June 12: PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT (part 2)
“Therefore I [Nebuchadnezzar] make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Daniel 3:29
Have we heard this threat before? Indeed we have. Today’s threat aimed at any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego was earlier aimed only at the king’s wise men in regard to his dream and its meaning (2:5).
It is a wonderful change we are seeing in the Babylonian king, but the metamorphosis is yet to be complete. Remember that just after Daniel was used by God to help the king remember and understand his dream, the king fell on his face before Daniel…and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings…” (2:46-47). Right he was!
And just prior to today’s violent threat, directly from the mouth of King Nebuchadnezzar, came these words: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.” Right again!
In preparing His followers for the end of the age (Matthew 24:3), Jesus warned that disregard for God’s moral law would devastate love among people (v.12). He then emphasized the essential element of the gospel witness of His followers throughout the world (v.14 – see also John 14:15 and Revelation 14:6-7). Jesus pointed His last-day people directly back to the prophetic book of Daniel (v.15).
Today we find a profound prophetic element in King Nebuchadnezzar’s public announcement. It is set against his sincere exaltation of God for the miraculous deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. But this correct proclamation is immediately followed by something that is altogether wrong. It is neither moral nor civil: threatening men’s lives who do not speak well of or believe in the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. The king had no more right to force his subjects to revere the true God than he had to pronounce a sentence of death to all who refused to worship the gold image that he had made. Coercion is never part of God’s plan.
Our witness for Christ in the world, in order to be effective, must not be intermingled with elements of untruth, doctrinal error, or coercion in any form. Our God, the God of love, is worthy of our complete trust. He demonstrates love to us in more ways than we even notice, and true worship of Him flows freely from the heart. He has given each of us a conscience, along with His word to guide us safely back to Him. Today’s verse, in combination with yesterday’s, prophetically foreshadowed the Dark Ages, when the church tortured and killed those who worshiped according to their consciences instead of bending and bowing to the will of man. With a faith shaped entirely by their love relationship with the Lord, countless millions endured the severest testing. Such testing, accompanied with strong delusions, will be repeated before Jesus returns (see 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; Revelation 13:15).
Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. James 3:10