Castillo, Jared

Digamo, Vincent
Alvior, Dianne

DANIEL
I. Background
Daniel is a Prophet whose name means “God is my Judge”. He had lived during the
turbulent times where wars were waged in the Mesopotamian region and a difficult time for the
Jews, namely the southern kingdom and northern king of Israel. Jerusalem was sieged by the
Babylonian Empire led by Nebuchadnezzar, who was known to be a wise king and a great ruler.
Instead of massacre, the prince and the wisest among the Jews were taken captive to serve his own
means.
Coming from a defeated civilization, Daniel and his friends (the other wise men) had many
opportunities to switch sides and be true a Babylonian upper class but chose to remain true to their
people and to their God. Daniel upheld traditions and was known to be wise even amongst his
peers and the Chaldeans (wise men of Babylon) but at the same time he is faithful to his people
and is a man of piety. One occasion is where he declined to dine like the royalty of Babylon and
instead abided the Jewish food code.
Daniel is known to be a prophet because he is one of the people who were used by God as
an instrument to let his messages be known through dreams both in interpretation and themselves.
Daniel is the one who divined the dream of the Babylonian King that no one else can divine. The
king had set a decree to massacre all wise men but they were spared when Daniel explained the
dream to the king, exalting him as the wisest but Daniel, piteous as he was, credited it to God. A
similar event occurred when the son of Nebuchadnezzar encountered an undecipherable mark on
the wall in which Daniel too divined.
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the friends of Daniel who were brought to Babylon along
with him refused the order of the king when they were told to worship an image of him. It was
against their belief to do so and they stood strong by it, in the end they were sent into a burning
furnace but they came out unscathed with the help of God and they were spared from the order of
worship.
Daniel too refused to worship Darius as the God-King, an ancient tradition and belief that
states the kings and emperors as Gods and of highest authority in their regions. Daniel was sent to
a den of lions but he too was safe for his faith saved him.

II. Message
Be humble, stay true to the teachings
Daniel was given the highest recognition and several other titles but remained to be true to himself
and not a Babylonian royalty. He was offered to dine like royalty as a privilege of the wise men
brought to Babylon after the siege of the King. Daniel refused the luxury and only requested to eat
pulse and drink water not the meat and wine of the kingdom.
Don’t take credit from the lord’s work
Daniel had performed several works nothing short of miracles like divining dreams, symbols of
God and surviving a den of lions. These works did not make him arrogant nor did he look down
on others, instead he gave the glory to God, only maintaining his faith.
Tell the hard truth
The visions given to Daniel were not easy to be told in fear of angering the king or offending the
same. Daniel, true to himself and his faith told the truth nevertheless even if it foretold the downfall
of the kingdom or the punishment of God.
“Humans become beasts when they do not acknowledge God and exalt themselves higher than
he is”
The story of Daniel told of kings who exalted themselves as God but in the end they fell for only
the kingdom of God reigns eternal. The same stands true for people who do thinks they stand
higher than God only to be proven wrong in time, Daniel was saved by his faith and that is true for
people too.

III. Application
Stay true to the teachings and standards
A modern day example of this would be if a child goes to a friend’s house and they’re playing a
video game or watching a movie they aren’t allowed to watch. Since parents aren’t around, this
child can easily get away with playing the game or watching the movie. Daniel and his 3 friends
refused the king’s food. All the other captives ate whatever the king was offering. This didn’t
matter to Daniel. He wasn’t going to compromise. This is an extremely important lesson for us to
learn. Even though no one can see us, always do good. Moreover, peer pressure is a powerful thing.
It’s been the cause of people losing their faith. As followers of Christ we have to decide up front,
just like Daniel, that we’re not going to compromise our biblical principles no matter what. Just as
Daniel purposed in his heart, we must also determine that whatever comes our way, we’re not
going to forfeit what we know is acceptable in the sight of God. Because the pressure will come.
Somehow, someway you’re going to get negatively influenced by your peers. But if pleasing God
and living according to His will truly is important to you, as it was to Daniel, it’ll be easier than
you think. Decide right now that if something comes up you know is contrary to God’s word, you
aren’t going to participate or condone that behavior.
God should be the center of our lives
We could begin by stripping everything out of our lives and then putting it back together in priority
order with God at the center. God is not merely a part of our lives right along with sports,
academics, and hobbies but should be the center and most important part of our lives, with
everything else revolving around Him. Unfortunately it’s easy for God not to be on the forefront
of our minds most of the day. Sometimes He simply enters our thoughts every now and then when
we pray before a meal or when we need something. This isn’t the way we should treat someone
whose incredible grace saves us each and every day. We’re supposed to love God with all of our
hearts, souls, and minds. Don’t push God back to just being a part of our life.
Faith in God
There is always a time in our life that our faith seems to be strong at times and at other times it
seems to be weak. Sometimes God closes doors for us to move forward. He knows that we won’t
move unless circumstances force us. Let’s have faith in His plans and trust the transition.
To use our influence for the greater good
As students who will become professionals in the future and people who will gain a lot of influence
we can use our influence in the future to further promote the word of God and the good news. Just
like how Daniel used his influence in the past to inform others about God and his word we can use
this influence for God’s glory.
Do not waver when hardships occur
Being students and human beings in today’s society we suffer from a lot of problem and we tend
to waver and lose faith in God and when that faith is lost and we achieve something great we would
think that even without the help of God we can be great. with that mindset we can see that there is
a resemblance to the teachings of Daniel where he said “Humans became beasts when they do not
acknowledge God”. Just because we are experiencing hardships today doesn't mean we are left
behind by God. The hardships that we face are just ways to mold us into greater people in the
future learning different lessons from these challenges.