We're gonna continue in our look at the book of Daniel, and we're also gonna kind of see how Daniel fits into the Christmas story. Last time I was up here, we looked at the first few verses of chapter one, so we're gonna pick up at verse eight. Daniel chapter one, verse eight to the end of the chapter. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the chief of the units that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the units. And the chief of the units said to Daniel, I was feared by the lord of the king, who has appointed your food and drink. Then you would endanger my head before the king. So Daniel said to the steward and the chief of the eunuchs, and said, O Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies. And as you see fit, so deal with your servants. So he consented with them in the matter and tested them 10 days. And at the end of 10 days, their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. Thus, the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink and gave them vegetables. As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all, none was found like Daniel, Ananias, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. Thus Daniel continued until the first year of king Cyrus. So Daniel and his companions have been taken captive to Babylon, and are placed into training to serve with King Nebuchadnezzar. The captives are going through a three-year assimilation program to basically work their native Judaism out of them and make them think like Babylonians. And most likely, this wasn't just Jewish captives that were in this program. Nebuchadnezzar was basically busy conquering most of the known world, and other captives would have been brought in also. So there would have been a mix there. But the idea was to make them Babylonians in thought and appearance and everything, and get rid of all semblance of what they had grown up with and who they were. So they were to learn the language, the history, the literature, and the religion of the Chaldeans. And they were also, again, conforming to the native culture. They were given new names that were intended to make them establish a new identity. And we see that Daniel and his friends did not object to the schooling. There's no record of them objecting to their new names. Both of these were external, and neither were technically forbidden by the Mosaic law. So these were things that they knew, things that were, though they may not have liked it, they knew that those things did not change who they were, what a relationship they got. But there was a third demand that was placed on them. And that was that they were to eat a daily portion from the king's table. And this they objected to. We're told that Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's food. And the key word there is defile. This food that was coming from the king's table, though obviously, almost obviously, I guess, the fact that it was coming from the king's table meant that it was probably the best stuff being served in the country. And so this was good food, but there was something that made it defile. or that would defile these Jews. So this verse here, it highlights one aspect of Daniel's character that will show, it's gonna show itself throughout the book. And that is his resolve. It's his standing firm for God and for the things that he believes in and the things that he was brought up being taught. Daniel never wavered. in his faith, never wavered in obeying God. It might seem a small thing to conform to something like this with the food, but true faithfulness is first exercised in private and in small things. Others might compromise, but Daniel would not. And this is a true, you know, that the things we do in private, which nobody sees, but that is really who we are. We can have this nice appearance on the outside, this public appearance that people see. If that's not who we are in private, then that appearance is just hypocrisy. And one of my big irritations, I guess, And I can't, I'm not perfect in this myself, but it bothers me when I hear a Christian say, well, who's gonna know? And I hear that all the time. I hear it every once in a while. When somebody wants to do something that they probably shouldn't be doing, and it's who's gonna know? Well, you know what? You know, the Lord knows. Ultimately, you stand before God. And if you are doing these things in private, or doing it where nobody knows, then ultimately, it's going to come out and you're going to compromise in other areas. The Brazilian law had a strict code regarding foods that were considered clean and things that could be eaten. So clean foods that could be eaten. And others that were not clean and thus were forbidden from being eaten. or whatever, and the meat itself was acceptable. But Daniel did not know how it was prepared. He did not know if the blood had been drained properly. He didn't know some of the other, you know, whether it was dressed properly, you know, immediately after killing or had it been sitting around for a long time. Daniel doesn't know any of that stuff. But there's also another reason why Daniel may have refused this food. It's been said that all meals served at the king's table were feasts in honor of the gods. And a portion of the meat would first be dedicated to some god in sacrifice. And some of the wine would also be poured out as an offering to the gods. So this was a celebration for false gods So by eating the food from the king's table, Daniel would give the impression that he too was honoring these false gods by participating in their celebration. He was commanded to eat this food by the Babylonians, but he had already made up his mind that he would not defile himself. Daniel realized that even in far-off Babylon, he was not free to disobey God. His main goal, as should be ours, regardless of where we are, where we live, whatever place we might be at, our main goal is to glorify God. And we do that in one way, through obedience to him. So Daniel did not base his decision on his own opinion or traditions. It was based on the word of God. God's word clearly forbids him from eating his food. So he resolved that he would not. He made up his mind to do what was right without compromise and without offering excuses. but even in the face of overwhelming pressure, he stood on the truth and would not budge." So Daniel responds to the situation, though, in a spirit of humility and respect. And so he politely requests permission from the chief of the eunuchs to not confine himself with this food. He doesn't make any demands, and it doesn't seem at this point that he's shared with his fellow He probably said, I don't even know, it doesn't say that. He told him, you know, the law, my law says that I can't have this, whatever. He just goes and asks that he be given the, you know, not to do that at this point. And in his request, there's a Christlike spirit exhibited here. And a practical point for us that we do not have to be obnoxious to be faithful to God. We don't have to be obnoxious to be Christians. You know, I remember way back when I was a late teen, just after I'd come to know the Lord, and I was in a youth group at another church, and we had gone to a weekend retreat somewhere, and we were coming back and ran into a snowstorm, and ended up having to stay overnight at a hotel, and all of us young people were down by the swimming pool, Some of the guys were getting a little rambunctious, let's say. And a couple of the other guests at this hotel complained and just asked that we settle down a little bit. And one of the boys said, just because we're Christians doesn't mean we can't have fun. This had nothing to do with being a Christian. It had everything to do with being obnoxious. And, you know, these people just simply ask that they tone it down. And his reply was just like, you're trying to take away my fun. We don't have to be that way as Christians. And even with regard to the things that we're doing as believers, we don't have to be obnoxious about it. You know, handing out fracks, there's a right way and there's a wrong way. And you don't want to turn people off by the way that There's a, I think it's from moments with the book, they have a list of a whole bunch of ways to distribute tracks. And it's got a buddy that says, you know, you pass up or leave a track with, you know, when you go out to eat, leave a track on the table with a tip. And then in parentheses, it tells you to leave a decent tip. Yeah, don't leave a penny or whatever, because, you know, that just doesn't go all right with it. So anyways. Daniel does not act that way. Daniel is polite. Daniel is respectful of the way he makes his request. This is a Christ-like spirit that he exhibits. And we see this in the Lord Jesus. 1 Peter 2.23 says, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, himself to him who judges righteously. And there's the key. It's committing ourselves to God. God is the judge. God will deal righteously. God will deal with the situation. We just have to act properly and respectfully and humbly. So despite the fact that God has given Daniel favor with this man, the request is refused. But Daniel is unwilling to disobey the word of God. God has designed us to live under him as children and subjects, not alongside him as equals with the right to disagree. Only the Lord Jesus has that right, and he was completely obedient in all things. or if we're not, you know, this man is, you know, he's my superior. He's telling me I have to eat this food. But no, Daniel trusts God to work out the situation. And so the chief eunuch has told Daniel that he fears the king's command. And so Daniel is gonna be given the food. So this leaves Daniel with a couple options. He can choose to eat it, or he can go on a hunger strike and starve. And this would probably just lead to his execution before he could actually complete the starvation. And he makes this request to the steward that they do a test. And for 10 days, he wants to be given only vegetables and grains. Apparently, the Greek word for vegetables is actually, some translations say, or pulse, which is basically grains, things grown. And so that would include grains and vegetables. So he would get bread and vegetables and water. And so they would be tested for 10 days, and after the 10 days, if they appeared malnourished or pale or anything, then they would submit to whatever the stewards saw fit to impose on them. And it's in this proposal that we see Daniel's faith in God to see him through. It's evident that he believed God would honor his desire to be faithful to him. He has confidence that the Lord laws that God had established. And this is an example of God's revealed will. God is committed to helping us live according to that will if we trust Him. Basically, God's revealed will, we ask God to reveal His will to us. If you want to know God's will, read the Bible. Daniel lived for God's glory, and this produced a spirit of humble confidence that God will act and support us as we seek to glorify Him. The confidence of faith is based on what God has the power to perform and what He has promised to do. Do you believe God can do things? Do you believe that God can help you? Do you believe the promises that God has made us? If you do, you should have confidence that He will fulfill those things. So the steward agrees to do this for them, and at the end of the 10 days, Daniel and his friends are seen to be healthier and better nourished than all the others. So the royal food is taken from them, and they're allowed to eat the grains and vegetables. We seek God first. We seek the things that He has told us and promised us. He will add all the other things that sometimes our desires, hopefully our desires, says that he who is faithful in a little thing is also faithful in much. They had proven faithful in the important business of their obedience to God. So we can assume they had also been faithful in the lesser business. So putting in the long hours of study in this training program that they were in, their knowledge and understanding was more than just the accumulation of It was the ability to use the information properly, to distinguish between truth and error. And this is what the book of Proverbs calls true wisdom. And they didn't just sit back and say, hey, God, send that knowledge into my head. Anybody have books like this? But they opened the books. It wasn't a matter of the idea of being It's important that God gives us gifts, but it's important that we exercise what he's given us and then use the smarts and the information. If he's given us a lot of facts, make sure you put it to use in the right way. And that's what these guys apparently did. They spent time studying. They were good students. And then we see that Daniel is given the special ability to understand and interpret dreams and visions. So when the three-year training programs ended, the four were brought before King Nebuchadnezzar, and they were interviewed personally by him to determine their usefulness in the kingdom. These four young men were found to be at the top of their class, with no one like them. They were in the top 1%, and everybody else was probably in the top 1%. Because of their standing and because of the way they interviewed, they were assigned to serve before they became in the administration. Soon they would be promoted to the highest levels of government. We'll see that later in the book. And these four young men would have, they would have the opportunity to see that things They're going to get promoted eventually. And they were part of the first wave of captives to come. There were two more waves of captives that were going to be coming into Babylon. And they were going to be put into positions where they would be able to exercise influence on how these captives would be treated. And we see, as we read, if you take a look at the book of Ezekiel, Jewish camp set up, the people, for the most part, were able to come and go within the country. They weren't locked up in a prison somewhere. We see that they bought houses, they planted gardens, they conducted business. And at the end of the 70 years, many of them did not want to go back. They were happy where they were at. And much of this would have most likely meant because the These four were put into positions where they could help direct where and make things good for the captives coming in. It's sort of like, somewhat like Joseph when, after he had revealed himself to his brothers and he brought his father and the brothers down to Egypt, they were given the land of Goshen, which was very good land for their sheep. And that was because of Joseph's influence with Pharaoh. And these guys here had kind of the same ability or opportunity to do that. So we're told that Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus. He served and outlived the kingdom that had taken him captive. He was in a position to speak to God's people to return that to Judah. So it doesn't necessarily mean that Daniel died in that first year, it just illustrates how long he lived. So with Christmas upon us here, I wanna take a few minutes and tie in a couple of things relative to Christmas that we see here in Daniel. First, I wanna look at the question of who were the wise men who visited the Lord Jesus after his death? that I'd like to explore here. In chapter 2, verse 48, let's put it on that page. 2, verse 48. It says, then he came below to Daniel and gave him many great gifts. And he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wives of men of Babylon. And then, so there we see that he was made chief administrator over all the wives Chapter four, verse nine, Nebuchadnezzar has this dream and he calls on Daniel, who would be named Belshazzar. He says, Belshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you, and so on. We see Nebuchadnezzar calling him chief of the magicians. And then in chapter five, verse 11, when Belshazzar is king and sees the writing on the wall, And in verse 11, she says to Belshazzar, there's a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father, the king, made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. So these magicians and astrologers were also known as Magi. And Daniel was made the chief of all the official magi in Babylon. So a lot of this is speculation tied to the Christmas story, but we can imagine that there was an influence here. So magi is the plural of the word magus, and that's the root of our word magic. And it denotes a person who practiced astrology, dream interpretation, and various types of machines. These were also men that were counselors. So the group of Magi in question, in the book of Matthew, came from the East. And many scholars believe that they were Persians from Babylon. They probably served as royal counselors or court advisors. They made forecasts and predictions for the royal, for those that they served, based on their study of the stars. And to some extent, isn't that what weathermen do? They study the sky, and they look up, and they see what's going on in the sky, and they make predictions. And we always like to laugh about how, you know, what a great job that is to be, you know, bright, you know, 10% of the time or whatever. But that's what these guys did. They watched the stars. They watched the things that were in the sky. They probably knew weather patterns, and they were able to make, to advise and to counsel those that they were, you know, So, the Manja often, they're also considered to be very smart, very intelligent. Some of them were also kind of the type of people that would go around selling snake oil to, you know, remember the, I forget which play they did. The music man, the guy who's selling this stuff, or there's the rain man, but he sells things that are potions that are supposed to make people well, but in fact, it's just a bottle of water by something. So some of them were charlatans, if you will, but for the most part, many were very smart, very intelligent, and they could offered good advice. But they often would wander from port to port, and it was not unusual for them to cover great distances to attend the birth of a prophet or the crowning of a king. So how did the Babylonians know about Jewish prophecy at all, and what led them to believe that this particular star was the one that would lead them to a great newborn king? This is where the prophet Daniel comes in. Not only was Daniel chief of the Magi, but his prophecies became known throughout the ancient Near East. Even the Romans were aware of his prophecies of the coming king of Israel. The Magi of the first century would have most certainly studied the writings of Daniel and possibly other Jewish writings that Daniel had referred to, such as the book of Isaiah. This connection between Daniel and the Magi may help us the Jewish king to arrive in Judea near the end of the first century, it's likely that the Magi followed the star based on their study of Daniel's writings. If these Magi were from Babylon, it would have taken them over two months to make the 1,700 mile journey to Jerusalem by camel. Camel travels on a good day about 25 miles a day. And so this would have taken roughly 70 days The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were native to, well, gold, well, all over the place, but the frankincense and myrrh were native to Saudi Arabia, northern India, native to the east. And so these were gifts that would have, they could have, that would have been easy for them to bring. They were also, they were suitable to bring on a long journey to honor this newborn king. So the Magi must have had an unmistakably clear astronomical or astrological message to urge them on such an ambitious quest. In Matthew 2.2, they indicated that they saw something in the night sky that was so significant, it convinced them to make the lengthy and dangerous trip to Jerusalem. Most likely not some alignment of planets or anything like that. It seems that the star appeared and disappeared, and the magi could follow it, but apparently Herod's men did not. They apparently did not know anything about it. Rather, it's likely that the wise men had some record of Daniel's prophecies, which included the timing of Jesus' birth. But they did not know the place exactly, which is why they went to Jerusalem and not Bethlehem. They were searching the skies for signs because that was their field of specialty. God graciously gave them a sign in the sky, not an astrological sign, but the rising of a new star, which was a miraculous occurrence. And again, just speculation, but it may have even been a manifestation of God's glory that was seen by those that were truly seen. And this explains how the star could appear, disappear, appear again, and lead them to a particular house. So their purpose in coming to see him was to worship him. However, if the Magi merely viewed Jesus as human, it would be kind of odd, but we don't know everything that went through their minds. But it seems strange that they would take such a long, dangerous journey to offer costly gifts and to worship a king that really had no authority. line of David had not been on the throne for many hundred years, and to come and worship someone that was just a baby king, a human, doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's my thought. But if they understood that this baby to be God in human flesh, as they may have in Daniel's prophecies, they might, that would be incentive for them to come. And although, again, it's all speculation, it's not inconceivable to see how God can use the faithfulness of a man like Daniel, or any faithful person, to make this impact on the world for God's glory. So, very possible because of Daniel's position as the chief of the Magi, that his, you know, he's probably got other writings and other things that Maybe he made judgment in law cases or whatever. But things that Daniel had written would be studied and looked at for years past that others would follow because of the greatness of Daniel. So one other thing I'd like to tie into Chris's story One of the things most connected to the general idea of Christmas is the receiving of presents, right? I mean, every kid, when you think of, when you ask them, you know, are you excited about Christmas? Yeah, I'm hoping to get this or get that. You know, kids love, you know, adults are excited about presents every year. Let's turn back over to chapter one for a second. I read two verses. Verse nine, chapter one, verse nine, It says, now God has brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. And another translation say that God gave Daniel favor with the chief of the eunuchs. And verse 17 says, as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions. We see that God gave Daniel favor in the sight of the eunuchs. He gave the four young men what they hated God gives Daniel the ability to interpret dreams and visions. No matter what we can learn from the personal experiences of Daniel and his friends, the most important here is the fact that God opens his hand and his heart and he gives. God is a giver. God gives us so much. And the most applicable thing to us is that he gave us his son. John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world is not just a book of prophecy or a study of this righteous man. It's a book about how God gives and how God works in history. It's a book about how God cares for his people and gives them the things they need. In verse two of this chapter, we see that the Lord gave Jehoiakim into the hands of Babylon. At that time, Judah needed to be disciplined. And God gave them, in fulfillment of promises, God gave the kingdom over. But this was for a greater purpose. And God gives us things for a greater purpose. He gives us salvation. He gives us the Lord Jesus, that we might come to him, that we might be saved, that we might have peace with him. He gives us gifts to use, to edify, to build up the church. He gives us the ability to stand for him. He gave us the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, that we might live for him. In the Son, God gives himself to us and for us. We might hope in presence that we give and get and so on, but none will match the gift that God gave to us. 2 Corinthians 9.15 says, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. God offers the gift of his son. Have you accepted it? Have you taken that gift to yourself? If you have, then you have peace with God. You have the greatest gift that has ever been offered. but so many reject that gift. Don't be one of them. Accept the gift that God has given because he is the giver of all good gifts. Let's give him thanks. Lord Jesus and our Father God, we thank you for that great gift of the Lord Jesus. We thank you that you would come in human flesh that you would be born of a virgin according to prophecy, that you would be born in that little town of Bethlehem again according to prophecy, and that you would become man, that you would walk among us, that you would heal the sick, that you would raise the dead. But most of all, you went to that cross for us and gave yourself for our sins. So we thank you that we could be here this morning to remember that day so long ago when you would come to earth. And we thank you that you gave us that gift. Help each one of us to live our lives appropriately of what you've done for us. We thank you for your word. We pray it will be blessed. And we just ask your blessing on our time as we go away now. Amen. I gave you the gift of five minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.