It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account unto them, and that the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, (a satrap was like a governor) because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. Daniel 6:1–6.
So it began, the plot that put Daniel in the lion’s den. What happens in the church the Lord builds, the reactions of the world to this church or to this move, will be very similar to the stories in the book of Daniel and elsewhere in the Bible.
But in many churches that’s not so, possibly because they have deviated so much from the pure spiritual walk with God that there isn’t the persecution.
Why does persecution come? Why would a man like Daniel be persecuted? Why would the people hate him so much? It was said of Daniel that an excellent spirit was in him, and he was more perfect in all of his ways than any of the people, any of the governors, any of the presidents. Then why did they hate him?
You can understand the Bible better when you get into this walk with Him. Why do people reject this walk, why do they turn against it? Because they have created an image of God with their own imagination; “This is what God is like.”
They have always retained the right to the throne for themselves. Wherever they go to church, their opinion is the one thing that matters . They build some idea of God that is so wrong that when God begins to move, they turn against it.
When the Pharisees looked at the Son of God in the flesh, they had built up such an image, such an idea of what they thought Jehovah was to be that they couldn’t wait to have a meeting and say, “How can we kill Him?” It was not any harlots that did it, it was not any publicans that did it, it wasn’t the Romans that did it, it was the religious people that killed Him because they had an idea about God that was a lie. And to be jolted out of the arrogance of their own hearts, to find out what God was really like, what the Lord was really like, they couldn’t stand it. And there are still people that get shocked the way God is moving. So they don’t like it, that’s too bad. But God isn’t like their imagination—as much as the people out in Africa would carve an image, they’ve carved a false idea and a false picture of what God is.
That’s why Daniel was hated: the satraps couldn’t find any fault with him, other than that he was a man of God. They couldn’t find any fault with his ability, but when they saw him, what they saw was a rebuke to them. They didn’t want a God that was sovereign; they didn’t want a God that was Lord over them. They didn’t want a Lord; they wanted a god they could use whenever it pleased them, but they weren’t ready to bow down to anything. And in this walk, what makes them go the other direction is the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and don’t you doubt it. People can have their arrogance and viciousness to stand against it and criticize it, but it’s only because they have met God, and they don’t like it. That’s what causes the people to rise up and hate it. They couldn’t wait to get their hands on the disciples because they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). “He that has seen Me,” Jesus said, “Has seen the Father.” John 14:9. As Christ begins to come forth within us and that excellent spirit begins to prevail, the same thing will happen to us.
People are hungry for God? Be sure that they’re not just hungry for their image or idea of God, something that fits in with their ideas.
When God makes His appearance or makes His advent into people’s lives, it’s one of the most disturbing and shattering things that they can go through. One of the first things that happens in this walk with God is that God meets somebody and they fall off their pedestal, right into the mud, because they no longer have any false sense of hypocrisy, no religious spirit buoying them up.
Now, we come to another picture. What happened to Daniel? He kept on praying, and he was put in the lion’s den. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Verse 16a. Hungry ones. If we were to put this into the New Testament under the gifts of the Spirit, we would say that Daniel didn’t use the gift of the working of miracles; he used the gift of faith, for he was sustained in a progressive, continual miracle of deliverance. Instead of performing some fantastic miracle, he just believed and rested, and the lion’s mouths were shut by the hand of an angel. What would have happened if God had performed a miracle, and there would have been a lot of dead lions’ carcasses there? The next morning, Daniel would have walked out, still having to face all the conspirators working against him.
A miracle doesn’t necessarily bring the judgments of God, but the gift of faith brings the judgments of God in the earth. And by Daniel believing and being sustained and showing an excellent spirit, worshiping the Lord, what happens? The lions get hungrier for twenty-four hours, and all the enemies and their wives and children are thrown into the den. They never hit the floor before they’re torn apart. “Oh,” you say, “vicious! Cruel!” Yes, but so definite.
When the Lord deals with sin in the Body, I’d like a clear-cut decision. I don’t want it to be like the little boy who is in a fight and comes home with his eyes blacked and his clothes torn and you have to ask, “Who won?” Because it’s not very evident at that point—nothing’s very definite about it.
To tell you the truth, too many decisions have been indefinite. The day is before us, though, that God says He will make a difference between those who serve Him and those who do not. It’s prophesied in Malachi, Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, even mine own possession, in the day that I make; (God is making a day, it won’t just happen, God is making a day) and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Malachi 3:16–18. Decisions will be very definite when the judgments are in the earth again.
Now, what happened in Daniel’s case? The king issued a decree, “There’s no God like this one. This is the one that you’re to worship.” Isn’t that beautiful? Then king Darius wrote unto all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed; and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Daniel kept right on going. He started out in the Babylonian empire, went through the Medes and the Persians, and lived through four great dynasties because God loved him. He was about seventeen years old when he was taken captive, but he was close to ninety or a hundred years old when he was put in the lion’s den. Oh, the goodness of the Lord that blesses His people.
God is teaching us a lesson—the world is not ready for God. Paul wrote that those who refuse to retain God in their knowledge are delivered over to a reprobate mind. And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; Romans 1:28. There are many people that don’t want to retain God in their knowledge. Find someone who left this walk with God a few years ago and see what’s in their heart. See how much of the word is there. They didn’t want to retain God in their knowledge—but that is death.
Do you know what I like about this walk? So we’re all one Body; that’s good; it’s about time. But there’s something better than that. The gifts of the Spirit? Something better than that. The ministries and the revelation? Something better than that. The worship we have? Something better than that: it’s the fact that we have a revelation for the first time of Jesus Christ as the Lord over our lives, and that’s when you face His demands on you. You come and enjoy the services, get the blessings and say, “I’d like to have ministry.” But the truth of the matter is, you will not get too far until you bow the knee before Him and say, “You are Lord,” and that’s what this walk is all about.