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King Nebuchadnezzar constructed a massive idol 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide, likely made in his image (Daniel 3:1). It represented the king’s authority. It was a tool he used to advance his agenda and unify society under his authority, bringing all the world together to worship this image—himself.
There was great fanfare and ceremony when the king and his officials, gathered from all the different parts of his kingdom, placed the image in the plain of Dura. A big band of stringed and horn instruments would play a sound, and all peoples, nations, and languages were to bow down and pay homage to the image he had covered with gold from top to bottom.
As theologian James Boice pointed out, this statue was perhaps an answer to Daniel’s interpretation of the king’s dream, where the head was gold and represented Babylon (Daniel 2:36–45). In the dream, the statue’s other materials represented succeeding kingdoms. But this idol was made entirely of gold, as if the king was declaring, “May my kingdom go on forever and ever.”
So, when the band played the sound, there was a problem: three young men refused to bow. They couldn’t bow down because they worshiped the true God and knew that bowing down to a man-made idol would be idolatry. These men knew the Old Testament scriptures. Some of the king’s officials, no doubt hating these men of God and jealous of their position, came to the king to inform him of these men’s conscientious disobedience, and they did it in a way that inflamed the king’s passions and stirred up his anger. The king had the three men summoned, and he confronted them.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s obedience to God now became a test of the king’s authority. Thus, it became a test of their faith. Would they obey the king and save their life or obey God and potentially lose their life in this world? After the king’s inquisition, we see their response of faith.
What would you have done in their place? Would you have bowed down? Is there an area of your life where you are bowing down to a particular idol out of fear?
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Whether we know it or not, we tell the world how valuable our God and His Word are by the worth we assign to them through how we live. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s obedience to God’s Word became a test of King Nebuchadnezzar’s authority, and thus it became a test of their faith. Ultimately, their faithfulness resulted in their blessing.
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