Lesson 9 - Daniel 3

[Music] open up your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3 we're going to reread this chapter in section and I will advise you ahead of time that while the last several estimates have been mostly technical and historical they it's going to get home I'm gonna get pretty so open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3 if you have a complete Jewish Bible esteems 1101 we're just going to read the first seven verses Nebuchadnezzar the King had a toll statute 90 feet high 90 feet wide which he set up on the plain of rock and the province about then Nebuchadnezzar the King summoned the Viceroy prefect governor's judges treasurer's counselors sheriffs and all provincial officials to assemble they come to the dedication of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar became is set up and the Vice boys and the prefix of the governor's the judges and the treasurer's the counselors the sheriff's and all the provincial officials assembled for the dedication of statute which nebuchadnezzar it set up and they stood in front of the statute that nebuchadnezzar had set up and the herald looking proclaimed peoples nations languages your ordered that when you hear the sound of the horn and the pipe of the heart the zither dilute the bagpipe the rest of the musical instruments are to fall down there to worship the gold statue and then the convention King is set up whoever does not fall down and worship is to be thrown a meanie land to a blazing hot furnace therefore when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn and the pipe in the harp and the zipper in the loop the rest of the musical instruments all the peoples nations and languages fell down and worship the gold statue that Nebuchadnezzar the King set up King Nebuchadnezzar demand that an enormous debt an image be set up in the plain of Dura 60 cubits by 16 it was a monstrosity in ancient times the only known statute the Buddha stood the same or higher was the Colossus of Rhodes which wasn't directed by the Greeks until around 300 BC it needs to be taken into account our the more than likely the overall 60 cubic height included his pedestal base that reduced the actual height of the human image to probably around forty five cubits nonetheless at the time it was it would have been an awe-inspiring thing to see now there's no hint in the scriptures as to any person or God that this statute was meant to represent opinions of scholars vary with some imagining that it had to be an image of the King's chief bottom ever-better babylons chief national god but surely the text would have named that particular God if that was so since Babylon had so many and honored so many gods might it have been a likeness of the king himself while it can't be about entirely there's no suggestion of it so the best solution that fits the text and taking into account what's going to happen next is that the image represented the governmental power of Babylon itself the idea of a cheerleading phonemic possessors dream statute that represented up a succession of four world empires so this golden statue that he had built was essentially the national symbol of the government of the worldwide Empire of Babel now this giant statue no doubt had a strong religious element to it but that was because all nation indicators were interwoven with their gods no separation was possible but the issue behind the king setting this statute up was not his religious zealousness rather it was that it was up it was high time in his mind that the many conquered nations and kingdoms the courts that formed his vast empire were now to forsake any semblance of independence and they were to declare allegiance to the central government of Babel and therefore automatically the whatever God the King held highest representing the true power behind the value in Empire now this was a matter of Aida declaring obedient Allegiance or declaring hostile defiance to the pagan version of the Trinity the king his nation and the nation of God and as we continue to study down I find myself well in the uncomfortable position of having to challenge the teaching both well meet believers and not so well-meaning unbelievers this is because there are a number of Christian denominational doctrines floating around that are based on day but which take weight and unwarranted liberties with the holy texts and on the other hand there is modern scholarship but unequivocally denounces Daniel as a pious Jewish fraud and says that the book has nothing to do with Babylon or Nebuchadnezzar rather it was written as a diatribe against Antiochus Epiphanes and as a message of hope and encouragement to the persecuted Jewish community therefore it was written throughout 165 BC I spent much time on this particular aspect of Daniel study because many Christians have no idea that their own pastors or seminary professors or favored by the teachers and commentators actually believe that this pivotal Bible book is a fake and that belief comes from a little more than scholarly arrogance an academic elitist consensus is carefully because there is nothing there is nothing else to explain away the amazing predictions of Daniel that have all proved to be accurate thus far except for their own imaginations and theories the sometimes I want to highlight a passage that these bio critics will choose to explain away in order to prove their unbelieving stances and I want to do this so that you know how to deal with it when you encounter it and this is one of those times the Bible critics thought process is that Daniel chapter 3 in this chapter we're hearing a story of a terrible religious persecution that's much like the tribulation of the book of Revelation and although the Book of Daniel ascribes it to the king of Babylon in the sixth century BC in fact this is a direct referral to the infamous Antiochus Epiphanes who despised the Jews and had no tolerance for their 2,000 empty office epiphanies was of the silliest Adventist dynasty and he ruled a huge section of the Middle East to see in this manner that in modern times we generally called Syria Lebanon Iran and Iraq the silliest family along with three other aristocratic families were the recipients of the Grecian Empire that Alexander Alexander the Great had acquired and build by conquering the media Persian Empire that bronze Empire that took over the silver Empire and before he died Alexander split his empire into four government districts each of the aforementioned families being given charge over one of them in the end the Ptolemy and selya's and families dominated the former Greek Empire now epiphanies the Jewish religion as ignorant superstitious and because the Jews were fanatically dedicated to their one God their holy temple to their holy book the Torah he also saw them as rigid dangerous hateful people because they were intolerant they were unwilling to simply adopt the multiple God system of everybody else in the world he saw the Jews as a threat to peace in his kingdom and to mankind in general therefore a tiffany's determined to her Raticate their religion and their religious leaders and Judaism therefore was outlawed the temple was turned into a pagan shrine and those Jews who violated the Kings decree and continued on their loyalty to Judaism and to the God of Israel were executed usually in the most horrific manners such as being burned alive and so the modern Bible critics say this is what's being described in Daniel chapter 3 Nebuchadnezzar isn't really Nebuchadnezzar if Spee is just kind of a coded language where the anonymous writer at Daniel to disguise is speaking out against Antiochus Epiphanes however the abundant written history of Babylon itself and the well-known way that the world of that era understood the sphere of the gods soundly refutes with these by the paw the scholars point in fact there was no rigid religious person but persecution being described in the story of Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue we neither read before during or after this episode that any one Jew or otherwise had to give up their own gods they merely had to show respect for the Nash got a Babylon that was symbolized by that giant golden statue in Deraa which represented the government administration of Babylon this was typical it was customary for that time the people of every nation in the kingdom including the Jews for free to keep their iost their shrines their temples to keep praying their prayers to any gods they wanted to without fear or oppression in fact what is described in Daniel 3 is fundamentally different from what Antiochus Epiphanes did because epiphanies openly sought to bring it into Judaism until violently forced his gods upon everyone in his kingdom to in his mind create a religious uniformity thus in Daniel 3 we simply don't hear our cries from the people of Babylon nor of massive executions we don't read them any seemed to oppose what Nebuchadnezzar demanded rather what comes next is from the babylonian viewpoint merely a game of power politics so let's read about those power politics let's continue with Daniel chapter 3 starting in verse 8 Daniel chapter 3 verse 8 but then some custody tell me approach and they began to announcing the Jews and they said the never catch who the King may the King live forever Your Majesty you have ordered that everyone who hears the sound of the horn and the pipe in the heart of the sinner the loop the bagpipe and the rest of the musical insurances to fall down there to worship the gold statue and that whoever does not fall down the worst has to be thrown into a blazing hot furnace well there's some Jews who you put in charge of the affairs for the prince of Babel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and these men near manages do you paid no attention to you they don't serve your gods and they do not worship the gold statue to set up well on a raging fury Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego be brought and one that men had been brought before the King Nebuchadnezzar citizen Shadrach Meshach Abednego is it true that you highly served by God's no worship the gold statue I set up all right then if you are prepared when you hear the sound of the horn and the pipe in the heart and the zipper and the loot the bagpipe the rest of you mr. minister fall down a worship the gold statue look very well if you won't you won't worship you will immediately be thrown into a blazing hot furnace and what God will save you from my power then we're told that some Chaldeans came as a performance they tell the king that despite despite his explicit instruction to his subjects that upon the sound of all these various musical districts are there to drop to their knees there to face towards that golden statue some Jews didn't the aromatic about here may hear Aramaic word used here is settied and while the appropriate context can be used to mean worship it really only means playing prostrate so one could siggy before I came meaning to prostrate oneself as to worship King the show royal respect or one could succeed before their God meaning to lay prostrate as worship to that deity and to me in this context to pay homage is a decidedly better translation because this is all about showing allegiance to the government of Babylon even if all governments in that era involved the National God and again the issue of the golden statute is political it had nothing to do with religion as we would think of it today there were no priests there was no holy men there were no religious rituals involved in this only politicians in various lovers were responding to a government edict and we read about them and the Jews who were the Chaldeans were tattling they were tattling on Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they do not serve your gods they say and they don't link prostrate before the statute this verse verse 12 is important because they didn't use the Jewish trio of not worshipping the god statute rather the accusation not to read it carefully was of not worshiping December several Babylonian gods or gods the Jews don't worship Babylon with babylons pantheon of gods and in addition they didn't follow the Kings commandment to bow down to the statue at its dedication ceremony see the issue is transparent the Chaldeans who were native Babylonians didn't like a bunch of outsider Jews having the high government positions that they rightfully belong to Babylonians the King had given these high-ranking positions to these three Jewish men as a result of their being able to interpret his dream remember that not only had the Jews humiliated these Chaldeans by being able to know the Kings dream what they couldn't but now they were their bosses Nebuchadnezzar well dude as did everyone in Babylon especially in the capital city that the Jews had one God only and by their religion they weren't permitted to worship other gods this incident was just the opportunity these Chaldeans needed to end their shame by getting rid of these three Jewish officials well the King is absolutely furious he summons Shadrach Meshach and Abednego but he gives them an opportunity to explain themselves no doubt because he understood the jealousy of these Chaldeans who remember he had at one point condemned to death and when he inquires if it could be true that they don't worship as gods and they didn't prostrate themselves worth the new statue it's not pity things that they have become or ought to be multiple God worshippers rather this is an issue of their showing proper respect and a degree of political correctness the king has put them in charge of the government of his own capital city of Babel to be read in this matter what makes the king look pretty bad they can't they just play the game what harm would it do everyone understands that the Jews are God born they only got one guy Jen's go along to get along everybody will live prosper and be happy so when a long-winded repeat of his command to listen for the symphony of musical instruments as the signal and then to drop into a prostrate position before the statue the King obviously hopes that these three Jews will now do it since they've seen just how upset he is and how serious he is that anyone who doesn't obey even including them it sets to the furnace say their response does please King it's an understatement most versions say something like we don't need to give you an answer at certain times man and at first glance that sounds pretty air pretty proud very disrespectful but responds and just don't hit to the bottom and don't forget these three understand your holy has chosen never connect be his servant on earth it has given him dominion over every spirit sea land and air so most scholars Jewish and Christian agreed that this translation that we usually read in our Bibles leaves something to be desired most likely the sense of it is we really don't have a choice in the matter what you have told us is true and there's not much we can say to change amongst that's kind of distance but then comes a pronouncement from these three Jewish men that we need to pay close attention to go back to Daniel chapter 3 we'll look at the verses 17 and eat and wonder it started 16 Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered the King your question doesn't require an answer from us your majesty if our God whom we serve is able to save us he will save us from the blazing hot furnaces from your poverty but even if he doesn't do you want you to know your majesty if you will items serve your gods nor circle nor worship the gold statue that you set up you know I have once feel thrilled at the courage and faith did demonstrate also a little bit anxious because while I hope and pray I would have the willingness to let go of my life as easily as facing you letting go there's and we're faithful to the warden to death I won't know for sure unless something tell on Facebook and wouldn't you just know it this is yet another passenger that the Bible critics say is proof that this book is from the age and Antiochus Epiphanes because religious fanaticism as radical as exposed here was rampant in those days and certainly this must be one of the more extreme examples of fanaticism the one could mention after all these three young men understand that the penalty they are facing for merely not bending down on their face for a few moments where it's a lifeless statue has to be burned alive God knows our hearts by can't they briefly do what's wrong as long as God knows that thought knows they they love him God knows us why can't they do what's wrong for a little while save their own lives but that's suspicions of religious fanaticism you see it when we look at the entirety of their response beginning in verse 17 they say that if their God is able to save them from the furnace he will now the earliest rabbis church fathers by the commentators were uncomfortable with the difficulty of this verse because take it in one sense there seems to be an expressed doubt as to whether or not the God of Israel has the ability or maybe the jurisdiction to be able to rescue them from the fire of the furnace and there's been all sorts of attempted solutions by scholars and teachers to address this difficulty but truly none of them gives a satisfactory answer without doing great harm the biblical text at least as we have transmitted to us today so indeed to me I can only conclude three men are being open and honest they're telling their true feelings the bottom line is they just don't know what God can do and will do under these circumstances but then comes the part of this here's my part they say that whether you hold me can or cannot and does or does not rescue them from this horrible painful death their faces nonetheless they will not serve out they will not lay prostrate before that statute the symbol of the one world power that is the Babylonian it they will not do it and I think we could contemplate these words for some time still not be done if I might be permitted to offer a paraphrase those powerful words those three Jewish man we will do what is right before God and let the chips fall where they may Solomon says much a far more eloquent manner than mine in Ecclesiastes 12 13 and 14 Solomon said here's the final conclusion now that you have heard everything fear God he his Commandments this is what be the God will bring judgment everything we do judge about everything including every statement whether good or bad said Solomon was addressing Hebrews what he meant was that's what being a redeemed keeping God's commandments little else matters at the end and the second of the Ten Commandments is that the redeemed of God shall worship only one God and know what and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were willing to die to hold this fundamental commandment fanaticism the Bible critics accuse no no I say this is an example of the faithfulness that is expected of all of us God forms one of my favorite is Paul the Kingdom of Heaven this epoch is the story of the Crusades and of a young Englishman who had lost his wife and unborn child to suicide then he murdered his own brother who was a priest and ain't condemning his wife to health he fled his village with this newly discovered father to Jerusalem fight for the Christian angels and to try to find personal forgiveness and salvation and he ended up committing to try to help keep Jerusalem Christian the Muslims went to the city that they call el who's back in their possession and the great warrior leader Saladin was coming in with hundreds of thousands of Islamic soldiers to lay siege to the citizen army and a few bold for saviors who were left behind to defend those ancient stone walls and one of the Muslim hordes arrived and they surrounded the city and the array their many seeds machines they laid out their demands to the people opened the gates be taken as slaves or died and the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem seeing the hopelessness of the situation suggested that everyone should renounce their Christian faith professed Allah and then later when safe they could repent again take up the cross of Christ I've never ceased to get that picture out of my mind what a stark contrast the Shadrach Meshach and Abednego is responds to probable death I think we probably all wrestle with such doubts and thoughts of kids and that bishop in the film shameful as they might be even if our situation is nearly as dire as those residents of Jerusalem faced against Allah Deen are what these three Jewish youth faced against Nebuchadnezzar in our day-to-day 21st century lives some of us just hate occupation we'll do anything so to defend God's truth is just too emotionally hospitals others of us have the greatest need to please people and it de-stresses us greatly to upset or disappoint anyone for any reason its goal to point out immorality sin or even mad drop bad doctors just too risky and some of us are so concerned that we not upset our social circle or a family or to make ourselves appear to be out of step with our peers and societal norms but we work rather hard to keep a lid on earthing and instead to make it as expansive and inclusive and as tolerant as we can I'm afraid none of that reflects the true godly biblical faith that we see being bravely defended by Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and yeah let's look at what these three Jews did from another equally difficult how often I've been reminded by my brothers and sisters in the Lord that much patience and pacifism is required on our part because we are always to obey our government at all costs even if it bothers our Christian sensibilities but I only had a dollar for all the time some of these following pastors has been quoted to me as a proper cause for Christian action in silence listen to this one on first Peter 2 13 and 14 for the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authorities whether to the emperor as being supreme to governor's is being sent by him to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do what is good here's another one Romans 13:1 and to everyone is to obey their governing authorities or there is no authority that is not from God and the existing authorities have been placed where they are by God therefore whoever resists the authorities are resisting what God is Institute and those who resist moving judgment on themselves perhaps the most quoted of them all Matthew 22 19 to 21 show me the coin used to pay the tax they brought him a Denarius and he asks them whose name and picture on these the Emperor's they replied me she was said to them new giving you Emperor what belongs to the Emperor to give to God what belongs to God so if we lived by the rather typical Christian interpretation of these verses and a few similar parallel ones does that tell us that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were wrong to defy the king about the law the land was to be present at the statute dedication to declare allegiance to that statute the chief law giver of the government laid down the law and applied equally to everybody he was an entirely legitimate King because of the Lord Himself and put Nebuchadnezzar into power and said the following not only to the Jews but all Gentile nations as well listen to this excerpt from jeremiah 20:7 1 through 8 at the beginning of the reign of the high king the son of Yoshio the king of judah the words came to hear me out Jeremiah from Haddon I I don't - isn't this to me make yourself a joke of straps and crossbars and put it on her neck said similar yokes to the kings of Edom of Molag and of the people of a mole and of Zoar and of psyche by means of the end boys they send to Jerusalem and to City owzat kaya king of Judah give them this message for their masters by telling their invoice that a denies they both the God of Israel says for them to tell their masters this I meteor humankind and the animals on the earth by my great power and my outstretched arm and I would give it to whom what seems right to me for now I have given over all these lands to my servant Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon I have also given him the wild animals to serve Him all the nations will serve him his son and his grandson till his own country gets its turn at which time many nations great kings will make him their slave the nation and the Kingdom that refused to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon they opened the king I will punish that I was sort famine and plague until I put it in so does that mean then in our modern times as believers that for instance we are to accept in marriage is the law of the land that stays silent or the family member is gay who we ought to attend and celebrate their way in order to keep family peace not harm our relationship or if we have a family member or friend living with a significant other without being married that we should say nothing but treat that situation as though they were there should we stand with those who say that abortion which is the law of life is merely a woman's health care rights and understand that this is a matter of personal choices where democracy how about the subsidy history do we agree that Israel is merely a foreign policy issue and that our own national interest as a describe by our government override any concern of tiny Israel over there for ready Terry land rights or the right to defend themselves or even to be a Jewish state which is more and more being described as racism how do we respond the friends and family about biblical doctrine when the trend is toward saying interpret scriptural passages any way we like and every way a believer chooses is correct that's all okay or since the advent of Jesus that sin is now completely customized and individualized that is what the Bible says sin for you is not a sin for ever you want to not me unless I feel the Holy Spirit tells me that it is what do we say who are Christian friends who say you must deal with this big issue of Israel with the Palestinians with fairness and even in hand because of the so-called New Testament law of love for the Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews they just don't know it so we need to be understanding we need to pray and worship alongside I mean I can go on and on stepping on their toes and everybody here feel uncomfortable in one way or another this confrontation questions the point is that our answers to these questions always involve a self-imposed limit just how far we're willing to go as regards our personal favors and in our day those believers were perceived as going the farthest and stretching the limits and remaining the staunchest and administering their day of the judeo-christian faith beliefs to every area of their lives well their labels fundamentalist stem fanatics and as such threats to peace the universal politics those who are more easily mold and adapt their judeo-christian faith to conform to the trajectory of secular humanist society and intellectualism and the concepts of democratize individual rights and entitlements and those who compartmentalize their beliefs so as to separate Sunday spirituality from Monday through Saturday reality are seen as in life and members in good if Shadrach Meshach and Abednego live today I don't think they painted in any better light even among believers the Babylonian assault in the sixth century BC they would be seen as ignorant hangers-on do with ancient faith that doesn't apply to their new situation so what will you do what will you do what will you choose when you have a choice between absolute faithfulness or continued comfort in personal peace thankfully few of us will ever face with those three Jewish the interface yet the only the few examples I've confronted you with we face choices every single day regarding faithful submission to God versus personal penis I want to close today for this bought directly from our naturalistic masai issuer the christ because he asks the foundational question he sets down the firm for those who say they want a question that those three Jewish men had cited six centuries before use in Luke 14 25 to 35 it says this large crowds were traveling along as she was turning he said to them if anyone comes to me and doesn't paint his father his mother his wife his children brothers and sisters yes and his own wife cannot be whoever does not carry his own execution state and come after me cannot be my disciple suppose one of you wants to build a cow don't you sit down an estimated cost to see if you have enough if you get done then when you've laid the foundation ya finish it all up on the lookers start making fun of you and they say this is the man who began to build that you couldn't finish or again suppose one king is going out to wage war with another king doesn't be first - now we consider whether he witnessed ten thousand troops has enough strength to meet the other one who is coming against him with twenty thousand troops if he hasn't then while the other one is still far away he sends a delegation to inquire about terms for peace so every one of you doesn't renounce all that he has silence salt excellent but even if the salt becomes tastless we're gonna be news to season it's fit for neither soil nor manure people just throw it out those who have ears that can hear [Music] [Music] yes [Music]

Channel: Torah Class

Views: 2,169

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Keywords: Daniel, Old Testament, Seed of Abraham, Torah Class, End Time Prophecy, Tom Bradford, Bible Study

Id: mpa0QyAb4s4

Length: 45min 37sec (2737 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 03 2019