(1)
Scripture Reading: Dan. 1
The first six chapters of Daniel are concerned with the victory of the young descendants of God's degraded elect over Satan's further devices. In this message we will consider their victory over the demonic diet.
The issue of the degradation of God's elect was the captivity to Babylon (1:1-2). Daniel 1:2 tells us that "the Lord gave" Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon "with some of the vessels of the house of God." The word gave here indicates that the king of Judah and the vessels were a present given to Nebuchadnezzar by God.
For the children of Israel to be taken captive to Babylon means that they were captured back to the place of the worship of idols (Jer. 50:38).
When God's people were captured back to the place of the worship of idols, they were taken back to Babel, to the original place of the worship of idols by their forefather Abraham (Josh. 24:2-3). The origin of Babylon was Babel in the land of Shinar — Chaldea — Babylon (Gen. 11:2, 9, 11:28; 10:10). Abraham was called by God out of Chaldea to Canaan to worship God (Gen. 11:31). By this, the worship of the unique God, which had been lost through Adam's fall, was resumed.
The people of Israel did not exist during the period of human history from Adam to Abraham. The history of Israel began with Abraham, the first Hebrew. Under the leadership of Moses, Abraham's descendants made their exodus from Egypt, and forty years later they entered the land of Canaan. Eventually, God's people were taken back to the original place of the worship of idols, the very place out of which their forefather Abraham had been called.
The captivity to Babylon was the utter destruction of the testimony of God's elect in the worship of the unique God, Jehovah, by the carrying of some of the vessels of the temple of God into the land of Shinar and their being put into the temple of idols (2 Chron. 36:6-7).
"The king told Ashpenaz, the chief of his eunuchs, to bring some of the sons of Israel, including some from the royal seed and from the nobility, children in whom was no defect, who were good in appearance, who showed insight in all wisdom, understanding in knowledge, and apprehension in thought, and in whom was the ability to stand in the king's palace" (Dan. 1:3-4). Among such sons of Israel were some young overcomers whom God used to gain the victory over Satan's devices. Satan might have thought that God had been defeated and that on earth there no longer was the worship of God. The elect of God had been defeated, and God's purpose on earth had suffered loss. However, God was not disappointed, for He still had some overcomers — Daniel and his companions. In His sovereignty He had arranged for these young people to be taken to Babylon, where they were His overcomers. If God had not had these overcomers in Babylon, He would have been totally defeated. But because of their presence in Babylon, He was not defeated and could boast to Satan that even in Babylon He had His overcomers.
Daniel 1:3-7 describes Nebuchadnezzar's devilish temptation.
The first temptation that came to mankind concerned eating (Gen. 3:1-5). In principle, all the temptations that come to us are related to eating. Nebuchadnezzar's devilish temptation was first to seduce Daniel and his three companions, the four brilliant young descendants of God's defeated elect, to be defiled in partaking of his unclean food, food offered to idols. Nebuchadnezzar provided Daniel and his three companions with the choice food to eat. To Daniel, that choice food was actually the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That tree is something attached to Satan and even one with Satan, but the tree of life is something attached to God and one with God. To eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to become attached to Satan; to eat of the tree of life is to become attached to God. When Daniel and his companions refused to eat Nebuchadnezzar's unclean food and chose instead to eat vegetables, they were actually rejecting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and taking the tree of life. Thus, even in Nebuchadnezzar's palace there were the two trees.
The choice food was defiling, not clean, for it had been offered to Nebuchadnezzar's gods. For Daniel and his companions to eat that food would have been to take in the defilement, to take in the idols, and thus to become one with Satan. If they had done this, God would have been finished and would have had nothing on earth for Himself and His interest. Then Satan could have boasted and said, "God, You have been completely defeated. You have nothing on earth to represent You and to be one with You." God had been defeated in His elect. Now if their descendants in the captivity, the younger generation, had followed in the steps of their fathers, God would have been fully defeated. But Daniel and his companions were for God. They were attached to God, they cleaved to God, and they were one with God because they took God in.
To eat Nebuchadnezzar's choice food is to take Satan as our supply and to become one with Satan. I am concerned that you may be eating the choice food provided for you by today's Nebuchadnezzar. If we are careless in our eating, in our shopping, in where we go, and in what we do, we may take in something related to idols, something demonic. We are what we eat. If we eat godly food — that is, if we eat God-food, God as our food — we will be one with God.
In his devilish temptation of Daniel and his companions, Nebuchadnezzar also changed their names, which indicated that they belonged to God, to names that made them one with the idols. The name of Daniel, which means "God is the Judge," or "God is my Judge," was changed to Belteshazzar — "the prince of Bel," or "the favorite of Bel" (Isa. 46:1). The name of Hananiah, which means "Jehovah is kind," or "the favorite of Jehovah," was changed to Shadrach — "enlightened by the sun god." The name of Mishael means "Who can be like God?" but his name was changed to Meshach — "Who can be like the goddess Shach?" The name of Azariah, which means "Jehovah is my help," was changed to Abednego — "the faithful servant of the fire god Nego."
Daniel fought the battle by countering the devil's temptation with bold rejection (Dan. 1:8-13). Daniel did not play politics but was frank and bold.
God honored Daniel's fighting, and Daniel and his companions became the overcomers among the remnant of God's defeated elect. The elect were defeated, but the young overcomers were victorious. Their victory was God's victory. Because of this victory God could boast and tell Satan that in the midst of Babylon, Satan's territory, God still had some overcomers, four young ones who were victorious over Satan's devices.
Because of the captivity in Babylon, apparently God was defeated in His interests on earth. Actually He preserved His worship and testimony through the young overcomers among His defeated elect. In Catholicism and Protestantism today God has some overcomers.
God blessed Daniel and his three companions with knowledge and insight in all learning and wisdom, and He blessed Daniel especially with understanding in all visions and dreams (vv. 17-20). This blessing was God's way of indicating that He agreed with these four overcomers.
God blessed Daniel with longevity, so that he lived through the captivity of seventy years and saw the release and return of the captives from the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, after the fall of Babylon (v. 21; 6:28; 5:30-31; Ezra 1:1-5). From God Daniel received wisdom, insight, understanding, and longevity. With him and his companions we see the story of God's victory continuing on earth through the young overcomers. I hope that today as well there will be groups of overcomers who will be God's boast to Satan.
