Daniel chapter one, I will be reading verses one through seven. Here, for this is the word of the Lord. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand at the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel, he called Belteshazzar. Hananiah, he called Shadrach. Mishael, he called Meshach. And Azariah, he called Abednego. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Most of us do not know what it feels like to be exiled from a war-torn country, a country that we once called home. While in the last five generations that went before us, there have been worldwide migrations. There have been many refugees and exiles fleeing war to settle. in strange new places, alone, torn from their customs and cultures, having to decide whether or not to retain their old identities or to take on new identities altogether or a mixture of both. We can think of the recent chaos in Haiti and the wars in Israel and Ukraine. We can think of the many Europeans that migrated during the first two world wars, or the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who migrated to the U.S. since 1959 due to a tyrannical government. Many had to leave the land that they loved, the land that they were born in, to move to a new place, learn new languages, adopt new customs, Eat new food and make new alliances. Imagine if you were in that situation. What would you take with you? What would you hold on to from the past? And what would you leave behind? How well would you do with this kind of change, with these kinds of challenges? And what would be the source of your hope? In the book of Daniel, we witness something similar. The year is about 605 B.C. Judah, the kingdom in the south, has fallen to Babylon. It was about 117 years after Israel, the kingdom in the north, fell to Assyria. Now God's people are in exile. They have been torn from their home after it was besieged and they now find themselves in a strange new land. I think this is a perfect opportunity to remind you as Christians that although many of us would call this place home, according to Peter, we too are sojourners and exiles. We are pilgrims in a foreign land, just passing through as we make our way to our promised land. So this book has much to say to us today as it is about exile. It is about God's people living in a world that is not their own. It is about living among and serving unbelievers. But it is not only about exile. It's not even just about the principles we can learn to apply as we live in exile. It is that, but it is much more than that. If we were to summarize the book of Daniel, it would be God's faithfulness in exile. Now, can we learn principles from Daniel about how we are to live in exile? Well, yes, of course. But without God and his gospel, the principles we apply would have little to no meaning whatsoever. The truth is, we will always fall short of the standard that is set before us in Daniel, and we must come to realize who Daniel is really about, who Daniel points forward to. So today in our text, there is one major heading followed by five subheadings. I hope you can follow. In our text, we see God's faithful providence in the relocation, re-education, and renaming of God's people. Then we'll follow this with our hope in exile and our calling in exile as we seek to apply it. First, God's faithful providence in their relocation. Again, the year is 605 B.C., the third year of the reign of Eliakim, the son of King Josiah and Zebedee, who was appointed king and renamed Jehoiakim by Pharaoh Necho. Pharaoh Necho appointed him king after he overthrew Jehoiakim's half-brother, Jehoaz. And on the world scene, another important event would occur. In the same year, Nebuchadnezzar would ascend to the throne of Babylon. And soon enough, he had his sights set on Jerusalem. According to 2 Kings 24, it says that King Jehoiakim became Nebuchadnezzar's servant for three years, but then he rebelled against him. Then it says that the Lord sent the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah. And so Judah was conquered and besieged. Notice how it says that it was the Lord who gave Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. What we will continue to see in the book of Daniel is God's faithful providence, His control and guidance over all of history, especially over His people, whether it is in blessing His people or coming to His people in discipline and judgment. In the case of handing Jehoiakim over to Babylon, this is an example of God's faithful discipline. This is where it hurts. Discipline hurts, but discipline is for the good of God's people in the honor of God's name. And discipline reaffirms that we belong to him, as the author of Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 12. But in either case, the book of Daniel reassures us of God's faithful providence in our lives, whether we are going through hard times with sickness, sorrow, death, failing relationships, or dealing with a society that rejects us because of our faith. These are all the trials that we face as we live in exile. But in the first verse of this text, we are considering God's judgment on his own people as a form of discipline. And what is significant to understand here is that after this exile, Israel as a nation will never be the same again, even later after they rebuild the temple. Now, this is like the point of no return until the coming of the Messiah. Israel was no longer a light to the nations and will never go back to the way it was as it was under Moses. They will never be that independent, theocratic nation again. See, the Lord has been warning his people, the nation of Israel, about his judgment since the days when he delivered them out of Egypt. He warned that if they did not listen to him, he would scatter them among the nations. The Lord told Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 31, this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering. And they will forsake me and break my covenant that I made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured." This was fulfilled and recorded in 2 Kings chapter 24. The Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he, that is Nebuchadnezzar, brought them to the land of Shinar. This is the same location of the Tower of Babel, which in biblical history is the center of ungodliness and corruption. And so it continues. Nebuchadnezzar brought the vessels of the temple to the house of his God and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God, that is, the false god Marduk, the god of the gods of heaven and earth. Now, this was prophesied in 2 Kings chapter 20 and Isaiah chapter 39, after Hezekiah made an ungodly alliance with Babylon in order to take on Assyria. See, Hezekiah played politics He trusted in his alliance with Babylon rather than in his God. Isn't this the temptation for many Christians today? How often do we trust in politics? over trusting in the Lord? But the prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah, behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the place of the king of Babylon. And who did Nebuchadnezzar call on next to gather some of the people of Israel? Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch. Eunuchs were servants who were castrated and trained to serve with 100% loyalty. They were castrated so that their desires for sexual pleasure would be quenched and they would be 100% focused, so to speak, on their role. And what was this eunuch's role? He was to gather some of the people of Israel for re-education, to help integrate them into the new society. One thing we'll notice in the story of the Babylonian exile was that not all of the people of Israel were carried off to Babylon. Some of the most poor were left behind to be governed by whoever Nebuchadnezzar appointed over them. This was sort of a divide and conquer strategy that was very successful in that it kept the people in Judah impoverished and unable to rise up against the kingdom of Babylon. Listen to the account in 2 Kings chapter 24. where it says that Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon, king of Israel, had made, as the Lord had foretold. He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, that is about 7,000 men. 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths, which were about 1,000. None remained, except the poorest people of the land. So Nebuchadnezzar's strategy was to carry off all the elites of society, all those who would have had influence and would have strengthened the nation of Israel. And among those elites, they were described as both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish. He uses the language of sacrifice here. when the Israelites would choose a lamb or a goat without blemish. So this means they were to be young men, most likely in their mid to late teenage years, in perfect physical condition, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom. They were to be intelligent, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, that is, in order to lead or to rule, as the eunuch was to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. In other words, Babylon was raising up a new generation of leaders and statesmen to serve the good of Babylon. And to do this, they were going to indoctrinate them in their own education system. And the way to do this, in addition to relocating them, they will try to replace all memory of their identity, their language, their history, which would include their holy scriptures, and replace it with the language, history, and literature, including the religious and pagan literature of Babylon. And they were to be subject to this period of learning for three years before they would stand before the king in order to serve him in his courts. And not only do they have to be reeducated, but along with relocation and reeducation comes new customs and new food. It says the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be completely assimilated into Babylonian culture and way of living according to the king since they will be serving the king's courts. And out of all that was commanded of them by the king, for most of us, this would be the one command we wouldn't make a big deal of. We would probably say to ourselves, you just invaded us. and you took us from our homeland, you snatched our young men of royal and noble status, you're indoctrinating us in your own education system, food is the least of our worries. We can deal with that, bring it on. But as we will see next time, this would not be the response from four of our key characters. Instead, they will have a rather odd response that many of us are not used to. But for now, we are introduced to four of the chosen young men of Israel. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. These were young men of royal background. They belonged to the house of David. the tribe of Judah, but the chief of the eunuchs gave them new names. Daniel, which meant God is my judge, was now Belteshazzar, which means old lady, wife of the god Bel, protect the king. I know that's long, but anyway, it's paying tribute to the god Bel. Hananiah, which meant the Lord is gracious, was now Shadrach, which means command of Aku, the moon god. Mishael, which meant who is what God is, was now Meshach, which means who is like Aku. Azariah, which meant the Lord is helper, was now Abednego, which means servant of the shining one, Nebu. Now, what was the purpose of relocating, re-educating, and renaming these four young men? Well, it is satanic in origin. Babylon is representative of the world system governed by Satan. So it is in the nature of the world system to remove all traces of the one true God from the identity of believers so that they would worship and serve the beast, Satan. Now this is what Nebuchadnezzar was attempting to do by reeducating them and feeding them so that they would depend on him rather than God. They would be made to feel comfortable and provided for. He wanted to fool them into thinking that they receive all their blessings from Him rather than God. Also, He took it even further by renaming them. Their Hebrew names were reminders of who they worshiped and served and who they were to put their trust in. Their names spoke of the one true God and now their names pay tribute to the false gods, Marduk, Bel, and Nebu. Now, I'm not saying that everyone has to name their children after biblical characters. Let us not make that law. That would be to miss the point entirely. Their names is not what mattered. The point of their names was that they would remember their God in exile while the world system around them is trying to make them forget their God. But isn't this what the world system wants to fool us into believing today? That our blessings come from a politician? or the government or somebody behind the scenes at the top pulling the strings and without them, oh no, the world is over. Well, that's a lie. God pulls the strings. And I'm not at all saying that receiving government assistance is wrong or sinful, but we are to acknowledge that it is only one from whom all our blessings flow. and that is God. And nothing will happen that was not preordained by God. Politicians come and go. Kings and queens pass away, yet God remains on his throne. Nebuchadnezzar foolishly tried to attain total allegiance from these young men so that they would forget their identity and forget their God. But they were to remember their God. depend on Him, and worship Him alone, just as we are expected to do the same today. Because behind this world system, which is still around today, is the enemy of our souls, who wants us to worship Him, depend on Him, and trust in Him. That was the point of the original temptation in the Garden of Eden, that we would worship Satan. That was what was behind Jesus' temptation. in the wilderness that he would bow down and worship Satan. This world system has always been around and is still around today, as it would be later referred to as Babylon in the book of Revelation, long after this Babylon was already conquered. And I know, as many of you have probably been influenced by popular Christianity on TV or on YouTube or whatever, before your mind jumps to politics for a solution or to geopolitical nation states to try to identify who is part of Babylon and who is not, let me remind you that the people of God today, everywhere on this earth, is living in Babylon. You can't escape this world system. We are in exile no matter where we live, so let us not be deceived. You are living in Babylon right now. You are not in Israel. You are not in your promised land. Even the so-called self-proclaimed Christian nations are still Babylon for the Christian. This is not our homeland. no matter how much we dress it up, no matter how much makeup we put on it, at the end of the day, it is still Babylon. I believe this is becoming more and more clear for Christians today. We were never meant to reestablish a new Israel. God does that. He will bring down the new Jerusalem and the new heavens and the new earth. Revelation 21 is clear on this. So Revelation 21 should teach us, don't look for it here on earth. Everything is fallen and everything will fall here. I know it makes for a great speech, but the city on the hill is not the US. It is the church. It is the church as the people of God shine the light of Christ, because Christ is the only way out of Babylon. If you are not in Christ, then you are part of the system of Babylon. So does that mean we become nihilists? Like everything is meaningless? Well, of course not. That would be to miss the point entirely. But let us notice two important points here. First, notice once again the goodness of God's providence. Although all this was meant for evil, the results would be good. Not only would it be good for those who are called according to his purposes, but also, I'm speaking about the history of salvation. We see the preservation of the royal family or the royal seed, the seed of David from the tribe of Judah. which would one day bring forth our Messiah, Jesus Christ, as he is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Jesus would come from this royal family that was preserved during the exile in Babylon. Second, notice that the remnant of God's people will be a light to the nations, the Gentile nations, in the foreign land. In exile, the Gentiles of Babylon will come in contact with the one true God through the people of God who were carried there. Babylon will have a gospel witness among them through the chosen few of Israel. And doesn't that still apply to us today? As we live in Babylon, we are to be a gospel witness to those around us. So let us consider the big picture. In order to know our hope in exile, God's people have been exiled to a strange new place, which is hostile to the truth of God. They're being reprogrammed and readjusted to submit to the world's demands. There is pressure to conform to the ways of the world, specifically sin. This is not all that different from our own situation in this world, is it? Christians are in exile. But before we consider our exile and our calling in exile, what is our hope in exile? while our hope in exile is found in the one who has brought us into exile and who will lead us out of exile. Let us consider the one who lived a perfect life in exile. Because what do these four characters who were introduced to us today have in common with our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, they are both of royal blood. They both come from the tribe of Judah, the house of David. They went from living exalted lives as royalty to being humbled to live in exile, away from their home. The Son of God, as John says, who was always at the Father's side, who existed in all eternity, face to face with His Father in glory, humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant by becoming a man. But before He became an adult man, He was also a young boy. who had to learn and who had to grow, as Luke would say, he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. And he grew up in Jewish Galilee under Roman occupation. The Jews were in their homeland, but it wasn't theirs anymore. So in many ways, he was living in complete exile. But that's not all. He dwelt among us, and he submitted himself as a servant obedient to the point of death on a cross. He was the lamb without any blemish who died as the perfect sacrifice in order to save sinners. Imagine going from glory in heaven to living on earth in a world of sin and misery knowing that you do not belong nor fit in. Yet Jesus, walked through his exile perfectly to the cross and to the resurrection where he would lead his own exodus. But he did so trusting in his father's providence even when his providence was difficult. We know that God planned and predestined Christ to die at the hands of lawless men, but also he planned and predestined Christ to rise again, all for our salvation. And so it is by his grace and by his power that we are able to walk through our own exile, heading toward our own exodus from this world to the new Jerusalem above. This is our hope. Our hope is not found in building our own version of Israel on earth. Our hope is that we trust in the Savior who will surely lead and guide us through this exile. Our hope is found in God's providence in exile. Because just as He promised to be with His people and restore His people throughout the Bible, especially in their exile, He has promised to be with us as well through our own exile. Now, when we are challenged and times are hard, it may not always be discipline. Oftentimes, it's rather difficult to tell. But what we do know, when life gets out of control, God is in control. Nothing catches him by surprise. He wasn't surprised when Judah was ransacked and besieged. He wasn't caught by surprise when his people were dragged off into exile. In fact, God was the one who placed Judah into the hands of Babylon. So he is not caught by surprise when our close friends or family, even church family, sin against us. He is not caught by surprise when we receive a bad diagnosis from our doctors. All will go as according to plan. And it is all for our good and for his glory. Because he has also promised to never leave us nor forsake us. God is the ultimate prize of life. This is what these four young men brought with them to this strange new world. He is in control, not Babylon, nor the powers that be, even though they think they are in control. They can do whatever they want. They can re-educate them and rename them, but they know their God as their true God, and they know that their God is with them. And their allegiance to Him is what comes first, not these superficial and worldly things. So with that said, second, let us consider our calling in exile, which is inseparable from our hope in exile. Although we are exiles and strangers in this world, God has placed you in a certain place at a certain time for a certain reason. Nothing is meaningless. Never look to your condition nor your place in life as a mistake or as an accident. You are not here by chance. No situation that God has placed us in is hopeless, especially for the Christian. Even in times when there is no explanation to why we're suffering, even in times of persecution, the Lord is in control. Everything in your life has a purpose, even those things that may seem to us as meaningless or even difficult. It is always to help us grow as Christians. It is always to draw our minds back to God. And He has promised to sustain us with His power. We will see throughout this book how God strengthened the resolve and the faith of these four young men. God's power and faithfulness is at work here. But also as we will see, They don't respond to Babylon the way we would think is the rational nor natural way to respond. Their response was not to pick up arms and start a rebellion. No. In fact, their response would be supernatural. Although they will put up some holy resistance, but we will see how they will go on to bless Babylon. They will go on to serve the common good of Babylon. And that is what we are called to do while we are living in this fallen city. We are to love and serve whatever nation we live in. We are to serve the common good, all the while remembering that this is not our final destination. So most of all, we are called to remember our God. Amen.