Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. Today is study #6 of Daniel, chapter 1, and we will begin by reading Daniel 1:3-7:

And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we saw that the king of Babylon is a type and figure of Satan. Daniel and his three friends have gone into captivity in Babylon and that is a picture of God’s elect coming out of the churches and congregations and into the world. These four young men are types of God’s elect.

We also saw that Babylon is a picture of the world and during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 through May 21, 2011 (an exact 23 years) Satan was ruling in the churches and in the world. When God’s people left the churches and congregations to go into the world, this chapter reveals that Satan was well aware that the people of God were coming out of the churches. Through the instructions given to the master of the eunuchs concerning the children of Israel that had gone into captivity, it reveals that Satan was still going after them in his desire to deceive them and bring them under his rule and control.

We looked at verse 4 last time and we saw that it said of certain of the children of Israel: “Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science.” We saw that all five of these characteristics apply to a child of God who has been saved and had their sins washed away. This was the criteria the king desired for those that would come before him.

We are going to look at verse 5 in today’s study. It says in Daniel 1:5:

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank…

What he is really trying to do is to usurp the position of God. We know this has always been Satan’s desire. The king of Babylon represents Satan and Satan’s rule over the world as typified by the kingdom of Babylon. In Isaiah, chapter 14 God shows us exactly what is in view through the usage of the king of Babylon as a representation of Satan. It says in Isaiah 14:4:

That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

Then it says in Isaiah 14:12-14:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

This is pretty clear in showing Satan’s desire and intention to be like God. We have further confirmation of this in the New Testament. It says in 2Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

This refers to Satan taking his seat in the churches and congregations as the man of sin and ruling over the entire corporate churches, the outward visible representation of the kingdom of God in the world. It says in Revelation 13:7-8:

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

In verse 8 God is saying that it is not just the people in the churches that will worship the beast (Satan), but it is all the unsaved people upon the earth. Anyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world is unsaved and they will worship the beast. Actually, we could say that as the Book of Daniel speaks of Babylon it is showing us Satan’s overall kingdom at the time of the Great Tribulation when he ruled over the churches and all the nations of the world. It points to all the unsaved people of the world. Satan is the great ruler during the time of Great Tribulation. He is the supreme ruler of the churches and of the world and that is the focus in Daniel, chapter 1 and in Daniel, chapter 3 when the king makes the golden image and demands that everyone bow down to it. Everyone within Babylon will be commanded to bow down or to die in the burning, fiery furnace. There is no other option. Satan is demanding that all bow the knee to him.

This is the point of contention between Satan and the elect throughout the Great Tribulation period. In the Book of Daniel it focuses on the elect that are in captivity or the elect that are out in the world. They came out of the churches and went out into the world and Satan keyed in on them and he did everything he could to get them to worship him. He also continued even outside the churches to show himself that he is God. He is trying to act like God and that is why it says of the king of Babylon (Satan) in Daniel 1:5:

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank…

What does this sound like? Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew, chapter 6 when He instructed the disciples how to pray. It says in Matthew 6:9-11:

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

What does “bread” point to in the Bible? Jesus is the “bread of life,” but He is also the Word of God. He is the Word made flesh, so God has made provision for His people, spiritually, by nourishing them by providing “daily bread.” Every day the people of God that are alive on the earth are nourished by God. They are kept by Him and they are fed by Him.

We are living in a time when God commands us, “Feed my sheep.” We are to continue to bring the truth of God and that is another way of saying “daily bread.” We also discussed this when we looked at the parallel passage to Matthew, chapter 6 and in Luke, chapter 11. We saw that within the Lord’s Prayer is a petition for the forgiveness of sin. In Matthew 6, after it says, “Give us this day our daily bread,” it says in Matthew 6:12:

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...

These are petitions for salvation, so the Lord’s Prayer was applicable during the day of salvation. This is why God teaches His disciples the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:3:

Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins…

This was for the day of salvation, but the disciples are asking Christ to teach them to pray, but the prayer for salvation was an appropriate prayer up until the day the door to heaven shut and God ended His salvation program. After that time, how can God direct people to beseech Him for salvation when He has ended salvation? So, He gives another prayer for the elect of God to pray during the Day of Judgment. That petition is seen in Luke 5:11:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight…

We can understand “midnight” to be a reference to Judgment Day. Then it goes on to say in Luke 11:5-7:

… And say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

He cannot give bread. That is striking. That is stunning because Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer had said, “Give us day by day our daily bread,” but now the door is shut. It is Judgment Day and He cannot give them bread, but He goes on to say to His people – and this is applicable at all times – in Luke 11:8:

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

It is daily bread. You need bread. You need to be nourished and you need truth from the Word of God. Despite the time and despite the circumstances that it is midnight and the door is shut, God is saying, “I will give you bread.”

Then the parable goes on to say, in Luke 11:9:

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you…

What is prayer? Prayer is the process of speaking to God and Jesus is teaching us how to pray in the time of judgment and what it is that we should ask – we should ask for bread. This relates to Christ’s command to feed His sheep in John 21.

Let us go back to our verse in Daniel 1:5:

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank…

The Hebrew word translated as “provision” is Strong’s #1697. It is the Hebrew word “debar” and it is the word that is translated as “word.” It is the Hebrew word most commonly translated that way and we could give many examples, but it says in Psalm 119:25:

My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

It says in Psalm 119:28:

My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Then it says in Psalm 119:42:

So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.

It is the word “debar” and it is that Hebrew word that identifies with the Word of God. And, here in the Book of Daniel, notice the arrogance and the incredible pride of Satan. King Nebuchadnezzar was a cruel and proud king, but he is representing someone even more arrogant, cruel and proud and that is Satan, the evil one. Because it is the time of the end of the world, it is the only explanation for what we see in the churches today and in the world all around us.

When we look at the history of the world, there has never been a time like this. For example, there has never been a time when the Sabbath day had become so meaningless and without significance. There is no observance of it, for all intents and purposes, across the face of the earth. Sports have become the “god” and sports have become the reason for Sunday. Sports have become the king over the Sunday Sabbath, God’s holy day. It had never been that way before in history. The way people dress has never been as bad as it is today. The way people talk has never been so vile in all the history of the world. The way people act and think has never been so evil in any time past in the history of the world. We see a world that is dramatically and drastically changed and the reason is the time – we have reached the time of the end. God loosed Satan and we see the effects everywhere in the world. If we saw only the things around us, we would not know what is going on, but the Bible has shown us that this is the time in history and these are the evil and dark days. We see the Great Tribulation and the falling away of the churches and then we see Judgment Day. There is perfect harmony with the teaching of the Bible. To put it another way, if this were taking place 100 or 150 years ago, when we saw the Bible talking about the desperate wickedness at the time of the end….and let us look at that for a second in Romans 1:26-27:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

Let us say you were reading this 150 years ago at the time of the Civil War. When you saw that God gave man up and there are women with women and men with men, you would look around and you would see hardly anyone involved with that sin to the degree we see it today. People could look around and not see it. Then there is the language of Matthew 24 about men’s hearts growing cold and iniquity abounding, but when they looked around it was not that apparent. Evil was more constrained. Of course, they had the same desperately wicked hearts that all unsaved people have, but God the Holy Spirit was working to hold back the evil desires of men. In the way they dressed, it would have been much more conservative and modest. In their speaking, they would have been more refrained. You might still have some “sailors” that cursed. In fact there used to be a term, “He curses like a sailor,” because it was primarily limited to sailors, but today we have 10-year olds and teenage girls that curse worse than sailors did in times past. That is because everything has changed in every aspect of life. Sin is unleashed because Satan was loosed. That is an absolute teaching of the Bible. We know that from the Word of God and all the indicators and evidence all around us confirm that fact. There is no question that Satan had been loosed.

By God’s grace, we know when he was loosed. We know when his period of great rule took place over both the churches and the world as he tried to show he was God. It was during that 23 years of the Great Tribulation, concluding on May 21, 2011. During that time he was like the king that appointed them a daily word. Of course, it would apply to all those within the churches and congregations as well because he was the one ruling and it was his emissaries that were instructing the people and teaching in the pulpits. They are teaching doctrines of men and other gospels: “Here is your daily word.”

Do you see how Satan was doing his best to be like God? It has always been Satan’s desire from the very beginning when he conceived the evil idea to conquer man who was made in God’s image. This was done soon after the creation as he came as the serpent to deceive Eve and Adam and they bowed to him. They did service to him by believing the lie over the truth and that “puffed up” Satan. It says in the Psalms, “I have said, Ye are gods.” That is because we are made in the image of God. We are not the Almighty God but we were made in His image and Satan deceived us and through that deception he conquered man. By the right of conquest he began to rule over man made in God’s image and, yet, it was not enough. He always wanted to rule over all. God had a salvation program whereby God was saving certain ones and translating them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. With that transfer they no longer served sin or Satan, so Satan has been after them ever since. He went after the corporate body of Israel and he went after the corporate body of the church in order to make sure everyone was worshipping him and bowing down to him.

That was his focus with the children that were taken out of Judah and brought into Babylon, where the king (Satan) would provide them their daily word. So how does Satan provide them that daily word? We can see how Satan provides the daily word for those that stayed within the churches and congregations when God’s Spirit had left and Satan had entered in as the man of sin to rule. It was his emissaries that were teaching. But how does Satan attempt to provide a daily word for the elect that came out of the churches? Notice I used the word “attempt,” because as we continue in the Book of Daniel, we will see that Daniel and his friends refused the king’s meat and the king’s wine.

They did not want to pollute themselves with these things, so they requested to have their own food. Keep in mind that the Jews had their own dietary laws because God had given them those laws, especially laws concerning “meat.” Remember that it said in Leviticus 11:4-8:

Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

On one level in regard to the meats that were to be eaten and the meats that were not to be eaten, already there was a pressing test upon the children of Israel that came out of the churches. Not everyone that came out of the churches was elect. The testing did not end with their coming out of the churches. There was a testing program while they were still within the churches. The big test was finally whether they would obey God or obey their pastor when God said, “Depart out.” God commanded His people to flee to the mountains because God had loosed Satan and for the benefit of His own people He told them to get out of all the churches and never return. That is the teaching of the Bible.

Someone might say, “You are saying that Satan is ruling out in the world, too, so what difference does it make whether you are in the churches or out in the world? You still have Satan as the ruler.” Yes, that is true but the churches were designed as a place to worship God. They are places of worship and that is why there is an emphasis in regard to Satan in 2Thessalonians 2:4: “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.” That is the point of Satan’s entry into the churches and taking his seat to rule there. When you hear that language, just imagine someone going into the churches. Why do they go there? It is to pray to God and to worship God and to sing God’s praises and, yet, God is gone and Satan has been set up instead of God as the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place. Therefore, the worship is not going to God. It is going to Satan. Yes, it is through deception, but Satan is very comfortable in receiving worship through deception – that is how it all began back in the Garden of Eden. It is fine with him if you think you are worshipping God, but it is actually worshipping him because you have believed his lie. He is the father of lies and, therefore, you are honoring him. The churches are no place for the people of God. It was for their benefit that they would get out of that place and go into the world, even though Satan was in the world. The world is not a place set apart to worship God and, therefore, God’s people went out into the world. Satan was ruling over the unsaved inhabitants of the earth and changing times and laws, so how could the king of Babylon be said to set a “daily word” before the elect of God? Would that not be language that fits with another kind of a gospel?

But, again, let us look at the world. It is a world that has changed incredibly over the last 20 or 30 years. If we were to go back to the 1970s before the loosing of Satan and the beginning of the Great Tribulation, we find that although the Sunday Sabbath was beginning to disintegrate in certain areas, there were still laws on the books that businesses were not to be open. I am going to mention sports because the Super Bowl is playing today and everyone is going to watch the Super Bowl. Even in some churches they have Super Bowl parties. The churches have fallen away so, of course, they would do that, but what about God’s people that are outside of the churches and congregations? Have we been giving in to the king of Babylon’s “daily word” and the king’s “meat and wine”? As Sunday in the eyes of the world has become meaningless and the rise of sports on that day has become the new idol, have we bowed the knee? That is the whole point of why the king provided the young Israelites his “daily word.” Satan is going to make changes that will affect the Sunday Sabbath or marriage and divorce. Just compare the divorce rate today to the divorce rate of the 50s or 60’s or even 70s. There is no comparison. The marriage relationship was shattered due to the loosing of Satan and there are even same sex marriages in our time, and so forth.

There are many, many ways in which pressure is being applied to the people of God as they live in the world. And it is doctrinal pressure. We should not be deceived, even though the world does not talk about doctrine like the people in the churches talk about doctrine. When we meet someone that is a professed Christian in the churches, the child of God may say the Bible teaches this, but they do not agree on this doctrine. People in the world do not come to you with “chapter and verse” and say, “The Bible says we can do whatever we want on Sunday. We can work. We can cut the grass. We can go the game.” The world does not say these things, but they just ignore the Bible and they just do whatever they want to do on God’s holy day without consideration to the Word of God. They act as if there is no Law concerning Sunday the Sabbath and, yet, there is a Law. It says in Isaiah 58:13-14:

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of JEHOVAH, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in JEHOVAH…

Involve yourself in spiritual things. Spend Sunday in the Bible. By the way, I am not teaching this because I am trying to get someone not to watch the Super Bowl. Frankly, that is not my concern, but it just so happens that it is an excellent example of how the elect have been tested and tried over the course of these many years since the Great Tribulation began and continuing today. We are tested about whether we will bow the knee and compromise the things of God because of the way the world has gone. And the world has gone so far away from the truths of the Bible that it could be easy for a child of God out there on their own to be tested. They have the Word of God and the fellowship of God and that is sufficient, but all around them in their family, neighborhood work and society there is no longer any concern for God’s Law in these areas and it can be a tremendous influence that presses them to conform to the ways of the world and that is the king’s “daily word” or the kings’ “meat.”

As we saw in regard to God’s Laws concerning what could be eaten or not eaten, the Lord showed Peter a vision of unclean animals in Acts, chapter 10 and the Lord told Peter, “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.” Peter responded, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.” God brought the vision three times and He said, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” Following this, a message comes from Cornelius, a Roman and a Gentile, beseeching Peter to come to them. Normally, Peter would not have gone to him because he was a Gentile, but due to the revelation from God concerning the unclean animals that were now to be eaten Peter realized God was not a respecter of persons and that the Gospel had heirs of salvation among the Jews and the Gentiles; the Gentiles were included in God’s salvation program. It was a change in doctrine that was illustrated through the change in “meat” and that is not coincidental because “meat” in the Bible relates to doctrine. It says in Hebrews 13:9:

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

In other words, do not occupy yourself with strange doctrines or strange “meats” that are unprofitable.

So King Nebuchadnezzar (Satan) had appointed a “daily word” of his own “meat” or his own doctrine and that is danger. That is the test for the people of God living in Babylon or living in the world at the end of the church age. They no longer have a fellowship in the sense of a corporate body. They may find a few friends or small fellowship group, but most people are primarily on their own. They are in Babylon, a ruthless kingdom, under a fierce and evil king that has no good intention toward them. It is about as bad a circumstance as anyone could imagine and the king now wants them to eat a certain “meat” and he wants them to drink a certain “drink.” It is his “wine” and not the wine of God or the meat of God. It is not the bread of God or the Lord’s daily bread. This is a daily provision from the evil one that he desires for God’s people to partake and eat.

It is what Satan is pressing toward each one of the elect that he has not been able to get in his hold. These are the ones that came out of the churches because they were made aware of the underlying deception and what was going on within the congregations spiritually. These are the ones that refused to bow the knee to false doctrines within the churches. So more deceitfully than ever, Satan is coming to them as they live day by day in a world that changes as it goes after sin more and more. Our work place changes. Our neighborhoods change. The things we read about in the newspapers change and the media’s presentation of information changes and everything is changing more and more. The pressures is being brought to bear upon the elect to change with them and to conform to the world. It is as if Satan is saying, “If I cannot get you to deny God directly and obviously by worshipping me within the churches, then I will get you in old proven way by deceiving you out in the world.” This was just as Satan deceived Adam and Eve. That is what is in view with the king’s “meat” and “wine.”

There is much I wanted to say about the wine, but it will have to wait. However, we do know what God has to say about “wine” and “strong drink” for the true believer. It says in Proverbs 31:4:

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:

Why? God goes on to give us the reason. He does not have to give us a reason; it is good enough for God to say, “Thou shalt not drink,” and He does say that. He goes on to say in Proverbs 31:5:

Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

From a natural standpoint, we know that alcohol makes people forget things. People drink and the next day they cannot remember what they said or did. Imagine the child of God and he is cleaving to the Word of God for very life and hiding God’s Word in his heart. We ought to be meditating upon the Word of God and trying to stay as close as possible to the Word of God, the Bible. But, what if you are drinking. Do you expect to remember a verse? Do you expect to remember a fine detailed point of spiritual meaning? No, you can forget it – literally – and you will forget it, if you drink. That is one level of understanding, but in the Book of Daniel it speaks of the king’s “wine.” It is not for kings to drink wine and a king is a type and figure of one God has saved and brought into the royal family of God. We are the child of the King and we become a king and the Bible says, “It is not for kings to drink wine,” neither the literal wine nor the spiritual “strong drink” of wrong doctrine. Doctrines of lies and deceit are not to be partaken of, as it says in Isaiah 28:7:

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

It is clear that God is connecting erring in strong drink to stumbling and erring in vision. A “vision” identifies with the Word of God. Some of the Books of the Bible begin with a prophet receiving a “vision” and the vision is written in the Book – it is the Word of God. That is doctrine. In Isaiah 28:7, they were involved in other kinds of doctrines. Again, when we were in the churches we came to understand that Satan had come with other kinds of gospels and he was trying to deceive us with his doctrines. We were too wise for him, by God’s grace, and he was not able to deceive us in the churches and we got out of the churches. We escaped the temptation from Satan to err in wine and strong drink, but now outside the churches he is still pressing upon us his “wine” and his “meat.” He is pressuring the people of God to eat and to drink and there is strong temptation and strong testing of God’s people out in the world.

We will have to look more into the drinking of “wine.” Just remember that in Revelation God speaks of Babylon and the cup of wine that she made all to drink. That is something you can look into between now and the next time we get together in our Sunday afternoon Bible study in the Book of Daniel.