And
when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went
into his house; (now his windows
were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem;) and he
kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and
gave thanks before his God, AS HE DID AFORETIME.
(Daniel 6:10)
There is something
tremendously impressive about a man who is beset and
attacked from every side, apparently overwhelmed, and who
yet maintains a quiet, dignified persistence of faith and
goes on with his God, unmoved and undismayed.
Daniel’s troubles
sprang from the fact that he had been marked out for
advancement. "The king thought to set him over the
whole realm" (v. 3). There were two presidents equal
with him as well as many satraps under him. All these
reacted violently to the decision about his promotion, so
violently that they plotted to destroy him. At first they
had a great deal of success. It seemed unlikely, or
indeed impossible, that Daniel could ever obtain the
supremacy planned for him. Yet he did! The evil scheme
failed. The servant of God was delivered and placed over
the kingdom. The means by which he was advanced must have
seemed very strange. Yet they are in full harmony with
all that the Word teaches us about spiritual progress.
Especially is Daniel’s experience in accord with
what is shown in the case of the Lord Jesus, that the way
to the throne is by death and resurrection.
"As
He Did Aforetime"
The lions’ den was
a kind of grave. Daniel was not spared the grave; he had
to go right down into it. Since, however, he was
God’s man and kept true to his God, he lost nothing
and gained everything by that descent. His rivals went
down into the same grave, and they stayed there. By the
end of the chapter we find no more mention of presidents
and satraps. They could not stand the test of the grave.
Daniel, on the contrary, was given his place over the
whole realm, not by any effort or planning of his but
simply by his maintained position of faith in God. The
lesson is for us. We, too, in His amazing grace, have
been marked out for advancement, chosen for the throne.
This explains for us, as well as for Daniel, the peculiar
bitterness of the conflict in which we are often
involved. There are great issues in view; we need to know
how to behave in the midst of it all, and what is the
secret which will enable the Lord to fulfil His purpose
in our case as He did in Daniel’s.
We find that he came
through wholly and solely on spiritual grounds. His own
wisdom, his earthly authority, his influence among men,
his experience, his friends — all these counted for
nothing. As he was hurried away and thrown into the den,
he must have been a picture of complete helplessness.
There was nothing he could say, and nothing he could do.
He did not try to wrestle with the lions; it would have
been useless if he had. In a spiritual conflict —
and ours is that — nothing but spiritual strength is
of any use. For all his apparent helplessness, Daniel had
a standing with God. The key to his emergence from the
conflict in such complete triumph is found in our verse
about his praying, and particularly in the last words, "as
he did aforetime".
He was steadfast in his
faith. Yet it would not be enough to think of his having
faith in a merely general way, or being a man who
habitually prayed for all sorts of things. We can only
understand the nature of his steadfastness if we realize
that he was keeping true to a definite and God-given
vision. He had understood the purpose of God with regard
to His people. Moreover, he had adjusted his whole life
to that vision, as the open window and the "three
times a day" prayer-watch show. He knew what God
wished and intended, and had given himself wholeheartedly
for its fulfillment. Day in and day out, fair days and
foul, he kept himself in God’s direction and stood
for God’s will. No wonder that human jealousy and
spite were used by Satan in a determined effort to
silence him! But he could not be silenced. He could not
be made to close his windows. "Aforetime" he
had persisted in his faith vigil; now that trouble was
pending he refused to be turned aside from his set course
with God. He had a spiritual ‘routine’, a holy
habit, a steady heart purpose. When this brought him into
the cross-currents of conflict, and the writing was
signed against him, he seemed to take no notice at all,
but calmly continued in his watch with the Lord —
"as he did aforetime".
We may be tempted to
wish that we were that kind of man, calm, steady, unmoved
— wrongly imagining that this was a matter of
Daniel’s temperament. If so, it is good for us to
remember the kind of man he could be. "I was
affrighted, and fell on my face..." (8:17);
"I Daniel fainted" (8:27);
"Then said he unto me, ‘Fear not,
Daniel..." (10:12). This was no man of steel, but
one very like most of us, with all our inward quakings,
our timidity and our tendency to faint. Yet he was
undismayed. In the midst of plots for his destruction, in
spite of tremendous pressure to panic or compromise,
without any show of strain and in quiet dignity of faith
he went straight on with the Lord. And so must we.
Perhaps it will help us if we try to discover some of
Daniel’s secrets.
The
Largeness of His Vision
The first reason why
Daniel was able to proceed so calmly, as though nothing
had happened, was found in the largeness of his vision.
If we have a vision that is chiefly concerned with
ourselves, our circumstances or our ministry, we shall be
puzzled or offended when things begin to go wrong with
us. We need, indeed we have, a vision of God’s
universal and eternal purpose in His Son, and this alone
will save us from being overwhelmed in the hour of
spiritual conflict.
Daniel looked back, far
beyond his own time. The open windows looked out on an
original purpose for the people of God, who had had their
origin long before his own generation. The Jerusalem
which he remembered was a poor affair compared with the
true glory of Zion. Most of us are apt to dwell with
regret on things as we once knew them, and to sigh for
the days of the past. But it is vain, and altogether
inadequate so to limit our vision. We have been called
for something much bigger than that. We have a part in
the Divine purpose which was conceived in eternity and
realized in Christ by His Cross. If we set our hearts
only on what we have known or experienced, on the limited
sphere of our own past, we shall get into confusion when
for the time being everything seems to be going wrong.
Our natural vision is limited to the immediate, to the
present experiences or to the tiny span of our own lives.
We need to be saved from ourselves, and this will be by
receiving spiritual vision as to the vast range of the
Divine purpose in Christ. Like Daniel, if we look back
far enough we shall be kept steady by the reminder of
God’s original intentions.
Daniel also looked
forward. We are told that he not only prayed, but also
"gave thanks before his God". Of course there
was much cause for thanksgiving in Israel’s past
history, but to the man of faith, the man of vision, the
real motive for praise lies in the future. He had
received assurance that there was to be a future for
Jerusalem, a future even more glorious than the past. He
knew that God would realize His end. It mattered little
to him, therefore, if all the fury of hell raged around
him for the present; it was of very small importance if
he, Daniel, were swept off the face of the earth. Nothing
could prevent the fulfilment of the purposes of God.
Whatever else happened, the Lord would go marching
triumphantly on to His goal. With this conviction, and
his windows opened in this direction, Daniel could afford
to ignore his enemies, and to treat all the decrees of
men with dignified contempt. "And when Daniel knew
that the writing was signed, he... prayed, and gave
thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."
The little calamities of
the present time are contemptible in the light of the
certain glories that are to be. We are meant to be people
of eternity; we are called to view all present problems
and difficulties in their larger setting. It may be true
that we, like Daniel, seem to be involved in disaster,
that for us the writing is signed which makes our own
future quite hopeless. Our vision is not a personal one,
nor is our ministry personal, so we must never allow
ourselves to be overwhelmed by what is only personal. In
Christ we have become closely associated with God’s
eternal purpose for the greatness of His Son. This is the
largeness that will lift us out of our own natural
pettiness.
Daniel saw far beyond
his own surroundings. He had gone to his house and
entered his own chamber. It may well have been a large
room, as rooms go, but in any case it was bounded by the
four walls of what was essentially his. He did not look
at the things around him, but away through the open
windows towards the city of his God. How important it was
at that critical moment that he should not look around to
what was merely local, to the unpromising circumstances
in which he himself was found, but should keep well in
view the Divine prospect of the God-filled glory of
Jerusalem. Only the eye of faith could see that city
then, but Daniel had the eye of faith. Surely it was this
vision that kept him steadfast.
There is a sense in
which men who are under great pressure to capitulate or
compromise can only resist the temptation by remembering
that their ‘cause' is much greater than themselves.
They are kept true by the realization that, provided they
do not despair, the cause with which they are associated
will ultimately triumph in spite of anything which may
happen to them. How much more is this the case with those
whose ‘cause’ is spiritual! Had Daniel’s
main preoccupation been about his own survival he could
not have behaved as he did. If he had been thinking
chiefly of how he himself could be preserved, he would
probably have made terms with his enemies or in some way
capitulated. To him, however, the vision was so great
that his biggest concern was, not as to whether he could
survive, but as to whether he could remain faithful. He
felt that he had to be faithful because of the very
importance and vastness of the issue.
This constraint to be
faithful was noticeable in every part of Daniel’s
life. It was true, not only in the prayer chamber when he
was on his knees, but also in every feature of his
ordinary daily life, that "he was faithful" (v.
4). There can be nothing mean or insignificant in the
life of a man who finds himself associated with a great
Divine purpose: he realizes that this association demands
a very high standard in every aspect of his daily life.
Few of us can be placed in such difficult circumstances
as Daniel was in Babylon. And very few indeed have kept
as faithful as he did in the many tests and temptations
which came his way. Perhaps it was because he had so
learned faithfulness in the smaller matters that he
triumphed so completely in this supreme testing.
If Daniel had considered
it most important that he himself should survive, it
would have been very simple for him to have refrained
either from praying, or from kneeling to do so, or from
leaving the windows open for all to see. After all, he
was no slave in Babylon, but a man of great importance.
He was no enemy of Darius, but his good friend. Had he
wished he could have kept his personal safety, and no
doubt he could think of many very good reasons why he
should try to do so. But then what would happen to
Jerusalem? What would happen to the purposes of God for
His people? To Daniel it was the vision that mattered,
not his own personal good. And in this very way he found
his own deliverance. The man who remains true to the
God-given vision can afford to leave the question of his
own fate in the hands of the Giver of that vision.
This, then, is the
challenge which comes to so many of us, the call to be
faithful to the vision. Daniel reminds us of how
important it is that one man should remain steadfast to
the Lord. None of us knows how much of great Divine
purposes may be served by our simple faithfulness.
In a sense we do not
matter at all. It is not important for us to avoid the
den of lions, to be saved from difficulties, to justify
ourselves or fight for our own position. But in another
sense it matters supremely that we should be true to the
Lord. In order that we may do so, we need to keep in view
the largeness of the vision.
The
Greatness of His God
To Daniel God was
greater than all. It was as simple as that. He had many
visions, concerned with all sorts of people, places and
events, but he had one transcendent vision, and that was
the vision of his Lord. None of the historical or
prophetic allusions can be without significance, for the
Word of God is never without meaning; but we shall have
missed the essence of Daniel’s story if we become
occupied with things or people rather than with the Lord
Himself. This is the second of Daniel’s secrets of a
steadfast life: to him the Person of the Lord towered
high above all others. Prophetic truths may interest or
enlighten us, but they will never save us in the hour of
testing. Daniel’s chamber was not a study — at
least it was not then being used as such; it was his
prayer-room, his audience-chamber with his God. As we
tend to hurry to our best friend when trouble comes, so
Daniel, when he knew the writing was signed, went
straight home to his prayer chamber to commune with his
Lord. He knelt on his knees not as a matter of routine or
ritual, not to list a number of items for prayer, but to
worship and to wait upon his God. As we have said, he was
associated with a very great vision, but the central and
supreme feature of this vision was the Person of the
Lord.
This is as important to
us as it was to him. When we come to the New Testament,
we must be careful to give due weight to every detail of
its teaching. It is very wrong for us to ignore or
disobey the injunctions, the admonitions and the explicit
statements of the Word of God. Yet our supreme concern
must be with the Lord Jesus Himself. To follow all the
teachings and methods associated with the House of God
and yet lack the overwhelming Presence of the Son and
Owner of the House is to substitute an empty shell for
the living reality.
Daniel’s vision of
the Lord was so great that it involved the eclipse of all
his enemies. No doubt they were very imposing, ‘the
presidents, the deputies, the satraps, the counsellors
and the governors’ (v. 7). Whatever Daniel thought
as he considered this long and formidable list, he gave
no indication of being greatly concerned by it. He went
off home to meet with his Lord... "as he did
aforetime". To have his eyes on the Lord did not
mean that he ignored his enemies or pretended that they
did not exist. It only meant that because of their hatred
he drew nearer to his Lord, realizing that at all costs
he must not be drawn away from that committal and that
communion which represented the very heart of the Divine
purpose. He was determined to keep on positive ground. It
can be merely negative to get preoccupied with our
enemies, or with the things that menace God’s
purpose. We shall never reach God’s end by chasing
negatives.
Daniel refused to be
diverted from the main issue. He would not even turn
aside to pray about his own perilous position. He had but
one answer for his foes, and that was to continue
straight on in his devotion to the will of God. We need
to follow his example. Satan will always try to divert us
from the positive end of God. If we can be drawn out into
side issues, he will always provide such for us. They may
be things that provoke us, some matter that never fails
to arouse our irritation or anger. If we turn aside to
pray too much about them, we shall have missed the real
call to positive prayer. It is true that Ephesians 6
stresses the call to prayer conflict, but it comes at the
end of a letter that is devoted to the main vision of
God’s purpose in His Son. It is for this, and not
for lesser or personal matters, that we are called into
the spiritual battle. Or the devil may even keep us busy
with some side issue, which we like, good things in
themselves, perhaps, but diversions from the principle
one. The man of the Spirit refuses to be diverted. Like
Daniel, he goes determinedly on.
Daniel’s vision was
so great that it also eclipsed his friends. There is no
mention here of Shadrach and his two companions. We do
not know where they were. Perhaps they were praying for
him in secret. We do know, though, that there are times
when we must go through alone with the Lord. This is no
contradiction of spiritual fellowship. Such fellowship
can only be healthy and vital if in all things the Lord
Himself is the One we keep in view. Darius was also
Daniel’s friend. As a matter of fact he did his
sincere best to help him. But it is not recorded that
when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he sought
out Darius, to talk the matter over with him or to seek
his help. No, he went straight away to the Lord. With all
his apparent power, Darius proved helpless in this
matter. Daniel knew the Lord as ‘high over
all’. He could not have held quietly on his way as
he did if he had not known a constant walk with his
Almighty Lord.
The
Power of Prayer
In the third place
Daniel had learned complete confidence in God’s
ability to answer prayer. Nothing could deter him from
waiting on God, for he knew the power of prayer. Daniel
was well acquainted with power; he had lived at the seat
of it for many years. As a lad, he had seen in his own
land the amazing things that could be done by this
world-power. Together with his fellow Jews he had been
taken captive by the mighty emperor, the "head of
gold" surmounting all the Gentile kingdoms; and now
for a very long time he had had his place at the heart of
that terrifying world authority. He knew all about the
decrees of an absolute despot and about the "law of
the Medes and Persians, which altereth not" (vs. 8,
12). And when he had considered it all, he was more than
ever convinced that one man on his knees was more than a
match for it all, that there is more power in the simple
prayer of faith than in the greatest empire that this
world can ever produce. He had learned his lesson. To him
it was no mere theory, as, alas, it often is to us. He
had proved it in the past and he was content to go on
proving it. It was a special occasion, but he sought for
no special remedy. He just went on praying "as he
did aforetime".
When a man is up against
something of satanic origin, he is forced back to prayer,
for only God can deal with the great enemy. It is
significant that the signed decree was based on a lie.
Darius put his signature to it because of deliberate
untruth. Those who brought it to him insisted that it had
been agreed among "all the presidents of the
kingdom..." (v. 7). Daniel was
at least equal to his fellow presidents, and he had had
no part in it. Had Darius known the truth it is certain
that he would never have agreed to pass the law. Wherever
there is a lie, Satan is not far away. And when we get
involved in his activities we do well to stand back for a
moment, to consider the whole thing, and to decide —
as apparently Daniel did — that only God can deal
with this situation. Of course we may need to state the
truth or point out the lie, but how often God’s
servants have only got themselves into greater
difficulties by trying to grapple with something that was
too much for them, too strong or too subtle, when the
very presence of a lie in the situation could have warned
them that this is not a matter of opinion or judgment
— we all make mistakes — but of an untruth in
the realm of facts. What do we tend to do when we meet
such a lie? Usually we want to fight it, to argue about
it, to try to deal with it by our own actions. What did
Daniel do? He went straight back to God, got on his knees
and found a place of spiritual authority over it. He
dealt with it all in the place of prayer.
That is where it was all
done. The rest was simply the outworking. A painful
outworking if you like, for it did not relieve him from
the necessity of going down into the lions' den, to the
great distress of his friend, Darius, who spent a wakeful
night worrying about him. He need not have worried. His
own power had failed to deliver Daniel — human power
always does fail in the face of spiritual opposition
— but the man on his knees is the man in touch with
the Throne. We are not told what sort of a night Daniel
had, but it may well have been one of great inward rest.
And this not because he had prayed about himself, but
because he had devoted himself to the Lord’s
interests and could therefore afford to leave his own
needs in the Lord’s hands. He did not pray because
he was faced with an emergency; he prayed because he was
a praying man. He believed in the supreme power of
prayer, and he practiced what he believed. If only we
would do the same!
Daniel had had to pray
in order to obtain his vision. A man is no prophet unless
he is first a man of prayer — "...
he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee..."
(Genesis 20:7). But that was only the beginning.
We must not think that revelation as to the will of God
is an end in itself; it is but the first phase of a
prayer ministry. When Daniel had prayed through to an
understanding of the ways of the Lord, he then set
himself three times a day to persevere in prayer for
their fulfillment. His prayer ministry took him into the
lions’ den, but it also brought him out again, and
he was able to see the thing right through to its
glorious end. "So this Daniel prospered." (v.
28). So — by praying through, unmoved and undismayed
by plots and threats — this Daniel prospered. This
Daniel — not the Daniel of the presidential
office, but the Daniel of the lions’ den — this
Daniel prospered, not only in the reign of Darius but
also in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, who was the
liberator and restorer of Jerusalem.
This all happened in the
last years of his life. That may be because the time of
Jerusalem’s liberation was at hand, and Satan the
more fiercely attacked the man who was standing for it in
prayer. If so, there is a special message for us, who
surely have our testimony to give in the closing days of
the dispensation. The kingdom for which we labour in
prayer is not earthly, but heavenly: it concerns
"the Jerusalem that is above" (Gal. 4:26). Let
us therefore encourage one another not to be moved by the
things which threaten to quench or divert our prayer
life. And let us remember that this very experience was
the way by which Daniel was brought to his appointed
advancement. He went to the Throne by way of the
lions’ den. Our Saviour ascended to the Throne by
way of the Cross. We can only reign with Him if we suffer
with Him.
Harry Foster