Bound By the Law, Released By the Promise
Pastor Mathew Magera – 8/9/15 – Sermon 115
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and
In the James Bond film, "Tomorrow Never Dies", a media mogul, Elliot Carver, wants to
advance his newspaper by being able to steamroll the competition with timely news. In order
to get a leg up on everyone else, he negotiates with a known terrorist who is able to take the
Global Positioning System, GPS, and manipulate it. He manipulates it in such a way that a
military skirmish ensues over territorial borders. Aircraft from one country believe a British
navy ship is in their territory while the ship says they are international waters. Carver has a
stealth boat nearby and attacks both the British ship and the Chinese aircraft. A war is about
to begin as both governments believe they were wrongly attacked by each other. The GPS
system is an integral part of navigation in this movie and in the world today. Without proper
GPS coordinates, your navigation is less than accurate. The villain in this movie uses the GPS
system against the world to get a news story.
This is the premise to our story today on Daniel in the Lion's Den. The only reason Daniel
ends up in the lion's den is because the other governing officials do not like Daniel. As such,
they do the only thing they think they can do to overpower him. They use his faith against him.
Without God, Daniel would be unable to navigate life. They use Daniel's faith against him. The
only way to catch him, since he is close to blameless, was to take his navigation system, his
faith, and use it against him. They devise a plan, a very good one, at that, and it works.
It may not be that we have ever had our faith used against us but our faith has probably
been attacked at one point or another. It is not easy to be a Christian today. In a world of
religious extremists people are cautious around religion perhaps even avoiding it and pointing
to it as the problem. In a world of disease and war, our faith is put to the test. It's not easy to
have faith in a God who saves when we live in a world that is full of problems. Maybe it is as if
we are all in a den of lions and we are just waiting to be devoured one by one, bit by bit. While
we try so hard to get out the message of God's love and peace, it's not easy to have
motivation. Our faith is being attacked.
Like Daniel, we are bound by the law. King Darius can't change the 30-day law. That's
right, even the king can't change it. It is part of the Persian Empire that certain laws cannot be
repealed by even the king. If you know the story of Esther, you might remember this is the
same thing going on. Darius has no choice but to send Daniel to the lion's den. And just like
Daniel is bound by the law, so are we. God put laws in place so that we may not sin, so that we
might become closer to God, but we broke those laws, and we still do. Try as we might to say
otherwise, we are, perhaps in small or big amounts, contributing to the corruption, pollution,
and destruction of our world. As a result, we are separated further and further from God. And
God must carry out the sentence that is attached to sin. God must punish us from that original
sin back in the Garden of Eden when God said do not eat of this fruit or you will surely die.
But, we all know what happens to Daniel. He is rescued. The lion’s mouths are closed
and he survives a night of doubt and sorrow. God rescued him from the lion's den. As a result,
King Darius makes quite the proclamation about Daniel's God and it is in this proclamation
from the king that we hear our good news in this story and in our story. In a world that might
attack our faith and discourage us, we can be given a sure foundation in God's ability to rescue
and to save. So, what does King Darius give to us? We start in verse 26.
God Is Not Dead
A living God could be counted on to be present in times of trouble, not far and distant.
That is the difference between the one true God and the gods of the kingdom. Our God,
Daniel's God, is an ever present entity in the world. God interacts with us. God doesn't just
remain in a distant realm hearing our prayers and deciding our fate. God is alive. God is a
dynamic, not static, presence with us. Not always is that presence known, however. God is
often times hidden. This is part of our Lutheran faith, to understand that God's presence is
real, but it is hidden. We find God in many places, sometimes in places we often don't intend
to find God. Daniel found God in the lion's den. Darius found God in his distress over Daniel.
God's presence is a calming word, a reassuring hand on the shoulder. God's presence is in the
operating room, in the ambulance. God's presence is in the courtroom, and on Capitol Hill. We
may not see God's presence until much much later, but God is there. God is hidden but God is
alive. God delivered Daniel from the mouths of the lions. God is not dead he is surely alive.
While King Darius did not want to put Daniel into the lion's den, he had no choice to do
so. He was upset, distressed. He couldn't eat or sleep. He didn't want to be entertained. All he
could think about was his trusted official, Daniel. Darius respected Daniel's God. He did not
appear to be a very religious king, himself, but he respected Daniel's spirituality and his prayer
life. So, when Darius personally sends Daniel into the den, he calls out, "May your God, whom
you faithfully serve, deliver you." Darius was executing immense hope for his friend but at the
same time, almost emits a prayer of protection. Only after the night does Darius begin to show
a little more faith. He goes to the mouth of the den early in the morning and now calls out, "O
Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver
you from the lions?" Surely, Darius must've had some miniscule faith that his call would be
answered or he would not have arrived at the den so early in the morning. He even says,
"servant of the living God." Believing more and more in his heart that Daniel had been
protected, Darius now has enough faith to consider Daniel's God the living God, an active God.
God's Reign Is Eternal
Not only is God alive but God has been alive and will continue to live eternally around
us. Darius proclaims, "His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end."
God's dominion never ends. God's people throughout history have seen the dominant power
shift and shift and shift again. Back in the days of Genesis and Exodus, the Egyptians were the
powerful ones. Then the Assyrians took over the Egyptians. Then came the Babylonians who
slowly took the power from Assyria. After the Babylonians come the Persians, of which King
Darius represents. The Persians would go on ruling in power for a while before the Greeks take
over. Finally after the Greeks come the Romans, but that is much further in the future.
The point that Darius is trying to make here is that God's reign surpasses the reign of
human kingdoms. God's reign has outlasted each of these empires in existence and God
continues to be in power. It's very likely King Darius knew of God's deliverance of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the years of Babylon and now Darius has seen that God's power to
be alive and present with his people lasts even through the power change when the Persians
came to rule. God's reign can outlast any human kingdom in place, including our own. Just
because we may think we are secure as a nation, or a superpower in the world does not mean
that it will last forever. Even the greatest empires in history have fallen victim to a new rising
power and if history repeats itself, it means one day the power will shift again. Perhaps that
shift has already begun. God's power never shifts. God's power is constant. God's power is
eternal. It doesn't matter who has the control, God's will is done regardless. God's reign is
God Miraculously Delivers
You may be wondering to yourself: God delivered Daniel from the lion's den, and that is
probably something no short of a miracle considering how hungry the lions were for the
others that were sent down there. However, how can we expect God to miraculously deliver
us from the attacks against our faith? How can God miraculously deliver us from cancer, from
divorce, from impurity, from war, from division in the church? How can God miraculously
Last night, Lane, Skye and I went to a concert featuring one of our favorite groups, Lost
and Found. We've listened their music since junior high. I've even talked theology with them in
seminary and now they're in their final tour. But anyway, one of their songs is called, "Lions."
In that song they sing, "Oh them lions they can eat my body but they can't swallow my soul, no
no no. They keep on trying to crash my party but they can't get control." This song makes my
point on how God miraculously delivers us. Even though we may fall to the powers of this
world, there is one thing this world cannot take from us and that is our secured salvation in
Jesus Christ. The world can take away our privileges, our strength, our limbs, our life, but the
world cannot reach our soul that is ever protected by almighty God. Oh them lions they can
eat my body but they can't swallow my soul. This is what makes God's reign eternal. This is
what proves God alive because he is actively protecting our souls because of his love for us. At
some point, our life is going to end. While we may all want it to be in the security of our own
bed on an ordinary evening, we must know that this may not be the case. Our bodies might
suffer. Our faith might suffer. We might even get to a point where we believe God couldn't be
real because of how much agony we might be in. But, I commend to you this promise, that
while we may be bound by the laws of the world and while we may be bound by the Law of
God and destined to death because of our sin, we have been released by the promise of life
given to us by Jesus who fulfilled that law on our behalf. We have been miraculously delivered.
Jesus is the reason the lions won’t be able to swallow our soul. God has forgiven the sinners
and has given life to our souls, a life that cannot be shaken or destroyed by any outside force.
God miraculously delivers us.
* * *
So, how do we take this story and apply it this week? We can't even imagine what will
take place this week, good or bad. But, when you get that one phone call, see that one story
on the news, feel that one thing inside of you, it may not only eat at your body but it might
feel like its eating at your faith. It could hinder your navigation through life if your faith is
attacked. However, no matter how hurtful it might be or depressing or unappealing, don't
believe for one second that God is dead and not watching over you. Don't doubt that God's
reign is stronger than what you are going through. And finally, do not doubt that God has
already made a miracle happen in the death and resurrection of Christ to deliver us from all
that may come against us. God has forgiven us all of our sins. God has his mighty hand of
Daniel was destined for the lions den just like we are destined for death. But just as God
provided a miracle for Daniel, God provides us a miracle as well in the form of himself. God
forgives us and invites us into fellowship with him. We can endure the night, for the dawn is
soon coming when all will be made new again. “So, onward, therefore, sisters, brothers;
onward with the cross our aid. Bear its shame, and fight its battle Till we rest beneath its
shade. Soon shall come the great awakening, soon the rending of the tomb. Then the
scattering of all shadows, and the end of toil and gloom.” “For all them lions they can eat our
body but they can't swallow our soul.” We are bound by the law, but released by the promise
so that, like Daniel in the lions den, we too might make it through the night of doubt and
sorrow. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.