Daniel 1:3-6 (ESV)
[3] 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, [4] 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. [5] The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. [6] Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

When Jerusalem fell to Babylon, young men were carried away and brought to the king’s palace to be trained. The plan was to turn the cream of the crop from Israel into good Babylonians. They were to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans (Babylonians), and given the best food from the king’s portion. They also changed their names. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were to be known as Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel means “God is my judge.” Hananiah’s name means “God has favored.” Mishael means “Who is what God is?” Azariah means “God has helped.” Their names were related to Israel’s God. Their new names were related to different Babylonian or Persian gods.

This is what the enemy always tries to do. When we trusted Christ, the scriptures say that we became new creations, “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2Cor 5:17). The Enemy wants to change our identity. He wants to rob us of our identity in Christ, and try to convince us that we are no different, that we are unchanged. If he can change our identity, if he can convince us that we are still broken sinners bent toward sin and away from God, then he has undermined our faith. When we believe that we are new creations in Christ, we live as new creations in Christ. When we believe that we cannot help but sin, we quickly give in to sin. Fear only takes us so far.

Understanding our new identity in Christ is foundational to a walk of faith. Babylon tried to change the identity of Israel’s God-worshiping young men. Daniel and his friends refused to accept this new identity. They worked for the good of their captors, as Jeremiah had warned them to do, but they never lost their identity as God’s people. I am convinced that many of our failures as believers is because we do not truly believe that we are new creations in Christ. We do not really believe that the Holy Spirit, who dwells within each of us, is able to keep us from sin. We do not believe that we are crucified with Christ, buried with him, and raised to new life. We believe that we are forgiven. We believe that we will be new a new creation in Christ when we see him. But, we have bought into the Enemies lies as to our identity now. We walk by sight, and not by faith. We fail because we do not believe that we can do anything else.


What kind of life is that for a child of God? With Daniel, we need to resolve that whatever the Enemy calls us, whatever mold the World tries to squeeze us into, we will never forget who we are. We will not defile ourselves with the lies of the World, the Flesh or the Enemy. We are new creatures in Christ and we rest in that truth.

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