Do you ever read a Bible story and wonder what it has to do with your life?
The Bible is filled with countless incredible stories, many too wonderful to even imagine and some a bit hard to relate to in our daily lives. For example, do you know anyone who’s ever been thrown in a den full of lions? 🦁🤔
I don’t! And yet we find this story about Daniel–whose punishment was to spend a night in a den full of hungry lions–in the Bible (Daniel 6).
You might wonder why such events are included in the Bible if we would never encounter similar situations in life. Well, one reason is that all those seemingly absurd stories point us to Jesus.
Coming back to our earlier example of Daniel in the lion’s den, the whole story draws remarkable parallels with the crucifixion of Jesus (as found in John 18 and 19).
Both Daniel and Jesus are accused of betraying the King. Daniel prayed and thereby defied King Darius, whereas the Pharisees claimed Jesus had announced Himself as King of the Jews, thereby defying the Roman emperor.
King Darius did not want to punish Daniel, but felt bound by his own decree. Similarly, Pontius Pilate thought Jesus was innocent but, against his better judgment, sentenced Him to be crucified.
Jesus was placed in a grave and covered with a stone, and Daniel was thrown into a den and covered with a stone.
When the stone over the lion’s den was rolled away, Daniel was miraculously alive! As if he had returned from a certain death.
Three days after Jesus’ death on the cross, the stone is rolled away only to find the grave is already empty… He is alive!
Just as the lions could not touch Daniel, sin and death had no hold over Jesus.
This Man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. – Acts 2:23-24 NIV
The next time you read a story in the Bible, and you struggle to relate to it, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where you can find Jesus in it.
