Daniel 3: Who is Worthy of Worship?

The main point of this entire study, as I have mentioned previously, is the thought that it is all about God. Our very existence, the world around us, the circumstances that we find ourselves in, the tests and temptations that we face are all about our Creator and about the relationship that He desires to have with us. He created us for a purpose but that purpose is not served by our existence alone. His purpose must be lived out in our lives one day at a time. So, when we read the Scriptures, one of the main questions that we should be asking ourselves is what lesson God is trying to teach us about Him.

So, when we get to Daniel 3:13 and King Nebuchadnezzar is “furious with rage” and he calls Daniel and his friends to appear before him, we get a clearer picture of who this king really is and of what he thinks of His creator. We have mentioned before that Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king so we shouldn’t be surprised but somehow we always are.

When he summons Daniel and his friends, he demands of them to know whether it is true that they refuse to worship and serve the gods that he had set up. It should also have been quite obvious to him by this time. After all, it wasn’t that long before that the magicians and other religious leaders and wise men of his kingdom, all pagans, were unable to perform his demands. In spite of this and their pagan beliefs about gods, the Creator revealed both the dream and its interpretation to the king through Daniel. Since Daniel gave all of the credit for this to his God, the king had no reason to think that this God was even in the same league with the gods that he worshiped.

Regardless of degrees of surprise on either side, the king was angry at Daniel and his friends. This was to be expected from a human standpoint largely because Daniel and his friends had defied the king’s orders (again) but this time in such an open manner that their lack of respect for and obedience to the king could not be hidden or overlooked. Now the king was humiliated in front of his other leaders. How was he to keep them all in check when he had this small group who would openly defy his orders in front of their peers? Further, he was enflamed by the words of the accusers who had reported that Daniel and his friends “pay no attention to you.” Kings are never supposed to be humiliated and these men had given him a large dose.

In spite of all of this, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to recognize the contributions of these men. So, he gave them another opportunity to bow down and worship his gods, especially this new statue that he had just finished building. In fact, he promised them in verse 15 that he would forgive the first offense and let them go free if they would only bow down and worship this statue when the music began again. But, he didn’t stop there. He reiterated his promise to have them executed by throwing them into a fiery furnace if they chose not to obey his orders again. He apparently had no doubt that their love of their own lives would motivate them to obey. But even this was not enough for Nebuchadnezzar.

The king made his promise to burn Daniel and his friends if they refused to worship. He knew that he had both the authority and the power to have these men thrown into the fire. That was not even in question. Since he also was well-acquainted with the power of the flame, he had no doubt of the outcome if they were thrown into the furnace. In fact, he asked them to tell him, “Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” The implication was clearly one of his supremacy by the use of fire, whose power nobody questioned. The implication in his question is that he was not acquainted with the God who made fire.

Thought: In Romans 12:3, Paul stated: “For I say , through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think ; but to think soberly , according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (KJV) He is really making both sides of the same two-edged point. On the one hand, he is saying that we should not be puffed up, not think of ourselves in terms that exceed either our authority or our power. On the other hand, he is also saying that we should not underestimate the power of the Living God, our Creator and Saviour.

Satan already went there. He thought so highly of himself that he vowed to ascend to a place of power, to a position, that would be recognized and worshiped alongside of the Creator. This is a violation of God’s command to have no other god before Him. In holding himself up so highly, he also, by default, placed God in a lower place than He deserved. His condition was evidenced by self-worship while goal and objective was to gain the worship of others. Nebuchadnezzar clearly shared this character trait and this goal. He issued the challenge, “What God will be able to rescue you from my hand?” He really thought that he was on top of the world.

Stay with us because we will shortly see that nobody can attempt to ascend to and be seated on God’s throne without being cut down to size. Only God is God, and He is only One God.

By His grace, there is more to come….