] So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree [setting the trap]: ‘Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions' den?’ The king answered, ‘The decree stands–in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.’ [And they snap the trap.]
Then they said to the king, ‘Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day’” (vv.11-13).
Notice their disdain for Daniel. Just like Belshazzar last week, they can’t help but point out that “he’s a Jew that was taken captive. He’s a foreigner in exile. He shouldn’t be in charge of us!”
They mean it as an insult. But Daniel owns who he is. He’s glad that nobody is calling him “Belteshazzar” anymore. He’s found from long experience that God is faithful and worthy of serving continually. Even if it means dying for it.
And it looks like that’s what’s going to happen. Nobody can stop it! Not even the king. Verse 14.
“When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.”
Darius must have really liked Daniel. He didn't see the trap coming, and he tried to work around it. Daniel was a his best guy. He'd hate to lose his best guy! But unless he made a new decree that counteracted this one and that could cause him to lose a lot of face, then there was no earthly hope. And his enemies made of sure of it. Verse 15.
“Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, ‘Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.’
So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!’
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed” (vv.15-17).
Isn’t fascinating that the king yells out to Daniel that encouragement before they close the opening with the stone? Daniel lived his life in such a way that his king could see that he served God continually. It was obvious from the way he lived his life that Daniel believed that God was alive and real and active and worthy! And so pagan King Darius hopes out loud that Daniel’s God would rescue him! Even as he sentences him to death.
They threw him in with the lions!
The guy is more than 80 years old. He might have died from the fall. They have this pit where they keep the lions. The lions were for sport. For entertainment and for punishment. It’s a gruesome way to die being tossed in there. And it sends a powerful message to anyone who was thinking about disobeying the king. And Daniel is tossed in with them and they seal up the opening with a stone and the king seals that with his signet ring. Nobody can let Daniel out until morning.
Daniel’s enemies must have been so happy! But Darius was so unhappy. Look at verse 18.
“Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.”
You feel the tension! And you feel something else, too. You feel kind of sorry for this king, right? He’s such a picture of helplessness. That’s intentional! This is the guy that everybody was supposed to pray to and through for a whole month? Somebody so weak and manipulable? He can’t even sleep?
This is another prophetic knock on human kings. We should not put our trust in them! They are not worthy. But at least he cared about Daniel. Verse 19.
“At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’
Daniel answered, ‘O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.’
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (vv.19-23).
He’s alive! Daniel is alive!
And he doesn’t have any bites taken out of him. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn’t even have the smell of smoke on them when they came out of the fiery furnace. Daniel didn’t even have a scratch on him from the lion’s paw! Why? Because the living God sent His angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.
Just the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had the fourth figure in the furnace with them like a son of the gods, God sent His angel to be with Daniel that night. And the lions didn’t bite.
Wow! I guess there was a loophole in this Medo-Persian law after all. You had to throw the offender into the lion’s den, but the law didn’t say anything about him having to die in there!
But the lions were hungry. The king made sure they got fed. Verse 24.
“At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”
Yes, the lions were hungry.
Daniel’s enemies were very sorry to have misjudged this situation. They didn’t believe that Daniel’s God was living or worthy of serving. And they paid for it with the retribution of the Medes and the Persians which showed no mercy even to their families.
And all of this impressed King Darius. Just like Nebuchadnezzar he wrote a public proclamation about the Lord. Look at verse 25.
“Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: ‘May you prosper greatly!
‘I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.’ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (vv. 25-28).
You see how he calls Him, “the living God?” He did in verse 20 and again in verse 26. He sees that God lives! He’s not just a god of wood or stone or iron. He’s alive. And He’s alive forever. And He rules forever. That’s point #2 this morning.
#2. THE LIVING GOD RULES FOREVER!
Look again at verse 26.
“...[H]e endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.”
Does that sound familiar? That’s like the whole point of this whole book of Daniel. The Lord is the King of Kingdoms. He is sovereign over everything. He’s sovereign over the mouths of hungry lions. He’s sovereign over who is charge of things today. And who in charge of things tomorrow. He’s in charge of who lives and who dies. And who rules. Because He rules, and He rules forever.
“His kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.”
I don’t know about you, but I need to hear that and hear it again. Our world is so tumultuous. And we are so small and frail. There are so many “kings” and “things” that tyrannize us. We have so little control.
But we belong to the King of Kingdoms.
And He’s with us! He didn’t leave Daniel alone in the lion’s den. He sent His angel so that Daniel knew that He was not alone (6:22).
We belong to the King of Kingdoms.
Worthy of trusting.
Worthy of obeying.
Worthy of serving.
Worthy of dying for.
Worthy of living for!
Because He lives and rules forever more.
And more than that. He saves forevermore.
Number three and last.
#3. THE LIVING GOD RESCUES AND SAVES!
Darius could see it! Darius wondered if God could do it in verse 16 and verse 20. And then he knew that God could do it and proclaimed that God did it in verse 27.
“He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
We know that God doesn’t always rescue and save His people from persecution and death. God could have kept Daniel from being discovered praying in the first place, and He didn’t. There may have been others who disobeyed this law and died for it. We don’t know. Probably nobody was paying attention to anyone else. This law was tailor-made to catch Daniel.
Regardless, many Christians were killed by lions and other ferocious beasts in Roman arenas in the first few centuries after King Jesus’s ministry. And there are Christians persecuted and dying for being Christians all over the world today. God has not promised to keep each one us from all earthly harm.
God did not spare His own Son. But instead He gave Him up for us all to...rescue and save us.
From a fate far worse than physical death. Eternal death.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
“He rescues, and He saves.”
I never noticed until this week the parallels between this story and Jesus’ story. Jesus was buried behind a stone that was sealed. He was delivered over to the domain of the dead.
And then Mary going to the tomb early on Sunday morning. And Darius hurrying to the den early the next day.
And then Daniel coming out of the pit of death alive and unharmed. And Jesus coming out of the tomb alive once again!
“He rescues, and He saves.”
Daniel’s rescue is also a picture of our rescue. Rescued from sin and saved forevermore.
Because of the living God.
Messages in This Series:
01. The King's Service - Daniel 1:1-21
02. The God of Heaven - Daniel 2:1-49
Bonus Message: "No Matter What" - Daniel 3:1-30 from Family Bible Week 2012
03. The God We Serve - Daniel 3:1-30
04. The King of Heaven - Daniel 4:1-37
