Resisting Tyrants

Introduction

Letter to the Danbury Baptists

In 1802, Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in which he wrote some of his most famous words, there is “a wall of separation between church and state.”

In one sense, he was right, the Church and the State are two distinct institutions. Both with radically different purposes and methods of operation.

One is more properly oriented to the physical welfare of its citizens while the other is more properly oriented to the spiritual welfare of its members.

But in another sense, and in the sense in which he is most commonly taken today, Jefferson is dead wrong.

As the late great R.C. Sproul once said, “there is a great deal of difference between separation and distinction. One ought to distinguish between a man’s body and his soul. But the moment you separate a man’s body from his soul, you become a murderer .”

Church and state ought to be distinguished, but they cannot be wholly separated.

There is no separation of church and state in which the state has no interest in matters of religion and the church ought have no influence in matters of civil governance.

This kind of complete separation of Church and State is a fiction. Civil governance and religion have always been bound up together and will always be bound up together.

Either intentionally or unintentionally, thoughtfully or thoughtlessly, faithfully or in rebellion, civil government will be shaped by the religion of its people and will, in turn, have a hand in shaping the religion of its people.

In our text this morning, we see believers under a regime that is intentionally, thoughtfully, and in rebellion against God, shaping the religion of its people

And since we too are under a governing regime which is intentionally, thoughtfully, and rebelliously shaping the religion of its people, there is much we can learn from this passage

Read Daniel 3:1-18 Pg. 739

Thesis: It is far better to suffer wrong at the hands of tyrants than to do wrong at the command of tyrants

I. The Religion of Tyrants

II. Christian Defiance

The Religion of Tyrants

The story of Nebuchadnezzar’s Idol

Our story begins with King Nebuchadnezzar erecting a magnificent statue in the plains of Dura, just south of his capitol city of Babylon.

The statue is said to have been 60 cubits tall and 6 cubits wide. In our measurements, that would have been 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide.

For perspective, my wingspan is approx. 6’ wide and the ceiling here is about 18’ high

Besides being massive, it was made entirely of gold.

It was a sign of wealth and power

But it was more than a mere statue, it was an idol. It was a god. And it was magnificent

So, Nebuchadnezzar determined that he would hold a state sponsored worship service.

He commanded the establishment, the bureaucrats, the government officials and princes of his empire to be in attendance.

When the great day finally arrived and all were in attendance Nebuchadnezzar took some time to explain the rules to everyone.

“When the worship band starts playing, bow down to the image.”

And just to be sure that no one would get any funny ideas about rejecting his authority, the king added an additional rule.

“Anyone who does not bow down to the image will be cast into a furnace and burned to death.”

It is no wonder that V. 7 says that as soon as the people heard the music the bodies hit the floor.

It actually says all, “all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

It was as though all the peoples of the world bowed and worshipped the great image.

All save 3 lonely youths.

Is it strange that Nebuchadnezzar Forced worship?

We read this account and it seems so bizarre and foreign to us. Even a little quaint.

Men no longer worship idols and gods

Furthermore, advanced western nations no longer involve themselves in religion.

So it can seem strange to us that a king would promote and even force religious worship like this.

But as I said earlier, government, culture, and religion are all tied up together as a sort of matrix that cannot truly be separated.

In reality, modern governments are in the same business that Nebuchadnezzar was

Indeed, all tyrannical regimes, not only meddle in religion, but they force religion, and the type of religion they force is never the true religion

Civil authorities are God’s servants, and they must acknowledge their position under him.

To understand why this is, we need to go back to the basics

Biblical Civics 101

What is a king? What is a government? What is a civil magistrate?

They are servants of God ordained to reward good and punish evil. Romans 13:1–4

They are placed in positions of authority to rule, govern, or lead and protect a populace with the power of the sword so that peace and flourishing may take place.

This means that parliaments, judges, kings, and presidents are not ultimate in power and authority. Rather, all of their power and authority is derived from the the One who is Omnipotent

They must look to God when determining how they ought to govern because God has given them their position

This is what tyrants hate.

Lex Rex

In his classic work Lex Rex, the Scottish Puritan Samuel Rutherford argues that any civil authority that does not recognize that its authority is derived from God is a tyranny.

Because any such civil government will naturally see itself as supreme and ultimate with the right to do anything it chooses

It need not submit to anything above itself because there is nothing above it, rather, all must submit to it

As a result, tyrannies cram down upon their people, laws, decrees, and even worship that are arbitrary, and contrary to the Law of God, from whence their own laws ought to be derived.

Hence, Rutherford argued that compliance with tyranny is defiance to the rule of God.

To be obedient to God, one must defy tyrants.

Why Tyrants set up false worship

Tyrants long to be supreme over all, not subordinate to God.

They disdain their place as God’s servants desiring to operate autonomous from Him.

So they set themselves up as an alternative to the the One who has all authority

What better way to manifest one’s supremacy over all things than to prohibit worship of the true God, from which your authority is derived, and set up a new god who is reliant upon you?

You see this in our text in Daniel 3. The idol is said to be “set up” by the king 9 times just in vv. 1-18

This new god does not exist without Nebuchadnezzar, no one worships it without Nebuchadnezzar’s threats. It derives all of its grandeur and splendor and authority from the king, the king derives nothing from it or anything else.

As long as his subjects are worshipping this idol, they will not worship the true God, and therefore, Nebuchadnezzar’s place as supreme is secure.

Furthermore, if he can control the worship of his people, he can control is people absolutely.

Tyrants cannot permit the worship of the true God because it is the one thing that undermines their position and shows that they are nothing more than servants. Servants of God, and servants of the people.

Secularism and its many cults

What we currently face in America today is tyranny lite. It is not as forceful or cruel as most tyrannies.

But our ruling class is, and has for generations, been invested in removing the worship of the true God from society and replacing it with a new state sanctioned religion.

It goes by many names and has many different cults associated with it.

Colloquially it goes by the name wokeism

Francis Schaeffer identified the state religion as humanism

Incidentally, humanism defines itself as a religion and the supreme court has defined it as such as well

At the heart of Humanism is what Schaeffer called a “material-energy chance view of life.”

That is, it is a religion which holds that nothing exists but energy and matter (no spirit), and that there is no consciousness directing all things toward their final end, but rather all events happen merely by chance.

Since there is no purpose and no higher power behind all things, human beings are the highest power and we must serve the purposes that we assign to the universe and to ourselves.

We are our own gods who are self-determining and self-actualizing and self-worshipped

Schaeffer called it Humanism, I simply call it secularism

Secularism, we are told is religious neutrality. Don’t believe it.

Secularism is its own religion and it has many cults

Why bring this up?

Because as Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden statue to replace and subvert true worship, so our state is increasingly setting up its golden statue of secular humanism to replace and subvert true worship.

Christianity was once our state religion, but shortly after WWII, the state began to promote this new false religion to the exclusion of the true religion.

And now the tyrannical state has begun to enforce its religion.

Consider the many cults of secularism and the way state and federal governments are promoting, and sometimes even forcing adherence to them.

The Cult of LGBTQ

In some jurisdictions, parents are forbidden access to foster care or adoption if they do not swear fealty to the god of transgenderism

Environmentalism

Laws regarding gas stoves and electric cars are on the rise

This may seem like a silly thing to bring up, but it is one more instance of tyrants setting up false gods and enforcing worship

Sexual liberation

With its sacrament of abortion.

The greatest tyranny of all. Robbing little ones of their very lives so that our sexual appetites might be served

Worship of Pan and Moloch warmed over

Scientism

We must unquestioningly trust the Word of the Experts.

Scientists and researchers have become our high priests.

Public Education

Our Children are discipled and catechized into these cults by state education

And when parents protest, they are investigated by the FBI and placed on terror watch lists

We live in an ever growing tyranny

And it is not merely a political problem

Underneath it is something far more sinister.

There is a holy war being waged over the question of who we will worship.

Christian Defiance

Nebuchadnezzar was a tyrant. And he did what tyrants do, he enforced idolatry

But the faithful defy tyrants

The Jealousy of the Chaldeans

Just when Nebuchadnezzar thought his state religion had become a smashing success, some of his enchanters came to him with word of a few rebels.

V. 8 says that they came forward and maliciously accused the Jews

No doubt they were envious

And so it will always be for God’s people. We will ever be maliciously accused by those who hate us and hate our Lord.

I know many even in this congregation who have been maliciously accused and all because they would not bow to idols

Brought Before Nebuchadnezzar

There were three lone officials who refused to bow to the idol; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Three of Daniel’s friends who had earlier distinguished themselves in Chapter 1 by refusing to defile themselves by eating the King’s meat

And again we see them resolute and unyielding.

When the king heard it he was furious and demanded their presence.

He was furious because his autonomy and supremacy was being questioned in the presence of his high officials.

When they arrived he, in all his grace and magnanimity, gave them one last chance to repent.

“However,” he warned, “if you refuse to worship this idol, who is the God who will deliver you from this gruesome death?”

Defy Tyrants

Their answer was simple and straightforward and has been a source of inspiration to Christian martyrs for centuries

Daniel 3:18 “ we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.””

This is ever our answer to tyrants.

We will not serve your gods.

It would have been very easy for them to give in

All the multitudes were bowing down. Who would notice if they too bowed to the idol?

They could make an outward show of worship to the idol while internally despising it. After all, God cares about the heart and not outward appearances.

They could have bowed and repented later. Surely God would forgive them.

When such rewards and such punishments are before you, enticing you to sin, almost any justification will do.

But these boys refused to be swayed.

Why?

First, Confidence in the Power of God

They were convinced that their God held all power and was able to save.

Daniel 3:17 “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.”

They knew the proper role of kings as servants of God

They knew all of their limited power and authority was derived from the One who has all power and authority and that Nebuchadnezzar’s might and fury was nothing compared to that of YHWH

Second, they had resolved themselves to submit to the will and rule of God

They knew that they were not promised deliverance.

They knew that God’s people sometimes suffer at the hands of evil men and their deliverance does not come until the final day

Daniel 3:18 “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.””

They did not presume upon God’s kindness, but they did presume upon His goodness.

They trusted that obedience to him was always preferable to the misery of idolatry

Always better to suffer wrong than to do wrong

Third, The Furnace of God’s Wrath

Better suffer the wrath of men than the wrath of God

The furnace of the Lord is hotter

Matthew 13:41–42 “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

When faced with the decision between the fires of hell or the sevenfold heat of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace the choice was clear.

That decision is like choosing between a splinter under your finger nail or amputation above the elbow

When compared to the wrath of God, there truly is no harm any man can do to you.

They feared God more than they feared man

Fourth, Desire For Christ

But in the final analysis, it wasn’t their fear that steadied them, it was their desire

Desire for self-preservation is one of the strongest desires in the whole of human experience

It is what drove the Babylonian officials to their knees

It is what would have driven many of us to our knees before the statue

But the Jewish youths had a desire that was even greater

A desire for their God and to worship Him alone

Their desire was the same desire that their predecessor Moses had

Hebrews 11:26 “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

They knew that loyalty to their God, nearness to their Messiah, and the life that He bestows was worth undergoing any fiery trial

Do you know that?

Is that your conviction?

Is your desire for Christ greater than your desire for self-preservation?

Is He worth suffering?

He is.

Appeal to the unconverted

His wrath is far greater than any tyrant’s

His love is far more to be desired than any earthly pleasure

We too must resist the idolatry of tyrants

Our context is radically different from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

But we face the same challenge, only in different ways and in differing degrees

How should Christians deal with the idols of our day?

Today, tyrants are setting up idols and are demanding false worship

What ought our response be?

There is a lot of talk these days about smashing the Idols of our society

Some call it the Boniface Option after the 7th century missionary who boldly chopped down the sacred oak of the Germanic people to which he was ministering

A Christian by the name of Michael Cassidy made headlines a few weeks ago for decapitating a statue of the god Baphomet at the Iowa state capitol

These actions are sometimes the right approach.

But, accompanied by bravado and showmanship as they often are, it can be tempting to think that this is the only way to deal with our nations idols.

But this is simply unrealistic. There are often times in which the smashing of idols is not an option, as we see in our text.

Refuse to bow

Sometimes, the only option is to refuse to bow

These Jewish youths had no ability to smash any idols. Yet their resistance to tyranny was just as effective

Kim Davis

A Christian woman by the name of Kim Davis was the county clerk of Rowan County, KY in 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled that Homosexual Marriage was to be recognized as legitimate in all 50 states.

Shortly after the decision was handed down, a homosexual couple went into the courthouse and asked for a marriage license

Being a Christian, Kim Davis refused to issue the license.

She understood that, though marriage falls under the authority of civil government, that government itself is instituted by God, and its actions are only legitimate insofar as they reflect the law of God.

Our government had set up the idol of LGBTQism but she refused to bow to it

Of course, this caused quite a stir and she was widely condemned as a homophobe and a bigot.

When asked by what authority she refused to issue the marriage license, she said, “by God’s authority.”

Kim Davis spent 10 days in prison

And she is no longer the county clerk in Rowan County, KY

What’s more, she has been fighting legal battles for the past 8 years as a result of her resistance to tyranny

And just last week, she was finally ordered to pay $360k in fines.

I hope she doesn’t have any regrets

When given the option between doing wrong and suffering wrong, the choice is clear.

This is how we deal with idols

We simply remember the words of the 2nd commandment

Exodus 20:4–5 “You shall not bow down to them or serve them”

We do this the way Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did

We trust in the power of God

We submit to the will of God

We remember that the wrath of God is far greater than the wrath of man

And we remember that our Christ is of far greater worth than any golden image, any prestige, and power. That He is worth any suffering, and trial, any fire

In this New Year, be it Resolved Christians

That we will not serve their gods or worship the golden image that they have set up.