The Golden Image (Daniel 3:1-8)

Let's go ahead and open in prayer Lord, whatever you have for us this morning delivered out of your word.

We are excited to receive We look forward to your Holy Spirit bringing to us your truth through the words of Scripture And we'll thank you for what you're going to do in our lives by that Revelation not that revelation a new but an illumination of the old words of Scripture that have been true for millennia

We thank you for them in Jesus name. Amen before we start this morning, I am

After I finished last week. I was sitting in my seat listening to Jim's message and I Don't know what triggered it.

I think I heard a whisper No, I don't I no kidding all kidding aside.

I realized that I had been snarky and snippy about post tribulation ism and our amillennial ism and Post millennial ism and there are plenty of beloved brothers and sisters who are

Genuine born -again believing Christians who believe in those two methods of the end times and I need to apologize for that Snarkiness and it will not happen again, or if it does any of you with a good -sized

Bible I'll buy you a new one. Just chuck it or tomato But yeah, that's close.

There will be no more about that Because there are as I said, there are plenty of good scholarly

Bible believing Christians who think differently in eschatology and So I'm apologizing for my attitude last week and it will change.

I will call attention to I will try to Faithfully represent what the other methods of believing are as well as those of us who believe in pre tribulation ism

And that will be as far as that goes no more of this of the unkindness

So with that being said And now that I'm thoroughly embarrassed after doing that last week

Let's read chapter 3 through about verse 18 because we're gonna start chapter 3

This is another interesting thing about some of the Old Testament books. The stories in them are famous world -round whether they're

Received by Bible believers or not. So let's look at chapter 3 of Daniel verses 1 through 18

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold the height of which was 60 cubits and it's with six cubits

He set it up on the plain of Jura in the province of Babylon Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps 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 then

I believe it's satraps the prefects and the governors the counselors the treasurers the judges the

Magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image

The 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 people's nations and men of every language

That at the moment you hear the horn 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 has set up But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire

Therefore at that time when all the people's heard the sound of the horn flute lyre

Trigon Psaltery bagpipe and all kinds of music all the people's and men of every language fell down and worship the golden image

The Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up For this reason at the time certain

Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king.

Oh king live forever You yourself Oh 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

But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire

There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon Namely Shadrach Meshach and Abednego these men.

Oh king have disregarded you They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image

Which you have set up then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Then these men were brought before the king

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them Is it true Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?

Now if you are ready at the moment, you hear the sound of the horn flute lyre Trigon Psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made very well but if you will not worship you will immediately be cast in the midst of a furnace of blazing fire and What God is there who can deliver you out of my hands?

Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king. Oh Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter

If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire

And he will deliver us out of your hand Oh King But even if he does not let it be known to you

Oh King that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up Sounds like disobedience to me

So now we come to chapter 3 Which details a famous story that pretty much is known the whole world over chapter 3 tells the story of the three friends of Daniel Who refused to worship an earthly king or God and were subsequently threatened with death in a furnace of fire and then thrown in the fire

Their survival and that and the effect that that had on kid Nebuchadnezzar make up the rest of the story of this chapter

So at this point it is my contention and I think it's easy to defend that Nebuchadnezzar if he ever

Trusted Christ Trusted the Lord has not done that so far. He has no faith in Jehovah God he's going to kill people who serve other gods or other images so verse 1 says

Nebuchadnezzar the king made the image of gold the height of which was 60 cubits and it's with six cubits

He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon There's much speculation as to when this occurred

Some think it was as many as a about 18 years after Nebuchadnezzar's ascension to power Others put it at about eight to ten years after Into eight to ten years into his reign

There's some evidence that it actually may have followed a military an attempted military coup by the

Babylonian military in late 595 to 594 BC which Nebuchadnezzar put down viciously and Disposed of if you will those those military officers that had led the coup

So successfully did he deal with this coup this rebellion that he later even conquered more territories with the same military

In the Septuagint the statue is connected with the destruction of Jerusalem by the

Babylonian King Which is referenced in 2nd Kings and in Jeremiah So for those who want you can go to 2nd

Kings 25 8 through 10, and this is what it says Now bear in mind this describes this the destruction of Jerusalem.

It doesn't talk about this Event with then with Daniel's three friends It just talks about the destruction of Jerusalem now on the seventh day of the fifth month

Which was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar? King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar Adon the captain of the guard a servant of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem He burned the house of the

Lord the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem Then even every great house he burned with fire so all the army of the

Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem and then

Jeremiah chapter 52 verses 12 through 14 it says now on the 10th day of the fifth month, which was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar Adon the captain of the bodyguard who was in the service of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem He burned the house of the

Lord the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem even every large house He burned with fire So all the army of the

Chaldeans are with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem So this is a pretty significant destruction of the city of the houses of the palace of all the great houses so the houses of the rich houses of some of the poor destroyed

Jerusalem would have been left in tatters, but It doesn't say anything about Shadrach Meshach and Abednego So all of these propositions how are however are simply opinions for there is nothing historically that connects the erection of the statue

With the destruction of Jerusalem at any rate There is no doubt that it did happen after the events of Daniel chapter 2

We see reference to the fact that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were officers in the province as mentioned in Daniel 2 49 so it says in the last verse of chapter 2 and Daniel made request of the king and He appointed

Shadrach Meshach and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon while Daniel was at the king's court

So Daniel Ray made the request they were appointed to positions. They were in those positions when this statue was erected

They chose not to fall down and they were turned in by the Karen's of the I mean by the people of the day by the tattletales of the day

Shouldn't use that name because there's very nice Karen's out there So and then at the end of the chapter we find at the end of this chapter.

We find out that after their refusal to Compromise their principles then the king caused

Shadrach verse Meshach and Abednego to prosper in the province of Babylon verse 30 So these events occurred after Daniel chapter 2

Why do I say it that way because there's people who? In their effort to pick apart the book of Daniel want to switch the chapter order

Because it was written in the second century. Don't you know it was written as a history? No, it wasn't It was written in the 6th century

BC and it was full of prophecies that the Lord saw fit to come to have come true so the statue another critical another critics

That they another grenade that the critics law But this was the size of the statue and what it was made of and and etc

Well, this statue would have been a common creation of the kings of old very likely. It was wood

Overlaid with gold it was disproportionate if you if you do the figures, you know six cubits wide 60 cubits tall

It was disproportionate unless there was a large base and we'll talk about that large base layer And some believe that that is what is described here

It was 99 feet tall and about 9 feet in width. Have any of you seen the statue of Jesus over Rio de

Janeiro? That's approximately the size of this statue within a few feet actually within just a few feet.

I think that statue is 90 feet tall There are multitudes of ancient monuments like this the

Colossus of Rhodes comes to mind which was 70 cubits tall and while Nebuchadnezzar Was certainly wealthy enough to have built this statue entirely of gold

It was like I said, most likely wood plates overlaid a wooden overlaid with plates of gold

Herodotus describes the statue of Bell or Marduk which is a Babylonian God being overlaid with 800 talents of gold

So I did I went online the day I wrote this up and figured out what that would be worth today

Do you know how much money was wasted on a statue of a pagan God? any guesses in Today's numbers if you said the

ION with the B. You were close. Yeah It was 1 .32

billion dollars worth of gold in in tribute to a pagan

God Now there's much speculation as to what the statue looked like some think it was a statue of Nebuchadnezzar However, there is no clear history of the the

Babylonian Kings making statues of themselves They generally made statues of their gods

It was more likely his patron God Nebo others think it was similar to an

Egyptian obelisk Which is just a four -sided like the Washington Monument just a four -sided pillar with chapter 2 as context

It is very likely that it was a representation of either Nebuchadnezzar or his

God and it would have drawn inspiration from the dream He had that Daniel interpreted the statue in his dream was composed of five

Components in this case. This statue was entirely of gold most likely obliquely or Surreptitiously representing

Nebuchadnezzar himself the head of gold. Remember he was it was spoken of Daniel told him he was the head of gold

In Some way because Daniel had said he was the head of gold So here we see the pride of Nebuchadnezzar rearing its ugly head

Which he will have to deal with quite quite the Lord will have to deal with quite a few times The reference to the plain of Dura is most likely refers to an area about six miles southeast of the city of Babylon the name of the plain and this is from the

Encyclopedia Bible encyclopedia The name of the plain in which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon set up the great golden image

Which all his subjects were ordered to worship Opert one of the excavators of the day and of the area

Placed it to the southeast of Babylon near a small river and mounds bearing the same bearing the name of Duer or Duar Were also was what seemed to be the base and also there seemed to be what seemed to be the base of a great statue

And this is a scientific expedition in the Mesopotamian Mesopotamian area Others believe the name to indicate a portion of the actual site of Babylon within the

Great Wall the Duru of the city Perhaps the rampart designated Dura Susanna Suanna, excuse me,

Suanna the rampart of the city So it was either a few miles southeast or it was right inside the city at any rate

It was associated in an area and raised to such a height that people all around would be able to see it

Would be very clear to them in the city and without The statue 90 feet tall can be seen from quite a ways in flat ground

Really quite a ways you could see if there was a statue that tall in Sandpoint from here. It'd be really easy to see it if there weren't a bunch of stuff in the way

Another issue of note is that the dimensions of the statue introduced the number six quite unintentionally

Lots have been made over this the numerologists in Not necessarily in ranks of Christianity But numerologists have made quite quite a bit of hay with the sixes.

The simple fact is that the Babylonian Numeric system was a sexidential sexidential

Numerical system it was based on the number six and I'll talk about that in a minute here This seemingly insignificant detail has no numerology content

But that does add credence to the entire story of Daniel because the

Babylonian number system was a sex of decimal or base Six number system. The system of numbers is still in use today

Do you know where? How many seconds are there in a minute? Why not a hundred we're based in how many minutes are there in an hour?

What how many degrees are there in a compass Three hundred sixty and how many minutes are in a degree?

Sixty we still use the basic system quite a bit so time and direction

And that's really all it was was that the when the Babylonians would make something

They would make it according to their numerical system. It would be just logical When we build which it's always struck me why we have our studs 92 and 5 8, but that's another story

Yeah, that's so that the two top plates and the bottom plate will add up to a an 8 -foot sheet of plywood,

I guess But we deal in eights Okay, finally

Daniel was not present for the ceremony So this can indicate that some time had passed and he was likely on the business of the king somewhere else in the province

Because had he been there He would have been called to to the to the plane because it was calling all of the they had honchos

And we'll see that in a minute here Any questions or comments about verse 1 verse 2?

So then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps 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 If this loyalty oath procedure did take place

Subsequent. Yes, if he had been there, yes, but he was not present

Well assuming he didn't bow down and I think we can all make that assumption that he wouldn't have bowed down, right?

No, he would have been subject It wouldn't have to just been Jews if there had been a an Indian satrap who hadn't bowed down He would have been sent to the to the furnace.

The Babylonians like to roast people. I did a little bit of study in their history There's a there's in one reference.

It was I see if I can remember it was like they roasted two of ours Let's roast some of theirs I mean they said it much more eloquently than that, but they killed two of our our soldiers

Let's roast some of theirs and that's the word they used roast. So It's you know, it was just a matter of that type of culture very coarse

Culture where life had very little meaning Unless you were a king or somebody in position of authority

So if this loyalty procedure did take place subsequent to the military rebellion in Babylon It would have been logical for the king to require all the people in positions of responsibility

To come and pledge their fealty to him So it would be a reminder to everybody that you need to pledge fealty to the king

And if you don't here's what'll happen to you like that coup. I put down a couple of years ago. Remember that as As is the case with most large governmental organizations.

There would have probably been quite a few people involved in the named positions here Government left to itself

Grows and or even left to itself in an attempted to be keeping from growing still grows

And so there would have been a lot of satraps and all of those other names Any questions or comments about that?

Verse 3 then the satraps the prefects the governors the counselors the treasurers the judges the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces

Were 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 some of these offices are

Babylonian words and some are Persian Daniel probably updated this when he wrote the book

Of course the fact that there are differences has elicited comment from Daniel deniers. That's what

I'm gonna call him Daniel deniers Most likely when Daniel wrote this book the

Persians had come to power and would have been normal for him to Update the information with those terms that would be make sense in the day that he wrote the book

The fact is this is in fact further proof that Daniel wrote this book 600 years before Christ as it demonstrates clear

Familiarity with these offices that existed during Nebuchadnezzar's reign These are the positions described by a commentator.

These positions are described by a commentator this way The satraps were the highest political offices in each province

The prefects princes were military chiefs The governors remember that this was a nation of many peoples and tribes many different peoples and tribes the governors or Captains were heads of sections of the provinces

So maybe counties if you will The counselors which were advisors or judges were high -ranking judges

The treasurers were superintendents of the Treasury of the independent areas Individual areas the judges or counselors were secondary judges and the magistrates sheriffs were lower -level

Officials lower -level legal officials the rulers or officials were subordinates of the satraps

They would have been directly serving under the satraps These positions would have represented all of the administrative government of the

Empire and there would have been many languages involved The thus the use of musical instruments to signal the time to bow down the entire concept is in Close keeping with the way the ancients did things often

They would use music to symbol to signal a particular activity that needed to happen.

You notice the sounding of Coronets or trumpets during the times of war to signal and we used it in our cavalry.

There's there's Reveille There's attack. There's charge. There's get out of here. You idiots, you know, or or whatever retreat

All kinds of different things and you would know what each tune was what each of those tunes meant

So this was very common very common in ancient times So then the

Herald loudly proclaimed in verse 4 To you the command is given

O peoples Nations and men of every language So based on the translation of these words, especially the last one in this verse

Which is translated speech the word language one could properly assume that when the Herald gave this command

It would have been translated into the languages of all the assembled officials this word for Herald in the

Chaldean another place for Daniel deniers to camp Kharaz k -a -r -o -z

Resembles the Greek Karuk's k -e -r -u -x Some critics have challenged that because of the presence of Greek words

Daniel wrote in the 2nd century It has been BC It has been noted However that this word has been traced back to the old

Persian word Karusa which means caller someone who calls out something many of these words seem to have been incorrectly assigned to the

Greek language when they were either Chaldean or old Persian and this actually Strengthens the position that the book was written 600 years before Christ rather than weakens it verse 5

That at the moment, so let's read three and four together four and five together I mean Then the

Herald loudly proclaimed to you the command is given O people's nations and men of every language That at the moment verse 5 you hear the sound of the horn flute.

Is it lyre or leer? Lyre, okay, so I've been okay. I wasn't lying The horn flute lyre trigon psaltery bagpipe and all kinds of music.

I thought bagpipes were Scottish You are to fall down and worship the golden image that nebuchadnezzar the king has set up the familiarity in this culture with The particular type of instruments was well established and those who were given the command to pay attention to the sound of these instruments

Would have known what was being referenced. They would have been comfortable with this religious association

Between their responsibilities as government government officials and Worship, they would have been comfortable with that in this particular culture

Some of the interest instruments in the list it has been challenged are of Greek origin Well, of course if they're of Greek origin

It must have been written in the 2nd century Dr. Edwin Yamauchi an eminent ancient

Old Testament scholar I don't know if he's ancient but he's an Old Testament was an Old Testament scholar pointed out however, that it was common for agents to have foreign musicians and foreign instruments in their courts as One common near points out the argument actually distinct disintegrates because if Daniel was actually written in Greek There would be far more

Greek words than there are the Babylonians and Greeks had significant interaction culturally and Economically at this time

So this would have been normal further studies by Yamauchi as cited in Walworth's commentary demonstrate that not only are the

Greek words to be Expected the situation illustrates the interchange of commerce and cultures in the ancient world and dr

Charles Dyer has categorized them as instruments this way the first instrument Was a horn

That one's an easy one though. It usually referred to the horn of an animal It is also described it also described musical instruments made of wood or metal

Then there's the flute The second instrument was a pipe this identification being based on the fact that the word comes from the root that means to hiss

With the third instrument Daniel introduced a new grouping in Nebuchadnezzar's in musicians the lyre

While the first two instruments are wind instruments The next three are stringed instruments The first of these is translated as lyre and has variously been identified as a harp a lyre or a zither

The trigon may be identified with the Greek Sambuca and the Roman Sambuca in the

King James, which was a horizontal angular harp This word was correctly incorrectly translated as sack, but in the

King James the word translated harp was likely a trapezoid Shaped dulcimer either plucked or played with a small a plectra a small piece of metal or wood so like you've seen a dulcimer most of you have seen them or even what come to mind in my mind was a

Xylophone but not not the same that would not have been strings The final instrument is translated bagpipes, but this identification is problematic

There is good instrumental good linguistic evidence for identifying it as a drum

Similar to a timpani besides it would seem odd to list two wind instruments and three and stringed instruments followed by another wind instrument

The final instrument is for percussion However, the order of the instruments is harmonious Daniel would have listed two wind instruments and three stringed instruments than one

Percussion instrument while exact identification of the instruments remains difficult. Here is the proposed listing.

Dr. Dyer gives horn Double reed pipe lyre harp dulcimer and drum at any rate.

It would have been a melodious call to order and so their instruments and I had pictures

I've neglected to bring the the thumb thumb drive that has the

PowerPoint on it. I had some images that were made of the kinds of instruments that have been found in Archaeological digs that probably it would probably correspond to these

So those are the instruments and the idea was that once everybody had the command and knew that they were to listen for music

Everybody would know what the music meant. What did the music mean? Let's read. God is faithful All of you fall down Kneel, get on your face before the false.

God verse 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship the image worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire

This command would have, for the most part, have fallen on receptive ears. In ancient times, people were not reared with a sense of the rights they had, but with the understanding of conformity to the ruling hierarchy.

That's how they were reared as children. It would have never occurred to them to say,

I'm not falling down and worshiping some false god. It would have only occurred to those who had been raised with an understanding of their inherent worth and the

God, a true God, that they would serve, who had given them life and given them rights and responsibilities.

To these people, everything flowed through the gods to their almost deity -like ruler, the king.

And so if he said, jump, you would just, you wouldn't even ask how high, you would just jump. And this was normal, it was normal for all these people.

If we had been there and been able to watch it, we would have seen an immediate fall of everybody but three people, which would have been pretty impressive.

I wanna be one of those. The idea of uniformity in religious worship was the rule of the day, and people would not have even thought to question it because they had been so conditioned from birth.

They came from stock that from time immemorial had been reared with the idea that the civil authority could command fidelity to a god.

Your county commissioners can tell you which god to worship. Your state legislators have the authority, it's in statute, to tell you who you are going to worship.

Imagine that, do you, I mean, doesn't that just kind of twang in your head as way off?

That's how they were reared, that's what it was like. So whether this was a statue that represented

Nebuchadnezzar's patron god or a statue of Nebuchadnezzar himself, the idea of prostrating yourself before it would be comforting to the average citizen because you would be rendering obedience to that which protected you, that which was your life, if you will.

It was no slight to your own gods to worship someone else's gods in an age of polytheism.

There were, I don't know how many gods there are in the Indian pantheon, but someone said something like 10 ,000, and holy mackerel.

How would you, well, probably mackerel were holy too. I shouldn't have said that, but how would you know?

Elephant gods and snake gods and moon gods and mountain gods and river gods and tree gods and leaf gods and, sorry,

I'm really glad we serve the one true God. So of course the Jews had been reared to love and worship the one true

God and would have been deeply offended by this call to worship. And if they had the courage to do so, they would not have bowed down.

Nebuchadnezzar, with regard to refusal to bow down as both, he regarded refusal to bow down as both disrespect to the gods and treason to the nation.

So it was tied together. Disrespect of their gods was treason to the nation. And these crimes were punishable by death.

Some critics, because they believe this book to have been written in the second century BC, draw a connection here between the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 to 167

BC. They claim this would be the historical context for the story. Nebuchadnezzar was not attempting, as Antiochus was, to destroy the

Jewish religion. So there's no connection here. Nebuchadnezzar was simply, he had created a loyalty oath, probably following on the heels of a rebellion.

And he wanted to make sure everybody knew, don't do that. He was not attempting to destroy the

Jewish religion. He allowed them to worship their god. Actually, probably delightedly allowed them to worship their god.

He talked about it in chapter, we looked at it in the earlier chapters. Another interesting bit of information.

The word translated immediately is the Chaldean word for hour. And it is the first introduction to the concept of timekeeping in the

Old Testament. The furnace mentioned here was most likely a kiln constructed of bricks and used for many of Nebuchadnezzar's wide -ranging projects.

And by the way, on the plains of Dura, I might have it here somewhere else, but on the plains of Dura, where this

Opert believes the statue to have been erected, they found a gigantic brick base that would have been perfect for mounting a giant statue on, and most likely could have been, most likely could have been.

A few years before this incident in about 597 BC, before this incident of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the prophet

Jeremiah wrote about two Israelite prophets who had predicted Nebuchadnezzar's downfall.

Guess what happened to them? They were thrown into a furnace in the same way, and their death was supposed to become a curse to those who would be used among the exiles.

Jeremiah 29, 21 through 23 says, "'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the

God of Israel, "'concerning Ahab, the son of Goliath, "'and concerning Zedekiah, the son of Maaseah, "'who are prophesying to you falsely in my name.'"

The prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar would be overthrown was false in God's name. "'Behold, I will deliver them into the hand "'of

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, "'and he will slay them before your eyes. "'Because of them, a curse will be used "'by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, "'saying, may the

Lord make you like Zedekiah "'and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon "'roasted in the fire. "'Because they have acted foolishly in Israel "'and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, "'and have spoken words in my name falsely, "'which

I did not command them, "'and I am he who knows and am a witness,' "'declares the Lord.'" Why is it that false prophets, more often than not, are also serial adulterers?

You find that throughout history. That's an interesting concept to me. That was verse six.

And we'll finish up with verse seven today. "'Therefore at that time,' because we're finishing up verse seven because at eight is where the accusation is made and Daniel's three friends are brought before the king in a trial, and it's quite intricate and interesting.

"'So therefore,' verse seven, "'at that time, when all the peoples "'heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, "'trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of musics, "'the peoples, nations, and men of every language "'fell down and worshiped the golden image "'that the

Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. "'There was immediate obedience "'to all of those who were pagan, "'immediate obedience by all of those who were pagan.

"'They fell down immediately at Nebuchadnezzar's command, "'and clearly, as we will see in verses eight and beyond, "'there were people in the crowd "'who either were there intentionally "'to report what was going on back to the king, "'or they were just busybodies.

"'But either way, Daniel, Daniel's three friends, "'will be accused before the king "'by people who noticed, "'would have been easy to notice.

"'Everybody else would have fallen down "'but these three men.'" Jenny, right.

Outwardly conform. They would have given the impression of worship, right.

No, there was really no, right.

Legislation does not touch the heart, and that's why legislation will never change this country.

The hearts of men must be changed. And it's happened. It's happened. It's happened in this nation.

Good point. Good point, Jenny, that legislation cannot make the heart change. You can't legislate the heart.

So this verse indicates that the statue was most likely, yes, those who didn't bow down then were to be cast into the furnace.

In Revelation, those who won't bow down to the Lord will be cast into a lake of fire. And again, the Lord doesn't legislate the heart.

This, yes. This, sorry. No, they didn't know.

That's what they were raised with. They were comforted by the false God. They were comforted by their rulers being able to command them to worship a false

God. That was order, and it was stability for them.

Yes, yeah. So true worship sometimes is destabilizing.

This verse indicates that the statue was probably a deity because the Chaldean word here translated worship means to fall down or to prostrate oneself.

And it was generally associated with the idea of worshiping God or a false prophet, a false

God, excuse me, a deity. Fear of death in a fire, if not genuine adoration of the false

God, caused everyone to follow them and immediately fall down and worship the image. So to Jenny's point, probably most of the people on that plane genuinely worshiped and fell down.

But there were probably some there. I would allege who fell down because they just didn't want to burn up.

They didn't believe the false God. They just, and either one is an affront to Jehovah.

But nevertheless, there were probably both types on that plane that day. And some fell down in fear, some fell down in worship.

And it's interesting what fear can make you do. It's, yes, yes, transgression increases, grace increases.

Yeah, it's unbelievable. And to us who serve the true God, what a delight it is, because He commands a worship that we give willingly out of our hearts.

I just, I can't imagine what it must've been like back there. I've been in situations where I was the only no vote, and it's intimidating, you know?

Even you, I can do it, I'm tough. And then when you're there and everybody else's hands are up and you're going, oh boy.

No, yeah, okay, yeah, you're an idiot. Yeah, yes, yes, yeah.

There will be plenty who will take the mark of the beast delightedly, and some who will take it out of fear, but it's still the mark of the beast.

So this verse does indicate, at least to us, that it was a deity. Fear of death and of fire, if not genuine adoration of the gods, caused everyone to follow them immediately and worship the image.

As we know from verse 12, however, which I will read and we will kind of tie up with this.

There are certain Jews, the tattletales said, whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have disregarded you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.

Now, no, we'll talk about that next time. We'll talk about that next time. Because it, you know, just like Daniel 3 follows

Daniel 2, Daniel 12 follows 11, and we aren't there yet, and I'm OCD. So this here sets the stage for them to face

Nebuchadnezzar upon being accused by the other rulers in the province. They weren't just accused by people.

They were accused by the other rulers, their peers, if you will. It would have been obvious to everyone that they were not falling down, and they would have been, because they would have been the only people standing up, the only people standing up.

And I'm thinking there were probably a couple thousand on that plane that day. So it would have been really obvious.

Everybody else is gonna, the idea was not just to get on your knee, like sometimes we will do, you know, get on your knee.

It was to fall, your face has to go to the ground. So it would have been really obvious, really obvious. And you can picture some of the people down there going,

I see you, you're gonna die. You're gonna burn. Those who did not fall down and worship would have been fearful of being punished themselves, but if they didn't turn in their supposed non -obedient brethren.

And so it is that fear will often cause people to turn on one another. So who knows, maybe some of those people that turned the three friends of Daniel in were actually in some way, shape, or form friends with them.

But fear for their own skin, you never know what you're gonna do until your skin's on the line, until you're actually faced with the bullet for you, if you will, if I can use that horrifying metaphor.

That's when you know what you're going to do, when it comes time for you to stand when everybody else is bowing.

And three out of, I don't know, 1 ,200, 1 ,500, pretty small, pretty small minority.

But what happens to them later on is so remarkable and so wonderful. And you guys don't know anything about it because you haven't read the rest of Daniel ever, right?

So I'm just not gonna ruin the story. Any questions or comments before we close? This story, again, is known worldwide.

I mean, it's known by people who don't believe in God. The Song of the Three Holy Children, I watched,

I was googling, or actually duck -duck -going, looking up links, and one of the links was

Louis Armstrong singing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And it was pretty good.

Anybody who likes Louis Armstrong's voice, which is like Bob Dylan's voice, which is to say, it isn't a voice.

So if you're interested, if I put that little bug in your ear, Louis Armstrong, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it's a cute little song.

Let's close in prayer. Lord, thank you for this story in Daniel, this true story in Daniel that was written six centuries before Christ, and later is followed up by more, by this man who served you.

Lord, might we be those kind of people who when the call comes to worship you, we will stand and we will worship you.

And we'll thank you for the strength and the grace as has been pointed out to do that when a time comes to do that.