God leads us to places that are foreign to us so that we can trust Him. In some mysterious way — and you cannot read Daniel without acknowledging mystery — we come to know His love greater in Babylon.
Discipleship in Babylon — An intimidating place where we are under the power of an antagonist (Daniel 1:3-7)
In Daniel 1:3-7, the young man Daniel (James Boice supposes him to be between fifteen and seventeen years old) and his friends are put in the royal court. They were members of the ruling class of Judah. They were strong, bright young men, and the king wanted to bring them into his religion, into his culture, and to thoroughly indoctrinate them for further service in his kingdom. Not only will they have to take a stand for their faith, they will have to do so under extremely antagonistic conditions. So Ashpenaz, the king’s chief eunuch, changes their names: “And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego” (Daniel 1:7).
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Let’s look at this for a moment. The name change is important because each of the young men’s names contains elements of God’s name. Daniel and Mishael both contain the “el” as in Elohim, the frequently used name for God. Daniel means “God is my Judge.” Mishael means “Who is like God?” Hananiah and Azariah “contain a shortened form of the name Jehovah.” Hananiah means “Jehovah is gracious.” Azariah means “Jehovah is my helper.” Thus these young men took the testimony of God with them wherever they went in their very names. The chief Eunuch gave them new names and the names he gave them all had “a reference to one of the false gods of the ancient Babylonians: Aku and Nego. But as Jim Boice put it, “Nebuchadnezzar changed the men’s names, but he could not change their hearts.”2
And this is the very thing we must see. The outward situation for these young men changed, but their true identity was unchanged.
I talk to people who say, “I don’t understand why God put me under this boss. He doesn’t know the Lord.” Or, “Why the Lord put me in this place that is so ungodly, I will never know.” And you may never know why, but you are there. But what is more important, He is there. If your identity is in Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are in Babylon or where. The truth is that you carry Christ with you wherever you go.
Discipleship in Babylon — A testing place where true holiness is defined (Daniel 1:8-16)