From our Sunday service on June 8, 2025, Daniel 6. This is part 6 of our Daniel series. Watch the full message: In the Lions’ Den – Daniel Series #6 on YouTube.
Today we are going to see Daniel face the last big challenge of his life, and the lesson we want to take away is that God wants you to serve Him consistently.
Daniel Promoted Again
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. With Babylon fallen, history tells us that Belshazzar fell at the hands of Cyrus and that Nabonidus was taken to Persia. There was no leadership in Babylon, and that needed to be dealt with. Darius looks for people who can lead, and he does not have to look far. For the last 66 years Daniel has been serving the kingdom of Babylon. This old man, probably in his late 70s or early 80s, is appointed to one of the three top positions in the government. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. That promotion is what stirs the plot. The other officials cannot stand that this old Hebrew exile is about to be set over the whole realm. They cannot attack his work, so they attack his worship. If they can turn his consistency into a crime, they can get rid of him without ever proving a fault in his administration.
Who Was Darius?
You will find in the Bible that multiple people are called Darius, and they are not all the same person. This one is Darius the Mede, who is probably who we call Gubaru today. He is not to be confused with Darius the Great, Darius I, or with King Cyrus, and the end of our passage tells us they are different people. The Nabonidus Chronicle lists a man named Gubaru as the new governor of Babylon in 539 BC when Babylon fell. Daniel says this Darius appointed 120 subgovernors, and the Chronicle says Gubaru appointed subgovernors. Daniel states that Darius started at age 62, and Xenophon says Gubaru was an elderly man when he began his rule. Darius was Gubaru’s royal title. “Darius” means “the upholder” or “possessor,” and the new Persian word for it also means “king,” so you can see how it is a royal title rather than a name.
A Plot Against Daniel
The presidents and princes seek to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they can find none, because he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then they say they will not find any occasion against this Daniel except it be concerning the law of his God. They come to the king and ask him to establish a royal statute: that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of the king, shall be cast into the den of lions. The king signs it, and now the law of the Medes and Persians cannot be changed.
Why a Den of Lions?
When I was doing my study and got to the den of lions, I wondered why the Persians had a den of lions sitting around to begin with. A more accurate translation for modern English would be a lions’ pit. The word in Aramaic means a hole in the ground. It is not a den like a cave in the side of a cliff. If you know anything about lions, they do not really live in caves; they live in savannah plains, where they can see around them and chase down prey. So it is a hole in the ground with lions in it.
Daniel Prays as Always
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
Daniel 6:10
In this verse we get a sneak peek into Daniel’s personal life, which we do not often see. Usually we see Daniel at work or in the barracks, but this time we see him at home and what he does in his free time. Three times a day he goes to his chamber, opens the window that faces Jerusalem, kneels, and prays. If you remember back to Daniel chapter 1, I pulled in Jeremiah’s instruction to the exiles: pray for the city where God sent you into captivity, that it would prosper, and you would prosper alongside it. For 66 years Daniel has remained faithful to that instruction. The kingdom has changed, but Daniel’s obedience to God has not. He does not close the windows. He does not take thirty days off. He does not make a show of rebellion either. He just keeps doing what he has always done. That is the point. The crisis did not create Daniel’s prayer life. It only revealed it. What he was in the house with the windows open is what he had been for 66 years, and that is what God used in the pit. God wants you to serve Him consistently. Daniel’s public faithfulness is not a new performance for a crisis. It is the same life he has been living for decades, now under a law that makes that life a capital crime.
A King Who Cannot Undo His Law
The men find Daniel praying, and they press the king. The king is sore displeased with himself, and he sets his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labors till the going down of the sun. But the law cannot be moved. He has been trapped by his own decree. The very law he signed to honor himself now prevents him from saving the one servant he trusts most. The Medes and Persians prided themselves on laws that could not be revoked, and that pride becomes a noose. He is forced to put into the den the one man he most wants to save, and he says to Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. A stone is laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king seals it with his own signet.
The king passes the night fasting. He cannot sleep. Very early in the morning he goes in haste unto the den of lions and cries, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Daniel answers, My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. The king is exceeding glad, and Daniel is taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt is found upon him, because he believed in his God.
The Accusers, and a Decree
The king commands that the men who accused Daniel be brought, and they are cast into the den of lions, they, their children, and their wives. The word “accused” there means “to snap at.” A lot of people say this is a pretty brutal punishment, throwing their wives and children in there too. But remember that in this whole process they committed high treason against the king. They lied. The entire punishment of Daniel was founded on a lie to the king in the king’s courtroom. This is the highest punishment available in the kingdom. The lions have the mastery of them, and break all their bones before they come at the bottom of the den. They were really hungry and ready for the meal they had been waiting for, and the men were torn to pieces before they hit the bottom of the pit. That shows that God truly did stop the lions’ mouths for Daniel. Then Darius writes a decree to all people, nations, and languages.
I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
Daniel 6:26–27
Daniel’s consistency has already preached, and even a pagan king can see it. So the story does not end with Daniel climbing out of the pit. It ends with a pagan king telling the whole empire that Daniel’s God is the living God, whose kingdom shall not be destroyed, who delivereth and rescueth, and who worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth. Consistency in private prayer became a public testimony God could use. Daniel did not have to invent a new ministry for the crisis. He just kept the same faithful life, and God was able to shut the lions’ mouths and open a king’s lips. God wants you to serve Him consistently. The God who was able to deliver Daniel is still able to keep those who serve Him in the same ordinary, stubborn faithfulness. Will you keep doing what is right before God, not only when it is easy, but when the law of the land has turned against it?
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