Deliverance from the Lion's Den
Daniel in the Lion's Den • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Daniel 6:19-24 ESV
19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. 24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
There is an old saying that I’m sure all of us have said, and if we haven’t said it before, we have all definitely felt it before. That saying is, “Tomorrow can’t come soon enough!”
The thought may come from a child the day before his birthday. He knows that when tomorrow comes, it’s going to mean cake, ice cream, presents, and a party, so he says, “tomorrow can’t come soon enough!”
Or the thought may come from someone at the end of a work week. You’ve slaved away all week and tomorrow isyour day off, so as you tiredly toil away, you say to yourself, “tomorrow can’t come soon enough!”
Or let’s say that a man goes to his doctor to have tests ran on him. The results of these tests are going to be significant in one way or another, it could literally mean life or death for him. So, when he gets a call from his doctor’s office saying that the doctor wants to see him tomorrow to go over the results of the test, the man anxiously thinks to himself, “tomorrow can’t come soon enough!”
As we looked at the text for our reading from last week, we can safely conclude that as Darius nervously retired for the evening after having Daniel cast into the den of lions, and as sleep escaped him that evening, he too surely thought, “tomorrow can’t come soon enough!” because it would be “tomorrow” when he would discover whether or not the God of Daniel was pleased to rescue him from the lion’s den.
And as we embark on our reading for this morning, we see “tomorrow” coming upon the king, as we read in verse nineteen, where it says:
Daniel 6:19 ESV
19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
So again, here we see the anxiety-ridden king finding himself weak and helpless in the situation at hand. He was helpless to deliver Daniel from the den of lions and now, at the break of day, as soon as the king was able to visibly see, at the earliest opportunity, he arose from his anxious waiting. Tomorrow had finally come, and the king wanted to put his mind at rest as soon as he possibly could.
Arising from his anxious waiting, the king went in haste to the den of lions, the place of Daniel’s attempted execution. And there are two things that I want us to observe here about the king’s going to the den of lions.
The first thing that I want to point out is that the king himselfhad gone to the den of lions. It would have been customary and expected for the king to send servants to discover Daniel’s condition, but here we see the king doing something that was certainly not customary when he himself went to the den of lions.
You’ve heard the old expression, “I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth”, well, in a similar way, the king wanted to see for himself. And not only did he want to see for himself, he also didn’t want to wait for his servants to return with the news.
And the second thing that I want to point out here is that the king rushed to the lion’s den. As our reading says, he “went in haste” not wasting any time. This shows how urgent this matter was to the king.
We then see what happens next, in verse twenty, where we read:
Daniel 6:20 ESV
20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
So, we read, “As he came near”, before the king had even fully reached the location of the den where Daniel was, his anxiety and distress revealed themselves as we read that the king “cried out in a tone of anguish.”
So, in a distressed and troubled tone, the king cried out when he came near the den. And as our reading says that the king “cried out” it may signify that at this particular point, what the king cries out aren’t even intelligible words, but perhaps a loud, anxious groan.
But once Darius reaches the den, he utters words that he hopes and prays he receives an answer to. And in this utterance, we see, first of all, who the king addresses and how the one he addresses is identified.
The king is hoping to address and receive a response from Daniel. And the reason why I say that he is hoping to receive a response from Daniel is because at this point the king doesn’t know if Daniel is even alive.
The king identifies Daniel as “servant of the Living God”. That Darius calls Daniel the “servant” of God reveals the truth that Daniel was faithful to worship the one true God and to do so the right way.
Furthermore, that Darius says that Daniel serves his God “continually” reveals the truth that Daniel not only worships his God, but that he does consistently, even when the circumstances in his life make it inconvenient for him to do so.
Also, Darius identifying God as the “Living God” reveals two things. The first thing it reveals is that because God is the Living God, then other so-called “gods” must be the opposite of living. In other words, that God is the Living God reveals that anything other than Him is not living and is therefore powerless.
And the second thing that it reveals is that, because He is the Living God, He is indeed “able” to deliver Daniel from the lions. Look at the question that the king asks: “Has your God, the Living God been able to deliver you from the lions?” Well, King Darius, you just confessed that He is the Living God, so obviously, He is able to do whatever He wants, let alone deliver Daniel from the lions, so, yes, He is indeed able.
And so, though Darius confesses that God is living, though he confesses that God is sovereign, he simultaneously questions the ability of God… Something that, if we are completely honest with ourselves, we will admit that we all question at times.
Then, when we look at verses twenty-one and twenty-two, we see the response of Daniel, where we read:
Daniel 6:21-22 ESV
21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”
So, Daniel responds to the king’s question by giving the usual courteous greeting that a subject was to give to his king when he said, “O king, live forever!” which simultaneously reveals that he holds no hard feelings against the king. Then he went on to reveal to the king that indeed, God is able, and in this case, God was also willing.
And Daniel made plain that God was both able to deliver him and also willing to deliver him as he reveals to the king that God had sent a messenger, a heavenly angel, who had shut the mouths of the ravenous lions. And having their mouths shut, they could do no harm to Daniel.
Again, this shows the absolute sovereignty of God, Who holds absolute sway over humans and animals alike. And Daniel credits this sovereignty to God. He doesn’t say that the lions left him alone because they weren’t hungry or because he performed some special trick to calm them down, like he’s the lion whisperer or something. No, he credits the entirety of his deliverance to his God. The God Who sent His angels with the command to shut the mouths of the ravenous lions.
And this was done, Daniel says, because he was found blameless before the Lord, and also because he had done no harm to the king.
Now, when Daniel says this, he’s not insinuated that he merited or earned deliverance from the den of lions, but rather, what he declares is that in delivering him, God’s purpose was to reveal to King Darius that despite his injunction for Daniel to commit the act of apostasy, God has proven that Daniel was in the right by rejecting the king’s injunction and continuing to worship his God.
We then see the king’s reaction to all of this in verse twenty-three, where we read:
Daniel 6:23 ESV
23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Now, back in verse fourteen of this chapter, we read that the king was “much distressed” in the midst of that particular situation, the situation that legally declared that Daniel should be cast into the den of lions. But here, we see the opposite of this emotion when we read that that the king was “exceedingly glad”.
As the king ordered Daniel to be cast into the lion’s den with great sorrow, now he, with great joy, commands that Daniel be taken up out of the lion’s den.
And what was so remarkable to the king and to those present was that when Daniel was taken up out of the den of lions, they had discovered that there was no harm done to Daniel whatsoever. And this was accomplished, because Daniel trusted in his God and God was pleased to deliver him.
In our sermon from last week, we had said that Daniel being thrown into the den of lions was a foreshadowing of the burial of Jesus. Well, this twenty-third verse is also a foreshadowing; it foreshadowed the resurrection of Jesus. As Jesus was placed in the tomb, so did He, three days later, come forth from the tomb in a glorious, resurrected body.
But that’s not all, for in the remainder of our reading, we read of what the king had done to those who manipulated him and conspired against Daniel, where we read in verse twenty-four:
Daniel 6:24 ESV
24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
As we read in our reading from last week, the king had commanded that Daniel be brought to him so that he may be cast into the den of lions, and he issued this command with great reluctance and sorrow. Here, we see that the king once again commands people to be brought to the den of lions, but this time it is commanded without reluctance and sorrow.
It is commanded without reluctance and sorrow because, as our reading says, these are the ones who maliciously accused Daniel. In other words, these were the ones who accused Daniel not from of a desire to see justice served, but who manipulated the king and accused Daniel only because they sought to harm Daniel through their accusation.
And while God was pleased to preserve and protect Daniel in the lion’s den, these men weren’t so fortunate. We read that before these men and their families were even able to touch their feet on the bottom of the den, the lions had already attacked and devoured them, breaking all of their bones.
This happening to these men and their families reveals all the more clearly that the disposition of the lions when Daniel was in the den was not owing to any kind of natural explanation, but only to divine deliverance.
Indeed, beloved, God preserves His people, and He does so forever! And we have seen this masterfully made manifest to us throughout this narrative thus far, and especially here as we see Daniel foreshadow the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and not only the resurrection of Jesus, but also the general resurrection that will take place at the second advent of Jesus.
It is no secret that those who are truly among God’s people suffer in this world. Like Daniel, we face enemies who are opposed to us for reasons that they don’t fully understand, but which we recognize as owing to our allegiance to God.
And because they oppose us and because society in general supports this opposition to the people of God, we seem to be utterly pressed in on all sides with no escape. We seem like Moses and the people, Israel who were surrounded on all sides with enemies behind them, mountains to the sides of them, and the Red Sea before them.
But in the Day of the Lord, that glorious day when the Lord Jesus comes again, the elect people of God will be brought forth from the graves in which their bodies rest, being raised to glorified bodies, when we will spend eternity with God in the new heavens and earth, the New Jerusalem.
While those who oppose us, the enemies of God, they too will be brought forth from the grave, only to have judgment passed on them and then cast into the Lake of Fire where they will suffer forever.
Indeed, may we, as God’s elect people, trust that we will not finally and fully perish. And though we suffer today, may we be absolutely confident that we will be glorified in the Day to come, that glorious Day of the Lord!
Amen?
