Daniel 3:1-18 "The Kings Image"

Daniel 3 and the Golden Image of Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel chapter 3 starting in verse 1. Here now the inspired word of God. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was 60 cubits and it's width six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura 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 the 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 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 people's nations and men of every language, that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, the 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 the 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 nations and men of every language fell down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

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, 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.

But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of the 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, O 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 do not worship, you will immediately be cast into 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 replied to the king, O 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, O king.

But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. Let's pray. Father, we bow before you once again and our prayer is simply that you would open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to see here and to understand what you have to say to us through this book of Daniel, this important book.

And that, Father, that by so understanding that we would become more like Daniel, but ultimately that we would be more like Christ. We pray in his name. Amen. Please be seated. For years when immigrants from Europe would come to America, they would see the Statue of Liberty just before arriving at Ellis Island.

The Statue of Liberty which stands in New York Harbor is over 100 years old now and has become one of the better-known symbols of American freedom. Now most of you know that it was a gift from France.

It was built by Frederick August Bartholdi with the middle framework being constructed by Gustave Eiffel. Yes, that Eiffel, the same one who built the tower. But Bartholdi was inspired by a French law professor, Edward-René de Laboulaye, who made the comment that any monument raised to US independence would properly be a joint project of the French and the American people.

Of course, he was alluding to the French aid during the War of Independence. But all people worldwide love to erect statues and monuments. No matter where you go, if you travel in this world, you will find statues and monuments to certain people, certain institutions, and the like.

On our several visits to Ukraine, we saw statues of Lenin at virtually every public square. And our country is riddled with monuments and statues no matter where they go, no matter where you go. In fact, I got a little quiz for you.

Who can tell me after the service where there's a monument erected to an insect? It's there. We can talk about that later. But we especially find monuments and statues in our capital city of Washington, DC.

Babel, Shinar, and the Reversal at Pentecost

And that brings us to our third chapter of Daniel. And we find an image being erected in what was the capital of the Babylonian Empire. But this isn't the first image that was erected on this ground of Babylon.

Do you remember Nimrod, the son of Cush, the son of Ham, just three generations from Noah? We read in Genesis 10, verses 8 to 10. Now, Cush became the father of Nimrod. He became a mighty one in the earth.

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Eric, and Ariel, and Kelna, in the land of Shinar.

We read this morning from Genesis 11, how the people started to build the Tower of Babel. And where was the location? The land of Shinar. And as we read this morning, God dispersed the people because of their idolatry with building this tower.

You know, it's interesting. We see a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel in the New Covenant, on the day of Pentecost, with God now bringing all people to understand the gospel message. And now, even the gospel is going to many different language people, to all languages, all tribes, all tongues, people from all over.

But where was this province of Babylon that Nebuchadnezzar was setting up this image? Well, if you go back to the first chapter, verse 2, it says, the Lord gave Joachim, king of Judah, into his hand, along with some vessels of the house of God.

And guess where Nebuchadnezzar brought him? To the land of Shinar. It's the same location. It's an interesting series of events. So, it's interesting that Nebuchadnezzar erects this image on the same ground that the Tower of Babel was.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream in Chapter 2 and the Meaning of the All-Gold Statue

Now, what is the significance of this image? And why does it lead to such drastic action as three men being tossed into a furnace? Well, we need to go back, in order to understand the events of chapter 3, it's essential that we refresh our memories and go back to the events of chapter 2.

So, a quick review, I think, is in order. First, let's look at the dream itself. The dream, of course, of Nebuchadnezzar back in chapter 2. The statue with the different metals, remember, gold, silver, and bronze, and then iron mixed with clay.

And then, the interpretation of the dream. Remember, the king is told that the head of gold represents Babylon under his rule. The kingdom of Babylon was the most glorious kingdom in the world. And he's told that God has chosen him to see the future, and also what will happen in the, quote, latter days.

No other earthly kingdom will ever reach the glory of Babylon, according to the dream. But he's also told it's not going to last. It's temporary. It will pass away. Second thing that we need to remember, the results of Daniel's interpretation of the dream.

The king is relieved, firstly, relieved of his anxiety, and he gives honor to Daniel's God. And his words are relevant. Don't keep this in your mind in verse 47 of chapter 2. The king answered Daniel and said, surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.

Then Daniel is raised to the position of second in command in the kingdom of Babylon. Only Nebuchadnezzar is above Daniel. And he's appointed as the chief prefect of the wise men of Babylon. And all of this is very relevant to what comes next.

And then Daniel, if you remember back in chapter 2, he makes a request of the king to elevate Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the administration of the province of Babylon. And the king grants that request.

And then in that second chapter, this is just a little aside, but I want you to keep this in mind. Remember when we first introduced the book of Daniel, we talked about certain symbols running through it.

We see the symbol of death and resurrection in chapter 2. Remember when the kings had sentenced all of the wise men to death, unless they could answer his request and interpret the dream. Daniel does.

God reveals it to him. And he is symbolically raised, so he had the death and the resurrection. Next, I'm just going to review the brief narrative of what happens in chapter 3, because I want you to keep in mind the big picture as we begin to examine the details.

King Erechtus' huge statue of gold in the plain of Dura, province of Babylon, the land of Shinar. And he sends word to assemble all the governing officials of Babylon to attend the dedication of this image.

And the herald calls out with instructions for these governors. When you hear the music, fall down and worship the golden image. That's exactly what he says. And then the herald continues by giving the consequences for not complying with the king's orders.

Now this is where it gets pretty drastic. Violators will be cast into the furnace of blazing fire. Does that even just sound ominous? The furnace of blazing fire. Furnace would be bad enough, but it's a blazing fire.

Then the music plays and everyone falls down and worships the image. Well, not quite everyone. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not. And the Chaldeans immediately report the violation of the king's decree to the king himself.

Not surprisingly, the king is enraged and orders to have the violators brought before him. And he questions them and offers them a second chance to bow down. Of course, the answer is in the negative. And give a beautiful answer, which we will examine later on.

The bottom line, they're going into the furnace, but are miraculously saved by God. Now that's as far as we're going to go for the time being. But let's go back to the beginning of the chapter and the king's image.

The Image as a Human-Made Idol and an Image-Bearing Claim

The image that Nebuchadnezzar sets up is very interesting for a number of reasons. First, the way it's referred to by the inspired writers and scriptures. It's not, well, firstly it's referred to as an image.

But that's not the same word that's used for idol or graven image in the Ten Commandments. It's interesting. But it is the same word that's used in chapter 2 for the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. You know, there's some commentators that believe that the image was not a statue of a person, but an obelisk, like the Washington Monument.

And they have varied reasons, which I'm not going to take time to go into, because I think they're wrong. But it seems to me that the same word used in such proximity to each other would indicate that they're similar things.

Either way, it doesn't change the intent or meaning of the scripture. But there's another interesting fact, which sways me to interpret the image as a statue. The word used in Daniel for image in chapter 3 is the same one that is used by Moses in Genesis chapter 1.

God created man in his own image. It's the same exact word. Now, of course, we know that the image of God is not our physical image, but we represent all the communicable attributes of God as image bearers.

But all that is to say that I believe that the image of the statue was similar to the dream of the king. The second interesting point about the image is the description of it. The image is referred to in these 18 verses 11 times.

And I want to point something out to you. Ten of those times, it's accompanied by other words. And the words are, the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Now, isn't it, do you find that interesting?

Ten out of the eleven times. Twice in verse 3, the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king set up. Verse 5, the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Verse 7, the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

And then again in verse 12, 14, 15, and 18. When you read it, it almost sounds like it's a redundancy. But what's the point? The Holy Spirit wants to make sure that we understand this image was not of divine origin.

But it came from the mind and the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar. He alone was responsible for the image and everything else that follows its institution. And that's a very significant point that we can't, we can't miss.

Then we're given the dimensions of the image. 60 cubits by 6 cubits. That's roughly 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. That's about the equivalent to a nine-story building. The Statue of Liberty is about 150 feet without the base that stands on, just to give you a point of reference.

So it was tall and it was an impressive sight. And since there were very few nine-story buildings in the ancient Middle East, it was surely visible for great distances. Next we want to look at the connection of the vision to the dream.

I don't think there's any doubt that there's some sort of a connection between what Nebuchadnezzar does on that plane and what he had dreamt. But there was a certain amount of time that had to take place because even just taking for the time to erect the statue.

But by virtue of the position of the dream in chapter 2 and the narrative of the king erecting the image, I think there's more. It's reasonable to say that the image in the dream and the one the king set up are definitely connected in the mind of Nebuchadnezzar.

They are similar with a couple of noted exceptions. What's the big exception? The king's image is all gold, not just the head. There are no other metals, no feet of clay, no bronze, no iron. It would appear that the king liked the idea of his kingdom represented by gold, but improves on the image making it all gold.

The implication would be clear to those familiar with the dream. The king's glorious kingdom, according to him, will never end. There's no successive kingdoms. Whether they be kings, you know what, isn't that the goal of every leader, every ruler, especially dictators or kings?

They want a never-ending kingdom. But even corporate tycoons want their kingdom to last. In fact, look how Nebuchadnezzar is addressed by his subjects. Oh king, live forever. You know, we have billionaires today who are planning on freezing their bodies or their brains to be revived when the technology is more advanced so that they can be brought back to life.

Some people do anything for everlasting life. Well, almost anything. They won't bow to neither Christ. Ungodly rulers don't want the kingdoms to end, and they don't want to die. So there's no feet of clay in the statue.

But Nebuchadnezzar loved to hear, oh king, live forever. So what's going on here? Well, the king had taken what God had revealed to him and took it much further than God intended. He added his own thoughts, his own ambitions, and his own intentions to what God had revealed to him.

You know what? Isn't that human nature? Isn't that all of our human nature after the fall? Take a little bit of the truth and mix it with my own ideas, my own imaginations, my thoughts. That is the foundation of every cult and every heresy.

The Word of God says, and that's a good beginning, they'll start by quoting the Word of God, but then comes the mixture. I have freedom in Christ. True. Therefore, I can do whatever I want. False. Truth mixed with error.

Freedom in Christ means you are free to do what pleases God. You're free to do what you ought to do, not what you want to do. Nebuchadnezzar was installed by God as king over this glorious kingdom of Babylon, but now he usurps power that was never given to him.

Specifically, he usurped the role of the priest. Kings were never meant to rule over worship. They were meant to rule over the state, but now Nebuchadnezzar starts to install his own methodology of worship and his own object of worship.

Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten already that God had him installed him as king and that kinship had limits on it. As king, Nebuchadnezzar had the authority under God to rule the land. The power of the state was legally his to use.

Even the power of the sword to punish evildoers was all in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Even the death penalty, but he did not have power over worship and he usurped that. Here's an early example of the abuse of the state exercising authority over the church.

Boy, does that sound familiar. Well, we continue now to the assembly of the people. Firstly, who's there? You know, the next significant interest is the dedication of the people. Who's invited to this delegation, dedication?

Look at verse 2 of chapter 3. 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 province to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Notice that not everybody's invited. This is an exclusive affair. He invites those who are in various positions of authority. I'm not going to go into what a satrap is and all of... they're all rulers of one degree or another, of one level or another.

So this is important, though. It's only the leaders, the elite, so to speak, are invited. The most important people in the kingdom. See, there's a reason for the limitations on attendance. Beginning with the invitation, Nebuchadnezzar was in complete control of this whole affair.

There's another mark of false worship. Absolute control by the leadership. That's a very dangerous place to be. Look at the history of cults and you will find somewhere at the beginning a charismatic leader, and I don't mean charismatic in a Christian sense, a charismatic leader who exercises control either by force, coercion, fear, or playing mind games.

So then you may ask why were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego there? Remember they had been promoted to the administrators of Babylon. That's how they get invited. So they're included in the general invitation.

You also may ask, well, what about Daniel? How come Daniel wasn't there? I mean, it's highly unlikely if Daniel was there that he would not have been included with the other three because you know Daniel would never have bowed down.

So where was he? Well, remember, Daniel had been appointed as number two in the king's court. The number two person in the king's court was to take over for when the king was not there. Where was the king?

The king was at the dedication. So where was Daniel? Serving in the court. But the king had designed this assembly so that he remained in complete and total control even to how the worship will take place.

Look at the timing. The king choreographed this whole event. Everyone stands before the image of the king. I'm sorry, before the yes, the image of the king. In fact, there are people who think that the image resembled King Nebuchadnezzar, which is a very good possibility as well.

But everyone stands before the image. When you hear the music play, bow down. Notice how it's choreographed. Oh yes, by the way, everybody bow down and if you do not, well then there's consequences. You'll be thrown into the furnace.

Make no mistake about it, this whole scenario was the King Nebuchadnezzar show. He was the creator of this worship. He ordained the rules of worship and the consequences for not following the rules. In fact, one commentator put it this way.

The pagans make their own gods and then worship them. The true God reveals himself and men respond in worship. The people responded just as the king wished them to. At that time when all the peoples heard verse 7, heard the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the psaltery, the bagpipe, all kinds of music.

All the people's nations of men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. There's that reminder again. Who set this worship up? Nebuchadnezzar the king.

False Worship, Music, and the Chaldeans' Accusation

I want to make a brief aside for a moment on the makeup of the assembly and the king's use of music to call the people to worship. Notice again that the governors and administrators that were invited to attend were peoples from every nations and men of every language.

The last time an image was erected on this land, God dispersed them by confusing their languages because they were doing false worship. Now the king is calling men from all different languages to worship together.

And how does he do that? By the use of music. Music is a universal language. It cuts across cultures, ethnic barriers, and conveys a message. Music speaks directly to you. In fact, I'll give you a little example.

You can show the movie Jaws. Everybody here has seen Jaws, right? You can show the movie Jaws to any group of people regardless of what language they speak. And when that familiar theme song starts, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, nobody has to put a subtitle that says, by the way, the shark is coming.

Everybody knows it instinctively as soon as that music comes. Because that music tells you that there's a shark. So when the music starts, you begin squirming in your seat because you know somebody is shark bait.

Doesn't matter what language. Music is a very powerful medium that cuts across cultures. And so what Nebuchadnezzar uses music to call people to is false worship. As I mentioned before, Nebuchadnezzar had orchestrated this whole event and was in complete control of the activities.

And all is going according to plan except those three Hebrews. But there's a bit of treachery going on in the crowd. Look at verses starting in verse 8. For this reason, at the time, certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews.

They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live forever. You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, notice the constant repetition.

That's on purpose. So you get the point. 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 the furnace of blazing fire.

Now who were these Chaldeans who were stirring up this trouble? Contextually, I believe they were the same, some of the very same people, the Chaldeans whose lives were spared by Daniel and the three friends when Daniel interpreted the dream.

Remember, the general population of Babylon were not invited to the dedication. So these Chaldeans would be those from the king's own set of counselors. Isn't that interesting? What's the old expression?

No good deed goes unpunished. So instead of being grateful, they exhibited jealousy and envy toward Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Nazariah. I like to throw in the Hebrew names once in a while so we don't forget.

They go so far as to bring charges against the three who were present in the assembly. Now they may not have been wise men in a biblical sense, but they were not stupid men. They addressed the king with a standard polite greeting for royalty, and they know will grain the favor of the king.

Oh king, live forever. You can almost hear them. Those of you who are old enough, they were Eddie Haskells to the core. And then look at how they go on. You, oh king, have decreed that everyone must bow down and worship the image, and whoever does not will be cast into the furnace.

Notice what they do. This is what I mean about being clever. They used the king's own words. You said this, oh king. This is what you said was going to happen. In other words, they're saying, not our words.

We're not making accusations, oh king. You made the accusations. You can almost hear them say, we're just looking out for you. And then comes the charges. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, just in case you forgot.

These men, oh king, have disregarded you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. Notice again these men you have appointed. These men are treacherous and have honed their treacherous ways extremely well.

And so we see the king's reaction. They accomplished their mission. Look at what the king says. Nebuchadnezzar, in a rage and anger, gave orders to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then these men were brought before the king.

And 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? Notice again the words the king uses.

My gods, the golden image that I have set up. Even he acknowledges he set this whole thing up. Nebuchadnezzar, at this point in his life, even after acknowledging the power of the one, the true living God, after his dream was interpreted, he is still steeped in pagan idolatrous worship.

There's no question but that God is using him. But he has not been converted as yet. He still has that pagan heart. And that will be even more abundantly clear in the next chapter. But he's not without redeeming qualities, for he gives the three a second chance.

And I was impressed with this when I read it. Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, all kinds of music. If you're ready to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well.

But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast in the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. And what God is there that can deliver you out of my hands. I believe that this is evidence that God was already working on his heart and drawing him.

Because he was the sovereign over the land. And he wasn't obligated to give anybody a second chance. His word was law. He had decreed the consequence for anyone who failed to bow down and and worship the image.

That consequence was the fire, fiery furnace. But he makes a huge mistake here, because he adds the phrase, and what God is there who can deliver you out of my hands. Wow. Don't ever do that. Daniel had already confirmed to the king that he was chosen by God to be the king of Babylon, the glorious head of gold.

And the king had already acknowledged that our Lord God was not like the Babylonian gods. And back in chapter 2 verse 47, surely your God is a God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries.

But now he challenges God publicly, and he is about to see once again the power of Almighty God. It's here that we see that the three friends and Daniel, they're brothers in arms. Daniel has been the spokesperson for the group up until now, but the others have always been aligned with him.

But here their faith is being tested, and Daniel is not around to speak for them. And as we will see, he wasn't needed. The text indicates that they didn't wait for the king to finish. I think it, the way I read the text, they actually interrupted the king.

They know where the conversation is going, and they don't wait for the music to start. They simply reply, O 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, O king.

But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. This reply comes from the three of them in perfect and full agreement, and is a perfect answer to the situation they find themselves in.

Stop the rhetoric, they say. Here's the way it is. You ask what God is there that can deliver us? Our God. The God we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire. Our God will deliver us out of your hand, but even if he doesn't, we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image.

Those words really have an effect on the king. Until this point, you get the impression that the conversation, the dialogue was at least civilized, but after this response, verse 19 says that not only was the king enraged and filled with wrath, but his facial expression changed, and they are tossed into the furnace of blazing fire.

And that's where we end, and I'll pick it up next week. But for now, it's interesting how much trouble this statue caused. People love these monuments and statues, and Nebuchadnezzar was proud of this statue.

You know, in 1986, we celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. Great fanfare, concerts, and musical tributes, and appropriately including a boys choir from Harlem and one from France sang together.

I believe they sang the Star-Spangled Banner. But we love our statues, don't we? And that's fine, as long as they're used properly. My grandmother came in to New York Harbor over to Ellis Island back in 1909, and she had a chance to see that Statue of Liberty as she came over from Norway.

Nebuchadnezzar missed the point and made it all about him. And it was plain and simple, idolatrous worship in which the three Hebrews refused to participate, leaving an example for us to follow. Christian, stand firm when trouble comes your way.

Remember, when you go through the furnace of fire, God has the ability to deliver you, but if not, he will be with you. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, I once again I urge you to repent of your sin, come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Let's pray.