In The Lion's Den

Daniel the Prophet - Chapter 6 -
Darius the Mede conquered the kingdom of Babylon when he was sixty-two years old. Remember Belshazzar? He was executed by Darius’ soldiers. And normally, when a new king conquered like Darius did, they killed everybody in the former king’s court! Why didn’t Daniel die? Because he was no ordinary “wise man”! His reputation reached the new king, Darius, perhaps even before he attacked Babylon!
The princes and presidents were jealous when Daniel was installed as one of three presidents. They wanted him gone! They searched to find grounds for a complaint against Daniel, but they could not find anything that Daniel had done wrong! So they hatched a crafty plan!
They used the king in their plot against Daniel. They flattered the king and told him that they wanted to honor him. The king fell for their flattery and foolishly signed the law that they wanted to introduce! “If any man prays unto any god, or to any man, except thou, O king, for thirty days, let him be cast into the den of lions”.
Daniel was not for sale. He did not change his intention to serve the God of heaven, even though he was under pressure.
Too late, the king realized what was happening, and the rest of the day he tried to save Daniel! But Daniel ended up in the lions' den! The king said to Daniel, “May your God whom you serve continually, deliver you”. Then the stone was laid over the opening and sealed with the king's seal.
Darius could not sleep at all that night. He did not eat, and he did not want any visitors! Early in the morning, as soon as it was light, he hurried to the lion's den. As he approached the cave, he shouted to Daniel with sadness in his voice.
“Daniel, you servant of the living God! Has your God, whom you constantly worship, been able to save you from the lions”?
This is unbelievable behavior for the king! Being in the lion's den is certain death! The king does not care what the others will think of him, he is out by the lion's den early the next morning, talking to a "dead" man!
The king has hope and he speaks as one who has the Spirit of the Holy God in him! He hopes that Daniel is alive. That his voice is sad only reveals his own realization and remorse over his own folly! The king shows a strong belief that God had taken care of Daniel, and closed the lions' mouths as Daniel himself puts it.
It began with envy, a desire to get rid of Daniel for good, the desire became action, and for safety's sake, his tomb was sealed with a large stone, and the king's seal.
Do you know that Jesus was exposed to the same thing? Satan was jealous of Jesus. For Jesus had His position among the three, in heaven. Instead of honor and glory, Satan was cast out of heaven. He then tricks Eve to fall, and Adam then chooses to lose his God-given dominion over this new world, for fear of losing Eve.
Jesus then comes to earth as our Savior. Satan was sure that he would succeed in getting Jesus to sin while He was human and subject to the same temptations we face! Just as the councilors and satraps tried to find something in Daniel's worship of God, Satan, with the help of the Pharisees and the scribes, tried to find something for which they could accuse Jesus! But they could not find anything! The councilors and satraps used their king. The Pharisees and the scribes also used the king, Herod, and had Jesus judged by Pilate.
When we read the Book of Revelation about the end times, we find the same thing again. Satan uses his agents, and the kings of the earth will then also be deceived and used. They eventually end up in mountains, in caves and cliffs in an attempt to hide themselves. It's all about worship in Revelation, just like in the book of Daniel!
Jesus was crucified and laid to rest in a cave, and a stone was placed in front of the opening. And it was also sealed with the ruler of that time, the Roman seal. Pilate, did not sleep much the night after the crucifixion!
There are three caves in the Bible that are very interesting. One is the cave here in Daniel 6. The next is the tomb of Jesus, as already mentioned. Last is the tomb of Lazarus. All were caves with a stone used to close the opening!
King Darius was out early in the morning, expecting life where death was certain!
At Lazarus' tomb, Jesus' friends try to stop Jesus from resurrecting Lazarus. “Do not touch the stone”, they say, “he stinks”!
And at the tomb of Jesus. Early in the morning someone also came to that grave, they did not expect any life. They were going there to anoint the memory of a dead person.
Do you get it?
A pagan king miraculously expects life! Jesus' friends do not believe that Jesus can give life to someone who stinks of death, and at Jesus' tomb his friends have come only to anoint the memory of his death.
Christians live under enormous pressure these days, to accept the world's ethics and morals. For these stories are also about our time, for the book of Daniel is a prophetic book. The Bible speaks of being dead in sin, many do not believe in any resurrection. The stone is a picture of a heart of stone that prevents spiritual light from reaching the dark grave; our heart that is dead in sin! Do not touch the stone, do not talk about sin, someone may have a bad conscience. It stinks. Rather come to our church and join in the praise, we celebrate the memory that Jesus has died.
But Jesus lives. He can give new life, give us victory over acquired and inherited sinful tendencies!