Spiritual Warfare in Daniel, part three

Spiritual Warfare in Daniel, part three—"Some through the fire"

One of the weapons that Satan has used throughout history is physical persecution and the threat of the same. In 1980 I visited Uganda shortly after the fall of Idi Amin. This man had been in the British military system and in a coup overthrew the president of Uganda in 1971. The assumption was he was a good ruler and would do well for the country. No one could foresee the hell on earth this man would create. He would rule until 1979 when his government would be overthrown by an invasion from Tanzania.

Idi Amin began by destroyed the local tea industry because it was owned and operated by "Asians". These were people from India who had migrated to Africa and demonstrated unusual entrepreneurial skills. They were good business people and they were making a lot of money, not only for themselves but also for Uganda. It was a classic case of the Golden Goose parable. Idi Amin decided that he and his people would be able to enjoy the wealth of the Asians and remove a despised class from Uganda. Soon all kinds of people were running our in Mercedes-Benzes and other luxury cars until they needed repairs and the cars then sat by the side of the road. The tea plantations languished for lack of care and Uganda lost the income she had been receiving from the tea.

A more serious attack took place against the Christians. Idi Amin was a Muslim and he identified all Christians as infidels worthy of death. Several hundred thousand Christians died in Uganda at his hands. Sometimes he would go into the prisons where Christians were being held and actually help execute them using a sledge hammer. Children witnessed the death of their parents in horrible ways that create trauma they would never overcome. Thousands would be thrown into the Nile River to the crocodiles. It was said that the crocodiles in the Nile were the largest and fattest in the world. They enjoyed a rich diet of human flesh.

These Christians understood what persecution was all about. They had seen it at its worst. But Satan was not successful in destroying Christianity in Uganda. The church learned to fervently pray and powerful churches rose up, not only evangelizing in Uganda, but in the surrounding nations of Zaire (now Congo), Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. I met a number of these leaders, many of them women who had come through the fire.

Today we want to talk about three men who literally came through the fire.

In the last chapter Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a great image and it terrified him. Because his counselors could not tell him the dream and at the same time explain it, he ordered all of them put to death. One counselor, not real smart, told the king, "No real king would make such a demand." That set off the fireworks and the news went from bad to worse. Daniel as a young man, just starting in the advisory business to the king, chose to pray. Most likely he prayed very fervently for God to give him the answers that he needed to save not only his own life, but the other advisors of the king. Daniel convinced the soldiers who came to execute him to give him some time so that he could determine the dream and its meaning. Fortunately Daniel was given the time.

 

An ego issue—One of Satan's favorite tools is to use the egos of men and women to accomplish his goals. An interesting study would be to show how many times the sins we commit against one another are based upon an ego issue. So we see Nebuchadnezzar as one man with an major ego problem.

In regard to the dream, Daniel identified Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold. Now in chapter 3 Nebuchadnezzar has determined to erect a gold pillar apparently in honor of himself. If he is the head of gold in the dream, then it will be appropriate for people to worship Nebuchadnezzar as a god. Satan has appealed to Nebuchadnezzar's ego in a big way. Now he wants to be worshiped. He may have also used this as means to unite his kingdom. If everyone has to bow down to the pillar that represents Nebuchadnezzar, then everyone has a common focus.

But on the other hand, the statue is not designated as the image of a god, or the image of Belus; therefore we agree with Klief. in his opinion, that the statue was a symbol of the world-power established by Nebuchadnezzar, so that falling down before it was a manifestation of reverence not only to the world-power, but also to its gods; and that therefore the Israelites could not fall down before the image, because in doing so they would have rendered homage at the same time also to the god or gods of Nebuchadnezzar, in the image of the world-power.

 

The pillar was 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide, most likely like one of the obelisks in Egypt. Keil and Delitzsch suggest that the upper part was like a human and the lower part a pillar, based on the use of the Aramaic tselem. It was set up on the plain of Dura and was designed to impress people from a distance. Unfortunately we do not have the pillar any longer. Some future ruler probably pealed the gold from it and melted it down. All in all it would have been a very impressive sight.

The event was very political as well. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to impress everyone with just who was in charge.

Eight classes of officials called:

• Satraps—chief representatives of the king, "the chief representatives of the king in the provinces."
  
• Prefects—military commanders
  
• Governors—civil administrators—"the presidents of the civil government, the guardians of the country."
  
• Advisers—chief arbitrators, counselors of the government
  
• Treasurers—handled the money of the kingdom
  
• Judges—administrators of the law, guardians of the law, lawyers
  
• Magistrates—passed judgment in keeping with the law, judges in the narrow sense of the term
  
• Other provincial officials—anyone who had an official position in Nebuchadnezzar's government.
  
• Perhaps even Zedekiah had been summoned.
  

Since everyone was required to bow down indicates the religious significance of the statue along with the political significance. In the world of that day religion and government worked hand in hand. No discussion of separation of church and state. Nebuchadnezzar is most likely invoking a new level of religion—that is, worship of Nebuchadnezzar. He will be both head of state and head of religious affairs.

Everyone in the Babylonian empire is to recognize this. All peoples, nations, and men of every language were to accept the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. These officials would be expected to go back to their respective provinces and tell their people about the new government.

Preparations for the big celebration. Strike up the band. Nebuchadnezzar not only wanted to make a statement about his newfound significance, he also wanted to do everything he could to make it a memorable event. Just as we use music to set the stage for preaching, Nebuchadnezzar is using music to set the stage for his big announcement. Note the selection of instruments:

• Wind instruments—horn and pipes
  
  • The horn is the far-sounding tuba of the ancients
    
• A reed instrument—the flute—pan pipe
  
• Stringed instruments—zither, harp, lyre
  
• Some of the instruments had Greek names which show the interaction between cultures at that time.
  

The penalty—anyone who didn't show up to worship the image would be cast into a blazing fire. It is interesting how rulers who want to impress their followers often resort to penalties on those who fail to properly respond.

While we in Kenya from 1985-88 we went to a big political rally held in a park. It was a grand affair complete with parade, marching band, a total Air Force flyover (all six jets), and a parade of soldiers and the dozen tanks the army had. Most people went to the rally to see the air show and the parade. Then it came time for President Daniel Arap Moi to speak. There was a mass exodus for the gates of the park. But as people tried to leave they found the police had all the gates blocked. You had to stay and listen to the president speak. We had planned to leave also, but had to stay through the boring presentation made in Kiswahili and so we didn't understand any of it. President Moi used many tools to control his country so that he could remain in power. If someone in the press spoke out against Moi, he found himself in jail. People were not allowed to have ham radios or any other means of communicating with the outside world. That way all information flowing from the country could be controlled by the government.

The accusation

Everywhere you turn you find people whose goal in life is to catch someone else doing wrong. Especially is this true if it happens to be someone they don't like. Take the presidency for an example. Some see the president as some sort of divine messiah, a gift from God. But others hover like vultures waiting for the president to make a mistake so that they can say, "I told you so." So in the case of this image that Nebuchadnezzar set up, there were those who were keeping track of certain people to see if they would bow down to the image. The target of their interest was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

As soon as the astrologers (some of the court advisors) saw that the three Jewish boys were not in attendance they immediately went to Nebuchadnezzar and denounced them, literally, "tore them in pieces" (verbally). The astrologers were determined to destroy the boys. The boys were part of the captive population which should be under submission to the real Babylonians. Yet they had been given positions of great importance in the Babylonian government. The astrologers were also hoping to gain favor with the king by letting him know they were faithful when these Jewish boys weren't.

We do not know why Daniel was not included in the accusation. We can be sure that he did not bow down to the statue. Was he out of town? Was he too powerful to accuse by these astrologers? We have no answers.

A King's response

Nebuchadnezzar was furious. Regardless of what the boys had previously done, they were not exempt from this new ruling. Nebuchadnezzar did not pass judgment immediately, but waited to see what the boys had to say. When they appeared in his presence he reminded them of his authority and the fact that the decree would be carried out immediately if the boys did not bow down to the statue. He also reminded them that no god existed who could rescue them from his hand. Here we see that Nebuchadnezzar is claiming absolute authority in both political and religious realms. Under the influence of Satan he was actually challenging any god, including Yahweh, to confront his authority. So we have a power encounter developing. This is a challenge of wills and of power.

Display of Confidence

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego let the king know that they would put their trust in their God. Specifically they said that Yahweh could deliver them if he wanted, but even if he did not deliver them from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, they would remain faithful to Him. The authority of Yahweh superseded the power of Nebuchadnezzar. Yahweh had specifically told them they could not worship other gods. If that meant death, then so be it.

Deliverance 3:19-30

The faith of these boys did not impress, but only angered Nebuchadnezzar. To make his point he ordered the furnace heated up seven times greater than normal. The intent was to put the fear of Nebuchadnezzar in their hearts. Actually the hotter the fire the more quickly they would die. As the boys were tossed in the furnace, the men who threw them in were killed by the intense heat.

Nebuchadnezzar chose to observe the whole proceedings at a safe distance. He is amazed by several items:

• The boys are walking around in the furnace unbound
  
• There are four men in the furnace, one who looks like a son of the gods
  
• The boys were alive!
  

Nebuchadnezzar now approached the furnace and called for the "The servants of the Most High God" to come out. This was quite an admission on the part of Nebuchadnezzar. He had believed that the Babylonian gods were superior to Yahweh, but no Babylonian god ever delivered a person from a fiery furnace. Even in all of this Nebuchadnezzar did not acknowledge Yahweh as God.

When the boys walked out of the furnace there was no hint they had ever been in a fire. Anyone who has been around a campfire knows how pervasive smoke can be. When we had our house fire, the smell of smoke was throughout the entire house. The restoring people brought in ionization machines to clean out the unfriendly smoke smell. Did the process work? The answer is given by a kitchen cabinet door that had been removed and placed in the garage. It did not experience the ionization process. When we got ready to hang the door again, the smell of smoke was very strong in the door and it took weeks of scrubbing and cleaning to get the smell of smoke out. But these boys had not been singed, they had not experienced any form of pain.

Nebuchadnezzar's response

He honored the boys and threatened those who would attack them again with severe penalties. God had won the victory again.