What brought Nebuchadnezzar to demand that all bow before his image? We see three convictions: pride of life (which comes to a head in Dan. 4); uniformity instead of unity (he wanted everyone to take the same “oath of loyalty,” even though he could not guarantee unity of the hearts of his ministers); and authoritarianism instead of authority (everyone obeyed his demand, but did not necessarily respect his authority).
What drove Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego to
defy the king’s command? They knew God
was able to defend Himself (v16), to deliver them (v17), and that He was God
and God alone (v18). Given a second
chance, they did not hesitate.
To “take a stand” is to draw a line of no
compromise. When the issue is the person
of Christ and our commitment to worship and serve Him only, that is when we
must take a stand. Jesus Himself, in His
trials, maintained a lot of silence. But
when Caiaphas asked, are you the Christ, the Son of God Jesus answered
clearly (Mt. 26:62-64). It was the same
before Pilate; Jesus was silent except when Pilate asked, Are you the King
of the Jews? (Mt. 27:11-14). There
are often situations where we are mistreated by those around us; these do not require
a response. Often our silence can be a
powerful statement. But when Christ is
the issue, we must be willing to speak the truth in love, with Christ at the
center. The main deterrent to standing
firm is “fear of man”, a fear that is misplaced (Mt. 10:28), is a failure to
trust God (Mk. 4:40; 5:36), and that denies God’s active presence with us (Isa.
41:10).
The story is truly amazing. The three Hebrew young men were throne into a
fire so hot that the soldiers who threw them in burned to death. When they came out of the fire you could not
smell even a hint of singed hair. And
while they were in the fire, it was made visible for all to see, that they were
not alone. The king’s response, that the
fourth is like the Son of God, or a son of the gods, does not mean
it was Christ, only that it was someone exceptional. Having said that, it may have been the Angel
of the Lord, an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ.
The point was what the king said in v28: blessed
by the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. What appeared to be three Hebrews vs. the
king of Babylon was actually an opportunity for God to display His awesome
glory and power. Nebuchadnezzar’s
response was not to bow in worship of the God of Israel, although he made clear
that the three men were free to worship their own God. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar exalted the God of
Israel to a high position among the many gods of Babylon: no other God can
deliver like this! This is
progress. But he will not truly know God
until he knows Him as God and God alone!
We are exhorted to do what those men did: they
yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except
their own God (Rom. 12:1). This is
the only thing that makes sense when we enter a relationship with God through
Christ.
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