BOW TO THE GOD OF THE AGE
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Introduction
Introduction
-So that we are all up to speed where we find our passage tonight, Daniel and his three friends were taken captive by the Babylonians and put through training to become part of King Nebuchadnezzar’s government. They showed themselves to be faithful to God even when faced with decisions that would have caused them to compromise the faith. However, they stayed strong in the faith with wisdom and tact, and also demonstrated themselves to be at the top of their class in learning.
-Toward the beginning of their service to Nebuchadnezzar, the king had a dream and God gave Daniel the ability to describe the dream and give the interpretation. The king had a dream of a large statue made of different materials that was destroyed by a stone that grew into a mountain that covered the whole earth. The dream described various empires that would come through history, but eventually God Himself would set up a Kingdom that would eventually cover the whole earth and would last for eternity. That kingdom began with the first coming of Jesus Christ, and is ever-growing all around the world as more people believe upon Christ and He rules and reigns in their hearts.
-But the dream about this giant colossus seems to have given Nebuchadnezzar an idea, and his prideful heart gets the best of him. It puts Daniel’s three friends in quite a predicament. And what Nebuchadnezzar tries to do to them, the world is trying to do to us as well.
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
3 Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
4 And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,
5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”
7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.
9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!
10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.
11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace.
12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
-In the dream that is described and interpreted in Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar saw this giant statue with a head of gold that stood for Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire; there was a chest and arms of silver which is the Medo-Persian empire; there was the mid-section down to the knees of bronze which is the Greek empire; and then there is the legs of iron with the feet of iron and clay which is the Roman empire. It was during the time of the Roman empire that Christ came and inaugurated His kingdom that is still growing into the mountain that covers the earth. Because Daniel was able to interpret the dream, the king put Daniel over the whole province of Babylon, and Daniel brought up his three friends to serve under him.
-The dream and its meaning still weighed heavy on Nebuchadnezzar’s mind, and based off that dream he had a statue built that was overlaid with gold. He obviously based it off of his dream—the statue being all gold just as he was the head of gold in the dream. This monstrosity was erected in a plain somewhere in the province of Babylon. Scripture tells us that the statue was sixty cubits high and only six cubits wide. That would have made it 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. That proportion sounds very strange to us—more like a giant pole than a statue. However, these dimensions may have included a large pedestal / base upon which the statue stood. It probably was still a tall, skinny, weird looking thing. But it’s what the statue represented that is of greater importance. Nebuchadnezzar may have been shaking his fist at God saying he and his empire will never end. The statue may have been a monument to himself and his power and his gods. Either way, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to use that statue to get all the world under his power and sway.
-Our passage says that all the high-ranking government officials from all over the empire were brought to the dedication of this statue to test their loyalty. It seems strange that with all of these government managers gathered in one place, Daniel seems to be the only one not there. His three friends are there because they hold one of those positions mentioned, but Daniel is not there. Scripture is silent as to why, but it possibly is because Nebuchadnezzar left Daniel behind in the city to run things while the ceremony took place.
-But here is what Nebuchadnezzar was doing. He offered up an idol to represent the god of the age (either himself and / or his pantheon of gods). The god of the age demands total obedience and worship. Everyone was expected to give their loyalty to this god of the age. They would use pressure and coercion to force people to comply. If people did not comply to loyalty to the god of the age, there would be dire consequences. In the situation in our passage, the consequence was death. If you don’t bow to the god of the age, you will die.
-As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The god of our age gives pressure and coercion to force loyalty and compliance to the idol set before us. In actuality, there are many idols set before us, but in the month that we find ourselves there is one specific idol placed before everyone throughout the world that if you don’t pay homage to this idol you will be marked and ridiculed and they will do everything in their power to destroy you. I am specifically talking about the LGBTQ movement. They try to call this month pride month, although sin is never something to be proud of.
-Those who have fallen lockstep with the god of this age expect everybody to bow to their idol. They do not merely want you to not oppose them, and they don’t merely want you to agree with them, and they don’t want you to merely approve of them, they want you to fully embrace and celebrate what it is this idol stands for with all that you are and do what you can to help them spread their wicked message and lifestyle. And if you do not worship this idol, this statue, this representation of the god of the age, they will make sure that you are shunned, that you are mocked, that you are shamed.
-In the passage Nebuchadnezzar orders that anytime the music plays that the people were to bow down and worship the representation of the god of the age. And now we hear that any time you see a rainbow flag, any time you see an LGBTQ character on TV, any time you read the report of children being brought into gay bar to attend a drag show, you are to bow down and worship—meaning, you are to applaud what it is that they do and what it is that they stand for. They want the world to embrace their perversion, and if anybody does not worship this idol every time the music plays, then those people are to be thrown in the fiery furnace—either literal as in Daniel’s day, or the furnace of persecution in ours.
-And just like in our passage, the music plays loud, the cries for acceptance play loud, and everybody fell down and worshipped the idol that represented the god of the age. In Daniel’s day, all those government people with all those titles bowed down to worship. They were glad to do it, not just because they were afraid for their lives, but because they fully embraced everything that the god of the age threw at them.
-And now today, the music plays, and government officials applaud the LGBTQ community and celebrate the sin. The music plays, and Hollywood applauds the LGBTQ community and celebrates the sin. The music plays and corporations applaud the LGBTQ community and celebrate the sin. And as sad as this sounds, the music plays and churches applaud the LGBTQ community and celebrate the sin.
-In our passage, all these government officials were more than happy to sell their souls to the god of the age and worship and celebrate the idol. They spoke such sweet words about Nebuchadnezzar and his gods and his statue. They approved of it and they embraced it, not knowing what eternal destruction awaited them for giving in to the god of the age.
-But then there were three men who refused. We don’t know how many government officials were at this thing, but we could probably guess that there were hundreds if not thousands of government people at this unveiling, and every single one of them bowed down to worship except three. Three men stood up and said NOT GONNA DO IT. They didn’t care if they stood alone, but they would not give in to the pressure. They would not bow to the god of the age.
-Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t hurting anyone. They were there minding their own business, but they were not going to turn their back on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in order to worship the god of Nebuchadnezzar. They weren’t making a big deal out of it. They weren’t protesting. They weren’t shouting down the music. They weren’t posting mean tweets on social media. They just refused to bow down and worship. But someone saw them not bowing down to the idol of the god of the age and they were offended, because anyone who dares to disobey the god of the age offends those who have bowed down. Those who have bowed down don’t want anyone to make them feel uncomfortable or guilty, so they will do whatever they can to destroy those who refuse to comply. They will use whatever ounce of energy and power that they have to silence the truth so that they can bow to god of the age in supposed peace.
-So, these offended people go and tell Nebuchadnezzar: “Hey, these three Jews ain’t worshipping your idol.” Nebuchadnezzar thought that there had to be some sort of misunderstanding. I mean, no one who has any sensibilities would refuse to bow to the god of the age. Nobody would dare go against the grain. Nobody would want to stand out like that and be embarrassed in front of the masses who gladly bowed down. How could anybody not follow suit? How could anybody not follow the rest of the crowd? Why would anybody want to stick out like that when everybody else all around them was falling into line?
-Nope, these three ain’t gonna do it. They believed that there is only one God, and Nebuchadnezzar and his gods are not that God. They believed that this one God alone was worthy of worship and devotion and loyalty. They believed that this one God spoke and made clear His law and His morals and that to go against those laws and morals were to rebel against God Himself. So, they would not compromise, they would not falter, they would not give in. They stood their ground out of love and loyalty to God.
-What about us as we are pressured to bow to the god of the age. Will we give in? Will we compromise? Will we deny truth? Will we deny holiness? No, we are not perfect. And yes, we have all bowed to an idol and a small “g” god in some shape in our lives. And thankfully God sent His Son to pay the penalty for our own rebellion. But in honor of the God who sacrificed His Son for us, and in honor of the Savior who willingly laid down His life, we choose to no longer bow down to any other god, much less the god of this age. And whatever the consequences, let them so be.
-Nebuchadnezzar arrogantly asked them what God could deliver them from his hands? He was about to find out, as we will see next week. But today we want to pray for the strength to stand while everybody else around us bows down and worships the god of this age. We choose to worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who so loved us and so saved us....