Time to Stand

Daniel 3:1-7 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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: 5 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. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” 7 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.
 
A man has formed a statue. A man decrees all to worship it. A man declares a hellish death for those who disobey. What vanity to form a 90-foot gold plated statue to be an object of worship and to establish your own hateful laws. A man is replacing the LORD’s rule.
    This is the conflict throughout Scripture. Satan tempts our hearts to form our own gods, so we can be like God (Genesis 3:5b). Exodus 32 describes how Moses’ brother Aaron, the anointed High Priest of Israel, was like Nebuchadnezzar. He, too, formed a golden statue, a calf at the base of Mt. Sinai even as Moses was on the mountain to receive God’s commands. Self-worship is the height of denying God – vanity of vanities (Ecclesiastes 1:2a).
    Daniel and many faithful Jews are in exile because the rulers and majority of the Jews rejected the LORD’s rebuke: Jeremiah 10:3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. 5 Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”
    How can we worship some object we have made? Do we think we are as God? Yes, sadly we do. That is the sin issue that binds mankind’s soul to seek first the desires of mankind.
    The time had come in Babylon for God’s redemptive plan. It was time for God’s people to fear God, to Know God and to stand for God. The time has come in our culture to stand. Who will do so?
 
Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.