Daniel 06: Evil Cats and Holy Men

Contact us-

Ask a Question
Send Encouragement

Take a Next Step-

SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.

Socials-

Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.

The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon.
Today, daniel chapter 6, andtoday's title is Evil Cats and
Holy Men Evil Cats, holy Men.
I have been waiting on thischapter for a long time because
I can talk about how evil catsare.
No, I'm not going to do that.

(00:20):
However, they do play theirpart.
But it's fine.
It's absolutely fine.
We're going to talk about God'sfaithfulness in difficult
seasons and how God is able todeliver us from literally
anything when we honor him.
But we'll get into all that injust a second.
So get your Bibles open, getyour coffee ready as we get
ready to dive into Daniel 6.
And while we do that, make sureyou take just a moment to like,

(00:41):
share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
You guys are my OGs.
You'll always be my favorites,and when you do all of that, it
doesn't cost you anything and ithelps out our community a whole
lot.
Also, make sure you go into theBible Breakdown Discussion on
Facebook.
They're doing a wonderful jobover there and the more we dig,
the more we find.
I also want to say a big shoutout and a big hello to everybody

(01:03):
who has started to watch fromNew Zealand.
So thank you so much for that.
I love you guys.
I think you have one of themost beautiful countries in the
entire world.
It is on my bucket list.
I want to come see you.
I want to come see your country.
It just it looks absolutelygorgeous, and it is not only
because that is where they shotLord of the Rings, okay, it just
absolutely looks beautiful.
But definitely Lord of theRings puts you on the map for

(01:25):
people like me.
So thank you for listening andit's great to have you as part
of our community.
Once again.
We are in Daniel, chapter six,and don't forget the overall
goal of Daniel is Daniel isteaching us through his life and
through all of his experiencesthat God is in control, and this
was such a big deal and so veryimportant for these people.

(01:47):
Because in the life of Danielremember when all this started
Daniel was being exiled from hishomeland.
As a teenager, he would havebeen taken from his family, from
his home in Jerusalem, and hehas been plopped down into the
capital of Babylon.
He didn't want to be there, butthere he is, and what Daniel is

(02:08):
teaching us is.
This whole thing's encouragingbecause he is sending this to
the exiles who are strugglingwith their identity, who are we?
Is God going to be faithful tous all this stuff?
And so Daniel is writing thesestories and he's saying guys,
while you have been strugglingin all these different areas,
god's still been up to something.
He's still been doing greatthings.
Let me tell you what's beenhappening in the capital over

(02:30):
the past several years.
God is still in control andhe's shown it to us through you
know Daniel 1, how they honoredGod.
Daniel 2, how God used Danielto interpret a dream.
Daniel 3, how God delivered thethree Hebrew teenagers.
Daniel 4, god continued to showthat he was more powerful than

(02:50):
Nebuchadnezzar.
And then chapter 5, how Godused a hand to write Mene, mene,
tekel, farsen, which meant youout of here, joker, and just God
is continuing to be in control.
Well, today we get to see howGod is in control, even over
cats.
Now we're going to talk aboutDaniel facing the lion's den,
and it's just powerful, and it'sone of the most famous

(03:12):
scriptures in all of the Bible,and some people know this
scripture but they don't reallyknow where it comes from.
Well, today's the day.
So if you're ready, daniel,chapter six, verse one, says
this Darius the Mede decided todivide the kingdom into 120
provinces and he appointed highofficers to rule over each

(03:32):
province.
Some of your translations maysay sawtraps.
Sawtraps were high officers,like governors over these
provinces.
Okay, verse 2.
The king also chose Daniel andtwo others as administrators to
supervise the high officers andprotect the king's interests.
So what you had?
You had the king, you hadDaniel and two others, and then

(03:52):
you had 120 officers.
So he was like the executiveleadership team.
All right, verse 3.
Daniel soon proved himself morecapable than the other
administrators and the highofficers.
Because of Daniel's greatability, the king made plans to
place him over the entire empire.
The other administrators andhigh officers began searching

(04:12):
for some fault in the way Danielwas handling government affairs
, but they couldn't findanything to criticize or condemn
.
He was faithful, alwaysresponsible and completely
trustworthy.
So they concluded our onlychance of finding grounds for
accusing Daniel will be inconnection with the rules of his
religion.

(04:33):
So the administrators and highofficers went to the king and
said Long live King Darius.
We are all in agreement weadministrators, officers, high
officials, advisors andgovernors that the king should
make a law that will strictly beenforced.
Give orders that for the next30 days, any person who prays to

(04:53):
anyone divine or human exceptyou, your majesty, will be
thrown into the lion's den.
Now, your majesty, issue andsign this law so it cannot be
changed an Official law of theMedes and Persians that cannot
be revoked.
So King Darius signed the lawand I paused.
And the reason why there's sucha big deal is the way the law

(05:14):
went.
As soon as it was put intomotion, it could not be changed,
like, like even the kingcouldn't overturn.
It's just the way it was.
And we see this in Esther inhow, once the king put something
into motion, he couldn't stopit.
He could create a new law thatwould kind of alter it, but he
couldn't stop it.
So that's why they wanted himto put it into writing, so that
even when he figured out what hehad done, he couldn't stop it.

(05:37):
So verse 10,.
But when Daniel learned of thelaw that had been signed, he
went home, knelt down I lovethis right here, as usual, in
his upstairs room, with hiswindows open toward Jerusalem.
He prayed three times a day,just as he had always done,
giving thanks to his God.
Then the officials wenttogether to Daniel's house and

(05:59):
found him praying and asking Godfor help.
So they went straight to theking and reminded him about his
law.
Did you not sign a law that forthe next 30 days, any person
who prays to anyone divine orhuman except you, your majesty,
will be thrown into the lion'sden?
Yes, the king replied.
That decision stands.
It is an official law of theMedes and Persians that cannot

(06:22):
be revoked.
Then they told the king Well,that man, daniel, one of the
captives from Judah.
He is ignoring your law.
He still prays to his God threetimes a day.
Hearing this, the king wasdeeply troubled.
He tried to think of a way tosave Daniel.
He spent the rest of the daylooking for a way to get Daniel
out of this predicament.

(06:43):
In the evening the men wenttogether to the king and said
"'Your Majesty, you know that,according to the law "'of Medes
and Persians went together tothe king and said your Majesty,
you know that, according to thelaw of Medes and Persians, no
law the king has signed can bechanged.
So at last the king gave ordersfor Daniel to be arrested and
thrown into the den of lions.
The king said to him May yourGod, whom you serve so

(07:03):
faithfully, rescue you.
The stone was placed, wasbrought and placed over the
mouth of the den.
The king sealed the stone withhis own royal seal and the seals
of his nobles so that no onecould rescue Daniel.
The king returned to his palaceand spent the night fasting.
He refused his usualentertainment and couldn't sleep
at all that night.
Very early the next morning theking got up and hurried out to

(07:26):
the lion's den.
When he got there, he calledout in anguish Daniel, servant
of the living God, was your God,whom you serve so faithfully,
able to rescue you from thelions?
Daniel answered long live theking.
My God sent his angel to shutthe lion's mouth so they would
not hurt me, for I have beenfound innocent in his sight.

(07:47):
I have not wronged you, yourmajesty.
This joker ain't no saint, allright.
He had them thrown into thelion's den along with their oh

(08:08):
goodness, along with their wivesand children.
This joker ain't no saint, allright.
The lions leaped upon them,tore them apart before they even
hit the floor of the den.
Then King Darius sent thismessage to the people of every
race and nation and languagethroughout the world, peace and
prosperity to you.
I decree that everyonethroughout my kingdom should

(08:29):
tremble with fear before the godof daniel.
He is the living god and hewill endure forever.
His kingdom will never bedestroyed.
His rule will never end.
He rescues and saves his people, he performs miraculous signs
and wonders, and the heavens andon earth he rescued daniel from
the power of the, and that justblows my mind.

(08:50):
And so there's so many thingswe can get out of this, but
here's the one.
Now.
First of all, did you know, didyou realize, that after they
got Daniel out, he went andthrew the other guys and their
families into the lion's den?

(09:12):
We preachers kind of leave thatone out.
I know I do, and that's notbecause it's just because it's
just terrible.
But here's the thing they knewwhere to find Daniel, daniel,
and they knew what Daniel wasgoing to do.
And so when they went to hishouse, after they had had the

(09:35):
king sign the decree that ifanyone worships anything other
than him they'll be put to death, they went in to catch Daniel
when he was supposed to be alone.
Here's the question for ustoday what are people going to
catch you doing when you thinkyou're alone?
May we always be caught servingthe Lord when nobody's looking,

(09:58):
no one's supposed to care.
May we always be caught servingthe Lord when the pressure is
on and we know it's going tocost us.
May we always be caught servingthe Lord.
Daniel knew that if he wascaught he was going to have to
pay the price, and the Biblesaid.
He went up as he normally didand he opened the doors.

(10:19):
He opened the windows.
He said I am not ashamed of mypursuit of God.
God has been with me up to thisfar.
He will be with me the rest ofthe way.
It reminds me of a story of aguy named Polycarp.
Have you ever heard of himbefore?
He was one of the directdisciples of the apostle John.
So you had Jesus.
John followed Jesus.

(10:42):
Polycarp followed John andlearned from the feet of John
about the stories of Jesus andall that.
And he actually even wrote someletters to some of the churches
like Philippi and stuff likethat, but not considered
inspired because it didn't comefrom one of the apostles.
But he lived to be like 90years old and it was during a
time of great persecution forthe church and they had been
looking for Polycarp.

(11:03):
And finally, one day, theseRoman soldiers showed up at
Polycarp's house and they saidhey, is that who you are?
He said yes, sir, I am.
And because he was an old manand he seemed like a very sweet
man, they wanted to givePolycarp the opportunity to
renounce God.
And there's this famous phrasewhen he said up to this point,
god has done me no harm and Ican't do him any harm in return.

(11:25):
And so he ended up going withthem, and he was such a man of
God and such a gentle, humbleman that he actually they let
him stop along the way and talkto some of the different
churches that had been planted.
And then, when he actually madeit to the Roman Colosseum, they
were going to tie him up and hecause, they were going to set
him on fire, and they said hesaid, you don't have to do that,

(11:46):
I'm not going to run, Icouldn't go anywhere, god has
never done me any harm and I amnot going to do him any harm.
And according to legend, asthey lit the fire, that he
didn't make a sound untilfinally he went to sleep.
And it was this amazing momentwhere he said I am going to
serve God, so you can catch me,but it's not going to change my

(12:07):
pursuit of God, and so myquestion for you is what are
people going to catch you doing?
May we always be caught servingthe Lord.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you, god, that you'rewith us and you're for us and
all things, and that God,there's no telling what the
future holds.
There's going to be goodmoments, there's going to be
challenges, there's going to beeverything in between, but one

(12:29):
of the things I do know is Iknow, god, that you're faithful
and I pray that we will alwaysbe caught following you, serving
you in all things.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
But don't forget what the threeHebrew teenagers said to
Nebuchadnezzar back in chapterthree, daniel three.
They said God is able to saveus, but even if he doesn't, we

(12:49):
will never serve your gods.
My prayer is that you willrealize that God is in control
and it will give you and me bothcourage to live every day
faithfully.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow forDaniel, chapter seven.