Studies in the Prophecies
A State Religion Versus Christianity
For more than twenty years after Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great image was interpreted to him by the prophet Daniel, Babylon enjoyed great outward prosperity. The power and wealth of the kingdom increased. There appeared little reason for believing that the kingdom of Babylon would give place to “another kingdom inferior to thee.” Did not Babylon rule the world? What man or organization of men would have the hardihood to oppose her rule? In his zeal for a vanquished religion, the Hebrew prophet Daniel, although acknowledging Babylon to be the head of the image, did yet predict the rise of other kingdoms to succeed Babylon, and the final overthrow of them all, and that his God would set up a kingdom which should stand forever. At the time when these things were said, a conviction of the truth of Daniel’s statements rested upon the mind of the king, but the logic of events seems to be against the claims of the prophet of Jehovah, and the greatness and permanency of the kingdom of Babylon must be fittingly proclaimed. So reasoned the king of Babylon. And so it came about that “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.” This image is Nebuchadnezzar’s answer to the image of the dream. In the dream only the head of gold represented Babylon, while the other parts of the image were of inferior material, and stood for other kingdoms which should succeed Babylon. The image which Nebuchadnezzar set up was of gold throughout, indicating that there would be no successor to Babylon. In the dream the stone from the mountain smote the image so that the different parts were “broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer thrashing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great rock, and filled the whole earth.” This is the symbolic representation of the overthrow of earthly kingdoms, and the setting up of that kingdom which “shall stand forever.” In setting up his image Nebuchadnezzar provides against any such contingency by making it of such proportions as to insure permanency and stability. Its “height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits.” Thus does Babylon exalt herself, and declare that she will not consent to the idea of a successor. Why may not the Babylon which has conquered the world maintain its rule over the world? Who is this God of heaven that he can measure power with the gods of Babylon? Who can change the purpose of the king of Babylon? The image in the plain of Dura is the personification of Babylon and her king. Under all the circumstances, to do homage to this image is to acknowledge the superiority of Babylon and her religion over any other kingdom and religion. And so all the world is required to be represented at the public dedication of this image. “Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” Thus the whole world is to bow at the shrine of Babylon, and thus all are to pledge themselves to co-operate with Babylon in the realization of her own interpretation of her future greatness. The representative company gathers for the dedication of the image. The herald makes his proclamation, and announces the death penalty for any who decline to “fall down and worship the golden image.” “Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of . . . all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” The three captives from Jerusalem, however, the loyal representatives of the everlasting kingdom of Jehovah, refuse to place their consciences in the keeping of the king and to deny the God of heaven at his command. When they were examined concerning their conduct, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” The real question involved in this whole affair is the worship and service of the true God. These three men are servants of the God of heaven. They acknowledge their allegiance to him, and although they are captives in a heathen land, they still sustain the same relation to him. They are his servants always, regardless of time or circumstances. No command or requirement of the king of Babylon absolves them from their allegiance to the King of heaven. Into the furnace heated “seven times more than it was wont to be heated,” these men are cast “bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other garments,” and so they “fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” The mighty men who cast them into the flame perished in performing their hideous task, “because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot.” Then the form of the Fourth is seen in the midst of the flames, and Nebuchadnezzar drew near and said, “Ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.” And all the representatives of the world present “saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.” The right even of a captive to serve God, although in doing so he may disobey the command of the most mighty earthly government, has been vindicated. Such a signal act of interposition moves Nebuchadnezzar to say, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” In this experience of the three worthies we have a divine interpretation of the true relation between Christianity and the state. It is the privilege, as well as the duty, of every man to serve God. The right to interfere with this privilege has never been granted to any civil power. When the government attempts to put itself in place of God and to exalt itself above God, it is still the privilege of the true Christian to serve God. This right, as well as the duty of the Christian to be a law-abiding citizen when the civil government does not attempt to usurp the place of God, was stated by Jesus in these words: “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” In teaching this lesson in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, an object-lesson was given of the power of that vital principle of Christianity which was the revealed secret in the interpretation of the dream of the great image. The mystery of the kingdom—“God with us”—was a demonstrated fact in the experience of the three Hebrew children, and Nebuchadnezzar recognized the form of the Fourth in the midst of the flame. Thus the very essence of the true gospel was again proclaimed in Babylon by the loyalty of those “who through faith . . . quenched the power of fire.” The principles set forth in the third5chapter of Daniel have an application “in the latter days” just as truly as does the interpretation of the dream of the second chapter. Those who are loyal to God in this last generation will be brought into direct conflict with an apostate civil government, and their devotion to God will be tested. To them, as well as to all others, apply the words of the terrible warning, “If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, . . . he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,” and they should keep ever in mind the privileges and blessings of the true servant of Jehovah, as shown in the outcome of the refusal of the three Hebrews to worship the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king set up. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”