Today, 122.6 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes.1 Individuals, families, and entire people groups are forced to live in exile. Many who are fleeing for their lives are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Their experience has similarities to that of Daniel and his friends who were Jewish exiles in Babylon in 605 B.C.
Comfortable Christians can learn from the voices of the exiles in Daniel 1. They can also learn from our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world today. Their voices and experiences are pointing us to our Suffering Savior.
We can see how Daniel points us to Jesus in at least three ways. Daniel was sent. He was obedient. Daniel was exalted.
1. Daniel, like Jesus, was sent.
Daniel prefigures and prepares the way for the Messiah in several ways in Daniel 1. At a human level, King Nebuchadnezzar was responsible for the Jewish deportations into Babylon. But God was sovereign over the movements of His people.
In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him…”
Daniel 1:1-2a
The evil king of Babylon forcibly took Daniel into captivity. But the Sovereign Lord sent Daniel from the Promised Land into sinful Babylon to bring hope to His people. Jesus, too, was sent into a fallen world to bring everlasting hope and ultimate peace to His people.
My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
John 4:34
The Son of God was sent by the Father to finish a greater work than Daniel. Jesus was sent to bring eternal life. Towards the end of his earthly work, Jesus prayed to the Father,
This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
John 17:3-4
Today, many of us are living in relative peace in our own homes. However, as Christians, we are called to live as exiles. We are sent to this fallen world. We have more in common with Daniel in Babylon than our neighbors in our cul-de-sac. Instead of seeking more comfort and security for ourselves, the risen Christ sends us as exiles. We are meant to bring His hope to the hopeless. Jesus tells his disciples “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” (John 20:21).
Peter builds on Jesus’s calling. He writes, “Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles…” (1 Peter 2:11-12a) Peter identifies us (even those of us who are relatively at ease in this world) as exiles who are sent. We are to “abstain” from sin and “conduct” ourselves honorably among the nations [Gentiles].
This is exactly what Daniel does next in Daniel 1…
2. Daniel, like Jesus, was obedient.
Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank.”
Daniel 1:8
Though they had been forcibly taken from their homeland, Daniel and his friends committed to keep God’s laws. The Jews were handed over to Babylon due to their unfaithfulness. They failed to observe God’s laws. Daniel later confessed: “All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him” (Daniel 9:11).
Contrary to contemporary applications of Daniel 1, Daniel was not concerned about his health. He wasn’t going on a “Daniel Diet”.
Daniel was concerned about faithful Torah observance. When offered meat that had not been sacrificed according to God’s law, Daniel refused to eat it. He respectfully asked to abstain. God blessed Daniel and gave him favor with the Babylonian officials.
Though an exile, Daniel felt he had been sent for a purpose. Rather than assimilate into a worldly culture, Daniel chose to live a distinct, holy life in obedience to God.
Jesus, too, lived a life marked by faithful obedience to God’s laws. What Daniel attempted to do imperfectly, Jesus did with perfection. Daniel was unwilling to eat meat because it was not sacrificed and prepared according to God’s instructions. Daniel’s conviction was admirable, but Jesus’s perfect obedience made His life the only perfectly acceptable sacrifice for our sins.
As Paul writes,
He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 Corinthians 5:21
We could be forcibly displaced from our homelands. Or we could be living comfortably in our own homes. Regardless, Jesus’s followers are to live obedient and holy lives. Governments exert unjust power to force God’s people to do what is immoral. But we resist laws which conflict with God’s will. Even when that puts us at odds with unjust or immoral authorities (our boss, our government, etc.).
3. Daniel, like Jesus, was exalted.
God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind…The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to attend the king…he found them ten times better than all the magicians and mediums in his entire kingdom. (Daniel 1:17-20)
Daniel and his friends didn’t rise to prominence because they ate vegetables. They were elevated to prominent positions because God gave them strength and wisdom.
Throughout this chapter, the power of God is on display even in the midst of suffering. God gave Judah to Babylon because He is just (Daniel 1:2). God gave Daniel favor with Babylonian officials because He is merciful (Daniel 1:9). God gave Daniel and his four friends wisdom because He is gracious (Daniel 1:17). God is the one working to accomplish His will for His own glory.
Ultimately, God gave His one and only Son. God gave Jesus the name above every other name because Jesus was obedient, even to the point of death.
For this reason God highly exalted him
Philippians 2:9-11
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus was sent into a fallen world. He was obedient to God’s will, even to the point of death. He was then crucified and died on the cross as the perfectly acceptable sacrifice for our sins. And for this reason, Jesus was exalted by God. Jesus was raised again on the third day and ascended to the right hand of God after forty days. He now offers eternal and abundant life to all who swear allegiance to King Jesus.
Conclusion
For suffering saints, Daniel 1 provides hope that God is sovereign even in our difficult circumstance. Daniel’s example for how to stay true to godly convictions and to “live sent” regardless of the cost is inspiring. But ultimately, Daniel reminds us of Jesus’s suffering. Jesus provides an eternal hope that enables us to endure our present sufferings.
For comfortable Christians, Daniel 1 provides a reminder that we are to be thankful to God for our circumstances. Rather than accumulate more luxuries and comforts for ourselves, we are encouraged to use our resources and position to help those who are weak or marginalized. Daniel ultimately gained wealth and prominence in Babylon which he used to strengthen the exiles by his example and writings. When we prioritize our comforts over the plight of refugees and the poor then we are out of alignment with the will of God.
Finally, Daniel 1 serves as a reminder to both comfortable and suffering Christians. We have been sent to a fallen world to introduce suffers to the Savior. When we meet an immigrant, do we think of them as our political enemies? Or do we consider that he or she may be a brother or sister in Christ? Or, if not a Christian, do we consider that he or she may be in need to be introduced to Him? When we see a hungry child or a homeless person, do we walk by thinking they aren’t my concern? Or do we give thanks that God did not pass us by? He gave and he gave and he gave. And as we are able, we now give out of the overflow of the grace we have received?
Daniel points us to Jesus. Like Jesus, Daniel was sent, he was obedient, and he was exalted. Will we allow the suffering of God’s people then and now to point us to the suffering and exaltation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Will we allow God to use His Word from Daniel 1 to shape how we live today?
