The Golden Image:
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Recap:
As we studied last week we saw the provision of God for Daniel and his friends!
Daniel and his three friends sought the Lord for mercy, that Daniel might know the dream Nebuchadnezzar had
And God answered their prayers!
As Daniel slept God gave daniel the dream that nebuchadnezzar had, and what it meant!
The Dream:
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was of a giant statue
With a head of Gold
With Chest and Arms of silver
With an abdomen of bronze
With legs of iron
And feet made up of a composite of iron and clay
We also noted that when Daniel gave the interpretation of the dream it went as follows
The head of gold represented the Kingdom of Babylon
Next the kingdom of Babylon would be conquered by the Medo-Persians - The silver part of the statue
After that a lesser kingdom of bronze, the greco-roman empire.
Following that would be the Roman empire, represented by the iron in the statue
But what was kind of unique about the Roman empire is that it never really was conquered, rather it fell from within
Because of their moral depravity
Because they were wicked people
So never really being conquered, we see soemthing interesting happen, the Roman empire lived on
Through the ideas of democracy
As they had representative governement it was one of the lasting things that remains to this day from the roman empire
But this is also the precursor to the last kingdom, the composite kingdom, the kingdom of clay and iron.
I believe that the clay represents democracy and the iron represents complete autocracy or totalitarian rule.
This is going to be what the last kingdom, the kingdom of the anti-christ will be
A kingdom where the Anti-Christ rises to power on the back of Democracy while after gaining power will set up a dictatorship
Out of all the kingdoms that were in the dream the last one is by far the most important.
The Stone not cut by human hands:
This is the kingdom of Christ, the 1000 year kingdom of Christ.
It first destroys the other kingdoms and turns them to dust that is blown like Chaff in the threshing room
Then it grows and fills the whole earth
At the end of the 7 year tribulation period we see that Christ will reign supreme over the whole earth
This is the kingdom every believer should long to see established
This tis the kignodm we will rule and reign in with our savior Jesus Christ
This is when things will be as the always should have been!
Introduction:
Where will you stand?
This seems to be the reoccuring question that keeps coming back to us here as we study this book in the OT.
But it is an important question to answer isn’t it?
Let me just say this, the odd are in your life you will not just face one situation in which you will be required to stand firm.
No! I believe that we are to make these choices daily! Sometimes multiple times in one day, or even hour.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We as believers hold fast to Christ!
We anchor ourselves to grace of God
We hold tighly to the mercy he poured out when he saved us!
He alone keeps and holds us! So we in turn cling tighly to Him.
But I believe that if we are not anchored to Christ, anchored to the Grace and mercy He has show us, then at best we will cave and fall to whatever pressure is thrown at us!
But anchored to Christ, anchored to the all powerful God who holds everything together, then there is nothing that can stop us from following our God!
A day of Blessing for Daniel and His Friends:
A day of Blessing for Daniel and His Friends:
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him.
47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
Nebuchadnezzar made good on His word to bless the one who could tell him his dream and interpret it!
Blessing # 1 - The King pay homage to Daniel and His God!
Blessing # 2 - Daniel recieved many Gifts and high honors
Blessing # 3 - Daniel was given a promotion, made the ruler over the privince and head of all the wise men
Daniel then makes a huge request of the King:
49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
I love the way that Daniel looks out for His friends”
Who have been with him from the beginning
Who prayed alongside of Him for the Lord to intervene
Who also loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him!
And so Nebuchadnezzar promoted Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego over the affairs of the province!
Daniel however would remain in the kings court, to advise and serve the king from there.
But what is interesting here at the end of Chapter 2 is that with all the blessing that was poured out on Daniel and His friends, but their faith, and the devotion to God were about to be put to the test.
But before we move forward I am thinking of Philippians 1:6
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
There is a firm truth from the scriptures that tells us that God is working in our lives, he is doing a good work in us!
Teaching us
Challenenging and testing us
refining us
Sanctifying us to be like our savior Jesus Christ
In Word
In Deed
In thought
And God prepares us in the less difficult times, establishing principles and practices in our lives so that when the challenges come we can stand upon the grace of God and stand true for Jesus!
The Golden Statue!
The Golden Statue!
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.
Now I don’t know what goes through the mind of a king like Nebuchadnezzar, but it is crazy to say the least.
With all that has transpired, with Daniel directly stating that God, the one true God is who revealed the dream to Nebuchadnezzar, it was like Nebuchadnezzar didn’t blink and eye and got to work on somthign big
A golden statue:
This one satue you couldn’t miss if you wanted to!
First it was located on the plane of Dura
This would have meant that every person traveling to Babylon would pass right by it!
It was also one of the places that would have been visible from the city
Next it was Solid gold, so it definetly would catch your eye
Third it was huge
60 cubits or 90ft tall
6 cubits wide or 9 feet wide
Basically the size of a small building
What we know also about Babylon is that idol worship was a huge part of their culture.
Babylon was full of idols already, yet nothing will serve this imperious prince but they must have one more; for those who have forsaken the one only living God, and begin to set up many gods, will find the gods they set up so unsatisfying, and their desire after them so insatiable, that they will multiply them without measure, wander after them endlessly, and never know when they have sufficient. Idolaters are fond of novelty and variety. They choose new gods. Those that have many will wish to have more. Nebuchadnezzar the king, that he might exert the prerogative of his crown, to make what god he thought fit, set up this image,
that’s the thing when people worship idols is they always leave you wanting.
There is always something more that is needed
You can never have enough
One always leads to more
That is why we worship the true and living God, to satisfies the soul!
Who is all we need
Who is all we should ever want
Who commands that his children run from idols into his loving arms
Round up the troops:
Round up the troops:
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.
Nebuchadnezzar wanted everyone to be there, everyone to see what he had made. So he ordered people to come
Satraps
Prefects
Governors
Counselors
Treasurers
Justices
Magistrates
And any other official
Basically anyone who held a government role or office was summoned to the dedication
This also would have include Daniel, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego
Nebuchadnezzar would have wanted the world to know who was the best, who was the one who was worthy of praise!
The Command:
The Command:
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.
The decree goes out from the king!
Every:
People
Nation
and Language
This meant everyone within his kingdom
When you hear the...
Horn
Pipe
Lyer
Trigon
harp
bagpipe
and any other kind of mucis
You are to bow down and worship the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Like we asked in the beginning of our time together this morning, where will you stand?
For most of the people there it would have been another day in Babylon!
Idol worship was part of their everyday life after all
But for the 4 men from Babylon this was now going to be a problem
To defy the king meant death
To obey him meant betraying the one true God of Israel.
The Consequence:
6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”
The king really wasn’t messing around with this edict!
He wanted the people to know that he was serious
So he makes the decree that whoever fails to worship at the sound of the music will be put to death in the firery furnace!
Now I will admit that I have never been made to ponder such a decision in my life!
But I can imagine the pressure to not want to die though!
Cave or die
That was the options before them
You may be saying I’ll neve be in that situation!
But what if following Christ in today’s world means:
losing your job
Going to jail for not following a cultural narrative laid out
being fined or having your business shut down
All because you chose to stand for the truth of God’s Word, rather than pander to a culture that says it doesnt want the truth.
This is the reality that is only going to increase over the next few years for the church!
Where will you stand?
Where will you be when the dust settles
Here is the truth for today!
If you compromise on the truth to appease the culture around you, it will never be enough!
They will not be satisfied with your compromise
They will demand more
They will come at you until there is no basis for you to stand on morally, ethically, culturally!
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
But I want to say this!
Make the choice now to stand in the grace of God according to the truth of God!
So that way when the time comes for you to stand you will be ready
Remember that caving to the culturally never helps the cause of Christ only hinders it
What good is it to be loved by men for abandoning the truth that sets us apart from the world
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Standing for Jesus may cost you everything according to the World, but you will gain everything that matters
The Choice is yours!
The Choice is yours!
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.