The Many Lures In Babylon's Tacklebox Series

Daniel: The many lures in Babel’s tacklebox (6)

Text: Daniel 3:1-12

Now I think I told you all this, but I can’t remember… but Daniel chapters 2 through 7 are written in Aramaic. And that is so interesting to me, because those chapters are dealing with the purpose of God in history. Aramaic was the international language of trade during that time, so just about anyone could read what Daniel writes here. And then it switches back to Hebrew in chapters 8-12, where it’s dealing with the interpretation of God’s works in these world empires – and how that relates to the people of God.

(SO, kind of like parables – It’s only intended for those with ears to hear)

And so, we’re in Daniel chapter three this morning… and we’re going to be looking at verses 1-12. (READ TEXT).

Are y’all picking up on a pattern here? We’re in chapter three, and three times now we’ve seen instances where the people of God are faced with a crisis because they won’t compromise their faith. So three times God’s people get tempted to compromise, and three times, they refuse to do that, and three times they get rewarded for standing strong.

So what can we learn from that?

Well… I think that the first thing we can learn is that Satan’s attacks against God’s people don’t just stop after the first time he fails. You might get victory over a temptation, and then the very next day be faced with that same temptation again. The devil is relentless in his assaults against God’s people. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6 to put on the whole armor of God, and every day the devil is going to check to see if we missed a piece. To see if we geared up properly.

Jesus told His disciples “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

And the devil is going to assault us to see if we’ve actually done that. His temptations and attacks expose whether or not we’re practicing those spiritual disciplines given to us in Scripture.

So that’s the first thing: Don’t ever let your guard down. Keep watching. Keep praying. Put on the whole armor of God every single day and tighten your straps on that armor throughout the day.

The second thing I think we see here is that God rewards faithfulness. We don’t remain faithful for the reward. We’re faithful because we love Jesus… but in being faithful, God does reward us. He blesses us. It might come in the form of a promotion like we’ve seen in our text. Or it might just be that we’re brought closer in our walk with the Lord. But God is good. And He loves to bless His people. He’s a loving father who loves to give good gifts to His children.

Our text starts out with Nebuchadnezzar building a 90’ tall image out of gold. And I don’t know about y’all, but I read that and I go, “Oh man… did he ever miss the meaning of the dream God gave him.”

(Not sure if you’ve all seen this in Scripture or not… but man has an incredible propensity to miss what God is saying. It might be because we tend to be thick headed… It might be because we’re sinners and don’t really want to hear what God says. It might be because we think we know more than God does… It might be for a number of reasons, but Nebuchadnezzar definitely misses God’s meaning behind the dream in the last chapter.)

Now this thing is 90 feet tall, but only 9 feet wide, so most likely it’s an obelisk with an image engraved on it rather than a statue.

Other commentators have said it might have been an image of a serpentine type creature, maybe a dragon. Regardless… Nebuchadnezzar builds this thing, and then he calls all his Satraps, and Perfects, and Governors… that’s his nobility and politicians, and tells them when the music plays, everyone in the kingdom must bow down and worship this image. (Kind of an early form of Bohemian Grove you might say…)

And I want you to understand what we’re seeing here. Nebuchadnezzar is not a guy who thinks things through all the way. He does this… He builds this massive image, and demands everyone worship it, and says if you don’t, you will be thrown into a burning, fiery furnace.

And of course the devil is behind this… the Babylonian people would have no problem bowing down to an image… they already did that. They were pagans. But the Hebrew exiles… that’s going to be a different issue right? They’ve been given the 10 Commandments. They know what God has said about worshiping graven images, and that there is no other God than the One True God.