Daniel - Chapter 3

Mark Dunagan
02/08/15 - Sunday Morning

Series: Daniel

Daniel

Chapter 3

If you have wondered how a false religion might have started this, chapter gives one example. In the previous chapter Nebuchadnezzar had a vision in which he saw a large image. He was told that the different parts of the image represented him and his empire and three empires after him (2:39). It seems that in spite of the clear “after you” this king is determined to make his kingdom as permanent as possible. He is not the first ruler on earth to dabble in religion or use it as a kind of political cement. He had been told that his empire was temporary, as well as the other empires to come, and that one day God would set up a kingdom that would be forever, yet Nebuchadnezzar, instead of asking more about God’s kingdom, seeks to focus on his own. So for the moment, the real point of the vision is lost on him and he uses the idea of the image to start a new religion in Babylon. The image was impressive, for if the cubit he was using was around 18 inches in length, then this image was 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide, about the height of an eight story building.  

The Demand to Worship

After the construction, all the government workers and various levels of Babylon bureaucracy are summoned to give their allegiance to by falling down and worshiping the image (3:2-5). The penalty for non-compliance was not a fine, rather it was being cast alive into a fiery furnace (3:7). Davis reminds us, “No one, of course, was required to give up his/her deities of choice; one only had to, as it were, burn his pinch of incense to the king’s god and regime and then go happily back to his favorite religious superstition” (The Message of Daniel, Dale Ralph Davis, p. 52).

The Pressure to Conform

Daniel and his three friends faced great pressure:

• Everyone was doing it without exception: 3:7. People from all over Babylon, from all the classes and others brought to Babylon from other nations immediately complied. “There’s a tremendous invisible coercion that comes from being among a whole mob of flattened worshipers” (Davis, p. 52).
• There was the “praise band” (3:5) and all the excitement, the desire to just go along, fit in and enjoy all the fluff – even though none of it is true.
• There was also the pressure of job security. Many of these people worked for the government, had really prestigious, and so were willing to do whatever it took to keep their power and positions.
• Most would have argued that they had to do it and they had no choice in the matter. 
• There were governmental officials that resented these Jews being in positions of power (3:8, 12). Although Daniel had saved the lives of these Chaldeans (2:13) – they show no gratitude.

From the events of chapter six, I think we can safety conclude that during most of Daniel’s time serving in either the Babylonian or Persian administrations, there were people who did not like him or his friends. They didn’t like his ethnicity, but more than that, they liked neither his faith nor his values. God has never needed to deliver me from a den of lions or a fiery furnace, but I do know this from talking to people years after some event happened: God often frustrated the plans of people who sought to hurt them financially, socially, influence-wise and spiritually.

• Then there is the pressure from the king himself (3:13), especially when he is in a rage and has the power to end one's life.
• Added to this, I get the impression that Nebuchadnezzar likes not only Daniel and his friends (he gives them a second chance to worship, 3:15) – but that Daniel and his friends do care about the well-being of the king. It is very difficult to go against someone you don’t want to disappoint, to stand on a principle that you know is going to end what could have been a very enjoyable, profitable and close relationship.
• Certainly, it is also tempting to compromise when one realizes one may die the moment one chooses not to compromise – especially if one is given a given a second chance to cave.

“That I Have Made”: 3:15

I wonder if Nebuchadnezzar pondered that statement, for it doesn’t make any sense. Obviously God cannot be made by man so why should anyone worship something that another human being has made? In fact, the Holy Spirit uses the term “set up” nine times in this section, emphasizing that this image is no more divine “than your knee replacement” (Davis, p. 53). Of course, this will not be the last time that people are more than willing to kill other people because they don’t bow down to a “set up” religion. In Nazi Germany people either bowed before the leader or disappeared. Today in our country, especially those in government positions, can often lose their job or position if they do not bow before the altar of evolution, abortion, the LGBT movement and other dogmas of political correctness.   

Obedience Is The Right Kind of Stubbornness

There are probably many religious leaders today who would have advised Daniel’s friends:

• That they must hold on to their governmental positions at all cost because exiled Judah needed friends in high places – as if God doesn’t occupy the highest place! Friends – we have Jesus on His throne (Ephesians 1:21-23), and so whether or not a Christian is in the White House or works high up in the government, really does not matter.
• Others might have told them that they could instead “observe a moment of silence”, act as if they were worshipping the image, but really in the privacy of their own hearts be worshipping the Lord, and thus save their own lives, thus bending God’s rules while carrying out official government business even though they were personally opposed to it.
• Others might have said that the commandment against bowing down to images (Exodus 20:3-5) was a “matter of interpretation”. 

Today we live in a world where too many professed believers have a lot of fuzzy thinking in their heads. Fuzzy thinking only makes sense when we are looking for a reason not to obey a Bible verse at that moment. The command to be baptized (Mark 16:16) starts looking really fuzzy when you really don’t want to be baptized.

“If it Be So... But if He Does Not”:  3:17-18

They know that God is able to deliver them and are sure of His power, yet they are humble when it comes to His purpose. They are sure of God’s revealed will (Exodus 20:3-5), although they are not sure about what God will do either miraculously or providentially. They do not demand that God deliver them.  What matters to them is responding in faithfulness, and in obedience – not being physically rescued. Observe that faith is not predicting or demanding what God is going to do in some circumstance. Faith is trusting in what God has already said in Scripture (Romans 10:17). 

“What God Can Deliver You?”: 3:15

The king did not think that any god could protect these men from his plan. People may not say this today – but they think it in a similar fashion. They really don’t believe that Jesus can be the answer for a good marriage, or the answer to a temptation or addiction. “What God can deliver you from... anger, lust, porn, drugs...?” Well – stick around and see! Are we living in a way that people must confess that Jesus is delivering us? 

“Blessed Be The God...”: 3:28

After they are delivered, the king praises their disobedience to his order and their obedience to the will of God.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net