From Babylon to Jerusalem - (Daniel) ch.2:36-3:30 — Zac Poonen

Daniel's Vision of the Four Kingdoms

Daniel chapter 2, last week we were looking at this dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, and we saw that Daniel gave a description to Nebuchadnezzar in verse 31, Daniel chapter 2 verse 31, and we saw this image that he saw in the dream, as it says in verse 32, where the head was made of gold, the breast and the arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, and its legs of iron, and its feet with the ten toes, partly of iron and partly of clay.

And that was the dream, and we saw also that at each stage the value of the metal became inferior to the previous one, showing the declining, deteriorating nature of humanity as we approach the end of the age.

Now we are today in the last days, and humanity has deteriorated tremendously, morally that is. And then Daniel gives the interpretation in verse 36, this was the dream he says, and now we will tell the interpretation to the king.

You O king, verse 37, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. Now here we find that God is called the God of heaven, he is not called Jehovah, which is the covenant name by which he revealed himself to Israel.

God was in no covenant with Nebuchadnezzar, but he was the God who ruled in the heavens, and who controlled the affairs of earth. Therefore he is called the God of heaven, and that is a phrase that comes very often in the books related to the Babylonian captivity, Nehemiah, and other books like Daniel, the God of heaven.

And he says, it is God who has given you this kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. And again in verse 38, wherever the sons of men dwell, the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, God has given them to your hand, and has caused you to rule over them all.

Twice you find this word, God has given. Now earlier on, Daniel himself had admitted that he had no wisdom to explain this dream, but God had given him that wisdom. The difference between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar was that Daniel recognized that everything he had, including wisdom, was from God, whereas Nebuchadnezzar did not recognize that his kingdom, and his power, and his glory were from God.

And that is one fundamental difference between a true disciple of Jesus Christ and one who is not a disciple. One who is a disciple recognizes that everything he has, material, intellectual, spiritual, every blessing is from God.

So he says, you are the head of gold. So the head of gold symbolized the Babylonian kingdom, and headed up by Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel says in verse 39, after you, there will arise another kingdom inferior to you.

The kingdom of Babylon ruled the world, the known world, for about 70 years, and after that they were defeated by a kingdom called the kingdom of Medo-Persia. It was a joint kingdom of Media and Persia together, called Medo-Persia, and that's represented by the silver part of the body.

That is, the breast and arms of silver represent Medo-Persia, the second kingdom. And the third kingdom, after that, it says in verse 39, the middle, another third kingdom of bronze, that is the belly and thighs, which will rule over all the earth, that is the known world, and that is the kingdom of Greece, which we know was ruled by Alexander the Great.

Now that was nearly 300 years after this, but God gave Daniel a preview of what was going to come. And value, but as strong as iron. And that was the Roman Empire, ruled by the Caesars, which was ruling the earth when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

So here was a preview of the four kingdoms that were going to rule the world from the time of Daniel right up to the time of the Christ. And inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, and the Roman Empire was like that, it will crush and break all these other kingdoms in pieces.

And then, now we want to see something here. The Roman Empire ended a few centuries after Christ had died and risen again. But from the time of the day of Pentecost, begins a new age in the dealings of God with man.

And there we find a long period which has run on now for nearly 2000 years, which we would call the Church Age. And at the end of this Church Age is going to come the Feat, which is partly of iron and partly of clay.

There's a big gap there, which is not mentioned here in the statue, because there is not going to be any one world superpower after the Roman Empire until the last days, which is going to be the reign of the Antichrist.

There are going to be many kingdoms here and there, but one that's going to rule the whole world after the Roman Empire. There never has been one, but there will be one in the last days. So here is a description of the kingdoms that rule the whole world, the known world that is.

Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then a big gap of 2000 years, and then there's going to come the Feat. And in the Feat there are 10 Towers, and we read about that when we studied Revelation, the 10 Kings who would be headed up by the Antichrist.

So Daniel got a preview of something that is going to happen 2600 years after he lived. And it says here that the Towers, verse 42, 10 Towers were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, that is dictatorship, and some of it will be brittle, that is democracy.

And so Daniel was told that in the last times there are going to be dictatorships and there are going to be democracies, and they are going to try and mingle together, but in that you saw the iron mixed with the common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men, which probably means through intermarriage, but they will not adhere to one another.

The democracy and the dictatorship cannot mix, even as iron does not combine with clay. Now, if you remember, when we looked at Luke chapter 21, Jesus said that Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, Luke 21, 24, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

There is a phrase that Jesus used there called the times of the Gentiles. The word Gentile means non-Jew, and the times of the Gentiles relate to the Jewish nation, and it begins with the time when the Jewish nation went into captivity, 606 BC, and the first kingdom that ruled the world in the times of the Gentiles began is Babylon.

So we can say that this statue is a description of the times of the Gentiles that Jesus spoke of in Luke 21, 24, when Jerusalem would not be under the Jews. Babylon captured Jerusalem, and then all the other kingdoms ruled, and Jerusalem came back into the hands of the Jews just about 17 years ago, in June 1967, and so we see the beginning of the times of the Gentiles are at the head of the statue, and the end of the times of the Gentiles are at the feet.

We are in those days now, and I just want to say this, that it says here in Daniel chapter 2, we saw that in the dream, that Nebuchadnezzar finally saw a stone that struck the statue, and that filled the whole earth.

We see the explanation of that in verse 44 and 45. And in the days of those kings, that is the last 10 kings headed up by the Antichrist, the God of heaven, notice that phrase again, the God who rules in the heaven, will set up a kingdom, that is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, that will never be destroyed.

These kingdoms were all destroyed, but the kingdom Jesus Christ is going to set up will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be passed on to another people. Nobody is going to take over that kingdom.

It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it itself will endure forever. And inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and Jesus Christ, if you remember, I want you to turn to a verse, you keep a finger here in Matthew chapter 21 and verse 42, Matthew 21, 42, Jesus said concerning himself, Jesus called himself a stone.

I don't know whether you know that. There are many titles for Jesus Christ in the titles is a stone. Matthew 21, 42, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected? This became the chief cornerstone.

That stone was Jesus Christ himself, rejected by the Jewish builders, but which God appointed as the cornerstone of his temple. And then verse 44, he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. That is the true disciple of Jesus Christ, falls on this stone and is broken and humbled and God is able to empower him.

But if you don't fall upon that stone, and if you are not broken by God, then the other alternative is on the one on whom the stone falls, it will crush him to pieces and scatter him like dust. So there are only two alternatives that we have in relation to the stone.

One is to fall on it and to be broken. And the other is, I stand unbroken during my earthly life and the stone falls on me one day and crushes me to dust. That's exactly what we see in Daniel chapter 2, that in this dream, we read here verse 34 of Daniel 2, that he saw a stone cut out without hands.

Cut out without hands means it was a work of God. Jesus, the kingdom of Christ, is not the work of man, not made with human hands. And it struck the statue, not on the head, meaning that Jesus did not come in the days of Babylon, not on the chest.

Where did it strike the statue? At the feet. The coming of Christ will be in the days of those ten kings headed up by the Antichrist. And it crushed them. The stone fell on the statue. And the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed and became like dust, chaff.

The wind carried them away. Exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 21. So we have the privilege of being broken. That's why brokenness is so important. That's why we preach about brokenness in the church, about taking up the cross, because the only other alternative is to let the stone fall on us and be crushed.

If we judge ourselves, that is if we are broken, then we will not be judged, the Bible says. Then the stone won't fall on our heads. To paraphrase it, it means if we fall on the stone and are broken, then the stone won't fall on our heads in judgment.

And so we see that all this is pictured here in Daniel chapter 2 about the kingdom of Christ. I just want to say here that Jesus Christ is the stone, but from that the whole temple is built. So it's not just Christ, but it is Christ and his body, the church.

And we see that in Revelation that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, comes along with 144 ,000 the overcomers, the army of the Lamb, and overcomes the Antichrist as we read in Revelation chapter 19. And so that's what we see here in verse 44.

And it says here in the last part of verse 45, the great God has made known to you, O King, what will take place in the future. So the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy. Now Daniel was just a young man, around 20 years of age when he gave this interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel's Wisdom and the Glory Belonging to God

And I mentioned in our first study that Ezekiel the prophet lived in Babylon at the same time as Daniel. He was older to Daniel. And I mentioned how Ezekiel mentions under the inspiration of God three righteous men in the Old Testament, Noah, Joe, and the third one was a living man called Daniel.

I want to show you another verse in Ezekiel 28 concerning Daniel, which Ezekiel writes concerning Daniel's wisdom. Ezekiel 28 we know is a description of the fall of Satan. The fall of Satan is described in verses 12, 13, 14, 15 onwards up to verse 18 or so.

The fall of Lucifer. And there Lucifer is described as extremely clever. And the comparison is made in verse 3 with Daniel. He says, you are wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that is a match for you.

And remember Ezekiel was writing this when Daniel was living in Babylon. Such was that young man's reputation for wisdom that the only person whom the Holy Spirit could compare Satan with was Daniel. Remember not even Solomon.

Solomon fell away, but Daniel didn't. And when the Lord tried to compare Satan, he didn't say you're wiser than Solomon, which is what, you know, the phrase in the world, the proverb is wiser than Solomon, but that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible says wiser than Daniel, because Daniel was upright till the end of his days. And when we think that he was a young man, it shows the tremendous possibilities for young people in the last days to be overcomers and to live and conduct their life in wisdom.

That's the great need, brothers and sisters, wisdom. And God alone can give it. So many believers behave in such foolish ways in their relationships with other believers, in their conduct with their relatives and in their office.

God can give us wisdom. Daniel had wisdom. And that's what we need to seek God for if we are to live as overcomers in the last days. And so we see here, God has shown you this, he says, O King, give the glory to God.

Daniel doesn't say, I have shown you this. He says, God has shown it to you. But Nebuchadnezzar is typical of the stupidity and the blindness of the heathen. Even though Daniel said in verse 45, God has shown you this, Nebuchadnezzar falls down and worships Daniel.

See, that's the stupidity of heathenism. They are taken up not with God, but with miracle workers. Miracle workers are the objects of admiration of the heathen. Oh, this supernatural thing that Daniel did, and they fall down and worship him.

Now a person, even if he calls himself a Christian, who adores a miracle worker, is a follower of Nebuchadnezzar. He doesn't know how to give the glory to God. And there are a lot of Christians like that these days, I'll tell you that, who adore and follow miracle workers, typical of Nebuchadnezzar.

And he gave orders to present him an offering and to have incense brought out before him. But I'm sure Daniel never received that worship. Daniel must have just walked away from there. And then, probably when the king saw that, the king said, all right, it's your God who is the God of gods, not you.

And the Lord of kings. Now he gives the glory to God. So I feel that something must have happened there between verse 46 and 47, that Daniel must have done as a man of God, so that the glory would not come to him, but go to God.

And I just want to mention this, dear brothers and sisters, that in all of our prophecy, and in all of our ministry, particularly a God-given ministry that blesses and helps others, it's very easy for people to admire us.

They may not worship us and have incense before us, but in other ways, and the true man of God will pull away from that, so that people's attention and adoration is directed towards God. That our prophecy and our ministry brings glory to God, so that people's attentions are turned to him.

And Daniel was always trying to point the attention to God, who gave that revelation to Nebuchadnezzar. So, then the king gives the glory to God, finally in verse 47. Your God, he says, is the God of gods.

And he's a revealer of mysteries, since you've been able to reveal the mystery. He finally gives the glory where it's due, because Daniel refused to accept that worship. But then it says the king promoted Daniel, and Daniel accepted the promotion.

It's all right to accept promotion, but not worship. The king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

Here's a young man, just in his early 20s, appointed chief prefect over the whole province of Babylon. Think of that, what wisdom even that heathen king saw in him, and the way he conducted himself upright before God.

And that responsibility was committed to him, and Daniel accepted it for God's glory. And notice what he did the very next thing. He did a Sirach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king's court.

Daniel used his influence in his office to find good jobs for other wholehearted believers. That's a good example to follow. He used his influence in that government office to find good positions for other wholehearted believers.

He did not find jobs for the compromisers. I just want you to note that. He did not feel it was his responsibility to help all those fellows who call themselves his relatives, and there were many of them among the Jews there.

Sirach, Meshach, and Abednego were not his relatives. He didn't find jobs for his relatives, he found jobs for wholehearted disciples of the Lord. And I believe that was something very good, even for the kingdom.

That you had God-fearing people who would not take a bribe, incorruptible people up there in office. I believe Daniel was bringing a blessing to Babylon by putting such people into office. I just mentioned that in passing.

Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Image and False Worship

Now we come to Daniel chapter 3. And I want you to see the connection here. Daniel chapter 3. Now in the Nebuchadnezzar, after hearing all about this statue, he himself was what? The head of gold. But you know what he did?

It says he made an image which is all gold, all the way from head to foot and toes and everything it says in verse 1. What is the meaning of that? Nobody's going to take the kingdom from me. No silver or bronze or anything is going to come after me.

It's just going to be gold all the way through, from head to foot. He made an image of gold, representing himself, probably in his own likeness, and it is a massive one. It says 90 feet high and 9 feet broad.

90 feet high, a huge statue, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Now here in the Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of the Antichrist. And when we studied Revelation chapter 13, we saw in Revelation 13 -14 that the Antichrist, when he rules the world, he's going to have a statue made by the false prophet, a statue.

And so we see one significant thing, that the times of the Gentiles begins with a statue made by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3, and it ends with a statue made by the Antichrist in Revelation chapter 13 and verse 14.

And so we see here, idolatry, the beginning and the end of the times of the Gentiles. And in Nebuchadnezzar, making this image completely of gold, he was thinking that he could hinder God's plan. God's plan was different nations coming and taking over at different stages.

But Nebuchadnezzar thought he could hinder God's plan by having a kingdom that could continue on forever. And we see here, then Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble all the satraps, and these are all the various leaders of the various provinces, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

And then all these officers came, they assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald loudly proclaimed, to you the command is given, O peoples, nations, and men of every language, that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Now I want you to notice here that in false religion, there's always a great emphasis on music. Notice that. This is false religion, and it's very interesting to see politics and religion being mixed at the beginning of the times of the Gentiles, and when we studied Revelation, we saw it's mixed together at the end of the times of the Gentiles.

Here is religion, fall down and worship this image, and to stir people's emotions up so that they will forget about their reason and forget what their intellects tell them this is a stupid thing to do, they work up the emotions with various instruments, horn and flute and lyre and trigon and psaltery and bagpipe, and to work up people's emotions so that they can worship.

Now is this found only in heathenism? It's found in Christianity too. It is of the essence of Babylon, he who has years to hear can hear, that a worship which is stimulated by the working up of the emotions with drums and various types of instruments is not spiritual worship.

We're not against instruments, but if I can worship only with instruments, there's something fundamentally wrong with my understanding of praise and worship. Nebuchadnezzar was the one who worked up people's emotions to get them to worship with such a lot of instruments where this huge orchestra was playing all these instruments and people would fall down and worship when they got all excited.

So don't think when you feel greatly moved in a so-called church building by the organ or some instrument that it is the working of the Holy Spirit, it's got nothing to do with the Holy Spirit at all, it's just the working up of your emotions and it's a great deception.

The mark of true spirituality is obedience to God, not the working up of our emotions. We see here verse 6, Nebuchadnezzar says, whoever does not fall down in worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.

Therefore at that time when all the people heard the sound, here's the working up of the emotions, the horn and the flute and the lyre, trigon and the psaltery and backpipe and all kinds of music, all their emotions got worked up, all the men of every nation and every language fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

And that's another mark of false religion, compulsory obedience. You must bow down otherwise you'll be punished and you have to do it. You have to do it. Jesus never taught that type of religion, a religion which tells you, you must pay 10 of your income to God.

I want to tell you that's not Christianity, just by the way, whichever pastor may tell you that, that's Nebuchadnezzar's. You must do it, otherwise you may not be thrown into the furnace but you'll get the frown of the pastor if you don't do it.

Sometimes that can be as bad as a furnace for some situations. No, this compulsory obedience to do this and do that is not in Christianity. Jesus said, if any man will come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.

He told the rich young ruler, when the rich young ruler wanted to love his money, he said, all right, you can go. He virtually said he could go. He didn't force him, didn't threaten him. But false religion, there is this compulsory threatening, another mark of false religion.

Now we see in verse 8, for this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live forever. You yourself, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music is to fall down and worship the golden image.

And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast in the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. But there are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

And these other Chaldeans were jealous that these people had got into leadership over them. And he said these men, O king, have disregarded you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.

Standing Alone When Daniel Is Absent

And one can ask this question, where was Daniel at this time? I think Daniel was probably on a tour somewhere. He was the prime minister of the empire and he was probably on tour at that time. They are allowing Daniel to be away at this particular time.

So that these three young brothers would stand on their own. The first time, Daniel chapter 1, Daniel was there to stand with them and to encourage them to take a stand. But now, Daniel chapter 3, God wanted them to be strong on their own.

That's how God deals with us. He'll give us a brother to help us to take an uncompromising stand and then he'll put us in another situation where that brother is not there to encourage us so that we can take a stand on our own.

That's the way our spiritual muscles are going to develop. And the spiritual muscles of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would never have developed if Daniel was there at this time. So it's wonderful to see the sovereignty of God in the way he plans our life.

And also I believe it was a test to see whether Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would take a stand when Daniel was not there, when that elder brother is not around. Will you still take a stand for the Lord in faithfulness when nobody is there to watch you, when you're in the midst of compromisers all around you and particularly if it's going to cost you your life.

And so we see here that there were only these three Jews who refused to bow down. The command of God in the law of Moses was very clear that you shall not bow down to any idol. But there were so many Jews in Babylon.

What about all these other people? What did they do? They forgot about God's law when it came to losing their life. There are different types of Christians. Jesus spoke in the story of the man who sowed the seed that there were some types of Christians who received the word in the meeting with great joy.

And they are the emotional type, you know, they get all excited. Praise the Lord is frequently on their lips and they shoot up like the plant that grows up quickly but there's no depth. When some situation comes in their office or in some other situation where they have to take a stand for the Lord, there they compromise.

They wither away. Jesus said the sun shines on it in its strength and it withers away. Such were these other Jews. They said in Psalm 137 verse 1, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.

Yeah, it's easy to sing that. The worldly folk have made a pop song out of that. So I can imagine that these compromising Jews would have made a pop song out of it even there. By the rivers of Babylon, there we wept when we remembered Zion.

But what about when it comes to this image? Oh yeah, let's bow down. But we weep when we remember Zion. Oh, it's so easy to get so emotional about Zion and Jerusalem. But the point is, what do you do when it's a question of standing up for the truth?

And that's how it is with so many compromising Christians sitting in dead denominations. Yeah, they say that they have a great desire for Zion and all that. But they're bowing down, compromising. But not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

They didn't just believe in weeping when they remembered Zion. They also believed in obeying God. It's not just enough to weep when you remember Zion, but to obey God. And they refused to bow down to this idol.

Faithfulness in the Face of the Fiery Furnace

And then it says here in verse 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and anger, gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Then these men were brought before the king. And Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, is it true that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image I've set up?

Now if you're ready, he says, I'm going to give you one more chance. But if you don't worship, verse 15, you're going to be cast into the midst of a blazing fire. And listen to this, the last part of verse 15.

What God is there who can deliver you out of my hand? That's like saying your God may be able to tell you dreams, which I saw, but he can't save you from the fire. Don't forget that. Yeah, I don't forget that your God enabled Daniel to know the dream I had, but he's, which God is there who can deliver you from the fire?

It's like Pilate, you know, when he told Jesus in John 19 10, don't you know that I have power to crucify you or to release you? Don't you know that you're in my hands? And Jesus stood there just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego before Nebuchadnezzar.

And he said calmly to Pilate, you can have no power against me unless it were given you from above. The God of heaven, if he gives you power to crucify me, then only am I going to be crucified. You don't have any power over me.

See, that's the position of an overcomer. He doesn't have any fear of a Pilate or a Caesar or a Nebuchadnezzar or a flaming fiery furnace or anything. And I just want you to see here their answer in verse 16.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this. Or as the living Bible says, we're not worried what's going to happen to us.

They knew long before Jesus said that they need not fear those who could only kill their body, but fear him who can cast both soul and body into hell. They were more afraid of God. And they knew what it said in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah the prophet lived before Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And these God-fearing Jews had read Isaiah and they knew Isaiah 8 .13, which says if you fear God, you need fear nothing else, no one else.

They knew that. It wasn't just a verse they hung up on the wall in their houses. It was deep in their lives. They fear God and they would not bow down to the idol. And therefore they had no fear of Nebuchadnezzar, this tyrant, the world's greatest ruler at that time.

Now notice this. Nebuchadnezzar did not say to them, you must forsake your God and worship this. No. You can keep your God, but also bow down to this. Just like they say, you don't have to give up your Christianity, just contribute one rupee for the Ayodhya Puja.

You don't have to give up your Christianity, just make a contribution. It's the same thing. You don't have to give up your faith. And there are Christians who say, well, after all, it's not something serious.

Maybe there were Jews who said, just nod your head a little bit. After all, we can always go back to God and repent and say, I'm sorry, Lord, for bowing down. I'm sorry, Lord, for giving that one rupee to the Ayodhya Puja.

I can always repent, you see. This cheap attitude towards forgiveness is the reason why so many people never come into a God-fearing life. They treat the blood of Christ like tap water. I can sin, I can compromise, and I can always come back and say, oh, Lord, I'm sorry, I compromised today.

Knowing very well that next year at Ayodhya Puja time, they're going to do exactly the same thing and go back to the Lord and again say, Lord, I'm sorry, I compromised. These are not following in the footsteps of Daniel and his three friends.

No, sir. Far, far from it. They are compromisers of the first order. They were like that in Babylon too. Hundreds of Jews who just bowed down, forgot all about Moses, forgot all about the law of God, just bowed down.

They just sang about, weeping about Zion. That's all. No, but these people were not afraid. They said, we're not worried what's going to happen to us. We're not afraid of death. And they said in verse 17, if it be so, if it is God's will, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire.

And he will deliver us out of your hands, O King, even if he does not. Let it be known to you, O King, that we are not going to serve your gods and worship the golden image that you've set up. They could not say for certainty whether God was going to deliver them or not.

Neither can we. But whether it is the will of God for us to be delivered or not delivered from the fire, we're not going to bow down. That makes no difference. We know one thing, that our God is well able to deliver us from this blazing fire.

That's no problem for God. But we don't know whether it's his will. But that makes no difference to us. We're not going to bow down to your image. That is the meaning of being uncompromising. They loved not their lives even unto death.

That is the mark of an overcomer in Revelation 12, 11. They overcame Satan because they loved not their lives unto death. If I love my life, I will compromise and sin in the moment when the pressure becomes too much.

And that's what many people are doing and will do even more in the days to come. God is preparing a people on the face of the earth today from these passages of Scripture, encouraging them, and from many other passages of Scripture, particularly the example of Jesus, who resisted unto blood in striving against sin, whose attitude was, I would rather die than commit sin.

I would rather die than displease the Father in one small thing. God is raising up a people like that, who would rather have their eye plucked out than commit a sin with their eye, who would rather have their right hand cut off than sign a false statement, write a false account, rather have their hand cut off, leave alone lose their job, if they're willing to have their hand cut off rather than write a false account.

How many Christians do you find like that? Who would rather have their eye plucked out than lust with their eye even once. God has got a few like that. Those are the uncompromising believers of the last days, a remnant.