Since 1998 WORLD magazine has chosen a “Daniel of the Year,” the Christian equivalent of TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year.” The “Daniels” who have been selected are people who have shown unflinching courage in the face of adversity—even when they are thrown to the lions. Independent Counsel Ken Starr (now dean of Pepperdine University’s School of Law) was world’s first choice as “Daniel of the Year.” Those who are not familiar with the Bible, which would include many in the media, may wonder, “Who in the world was Daniel?”

Daniel was a sixth-century b.c. prophet who authored the book of Daniel (Daniel 12:4). Jesus Christ quoted from Daniel 9:27 and recognized him as “the prophet Daniel” in Matthew 24:15. In turn, Daniel pictured the coming Christ as the Great Stone who would crush the kingdoms of this earth (Daniel 2:34, 35, 44), the Son of Man who was given power and dominion by the Ancient of Days (7:13, 14), and the coming Messiah who would be cut off, but not for himself (9:25, 26). The book of Daniel has been called “The Apocalypse of the Old Testament.”

Daniel is one of the few characters in the Bible of whom nothing negative is written. His character was as clean as a freshly laundered sheet. Most likely a teenager, Daniel found himself carted off to Babylon (present-day Iraq) as a prisoner of war after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. But like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel found favor with the governing authorities and was placed in a position of power. More importantly, he became God’s prophetic voice to both Israel and the nations of the world. His name means “God is my judge.” Knowing that God was his judge, Daniel spoke with boldness.

The outstanding life and ministry of the prophet Daniel has inspired millions of believers. An acrostic of his name will serve as the main points for this look at his life.

Daniel and his three Jewish friends (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, whose names would later be changed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) are introduced to us as “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace” (1:4). After a three-year training program, they entered the king’s service. But even in their pagan environment Daniel and his friends remained true to the God of their Jewish upbringing. “Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way” (v. 8). God blessed his dedication and gave him the ability to “understand visions and dreams of all kinds” (v. 17). Indeed, nine of the 12 chapters in Daniel are centered around Daniel’s God-given ability to interpret dreams.

Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream that only Daniel could interpret. The young seer was quick to tell the king only God could reveal the mystery (2:28). Daniel was accountable to God and soon became accountable to the pagan king as well. After Daniel successfully interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, “the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained in the royal court” (1:48, 49). According to Romans 13:1 (NKJV), all governing authorities “are appointed by God.” So Daniel and his friends were accountable to both “church and state” in this regard. As we will see, however, there came a time when Daniel and his friends had to choose between God and men.

Daniel’s three friends became the target of jealous, anti-Semitic astrologers. They went to the king and tattled on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for refusing to bow to the towering gold image of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:1-12). Furious, the king confronted Daniel’s friends with an ultimatum: worship the image or be thrown into a blazing furnace. The king added, “Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (v. 15). Who does not thrill to their immediate response? “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (vv: 17, 18).

God rewarded their righteous nerve with a miraculous deliverance and the king, impressed with their nerve, gave them a promotion (16:13). While this account is not about Daniel per se, the three friends were no doubt emboldened by Daniel’s own nerve.

The Bible says, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (Proverbs 11:3). Daniel was guided throughout his life by the shining light of integrity. It was not easy to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams for him, especially when Daniel told the king, “be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue” (Daniel 4:27). He could have compromised the message, but he did not. It is easy to tell people what they want to hear and not what they need to hear. When King Belshazzar offered Daniel wealth and fame, Daniel replied, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means” (5:17). He went on to give the king a devastating message, including these startling words: “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” 27). Integrity cannot be bought or bartered. Daniel’s integrity made it so that even his enemies “could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (6:4).

Daniel is one of the finest exemplars of faith and courage in the face of adversity the world has ever known. For centuries the story of Daniel in the lion’s den has been told to millions of boys and girls. I remember singing in Sunday school, “Dare to be a Daniel! Dare to stand alone! Dare to have a purpose true! Dare to make it known!” Daniel’s detractors knew the only way they could get to him was to find something that had to do “with the law of his God” (v. 5). They stoked the ego of King Darius and got him to issue an edict that anyone who prayed to any god except Darius would be thrown into the lion’s den. Now here’s what impresses me about Daniel. “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (v.:10). J. Vernon McGee calls Daniel “the man who kept his window open.”

I have wondered if Daniel just kept on praying when he was thrown into the lions’ den. The king probably lost more sleep than Daniel that night. Darius, who liked Daniel, hurried to the lion’s den at the break of day, crying, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” (v. 20). Untouched and unharmed, Daniel assured the king that all was well. “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight” (v. 22). I believe the writer of Hebrews had Daniel in mind when he wrote, “who through faith . . . shut the mouths of lions” (Hebrews 11:33).

Above all, Daniel was a man of prayer (Daniel 2:17-23; 6:10; 9:3-19). At the beginning of the book he is a boy in his teens and by the end of the book he is an old man probably in his 80s. And he is still praying! The ninth chapter contains Daniel’s prayer, or lament, for Jerusalem. His lament is a precursor to Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem (Luke 13:31-35). It is one of the finest prayers in all of Scripture. Have one of your godly elders pray it some day at church, substituting “Washington, D.C.” for “Jerusalem” and “America” for “Israel.”

God himself told faithful Daniel, “Go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” (Daniel 12:13). May the same be true of all who “dare to be a Daniel.” |L