A New Spin on the Lion’s Den

I had one of those light bulb moments this morning during my Daniel study. I was reading through Daniel chapter six (the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den) for the fifth time this week, and something clicked.

This isn’t just a story of Daniel trusting in God and being saved from some hungry lions. This is God’s way of showing the people His heart and what His plans were. It happened – but it is also an allegory of Jesus and His life. Darius is God. Daniel is Jesus. The satraps and administrators are Pharisees, Sadducees, regular people, etc. Follow me here.

Darius appoints these satraps and 3 administrators to power. Daniel is one of the three, and he does such a good job that Darius “planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (v.3). So the satraps and administrators get jealous. They “tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of governmental affairs, but they were unable to do so.” (v.4) Finally, they figure out their only hope is to make up some charge against him having to do with “the law of his God.” (v.5)

Sounding familiar at all??

When Daniel finds out about this law that Darius has passed saying he can’t pray to God, he continues to pray “just as he had done before.” (v.10) He gets told on by the satraps and other administrators, and they tell Darius, ‘you have to do something. This law cannot be repealed.’

This is the part that gets me: “When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.” (v.14)

If you aren’t catching on by now … that should have done it. Just like Darius, God was distressed to have to punish us for disobeying Him. He was determined to rescue us – at every effort (even sacrificing His son!), any cost.

So just like Darius had to throw Daniel into the lion’s den, God threw Jesus into the lion’s den (metaphorically). A stone was even placed over the mouth of the den Daniel was in (like Jesus’ tomb), and at first light, the king came to the lion’s den (like the women who visited Jesus). He finds Daniel … and this is what he says:

“My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” (v.22)

Don’t miss that. He was innocent, having done no wrong. He conquered death.

This story is more than lions … it’s another example where God is shaking us saying, “do you get it??” Jesus died for us because God didn’t want to punish us. God made every attempt to rescue us from our ‘lions’ and our ‘pit’ by throwing His own son to them. He was determined to make a way for us to be able to get back to Him.