Resurrection and Resistance

Scripture: Daniel 6

Sermon: Resurrection and Resistance

Topics: resistance, resurrection, Easter, death, life

Preached: July 8, 2018

Rev. Mike Abma

PREAMBLE

Before reading the well-known story in chapter 6,

I am going to read the first few verses from the final chapter of Daniel, chapter 12.

12‘At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.²Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. ³Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

These 3 verses are in fact the clearest affirmation of a physical resurrection in the whole Old Testament. The Old Testament really has very limited clear references to the resurrection, but these verses in Daniel 12 are pretty well the clearest.

With that in mind, we turn now to the more well-known story of Daniel 6.

I have one goal for all of you this morning – that you see how this story anticipates the resurrection of Jesus.

In order to help you do that, I will be reading this chapter section by section, so that we can keep one eye on what happens to Daniel, but keep another eye on what would eventually happen to Jesus.

So let’s start with the first 4 verses, that introduce the Tension in this passage.

THE TENSION 6: 1-4

6It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, stationed throughout the whole kingdom, ²and over them three presidents, including Daniel; to these the satraps gave account, so that the king might suffer no loss. ³Soon Daniel distinguished himself above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. ⁴So the presidents and the satraps tried to find grounds for complaint against Daniel in connection with the kingdom. But they could find no grounds for complaint or any corruption, because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him.

This chapter introduces a new empire, a new king, a new administration,

but the same old faithful servant, Daniel,

still doing his job better than anyone else.

And this annoys his counterparts, his political rivals.

They sense that this old fossil is actually going to get promoted.

So they look for ways to take him down.

But there is a problem – Daniel is above reproach. He is innocent.

What I would like you to begin doing, even now, is to see in this political bureaucracy a parallel to the religious bureaucracy of the New Testament.

Just as the political bureaucrats here

(the presidents and satraps and counselors and governors)

are all jealous of Daniel and want to take Daniel down,

so too, the religious bureaucrats

(the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests)

of the New Testament grow in their jealousy of Jesus, and very early on,

begin to look for ways to take him down.

But they face the same problem – Jesus is blameless.

SETTING THE TRAP 6: 5-9

⁵The men said, ‘We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.’

6 So the presidents and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, ‘O King Darius, live for ever! ⁷All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions. ⁸Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.’

⁹Therefore King Darius signed the document and interdict.

The political bureaucracy sets a trap for Daniel.

They use lies to set it.

They convince the king that everyone of the presidents, and everyone of the governors, are unanimous in supporting this new law.

Of course, they fail to mention Daniel.

They fail to mention that the one President who is about to be promoted above

them all has not even been consulted about this new law.

The trap is a religious trap – they use Daniel’s piety against him.

They use Daniel’s religion to give the appearance of treason.

Centuries later, the religious bureaucrats would do a similar thing with Jesus.

When they were unable to trap Jesus with their questions,

they began to look for any other way to arrest him.

The trap they set is one of religious law,

so that they will later say to Pilate:

We have a law and according to that law Jesus must die John 19: 7.

It was also a trap to make Jesus look treasonous,

so that later they could say to Pilate:

This man claims to be the King of the Jews,

but we have no King but the Emperor. John 19:15

The trap has been set.

Now would that trap work?

SPRINGING THE TRAP 6:10-13

10 Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously.

¹¹The conspirators came and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God. ¹²Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, ‘O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human, within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions?’

The king answered, ‘The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.’

¹³Then they responded to the king, ‘Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.’

Daniel clearly knows about the conspiracy against him.

He knows about the new law.

And yet, he continues to pray 3 times a day as he had always done.

He doesn’t even bother to pray behind closed doors.

He prays by an open window facing Jerusalem, where his conspirators can see him and catch him.

Again, this resonates with what happens to Jesus.

Jesus knows that the religious authorities are plotting to arrest him.

He knows that Jerusalem is the most dangerous place he can be.

In spite of that, Jesus continues on into Jerusalem, over the objections of his disciples.

In spite of the dangers, Jesus continues to preach and teach in the Temple every

day.

He knows that he will be arrested.

And it is while praying — praying in the Garden of Gethsemane

that the soldiers come to arrest him.

A RULER’S DILEMMA 6: 14-13

14 When the king heard the charge, he was very much distressed. He was determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort to rescue him. ¹⁵Then the conspirators came to the king and said to him, ‘Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.’

The political bureaucrats bring the case against Daniel to the king.

King Darius hears the case.

Notice that Daniel does not say a word in his own defense.

Daniel is completely silent.

We get a sense of King Darius’ distress, his unease over this whole situation.

He is caught between Daniel and the crowd calling for Daniel’s death.

Darius knows it is wrong.

He knows Daniel is innocent.

He makes every effort to free him.

But his hands are tied – and he must wash his hands of the whole thing.

Again, the parallels to Jesus and Pilate are clear.

Jesus the accused, also does not speak in his own defense.

Pilate is another ruler caught between an unruly crowd and an innocent man.

Pilate knows the religious bureaucrats had handed Jesus over to him out of

envy, out of jealousy.

Pilate tires to get Jesus released.

In the end Pilate literally washes his hands of the whole thing.

Pilate, like Darius of old, feels he is in a seemingly impossible situation

THE DREADED DEED IS DONE 6: 16-18

16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!’ ¹⁷A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. ¹⁸Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

Aren’t the parallels here rather striking?

The king gives the order to throw Daniel to the lions — an order of

execution.

A stone is rolled in front of the mouth of the lion’s den.

The stone is sealed with the king’s own signet ring so that no one could open or move the stone.

We will hear this again in the gospels:

Pilate gives Jesus over to be crucified – to be executed.

The body of Jesus is laid in a tomb.

A stone is rolled in front of it.

The stone is sealed with Pilate’s own seal.

The parallels are striking!

THE GOOD NEWS 6: 19-24

19 Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions.

²⁰When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, ‘O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?’

²¹Daniel then said to the king, ‘O king, live for ever! ²²My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.’

²³Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. ²⁴The king gave a command, and those who had accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.

At the break of day,

the king hurries to the den of lions.

The king, hurries, expecting to find death.

This is so much like the women on Easter morning

hurrying to the tomb at the break of day

expecting to find death.

To Darius’ great surprise

he finds Daniel alive.

Daniel speaks for the very first time in this chapter.

He speaks of God saving him

of God sending an angel to shut the mouth of the lions

so that Daniel is not hurt:

Daniel, who is described as blameless —

blameless before God and blameless before king Darius —

this Daniel is taken up, up out of the den,

and he is vindicated.

We could almost sing,

Up from the den he arose

With a mighty triumph o’er his foes

Now for the conclusion.

SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS 6: 25-28

25 Then King Darius wrote to all peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole world: ‘May you have abundant prosperity! ²⁶I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:

For he is the living God,

   enduring for ever.

His kingdom shall never be destroyed,

   and his dominion has no end.

²⁷ He delivers and rescues,

   he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth;

for he has saved Daniel

   from the power of the lions.’

²⁸So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

At the end of this Daniel story

there is a decree for

all peoples and all nations of all languages

to fear and honor the God of Daniel,

the living God.

Why?

Because his kingdom shall never be destroyed

his dominion will never end;

He is the one who saves –

saves from lions and even from death.

Can you hear an echo of the Pentecost story here?

For at Pentecost

a proclamation goes out

to all peoples of all nations in all languages

that God raised Jesus from the dead

and all who confesses Jesus

share in his saving death and resurrection.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Many of you remember the name Mahatma Gandhi,

an advocate for civil rights in South Africa in the 1920’s

then later an advocate for the independence of India.

I learned this week that Daniel 6 was Gandhi’s favorite Old Testament story.

He loved it because it showed

Daniel’s passive resistance to the law.

This was the type of passive resistance that Gandhi himself practiced.

I have mentioned that the book of Daniel is resistance literature.

You may be wandering – Well, what is it that we need to resist?

The truth is,

we live in a culture that slowly erodes away at our faith,

that distracts us from what is really important,

that even causes us to forget who we really are,

and what kind of life we are called to live.

In this kind of culture,

we need to practice resistance.

We need to have healthy habits,

and spiritual rhythms

that keep reminding us

of where our ultimate loyalty should lie;

of what our true identity is;

of what kind of life we are called to live.

We need to practice resistance

because in our world it isn’t always easy remembering.

If you spend a lot of time

on construction sites or on factory floors;

If you spend a lot of time

surrounded by office gossip and company politics;

If you live deep in the world of academia,

or the arts, or literature;

then the truth is

maintaining healthy habits,

like prayer, and worship, and praise is not easy.

How many people don’t you know who have forgotten,

who don’t really know the point

of things like prayer, or worship, or praise any more.

They have forgotten. It no longer makes sense to them.

CONCLUSION

Daniel 6 does not give us a pollyanna message.

By that I mean,

it does not promise that

we will escape from every trouble,

or flourish under every threat,

or succeed against every attack.

That is not the message of this chapter.

The truth is,

there are many, many, faithful people,

believing people,

who suffer, and sacrifice,

and who look more like losers than winners in this world.

No, the message of Daniel 6,

and the message of the Gospel

is that our Resistance to the temptations of this world

is rooted in the Resurrection.

For in the Resurrection we see

that we worship a God of Life

who has won the victory over death;

We worship a God of hope,

who has triumphed over fear;

We worship a God of love

who has triumphed over hatred;

We worship a God of light

who has triumphed over darkness.

The Resurrection is what grounds our Resistance.

So whether our own lives flourish or fade,

whether we soar or suffer

we know that Christ lives.

We know that he is exalted.

We know that we are called to live a life worthy of him,

and a life worthy of his kingdom.

So we resist the pressures to conform to this world.

And we aim for that moment,

pray for that moment

long for that moment

when the trumpet sounds

and day breaks

and we will all …all be made new.

Amen