Daniel2...Who Made Revolutions In His Life! / Paul's Bible Characters

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Daniel2...Who Made

Revolutions In His Life!

/ Paul's Bible Characters 

 

/ By Paul

 

1. Personal Information

 

'Daniel' means 'God is my judge'

in the Hebrew name, and the Babylonian

name is Belteshazzar, which means

Baal and 'Preserve his life.'

 

He is said to have been a descendant

of King Hezekiah as a royal family

of Judah who was taken captive

during the first invasion of Babylonia.

 

(the third year of King

Jehoiakim's reign, 605 B.C.)

 

According to the prophecies about

Hezekiah's sons, it is said that

'they would rule in Babylonia'.

 

At the time of his captivity, he was

a young man who was less than

20 years old, wise, and very religious,

 

and later, he became the Prime Minister

of Babylonia and served King Nebuchadnezzar,

King Darius, and King Cyrus for 72 years, 

and he was buried in Susa when

he was over 90 years old.

 

 

2. Major Life

 

Jehoiakim, the 18th king of Kingdom

of Judah, relied on Egypt, however,

 

when Egypt was defeated by Babylonia

in the Battle of Carchemish, Kingdom of Judah

was under the wrath of King Nebuchadnezzar 

of Babylonia and Judah's royal families

and nobles were taken captive.

 

At this time, Daniel, along with

his three friends Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego, had been educated

in the Babylonian palace for

three years. (605-602 B.C.)

 

He did not like the Babylonian

name 'Belteshazzar,' called by the king,

 

and continued to use the name

'Daniel,' and did not defile  himself

with the royal food and wine,

and the food offered to idols,

and had a vegetarian life.

 

So, God gave Daniel the wisdom

and intelligence, giving him ten times

more intelligent power than all

of sorcerers and magicians.

 

The wise 'Daniel' interpreted

the two dreams of King

Nebuchadnezzar,

 

(the dream of the golden statue

and the dream of a messenger)

 

and it caused him to be chosen as

prime minister, and he ruled

Babylonia. (B.C.602 - B.C.562)

 

However, after King

Nebuchadnezzar died

(605 B.C. - 562 B.C.),

 

the throne was succeeded to 

Amel-Marduk (556 B.C. - 539 B.C.),

Nergal-Sharezer (560 B.C.-556 B.C.),

 

Labash - Marduk (556 B.C.),

Nabonidus (556 B.C.- 539 B.C.),

and then the last king was

-'Belshazzar'.

 

Daniel was 84-85 years old

when King Belshazzar was reigning

under the regent of Nabonidus.

 

After Daniel's retirement,

King Belshazzar, who was invaded

by Darius the Mede, gave a large banquet

to remove the anxiety of his nobles.

 

However, King Belshazzar

committed an act of blasphemy:

 

the king drank wine with his nobles

from the gold and silver goblets

used in the temple,

 

and he received a revelation

 of  the destruction by the

 wrath of the LORD.

 

All the king's wise men tried to interpret

the writing of the revelation, but they couldn't.

 

Finally, Daniel interpreted the writing

that could not be interpreted,

 

and Darius the Mede took over

the kingdom and King Belshazzar

was killed that very night.

 

Daniel (B.C. 538), who was again

appointed prime minister by Darius

the Mede, was thrown into the  lions' 

den by the conspiracy of officials,

 

and through God's miracle 

his life was saved.

 

After that, he saw 70 weeks

of revelation of the end.

(B.C.536)

 

He finished writing the book of Daniel

(530 B.C.) and died at the age of 93

in the city of Susa, and was buried there.

 

 

3. Characteristics of Daniel's Faith

Daniel was a man who had faced

death three times in his life.

 

However, he did not try to solve

the crises with his own strength

and ability, but only with his faith,

 

and the grace of God who performed

miracles on him, he could overcome

all of the crises.

 

Also, through his faith, he not only 

showed God  Almighty to  the Gentiles,

 but he also  made a change for 

Gentiles to glorify God as well.

 

Today, through God's help,

we also can overcome all crises by faith,

and we must live a life of right faith so

that the LORD God can be glorified

by other peoples as well.

 

In order to achieve this, let's find out

what three things Daniel resolved to do.

 

1) Daniel resolved not to  defile himself

and he practiced this in his life.

(Daniel 1: 8 - the test of vegetarian life)

 

God made humans happy beings,

but why is life so difficult and

tough for humans?

 

This is because humans

live in a secularized world.

 

Therefore, it is important to live

 with the right definition of what

'Christians in the world' mean.

 

'Christians' mean our identities,

and the expression 'in the world' 

means the location where we are.

 

Therefore, the expression

'Christians in the world' does not mean

'secularized Christians', but the ones

who show the image of Christ

to the world.

 

Daniel, one of the biblical figures,

was a man of God who resolved

not to defile himself and practiced

this in his life,

 

and finally he was a man who 

changed the world while 

living in the world.

 

That is, he was an Old Testament

man who realized that his body

was a 'temple of the Holy Spirit'.

 

In general, people try to live with

strength based on material possessions,

 knowledge, and power in order to

 maintain their own lives.

 

However, Daniel was a man

who resolved to live by the power of faith.

 

That's because he realized that even if

the world's powers of wealth, intelligence,

and force were combined together, they 

could not overcome spiritual power at all.

 

Therefore, in order to have such

spiritual power, the Spirit of God

must remain within us, and the

first condition for this is holiness.

 

Holiness refers to a state in which

my heart is filled with God's holy

thoughts, and it refers to a life 

that avoids

 

'the cravings of sinful man,

the lust of his eyes and the boasting 

of what he has and does'.

 

So, Daniel rejected the royal

food and wine, and the food offered

to idols, and resolved to eat nothing

but vegetables and water.

 

With such a life of holiness,

God poured out wisdom and

 intelligence ten times more 

to Daniel than all of sorcerers

 and magicians, and allowed him 

 

not only to understand visions

and dreams of all kinds, but also

keep healthy and live long.

 

2) Daniel, the man of strong faith in God,

lived in his lifetime practicing his faith.

(Daniel 2 : 12-13 - the dream

of the golden statue)

 

There are times crises, which are

difficult to get over, come upon us,

when we live in this world. 

 

(Cancer, unemployment,

bereavement, accident,

failure, deviation)

 

We usually try to solve

these crises in two ways.

 

One is a realistic crisis management

method that we use in worldly ways

and means, and the other is a religious

crisis management method

that we use in faith.

 

Unbelief comes from the mind

of man who relies on science

and civilization, doesn't want

 

God, puts everything in his control, 

and has his own will to solve

everything by himself.

 

However, belief comes from

the mind of man who is willing to

leave everything with God's control.

 

Man can meet crises that he can not

overcome with capabilities of

himself and the world.

 

When we face these situations,

how should we cope with that?

 

Daniel, and all of sorcerers

and astrologers were sentenced

to death, and they were at stake

and they had an urgent problem

they had to solve.

 

(1) Daniel, the man of strong faith

in God, stood against the crisis with boldness.

(Dan 2: 16)

 

 

While our fears come from the

circumstances, our boldness comes

from God who is greater than

the circumstances.

 

When we go beyond the limits

of the circumstances into our faith

and dwell in the Word, we can

have peace in our hearts.

 

However when we put the Word

behind a dark cloud of circumstances,

we can have anxiety in our hearts.

 

Daniel lived with living faith

because he had experienced

the living God.

 

God made him, who ate only vegetables,

much healthier than a man who ate meat,

and gave him ten times more wisdom

and intelligence through a life of faith.

 

In this way, Daniel shows us that

when we express our love for God in our life,

there is always spiritual experience waiting for us.

 

We can have living faith when the

Word is combined with such experiences.

 

(Example: David, who killed the lion

and the bear, was able to fight Goliath too!)

 

(2) Daniel, the man of strong faith in God,

shows us that he could solve problems

only through prayers. (Dan 2 : 19)

 

Prayer is the key to solving all

problems and is the channel of answers.

 

Daniel's prayers were so special.

He was able to receive miraculous

answers from God because he and

his friens did the intercession

 prayers for all people related 

to the problem. (Dan 2 : 18-24)

 

When a beginner in faith comes

across a problem, he cannot afford

to look to others and their situations

until his problem is solved.

 

However, when his faith becomes

matured, he can look to others

 

and their situations as well as himself,

he devotes himself to the intercession

prayers to receive answers from God.

 

God values ​​intercession prayers

more than personal prayers because

we are all the same object of His love.

 

Also, Daniel offered a prayer

in accordance with God's will.

 

The blind spot of prayer lies in ignoring

God's will and insisting on my own.

 

Humans cannot grow up like being

human if they live in accordance 

with their own will.

 

When we live according to God's will,

we can grow up to be His children.

 

God allows us to face problems,

and also solves the problems for our

salvation and faith, and also for his glory.

 

Daniel shows that when our prayers

reflect God's will like this, the answers

from God come immediately.

 

 

4. Daniel resolved to live a life of serving

God and he practiced this in his life.

(Dan 6 : 10 -' Lions' Den incident')

 

Man, whether he does well or not,

there are times he may face

crises from his enemies.

 

Their purpose is to take all of his

and even destroy his life.

 

The weapons used by the enemies

are conspiracy, lies, schemes, traps, etc.

 

The trap prepared to kill Daniel was

a scheme to kneel down only to

the king instead of God.

 

-'To kneel down' is the greatest courtesy

and is an expression of politeness given

only to the object who we serve.

 

At that time, it was only possible for

Daniel to preserve his life only by

changing the object to serve,

from God to man.

 

If he kept this decree, he would

become a loyalist, and if he broke it,

he would become a breaker for the decree.

 

(1) Our life of serving God means

that we are satisfied with God alone.

 

When do we fail in life? It is when we keep

God and  resolutions to Him away.

 

If we serve these things such as world,

material, pleasure, success, children,

instead of God, the Word of God will 

act as a maid for them,

 

and God will  become the one 

who only lends power.

 

If the view of life is to make a resolution

to a way of life, the view of religion is to 

make a resolution to serve God alone.

 

Daniel was the one who showed that

his resolution to God and serving

Him can become one.

 

Resolutions are built on the basis of beliefs

and will, and religion is built on

the basis of God alone.

 

Therefore, resolutions may be changed

or may be shaken, but religion is

absolutely unchangeable.

 

In order for resolutions and religion

to become one, faith must be

connected in the middle.

 

The life of serving God  is not in the order

of our will, faith, and God, but in the order

of God, faith, and our will.

 

That is because God is most important.

 

2) The life of serving God is accompanied by His help.

 

For example, God sends an angel to help us.

 

(Ex: Acts 12: 8-

'The angel who saved 'Peter'

in prison.)

 

It was also an angel who kept

Daniel safe in the lions' den.

(Daniel 7 : 22)

 

'Are not all angels ministering spirits

sent to serve those who will  inherit

salvation?' (Heb 1 : 14)

 

Man, God, and the devil

coexist in life on this earth.

 

If we serve God, we can live a life in 

which miracles and grace are given us.,

 

but if we are tempted to follow the devil,

we will live under anxieties and problems.

 

Daniel is a believer who correctly showed

that there was the Word above the

circumstances, faith above the Word,

and religion above the faith.

 

How about living a right life of serving God

by taking his religion as example and

making   resolutions like this?

 

 

- The end - 

 

 

2009/01/02

 

 

/ By Paul