Fear the Living God
When Daniel was delivered from the lions’ den, “Darius the Mede” was relieved and issued a decree to all his subjects commanding them to revere Daniel’s God. But he also condemned the prophet’s accusers to be cast to the lions instead of Daniel. Both incidents are reflected in the book of Revelation.
After Daniel was cast into the pit, the
king spent the night in great anxiety. The next morning, he hastened to see if the
prophet remained alive, and he called out to him, “Is your God whom you
serve able to deliver you from the lions?”
Daniel answered the king in the affirmative.
His deliverance demonstrated that he was “blameless” before his God, Darius the Mede,
and the “law of the Medes and the Persians.”
THE KING’S DECREE
In thankful response, Darius issued his
decree to “all the peoples, the races, and the tongues who were dwelling in all
the earth”:
- “May your prosperity abound! From before me is appointed the decree that throughout every dominion of my kingdom, men are trembling and fearing from before the God of Daniel for He is the Living God and abides for ages, and his kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion is unto the end; who delivers and rescues and works signs and wonders in the heavens and in the earth, for that he delivered Daniel out of the power of the lions” – (Daniel 6:25-27).
The king’s description of the everlasting kingdom of the “God of
Daniel” echoes the conclusion of Daniel’s interpretation of King
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great image with a golden head. The “stone cut
without hands” in the dream represented the kingdom “set up” by the
“God of the heavens to the ages, which will not be destroyed” – (Daniel
2:44).
The royal decree also parallels the edict by Nebuchadnezzar after his
downfall and restoration in the fourth chapter of Daniel. He attributed his
restoration to the power of the God who works “signs and wonders” - (Daniel
4:1-3).
TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH
The decree of Darius provides the backdrop
for the announcement by the angel in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation
to the “inhabitants of the earth”:
- “And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having everlasting glad tidings to proclaim to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a great voice: Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of his judgment is come” - (Revelation 14:6-7).
The group labeled the “inhabitants of
the earth” represents those men who refuse to repent despite the “plagues”
inflicted on them. And here, “fear” translates the same Greek verb found
in the Septuagint version of Daniel when the king described how
men “fear and tremble before the God of Daniel.”
This pronouncement
is
followed by the second angel who announces the fall of “Babylon,” and then by a third angel who warns of the fearsome punishment that
awaits all
men who “render homage to the Beast and its
image.”
These “inhabitants of the earth” will be cast into the “lake of fire.” Likewise, after his deliverance from the lions, Darius cast his accusers into the pit instead of Daniel.
In the third
chapter of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are accused
of
refusing to “render homage to the image” erected
by the king, and they are cast alive
into
the “burning fiery furnace.” The three men
do
not escape punishment, but God keeps them alive in
the flames. Astonished, Nebuchadnezzar decrees that anyone
who “says anything amiss” against Yahweh will be destroyed -
(Daniel 3:29).
The book of Revelation does not
promise the followers of the “Lamb” escape from death, but it does declare
they will not endure the “second death,” the “lake of fire.” And
that very image is derived from the story of the three Jewish exiles delivered
by God from the “fiery burning furnace” of Nebuchadnezzar - (Revelation
14:6-11, 19:20, 21:8).
Just as the accusers of Daniel and his
companions were destroyed, so the “inhabitants of the earth” who “slander”
the saints will be cast into the “lake of first that is burning with
brimstone.”