The question that plagues us is how do we - as Christians - live in a world that is increasingly antagonistic to Jesus and to discipleship, while maintaining our spiritual integrity. The temptation is to either be so ‘of the world’ that we are indistinguishable from it, or to be so withdrawn that we are no longer ‘in the world’ in any meaningful sense. In neither instance are we able to bear withness to Jesus.
Daniel strikes a much healthier balance. He remains in the world, but not of it. And as such he provides a great example of how to engage meaningfully with our wrold, whilst not being conformed to it. It’s hard ot imagine how Daniel could be ‘in’ the world any more than he is. In his prime-ministerial role, he is deeply engaged with the sustems of administering the rule of Babylon. We mgiht think it impossible to be authentically Christina in such a hostile environment, but Daniel proves us wrong. In spite of the temptation to keep his head down and just quietly get on with his job, it is clear that Daniel was well known as a Christian. He hadn’t kept it under wraps. It is also clear that his character was beyond reproach. Darius knows it, and so when he comes to power and wants to eradicate the systemic in his civil service, he knows Daniel is his man. It is equally clear that Daniel’s public character is underpinned by a disciplined devotional life that is shaped by the Scriptures (See Jer.29:7; Ps.55:16-17; I Kings 8:46f). All this is an open secret.
We are often naive in hoping that if we live a ‘good’ life, that is seen to be beyond reporach, that it will shine like a beacon and that people will be drawn to it. Some might, but equally there will be some whose own sinfulness is simply provoked by a lifeof righteousness (I Jn.3:12). In Daniel 6, this proves to be the case, and the conspiracy is hatched.
It’s interesting to see what Daniel doesn’t do when he discovers the plot against him. He doesn’t seem to resent Darius’ failure to see through the initial ruse; he doesn’t draw on his own vast political experince to outmanoeuvre his opponents; he doesn’t pull rank and exploit his own position to ask for an audience with the king. Daniel instead goes to the One Person he knows can make a difference (Dan.7:13-14). He goes to his God in prayer.
At first glance it appears he is playing right into the hands of his opponents, and at one level he is. But at a much deeper level, he is doing what he has done for decades and publicly maintaining his spiritual integrity as a Christian. Like his friends before him, he knows his God can save, but whether Christ intervenes or not, Daniel will not be intimidated into compromising his walk with Him. Again, we can only imagine how easy it would have been for Daniel to be convinced that it would be OK to simply stop praying for a month… or to just change his pattern of prayer so that he isn’t discovered. But Daniel undestands that this plot hinges on precisely his faithfulness to Jesus. The one thing that mustn’t falter, is Daniel’s commitment to Him.
Again, Daniel follows his disobedience with a submission to the stated legal consequences of his actions. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar in Chapter 3, there is no personal animosity - quite the opposite. Darius however, doesn’t have the moral capacity to override the process, nor it seems the legal power of his predecessor to simply change the rules when it suits him. It is too easy for bureaucrats to justify (or indeed to proprogate) patent injustice by following due process. That is something that we should be aware of and prepared for; or indeed prepared not to collude with if we find ourselves part of a system that is doing what is wrong, but justifying it on the basis that the right procedures were followed.
We’re so familiar with the story, that it doesn’t surprise us that Daniel gets delivered from the Lion’s Den. But even in the Bible, this is an almost unique situation. The purpose of Daniel 6 is not to suggest that when we engage in civil disobedience for the sake of righteousness we can count on Jesus to ‘shut the mouths of lions’. As we noted in our previous article, there are too many Biblical passages to the contrary for us to suggest that. From Abel on, many Christians have been called on to shed their blood, or to pay the price as living and ‘bloodless’ martyrs for their faithfulness to Jesus. And not just within the covers of the Bible. Where was the Angel of the LORD to shut the mouths of the lions in the Colosseums of Ancient Rome?
We’ve already seen how the LORD is always present in the suffering of His people. (Acts 9:5, note that persecution of the Church is the persecution of Jesus). There are times when His presence results in deliverance, and times when it results in sustaining patient endurance. It might have been that Paul had Dan.6 in mind when he wrote to Timothy:
At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
II Tim.4:16-18
This is Paul who has spent years under unjust imrpisonment, and who will presently be martyred under Nero. Paul knows the LORD has the power to deliver, but he also celebrates the LORD’s power that enables him to endure. It is only because of the presence of Jesus by His Spirit, that Paul is able to continue to confess Christ faithfully.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
II Cor.4:8-10
As we saw the other morning in our overview of Acts, there is an inevitabilty about suffering in faithful discipleship and in the cause of the Gospel. We cannot follow a crucified Messiah and think otherwise. We are not however called to search out opportunities to provoke such conflict. We are not to manufacture the sort of situation in which we must disobey civil authority in order to obey Christ. That isn’t what Daniel did. The situation came to him after 6 decades and more of faithful service without confrontation. We don’t relish the possiblity of such a spiritual skirmish. But the question of whether, when it comes to us, we will have the sensitivity to recognise the moment for what it is, and the strength to stand in it, may depend (as it did for Daniel) on the depth and discipline of our devotional life. The very thing that makes Daniel vulnerable to mistreatment turns out to be the very thing that enables him to be victorious in it. Civil disobedience is built on the foundation of spiritual obedience, or else it isn’t an expression of our discipelship. It is, as we know, possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason.