THE “ANCIENT OF DAYS”- DANIEL

SERIES: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD

TEXT: DANIEL 7:9

We all can have close encounters with God, no matter our past, no matter our pain, no matter our position in life, no matter our gender and color of skin. No matter our predicament, we can all have close encounters with God.

One of the prominent things that stands out about Daniel is the prophesies he gave. Prophesies about.

• The coming 10 nations.
• The coming of 7 years of great tribulation.
• The coming antichrist.
• The super increase of knowledge in the last days.

If there is any time for us to have encounters it is now.

In Daniel 7:9, “I kept looking unto you until thrones were set up and the ancient of days took His seat; His vesture was like white snore and the hair of his head like pure wool, His throne was a blaze with flames.” When we first talk about Daniel in the Bible, he was just a teenager. God had always had an army of anointed, dedicated, sold out, surrendered, Holy Ghost filled teenagers and young people who made a tremendous difference in the plan and purposes of God. 

Young people like Joseph, Samson, David, Esther, Timothy, they stood their ground for God in their own generation.

God has always had young people in His service and that is what we find when we look at the life of Daniel. Let us learn three things about Daniel’s life.

THE POSITION HE SERVED.

• When we begin reading the book of Daniel, we discover that he was a Jewish teenager who served as a slave on the staff of the king of Babylon.
• The nation of Judah had sinned against God and as a result, God sent the Babylonians to punish them. Most of the people of Judah were killed and those not killed were transported to Babylon as slaves and captives.
• Daniel was among those transported and because Daniel was young and strong, besides Daniel was also from the royal family.
• Daniel and several of his friends were chosen for royal service of the king of Babylon.
• Let us understand that Daniel had been transplanted from his country.
• Daniel had seen his ungodly nation destroy his homeland.
• Daniel was remote from his family.
• The palace of Babylon was a place of tremendous evil just like present state houses and palaces of today.
• Now understand that young men who worked for any king in those days, in order to keep them from having sexual affairs with the king’s women, they were castrated to forever prevent them from ever being able to do anything with women.
• The Bible calls them Eunuchs or male attendants-Dan. 1:3. The master of the eunuch was the chief-eunuch.
• Jesus talked about 3 types of eunuchs in Matthew 19:12.

1. Eunuchs who were born eunuchs from their mother’s womb.
2. Eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men (castrated by other men).
3. Eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.

• Those who live under control not to sin against God in handling women in the church of Jesus Christ.
• They live holy lives in their interaction with women because they have chosen never to relate sexually with the female flock.
• Jesus said the issue of eunuchs is a bitter pill to swallow-1st Cor. 7:32-34.
• It was horrible for Daniel and the captives.

• Separated from family, home and nation.
• In a land of pagan, idolatry, humiliated and violated.

• Despite Daniel’s captivity, this did not stop Daniel from-

• Being all that God wanted him to be.
• Seeing visions of God and of the future.
• Writing a book of the Bible.
• Having a close encounter with God.

• As I look at our congregation I see some of you that are:-

• In some bad situations and horrible circumstances.
• Some have been violated.

• But I want you to know that you can still have close encounter with God.
• Bad surroundings, mistreatment, terrible conditions have never kept people from doing mighty things for God and their generations.
• Zig ziglar reminds us that a study of three hundred world class leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sir Winston Churchill, Helen Keller, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Junior, Dr. Albert Schweitzer etc revel that 25 percent of them had serious physical disabilities. 50% had been abused as children or raised in abject poverty.
• It makes no difference,

• That your father was never there for you.
• That your mother was not a good mother.
• That your circumstances were terrible.
• That you were molested and violated.

• It is not a matter of-

• Where you have been but where you are headed.
• What has been done to you but what Jesus did for you.
• Who you are but who He is.
• You can still have close encounters with God despite your position.

PREDICAMENTS HE FACED.

The first predicament Daniel faced concerned the king’s meat-Daniel 1.

• As part of the king’s staff, Daniel and his friends had to have a special diet that included certain kinds of meat that were forbidden by the Jewish law.
• Daniel purposed never to defile himself with king’s food-Dan. 1:8.
• The captain of the king’s guard let them try a diet acceptable for Daniel for only 10 days.
• After the 10 days, Daniel and his friends were better than the rest!!
• There are diets of this world that you must purpose not to partake.

• World movies, pornography.
• World music, defiles the mind and the soul.
• There is king’s food everywhere in Kenya including LGBTQ, wine and spirits, wild parties and social groups that take you away from God.

The king’s idol-Dan 3.

• Shedrack, Meshach and Abednego and obviously Daniel, they refused to worship the idol at Dura.
• They were thrown into the fiery furnace, 3 men, when the king looked into the furnace he saw not three but 4 men walking around.
• You may be in the fire but you are not alone.
• Remember this- God does not always show up to get you out of trouble but He will always get into trouble with you!!

The king’s law- Dan.6.

• Some people had it for Daniel.
• So they had a law enacted that no prayer could be offered except to the king’s gods.
• So Daniel, guess what he did- he kept on praying to Jehovah the God of Israel.
• As a result, he was thrown into the lion’s den.
• In the lion’s den, Daniel had a close encounter with God.
• We can have close encounters with God in lion’s den.

• THE PRINCIPLES DANIEL MODELED

• Daniel modelled 3 great principles

1. The principle of submission and respect for authority.

• Daniel was a very kind, obedient and polite person.
• Even to very wicked kings, Daniel was very obedient except when the line of his godly convictions was crossed.
• You and I will never do much until you learn how to operate under God’s authority.

2. Learning and education.

• Daniel was educated-young people should receive education.
• Education and learning is a continuous process.
• If you stop learning you should also stop leading people.

3. The power of prayer and fasting.

• Daniel believed in prayer and fasting.
• Daniel prayed at least 3 times a day.
• At one time Daniel prayed for 21 days-Dan. 12:10-13.
• This prayer and fasting for Daniel tells us that,

As soon as we pray, God takes action.

The enemy will try to hinder our prayers.

There are 3 heavens, The stratosphere, The habitation of satan and his host is the second heaven.

• The third heaven is the dwelling place of God.
• Our prayers assist angels who bring our answers to prayer.
• Prayer is not what we do, but what God does through us.
• Prayer has three intercessors, the child of God, the Holy Spirit and the Son of God-Rom. 8:26-27.
• We must pray until the ancient of days takes His seat-Dan. 7:9, “I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the ANCIENT OF DAYS took His seat; His vesture was like white snore and the hair of His head like pure wool, His throne was a blaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire.”
• We need to pray until the Ancient of Days takes His seat.
• We need to keep fasting until………
• We need to keep believing until…….
• We need to keep witnessing until……
• We need to keep loving until……….
• We need to keep obeying until……..
• It look as if the devil is winning and things are getting worse but we need to hold on UNTIL God does something mighty.
• Daniel was like the late old Billy Sunday “I am against the devil. I will kick him as long as I have a foot, I’ll fight him so long as I have a fist. I will butt him as long as I have a head, I will bite him as long as I have a tooth and when I am old and fist less and footless and toothless I will gum him till I go home to glory and he goes home to hell!!”

CONCLUSION

• Do I have any young people that will be a Daniel?
• Does someone need to keep praying until………..
• Let us believe God for mighty things today.
• If you don’t know the Lord have a close encounter with Him today.