Daniel 3 (Pt 1)

Daniel 3:1 (ESV)

[1] King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

In the previous chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar saw an image in a dream. Daniel’s interpretation was that Nebuchadnezzar was the golden head. He would be replaced by three other kingdoms successively, followed by the Kingdom of God which would do away with all other kingdoms. The chapter concludes with Nebuchadnezzar acknowledging, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings” (Dan 2:47). Then he builds an image of gold in the very next chapter.

 

What the image was has been debated. Some think that he tried to recreate the image from his dream. Because Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold in chapter 2, and because the image he builds in chapter 3 is gold, others suggest that the image is an image of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Either way, it reveals something about human nature. He required all his officials to pay homage to, or worship the image. It involved falling on their faces before the image just as Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face before Daniel in chapter 2. It seems that we are always trying to put our personal spin on God.

 

One person says, “I like to think of God as Daddy.” Another says, “No, God is the great Lawgiver. We must respect his authority.” A third says, God is my buddy. He is always there for me.” Each of these individuals have some truth about God, but they miss the bigger picture. God is an intimate Father. He is the great Lawgiver. He is a personal friend who will never leave us or forsake us. Each of those images or titles tells us something about God. None of them tell us everything about God. When we settle on one image, and only refer to God in that way, we make God less than God. He becomes only our loving, intimate Father, only the Lawgiver, or only our personal friend. When we make God less than God, then we begin to use him for our purposes. We lose sight of the truth that we were created for his purposes.

 

Nebuchadnezzar made an image of Gold. In Acts 8, Simon the magician wanted to use God to retain power and influence. In the gospels, the Pharisees wanted to use God to maintain a life ordered by the Law of God rather than realizing that the Law pointed to something greater. Jesus said of the Law in Matthew 5:17 “I have not come to abolish [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them.” The Law was intended to point to the one who would fulfill the Law. In 2 Kings 5 Naaman had leprosy. Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times to be healed. He was angry. The rivers at home were better rivers. Why should he wash in the Jordan? His servants reminded him of the source of the command. He washed in the Jordan and was healed. He learned that he had to come to God in God’s way rather than demanding that God work his way.

 

In about 1971 I remember a former druggie walking down the middle of a deserted street at night shouting out, “Jesus is the ultimate high!” But if that is all Jesus is, then he is nothing more than another way to feel something. He is just another way to an experience. Our theology becomes very small when we attempt to fit God into our pet view of God. There is an old children’s chorus that said, “He’s big enough to fill the mighty universe, yet small enough to live within my heart.”

 

Nebuchadnezzar reasoned from his dream to an image to be worshipped. Daniel’s friends reasoned from God to the image, and refused to worship the image. Our starting point changes our perspective. Too many times I have heard people say something like, “I like to think of God as . . ..”  They reason from an experience or a need in their life and develop their theology from there. That is backward. Rather, we should start with who God is, and interpret our needs and experiences in light of that truth.

 

Human nature wants a God we can hold, inspect, and control. We will worship a God like that because it is a god created in our own image. The Forest Service used to call fires that they started on purpose Controlled Burns. They don’t call them that anymore. They are now called Prescribed Burns because they realized that no fire is really controlled. I wonder how often we view God as a controlled god who is there to grant us our wishes and keep us happy. Nebuchadnezzar created an image that he could see and control.

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego worshipped a God who is greater than they. They could not control him, they could only trust him. When commanded to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s image, they responded, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Dan 3:17-18). Whether God saved them or not, they would worship no other god because a God you can manipulate and control is no god at all.