“He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
My Notes
What Does Daniel 6:27 Mean?
Darius the king—the one who reluctantly threw Daniel into the lions' den—declares God's character based on what he's witnessed: "He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth." A pagan king, moved by a single act of divine deliverance, makes a theological declaration about the nature of Israel's God.
The four verbs—delivereth, rescueth, worketh signs, worketh wonders—escalate from personal (delivers individuals) to cosmic (works wonders in heaven and earth). Darius has witnessed one miracle and extrapolated a comprehensive theology: this God operates at every level of reality, from the personal to the cosmic.
The final phrase—"who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions"—grounds the theology in a specific event. Darius didn't arrive at this declaration through philosophical reasoning. He arrived through observation. He saw what God did. And what God did for one person in one den with some lions was enough to convince a king that this God operates in heaven and on earth.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What has God delivered you from that could serve as evidence of His nature to someone watching?
- 2.Have you shared your deliverance story with the 'Darius' in your life—the person who needs to see God's faithfulness through your experience?
- 3.Darius extrapolated a comprehensive theology from one miracle. What theology has your experience of God produced?
- 4.If one act of deliverance can convince an emperor, what might your testimony convince?
Devotional
A pagan king declares: He delivers. He rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. And then he points to the evidence: He delivered Daniel from the lions. One miracle. One person. One night. And it was enough to convince an emperor of the nature of God.
Darius didn't come to this theology through study. He came to it through observation. He watched Daniel walk into a lions' den and walk out alive. That's all it took. One act of God's faithfulness, witnessed by one skeptical king, produced a declaration about God's nature that reached the entire Persian Empire.
Your testimony has the same potential. When God delivers you from something—when He does something undeniable in your life—the impact isn't limited to you. The people watching are forming conclusions about who God is based on what they see Him do in your life. Darius's decree about God's nature didn't come from a sermon. It came from watching Daniel's God show up.
The four verbs cover everything: He delivers (personal rescue), rescues (communal salvation), works signs (visible evidence), and wonders (incomprehensible miracles) in heaven and on earth (everywhere). That's a comprehensive theology produced by a single observation. If you've experienced even one genuine deliverance, you have enough evidence for a declaration. Share it. The Darius in your life might be watching.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius,.... This Daniel, of whom so much has been said all the preceding…
He delivereth and rescueth - As in the case of Daniel. This attribute would of course be prominent in the view of…
Darius here studies to make some amends for the dishonour he had done both to God and Daniel, in casting Daniel into the…
He delivereth and rescueth And not Darius (Dan 6:6): cf. Dan 3:28-29.
signs and wonders Dan 4:2-3.
from the power Aram.…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture