SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/13/2023 9:42 AM
More from MacArthur’s Sermon on Daniel chapter one.
“Now, let’s face it, folks, listen,
ten days of vegetables, as over against ten days of the king’s food wouldn’t
prove anything, physiologically. It isn’t going to make that big of a
difference. Daniel was banking on divine intervention. And I
personally believe - and this is just MacArthur talking in the white spaces -
all right, but I personally believe God gave him this revelation. I think
God gave him this test. And I think God said, “I’ll honor this.” I
think he got this from the Lord because of his tremendous confidence in it and
because of the way the Lord responded to it. Unblemished faith. He
was willing to risk his neck.
“He says, “I’ll walk out on the end
of a plank. I’ll take my stand that God will honor my uncompromising
spirit. If I don’t eat defiled food, if I eat that which is pure, I
believe God will honor me.” That’s an unblemished faith.
“Do you really believe that?
Do you believe that if you live an absolutely uncompromising life, no matter
who gets angry at you for taking such a firm stand, no matter who gets upset at
you because you will not compromise, no matter how many people are offended for
your “lack of love,” if you take your stand, God will honor it. Do you
believe that? Do you believe that if you take your stand against sin and
evil, God will fill your life with joy and happiness? Do you believe if
you take your stand with honesty, God will fill your life with all those things
you need for sustenance and support?
“Well, if you really believe it then
you won’t compromise. You’ll take God at His word. So, an
unblemished faith. That unblemished faith threw them into point 6, an
unusual test, an unusual test. “So Melzar consented to them in this
matter and tested them for ten days.” Now, let me tell you something, all
commitment is tested - James 1, the trial of your faith. All of our faith
is to be tested. It’s only proven when it’s tested. We can say, “I
want to live an uncompromising life,” and you be ready to believe that God will
test it. He’ll test it.
“You say, “Boy, I’m going to stand -
” We do that a lot, you know, we say, “Boy, if I had my way, I’d tell him
so. I’d tell him right to the face.” And you know what usually
happens? Pretty soon you see him face to face and you go,
“Ha-na-na-ba-na-ba,” see? And you never get it out. And all that
courage, you know, that backyard courage, never seems to get out of the house.
“But, Daniel said here, “I’m willing
to stake my faith on God’s Word.” And immediately came the test.
All commitment is tested. And so he tested them for ten days. Verse
15 - this is great. “At the end of the ten days their countenance
appeared fairer and fatter in flesh - ” and “fatter” there doesn’t mean fat
with fatty stuff, you know, like big jowls or something. Fat was the sign
of health, vigor, a shining face, as it were. “They looked better than
all the rest of the youths who ate the portion of the king’s food.”
“Now, folks, I just have to tell
you, this is the divine intervention of God. In ten days, the physiology
isn’t going to take that great an effect. I don’t know, it may have had
some effect. I don’t know what they were feeding the people who ate the
king’s food. But I believe this is God’s intervention. And verse
16, “At the end of the ten days - ” what happened? “ - Melzar took away the
portion of their food, and the wine they should drink; and gave them vegetables
for the rest of the three years.” You don’t have to prove anything to
him. In fact, if I read the story right, it may be that Melzar ate the
king’s food for the next three years. I don’t know how else he pulled it
off. It was a fair exchange for him. He could care less about the
vegetables and the water. It was a good deal.
“And so what happens? God
honored their uncompromising spirits. They had won the battle. They
avoided the lifestyle that the Chaldeans wanted to impose upon them. I’m
reminded of the words of Tennyson, in Sir Galahad, where he writes a tribute to
the righteous knight who found the Holy Grail in these words, “My good blade
carves the casks of men, my tough lance trusted sure, my strength is as the
strength of ten because my heart is pure.”
“Well, he had a little bit of a
spiritual insight in that. Strength comes from purity in the heart.
So, they passed the unusual test. Now listen, an uncompromising stand on
the Word of God leads to an unashamed boldness, an uncommon standard, an
unearthly protection, an unhindered persistence, an unblemished faith, an
unusual test - are you ready for this? - an immeasurable blessing, an immeasurable
blessing. And we’re just going to see this quickly. Verse 17.
“As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning
and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”
“Where did this come from? “As
for these four youths - ” watch it “ - God - ” what? “ - gave them.” God
blessed their uncompromising hearts. God poured out blessing. It’s
a tremendous thing, people, to realize this, but here brings together the two
wonderful truths of God’s sovereign blessing and man’s total commitment.
God blessed sovereignly when they were totally committed to live an
uncompromising life.
“From their viewpoint, the whole
thing depended on their own commitment. From God’s viewpoint, the whole
thing was entirely in His hands. You can’t have one without the
other. And God gave them - and it just sums up various words - “knowledge
and skill in learning and wisdom.” God gave them all they needed to know
for the knowledge and the wisdom that could be applied as they lived in that
society.
“Babylon was the center of
knowledge: Advanced science, libraries of great, great scope. Great
scholars lived there. In fact, they were leading the world in those
things. God gave them knowledge of that. God gave them knowledge
truly of the application of the divine Word of God to the situation. God
gave them wisdom, and beyond that, to one of the four - and here’s where we
separate this one out - Daniel, it says, “had understanding in all visions and
dreams.”
“Here was a guy who could read
visions and dreams. Visions are when you’re awake and dreams are when
you’re asleep, and both were a means of revelation from God. Here was a
man with a gift of a seer or a prophet. Daniel had a revelatory
gift. Daniel was to be the very vehicle of God’s divine revelation.
And this verse is the setup for the rest of the prophecy of Daniel. He is
to be the one to receive God’s Word.
“And so, God blessed them
immeasurably in “knowledge and learning and wisdom.” Further, verse 18,
“At the end of the days that the king had said they should bring them in, - ”
that would be three years of training “ - then the prince of the eunuchs
brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king conversed with
them.” And the “them” embodies all these young men that had been deported
in 606. The second group hasn’t even come yet, till 597, the final group
till 586. So, these young men have been groomed in the meantime, and
Nebuchadnezzar converses with them. This is the oral exam, see?
This is the final test to see how well they had done.
“They are personally examined by the
king and his assistants. “And among them all was found none like Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah." Isn’t that great? Those four were
summa cum laude. They graduated at the top of the class and they had
never defiled themselves. They had never compromised one whit.”
Looks like one more quotation from
this sermon and we will be done with it.
12/13/2023
9:45 AM
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