Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study in Daniel, chapter 1. Today will be study #11 of Daniel, chapter 1, and we are going to read Daniel 1:18-21:

Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.

I will stop reading there. This brings us to the last few verses of Daniel, chapter 1. As we read this we are surprised and maybe we are even a little shocked at the fact that King Nebuchadnezzar is pleased with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He communed with them as they stood before him and he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in his realm. It is shocking because of the spiritual implications.

Historically, we know there was this evil King Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians, who took the Jews captives and he took many peoples captive because the Babylonians were a powerful force at that time that conquered many nations. They had a program where they took the brightest and best of the people they conquered and turned them into eunuchs so that they could serve the king in some way, so it is not surprising in the historical sense that Daniel and his three friends were presented before the king. They stood before the king and he found them to be wise and to have understanding.

However, it is the spiritual meaning of these things that is almost troubling. We will discuss this in a little while and I think we will get a better understanding of how this could be true. I feel I understand it better, by God’s grace, as I have looked into it and I have seen how these things do fit. I have to admit that I was ready to go to another topic for this week’s study in order to give me more time to look at this passage because I did not understand how the elect (as typified by Daniel and his friends) could have this kind of relationship with Satan (as typified by the king of Babylon), but, again, there is an answer to this that we may begin to understand.

Let us start looking at Daniel 1:18:

Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in…

What does this “end of the days” refer to in this passage? If we go back a little earlier, we see 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: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.

The word “end” in this verse is the same Hebrew word that is used in verse 18. It is not the usual word for “end” and this word is often translated as “some” and “part” in a few places, but it does appear to teach that it is the end of a set period of time, which in this case would be three years, according to Daniel 1, verse 5. They were to be nourished for three years with the king’s meat and wine and then at the end of three years they would stand before the king. This is exactly what is going on in our verse in Daniel 1:18:

Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

That is when they stood before the king, so it must point to the end of three years. This would relate to the time they were taken captive and we do not know how long it was before they were put in this eunuch’s program, but it was probably not too long. It would coincide with their captivity, so they had been captive for at least three years.

Now there is a problem when we understand that the timing of the “end of the days” is a three-year period. We do not see the problem at this point, but we will have a problem when we get into Daniel, chapter 2, because it says in Daniel 2:1:

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

Then the king called for the magicians and astrologers to interpret the dream. Not only were they commanded to interpret the dream, but they were to provide the dream because it was gone from him. When they could not provide the dream, the king ordered that all these wise men of Babylon be slain. It appears that the time from Daniel, chapter 1 to Daniel, chapter 2 is chronological, especially as we understand that Daniel was able to provide and interpret the dream, by the grace of God and he was lifted up to a position of power in Babylon, so it just cannot be that he was still in the “college” of the eunuchs and he was still studying to complete this course. It does not make sense that he would be lifted up to this high authority in Babylon and then to go back to the “college” of the eunuchs to finish his study. It would have to be that Daniel and his friends completed their three-year eunuch program and then King Nebuchadnezzar has his dream and Daniel and his friends are made great men of authority in Babylon. They would not have returned to their studies as eunuchs, so it would seem it would have to be understood that way, but the problem is that it was a complete three years and, yet, it was in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar that he dreamed the dream.

The problem could be related to how the period of the king’s reign is kept, according to ascension years or non-ascension years. However, it still says, “in the second year” and it does not say it is a completed second year. When we get to this, we will try to understand it as best we can, but I wanted to point it out and give you an opportunity to do some study and if we all look at it, maybe we will finally understand it.

Going back to Daniel 1:18, it says, “Now at the end of the days,” and the end of the three years would point to the purpose of God. Yes, Nebuchadnezzar had established the three-year period, but God is ultimately behind all things and the number “three” in the Bible points to God’s purpose. It was God’s purpose that Daniel and his friends (the elect of God) would be brought in before the king by the prince of the eunuchs, a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, historically, this is very understandable, but we have difficulties understanding this spiritually because these four young Hebrews represent all God’s elect that left the churches and went into the world (Babylon) and are living in the world under the rule of Satan, as typified by the king of Babylon and now the prince of the eunuchs (Christ) is bringing them before Satan. Why would Christ bring His elect before Satan? Why would God allow this to happen and why would Jesus bring His people before this evil king?

Let us go on and read Daniel 1:19:

And the king communed with them…

The word “communed” means to speak or to talk. He probably asked them questions and talked with them. It goes on to say in Daniel 1:19:

… and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.

Perhaps King Nebuchadnezzar spoke to 20 or 50 young men. We do not know how many or if they were all Jews or if there were some from other nations. However, of all of them, there were only these four that he found none like. Again, we are surprised because King Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of Satan. He has all these young men brought before him by the prince of the eunuchs (Christ) and Satan finds none like these four young men.

When we read this, we might think it is some sort of testimony or positive thing. It is almost as if Satan is commending them, but that is not the idea spiritually. Historically, the king is impressed. These are smart young men and wise young men and they are very careful in their speech or they are more mature than others, or whatever it was in the historical reality. You know, this is a true historical event. There was a time when these young men stood before King Nebuchadnezzar. They could see King Nebuchadnezzar and look him in the face. He was a king with a fierce countenance and he was an arrogant, proud and evil king who thought he was the greatest of all. This king looked upon them and he analyzed them and he did find that there were none like Daniel and his three friends. This is the historical truth.

However, spiritually, there is also a truth here that really should not surprise us, even though God is touching upon a subject that is not often spoken of in the Bible and that is Satan’s perspective on the people of God. He “found none like them.” There may have been 40 or 50 other eunuchs, but they were not like them. These four were different and Satan recognized the difference. It says of David when he was in the land of the Philistines, an ungodly people, in 1Samuel 29:3:

Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?

Then it says in 1Samuel 29:6:

Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as JEHOVAH liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not.

It also says in 1Samuel 29:8:

And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

Achish, an evil lord of the Philistines, had David among the Philistines for a period of time and David was serving him. This is somewhat similar to Daniel and his friends serving in Babylon. Achish gave his opinion of David and it was that he found no fault or evil in him. And this is what King Nebuchadnezzar is noticing about the four Hebrew men because he cannot find fault or evil in them. This is actually said directly about Daniel later on when the Medes and Persians took the kingdom, as it says in Daniel 6:4:

Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

This is what set him apart and this would have been true of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The king found no fault in them, but in every other man he could find their error or fault. He could find their sin or evil. Again, looking at it from the perspective of Satan, the evil one, he is looking out at mankind and this one or that one is wicked and evil and gives evidence of being in his kingdom of darkness, but he is not finding error or fault in this other one or that other one. He cannot find sin with God’s elect because their sins are paid for and God has given them a new heart and a new soul and they have been washed from all iniquity. They stand as righteous in God’s sight and there are none like them. You can search the whole world and go among all the nations and you will find none like them. This is the point that God is making of Daniel and his friends. Then we can understand why it says in Daniel 1:19: “and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.” Of course this is true because God’s people are “set apart” and they are not like other people of the world and it was observed by the King of Babylon and, spiritually, by Satan. Satan takes note of this.

At the end of the verse, it says in Daniel 1:19:

… therefore stood they before the king.

The reason they can stand is because there is none like them – they are truly “born again.” They are God’s elect and they have been made righteous by the righteousness of Christ and this is the reason they are able to stand before the king.

We wonder how that could make them to stand before the king. We have to understand the spiritual meaning of “stand” or “stood.” How do we do that? We look up this word and the word “stood” is Strong’s #5975. It is a very common word. Let us see how it is used in a few places. It says in Joshua 21:44:

And JEHOVAH gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; JEHOVAH delivered all their enemies into their hand.

Notice the similar language, even though it is used in the negative sense. It was their enemies that could not stand because they conquered and defeated them.

It says in Joshua 23:9:

For JEHOVAH hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.

The enemies of God were unable to stand before Joshua and his army because God was with Israel and, therefore, they were victorious.

It says of Jehu in 2Kings 10:4:

But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?

Jehu was anointed to be king and he slew the king of Israel and he slew the king of Judah. He was very zealous in destroying because he is also a type of Satan, but two kings were unable to “stand” before him. So, we see that “to stand” is language that indicates one is enduring or continuing or remaining. Actually, the Hebrew word translated as “stood” in our verse is translated a few times as “continue” or “remain” and it carries the idea that if you are able to stand before someone, you are enduring (at a minimum) or you are victorious. If you are unable to stand before someone, then you have been defeated or overcome and it is an indicator that you are the loser. In Judges, chapter 2 I think we will definitely see how this relates to God’s judgment on the churches. It says in Judge 2:11-14:

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of JEHOVAH, and served Baalim: And they forsook JEHOVAH God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked JEHOVAH to anger. And they forsook JEHOVAH, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of JEHOVAH was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

What was true of Israel of old in regard to their idolatry was also true of the New Testament churches and congregations until God’s anger became so hot that He ended the church age. He judged all the churches and congregations of the world by loosing their enemy, Satan, who had been bound at the time of the cross; when Satan was loosed he gathered together his emissaries and came against the camp of the saints and overcame them. We read about that a few times in the Book of Revelation, where the “beast” overcame the saints or where “Gog and Magog” overcame the camp of the saints that were in the churches and congregations, as the churches became identified with the saints of God. They could not stand before their enemies because God had given them up and turned them over to the beast and Satan began to rule in the churches and congregations. King Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of the time when God would give up Judah because of their wickedness, idolatry and high places. Nebuchadnezzar overcame Jerusalem and destroyed the temple and took many of the Jews captive. They could not “stand” before him. They were unable to stand before this ruthless king of a fierce countenance. They fell before their enemy.

This is the point that God wants us to understand about these four men in Babylon. It is the place that the Jews had gone into captivity and they are under the rule of the King of Babylon. It is a picture of God’s elect at the time of the end of the church age when they obeyed God’s command to come out of the churches and to go into the world. As for the corporate church, not one congregation was able to stand before Satan – there was not one stone left upon another. No matter what denomination and no matter how faithful they claimed to be, they were not able to stand before their enemy because God would not permit it.

But the elect of God had obediently left the churches and gone out into the world where Satan also ruled and they are attempting to obey God. Daniel and his friends had already been tried concerning their food and drink; they were proven 10 days and they were found faithful. They were eating “pulse” and the pulse comes from seed that comes as a result of rain. They were being nourished by the Latter Rain that God was bringing outside of the corporate church during the second part of the Great Tribulation period.

God is telling us that there were none found like these four and, therefore, they are able to stand before the king. He is telling us that in the situation when his elect begin to experience having to leave their congregations and having to go into the world, each one is individually serving God alone. When they do this, they do this personally and individually because they each have God’s Spirit within them. The corporate body no longer has the Spirit of God, but the saved individual does possess the Spirit of God and Satan cannot overcome that person as an individual. Satan cannot cause that person to fall as the corporate structure fell before him. The elect will stand before the king as children of God. Even though they experience very difficult and trying circumstances they will endure to the end of the Great Tribulation. This is the focus of the time period in Daniel at this point and God is not directing our eyes beyond the Great Tribulation. God’s elect will continue. They will remain before Satan and they will be overcome. Individually, God’s elect will endure and they will continue to be faithful in their service to God. That is the emphasis when it says, “therefore stood they before the king.”

Let us go on to Daniel 1:20:

And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.

Again, it is stunning because this is King Nebuchadnezzar’s appraisal of the four young Hebrews. Spiritually, it is Satan’s appraisal of God’s elect that left the churches and went out into the world. At that time, it was the greatest period of Satan’s rule in all the history of the world; he had overcome the entire corporate church and he was ruling in the world as never before. Yet, here are these four young Hebrews and he has found none like them and they were able to stand before him in all wisdom and understanding. He found them ten times better and the number “ten” points to “completeness.” They are completely better, so as there is no comparison. He finds them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. His realm was Babylon and it was an enormous kingdom that represented the entire kingdom of the world, including all the unsaved. The magicians and astrologers were those that claimed to have insight into spiritual matters. Let us just say that the king cannot find anyone in his entire realm to match the wisdom and understanding of these four. Again, it is “high praise” from the king of Babylon, historically, or from Satan, spiritually, concerning the elect of God.

Again, we wonder at this glowing language in the spiritual picture. We kind of “shake our heads” and, yet, we should be saying, “Of course Satan finds these four ten times better in wisdom and knowledge than all the magicians and astrologers and all the so-called spiritual men in his realm.” Who dwells in the spiritual realm of the kingdom of darkness in this world? It is unsaved men and the unsaved are spiritually blind and dumb and they have <>em>“none understanding,” as God says in Daniel 12:10:

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

The wise would be God’s elect and they possess understanding, but none of the wicked possess understanding. Who would be better positioned to recognize this than spirit beings like Satan and his fallen angels? They are spirit beings, so they understand that there is a spiritual realm. When you look at the people of the world, many of them lack even that basic understanding that there exists a spiritual realm because they are dead in their spirits. So from that perspective, Satan’s viewpoint differs from those people that are within his own realm in that he and his fallen angels know there is a spiritual realm. They also have personal experience of having been good angels at one time and they were dwelling with God in heaven, so they know there is a God and they know there is a heaven. They know God created the world. They know man is a creature that was made in the image of God because they were present when all these things took place. Therefore, Satan and the fallen angels possess far more knowledge than all the unsaved people that occupy the darkness of the world as part of Satan’s kingdom and they are in a position to recognize when some people are acting differently and understanding differently than these other people. They can recognize the understanding is correct with these people over here, so King Nebuchadnezzar found none like these four and “in all matters of wisdom and understanding” he found them ten times better than anyone else in his realm. The others lacked all understanding, but these others are saying things and believing things and doing things that fall in line with proper understanding and with truth and the evil spirits are aware of this.

We have a Biblical example that shows that Satan and the fallen angels have more understanding of the things of God than wicked men that are under his dominion. We can go to several verses, but let us go to one for now. It says in Matthew 8:28-29:

And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

This is a testimony from the devils. Those devils are fallen angels. They would have had personal encounters with God and Jesus is God, so they would have had a particular recognition of Jesus and much more so than most of mankind. Just think of how the Jews constantly fought against Christ and accused Him of lying and accused Him of being a liar and a seducer and of being of Beelzebub when He performed His mighty miracles and gave every evidence of being the Messiah or God in the flesh. They denied Him, but this was not so with the fallen angels.

Remember what it said concerning devils in James 2:19:

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

They know and Satan knows there is one God. He knows there are not a thousand gods like the Hindus believe. He knows there is the one God of the Bible, unlike what Muslims believe. Even when Jesus was walking the earth and God the Father was above and the Holy Spirit came down like the dove, Satan knew there was still but one God. You see, the evil spirits understand many things in the spiritual realm of which the natural-minded man (who is dead in his spirit) has no understanding. Therefore, when Daniel and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah (the elect) are before the king (Satan) and he communes with them, Satan is in a unique position to recognize that they have wisdom and understanding. For one thing, the elect have come out of the churches and left their congregations to go out into the world. All that were left behind within the churches are going to church where Satan was seated as the man of sin showing himself that he is God. God had departed the churches, but here are the few elect, as represented by the four young Hebrews, that have come out of the churches and gone out into the world. In that fact alone, Satan would realize it. Again, he was in a unique position to see this because he had overcome the camp of the saints and he had taken his seat and he was receiving the worship of the corporate body, but these ones that came out are refusing to worship him. These people are actually telling people about the end of the church age. They are aware of this spiritual transaction when the daily was taken away and the abomination of desolation was set up. So, of course, Satan would recognize that in matters of wisdom and understanding the elect are ten times better than all the others in his realm and all the men in darkness that he presides over. This all fits together in the spiritual picture of what took place during the time of the Great Tribulation.

Then we get to the last verse of the chapter and it says in Daniel 1:21:

And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.

Daniel continued and this fits with the fact that they “stood” before the king. God wants us to know by this language of “standing” and “continuing” and “enduring” before the king of Babylon that the saints of God are not defeated by Satan. Throughout the narrative portion of Daniel God keeps making the point that His people continue to stand before the king, even when the king throws three of them into the burning, fiery furnace. They continue to stand. They come through the fire and they are promoted within the kingdom of Babylon. They continue to stand and the King of Babylon cannot defeat them, just as Satan cannot overcome the elect. Yes, Satan did overcome the corporate body or earthly Jerusalem, but he cannot overcome heavenly Jerusalem. He cannot overcome the elect.

So, in this instance, God shows that they stood before the king, but in verse 21 the Lord wants us to understand that their ability to stand before the king was not just a temporary thing, but it was something that continued to the first year of King Cyrus: “And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.”

Why does it emphasize that he continued unto the first year of King Cyrus? It is because Cyrus took the kingdom of Babylon after the seventy years of captivity was completed. The period of oppression from 609BC through 539BC typifies the entire Great Tribulation period. Then Cyrus, a type of the Lord Jesus, took the kingdom. Immediately after the Tribulation, Christ took the kingdom of Satan on May 21, 2011, after the completion of that actual 23-year period, but, again, God’s emphasis at this point is on His people and their circumstances for the duration of the Great Tribulation. For the entire period of Great Tribulation, they would continue, just as Daniel continued the entire seventy years until Cyrus or until Christ. Throughout the entire Great Tribulation, God’s elect continued until Christ came and put down Satan.

I always wondered why God emphasized “unto the first year of King Cyrus,” because according to the Book of Daniel, Daniel continued beyond that point. It says in Daniel 10:1:

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.

This took place in the third year of Cyrus and Daniel is still continuing. As a matter of fact, this is after he was put in the lion’s den. He survived that long night and he was lifted up. You can be sure that King Cyrus would have kept him in authority and showered him with benefits. It is not as though Daniel’s stature lessened in any way. It increased as never before under Cyrus, so Daniel continued well beyond the first year of Cyrus. Why does God tell us in Daniel 1:21 that Daniel “continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus”? They only reason is that God specifies the first year is that He wants us to know that during the entire seventy years Daniel continued. The saints of God, the elect, would endure to the end, as it says in the context of the beast rising out of the sea and overcoming the camp of the saints, in Revelation 13, it says, “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” God’s people endured to the end of the Great Tribulation.

At this point in time as we are living in the days after that Tribulation and those 23 years are now in the past and we are in a position to observe that God was faithful to His people to keep them standing and to keep them enduring throughout the entire Great Tribulation period. This verse is a prophesy some 2,500 years before the Great Tribulation would begin, as God prophesied that the elect would continue until the end of the Great Tribulation or until the first year of Cyrus.