Coercing Christian colleges to accept homosexual behavior or lose government aid.Attempting to force pastors to officiate at gay weddings.An 'Answers in Genesis' article states that the Government is: There are many areas where the laws of the land are now coming into conflict with the ways of God. Students face ridicule and persecution for standing up for what they believe in. An officer in the US army was recently court marshaled for refusing to remove a scripture that he had put up. Many have declined and been fined heavily and faced public persecution and ridicule for not doing so. Christians in employment associated with marriage (such as florists, cake makers, signing marriage licenses or officiating in the ceremony) now have to decide whether they will participate in homosexual marriages. But this has been increasing and changing fast. In the West however it is a recent development where the laws of the land are coming into conflict with the laws of God. Everyone is going to be put on the spot - do you obey the king? Do you go with these new laws of the land? What about if you are Jewish and to bow down and worship this image would break the first two of the Ten Commandments? But what of the alternative? To not do so will probably cost you your life.Ĭhristians in persecuted countries have faced these questions since the time of Christ. Note also the extent of this decree - whatever is happening here with the proclamation and decree is going to affect all peoples and men of every language. They had faced indoctrination before but not persecution for their religious beliefs. This passage and event constitutes a change for the lives of all Jews exiled in Babylon. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.' Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Seems like something big is on the way!ĭan 3:4-7 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, 'This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. So the king gathers all his leaders in preparation of some grand dedication. While this is speculation, knowing the pride of Nebuchadnezzar it's probably on the money. It is therefore likely that king Nebuchadnezzar had this image set entirely in gold to indicate that his Babylonian empire would never perish or be conquered. You may remember from chapter 2 that in the dream of the statue, he was the head of gold but he also learned that this head of gold would come to an end. It could even have been in his own image. This image is 30m high! So the first question is where do you think they got this idea from? While the Bible doesn't say exactly what the image was of, many commentators believe that the king would have been inspired by the vision that he had had in chapter 2 and created an image of a man. So king Nebuchadnezzar makes an image of gold and it is no small undertaking. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. While I'll focus more on the former, there are some really interesting prophetic implications of this chapter that will definitely be noted!ĭan 3:1-3 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. And so they did, for King Nebuchadnezzar decided to setup a golden image that was ninety foot high and nine foot wide! And what's worse, everyone is commanded to bow down and worship the image! Oh great! Now there are a couple of ways to take a passage such as this - personally and prophetically. But unfortunately things have a habit of changing in this life. Daniel and his three amigos Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were exalted to a position of privilege and power in Babylon. When we left our friends at the end of chapter two everything was going along very nicely thank you very much. 90 foot idols, furious kings, fiery furnaces hot enough to kill people who are just passing by. It contains things we all like in a story. Book of Daniel Bible Study Commentary Chapter 3ĭaniel chapter 3 is a well known and well loved chapter in the Bible.
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