GOSPEL LIBERTY IS TAUGHT IN BABYLON by William Warren Prescott

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 8, 1900

GOSPEL LIBERTY IS TAUGHT IN BABYLON.

By William Warren Prescott

(Concluded.)

It was through the direct providence of the God of heaven that Nebuchadnezzar held a universal dominion. Through the prophet Jeremiah the Lord had said: “I have made the earth, . . . and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. . . . And all nations shall serve him.” And in his interpretation of the dream Daniel had said, “The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.” It is evident, therefore, that the Lord expected all the people of the earth to be obedient to Nebuchadnezzar. Why, then, did he work in such a wonderful manner to deliver from death those who had refused to obey the king’s decree?

The key to the answer is found in the words of the Lord, “the king of Babylon, my servant.” These three Hebrews were servants of the most high God, and they were loyal, faithful servants. The king of Babylon was also a servant, but he was disloyal; and his unfaithfulness could not absolve the faithful few from their allegiance to the God of heaven and earth.

When God gave the dominion of all the earth into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, he did not resign any of his own authority over the universe. “The Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.” “He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in

his sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.” “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth.” “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

In the beginning God gave man authority over all the earth, and over every living creature; but this authority was only under God as supreme. As soon as man ceased to be loyal to God, he lost the dominion. Now to Nebuchadnezzar had God given the dominion (compare Ps. 8:4–8 and Jer. 26:6; Dan. 2:37, 38); but Nebuchadnezzar had no power except as he received it from God. “There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Nebuchadnezzar’s great dominion was but a proof of the fact which he ignored, that he was but an instrument in the Lord’s hands, with no power of his own. See Isa. 10:5–18. Nebuchadnezzar’s obligation to “fear God, and keep his commandments” was not lessened, but rather increased, by his being placed in high position. As an individual, he owed to God the same allegiance that the most despised Hebrew captive did; and as a king over all the nations of earth, there was upon him the far greater responsibility of setting to all men an example of loyalty to the Creator and supporter of all. The disregard of the three Hebrews to the edict of the king was in reality an exhibition of the highest kind of loyalty; namely, to God, the King of kings.

Moreover, the three Hebrews were more faithful to the interests of Babylon than was the king himself. When they were taken captive, God said to them, “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace.” But peace comes only to those who keep the commandments of God. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall cause them to stumble.” “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Babylon’s safety depended solely on its loyalty to God and his commandments. Its fall was foretold, only because of its sins. Therefore in refusing to worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, the Hebrew captives were showing greater solicitude for the safety of Babylon than its king was.

This is a lesson for to-day for all the dwellers, the rulers, and the captives in Babylon,—the whole earth. In the obligation to be subject to the powers that be, no man is absolved from the obligation to be subject to God, from whom all rulers hold their power. The injunction to every soul to be subject to “the higher powers,” includes subjection to the most high Power. All men alike, both high and low, owe to him common allegiance; and if the king whom God has placed or allowed to be placed in the position of “a little brief authority” forgets his dependence upon God, and presumes to exalt himself above him, by setting at naught any of his laws, then the subject must remember that his duty can not possibly rise higher than obedience to God; and he must show the way of life to the disloyal ruler who is jeopardizing the peace of his own dominions.

“Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, 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 yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.”

Through the loyalty of “his servants that trusted in him,” the God of heaven made himself known again in the kingdom of Babylon, and in the case of which was on trial the verdict was in his favor, the judgment being given by Nebuchadnezzar himself. “For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” But by thus bearing testimony to the greatness and power of the King of heaven, these men themselves became great, for they “changed the king’s word,” and surely those who can change the word of a king are greater than the king himself. Thus it was with these three men as it was in the case of Daniel. By what was revealed in and through them, it was shown that they were greater than Nebuchadnezzar, and he acknowledged the fact. And thus was the true gospel of the kingdom again proclaimed in Babylon, and so throughout the world.

It is well to notice how this was done. It was not accomplished by appealing to courts or armies to set aside the unrighteous decree, and to enforce their rights. Such a course as this would simply have resulted in setting one earthly power against another, and the warfare would have been wholly carnal, and the glory of any victory would have been given to men. But these men “yielded their bodies,” and by yielding they became the conquerors, and “out of weakness were made strong.” And so the gospel truth was taught that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Cor. 1:27–29. “Not unto us, . . . but unto thy name give glory.”

But, although Nebuchadnezzar recognized that “there is no other God that can deliver after this sort,” he really held himself as still above even that God, by threatening to destroy any who should speak against him. Any god who needs the assistance of an earthly king in order to maintain his standing among men, is certainly not so great as the king, and the king who offers such assistance shows that that is his view of the matter. Nebuchadnezzar was just as much out of his place in seeking to enforce the worship of the true God, as in commanding the worship of his image. God himself does not compel men to worship him. He invites, and seeks to win by a wondrous revelation of his own character, and he commissions every man who hears the invitation to invite others; but he does not need, and will not accept, the assistance of any earthly power to enforce obedience to him. Every such effort hinders rather than advances the kingdom of God in the earth. The state may make a man a hypocrite, but only the creative power of God can make a man “a new creature.”

The last which we hear of these three men is that they were “promoted,” “in the province of Babylon.” When they stood before the angry king, and witnessed for the true God, they had no assurance that they would not seal their testimony with their lives; but the flame of the furnace was to them simply the light of the glory of God in which their true character was revealed to the king of Babylon, who gave them the place to which their worth entitled them. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” W. W. P.