Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, February 13, 2022

One Hit Wonders!

Today Michael is starting a new series on Daniel.  As our title today suggests, Daniel has a One Hit Wonder kind of reputation, known primarily for Daniel and The Lion’s Den fame.  But Daniel had so much more in his life, including Daniel and the Diet Plan, Daniel and the Heroic Goat, Daniel and the Ghost Hand and Daniel and the Fantastic Beasts just to name four out of twelve notable chapters in his life. 

Today’s message is about Daniel and the Diet Plan.  This takes place about 400 years after King David and 600 years before Jesus, during the time of the Babylonian Captivity.  

(Bible for Hope Study Notes) When Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in the summer of 605 B.C., Daniel was only a teenager. He and several others were taken captive by the Babylonians and placed in a three-year training program in which they were expected to learn the Babylonian view of life and religion. They were even forced to learn the Babylonian language and given Babylonian names. Daniel in Hebrew means “God is my judge”; his name was changed to Belteshazzar, which in the Babylonian language means “the god Bel is my judge.” It may have been as close as the Babylonians could come to translating the meaning of his name.

So, Daniel is doing the Babylonian thing but he does take exception on the food.  Daniel realized that eating the king’s food would show him as accepting the kings loyalty.  So Daniel asked for veggies and water; hence the reason for the name, “Daniel and the Diet Plan”!  The official handling that was worked that the King would see him looking not-so-healthy.  Daniel offered to try it on a test basis and the official agreed.

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) The issue of food and drink is highly significant to Daniel and his friends. The Lord has clearly designated certain foods as unclean (Lv 7:22–27; 11:1–47). Moreover, the royal court is closely associated with pagan temples, as food and drink are symbolically dedicated to the gods. 

After the test diet of healthy foods, Daniel and his friends were reviewed by the King and found healthier than the others, those eating the King’s diet!

Daniel’s faith was rewarded by the Lord in him receiving the ability to discern dreams and other gifts.  

The moral of the story is, Daniel and his friends took a stand.  You can stand against the world, with God at your side! 

Todays verses are found in Daniel Chapter One.  

We will be going over a chapter in Daniel each week for the next 12 weeks.