I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, chapter one. This morning, we will continue our study by looking at verses three through 21. And before we look at the text, I would simply ask you to focus as much on Daniel's piety as you do his prophecy. Even at the age of 15, we see an unwavering love and devotion to God. Traits seldom seen in adults, much less in young teenagers. And frankly, it's with great sorrow that I at times, watch some of our own, some of our own young people grow up in the church, but as you watch them, you see that they have no real desire to honor God in their lives. They have no real love for God, no fear of God, no desire to fellowship with God's people, no real hunger for his word. They prefer ungodly people, and the lure of the world is so powerful to their flesh that little by little they begin to adopt all of the ways of the world. You see it in their life. They adopt the world's values, their lifestyle, their dress, their entertainment, their perverted theologies and ideologies. They disregard Paul's warning in Romans chapter 12 and verse two, where he said, "Do not be conformed to the world." My great fear for them is summarized in first John two and verse 15, where we read, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." And eventually, for all of the people who love the world more than they love the Lord, you see that they are finally given over to the consequences of their iniquities. Their sins begin to develop their character in such a way as to define who they really are. And God gives them over to a depraved mind. And little by little, they believe the lies of the world, and they do things that are unimaginably wicked. We see this all the time. Because sin is a state or a disposition of the sou,l an intrinsic part of the very essence of man, we see it manifested in ungodliness. And that is the great danger. People that have no love of God and no fear of God. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes nine and verse three, "The hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives." And certainly we are seeing this lived out, in our culture. Ungodliness, frankly, is the outworking of human depravity. We read about this, for example, in Jude beginning of verse 14, "It was," he says "about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many 1000s of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." And frankly, dear friends, ungodliness is the root cause of all of the economic and social problems that we see in the United States. Not capitalism, not conservatism, not systemic racism, or any of the other manufactured leftist boogieman that you see. The root cause is ungodliness. People that do not love God and do not fear him. And the consequences of ungodliness is divine judgment. For example, in Psalm 34, verse 16, we read, "The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth." And then Psalm 32, verse 10, "Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him." And as we study the book of Daniel, we see how lovingkindness surrounded him, as well as others in the book that he describes, especially his three companions. And how refreshing it is, to see a young man and other young men of about 15 years of age, demonstrating godly character and godly conduct. Living a life that epitomizes what the psalmist calls, "a tree firmly planted." It's for this reason that I've entitled my discourse, "A Tree Firmly Planted." And God blessed Daniel, for this. We read about the firmly planted tree in Psalm one, a familiar passage. There we read, "How blessed is the man," literally how happy "is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord," referring to the Scriptures. "And in His law, he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers." And this, dear friends, is what we will see in the life of Daniel and his three colleagues.

Now, let me remind you of the context once again, Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel has already been taken over, now the southern kingdom of Judah has been taken over by the Babylonians they have sunk so low in the rebellion against God and in their idolatry, that finally God judged them. Isaiah tells us in chapter one, verse four, "Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evil doers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, and turned away from Him." And indeed, they embraced hideous forms of idolatry that they picked up from the pagans living around them. By the way, I might add that after their Babylonian captivity, the Jews never again turned to idolatry, which is an interesting thought. But I must also add that the cancer of covetousness deceived them into believing that they could ignore God's law regarding the sabbatic year. So for 490 years, they ignored him. They believe that by tilling the ground every year, rather than allowing the seventh year for the ground to lie fallow, that they would somehow be more prosperous. Their mantra was the mantra of every fool, which is basically my way is better than God's way. And because God's judgment is not always immediate, they thought they could get away with it. No big deal. God is not watching. But God was watching and he was keeping a perfect record. And it was time now to square the account. And so he sends in the Babylonians to conquer them, and take them into captivity for 70 years, allowing the land to finally keep the Sabbath one year for every seventh year, they violated his command over the course of 490 years. Now, the last time we were together, we looked at the reason for God's judgment on Judah, and the prophetic significance and symbolism of Babylon. I hope you are grasping these things because these are foundational to understanding this book, and many other passages of scripture. But today, we want to look closer at the historical narrative and the remainder of chapter one and we want to do this under three headings. Very simply, we want to look at God's providential appointments. Secondly, Daniel's unwavering devotion to God and then finally, God's blessings upon faithful servants.

Now, something important to bear in mind here because I want to make this very relevant to where we live here in our day. Please know that the historical narrative that we are about to examine took place during the reign of one of the most brilliant, wealthy, and mighty leaders in the history of the world. Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant man. But he could not see what was happening right under his nose. Ultimately, he was merely a pawn on God's chessboard. And he didn't realize it. He had no idea that because of his pride, he would soon lose his mind and eat grass with the cattle and live among the beasts for seven years. He had no idea that within the span of about 60 years, Babylon would fall to Darius the Mede. But God had a plan and he was working it precisely. Now, likewise, the United States of America is a fabulously wealthy country. But we are covetous beyond measure. We believe that our military is invincible. And we have leaders who are every bit as narcissistic as Nebuchadnezzar were only they're not even a fraction as brilliant as he was. And what most Americans cannot see is that God has abandoned this country to the consequences of their own rebellion. They cannot see that our leaders live in a fool's paradise. They cannot see that the that the ideologies and policies of our politicians, especially that of liberal Democrats, are destroying our nation. In fact, historically, what we see is that theological and political liberalism destroys everything that it touches. It is to the church what cancer is to the body. It is to a country what toxic waste or radioactive waste is to the environment. And today we see the overall mood in America gradually disintegrating. I was reading in the daily wire that the Washington Examiner reports that the number of illegal alien apprehensions at the United States Mexico border climbed again in June, bringing the US close to 1 million illegal immigrant encounters since the beginning of 2021. Can you imagine that,1 million? it went on to say the US border officials are expected to reveal soon that they encountered nearly 190,000 illegal immigrants in June, a 450% explosion over last June. And the latest sign the President Joe Biden's open-door policy has completely redrawn migration patterns. Now obviously, the priority of our government is open borders and globalism, and to get more votes. It has nothing to do with caring for the people and protecting the people. Because so many of these people are coming into our country and they're spreading COVID all over the country. And yet they're demanding that we get vaccinated, that we wear masks, and that we shut down the economy and that we have to do all of these other things. A recent Gallup survey found that a whopping 42% of all Americans anticipate that societal disruptions related to COVID 19 will continue to be around beyond the beginning of the new year. And according to an ABC News Ipsos poll, we see that Americans optimism about the direction of the country has plummeted nearly 20 points. 55% of the public say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, a marked change from the roughly 1/3 or 36%. That said, the same in an ABC News Ipsos poll published May 2. Folks that is a 19% shift in just three months. It gets worse since last September, a moratorium that was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that had been protecting millions of renters who were unable or unwilling to pay their monthly rent. That moratorium is now officially over. And all of that back rent is due. For some renters that will mean that nearly a full year of rent now needs to be paid. And the millions of Americans that cannot, or will not pay this, will now be subject to eviction. And I think of the poor landlords who have lost who knows how much? Well, I want to give you the bad news so that you appreciate the good news. And that is our God's still reigns. He's working his plan perfectly just like he did when Israel was in exile. And even as he carefully placed his choice servants in the courts, in the cities, in the villages of the satanic kingdom of Babylon, he continues to do the same thing today. And I pray that we will all be exhilarated knowing that somehow we are a part of that plan. Each and every one of us. He has promised to build his church and he uses each of us to do that. There is nothing that man nor demon can do to thwart the purposes of God. And I must say that I pray constantly, for God to raise up the next Joseph, or the next Daniel, or the next Hannah, or Naomi or Ruth or Esther out of Calvary Bible Church. And I believe he is and will.

So first, I want us to look at this whole concept of God's providential appointments. Beginning in Daniel one in verse three, "Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect." In other words, they were without physical handicap, "who were good- looking, showing intelligence and every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge." The idea of wisdom here in the original language carries the idea of the ability to make wise decisions. And it also says "they were endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge," literally, they were knowers of knowledge, in the original, knowers of knowledge, which would have included things like science and math and language and history and so forth. And obviously, Nebuchadnezzar placed a high premium on superior intellect. And he says, "who had ability for serving in the king's court." This is a reference to young men who had a pleasing personality, they were engaging in their interpersonal style of relating, he had polished manners, noble etiquette, and so forth. You know, many times people with a high IQ have the personality of a two-toed sloth, you know, and the manners of Tarzan of the Apes, so you can't have that, okay, not in the king's court. And he says, "he ordered him," referring to Ashpenaz, "to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans." So imagine now you're about 14, 15 years old, you've been taken into a foreign country, a pagan country, and you don't know their language, and you've got to learn all of this. Now, their literature, by the way, that Daniel and the others had to learn was extensive. In fact, in that day, their literature dated about 1400 years back, we know, all the way to the days of Abraham. So this was a highly educated group of people in that day. And by the way, much of their literature is still extant, meaning it still exists. Thousands of clay tablets from this period have been found. They were written, by the way, through the use of a wooden stylus to make wedge shaped characters on clay. Cuneiform, it was called cuneiform. And I've seen this for example, in the British Museum, you see a lot of this and they would make these little characters on the clay and then they would bake the clay and preserve the impressions.

Now, from Nebuchadnezzar perspective, this was a very wise move, to hold hostage, these noble sons of Israel, and there were more than just Daniel and his three friends. There were many others. This was very important because this would help keep the Judean royalty in line, but it would also help him know how to govern this very peculiar people. However, it was also very important from God's perspective. God had providentially appointed these teenage men to be in Nebuchadnezzar's court, to learn how these people functioned, and how they could help preserve God's covenant people. But this was also important for Daniel to know how to navigate the treacherous political and religious waters of those pagan people. So these are truly providential appointments. This didn't just happen. God is at work.

But now, the plot thickens as they say, verse five; "The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's, choice food, and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king's personal service. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them. And to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-Nego." Now, Daniel, meant, in Hebrew, "God is my judge." And Belteshazzar, his new Babylonian name meant, "lady protect the king." Hananiah meant, "Yahweh is gracious." Shadrach means, "I am fearful of God." Mishael meant, "who is like God," and Meshach meant, "I am of little account." And Azariah meant, "Yahweh has helped, " and Abed-Nego simply meant, "servant of Nebo," one of their pagan gods. Now as we will see, these young men came from godly homes, which made them hate all the more that ungodliness that they saw all around them. And by the way, godliness will always be repulsed by ungodliness. And you see that in their lives. Notice verse eight, "But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food, or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself." And here we come to the second point in this little outline.

Here we see Daniel's unwavering devotion to God. Now, some people might say, well, you know what, he was wrong to defy the authority that God had placed over him. But what you must understand is, Daniel knew that God's law was infinitely higher than man's law; they feared God more than man. A truth by the way that we would all do well to remember. You will recall in Acts five, when the apostles were thrown into prison, after violating the command to stop preaching the gospel in the temple, you will remember that story, an angel of the Lord came and open up the gates of the prison. We read in verse 20, of Acts five, he says, "'Go your way stand and speak to the people in the temple with the whole message of this Life.'" And so they did that. And then lo and behold, they get arrested again, and in verse 27, we read, "When they had brought them, they stood before they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them saying, 'We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter, and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'" That was Daniel's attitude, that must be ours as well.

Now, why was it important for Daniel to defy the king's orders? Well, let me give you two reasons, two primary reasons. First of all, some of the meat was considered unclean according to the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic law. You can read about this for example, in Leviticus chapter 11. You will remember that those dietary restrictions were given to the covenant people under the old covenant to keep them separate from their idolatrous neighbors. And I might add as a footnote, with the coming of the new covenant and the calling of the church, God ended those dietary restrictions. You will recall in Mark seven, verse 19, Jesus said, "'Whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated (Thus he declared all foods clean)." God also made this clear in Peter's vision, you remember the great sheet that came down from heaven filled with all kinds of animals and Acts 10. And God commanded him to rise, kill and eat those things which had previously been considered unclean. But no such provision existed during the time of Daniel under the Old Covenant.

Another reason why Daniel felt that the meat and the wine would defile them was because they knew that they had first been offered to Babylonian gods, and to eat would be tantamount to recognizing the legitimacy of those gods. And they weren't going to have any part of that. Moreover, the pagans believed, and they knew this, that eating the meat that had been dedicated to their gods would, would curry favor from those gods. And I'm sure both of those were considerations that Nebuchadnezzar had in mind. So think about it, we get these young Jewish men, let's give them good Babylonian names and get them to recognize and obey and benefit from their new gods by giving them the food and the wine that had been given to the gods and so forth. And I might add, that this is always how Satan works, isn't it? You know, force Christians to forsake the one true God in exchange for idols, and then get them to not only tolerate pagan lies, but celebrate them. And of course, he uses secular government and false religions to accomplish these purposes. I mean, I think of all of this "celebrate pride" stuff that we see and "celebrate trans;" and someone was telling me the other day they took their, their young child to the doctor and the doctor, or the I guess the nurse, first ask the child, you know, what's your name? And the second question was, what is your preferred pronoun? It's insane. And now you get in trouble if you misgender someone, if you call a biological male who thinks he's a female, a male, a "he," then you're canceled and all of that type of thing? Well, the point is, the Babylonians had their own way of forcing people to assimilate into their pagan culture. They wanted them to adopt a Babylonian name and eat the foods offered, and the wine offered to their gods, and eventually even to bow before their gods.

So Daniel and his three closest companions knew that the king's order was a way of testing their fidelity to Yahweh, or to Nebuchadnezzar and his gods. Daniel also knew that it was because of Israel's idolatry, that they were in this mess in the first place. So not going to have anything to do with that. And here we see, as I say, "a tree firmly planted by the streams of water." In other words, the nourishing water of godliness that results in spirit empowerment. And undoubtedly, he learned that from a godly family in which he grew up so he was a tree, you might say, which yields his fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. Would that we all, manifest such an unwavering devotion to God. And unlike so many young people today, Daniel and his three friends would not bow to the ungodly culture. They loved God, and they feared God, and they would not conform to the world. They would not defile their conscience. And I would challenge all of you young people in particular, do not yield to the pressures of the culture. Do not get near the slippery slope of all of the world's enticements that are so appealing to your flesh. Because what will gradually happen is your love for God, if it was ever there in the first place, will begin to wane. Your love for His Word will gradually disappear. Your love for His people will gradually disappear. Your love for his ways will gradually disappear. And you will become like the world and it will destroy you.

Now I want you to notice the spiritual integrity and the Spirit empowered wisdom of young Daniel, not to mention the providence of God who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Notice verse nine, "Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials and the commander of the official said to Daniel, 'I'm afraid of my lord, the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youth who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king?'" In other words, you're asking me to defy the king, and if he sees that you're not developing the way you should, he'll probably take my head off. But verse 11, "Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ‘Please test your servants for 10 days.'" Well, that's remarkable wisdom, isn't it for a 15-year-old? That's divine wisdom right there. "'Test your servants for 10 days and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.'" Vegetables, by the way, in the original language, refers to that which is grown from seed. So it would include vegetables as well as grains, so they could have, you know, vegetables as well as bread. Now, obviously, that is not a healthy, nor a desirable diet, especially for 15-year-old boys who typically have a hollow leg and they're developing and so forth. It's certainly not what they were accustomed to. Nor was it one that they chose indefinitely, which we will see. I mean, I can hear the chef's saying to them, Well, guys, let me give you the menu for the day, we have succulent filet mignon, and we have sumptuous lamb chops. We have delicious grass-fed roast beef and gravy. And you can wash it down with the king's finest wine. And I can hear the guys saying, nah, you know, I'll have the salad and the broccoli, and the turnip greens, some carrots, piece of bread. I'll wash it down with water. You know, on second thought, I'll have some of that beef stew but no beef or gravy. You know, 10 days of that would be bad enough. I was thinking about this. And I hope I'm not offending you vegetarians, I'm sure I probably am, I don't mean to be. I couldn't handle that. I mean, one of my favorite commercials years ago was "Beef. It's what's for dinner." I mean, if I ate that, you know, especially after three years, I don't know I'd be so skinny, I'd have to run around in a shower to get wet. I just can't imagine living that way. But here's the point. Now think about this. If I knew that by eating these things, God would be dishonored and that God had said, I don't want you to eat this. And if I knew that, by honoring him, he would bless me. Then you know what I would say and I hope you would say, "give me some broccoli, a glass of water." And that's exactly what they did. So test us for 10 days. Let's see what happens.

Verse 13, "'Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.' So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, their appearance seemed better, and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food." Now obviously, what we are witnessing here is divine intervention, you know, for for this to happen in these young men over the course of 10 days, for it to be such a noticeable advantage. Obviously God was at work.

Verse 16, "So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink and kept giving them vegetables." So because of Daniel's unwavering devotion to God, we see number three, God's blessings upon faithful servants. And this is such an important lesson, dear friends. Bear in mind that God is always watching us. He is always faithful to bless our obedience, to bless our sacrifice, to bless our faithfulness to him. I think I think of Second Chronicles 16 nine, "For the eyes of the Lord, move to and fro throughout the whole earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." Isaiah 66 two God says, "But to this one I will look," in other words, this is the person that gets my attention, “to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at My word." Psalm 115, verse 13, I don't think you have this on the overhead. The God says, "He will bless those who fear the Lord," we read that earlier. "He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small together with the great." Beloved, please hear this, God's way is always the best way. Though your flesh will tell you otherwise. But pastor I won't have any fun, and I won't have any friends. If I go God's way, wrong, wrong. What have we read earlier in Psalm one? "How blessed," ow happy, "is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers." Dear friends, it's real simple. You either believe God or you don't. And if you don't, you will forfeit blessing in your life. And especially if you refuse to obey His command, to repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your life will end in misery which will be a prelude to your eternal hell. Proverbs 14 Verse 12, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." And I think of Moses in Hebrews 11 verse 24, we read, "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Dear friends, I can tell you, having counseled probably into the 1000s of people over 35 years of ministry, I've seen pretty much everything. I've seen young women who painted themselves up and dressed immodestly to get the attention of boys gradually become sexually involved. Some of them became pregnant out of wedlock. Others got venereal diseases. Others have had multiple abortions, broken relationships. Some of them end up being single parents. Some of them end up addicted to drugs and alcohol end up in suicide. I've seen it all. They found their identity in their body. And little by little as we grow older, that body isn't what it once was. Then what do you have left? I've seen young men who were too cool for school. They wanted nothing to do with godly friends, nothing to do with the church. They did not love God nor did they fear God. They loved themselves, ruled by their lusts, they would make one foolish decision after another end up in miserable marriages, multiple children that brought nothing but heartache; alot of them end up being potheads or alcoholics. They lived in a fool's paradise. And I know a number of them that have died in their sins. I know young people who turned away their ears from the truth and turned aside into myths and they were recruited by homosexuals and they began to live that lifestyle. They were drawn into it. Young people became adults who have had literally hundreds and hundreds of sexual encounters that have destroyed their bodies. I know what it is to watch them die of AIDS. But Oh dear friends I also know of God's redeeming love. And I know of God's grace that saves sinners and sanctifies sinners. I remember one man in particular that comes to my mind that had been a homosexual for years, lived that lifestyle for years. But he came to repentant faith in Christ by God's grace. He experienced the miracle of the new birth, God changed everything about him, gave him new desires, he was married and ended up with children, very happily. And I remember one time him sharing his testimony. And with tear filled eyes, he suddenly broke into song, and he sang, "On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand." Folks, that's the power of the gospel. That's the power of obedience. Dear friends, dare to be a Daniel. love God and fear him. Don't embrace the world that God has gone to such great lengths to deliver you from. Daniel understood this, his three friends understood this and here, the Word of God, once again, as I stated earlier in first John two beginning in verse 15, this is so clear, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. It's not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

Yes, like Daniel and his friends, God blesses those who are faithful and obedient, who love Him and fear Him. God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble, I want you to notice how God bless them in verse 17, "As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom." Can you imagine that? They learn to read cuneiform; they learn to understand that language. And basically, they got a PhD in all this stuff in three years. Then he adds, “Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams." Now, it's important to understand here that the Babylonians believed, and we read this in their literature, that there were certain methods of divination that one had to adhere to, in order to determine the will of the gods. And certainly, priests they believed, specialized in these techniques and these methods. And we know that the demons would assist them, especially in dream interpretation, and unbeknownst to them. But these young Judeans understood that true revelation only comes from God. And God enabled Daniel with a special gift, that he would later use to interpret God's revelations to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a dream as we will see, and also later when he would use it to interpret the handwriting on the wall of Belshazzar's palace in chapter five, Leon Wood is very helpful here. He says, "While Daniel lived, he was the one gifted by God, and accordingly, the only one used to give the interpretation of them. The pagans believed that dreams regularly carried significance, and they even induced dreams for this reason, certain priests were considered experts in dream interpretation. Scripture teaches, however, that only certain dreams are revelatory, namely those which God gives for that purpose. Daniel's gift was that he was specially endowed for receiving God's interpretations of such occasions of divine communication." He goes on to say, "It may be noted further that when God gave his revelations to Nebuchadnezzar, he used only the dream type of communication, never the vision, whereas he did use the vision with Daniel. In fact, the Scripture shows God regularly employing the dream when given a revelation to pagans. The reason seems to be that, with the dream, the human personality is neutralized and made a passive instrument for the occasion. But with the vision, the person himself is often a participant, and must be constituted to respond and react in a proper manner. Something true only of a child of God. Though the revelation of Belshazzar in chapter five was not a dream, it was still of a type entirely objective to himself in which he played no part. Daniel was necessary for its interpretation, just as he had been with Nebuchadnezzar's dreams." End quote.

Now I might add, that, since the completion of the canon in Scripture, divine revelation, received and delivered through the apostles and the prophets, has ceased along with those offices. There's no such thing today as a prophet, or an apostle. In Ephesians 2:20, Paul states that the church quote "has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone." But now that the foundation has been laid with the completion of the New Testament, those once necessary offices, are no longer needed and they no longer exist. You must bear in mind that the canon of Scripture is now closed. We read about this in Jude three and Deuteronomy four two, Deuteronomy 12, verse 32, Proverbs 30 and verse six, Revelation 22, verse 18, and 19. And therefore, to insist as some do, that God is still giving new revelation to Christians, is to deny the doctrine of sola scriptura. That the scriptures alone are the sole and fallible source of authority for faith and practice. And we don't need to go beyond the pages of Scripture to hear from God. Moreover, those who claim to receive special revelation, or sometimes you will hear them say, you know, I've received a word from the Lord or, or I've got some prophecy, people that do that, undermine the authority, as well as the sufficiency of Scripture, by placing their suppose revelations on par with the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God. And that, dear friends, is a blasphemous presumption. This continues to cause great confusion in the church today, unfortunately. And what it does is it paves the way for Christians to elevate subjective feelings as well as personal impressions, to the status of divine revelation, to put it on par with what God has said in his word. And as a result, unfortunately, many people look to these prophets and prophetesses to hear something new and fresh from God. Rather than looking into his self-disclosure that he has given to us in His inspired record. Jude appeals to all believers pleading with us to quote, "contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints," Jude three. Likewise, Paul told Timothy in chapter three and verse 16, of Second Timothy, "All Scripture is inspired of God, is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Well, enough of that, back to God's blessing on his young servants. As we wrap this up this morning, notice verse 18. "Then at the end of the days, which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them and out of them all, not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and conjurers, who were in all his realm." And then it says, "and Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king." There Daniel reflects upon the goodness and faithfulness of God, to carry him through 66 years of service in captivity until he was about 81 years old. He served, think about it, in the high offices of Babylon through the course of four Babylonian kings and through the Babylonian defeat by at the hands of Cyrus, the Mido-Persian, which happened in 539 BC, and then served in the court of Cyrus himself and so forth. And what an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness, God's goodness and providence during those dark days of apostasy and judgment upon the Israelites. And how exciting to know that God is always in control. He is always in control. He's working his plan. And he is always using faithful servants who love him, and who fear Him to accomplish his purposes. And what a great example is we have with these faithful young men, whose testimonies continue to be a source of inspiration and encouragement for every believer, persevering in a time of trial. And may each of us stand with Daniel and Hananiah, and Mishael and Azariah. May we all stand with him in these dark days of apostasy and judgment here in our own country. And dear friends, keep looking up, because our redemption draweth nigh. The King is coming. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Cause us to cherish them, to meditate upon them, to make them the theme of our conversation, the lyrics of our songs that you might be praised in our lives and that others might see the glory of God and his plan of redemption revealed in the Gospel. Lord, we thank you We give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen.