Dare to be a Daniel

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The fact that we must read the Bible in a way that pays attention to its human examples is not mere speculation. The warrant for reading the Bible this way can be seen in the numerous ways the New Testament itself uses exemplary figures from the Old Testament. John 17:15–17 (NKJV) – 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Except, that it wasn’t just about daring to be like Daniel. I mean, the people who were hearing these stories for the first time – were going thru tough times. They were captives in Babylon or were facing one of the other challenges that followed their return to Judah. Life was difficult. The enemies were big. The fields had been fallow for 70 plus years. Eighth, to dare to be a Daniel means to be willing to serve and represent God publicly – Daniel 2:47-48. Daniel’s willingness to be used by God led to being used in a public position. It states: vs. 3 – “Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and princes. Because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.”

II. Daniel Rewarded

They were obedient to God regardless of the consequence. That’s what it means to dare to be a Daniel. And when they trusted God and obeyed Him no matter what, God was faithful to show up. That “Son of God” that joined them in the fiery furnace was a theophany, a Christophany, IT WAS JESUS! (Daniel 3:25). Jesus shows up when we When Wilf’s daughter, before she died some fifteen years ago, asked an anarchist publisher for the pamphlet to be re-printed, the directors of Freedom Press wrote that it was “their” pamphlet and they were about to do it themselves and jealously preserved the right to Orwell’s few words. But for the world war of 1914-18, the workers of all trades would surely have spurred on by the spirit, courage and class-conscious direct action of the syndicate, and realised that all leaders lead to destruction. They had to free themselves. No other class or body would do it for them, but only betray them. The syndicate would have carried out the light of truth. Soon the whole working class would have seen it burning strong and clear. Then after a stern, bitter struggle, with workers knowing their own strength, would have come the end of all slavery.

Daniel 6:1-4 the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Daniel 1:12–13 (NKJV) – 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 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.” No doubt Daniel's stand was costly. Imagine the comments of the other captives - even old buddies from home: "What are you trying to prove? You’re going to get us all killed!" Or, "Here comes Deacon Daniel!" Or, "Quit trying to play God, Daniel!" Imagine having to eat vegetables and drink only water for three years (vs15-16)! Not too exciting! It wasn't easy, but Daniel made up his mind that he would be faithful to the Lord. In two future posts I will be turning to the Old Testament to see how we can apply the principles described above to texts that are not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament. I was born in 1877, watched Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887, left school at twelve years of age, got a job at a hotel in Westminster Bridge Road, working from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., sixteen hours a day for five shillings (25p) a week and ‘board and lodging’. I became an apprentice cook and an apprentice to all this strife and poverty around me, i.e. the class struggle.People were not happy with Daniel. I mean, when you do well someone is going to get jealous and in Daniel’s case there seemed to be quite a few someones. There are just a few incidents that took place during these lightning strikes in the catering trade which numbered thirty-eight in all in the West End of London, and all successful. But it took a long time to fight all these battles, bringing us to 1914. During these years the organised workers of all other trades had been following our activities, our methods, our success, with envy and admiration. They admitted that it took courage to act as we did. But to the TU leaders we were everything vile. They slandered us because they were afraid they would lose their easy positions. It was natural they should hate the Syndicate. Its principle was an understanding and operation of the Class Struggle, while the TU leaders were bribed by the boss to keep the worker in slavery. Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, and with that ended the greatest revolutionary class-conscious union Britain had ever known. Germans and Austrians were interned, French and Italians of military age were sent to their own countries, British of course were conscripted later. With that ended the greatest class conscious union Britain had ever known. What a transformation in the hotel where action was taken! Everyone was getting good food, tyranny had ceased, every demand as being carried out to the full, the staff began to look a bit healthy, were more comradely than ever, quarrels stopped. The workers know THEY, not Governments or TU officials, must end tyranny. In sum, the New Testament has much to say about following the example of those in the Old Testament, whether positively or negatively. Looking at these kinds of texts gives us an appreciation for the variety of ways the Bible urges believers to pursue holiness. Sometimes holiness is urged because of the blessings and true joy found in walking faithfully before the Lord (Psalm 1; Matt 5:3-10); sometimes through warnings of God's future judgment on the unrepentant (1 Cor 6:9; Gal 5:21; Heb 10:26-31); sometimes, as in texts such as Hebrews 11 and 1 Corinthians 10, holiness is commended to God's people through examples that set forth the positive or negative responses of people in the Old Testament to God. The latter of these motivations sometimes gets a bad rap because it is feared that pointing to examples will lead to moralism or a quest for self-salvation. Far from it: God alone saves, and He saves by faith alone. The only faith that saves is true faith, that is, a living and active faith (James 2:17), and this is precisely the kind of faith displayed in Hebrews 11 (and that is absent among the Israelites in the texts Paul recounts in 1 Corinthians 10).

Now the contrast: The Cooks’ Syndicate was international. The Cooks’ Syndicate had no huge funds, The Cook’s Syndicate had no funds in Government bonds. The Cooks’ Syndicate had no leaders or bosses. The Cooks’ Syndicate members controlled it themselves. The Cooks’ Syndicate did not need strike pay. The Cooks’ Syndicate understood the class struggle. Their aim was to end capitalism. They had thirty-eight strikes: all were won. Not one man was injured, arrested or victimised. Dan 1:8 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. Daniel 6:10 when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. In all of the examples in Hebrews 11 the central point is the same: faith in God is the only mode of living appropriate for those who, like Abraham (and like all believers down through the ages), have not yet "received the things promised" by God (11:13), and who must therefore patiently wait in faith for a "better country, that is, a heavenly one" (11:16). Indeed, "without faith it is impossible to please God" (11:6). Daniel continued well and finished well to a great extent because he started well. He purposed in his heart from the beginning that he would not allow himself to compromise or be defiled and polluted by the worldly ungodly environment in which he lived.I could continue long at this point; but I have given you the general principle, which you can work out for yourselves. Christians have meat to eat of which the world knoweth not. We have our re-creation; that is the way to pronounce recreation, re-creation; we go to our Creator, and he makes us anew. We have our nights of holy mirth; we have our days of delight. There is a King, a portion of whose meat we rejoice to eat, and of whose wine we delight to drink; but as to questionable things, things of the world, and all that tendeth towards departure from the living God, we say that, by his grace, we determine not to defile ourselves therewith.

A clean, airy and dry dressing-room, both for male and female staff. This was aimed at the cooks’ cubicle with sweating pipes. Other staff had no dressing rooms before this action. Attempting to discern how we can follow the examples of earlier saints (and avoid the examples of those who were unbelieving), then, must be just as much a part of our biblical reading strategy as is our attempt to see the whole Bible as testifying to the accomplishment of our redemption by Jesus Christ alone.Many of you may be facing a situation that’s similar to Daniel's situation. Maybe you've just started college, or moved to a new town, or started a new job. You're in a different environment - maybe a different culture. Everything has changed. No one talks about God. Christians are definitely in the minority. Home is far away. The pressure to conform to the new group is so great! It would be so easy to compromise - "Just a little." The struggle in Ireland first gave me a deeper urge than ever to answer my boyhood questions. But what other impressions did I have after two or more years as apprentice? I saw the office, the ‘superior’ staff, treating all other staff with the greatest contempt, except the Manager, whom they fawned on with the utmost servility. The waiters, feeling this, wished to get even with the remaining staff, so the kitchen staff, in the eyes of these ‘superior persons’, were dirt. But one could watch the cringing of the waiters to the manager and customers. No doubt their method of slavery made them so servile. The kitchen workers, not coming into with the customers, had a spirit of comradeship amongst them. Third, to dare to be a Daniel means to be enabled by God and to trust in His enabling – Daniel 1:17. Daniel was not a superhero. He was not superhuman. Daniel was who he was and was able to do what he did because God enabled him. It states: Daniel was one of four teen or college-age captives who decided to remain faithful to God in this foreign situation - no matter the cost. These four guys were a minority, for sure! The rest of the captives apparently couldn’t withstand the pressure, and submitted to Nebuchadnezzar’s commands. Daniel 1:17 (NKJV) – 17 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.