This originally appeared in the Moriel Bulletin of August 2013.
One of my favourite books is Daniel, not just
because it contains some of the most important eschatological
prophecies in the Bible; (Jesus' dialogue in Matthew 24, and the
entire book of Revelation being vitally connected to it), but because
it contains some of the most vivid depictions of living godly in the
midst of persecution and standing for the LORD in the very heart of
Babylon itself. We see the great trials of faith of for Daniel's and
his friends with the Fiery Furnace, and the Den of Lions. However we
should take note of the progression in the book. The fight of faith
for Daniel and his friends begins not at the moment of potential
martyrdom, but in chapter One.
“And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,... But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ...said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days."
Daniel purposed he would not defile himself with
the meat and wine of the king of Babylon. Of course under the Old
Covenant a faithful Israelite would avoid foods not permitted in the
Torah. Interestingly enough the Torah does not mention wine itself as
being unkosher. Perhaps underlying this there was an issue with the
food (Aramaic pat-bag: delicacies) and wine of the king of Babylon
being connected to idolatry in some way as well, in a manner
reminiscent of that which Paul addressed the Corinthians about. The
main application that I want to make here is typological. Babylon is
THE major scriptural type of a world religious and value system that
is directly opposed to God. It is typological of an evil and
seductive religious system, that if it cannot deceive, entice or
enslave the people of God on the one hand, will attempt to persecute
and destroy them on the other. Daniel saw that if he began to
compromise and let a little of that which is tainted by Babylon's
idolatrous system in, it would begin a process which would cause
problems further on down the line.
The Wine Of Babylon
Typologically wine has a number of different
meanings, but in connection with Babylon they are wholly negative: it
is called the wine of the wrath of her fornication; that
is the wine of the wrath arising of her immorality and idolatry. Wine
can lull us to sleep, or leave us disoriented, like a drunk in the
street; vulnerable and ready to be mugged, or lay us open to further
seduction in our intoxicated state. At the very least it can make us
insensible just at the moment when we need to be alert and watching,
The wine of Babylon is particularly dangerous as it leads us into
actively sinning and drifting away from the LORD. Scripture tells us
very clearly in the Last Days the love of many would grow cold
because iniquity would abound. “Once Saved Always
Saved” was never part of Jesus doctrine nor that of the Apostles or
the Early Church. Paul says that if we are drunken and fall asleep,
then the Day of the LORD (which is not the Tribulation, but when
Jesus visibly returns in glory to gather up His saints and punish the
ungodly), has every possibility of catching us unawares too. It
shouldn't but it could, something that both Jesus
and the Apostles said could happen to genuine believers (Luke
12:45-48; 1 Thess. 5:4-8 ; 1 Pet. 2:15-22, you will look in vain for
a “Once Saved Always Saved” doctrine in the Scriptures. In its
proper biblical context Eternal Security is always conditional).
Spiritual Junk Food
To eat of the delicacies of Babylon means we
ingest its essence and values, they become a part of us, and change
our makeup. They will weaken us, subtly sap our spiritual vitality,
incrementally crush our spiritual vigour. To draw a parallel with
modern day nutrition, it's like trying to live on a diet of
Megaburgers, Chicken Mucknuggets, sugar filled shakes, snacks and
sodas and the processed rubbish that is passed off as food. In fact
we know that eating this stuff is a sure but steady way to obesity,
diabetes, clogged arteries and congestive heart failure (It does make
you wonder if the plague of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in the UK and
USA is typological of the spiritual state of those nations, but
that's another issue).
Typlogically speaking we are exiled in Bablylon
until our Lord returns in glory and frees us. As believers the King
of Babylon comes to offer his delicacies, Satan wants to re-program
our system of values and priorities, to squeeze us into the world's
mould (Rom 12:2). One of the primary ways that he does this is
through the entertainment media, which when not seducing us with the
world's value sytem acts as a marvellous sinkhole down which our
precious time disappears to no profit. Ever done that come home from
work relax after tea-time flop in front of the telly thing, and
wonder how it got to midnight, finding yourself too tired to read
even a small portion of God's Word? So we go to bed exhausted, wake
up later than we intended and rush to work without that needed time
with the LORD? For most people and many believers too this is a
pattern of life.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying its sinful to
own a TV set, but somebody once defined insanity as repeating the
same course of action but expecting different results each time. If
this is our lifestyle then somethng is seriously wrong! In this
modern era the entertainment industry has become the siren-song of
Satan to seduce the saints into sin and serial squandering of the
precious and all too finite time we have left to grow and develop in
the knowledge of God and His Word. Satan uses the world system and
its entertainments very powerfully indeed against the believer. He
uses the bright lights of Babylon to draw strangers and pilgrims in
from the wilderness, so he can entrap them in his allurements. We may
be exiles in this world, trapped in the Land of Babylon awaiting our
deliverance, but we dare not settle down in its city and become
naturalised citizens! We seek a city that has foundations whose
builder and maker is God.
God's Healthy Diet Plan
In Hebrews 12 we are warned not just to cast off
entangling sins, but every other encumberance which can
hinder our walk with God, and one of the biggest stumbling blocks for
modern day believers is mismanagment of our time! Jesus called these
things "the lusts of other things entering in, which choke
the word and render it unfruitful".
If the spiritual spring has gone out of our step,
if we feel jaded and exhausted in our inner man, we need to be
realistic with ourselves and look at our priorities. In Genesis 18,
if Abraham was a modern Christian, he would have asked the LORD and
his angelic companions to "Sit down over there for while will
you, -I just have to catch this episode of Coronation Street!".
Of course in reality Abraham dropped everything in order to serve the
LORD and sit with Him. We should be mindful for the LORD to be lord
of our lives indeed, means that He be master of our time also.
If Daniel had not set his heart to be faithful and
not defile himself with the wine and delicacies of Babylon, he may
not have had the strength to stand in the later much more severe
trials. If he had not run with the footmen he would not have
been able to run with the horses. He that is faithful in
little will be faithful in much.
We are living in highly dangerous and volatile
times and the LORD is not going to snatch us away at any moment a
la J.N. Darby's delusions, (Darby, in addition to founding a self-excommunicating and controlling cult-group, promulgated an eschatology that flat out denies explicit teachings of the Scriptures by adopting a spiritualising hermeneutic to insert teachings into the Body that can not be honestly derived from Scripture. Not only so, but he held to a form of Neo-Marcionism, that hacked the Scriptures up and effectively wrote major parts of the New Testament off. No one should claim that these errors are the product of the work of the Spirit.), but
things can change so rapidly that we could quite possibly be standing
on the very cusp of the Tribulation itself At the very least Europe
and the USA are fast becoming places where faithful believers in
Jesus are being officially persecuted. Remember democracy and
religious freedom are a historical anomaly in human history, not the
norm. Are we ready for this? Unless we prepare ourselves for what
lies ahead, we imperil ourselves. The junk food of Babylon can
cripple our spiritual health and effectiveness, and render us unfit
for service, or even worse.
“Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” (v.16)
Daniel and his friends chose to eat pulses and
drink water instead of eating Babelburgers and Nebuchadnezzar
McNuggets. Interestingly enough the Hebrew word for pulses is
"zaronim" from the Hebrew word "zera" -a seed, a
type of the Word of God (see Matthew 13, Mark 4 etc) . We are to
desire the word that we might grow thereby.
“at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.” (v. 15)
Consequently they enjoyed better health than those
who ate from the King of Babylon's portion. They were not just better
equipped for the trials ahead but God also blessed them for their
faithfulness, and gave them wisdom and understanding above that of
their peers, in particular that which related to the Last Days. To
him who hath more shall be given but to him that hath not even that
which he hath shall be taken from him. We all desperately need
understanding for the days ahead, but it comes at a price, that of
forsaking the things not needful and choosing the good portion.
