Daniel 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank… I. DANIEL'S PRINCIPLE. "I am a child of God, and as such I belong to God in my entire being." (2 Timothy 2:21.) Such was Daniel's principle — it was faith in the testimony of God; the certainty of being one of His children; and it was thereby he triumphed. And it is here, at the very commencement, that the religion of Daniel, of a soul sealed by the Holy Spirit, differs essentially from that of those fearful and double-minded disciples who, believing only part of the testimony of God, dare scarcely hope for salvation, and place the certainty of it only after a long course of labours and of sacrifices. How am I to believe, cries out such a disciple, that I am already in grace and that God has made me His child! Let me be purer, more cut off from the world, and then shall I be able to presume that I belong to Him, and believe in His grace. But that disciple, so far as he shall continue to hold to that course of human righteousness, will never be anything more than a slave of the law. Will you render to God those filial acts of obedience of which you speak if you are not first sealed with the Spirit of adoption which produces them? Must not the sap of the tree be celestial before the fruits of Heaven can be gathered on it? "So also," St. John says, "you will never render to God what love alone can render Him, so long as fear and its torments are found in you." (1 John 4:18.) Raise them, to employ that figure still, raise the pyramid of your obedience on the broad and solid base of your adoption of Jesus. Such was the assurance of Daniel. such was the principle of his obedience. Happy and holy liberty of grace, glorious privilege with which the Spirit of adoption enriches the believer, through communion with his Saviour! (Psalm 119:32.) He will be called, perhaps, presumptuous; it will be said that he is wanting in sobriety, prudence, and the humble trust which every sinner ought to have, and he will be told again and again that he exposes himself to serious falls. Daniel and the other children of God will answer together and without fear: "Ye err, not knowing what the grace of God is." (1 Corinthians 6:20.) II. DANIEL'S COURAGE. There was fidelity, and there was the courage which it demanded of him. For let us not think that it was very easy for Daniel and his companions to make up their minds to what they resolved on. It may have been a comparatively trifling matter to renounce exquisite dishes and to choose the most simple ones; but it was not a trifling matter to them to free themselves from the order of a jealous king, whose slaves they were, seeing that by this course they endangered their lives. Of this they were not ignorant, for the chief of the eunuchs had made them aware of it (Daniel 1:10). What the tower was to cost was therefore well calculated by them before they commenced to build; and they did not put their hands to the plough till they had well seen and well measured the length of the furrows in the field. (Luke 14:28; Luke 9:62.) How many times must they have spoken among themselves of their duty and of its consequences? How many times did not the excuses and the pretexts of the flesh, the weaknesses of their heart, the promises and the threatenings of the world, and the love of life come, either to obscure their minds or shake their constancy? How many times were they not wont mutually to exhort one another to be faithful. No, it was not inconsiderately that Daniel advanced to the combat, and it was no longer in his own strength. It was in his heart that he resolved on it, it was from the Word and Spirit of the Lord that he drew his courage and his perseverance. "My son, give me thy heart," says eternal wisdom to him whom it teaches. (Proverbs 23:26.) "Thou shalt serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart," the Lord repeats to His children. (Deuteronomy 10:12.) (Psalm 119:69.) (Deuteronomy 5:29.) (Psalm 86:11.) Weigh then all your anchors, O disciples who wish to set sail! Detach your hearts from the impure shores of earth, and, if it is necessary, pluck them away, and that without delay and without pity; if it is true, at least, that you have resolved to surrender yourselves to the heavenly breezes, to the always equable and always favourable breath of the Holy Spirit. What do you fear? Is it not the wind of the grace of God which will never separate you from this world except to bring you near Heaven? Daniel resolved in his heart not to defile himself, and Daniel succeeded therein, because, having first given his heart to his God, it was also from his God that he drew his strength and his courage. With what? you perhaps ask. What are those dishes and that forbidden wine to us; or when indeed are we seen to take them? Ah, shall I answer you; it is not that the table of the prince of this world is unknown or poorly furnished! It is erected, it is uncovered before the eyes of the world and of all peoples, for all desires and for all lusts and hungerings, even the most irregular: meat and beverages are lavished there, to draw to it, to nourish and satiate at it, all passions and all inclinations. It is there that sensuality, voluptuousness, and luxury; it is there that drunkenness, gluttony, and dissoluteness; it is there that cupidity, avarice, and egotism; it is there that ambition, ostentation, pride, and arrogance; it is there that vanity, with its falsehoods, its ruses, and its hypocrisy; it is there, in a word, that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are invited, in the name of pleasure and of glory, be gratify all their appetites, all their inclinations, all their folly! III. ISSUE OF DANIEL'S FIDELITY. It did not result in shame, but in the favour and good pleasure of God — in the most confirmed prosperity. Oh! what perfect peace, what profound rest, what sweet and serene assurance, is shed abroad in the soul of the faithful, since he honours his God, by trusting in Him! There is the goodwill of the Lord to calm every trouble, to drive away and scatter every disquietude. There is the testimony and the seal of Thy Spirit, O mighty Saviour! who says to Thy child that Thou art with him and that Thou dost guard him! Such were the sentiments and such was the joy of Daniel and his brethren. They saw all their prayers heard, all their desires accomplished; but, above all, they saw the name of their God honoured and magnified in presence of His enemies. What, indeed, did these servants of the Most High seek? Certainly, it was not to gain their cause before unbelievers. What value could they have set on the esteem or admiration of those who did not fear the Lord! Neither was it of being virtuous before the world, and hence taking so much the more delight in themselves. Never did that impure thought enter hearts which the Holy Spirit ruled. But what concerned them was that their God, that good Father, was feared, was obeyed, was loved; it was that the homage of their faith should be ascribed to Him without reserve; it was that in the light of His truth, their filial love should render to Him the reverence due to His majesty, and the sacrifice of their entire being. Such an offering was pleasing to the Lord. "Go then;" shall I say to you, "in the name of our Lord, go and do as Daniel did." Like him, you are hers below in a noviciate, in a time of probation, preparing to appear before the King of Zion. Let your principle also be faith, let your strength also be the Word and the Spirit of your God, let your expectation also be the deliverance of the Lord! Let your hand, therefore, go forth and overturn, as Daniel's did, the cup which sin presents. No delay, friends of the Saviour! No concealed compounding with evil, no treachery, no duplicity of heart towards Him who loved you perfectly, who is perfectly holy, and who will have no offering but that which the freest will presents Him. Is not the thought of what He has done here below for your soul, and of all that He will yet do in eternity, enough to bind your whole heart and all your desires in obedience to Him? Will greater benefits be needed to gain for Him your affections, to make Him deserving of all your gratitude, and thereby of all your self-devotion? Had Daniel a God more beneficent, or a Saviour more worthy of being loved, than He whom you adore? I know well that, in the judgment of the flesh, these vegetables, with which Daniel was content, are a mean and contemptible food. What dishes were such herbs! What foolish abstinence was such a sobriety! What health, what strength can he pretend to have who condemns himself to them? So will the "pulse" of the Gospel ever be despised and dishonoured — that nourishment which grows in the garden of the Lord, and which His Spirit presents by His Word to the happy children of His house. But the result, O mocking world! If you do not know, I am going to tell you, and it will be by facts. See these faithful Hebrew youths, stronger and fresher than all the others. See also, now, those sincere Christians, those disciples whom the Lord Jesus calls "His friends" (John 15:14), because they do everything which He commands them, because they touch no dishes of the world, because they are content with the "pulse" of wisdom and of holiness, and judge of their state. Do they appear to you feeble, sad, unhappy? or rather, do they not in some sort publish by their peace, their joy, their habitual sweetness; by the equality of their character, the purity of their manners, and the sweetness of their deportment; by their sustained piety; by their charity unfeigned; by their firm and glorious hope; and their patience and their humility, that their souls are full of life, and that their vigour is certainly that which comes from God; whilst those of their brethren who eat at the table of the world, know neither the vigour of faith, nor the health of peace, nor the serenity of hope? It will not be long that you will have to renounce the dishes of the world and its beverages. Think, oh! think seriously, my brethren; think with affection, what will be those years of renunciation of the world, and of attachment to what the Holy Spirit points out and commands you, when you shall have no more time, no more years, nor days — when you shall have ended this short voyage, and eternity shall have conmenced to your soul? Yes, think of that, and see if it is not just to God, and good to yourselves, in every way, even for this world but especially for eternity, that, having to go before your Saviour and King, you should, while you are still here below, purpose in your heart not to defile yourselves with the meats nor with the wine of this world, and, like Daniel, honour your Lord, by being subject to him! (C. Malan.) Parallel Verses KJV: But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. |
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