( Does this describe anybody you know? Be careful now ……. )

Friend; co-worker; family member; someone you don’t like very much. Well, you can relax, I don’t want you to say anything to get you in the Lions Den.

1. Daniel was a teenager when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 605 B.C.
2. He was a very intelligent young man and was elevated to a position of political leadership.
3. He served God faithfully and without compromise under the administration of three kings; Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzer and Darius.
4. Nebuchadnezzar …

• Dream of a great statue; no one can interpret dream; kill all the V.I.P’s in his administration; Daniel intercedes and interprets the dream.

• He constructs a golden statue and requires everyone to worship it. Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse to bow and are thrown into the fiery furnace. God delivers.

1. Belshazzar …

• Great feast. 1,000 government officers in attendance. Wild, drinking party. Has an idea: "Let’s drink from the temple vessels my grandfather, Nebechadnezzar, brought from the Temple in Jerusalem."

• God writes on the wall. Belshazzar’s magicians and astrologers cannot interpret the writing.

• He calls for Daniel who interprets the dream; a prophecy of the coming destruction of the kingdom.

• "Mene, Mene" = God has numbered your kingdom and finished it.

• "Tekel" = You are weighed in the balances and found wanting.

• "Peres" "Upharsin" = Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.

• That very night, the kingdom is invaded and conquered by Darius, a 62 year old Mede.

1. Darius …

• Sets about to reorganize and consolidate the kingdoms. He divides the expanded kingdom into 129 provinces, each under a Governor. The governors are accountable to three Presidents.

• Daniel is one of these Presidents. (Now about 80 years old) He is so well like by Darius that the king is considering elevating him over the other Presidents.

• They are infuriated and plot revenge. The plan: get Darius to sign a decree that no one can pray to anyone else but the king for a period of thirty days. Egotistical Darius eagerly falls for the idea.

• Daniel continues his normal prayer routine. He is arrested and thrown into the den of lions. God spares his life. His enemies, and their families, were cast into the lion’s den by an angry king and destroyed.

Consider these points:

We are often tempted to cry out, "It just isn’t fair," when we are subjected to ill treatment and threats of violence from our enemies.

• Temptation, discouragement, heartbreak, fear, lust, pride, death.