Worship the Golden Image or Else!
"But if not, be it know to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)
Most Sunday-schoolers know the story. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abnego are commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar to fall down and worship the golden image, and if they choose not fall down and worship, they will be cast into a burning furnace. The three men presumably had led normal lives, loyal to their livelihood. But now they are faced with a test of loyalty. "On one side of the equation was position family, wealth, security, life itself; and on the other side there was God." This was the hardest test of loyalty to God that they had ever faced. The men must have gone through mental gymnastics in deciding which to choose. Do I choose to obey Yahweh, or do I choose security and family? What will it matter if I choose to bow to the golden image? Is loyalty to God more important than my own life?
In John Lennox's commentary on the book of Daniel, he creates an imagined scenario of these men's friends trying to talk them out of opposing Nebuchadnezzar:
We all know that this idolatry is bogus—there is nothing real in it except the emperor wishing us to acknowledge his authority. What does it matter if we outwardly bow down to him? It doesn't mean that he controls our heads and our hearts. And if good men like you three—men of proven ability and integrity—refuse to bow down and get killed, that will make the situation even worse.You are top people; if you are not here to continue your powerful influence for good at the very highest levels of the state, what hope is there for the rest of us? And think of your wife and your children. What are they going to do if you throw your life away like this—needlessly? No, you must take part in the ceremony like everyone else for our sakes. We need you there in the corridors of power.
I encounter pressure to compromise every day. My nature is to "not rock the boat." I want to be accepted by everyone. The story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abnego is not that they were rescued by God, but they were willing to die for God. Are we prepared to say to those who urge us to compromise: "we will not serve your gods or worship ]your] golden images?"
Most Sunday-schoolers know the story. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abnego are commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar to fall down and worship the golden image, and if they choose not fall down and worship, they will be cast into a burning furnace. The three men presumably had led normal lives, loyal to their livelihood. But now they are faced with a test of loyalty. "On one side of the equation was position family, wealth, security, life itself; and on the other side there was God." This was the hardest test of loyalty to God that they had ever faced. The men must have gone through mental gymnastics in deciding which to choose. Do I choose to obey Yahweh, or do I choose security and family? What will it matter if I choose to bow to the golden image? Is loyalty to God more important than my own life?
In John Lennox's commentary on the book of Daniel, he creates an imagined scenario of these men's friends trying to talk them out of opposing Nebuchadnezzar:
We all know that this idolatry is bogus—there is nothing real in it except the emperor wishing us to acknowledge his authority. What does it matter if we outwardly bow down to him? It doesn't mean that he controls our heads and our hearts. And if good men like you three—men of proven ability and integrity—refuse to bow down and get killed, that will make the situation even worse.You are top people; if you are not here to continue your powerful influence for good at the very highest levels of the state, what hope is there for the rest of us? And think of your wife and your children. What are they going to do if you throw your life away like this—needlessly? No, you must take part in the ceremony like everyone else for our sakes. We need you there in the corridors of power.
I encounter pressure to compromise every day. My nature is to "not rock the boat." I want to be accepted by everyone. The story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abnego is not that they were rescued by God, but they were willing to die for God. Are we prepared to say to those who urge us to compromise: "we will not serve your gods or worship ]your] golden images?"
Comments