July 18, 2025 • 28 mins
"What happens when faith collides with earthly power? The stories of Daniel reveal a pattern of divine deliverance that speaks directly to anyone facing opposition for their beliefs. In today's world, we NEED unwavering faith."
Pastor Teddy, a.k.a. Fred Kenney, Jr., explores Daniel chapters 5-6, examining the themes of deliverance, faithfulness, and God's sovereignty throughout the Bible story. This continuation of his behind-the-scenes look at Plays on Word's upcoming Daniel production reveals how these ancient texts remain relevant today.
• Reading of Daniel chapter 5, featuring Belshazzar's feast and the handwriting on the wall
• Reading of Daniel chapter 6, telling the story of Daniel in the lions' den
• Discussion of the overarching theme of divine deliverance throughout the book
• Exploration of how Daniel and his friends stood firm against cultural pressure
• Brief historical context about the Babylonian exile and subsequent Persian rule
• Timeline references from Josiah through the close of the Old Testament
• Mention of Jeremiah's prophecies running parallel to Daniel's experiences
• Explanation of how Daniel's prophecies included future world empires
We'll continue exploring Daniel next week, diving even deeper into these powerful themes of deliverance and faith under pressure. If you'd like a PDF timeline of these historical events, email or text us and we'll send it to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lord, you know you will now listen to play.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's the best, because the king's order was so
urgent.
The flame of the fire killedthose men who took up Shadrach,
meshach and Abednego, and thesethree men fell bound into the
burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar wasastonished.
He said to his counselors Didwe not cast three men bound into
(00:25):
the fire?
But I see four men unbound,walking in the midst of the fire
, and the appearance of thefourth is like a son of a god.
You're the only name.
You're the only name.
You're the only name.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
All right, all right, all right.
Well, welcome to Plays on WordRadio.
All y'all out there listening,amen, welcome back.
Amen.
Thank you very much, joshTaylor and Katie Kenney.
My name is Fred David Kenney Jrand we are Plays on Word.
Hallelujah, amen.
(01:43):
Thank you guys for listening.
It's always great to gettogether with you this short
period of time, usually onFriday morning, but some of you
guys stream it a little later inthe week or whenever you stream
it, it's all good, but onething we do is we worship the
good Lord, we praise God, we diginto the word and we also do
(02:09):
interviews with people.
We got some stuff coming up.
I believe you're going to beblessed and, yeah, that's what
we do.
So last week and the weekbefore, what we did was go
behind the curtain on our Danproduction that we are working
on and I played you chapters 1,2, 3, and 4 from the Scripture.
(02:38):
I recorded the Bible, but Irecorded it from a first-person
perspective, as if Daniel'stelling the story himself, and a
lot of times I'll put that onloop or put the scripture on
loop and listen to it and justsaturate myself with it, so I
(02:58):
become familiar with it andthat's how I'm able to remember
well, I'm able to rememberbecause of the Lord, but he uses
that tool, the technique, tohelp me to remember and got some
feedback.
Some people were really blessedby just going through the book
of Daniel, the way we are firstperson, as if Daniel's telling a
(03:19):
story.
So we're real excited aboutthat.
We're excited about don't havea launch date yet, still working
it out.
It's been a little bit of achallenge planning a church and
continuing to do plays and workon a new play same time.
That's a little bit of achallenge and I would appreciate
your prayers for me on that.
(03:41):
Pray for katie, as she's beendoing a lot of work, and I'm
going to leave it at that.
We will disclose some stuff toyou soon, and yeah, so what we
have is we have chapter five andsix to go and I'm not going to
(04:04):
waste any time.
Let's dive into it.
Check it out.
Chapter 5.
King Belshazzar made a greatfeast for a thousand of his
lords and drank wine in front ofthe thousand.
Belshazzar, when he tasted thewine, commanded that the vessels
of gold and of silver thatNebuchadnezzar, his father, had
taken out of the temple inJerusalem be brought.
(04:25):
That the vessels of gold and ofsilver that Nebuchadnezzar, his
father, had taken out of thetemple in Jerusalem, be brought
that the king and his lords, hiswives and his concubines might
drink from them.
Then they brought in the goldenvessels that had been taken out
of the temple, the house of Godin Jerusalem, and the king and
his lords, his wives and hisconcubines drank from them.
(04:46):
They drank wine and praised thegods of gold and silver, bronze
, iron, wood and stone.
Immediately, the fingers of ahuman hand appeared and wrote on
the plaster of the wall of theking's palace opposite the
lampstand, and the king saw thehand as it wrote.
(05:10):
Then the king's color changedand his thoughts alarmed him.
His limbs gave way and hisknees knocked together.
The king called loudly to bringin the enchanters, the
Chaldeans, the astrologers.
The king declared to the wisemen of Babylon Whoever reads
(05:32):
this writing and shows me itsinterpretation shall be clothed
with purple and have a goldchain around his neck and shall
be the third ruler in thekingdom.
And all the king's wise mencame in, but they could not read
the writing or make known tothe king the interpretation.
Then King Belshazzar wasgreatly alarmed and his color
(05:58):
changed and his lords wereperplexed.
The queen, because of the wordsof the king, and his lords came
into the banquet hall and thequeen declared O king, live
forever.
Let not your thoughts alarm youor your color change.
There is a man in your kingdomin whom is the spirit of the
(06:22):
holy gods In the days of yourfather, light and understanding
and wisdom like the wisdom ofthe holy gods In the days of
your father.
Light and understanding andwisdom like the wisdom of the
gods were found in him and KingNebuchadnezzar, your father,
your father.
The king made him chief of themagicians, enchanters, chaldeans
and astrologers, because anexcellent spirit, knowledge and
understanding to interpretdreams, explain riddles and
(06:46):
solve problems were found inthis.
Daniel, whom the king namedBelteshazzar.
Now, let Daniel be called andhe will show the interpretation.
Then I was brought in beforethe king.
The king answered and said tome you are that, daniel, one of
(07:07):
the exiles of Judah whom theking, my father, brought from
Judah.
I have heard of you that thespirit of the gods is in you and
that light and understandingand excellent wisdom are found
in you.
Now the wise men, theenchanters, have been brought in
before me to read this writingand to make known to me its
interpretation, but they couldnot show the interpretation of
(07:29):
the matter.
But I have heard that you cangive interpretations and solve
problems.
Now, if you can read thewriting and make known to me its
interpretation, you shall beclothed with purple and have a
gold chain around your neck andshall be the third ruler in the
(07:51):
kingdom.
Then I answered and said beforethe king Let your gifts be for
yourself and give your rewardsto another.
Nevertheless, I will read thewriting to the king and make
known to him the interpretation.
O king, the Most High God gaveNebuchadnezzar, your father,
(08:12):
kingship and greatness and gloryand majesty.
And because of the greatnessthat he gave him, all the
peoples, nations and languagestrembled and feared before him.
Whom he would?
He killed and whom he would hekept alive.
Whom he would?
He raised up and whom he wouldhe humbled.
But when his heart was liftedup and his spirit was hardened
(08:38):
so that he dealt proudly, he wasbrought down from his kingly
throne and his kingly glory wastaken from him.
He was driven from among thechildren of mankind and his mind
was made like that of a beastand his dwelling was with the
wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox andhis body was wet with the dew
(09:01):
of heaven, until he knew thatthe Most High God rules the
kingdom of mankind and sets overit whom he will.
And you, his son Belshazzar,have not humbled your heart,
though you knew all this, butyou have lifted up yourself
(09:21):
against the Lord of heaven, andthe vessels of his house have
been brought in before you, andyou, your lords, your wives and
your concubines have drunk winefrom them, and you have praised
the gods of silver and gold andof bronze, iron, wood and stone,
which do not see or hear orknow, iron, wood and stone,
(09:48):
which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is
your breath and whose are allyour ways you have not honored.
Then, from his presence, thehand was sent and this writing
was inscribed.
And this is the writing thatwas inscribed Mene, mene, tekel
(10:10):
and Parsin.
This is the interpretation ofthe matter.
Mene, god has numbered the daysof your kingdom and brought it
to an end.
Tekel, you have been weighed inthe balances and found wanting.
(10:31):
Peres, your kingdom is dividedand given to the Medes and
Persians.
Then Belshazzar gave thecommand and I, daniel, was
clothed with purple and a goldchain was put around my neck and
(10:52):
a proclamation was made aboutme that I should be the third
ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar, theChaldean king, was killed and
Darius the Mede received thekingdom, being about 62 years
(11:15):
old.
Chapter 6 6.
It pleased Darius to set overthe kingdom 120 satraps to be
throughout the whole kingdom andover them three presidents, of
whom I was one, to whom thesesatraps should give an account
so that the king might notsuffer loss.
(11:37):
Then I became distinguishedabove all the other presidents
and satraps because an excellentspirit was in me and the king
planned to set me over the wholekingdom.
Then the presidents and thesatraps sought to find a ground
for complaint against me withregard to the kingdom, but they
(11:59):
could find no ground forcomplaint or any fault because I
was faithful and no error orfault was found in me.
Then these men said we shallnot find any ground for
complaint against this Danielunless we find it in connection
with the law of his God.
Then these presidents andsatraps came by agreement to the
(12:22):
king and said to him O KingDarius, live forever.
All the presidents of thekingdom, the prefects and the
satraps, the counselors and thegovernors are agreed that the
king should establish anordinance and enforce an
injunction that whoever makespetition to any god or man for
thirty days except you, o king,shall be cast into the den of
(12:47):
lions.
Now, o king, establish theinjunction and sign the document
so that it cannot be changedaccording to the law of the
Medes and the Persians, whichcannot be revoked.
Therefore, king Darius signedthe document and injunction.
Therefore, king Darius signedthe document and injunction.
When I knew that the documenthad been signed, I went to my
(13:09):
house where I had windows in myupper chamber open towards
Jerusalem.
I got down on my knees threetimes a day and prayed and gave
thanks before my God, as I haddone previously.
Then these men came byagreement and they found me
making petition and plea beforemy God.
(13:30):
Then they came near and saidbefore the king concerning the
injunction O king, did you notsign an injunction that anyone
who makes petition to any God orman within thirty days except
you, o king, shall be cast intothe den of lions?
The king answered and said thething stands fast according to
(13:52):
the law of the Medes andPersians, which cannot be
revoked.
Then they answered and saidbefore the king, daniel, who was
one of the exiles from Judah,pays no attention to you, o king
, or the injunction you havesigned, but makes petition three
times a day.
Then the king, when he heardthese words, was very distressed
(14:13):
and he set his mind to deliverme and he labored until the sun
went down to rescue me.
Then these men came byagreement to the king and said
to the king Now, o king, that itis a law of the Medes and
Persians that no injunction orordinance that the king
establishes can be changed.
(14:34):
Then the king commanded, and Iwas brought and cast into the
den of lions.
The king declared to me Mayyour God, whom you serve,
(14:55):
continually deliver you.
And a stone was brought andlaid on the mouth of the den and
the king sealed it with his ownsignet and with the signet of
his lords, that nothing might bechanged concerning me.
(15:15):
Then the king went to hispalace and spent the night
fasting.
No diversions were brought tohim and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the kingarose and went in haste to the
den of lions.
As he came near to the denwhere I was, he cried out in a
(15:36):
tone of anguish.
The king declared O Daniel,servant of the living God, has
your God, whom you servecontinually, been able to
deliver you from the lions?
Then I said to the king O king,live forever.
(16:02):
My God sent his angel and shutthe lions' mouths.
O king, live forever.
My God sent his angel and shutthe lion's mouths.
And I have not been harmed,because I was found blameless
before him and also before you,o king, I have done no harm.
(16:23):
Then the king was exceedinglyglad and commanded that I be
taken up out of the den.
So I was taken up out of theden and no kind of harm was
found on me because I trusted inmy God.
And the king commanded thatthose men who maliciously
accused me were brought in andcast into the den of lions they,
(16:44):
their children and their wives.
And before they reached thebottom of the den, the lions
overpowered them and broke alltheir bones into pieces.
Then King Darius wrote to allthe peoples, nations, languages
that dwell in all the earthPeace be multiplied to you.
I make a decree in all my royaldominion, people are to tremble
(17:08):
in fear before the God ofDaniel, for he is the living God
enduring forever.
His kingdom shall never bedestroyed and his dominion shall
be to the end.
He delivers and rescues.
He works signs and wonders inheaven and on earth.
The end he delivers and rescues.
He works signs and wonders inheaven and on earth.
He who has saved Daniel fromthe power of the lions.
(17:35):
So I prospered during the reignof Darius and the reign of
Cyrus the Persian.
Yeah, amen, amen to that.
So daniel, yeah, oh, that's.
That note was a little longthere at the end.
There, it's okay.
Yeah, daniel, uh, uh, escapedthe jaws of the lines like that
(18:00):
and hopefully you've been ableto see some of the theme here.
Probably should just go in anddo a study on Daniel.
Maybe we'll do that next.
But the idea of deliverance thisis something that would have
been very encouraging to thewell, originally, the people
(18:24):
that would have received thisprophecy, this book, would have
been the people that were heldcaptive in Babylon, and then
actually the Persian Empire,which is modern-day Iran now,
(18:46):
and Babylon is in modern-dayIraq, but that area, there the
Israelites, were taken captiveearly on the first chapter of
the book, and this book spansabout 70 years.
That 70-year captivity.
(19:08):
There was a, there was a um,what is the word I'm looking for
?
There was, uh, not an exodus,but there was captivity.
People were taken captive in605 bc, first by nebuchadnezzar
in 605 bc, and that was whendaniel was kid, young guy, young
(19:28):
man, young teenager, whatever.
And that was in 605 BC.
Then in 598, it goes backwardstowards zero there In 598 BC.
That's when Ezekiel was taken.
The book of Jeremiah is runningin the background throughout
(19:48):
this whole section, thoughJeremiah was around.
He was a young boy, around thesame age as Josiah, king Josiah,
and then Josiah had his sonsand his sons were the kings when
(20:08):
all this kicked off.
And Jeremiah's prophecy, hisbooks.
That's why it's important whenyou read Jeremiah it's not
chronological.
You want to see what years isthis prophecy taking place?
Who's the king, what's going on?
It's not a point A to point Btype of book.
He lets you know by the yearthe same with Daniel as well.
(20:46):
When you, daniel, there'stimestamps, there's markers
there at Babylon untilpresumably his death.
There's no recording of himever going back to Judah there
(21:13):
that were in captivity, but atthe time it was written it
wasn't even captivity becausethey were, um, wouldn't be long
before Zerubbabel, uh, and thoseguys would start rebuilding the
temple, they would start onthat and then, a very long time
time after that, ezra would comeback to finish the work.
But these guys, they startedthe work, zerubbabel, and then
(21:35):
the book of Esther happens sometime after that, many years
after that.
So Zerubbabel in the temple,520-ish, yeah, 520.
Doing this off the top of myhead, I tell you what I'll do is
I will go back and get you theexact dates.
(21:55):
So, daniel, this whole episodewith the you go back a couple
chapters there where thehandwriting was on the wall and
the Babylonian Empire wasdefeated one day, and that whole
(22:18):
episode with Cyrus the Medecoming in this is a historical
fact that Cyrus came in underthe, they diverted the water and
they, they just came intoBabylon and they just declared
we're here, we're taking over,and they, the whole, like the
(22:39):
army guys, came in under thegate after the water dropped.
The water level dropped, uh,that's a whole nother story we
will get.
We'll get into also, um, thethough in 538 BC, then 520 BC.
Go down from 538 to 520, youhave that's when Haggai,
(23:04):
zechariah, the temple rebuilding, all the way to, I believe, 515
.
And then you go farther downand that's where you have the
book of Esther, in 481, Ibelieve Somewhere around there.
Like I said, this is top of myhead.
(23:25):
I do not have it in front of me, but I'm pretty good, so you
can go back and check and I betyou I'm pretty darn close.
Yeah, the 41.
And then you go down farther.
You will get to the book ofEzra.
He's way after ZerubbabelAlthough he writes about the
(23:49):
temple and Zerubbabel and thoseguys, but his, um, he's writing
from 80 years down the down theroad, uh, and then Nehemiah
after him for 40 ish, somewhereon there, I believe.
And uh, I made a PDF.
If anybody wants it I can sendit to you.
(24:11):
Text me, email me and I willdig up the PDF.
I got to dig it up.
I don't know where it is.
It's on a hard drive somewherewhere I did a timeline.
I did a timeline from Josiahall the way down to the closing
of the Old Testament and the 70years of Jeremiah, the prophecy
(24:34):
of the 70 years in exile, and sothat's the long way around it.
This book is awesome.
The Word of God is awesome.
You are awesome for gettinginto the Word of God and getting
it into you.
We are going to continue this,though.
(24:55):
We're going to continue thisstudy, probably next week.
We do have some stuff scheduled, but I'm not sure.
Maybe I might change it around,because this is kind of
interesting.
I hope that you've been blessedso far, and we really didn't
dive in headfirst into theactual text, the depth of the
text, we just flew over it.
Maybe we'll go back and look atsome of these amazing things
(25:17):
here, but this, the story ofdeliverance that happens
throughout these chapters, overand over, and it's about
trusting God, putting your faithin God, the God of Israel, and
in spite of and in the face ofthe powers that be and
(25:38):
opposition from the world.
I mean, you had it early on umwith uh, hanani, mishai, azariah
, those guys, they stood face toface to the king.
We're like nah, we're notbowing down.
You have it with Daniel thedeliverance saving all the wise
(25:59):
men by delivering the dream,because God is the one who
intervened and gave him theinterpretation.
You also have the prophecies ofthe world empires that come up.
You have the Babylonian empirethat's there at the time, but
Daniel prophesies about thePersian Empire, the Greek Empire
and then the Roman Empire.
(26:21):
Yeah, and that's pictured withthe gold, the silver, the bronze
and the iron, with the bakedclay, and yeah so, and then you
have the deliverance that wejust saw in the lion's den,
(26:42):
where Daniel did not bow to thepressure of the world yet
trusted and went against theculture and everything else and
trusted in the God of Israel andwas again delivered.
It's just as overarchingdeliverance theme, but there's
even more themes that arehappening in this book.
That's no way I could address itright now, although many of you
(27:06):
probably want to dive in deeper.
So maybe we'll do that, um,next couple weeks, dive in a
little deeper, and that'll helpme prep for this play as well.
So pray about it, let me knowwhat you think and if you want
that pdf, I'll send it to you.
Um, it, I took it from, let'ssee.
Uh, daniel, I think.
(27:27):
I think a pdf is from daniel.
And then the decree.
Yeah, the decree that points tothe messiah coming and when
that went forth which we knownow by looking back at it, that
it was when in nehemiah, whenthe order to rebuild the wall
(27:48):
starts, and then you have thetime all the way until Messiah
comes in and it's cut off andthat whole thing.
So, yeah, I tell you what,until next week, the Lord bless
you and keep you, make his faceto shine upon you and be
gracious to you.
The Lord lift up Hiscountenance upon you and give
(28:10):
you peace.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
This program was made possible by the Plays on Word
family of supporters.
To find out more, check out ourwebsite at playsonwordorg.
Lord, you know you will now listen to play.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's the best, because the king's order was so
urgent.
The flame of the fire killedthose men who took up Shadrach,
meshach and Abednego, and thesethree men fell bound into the
burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar wasastonished.
He said to his counselors Didwe not cast three men bound into
(00:25):
the fire?
But I see four men unbound,walking in the midst of the fire
, and the appearance of thefourth is like a son of a god.
You're the only name.
You're the only name.
You're the only name.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
All right, all right, all right.
Well, welcome to Plays on WordRadio.
All y'all out there listening,amen, welcome back.
Amen.
Thank you very much, joshTaylor and Katie Kenney.
My name is Fred David Kenney Jrand we are Plays on Word.
Hallelujah, amen.
(01:43):
Thank you guys for listening.
It's always great to gettogether with you this short
period of time, usually onFriday morning, but some of you
guys stream it a little later inthe week or whenever you stream
it, it's all good, but onething we do is we worship the
good Lord, we praise God, we diginto the word and we also do
(02:09):
interviews with people.
We got some stuff coming up.
I believe you're going to beblessed and, yeah, that's what
we do.
So last week and the weekbefore, what we did was go
behind the curtain on our Danproduction that we are working
on and I played you chapters 1,2, 3, and 4 from the Scripture.
(02:38):
I recorded the Bible, but Irecorded it from a first-person
perspective, as if Daniel'stelling the story himself, and a
lot of times I'll put that onloop or put the scripture on
loop and listen to it and justsaturate myself with it, so I
(02:58):
become familiar with it andthat's how I'm able to remember
well, I'm able to rememberbecause of the Lord, but he uses
that tool, the technique, tohelp me to remember and got some
feedback.
Some people were really blessedby just going through the book
of Daniel, the way we are firstperson, as if Daniel's telling a
(03:19):
story.
So we're real excited aboutthat.
We're excited about don't havea launch date yet, still working
it out.
It's been a little bit of achallenge planning a church and
continuing to do plays and workon a new play same time.
That's a little bit of achallenge and I would appreciate
your prayers for me on that.
(03:41):
Pray for katie, as she's beendoing a lot of work, and I'm
going to leave it at that.
We will disclose some stuff toyou soon, and yeah, so what we
have is we have chapter five andsix to go and I'm not going to
(04:04):
waste any time.
Let's dive into it.
Check it out.
Chapter 5.
King Belshazzar made a greatfeast for a thousand of his
lords and drank wine in front ofthe thousand.
Belshazzar, when he tasted thewine, commanded that the vessels
of gold and of silver thatNebuchadnezzar, his father, had
taken out of the temple inJerusalem be brought.
(04:25):
That the vessels of gold and ofsilver that Nebuchadnezzar, his
father, had taken out of thetemple in Jerusalem, be brought
that the king and his lords, hiswives and his concubines might
drink from them.
Then they brought in the goldenvessels that had been taken out
of the temple, the house of Godin Jerusalem, and the king and
his lords, his wives and hisconcubines drank from them.
(04:46):
They drank wine and praised thegods of gold and silver, bronze
, iron, wood and stone.
Immediately, the fingers of ahuman hand appeared and wrote on
the plaster of the wall of theking's palace opposite the
lampstand, and the king saw thehand as it wrote.
(05:10):
Then the king's color changedand his thoughts alarmed him.
His limbs gave way and hisknees knocked together.
The king called loudly to bringin the enchanters, the
Chaldeans, the astrologers.
The king declared to the wisemen of Babylon Whoever reads
(05:32):
this writing and shows me itsinterpretation shall be clothed
with purple and have a goldchain around his neck and shall
be the third ruler in thekingdom.
And all the king's wise mencame in, but they could not read
the writing or make known tothe king the interpretation.
Then King Belshazzar wasgreatly alarmed and his color
(05:58):
changed and his lords wereperplexed.
The queen, because of the wordsof the king, and his lords came
into the banquet hall and thequeen declared O king, live
forever.
Let not your thoughts alarm youor your color change.
There is a man in your kingdomin whom is the spirit of the
(06:22):
holy gods In the days of yourfather, light and understanding
and wisdom like the wisdom ofthe holy gods In the days of
your father.
Light and understanding andwisdom like the wisdom of the
gods were found in him and KingNebuchadnezzar, your father,
your father.
The king made him chief of themagicians, enchanters, chaldeans
and astrologers, because anexcellent spirit, knowledge and
understanding to interpretdreams, explain riddles and
(06:46):
solve problems were found inthis.
Daniel, whom the king namedBelteshazzar.
Now, let Daniel be called andhe will show the interpretation.
Then I was brought in beforethe king.
The king answered and said tome you are that, daniel, one of
(07:07):
the exiles of Judah whom theking, my father, brought from
Judah.
I have heard of you that thespirit of the gods is in you and
that light and understandingand excellent wisdom are found
in you.
Now the wise men, theenchanters, have been brought in
before me to read this writingand to make known to me its
interpretation, but they couldnot show the interpretation of
(07:29):
the matter.
But I have heard that you cangive interpretations and solve
problems.
Now, if you can read thewriting and make known to me its
interpretation, you shall beclothed with purple and have a
gold chain around your neck andshall be the third ruler in the
(07:51):
kingdom.
Then I answered and said beforethe king Let your gifts be for
yourself and give your rewardsto another.
Nevertheless, I will read thewriting to the king and make
known to him the interpretation.
O king, the Most High God gaveNebuchadnezzar, your father,
(08:12):
kingship and greatness and gloryand majesty.
And because of the greatnessthat he gave him, all the
peoples, nations and languagestrembled and feared before him.
Whom he would?
He killed and whom he would hekept alive.
Whom he would?
He raised up and whom he wouldhe humbled.
But when his heart was liftedup and his spirit was hardened
(08:38):
so that he dealt proudly, he wasbrought down from his kingly
throne and his kingly glory wastaken from him.
He was driven from among thechildren of mankind and his mind
was made like that of a beastand his dwelling was with the
wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox andhis body was wet with the dew
(09:01):
of heaven, until he knew thatthe Most High God rules the
kingdom of mankind and sets overit whom he will.
And you, his son Belshazzar,have not humbled your heart,
though you knew all this, butyou have lifted up yourself
(09:21):
against the Lord of heaven, andthe vessels of his house have
been brought in before you, andyou, your lords, your wives and
your concubines have drunk winefrom them, and you have praised
the gods of silver and gold andof bronze, iron, wood and stone,
which do not see or hear orknow, iron, wood and stone,
(09:48):
which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is
your breath and whose are allyour ways you have not honored.
Then, from his presence, thehand was sent and this writing
was inscribed.
And this is the writing thatwas inscribed Mene, mene, tekel
(10:10):
and Parsin.
This is the interpretation ofthe matter.
Mene, god has numbered the daysof your kingdom and brought it
to an end.
Tekel, you have been weighed inthe balances and found wanting.
(10:31):
Peres, your kingdom is dividedand given to the Medes and
Persians.
Then Belshazzar gave thecommand and I, daniel, was
clothed with purple and a goldchain was put around my neck and
(10:52):
a proclamation was made aboutme that I should be the third
ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar, theChaldean king, was killed and
Darius the Mede received thekingdom, being about 62 years
(11:15):
old.
Chapter 6 6.
It pleased Darius to set overthe kingdom 120 satraps to be
throughout the whole kingdom andover them three presidents, of
whom I was one, to whom thesesatraps should give an account
so that the king might notsuffer loss.
(11:37):
Then I became distinguishedabove all the other presidents
and satraps because an excellentspirit was in me and the king
planned to set me over the wholekingdom.
Then the presidents and thesatraps sought to find a ground
for complaint against me withregard to the kingdom, but they
(11:59):
could find no ground forcomplaint or any fault because I
was faithful and no error orfault was found in me.
Then these men said we shallnot find any ground for
complaint against this Danielunless we find it in connection
with the law of his God.
Then these presidents andsatraps came by agreement to the
(12:22):
king and said to him O KingDarius, live forever.
All the presidents of thekingdom, the prefects and the
satraps, the counselors and thegovernors are agreed that the
king should establish anordinance and enforce an
injunction that whoever makespetition to any god or man for
thirty days except you, o king,shall be cast into the den of
(12:47):
lions.
Now, o king, establish theinjunction and sign the document
so that it cannot be changedaccording to the law of the
Medes and the Persians, whichcannot be revoked.
Therefore, king Darius signedthe document and injunction.
Therefore, king Darius signedthe document and injunction.
When I knew that the documenthad been signed, I went to my
(13:09):
house where I had windows in myupper chamber open towards
Jerusalem.
I got down on my knees threetimes a day and prayed and gave
thanks before my God, as I haddone previously.
Then these men came byagreement and they found me
making petition and plea beforemy God.
(13:30):
Then they came near and saidbefore the king concerning the
injunction O king, did you notsign an injunction that anyone
who makes petition to any God orman within thirty days except
you, o king, shall be cast intothe den of lions?
The king answered and said thething stands fast according to
(13:52):
the law of the Medes andPersians, which cannot be
revoked.
Then they answered and saidbefore the king, daniel, who was
one of the exiles from Judah,pays no attention to you, o king
, or the injunction you havesigned, but makes petition three
times a day.
Then the king, when he heardthese words, was very distressed
(14:13):
and he set his mind to deliverme and he labored until the sun
went down to rescue me.
Then these men came byagreement to the king and said
to the king Now, o king, that itis a law of the Medes and
Persians that no injunction orordinance that the king
establishes can be changed.
(14:34):
Then the king commanded, and Iwas brought and cast into the
den of lions.
The king declared to me Mayyour God, whom you serve,
(14:55):
continually deliver you.
And a stone was brought andlaid on the mouth of the den and
the king sealed it with his ownsignet and with the signet of
his lords, that nothing might bechanged concerning me.
(15:15):
Then the king went to hispalace and spent the night
fasting.
No diversions were brought tohim and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the kingarose and went in haste to the
den of lions.
As he came near to the denwhere I was, he cried out in a
(15:36):
tone of anguish.
The king declared O Daniel,servant of the living God, has
your God, whom you servecontinually, been able to
deliver you from the lions?
Then I said to the king O king,live forever.
(16:02):
My God sent his angel and shutthe lions' mouths.
O king, live forever.
My God sent his angel and shutthe lion's mouths.
And I have not been harmed,because I was found blameless
before him and also before you,o king, I have done no harm.
(16:23):
Then the king was exceedinglyglad and commanded that I be
taken up out of the den.
So I was taken up out of theden and no kind of harm was
found on me because I trusted inmy God.
And the king commanded thatthose men who maliciously
accused me were brought in andcast into the den of lions they,
(16:44):
their children and their wives.
And before they reached thebottom of the den, the lions
overpowered them and broke alltheir bones into pieces.
Then King Darius wrote to allthe peoples, nations, languages
that dwell in all the earthPeace be multiplied to you.
I make a decree in all my royaldominion, people are to tremble
(17:08):
in fear before the God ofDaniel, for he is the living God
enduring forever.
His kingdom shall never bedestroyed and his dominion shall
be to the end.
He delivers and rescues.
He works signs and wonders inheaven and on earth.
The end he delivers and rescues.
He works signs and wonders inheaven and on earth.
He who has saved Daniel fromthe power of the lions.
(17:35):
So I prospered during the reignof Darius and the reign of
Cyrus the Persian.
Yeah, amen, amen to that.
So daniel, yeah, oh, that's.
That note was a little longthere at the end.
There, it's okay.
Yeah, daniel, uh, uh, escapedthe jaws of the lines like that
(18:00):
and hopefully you've been ableto see some of the theme here.
Probably should just go in anddo a study on Daniel.
Maybe we'll do that next.
But the idea of deliverance thisis something that would have
been very encouraging to thewell, originally, the people
(18:24):
that would have received thisprophecy, this book, would have
been the people that were heldcaptive in Babylon, and then
actually the Persian Empire,which is modern-day Iran now,
(18:46):
and Babylon is in modern-dayIraq, but that area, there the
Israelites, were taken captiveearly on the first chapter of
the book, and this book spansabout 70 years.
That 70-year captivity.
(19:08):
There was a, there was a um,what is the word I'm looking for
?
There was, uh, not an exodus,but there was captivity.
People were taken captive in605 bc, first by nebuchadnezzar
in 605 bc, and that was whendaniel was kid, young guy, young
(19:28):
man, young teenager, whatever.
And that was in 605 BC.
Then in 598, it goes backwardstowards zero there In 598 BC.
That's when Ezekiel was taken.
The book of Jeremiah is runningin the background throughout
(19:48):
this whole section, thoughJeremiah was around.
He was a young boy, around thesame age as Josiah, king Josiah,
and then Josiah had his sonsand his sons were the kings when
(20:08):
all this kicked off.
And Jeremiah's prophecy, hisbooks.
That's why it's important whenyou read Jeremiah it's not
chronological.
You want to see what years isthis prophecy taking place?
Who's the king, what's going on?
It's not a point A to point Btype of book.
He lets you know by the yearthe same with Daniel as well.
(20:46):
When you, daniel, there'stimestamps, there's markers
there at Babylon untilpresumably his death.
There's no recording of himever going back to Judah there
(21:13):
that were in captivity, but atthe time it was written it
wasn't even captivity becausethey were, um, wouldn't be long
before Zerubbabel, uh, and thoseguys would start rebuilding the
temple, they would start onthat and then, a very long time
time after that, ezra would comeback to finish the work.
But these guys, they startedthe work, zerubbabel, and then
(21:35):
the book of Esther happens sometime after that, many years
after that.
So Zerubbabel in the temple,520-ish, yeah, 520.
Doing this off the top of myhead, I tell you what I'll do is
I will go back and get you theexact dates.
(21:55):
So, daniel, this whole episodewith the you go back a couple
chapters there where thehandwriting was on the wall and
the Babylonian Empire wasdefeated one day, and that whole
(22:18):
episode with Cyrus the Medecoming in this is a historical
fact that Cyrus came in underthe, they diverted the water and
they, they just came intoBabylon and they just declared
we're here, we're taking over,and they, the whole, like the
(22:39):
army guys, came in under thegate after the water dropped.
The water level dropped, uh,that's a whole nother story we
will get.
We'll get into also, um, thethough in 538 BC, then 520 BC.
Go down from 538 to 520, youhave that's when Haggai,
(23:04):
zechariah, the temple rebuilding, all the way to, I believe, 515
.
And then you go farther downand that's where you have the
book of Esther, in 481, Ibelieve Somewhere around there.
Like I said, this is top of myhead.
(23:25):
I do not have it in front of me, but I'm pretty good, so you
can go back and check and I betyou I'm pretty darn close.
Yeah, the 41.
And then you go down farther.
You will get to the book ofEzra.
He's way after ZerubbabelAlthough he writes about the
(23:49):
temple and Zerubbabel and thoseguys, but his, um, he's writing
from 80 years down the down theroad, uh, and then Nehemiah
after him for 40 ish, somewhereon there, I believe.
And uh, I made a PDF.
If anybody wants it I can sendit to you.
(24:11):
Text me, email me and I willdig up the PDF.
I got to dig it up.
I don't know where it is.
It's on a hard drive somewherewhere I did a timeline.
I did a timeline from Josiahall the way down to the closing
of the Old Testament and the 70years of Jeremiah, the prophecy
(24:34):
of the 70 years in exile, and sothat's the long way around it.
This book is awesome.
The Word of God is awesome.
You are awesome for gettinginto the Word of God and getting
it into you.
We are going to continue this,though.
(24:55):
We're going to continue thisstudy, probably next week.
We do have some stuff scheduled, but I'm not sure.
Maybe I might change it around,because this is kind of
interesting.
I hope that you've been blessedso far, and we really didn't
dive in headfirst into theactual text, the depth of the
text, we just flew over it.
Maybe we'll go back and look atsome of these amazing things
(25:17):
here, but this, the story ofdeliverance that happens
throughout these chapters, overand over, and it's about
trusting God, putting your faithin God, the God of Israel, and
in spite of and in the face ofthe powers that be and
(25:38):
opposition from the world.
I mean, you had it early on umwith uh, hanani, mishai, azariah
, those guys, they stood face toface to the king.
We're like nah, we're notbowing down.
You have it with Daniel thedeliverance saving all the wise
(25:59):
men by delivering the dream,because God is the one who
intervened and gave him theinterpretation.
You also have the prophecies ofthe world empires that come up.
You have the Babylonian empirethat's there at the time, but
Daniel prophesies about thePersian Empire, the Greek Empire
and then the Roman Empire.
(26:21):
Yeah, and that's pictured withthe gold, the silver, the bronze
and the iron, with the bakedclay, and yeah so, and then you
have the deliverance that wejust saw in the lion's den,
(26:42):
where Daniel did not bow to thepressure of the world yet
trusted and went against theculture and everything else and
trusted in the God of Israel andwas again delivered.
It's just as overarchingdeliverance theme, but there's
even more themes that arehappening in this book.
That's no way I could address itright now, although many of you
(27:06):
probably want to dive in deeper.
So maybe we'll do that, um,next couple weeks, dive in a
little deeper, and that'll helpme prep for this play as well.
So pray about it, let me knowwhat you think and if you want
that pdf, I'll send it to you.
Um, it, I took it from, let'ssee.
Uh, daniel, I think.
(27:27):
I think a pdf is from daniel.
And then the decree.
Yeah, the decree that points tothe messiah coming and when
that went forth which we knownow by looking back at it, that
it was when in nehemiah, whenthe order to rebuild the wall
(27:48):
starts, and then you have thetime all the way until Messiah
comes in and it's cut off andthat whole thing.
So, yeah, I tell you what,until next week, the Lord bless
you and keep you, make his faceto shine upon you and be
gracious to you.
The Lord lift up Hiscountenance upon you and give
(28:10):
you peace.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
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