Daniel 1:3-5 – Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
As a teenager, Daniel along with many others, was taken as an exile to Babylon. Forced to walk some 700 miles, today we would call him a prisoner of war or a human trafficking victim.
Daniel and his friends were selected to serve as slaves in the king’s palace because they were mentally smart, relationally skilled, physically handsome, and culturally royal. Likely wanting to keep his harem all to himself, the king had the young men castrated and made eunuchs.
Behind the nation of Babylon in Daniel’s day is the demonic spirit of Babylon which is at work in every day. The demonic spirit of Babylon has been trying since the great war in heaven (Revelation 12:7-9) to topple God and create a counterfeit kingdom. This is why we see Babylon spoken of again in the last book of the Bible, as Jesus returns to topple “Babylon the great” (14:8, 16:19, 17:5, 18:1-2, 18:10, 18:21) and usher in the Kingdom of God once and for all.
The spirit of Babylon sought to train Daniel in how to reject the real God and receive a demonic counterfeit. These five tactics are continually used in our day:
- Gender – with castration, they sought to change Daniel’s gender as a male into something not God-given because the demonic hates that God made us male and female
- Sexuality – they sought to force Daniel to not live a fully masculine life because the demonic does not want us to live as God designed us
- Marriage – they forbid Daniel from marriage as he never conceived a relationship with a wife because the demonic hates to see godly people share the love of God in the marriage covenant
- Children – they forbid Daniel from becoming a father because the demonic hates to see believers bring children in this world to love and serve God
- Education – they sought to brainwash Daniel with a three-year pagan degree at a godless university where he would be programmed to deny everything he learned from the Scriptures
Today, these five things so incredibly, accurately, and painfully describe our culture it is staggering, stunning, and saddening. It just goes to show that the Spirit of Babylon is alive and well promoting the same kind of anti-God agenda that hell has always had, including overtaking the educational system.
Which of these five things has been your toughest battle with the demonic spirit of Babylon?
In addition to this introduction to and overview of Daniel, you can find the corresponding sermons, daily devotions, men’s ministry resources, and hundreds of additional sermons and Bible teaching resources for free at markdriscoll.org or on the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.
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