At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions--they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. Sermons
I. THEIR EXISTENCE. Say there are angels; and some would receive the statement with scepticism. But the evidence is: 1. The analogy of the case. The interdependence of material worlds points to a similar interdependence of moral worlds. The commerce of earth to a commerce between the varied worlds of God. 2. The craving of the human mind. There is a craving for the knowledge of creatures higher than ourselves. The craving universal. It points to an objective satisfaction. 3. The testimony of Scripture. Previous argument, only presumptive; this conclusive. Fulness of Scripture on the subject. II. THEIR NATURE. 1. They are spiritual. "Are they not all spirits (πνεύματα)?" 2. But "clothed upon with some organization. Of a material kind, for it may become an object of sense; men may see the angel-form. Note: (1) Angels appear in the human form. But: (2) Glorified. (Daniel 10:6.) (3) Men after the resurrection are to become like the angels. (Luke 20:36.) We may infer that the organism of angels is well adapted to second the life abiding in it. Incorruptible, for the angel never dies; fit servant of high intelligence; offers no obstruction to their mighty power; no impediment to their swiftness; beautiful with immortal youth. The angels, like ourselves, are capable of everlasting intellectual and moral progress. III. THEIR PUBLIC LIFE. Its essential characteristic is given in the question, Are they not all liturgic (λειτουργικὰ)?" But what is the meaning? We must go to Athens, the home of the Greek tongue, for the answer. A few words, then, on: 1. The Greek liturgy. It was a public service - a ministration of the citizens to the commonwealth. Certain citizens were bound to contribute money, labour, time, towards making Athens splendid at home, triumphant abroad. Such a contribution was a "liturgy;" it stood for the public service of the Athenian people. 2. The Hebrew liturgy. The word was transferred from things Greek to designate the public ministration of the priests in the temple. As the liturgy of the Athenians was for the glory of the Athenian commonwealth, so the liturgy of Hebrew priests was for the glory of the Hebrew commonwealth - a ministration to its awful King. 3. The heavenly liturgy. Here thought ascends to a higher state, to a grander temple, in which angels contribute to the public service. Their wealth, energy, time, are given for the glory of the Eternal, and for the majesty of his kingdom. "Are they not all liturgic? Do they not minister to God in the exalted service of the heavenly temple? Are they not employed in the administration of the celestial government? Do not ' thousand thousands minister to him, and ten thousand times ten stand before him '?" "The chariots of God are twenty thousand," IV. THEIR APOSTOLIC CHARACTER. "Are they not all... sent forth?" Where he appoints, they go. Describe their coming and going as recorded in Scripture. But all this mysterious appearing and disappearing was not at all of their own self-moved will; they were "sent forth." They came on embassage, and the love that sent them was the Lord of angels and ours. V. THEIR MINISTRATION. They are "sent forth" to bring us help, to aid the otherwise helpess. Look at this: 1. Negatively. Their main object is not any of the following, though angels have been commissioned for them all. (1) To glorify some great event; e.g. the incarnation. (2) To answer prayer. (Daniel 9:21.) (3) To terrify enemies. (Matthew 26:53.) (4) To destroy the doomed; e.g. the Assyrian army. (5) To advance their own knowledge. (1 Peter 1:12; Ephesians 3:10.) 2. Positively. To bring help. The lesson for us - not to live in the light that shines from superiors, not to enjoy the company of equals, but to minister to those below. (Why not include in this lesson from the angels, our duty of ministration to races of life below man?) VI. THEIR RELATION TO REDEMPTION AND THE REDEEMED. 1. Their general attitude. (1) With reference to redemption generally. The attitude is one of anxious interest, which was typified in the aspect of the cherubim over the ark, "towards the mercy-seat shall the faces," etc.; and declared in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:12). (2) With reference to the redeemed particularly. Interested are they in the beginnings and developments of regenerated life (Luke 15:7, 10; 1 Corinthians 4:9). 2. Their critical services. Angels are prominent through all the great epochs of Divine revelation - in the patriarchal, legal, and prophetical dispensations. Keep watch and ward about the Person of Christ. (The annunciation to Zechariah, to Mary; the anthem at the birth; one in Gethsemane, twelve legions in waiting; two at the sepulchre.) They were active at the founding of the Church; are now agents in providence; will add to the glory of the last assize. 3. Their combined action. Militant action, we may call it. Much in the Bible to imply that the angels are ever exerting, on behalf of the saved, a moral influence, equal in extent, though opposite in kind and greater in degree, to that exerted by evil spirits. They are not idle spectators of the long-drawn-out moral conflict of this earth. 4. Their individual ministration. (See John 1:51; Matthew 18:10; Psalm 34:7; Psalm 91:12; 2 Kings 6:17; Daniel 6:22; Acts 27:23.) (The "Angel-god" passages not referred to, because his appearances were those of the Lord Jesus.) CONCLUSIONS. 1. The majesty of their King. Christ the Lord. Such a retinue. 2. The greatness of the object of angel solicitude. Salvation. 3. The brightness of the Christian prospect. "Equal unto the angels." - R.
Those men which had accused Daniel. The Bible from first to last is a revelation of God's active, personal, and intelligent presence in the affairs of men; and its elementary principles without which all approach to God is impossible, are, first, that there is a God, and secondly, that he rewards and punishes. (Hebrews 11; Hebrews 6). Daniel recognised the presence of this divine power when he said that "God had sent His angel, and shut the lions' mouths." The sole difference between miracle and providence is, that in the former ease the ordinary laws of nature are suspended and interfered with by a higher power; in the latter nature is made to do the will of God in conformity with its usual way of working. And these two ways of acting have had each a suitableness for the times when God used them. The reason of this deliverance Daniel finds in the just government of God. For Daniel's enemies there was a fearful retribution. They had digged a pit, and fallen into the midst of it themselves. In Daniel's wonderful preservation both the king and all who had not shared in the crime saw emphatic proof of the guilt of the conspirators. Their own execution was most just, but our feelings revolt at the inclusion in the sentence of their wives and children. But that seems to have been the Persian custom. It is explained by the solidarity of interest between the members of the same family or of the same nation. The sins of one member of a family often involve all in ruin. A whole nation has to pay the penalty of the fault of its statesmen; a whole army is destroyed by the incapacity of its general. But equally all share in the results of the virtues, the wisdom, the ability of their leaders, and it would be a poor world if it were not so.(Dean Payne Smith.) People Cyrus, Daniel, Darius, PersiansPlaces Babylon, JerusalemTopics Accused, Along, Bones, Bottom, Brake, Broke, Broken, Cast, Command, Commanded, Crushed, Daniel, Den, Ere, Evil, Falsely, Floor, Got, Hole, King's, Lions, Lower, Maliciously, Mastery, Order, Orders, Overcame, Overpowered, Pieces, Power, Reached, Sons, Thrown, Till, WivesOutline 1. Daniel is made chief of the presidents.4. They, conspiring against him, obtain an idolatrous decree. 10. Daniel, accused of the breach thereof, is cast into the lion's den. 18. Daniel is saved; 24. his adversaries devoured; 25. and God magnified by a decree. Dictionary of Bible Themes Daniel 6:24 4666 lion Library A Tribute from EnemiesThen said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.'--DANIEL vi. 5. Daniel was somewhere about ninety years old when he was cast to the lions. He had been for many years the real governor of the whole empire; and, of course, in such a position had incurred much hatred and jealousy. He was a foreigner and a worshipper of another God, and therefore was all the more unpopular, as a Brahmin would be in England if he were … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Faith Stopping the Mouths of Lions The Story of the Fiery Furnace The Jordan: the Decisive Start. Matthew 3:13-17. Mark 1:9-1Luke Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature The Early Ministry in Judea I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also- Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses. A Cloud of Witnesses. Divine Support and Protection Daniel Links Daniel 6:24 NIVDaniel 6:24 NLT Daniel 6:24 ESV Daniel 6:24 NASB Daniel 6:24 KJV Daniel 6:24 Bible Apps Daniel 6:24 Parallel Daniel 6:24 Biblia Paralela Daniel 6:24 Chinese Bible Daniel 6:24 French Bible Daniel 6:24 German Bible Daniel 6:24 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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