సాక్ష్యం 5. Jehoram.
16.Josiah.
6.Ahaziah.
17.Jehoiahuz.
7.Athaliah.
18.Jehoiakim
8.Joash.
19.Jehoiachin or
9.Amazeah.
Jeconiah or Coniah.
10.Uzziah.
20.Zedeckiah. CHAPTER -5
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM
In the book of Daniel the second chapter is no doubt the most wonderful and thought provoking one in the entire Bible. Through this chapter Daniel gave to the readers a flawless skeleton of history starting from six hundred years before the coming of Jesus Christ and continued till His second coming and the start of His millennial Kingdom. As a matter of fact, Daniel understanding of all these events came to him from his all powerful God, whom he served with faith as a great prophet. So, we must trust him and believe in what all he said in this story.
This prophetic view is not the view of all nations, or wars, or people and events of history but it is an impression of Israel and Christ who would come from her (Israel) on one side and the nations that rule over Israel and the Antichrist who comes from them on the other. That is to say, the conflict between Israel all other nations is all about. We can also say, it is the conflict between God and Satan, Christ and Antichrist, people who belong to God, the creator and the remaining people. Who support Satan the usurper of that creation. This conflict has been going on in the human history, found its origin in the Garden of Eden and continued since the call of Abraham to the present day. To be much clearer this story tells about the perpetual enmity between God’s people and the remaining people, who always support Satan.
Daniel mentioned his prophetic foretelling of history with the following words. And in the second year of the rule, Nebuchadnezzar got a dream, a terrible dream by which his spirits were troubled and his sleep had broken from him (Daniel 2:1). The readers can find out four significant words in this opening verse. They are Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, troubled and broke. Actually at that time of Daniel’s writing about this incident, Nebuchadnezzar was called the greatest and the most powerful king in the world. Twenty five years before he became the king his father Nabopolassar defeated mighty Assirian King. Then in less than ten years earlier he himself defeated another powerful Egyptian King. Again in less than three years period the king of Israel was miserably defeated by him.
So, Nebuchadnezzar ruled his empire with absolute power, when such a great king dreamed one should not take it lightly such unnatural dream. Only foolish people would ignore the importance of such dreams. Generally that kind of dreams would come to great personalities like Nebuchadnezzar, because God had something to reveal to the king through prophet Daniel. So, due to
The Everlasting Kingdom of God that dream the king’s mind became out of control, as he spent sleepless night. In such conditions the king immediately summoned all wise men to come before him. The four great nations of ancient history that involved in the king’s dream, were Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. All those four nations during their rule of Israel, tried their best for its destruction.
We can understand from the Bible that the subject was not directly addressed. His mental disturbance was so conspicuous that he immediately got up from his bed, and summoned his guards and in about ten seconds and in loud voice the king commanded “get me my wise men.” But the main idea was “get them all.” The king did not care or feel that he was disturbing people in the dark midnight the probable reason in this regard must be when the king was troubled without sleep how can the common people sleep? Even the guards rushed to different places at full speed to implement the king’s command.
Then with in minutes the wise men who felt unhappy regarding the disturbance of the king appeared in fear and much puzzled before their brilliant ruthless and unpredictable monarch. All the wise men did not want to wait for a long time to answer this unaudible question. The king dreamed a dream, it was an important dream which troubled the king a lot. But the most pathetic situation was that the king forgot the dream. The Bible readers can meditate for a while whether the king had really forgotten the dream or whether he wished to test the knowledge of his wise men. But to my mind it appears that he really forgot the dream and thought his wise men would tell him the brief story of his dream.
Now the conversation between the king and the wise men followed regarding the dream which was very interesting. The wise men requested the king “Tell thy servants the dream, and we will shrew the interpretation (Daniel 2:4).” For that the king’s answer was “If you will not make known unto me the dream, with correct interpretation thereof ye shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dung hill (Daniel 2:5). The king became more serious and the wise men continued their request. Let the king tell his servants the dream and we will give correct interpretation of it. The king without explaining his dream, became angry and adamant. The wise men simply would have said that they had no answer for his dream. The way of answer would have made the king more angry but preserved their lives.
The wise men finally came to a conclusion that there was no man on earth could give the meaning of his dream except some god. whose dwelling
The Everlasting Kingdom of God place must be not with flesh and blood like human beings. So, all the wise men proved themselves unwise to interpret the dream of the most powerful king on earth. The conduct of all these unworthy men made Nebuchadnezzar angry and more furious. Then the king gave a proclamation that all wise men of Babylon must be destroyed. It was a written decree to make an end of all wise men. In such situation, Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were also included in the list of wise men to be sentend to death.
Yet, Daniel and his three friends did not come to the presence of the king at the initial encounter between the king and his people. And the contexts of the decree were not at all destroyed the mind of Daniel instead he sought the audience with the king in such critical situation. He requested the king to give him some time for the correct interpretation of his dream.
This was not at all the case of “put up or shut up.” But it was the case of “put up otherwise you are dead.” At the same time this was not an assurance from Daniel because he was also included in the punishment of death. When Daniel heard the decree he wished for the audience with the king, as the case involved more faith on the part of Daniel. As a matter of fact God granted him the gift of understanding visions and dreams. And the time had come for him to exercise his gift in the case of the kings dream there is one complicated and unanswerable question in this connection. What must have been the reason for Nebuchadnezzar to grant time to Daniel to answer his dream, whereas he bluntly refused the same to the wise men?
The main reason appears to be that Daniel must have passed the examination of the royal service after three years training; or he must have shown due respect to the king while talking with him or since Daniel was one of the captives of Judah or the king himself must have had one thing in his mind that is all his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldea’s believed in many god’s in Babylon whereas Daniel believed only in one God the God of Israel. So, the king might have thought that it would be possible for Daniel to answer his dream by praying to his only God.
According to history it was the Chaldea’s who laid the foundation for the science of Astronomy by studying the stars, making maps of the positions of the planets and also of the moon. They introduced Astrology to with the combination of astronomical observations with the principles of pagan religion. The first thing Daniel did after he left the king was to find out his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and conduct prayer meeting. They all realized
The Everlasting Kingdom of God the truth that only through effective and fervent prayer one can achieve anything from God. So these four young “righteous” Jewish men prayed to their God for mercy and insight into the king’s dream, so that they would not be killed with other wise men of Babylon.
They prayed not for their own sake, but for the sake of the king and his dream. So, the answer for their prayer came in a very short time. The secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision during night time. It was a brief history from the day of Daniel, until the second coming of Christ at the beginning of His Millennial kingdom. Only a few might understand the spiritual growth of Daniel. After this wonderful vision Daniel said these words:
“And he changeth the times and seasons, he removeth kings and sitteth up kings, he giveth wisdom and knowledge unto the wise. He revealeth the deep and secret things he knoweth what is in darkness and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee and praise thee thou O God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter” (Daniel 2:21-23). Everything in the universe belonged to God as creator as sustainer and as consummator. All things in this world have their origin, movement and consummation in God only.
Daniel became successful in knowing the meaning of the dream of the king. So, he said “There is God in heaven that revealeth secrets” (Daniel 2:24-
30). Then he remembered that the wise men of Babylon were in danger. He immediately found “Arioch” who was in-charge of the execution of all wise men and had a brief talk with him in three points.
1) He requested him not to destroy the wise men of Babylon.
2) He asked that man to take him to the king.
3) He would interpret the dream of the king correctly.
Though the wise men were not friendly to Daniel, he helped and saved them from the punishment of death. Actually they were ungrateful people. They planned some ways and means to kill Daniel. At last Arioch took Daniel to the king and introduced him by saying that he found a man among the captives who could interpret the king’s dream. Still the king had a doubt whether Daniel knew the dream or whether he could interpret the dream correctly.
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
Daniel’s answer to the king was fascinating and planned amazingly suitable and intended to tantalizing. It was fully designed to answer the question of the king. And now the time had come to Daniel to exalt his God before the king. He even degraded himself and said that he received all the credit from Almighty God only for the interpretation of his dream. There was a dramatic change in the court of Babylon. Where the discussion regarding the dream of the king was going on with the presence of the young prophet of God Daniel, the hot discussion was turned into a sermon. A most powerful sermon that captivated and stunned the king. The moment Daniel finished his message probably with the presence of the Holy Spirit the most powerful and unrivalled monarch of Babylon fell before Daniel’s God.
As a result Daniel was no longer to be punished by the king, and instead of that he was appointed to the post of “secretary of state” to the Babylonian empire. It was only due to the power of the Word of God which was like sword. Now Daniel started answering the questions of the king with his own question. He answered the king’s dream in such a way that no one from the wise men could have done. He started his sermon and continued with five words. “But there is God” Daniel’s God is a God in heaven. He is the revealer of secrets and so He could tell Nebuchadnezzar what must happen throughout history up to the very end of the age.
Daniel then addressed the king only with three words. He said, “As for your” the God of heaven who reveals secrets has revealed to you in your dream what shall come to pass” (Daniel 2:29). Daniel’s God is really a transcending God who can be personally known and who is not at all busy to interact with those who would like to seek His presence. Daniel some how created very good impression about his God to the king who glorified Him. He did not stop from sharing four more words. He said, “But as for me” the answer for your question was not revealed to me, because I possess any natural wisdom and required knowledge. In sovereignty Nebuchadnezzar God proposed you to be recipient of death. And God chose me to be its interpreter.
With the three brilliant and simple observations “But there is a God.” “As for your,” “But as for me” now the stage was prepared to reveal the dream in detail, point wise what the king exactly dreamed.
The king must have seen much of that in his court in the form of discussion, but not what Daniel said. So, when he was revealing the dream the king must
The Everlasting Kingdom of God have seated down on his throne and if he had already seated, he must have fallen down from his throne. Nebuchadnezzar was hearing the most important matter from the mouth of Daniel, who was a captive and in just twenties it was really astonishing. The king actually demanded two points from his wise men,
1)He demanded from them to explain the dream.
2)He demanded from them the correct interpretation of the dream. And
now Prophet Daniel revealed the dream in the verses 31-35 of the second
chapter. In these verses, he did not give even a word of interpretation,
but simply revealed the dream.
Daniel explained the dream in full details. He said the king beheld in his dream a colossal image (statue). The image was no doubt dazzling terrifying and awesome. The head of the image was gold, it breasts and arms were made of silver, its belly and thighs were made of brass, its legs were of iron and its feet were of iron and part of clay. Then a new theme was introduced all of a sudden into the dream. Daniel said, he had seen a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay and broke them into innumerable pieces and severe wind spread them in to all places. At the same time some miraculous thing happened. The stone that hit the image became a huge mountain all of a sudden and covered the earth. This is the story in nutshell Daniel told the king about his dream.
Next, he interpreted the influence of these parts of the image that was already destroyed. As pride goes before one’s fall the pride of the king soared higher and higher till it reached its pinnacle, while Daniel was interpreting the story of the dream first he addressed the king by saying “Thou O king art a king of Kings” (Daniel 2:37). The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory. And wherever the children of men, dwell the birds of the fields and the fowls of heaven hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee rule over them all. Thou (you king Nebuchadnezzar and your Babylonian empire) art this head of god (Daniel 2:37-38).
But here as readers, we should not be disturbed at the unimaginable progress of the king even though he was sinful and wicked, he was exalted to the status of the king of kings by Almighty God Daniel after finishing the interpretation of the dream said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever
The Everlasting Kingdom of God removeth kings and sitteth up kings. In this context, prophet Isaiah also gave us some information to understand this matter as God’s spokesman. He said for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord. For as heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
According to the description of Daniel the kingdom of Babylon represented the head of fine gold in the image and it was followed by the second kingdom. The breast and arms made of silver were the representation of the second kingdom Daniel told the king that the second kingdom would be an inferior one to his kingdom. The king immediately reacted and asked him to speak about next kingdom that reprinted in the image as its belly and thighs of brass.
Daniel said about the third kingdom that represented the belly and thighs of the image that would rule all the earth. The fourth kingdom was represented in the legs and feet of the image made of iron and clay and it has more details than the other three kingdoms Daniel said the fourth kingdom had to be as strong as iron that could brake anything and everything. As feet and toes were part of iron and part of clay the kingdom shall be divided. Because the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay the kingdom would be partly strong and partly broken. That is to say, some part would be stronger and some part weaker. Daniel completed the description of the impressive image from head to feet and nature of each of the four kingdoms which made up the image.
We can clarify further as the sovereignty of the first kingdom. The diminished strength of the second kingdom. The universal conquest of the third kingdom and the vicious and ruthless power of the fourth kingdom. Daniel had not yet completed the description of the kingdoms. So in the days these kingdoms, god had set up which was referred to as a high mountain that could fill the whole earth. And this kingdom would not be destroyed under any circumstances. Daniel also said that this kingdom would not be taken away by other people, but it would brake into pieces.
Daniel finished his interpretation of the king’s dream and then said how God of heaven would establish His kingdom with the following words. The stone was cut off from the mountain with out hands and broke the image into pieces, the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold. As a result the great God of heaven was made known to the king what would happen hereafter at
The Everlasting Kingdom of God The dream of the king and its interpretation by Daniel centred on three important points.
1)Four prominent kingdoms were going to be emerged.
2)Those four kingdoms would be present at the end of the age. The image
that represented the four kingdoms would be smitten on the feet and the
entire image broken into insignificant pieces.
3)The stone that smote the image would become a huge mountain and fill
the whole earth. Prophet Daniel interpreted this huge mountain as a
kingdom set up by the God of heaven which would never be destroyed.
After going through the whole story of the king Nebuchadnezzar we may get some doubts; like the identification of the four kingdoms except the first one was not given. The reason for the selection of those four kingdoms instead of other kingdoms was not given. There is no proper explanation, how those four kingdoms would be presented at the end of the age. The identity of the stone that smote the image upon its feet was also not given.
With careful study of the Bible, we can come to a conclusion that the second chapter of the book of Daniel can be called one of the most fascinating prophetic chapters and also most important one He gave us the skeleton of history beginning six hundred years before the time of Christ and continued till His second coming and the start of His millennial kingdom. We can find some more sources in the Bible that help to add flesh and blood to the skeleton of Daniel’s second chapter. The first source can be the remaining book of Daniel. He got dreams and visions frequently in his life and many of them shed future light on this second chapter. The secular history between 600 BC and 100 AD caused a great help to the teachers for the interpretation of the second chapter. The third sources is the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament and the New Testament primarily “The Book of Revelation” that added flesh to the interpretation of the kings dream.
We could have some information through the above said sources to expose and identify the nations connected to the image that followed Babylon as Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Those sources helped to expose and understand that the four kingdoms, during their rule of Israel tried to destroy the nation and its people as mentioned in history Babylon invaded Israel three times. The result of the attack was they took thousands of Jews as captives and
The Everlasting Kingdom of God even blinded Zedekiah the last king or Davedie dynasty and finally destroyed the Temple of God on Mount Morea.
During the Medo-Persia rule, Haman the prime minister made a treacherous plan to wipe out all Jews from that vast kingdom of 127 provinces ruled by king Ahaseurus. He sent a decree to all provinces that all Jews must be slain on a particular day. But the timely intervention of the Queen Esther saved their lives. She convinced her husband the king by telling him the true story and finally Haman himself was hanged to death. As a result of that wonderful incident a new festival also came into existence to the Jews called “Purim.”
The Hellenistic Grecian ruler of Syria Antiochus Apiphanes killed tens of thousands of innocent Jews during 168 and 165 BC. He even declared that following the religious principles of Judaism was an offence and against Greek religion. Added to that he polluted God’s Temple by keeping the statue of pagan deity ‘Zeus’ in the Holy of Holies. He also allowed pigs to be sacrificed to the heathen god in the Temple.
The Romans happened to rule Israel for about four centuries. They were the real political power mongers who saw the barbarous act of crucification of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then in 70 AD, they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem which was built on the same foundation of the First Temple by Zerubbabel and others who returned from exile from Babylon. The Romans killed more Jews than any other rulers of Judah (Israel). They took Jews as prisoners to Rome, and many families were scattered into different parts of the earth. The most astonishing in their reign was that they built a temple for their god Jupiter on the same site of the God of Israel. This is the remarkable brief story of the four kingdoms that represented in the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
Now in this context, what is theological importance and what was contemporary significance, let us try to examine. The Babylonians faced a miserable defeat in the hands of Medo-Persia army. Then the one million men army of Medo-Persia was utterly defeated by just fifty thousand Greek army of Alexander the great and the Roman power became world wide during the first century BC. When the Babylonians were devastated by the Persians were defeated by Greeks they also remained in existence. When the weakened Greek Kingdom was overshadowed by the emerging Roman kingdom, Greece did not cease to exist.
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
In 70 AD, Israel was defeated by the Romans. They ruined the Temple and took away all the valuables from it. In addition to that the Jews were scattered into many places of the earth, and only a few could remain in Jerusalem at that time. Still, Israel remained intact after 1900 years Israel became so powerful and maintained an efficient army in the Middle East. The nation also became popular for its most thriving economic policy in the world. So, Israel came back to its original position.
The Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar was changed into modern Iraq. In olden days this Babylon was famous for its hanging gardens and called them one of the seven wonders of the world. Fifty years ago this Iraq was treated as the third world country and most unheard nation. But today it became so important that there is no daily news paper without the news from Iraq. Even America built one largest embassy building in Iraq that in no other country we can find. The main purpose of that is, United States wants to control the entire Middle East by keeping an eye on Iraq only so, because of its importance, politically, we can say Babylon is back.
According to historical background Persia, one of the four kingdoms in the image of Daniel was called the modern Iran. Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935 for many centuries it remained as insignificant with barren landscape of Middle East. Today it has oil wells and became a very rich country. In addition to that the country used to black mail Israel on some pretext or other and trying to take more initiative in developing nuclear power with that ambitions plan Persia is also back.
nd
The third kingdom Greece in the image of Daniel 2 chapter became the present Syria. In 334 BC Alexander the great began his conquest of Persian empire with a small army and also some other countries around. Then he spread the Greek language, philosophy, culture, dress, and even gods. He could not continue his conquest due to his pre-mature death. As a result his kingdom was divided among four of his military generals and one of them got Syria. In course of time this part of Grecian empire came under Antiochus Apiphanes who was one of the notorious persecutors of Israel. Fifty years ago Syria was also just a third world country unimportant and unknown to many. This country even developed perpetual hatred toward Israel. Its partnership with Iran, ill- treatment of her own citizens and her involvement in the terrorism are quite- conspicuous, and every day, we can find Syria in the news papers with some unpleasant news. Still Greece (Syria) is back.
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
The fourth kingdom was Rome in the image of Daniel, became the present “Turkey” this Turkey was the eastern part of Roman empire with another name Byzantine empire and Constantine was the emperor from 325 A.D. At that time, he called his capital Constantinople, which at present became Turkey now for centuries, this Constantinople was a major centre for all political and religious activities especially after Constantine and his mother Helena became Christians. Both of them did a lot for the spreading of Christianity. As Daniel said both East and West of the Roman Empire were represented in the two legs of the image composed of iron and those feet made of iron and clay.
Today Turkey is considered to be the most powerful Muslim nation in the world and it is located on the physical border between the East and West of the Romans Empire. But in 2006, Turkey which had been a strong supporter of Israel became a dead enemy. So, Turkey is also in existence. For the present these four nations, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) have become the greatest threat even for the existence of Israel.
Then who could be the stone that hit the feet of the image and finally destroyed the four kingdoms? Apostle peter called Christ “a stumbling Stone” to the Jews (1 Peter 2:8). Apostle Paul called Christ the “cornerstone” for the church (Ephesians 2:20). According to the Bible, Jesus is called the king, a descendant of king David and lion of the tribe of Judah. After his second coming, he would rush to the battlefield to defend His people against the enemies. Our God is a covenant keeping God. Those who bless Israel will be blessed by God, and those who curse Israel will be cursed by God. The enemy nations with the influence of Satan and Antichrist might try to obstruct Israel and not allow Jesus to return to his throne in Jerusalem but those nations would see a great surprise and the time for that surprise is not too far. CHAPTER -6
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S MASTER PLAN
The king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar made necessary arrangements for the making of a golden image. Then he made a proclamation to all people of different nations and languages asking them to come and bow before the golden image. He also declared the punishment if they disobeyed his order. The decree was in the following manner “An Herald cried out that all people irrespective of their languages and nations must bow down before the golden image made by the king Nebuchadnezzar the moment they hear the music from the instruments. If anybody disobeyed his order would be thrown into the burning fairy furnace.”
But this declaration from the royal palace was openly disobeyed by three Hebrew men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If we look into the book of Daniel in the Bible it appears that the third chapter was started abruptly. The golden image made by the king was 60 cubits height and 6 cubits in breadth. The cubit was the standard measurement during the Old Testament times. It is roughly said that one cubit is equal to 18 inches. As per that calculation the golden image was of 90 feet height and of 9 feet in breadth. Such a mighty image was made of pure gold.
It was really very costly and we can understand the true character of the king through the Bible and secular history. He appeared to be very generous in promoting and elevating the image of his gods. It is quite possible to imagine that the image was in the likeness of the king himself. It was also suggested by some that the image was in the likeness of the god Merodach or Marduk made in his honour. This diety according to the legends was more popular among heathens as the god of battles. If we take it for granted the image was in the likeness of the king himself it must be the outcome of the dream of the great Colossus which was indicated by prophet Daniel as the king Nebuchadnezzar represented “The head of gold” of the image and was quite appropriate.
If the image was of Merodach, the god of battles, we can understand it was done to honour the god of king. Actually he was the most powerful king according to history. He dominated the world politically in his time. He ruled for about 40 years and as a military commander he never lost a battle. He remained as an authoritative and unrivaled king. He thought himself to be the son of Merodach, the son of the lord of battles. It is quite clear this golden image was errected and the king commanded and invited all the princes
The Everlasting Kingdom of God governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs and the rulers of the provinces of great Babylonian kingdom to attend the dedication of the image.
For all this show we must presume there is some political background and we can understand this from the third chapter of the book of Daniel. The big day had come at last and all the invitees assembled in the plain of “Dura” outside the magnificent city of Babylon. The golden image could be seen even from a long distance in the plain. As a matter of fact there was nothing to distract the audience from the site of that dominant image not even the beautiful hanging gardens of Babylon which were called one of the seven wonders of the world, not even the magnificent temples built for other Babylonian gods like Nebo, Ishter and Belter whose statues were in the city itself and not even the kings own Colossal palace.
So all the faces of the assembled people were focused on the spectacular golden image only that is in the plain of Dura. The state authorities appointed a preacher also for the occasion, which was brief, clear, and to the point. This message is also recorded in the Bible in the following manner “To you it is commanded O people, nations and languages that at what time ye hear the sound of the music of all instruments ye fall down and worship the golden image that the king Nebuchadnezzar hath set up. And who so falleth not and worshipeth shall the same our be cast into the midst of a burning furnace.”
It was almost a warning from the king and nothing ununderstandable. Either they must bow down their heads before the image or be ready to be thrown into the burning fairy furnace. Generally, those kings who wanted to expand their kingdoms must know the unifying tactics. Something that can bring unity out of disunity. Simplicity out of complexity. Alexander the great also followed the same principle during his rapid conquests. He achieved this unification by spreading Greek language, Greek culture and worshipping of Greek gods at every place he conquered. The Roman emperors also achieved unification through the personification of Rome as a god. The kings of England achieved unification through one official state church. If we look into the history of man and nation many political leaders used religion as their weapon to achieve their positions politically.
Nebuchadnezzar also wanted to control the captured lands and people through religion only. He wanted all people and all nations irrespective of their religious background to worship only one diety and this master plan the king wanted to implement on that occasion. That was the main purpose of the
The Everlasting Kingdom of God golden image to have political allegiances and control. We can understand all this show and conclude the king himself wanted to be worshipped as one of deities by men. He thought everybody would be pleased with his plan and treat him as god and thereby there is every possibility for people to forget about the heavenly father (our God).
Under these circumstances the three Hebrew men had to live in that strange land as captives in a strange culture and with strange problems. Their nation was defeated. Their people became helpless and hopeless. Their holy temple in Jerusalem was miserably destroyed and all the costly vessels from the temple were taken away by the king. Above all with that total destruction their living god was discredited so all this conditions might prompt them to surrender themselves to the decree of the king and bow down before the golden image.
Generally music is always associated with worship. The 150 songs which comprised Psalms in the Bible were Israel’s Hymnal. Singing is the vocal expression of the worship of God that comes from the inner core of our heart. The requirement for singing is redemption. Singing is the sound of the soul that is set free. Without redemption one cannot sing really. It is a fact that only a child of God and believer can sing a song of worship. Most of the churches now a days have their own choir, musical groups and congregational singing as part of their worship.
False religion also has its own counterfeit music and Nebuchadnezzar would not be denied of it. He had full orchestra will all kinds of instruments. At his command all rulers of different cadres throughout his vast kingdom attended the function because he was considered the most powerful king of his time. So there was a gathering of thousands in the open place of Dura outside the city before the golden image. Now the time had come for worship with music and their emotions would be exposed. They would bow down to that heathen image and in doing so swar their unending religions and loyalty to the king and to the Babylonian kingdom.
The king was not a political movie but he was a master planner. The time had come and with great precision the multitude bowed low and prostrated they pledged their religions to the king and his golden image. From that huge gathering some were there out of conviction. Some were there out of fear. Anyway all came at his command. They were worshipping a man and golden likeness image but the three Hebrew men did not bow down at all. They were
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
Their Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah and their Babylonian names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego which were forced upon them with the intention of turning them away from their living God. But their intension was different. They were in desperate condition because their nation was defeated, their capital city Jerusalem was sacked, their holy temple was destroyed and all the precious vessels from the temple were brought to Babylon and kept in their heathen temples. Finally, their living God was also mocked at. That was the pathetic situation of the captive Jews in Babylon at that time. So these three men did not care or value the command of the king and at the same time they were reminded of the first two commandments of their God. He said “Thou shall have no other gods before me and Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath – thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.” (Exodus 20:3-5)
Their genuine loyalty to their living God brought more enemies to them. Just at that time, some Chaldeans came and accused them. These Chaldeans were the priests of the heathen god “Belmerodach.” Since the three Hebrew men did not care to bow down before the image the priests wanted to take them to the notice of king for punishment. So they said “Oh king live for ever thou Oh king hast made a decree – there are certain Jews” – (Daniel 3:9-10). One can almost hear the contempt in their voices – certain Jews whom thou has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon (Daniel 3:12) it is as if they were saying to the king we warned you about these foreigners whom you appointed to rule over us. They have not regarded the nor they obeyed thy command to worship the golden image which thou has set up. It is sheer insubordination and this loyalty of the most heinous kind. You must take action. But they were in positions in the government and so they were given the second chance to prove their royalty. We know these three men were in some government posts in some province of the king and Daniel was sitting at the gate of the king’s palace. That is to say Daniel was in the inner circle or we might call “Cabinet post holding the position of the secretary of state.” His loyalty to the king was beyond doubt. He was exempted from the test of loyalty as required from outsiders. As mentioned in the Bible the three friends of Daniel were given the second chance to prove their loyalty to the king.
These people belonged to the despised and defeated race. Yet they were unconquerable even though they stood before the conqueror of the world of
The Everlasting Kingdom of God their time. They saw the face of their God and they did not fear at the face of man. The king was somehow in angry mood because of the situation. He brought them as captives about 20 years ago from Israel. He gave them Babylonian names as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave them good education to make use of their services because of their intelligence. Then they were appointed in good positions in one of the promises. They enjoyed their positions like power privilege and wealth yet they did not forget their true and living God and refused to abandon their God for the kings god.
There was an immediate response to the command of the king and at the same time the unveiling threat for the disobeyed. In this context the few words uttered by the three friends remained as one of the courageous statements of the Bible history and it should remain as an encouragement and challenge to every blood – bought child of God. So they replied with no disrespect to the king. They said they did not require anymore time to answer him because it was already decided in their souls. At times some people used to pray to God over a complicated issue before they take any decision and there were some Biblical principles that solve the problems. They thought for awhile that the glory of their God was at stake. But they had not yet decided to answer the king.
At last they became bold enough and said “If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fairy furnace and He will deliver us out of their hand Oh king.” (Daniel 3:17) what a wonderful faith the three men had! It was a faith not merely speculative holding clear and orthodox views regarding God and His providential power. But faith practiced and really to be put to test. Danger and consequences of disobedience did not shake them. The prospects of death would not make their minds wavering. They must have thought this mortal life which might be terminated through violence but the eternal life was there after this. It is that courage and immutable faith which required for their everlasting life ahead. The final words the Hebrew men uttered before they were thrown into the burning furnace had glorious importance and proved their confidence “But if not (if our God does not choose to physically deliver us) be it known unto thee Oh king that we will not serve thy gods and worship the golden image which thou hast set us” (Daniel 3:18). Whatever might be the consequences these three men remained loyal to their Almighty God. It is beyond our imagination how much their courage and fedility must have pleased their heavenly father. No doubt God felt very happy in His heart.
The Everlasting Kingdom of God
Anyway the king decided what was going to do with them. They openly disobeyed the king’s order. They refused to bow down before the image. They had the audacity to speak about their God before the king. After all did he not posses absolute power? Did he not consider himself a god? The word of our God described the action of the king in the following words “And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fairy furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats their hats their garments and finally cast them in to the midst of the burning fairy furnace.” (Daniel 3:20-21). In that furnace the pitch between tar and sulphar were burning seven times hotter than normal. The flames were so hot that the soldiers who threw the three Hebrew men into the fire themselves consumed. But those three God chosen people were not afraid of any untoward incidents and they remained as a witness among heathens because of their faith even the fire could not do anything to them. So for those three men there were two options – either deliverance or martyrdom whichever God preferred according to His infinite wisdom and power.
On that memorable occasion the omnipotent God decided to deliver them and so used His right arm and saved them miraculously. The king wondered at the prompt action their God and enquired whether they cast three men or more. The soldiers threw only three men into the fire but the king saw four men walking freely in the fire and the fourth one being the son of God. Nebuchadnezzar was a peculiar character. In his astonishment he went near the furnace and addressed them as the servants of most high God and called them to come to him. The three faithful servants of God came to the king from the midst of the fire. When Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah came to the presence of the king he saw the fire had not harmed them. Their hair was intact and their clothes not damaged. There was not even smell of fire upon them (Daniel 3:27). Their deliverance had been accomplished totally through the fourth person who was no other than the son of God. This could be also presumed as the pre- incarnate appearance of an angel of God the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
So Nebuchadnezzar had to inevitably acknowledge the supremacy of their God as the most high God (ELELYON) stronger than all the Babylonian gods. The king indirectly accepted the greatness of their God and promoted them still to better positions in the province of Babylon. The writers who limited the accounts of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah regarding their fascinating story of faith and bravery about 500 year before the birth of Jesus missed the significance of the third chapter of Daniel who wished to teach urgent prophetic
The Everlasting Kingdom of God truth to all believers. According to the Biblical prophecy the antichrist will arise at the end of the age. He will be the final ruler at the period of time called the period of Gentiles. As per the list of Gentile rulers Nebuchadnezzar was the first one depicted in the second chapter of Daniel through the great Colossus. At it is written the antichrist will set up an image in his own likeness (Mathew 24:15). Then he will demand the Jews of Israel to bow down to that image. All this would be done exactly did in the past Nebuchadnezzar.
The main purpose of all this was politically motivated by the master plan of the king. He wanted to bring the nation into his power completely as he wished and to become the world ruler. It appeared some Israelites liked this proposal and wanted to welcome him and his advances. The Israelites perhaps wanted to see him as a solution to their national problems. They must have trusted him as a leader who would bring world peace. If some of them refused to accept him as leader most of them would have martyrs and part of them delivered supernaturally. So the antichrist who wants to dominate the world according to his plan will try to kill all those who want to be loyal to the son of God.
The golden image was made by the king 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ but the three Hebrew men with their spotless faith refused to bow down their heads before that image even though it would cost their lives. In the same way the a remnant of them will refuse to bow to the antichrist at the end of the age. The Lord in “His Olivet Discourse” wanted the remnant to flee to the mountains to avoid the brutal killing by the heathens. In those mountains they would be preserved by the divine intervention. The refusal of remnant Jews might frustrate the antichrist. So he would direct his fury against all believers worldwide. Anyway the three faithful Jews understood that God had delivered them from the fire. However He might allow them to receive the crown of martyrdom. The three men proved themselves as they would be faithful to the Almighty God under all conditions “And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear (have a reverent trust) him which is able to both soul and body in hell.” (Mathew 10:28)
It may be true, wicked men kill the physical body that too if God permits. But it is God who determines the destiny of both glorified body and eternal soul. The powerful soldiers of the king who throw the trio into the fairy furnace themselves were consumed miserably by the flames. They received what they deserved for their inhuman action. It was like tit for tat. It was written again in
The Everlasting Kingdom of God the following manner in the context of persecution of God’s faithful three Hebrews by antichrist “he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity.” (Revelation 13:10) what the ungodly people tried to inflict on the sons and daughters of God will automatically inflict on themselves. It is a naked truth that the world cannot mess with God’s children and cannot go away without receiving due punishment. True believers will not bow down to antichrist and his coming is nothing but Babyloneanism. False believers by way of contrast will quickly capitulate at the prospects of difficulty and persecution. If we are prepared to suffer for Christ and if necessary even to die in the coming days then we are worthy to live triumphantly for Christ today.
The exact meaning of the three Hebrew men is as follows – Hananiah means “God is gracious” Mischael means “Who is what God is” Azariah means “Whom the Lord helps.” These three were Hebrew names where as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Babylonian names. At the end the preacher said these three Hebrew men did not bow, they did not bend and as a result they did not burn and the same result will continue for the faithful remnant of believers at the end.
Having witnessed the faith of the three Hebrew men which was like Abraham’s even at the cost of their lives, let us try to make a decision in our hearts. Let us be loyal and faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ at all times. We must take unending pledge with our loyalty to our saviour Lord and our king Jesus Christ. CHAPTER -7
The Everlasting Kingdom of God