Take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of Daniel chapter number one. Daniel chapter number one. We're actually going to go back in time a little bit about 20 years from the last story. We are going to look at the first of a couple stories from the life of Daniel.

Are you in Daniel? Let's go ahead and read verse number 1.

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. Daniel 1:1-2

1. Daniel's Predicament

So let's set this in the historical context. We have been talking a lot about the stories of the kings. Last week we looked at a story from the life of Ezekiel. We've talked about Jeremiah. And so we should be very well versed in what is going on historically here. This goes way back to the first of three different times that Babylon took on the city of Jerusalem.

If you remember, King Jehoiakim tried to defeat Babylon and lost. Then Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin became the king, and he reigned for a while until he revolted against Babylon. So Babylon came a second time and beat him. The third of the kings was Zedekiah, and Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and that time Babylon completely encircled the city of Jerusalem, cutting them off, and ultimately burned the city down and completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem.

These verses we just read happen in the first of those three encounters with Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, who was the son of the king of Babylon, and a mighty general for Babylon, was in Judah, trying to defeat Judah when he got news that his father had died. Very, very quickly, he did some things to show that he was the victor here, that he was in charge, and he hustled back to Babylon to assume the throne.

He actually made it back in two weeks, which is really impressive. It's 500 miles, depending on the way that he went. Imagine going that far on horseback in two weeks. I mean, he was hustling.

But as he left, he did a couple things. He took some of the vessels and some of the treasure out of the temple in Jerusalem, and he put it in the temple of his God in Babylon. Now in the ancient world, why would you do that? He did it to show that his God was stronger than the God of the Jews. The God of the Babylonians had defeated, in the minds of these people, the God of the Jews. And to show that, they put that God's treasure in their temple.

Now, of course, the Bible tells us that it was God's doing that He won. This was prophesied many years before. Isaiah talked about this 100 years before this happened. It was prophesied that Babylon was going to come and destroy Jerusalem. But in Nebuchadnezzar's mind, it meant that his God was the bigger God.

Taking the temple treasure was not the only thing that he took. Look at verse 3:

3 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; 4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. 5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Daniel 1:3-5

Nebuchadnezzar took from among the children of Israel the best and brightest young men that they could find. These were royal teenagers. These were teenagers that were good-looking, that were skillful, that had nothing wrong with them. These were the best men. The best and the brightest young people that were living in Jerusalem. They were to be taken all the way to Babylon where they would become servants to Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonian court.

Now, I want you to think about what that would be like for a minute. You're 14 years old, maybe 15 years old. Your dad is one of the leaders in your area. You have good grades. You're good at sports. And you're looking forward to maybe going to the U of I or going out east to an Ivy League school. You've got your whole life lined out ahead of you. You're going to come back. You're going to be a leader for your people. And all of a sudden, due to circumstances completely out of your control, you are kidnapped and taken 500 miles away, which in that day and age that might as well have been 8 million miles away. You are taken to a strange land where your entire culture isn't there. No one speaks your language. You understand nothing. It is all brand new to you. And you are expected to become a Babylonian.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, in America we had this thing called the Carlisle Indian School, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It's actually where the US Army War College is today. What it was was they would go into Indian Country all around the country, and they would basically take Indian teenagers away from their families forcibly and enroll them in this boarding school, where they were not allowed to speak their native tongues. They were forced to dress and act as Americans would act, and the stated purpose of the school was to take these Indians and turn them into Americans.

Whether or not you think that's a good idea, it was traumatic, extremely traumatic for those kids. And Daniel was one of these people that went through a similar, if not worse, thing, being taken to Babylon.

This was a three-year program. For three years, these princes would get to eat in the king's cafeteria. They would get to eat the best food in the whole world. And they would get the best education a person could get in that time, that day and age. And the purpose of this was to turn them into Chaldeans. The purpose was to take them out of Israel, out of Judah, and make them leaders of the Babylonians.

They were also kind of hostages. By taking the best and brightest young people out of Judah, one of the things they were doing is they were saying to Judah, hey, you guys mess with us? We're going to kill your best kids. We have them under our control. So you can imagine this is not a good situation to be in.

Look at verse 6.

6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: 7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego. Daniel 1:6-7

Not only were these kids taken to a brand new place, they were given brand new names. Their names, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were all names that honored God.

• Daniel meant "God is my judge".
• Hananiah meant "God has favored."
• Mishael meant "who is what God is."
• Azariah meant "Jehovah has helped."

But the Babylonians couldn't have these kids running around with these names that honored the God of Israel, the God of Judah. Their names had to honor the gods of the Babylonians. And so they changed their names. Daniel's new name is Belteshazzar, which means "Bel's Prince"; Shadrach means "the great scribe"; Meshach means "guest of a king"; and Abednego means "servant of Nebo."

(By the way, Nebo was the same false god that Nebuchadnezzar was named to honor.)

So you see the predicament of these young men. They're in a hopeless spot. Far away from home, new language, forced into this life of service to a pagan king. Their entire future, their entire life is taken from them. Even their names are taken from them.

And that is where this story gets very interesting. Look at verse 8:

8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel 1:8

We've called the first section Daniel's predicament. Let's talk about Daniel's purposing for a minute.

2. Daniel's Purposing

This is remarkable. Daniel is in a foreign land. Nobody is making him do anything. In fact, if anybody's making him do anything, it's the Babylonians making him live like a Babylonian. But Daniel, who is just a teenager, not much older than Noah, younger than Audrey and Molly, Daniel decides in his heart that he's going to be obedient to the Lord, that he is not going to give up his identity as a Jewish person, that he is not going to give up his faith in Jehovah, and that he is going to, as much as he can, be faithful to follow the laws of Moses.

Now, what's the matter with eating the king's meat? Well, there are probably a couple reasons why Daniel didn't eat the king's meat. The main reason is that it wasn't kosher. Daniel is a Jewish person. He is under the law in that sense, and there was likely pork, there was likely lobster, maybe, that he wasn't supposed to eat. Even the stuff he was allowed to eat, the chicken and the lamb and the beef, was not slaughtered in a kosher way, was likely offered to pagan idols before it was brought to the king's table. And so Daniel says, I can't eat it.

Now notice he doesn't say, I can't eat it because it's not healthy. He says, I can't eat it because it will defile me. He's not there saying, guys, I'm a vegetarian. I've made this decision. I'm not going to eat any meat. No, he's saying, I can't eat this because the law of my God forbids me to eat this. And for me to eat this is going to defile me. It's remarkable conviction.

Think of all the excuses that Daniel could have had. He could have said, well, my God delivered me here. My God put me in this situation. I'll just go along to get along. Maybe when I get into a position of more power, then I can clean this up and eat right. He could have said, I don't want to stand out. I don't want to look like a freak here in this school, in this court. I want to blend in.

There's so many things he could have done. There's so many excuses he could have made. Could have lived it up. Look, this is the king of the greatest empire in the history of the world at this point. Do you think he ate well? I mean, he probably ate better than anybody. He probably had the best chefs in the world preparing this food. And Daniel says, I'm not going to do it. He and his friends: we're going to be faithful to God. We're not going to defile ourselves by eating this meat.

And notice he's not ugly about it. Let's keep reading.

9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. 10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. 11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. Daniel 1:9-14

Daniel didn't come demanding that concessions be made for him. He understood that he was putting his leader here, who liked him very much, into a precarious situation. And so he asked. He said, can we just have a 10-day test? For 10 days, we'll just eat vegetables. That's what pulse in the King James means, it's just vegetables. We'll just eat things that are not meat. And after 10 days, if it's bad, you can do what you think you need to do. And this leader, whose name is Melzar, says, okay, 10 days. I'll give you 10 days.

Church, I think it's important that we be people of conviction. I think it's important that we do what's right, even if everyone around us is doing what's wrong. I think it's important that we stand up and be counted as Christians, as God's people, even if we're the only Christians around.

Listen, I know how it is. I work a secular job. Do you know how many times I have pressure to lower my convictions? All the time, whether it's pressure to curse or the pressure to drink or to talk about something I shouldn't talk about. The pressure to minimize the place Christ has in my life — to be a secret agent Christian instead of standing up and boldly being Christlike.

I know it isn't easy to be a light in the darkness — but that is what we are called to do. Do not stop shining just because you are shining alone. Be a salty, God-honoring Christian — you are needed most not when you are in the church house but when you are in the world.

But I do want you to notice that Daniel didn't demand concessions. He asked. He didn't demand that everyone in the king's program do what he was doing. He asked for himself and his friends, and he asked nicely.

Church, sometimes in the name of having convictions I've known Christians who can be downright ugly. Years ago, there was a lady in our church who was all up in arms because the public school had a parent teacher meeting on Wednesday night. She was determined to go in there and barnstorm those people because Wednesday night was for church.

Now, I'm glad we have people who come to church on Wednesday night. If the majority of a town has people who come to church on Wednesday night, it would be a great thing if the school made concessions for that and didn't schedule anything on Wednesday evenings. But I told her that it was wrong of her to get angry at a secular school for being a secular school and that she should have a different attitude about it. It would be far better to just say "We can't make it, we have made a commitment to always be in church on Wednesdays" than to go in hot and heavy and say "How dare you!"

Daniel didn't do that. He purposed in his heart. He asked nicely. He didn't hide why he was doing it. He told Melzar the meat would defile him. He didn't try to hide behind some fad diet or something. But he asked for a test. Ten days.

That's reasonable. That's what we call an outfit decision. There are outfit decisions, haircut decisions, and tattoo decisions. You know, some decisions are like outfits. You can change an outfit quickly. Some decisions are like haircuts, they may take a month to go back on but no big deal. Some decisions are like tattoos — you are stuck with them for life.

Daniel made this easy for Melzar. He had purposed he was going to do this. He was putting God to the test.

Can I challenge you to just try obeying God. Just say "For the next two weeks, I'm going to read my Bible. For the next two weeks, I'm going to be a witness. For the next two weeks, I'm going to make church attendance a priority."

Just take small steps of obedience and watch God bless.

Well, look what happens.

15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. 16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. Daniel 1:15-16

Wouldn't you know it, God blessed Daniel and his friends' obedience and they looked better than everyone — so Melzar let them keep doing it.

Church, do you know what I love about this story? I love how ordinary it is. Extraordinary circumstances. You aren't captives in Babylon. But the temptation to go along, the temptation to blend in, the temptation to give up your convictions — that's very ordinary.

And Daniel just decides he's going to follow the Lord. And God blessed that obedience.

That pattern is going to hold true for all of Daniel's life — him and his friends are going to be asked to make bigger and harder decisions of the same kind — will they be faithful to God or will they go along to get along? But I don't think they would refuse to bow to the idol and face the fiery furnace or refuse to stop praying and go to the lion's den if they didn't first say "we are going to obey God in this little area of what we eat."

So we've talked about Daniel's predicament and Daniel's purposing. Let's look lastly at...

3. Daniel's Prosperity

Let's go ahead and read the rest of the chapter:

17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. 21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus. Daniel 1:17-21

Daniel and his friends graduate from this royal program after three years — and God had given them knowledge and skill. So much so that they stand out. Nebuchadnezzar notices them and gives them positions near him. He finds them ten times better than the pagan helpers he had.

Notice who gets the credit. The Bible does not say the vegetables made them smart. Verse 17 says God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. And Daniel in particular — God gave him understanding in visions and dreams. That's going to matter later in this book. But even here, the point is the same: this is a gift.

It's interesting here — you see this in Daniel and you see it in Joseph too — God can give people influence. God can give people prosperity. Joseph is a slave and a prisoner in Egypt, and God puts him in front of Pharaoh. Daniel is a hostage in Babylon, and God puts him in front of Nebuchadnezzar. Same God. Same kind of story.

Now, there were other young men in that program. They ate the king's meat. They drank the king's wine. They wore the new names. I'm sure some of them thought, I need to get ahead, so I'm going to blend in. We don't know their names at all.

We do know about Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Look at verse 19. When they stand before the king, the Bible does not call them Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It calls them by the names that honored God. They went the opposite way. They stood by their convictions. They boldly identified with their God. God blessed them with skill and influence.

And church, I want you to see verse 21, because it is easy to skip. "And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus."

Cyrus is not a Babylonian. Cyrus is a Persian. That verse is telling you that Daniel outlasted the empire that kidnapped him. Babylon took his city, took the vessels, took his name, and tried to take his conscience. And when Babylon itself is gone, Daniel is still there. He wasn't just a leader in Babylon. He became a leader in Persia too.

The people who renamed him do not get the last word. God does.

Church, God can make you useful in Babylon without making you Babylonian. Favor and influence are His gift, not the prize for blending in.

That does not mean if you skip the office party you will get the promotion. Joseph spent years in a pit and a prison before he stood in front of Pharaoh. Daniel was still a captive. He never got to go home as a teenager and take over dad's place in Jerusalem. God gave him a different kind of usefulness — in a pagan court, for a very long time, with his identity still intact.

You may be in a place you did not choose. A job. A school. A family situation. A town that does not honor God. That is a predicament. You still get to purpose in your heart who you are going to be there. And then you leave the prosperity with God. He may give you a platform. He may just give you the grace to stay clean. Both are gifts.

Don't let Babylon name you. They can put a new nametag on you. They cannot have your conscience unless you hand it to them.

Daniel purposed in his heart as a teenager, in a cafeteria, in a language he was still learning. And God kept him until Cyrus.

Predicament you didn't choose. Purpose you do choose. Prosperity God gives.

Let's stand together and pray.