By Dix Winston
INTRODUCTION
Some believers fight; others falter. Some defy and some comply. Daniel was a fighter and a defier.
He was a young teen when taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 586 BC. He lived the rest of his life in Babylon, never to return to Israel in this life. He died in Babylon, but he remained faithful to the end. Daniel was an overcomer.
Daniel demonstrates four important truths essential to overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil. The first truth is that God is a God who reveals.
THE GOD WHO REVEALS
Upon arriving in Babylon, Daniel and his companions were chosen for service in the royal court. This required them to learn the language and literature of Babylon, receive new Babylonian names, and eat from the king’s table. This would “Babylonianize” these Jewish exiles.
No doubt the king’s food had five Michelin stars, but Daniel and his close companions would not eat that fine food for two reasons. First, to do so would defile them, rendering them ceremonially unclean (Lev 11:1-47; 17:10-16). Second, this food had most likely been offered to idols, making it additionally defiling. Language, literature, or labels would not defile, but the food would.
There was not a minute of indecision, discussion, or hesitation. They would not eat from the king’s table. Daniel proposed a creative alternative (Dan 1:12-13).
When God said, “Don’t eat!” Adam and Eve ate. Daniel and his friends did not.
Ironically, it was because the nation of Israel had disregarded God’s revealed will that they were exiled to Babylon. For 490 years Israel had not observed the sabbatical year, thereby stealing seventy sabbatical years from God. God reclaimed what was due Him, exiling His people to Babylon for seventy years (2 Chron 36:15-21; Jer 25:8-12). At last, the land enjoyed its Sabbaths!
An overcomer—one who is victorious over the world, the flesh, and the devil—obeys God and His revelation. But in order to obey, you must deal with spiritual opposition. Unless you know there is a God who rules, you will crumble.
THE GOD WHO RULES
In Chapter 2 of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that is indecipherable to all his courtly advisors. Daniel tells him, “…there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days” (Dan 2:28, NASB).i
Daniel deciphers the dream, which reveals the coming Gentile kingdoms of the world beginning with Babylon, then Persia, then Greece, then Rome. These will all come to an end, because “… the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people, but it will endure forever” (Dan 2:44). This final kingdom is the coming Messianic Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will last for 1000 years on earth, and then on into the eternal state (Rev 20:1-7).
Jesus called Satan the “ruler of this world,” (John 12:31). But he rules only within God’s preordained parameters. In Dan 4:17 God is called “the Most High [who] rules in the kingdom of men.” King David, the greatest king of Israel, wrote that God “rules over the nations” (Ps 22:28).
Overcomers—no matter how out-of-control life and the world may be—know that there is a God who rules.
If you live by the Word of God and are rock solid sure that the Revealer is also the Ruler, there will be times when you need to be rescued. But overcomers do not worry, because they know that their God is a God who rescues.
THE GOD WHO RESCUES
In Daniel, Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar imposed a loyalty test on his government officials. A statue was constructed in the image of the king. The entire company of the king’s government officials—including Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego—were assembled. When a trumpet sounded, all were commanded to bow down and worship.
Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego knew God’s revelation about graven images and the prohibition against worshipping other gods (Exod 20:1-4). This was not something they could do. When the trumpets stopped blowing, only three Jewish men were left standing. (Scripture does not tell us whether Daniel was present at this test.) The king decreed the death penalty for anyone not bowing.
The king gave the Jewish men one last opportunity to bend the knee. They once again declined with these words: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Dan 3:16-18).
While they knew that God would rescue them, they did not know how He would do it. But knowing that there is a God who reveals and reigns told them that He is also a God who rescues. They did not doubt the power of God—He is the God who reveals and rules—but they were unsure of God’s purposes.
They were bound and thrown into the furnace. And God delivered them through the fire. In fact, He sent His Son to be with them in the fire (Dan 3:25).
This had a profound effect upon the king. Originally, he had taunted them with the words: “What god is able to deliver you from my hands?” (Dan 3:15). The king found out that it was the God who rescues!
Overcomers never doubt that there is a God who rescues. No matter what trial or trouble comes upon us, God is the God who rescues.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Cor 10:13).
Dwight Hunt insightfully says of this verse,
…the faithful God would not allow them to be tempted (or “tested’) beyond what He had prepared them to experience, but with the temptation He will also make the way of escape that [they] may be able to bear it. The ability to endure is given with the temptation, not apart from it. The word escape (ekbasis) pictures an army trapped in the mountains, which then escape through a pass. God faithfully provides the way of escape— the pass through the mountains.ii
Finally—and this is the cherry on top—the God who reveals, rules, and rescues, also rewards.
THE GOD WHO REWARDS
In Daniel 12, as Daniel was nearing the end of his earthly sojourn, God revealed a fourth and final lesson: God is a God who rewards. Both resurrection and rewards are promised in Daniel 12:2, 13. In the final verse, God says, “But as for you [Daniel], go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.” Commenting on this verse J. Paul Tanner says,
His resurrection will not simply be an awakening from the grave, but much more to receive his “allotted portion.” His “allotted portion”… is a word meaning a “lot” that is cast for determining a decision, from which it has the derived meaning of that which is obtained by a lot cast. The same word was used for the land inheritance that the tribes received upon entering the promised land (e.g., Josh 15:1). Hence, the word is used here for the inheritance that is in store for Daniel in the resurrection as his reward for a life of faithful service. This is what he will have to enjoy forever and ever in Messiah’s kingdom. Such reward in the resurrection sets the stage and anticipates the doctrine of rewards that is developed more fully in the New Testament. Believers today can also hope to receive a future reward and inheritance, provided, that is, that they endure in a life of faithfulness with the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Heb 10:35-36). For this, we have no greater model than Daniel. Amen.iii
The doctrine of rewards that Daniel, an Old Testament overcomer, believed is supported throughout the New Testament, as well.iv The doctrine of rewards goes hand-in-hand with the teachings of Focused Free Grace.
Overcomers remember and live by four precepts:
- God is a God who reveals.
- God is a God who rules.
- God is a God who rescues.
- God is a God who rewards.
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Dix and his wife, Cynthia live in Colorado and have been married for nearly five decades. Dix and Bob Wilkin have been friends since their seminary days, having graduated from DTS in 1982.
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i All Scripture quotations are either from the NASB or are the author’s own translation.
ii Dwight Hunt, “1 Corinthians” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. by Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2019), p. 365.
iii J. Paul Tanner, Daniel (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2020), p. 769.
iv Bob Wilkin, The Road to Rewards: Living Today in Light of Tomorrow (Irving, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2003).
