“I will not bow down!” Such a defiant declaration, full of conviction and fury. It is what you think when someone or an institution challenges your beliefs or independence. Your neck muscles tighten as you mutter unkind words about your city council, or governmental leaders. “Just try it, you feckless ingrates!” You lay down the article, stand up and pace the floor, as you prepare yourself for battle. Whether it means paying more for trash removal or an increase in property tax, normally we get used to the idea and settle down. But what if it were something much more serious? What if you were asked to show deference or support for a philosophy of life or a moral code that violated your values and voided your religion? Even more heinous, what if it threatened the moral training and academic progress of your children or grandchildren?
It could be sooner instead of later that churches will be confronted with freedom of speech issues regarding criticism of the government or be thrown into the boiling pot of sexual politics. When lawsuits are filed against congregations, when tax deductible status is removed, when proselyting is outlawed, what will we do?
You may consider these possibilities far removed from reality, but that is because you may not have been paying attention. All of these threats are gathered at the church’s door. They have already been proposed, but not fully implemented, in some free democracies in Western Europe and Scandinavia. This means that in countries like Greece, evangelism is illegal. So much for intellectual freedom, honesty and the iconic memories of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.[1]In some others there are partial restrictions such as religion prohibited from schools or public functions. It is done under the guise of equity, diversity, and inclusion—of forming a more perfect union.
Questions to ponder
What would it take to get Christians and their churches to stand up and draw the line? What kind of person takes a stand and are we those kinds of people? Are we teaching and demanding what it would take to create courageous disciples who lay aside self to serve others? Or, like most of us comfortable Christians in the Western world, will we continue to give in little by little? Will we keep backing up and redrawing the line in the sand until we don’t matter anymore? We are a weak lot, easily intimidated, and accustomed to losing. We have gotten the idea that success is being awarded a participation trophy. We have lost the battle for the family, for the definition of marriage, for the sanctity of marriage, capitulated on the biblical standard for sexual behavior, and we have redrawn the lines of morality in order to justify our greed and comfort. The only sacrifices we like are the ones our priests perform ceremonially.
Rejecting culture can be dangerous (or) Not assimilating
Most people live in cities. Cities create a better standard of living and people gather where they can prosper professionally. Cities are where the opportunities are, where the money is. They are also where the greatest problems, trends, and plagues are created. This certainly is confirmed by the first really big city, Babel. They were infamous for their tower, for their ambition, for their selfish goals of becoming famous and controlling the world. God didn’t think much of it and put a stop to it.[2] Centuries later Babel was no longer the capital of the Kingdom of Babylon, but the leaders of Babylon had not changed in character or culture. Babel is now a ruin to be studied and toured a few miles south of Bagdad. As God promised, no one resides there[3]—but it is there that we learn from some young Jewish men what kind of people will not bow down.
Israel’s elite, their educated class, if you like, were camped outside the city of Babylon. They had been forced into exile to live their lives as political prisoners. Their prophets had warned them not to assimilate and adopt the ways of foreign cultures. The exiles had stopped short of entering Babylon—then they received a letter from the Prophet Jeremiah.[4] Jeremiah was telling them to enter into the city, build houses, and plan to stay, that they will be there for at least two generations. Get married, have children, multiply, don’t dwindle away.
And then a stunning statement
“And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7 NLT.
He told them to become a positive force for good in the city that represented hubris, moral confusion, and one that rejected their God. But cooperation didn’t mean to stop being Jewish, or to forget their God. Among the chosen for special assignment were young men such as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, aka Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were among the brightest and most gifted that Israel had to offer. Nebuchadnezzar’s strategy was well known, often used, and greatly resisted by Israel’s most important leaders. The strategy was to assimilate a nation’s intellectual class, make them a part of society, and after two generations, any distinctions or even memories of their culture would be erased. This, you may notice, is the same strategy employed by the intellectual ruling class in academia to reprogram American’s youth regarding America. They are being trained to think of the United States as corrupt in its foundation, evil in its intent, and its institutions fatally flawed and requiring deconstruction. The goal is to convince them that this is not a nation worthy of allegiance, something to fight for, and to die for.
This approach was not only used in ancient kingdoms, but in contemporary society. The key element is submission to the governing authority as the ultimate authority. One can believe in any regional or private god, even a cultic figure, but final sovereignty resides in the state. The exiles did as instructed. Daniel’s and his friend’s talents were quickly recognized and they were appointed to the Royal Service. Daniel’s faithfulness to God immediately collided with the “good life” of Babylonia. He insisted he and the others eat only vegetables and water, forgoing the meat, the wine, and other gourmet delights. Nebuchadnezzar was not known for his finesse. His punishments had to do with sudden and ignominious death such as, beheadings, mauled to death by lions, and thrown into hot furnaces. Daniel asked for ten days to prove how his way of eating would benefit the young men’s abilities. Daniel survived the ten-day challenge but soon had another challenge. The King had a bad dream and ordered an interpretation. Oh yes, and if no one could be found to interpret the dream, the King had ordered all the wise men killed. So, once again, Daniel was faced with a life or death situation. If God did not answer his prayer, he would be killed. God did tell Daniel the dream’s meaning and he was promoted ruler of the whole province of Babylon. Daniel remained in the King’s court while his three friends handled operations and worked among the people.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Statue
Addiction is never ending. Addiction to power craves more power. Power temporarily provides a rush of pleasure but doesn’t satisfy. Power in the wrong hands destroys because its origin and chief strategist is the Father of Lies. [5] Lies eat away at our character, they make us less confident of our abilities, and we lose a grip on reality. Nebuchadnezzar needed a fix so he ordered a golden statue of himself built. Matching his self-image, it was ninety feet tall and nine feet wide. Couldn’t be missed! There was a simple rule so the people would show him honor. Everyone, when in the vicinity of the statue when the music played, would bow down to the image or die.
“When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” Daniel 3:5,6 NLT.
We will not bow down
Some rival holy men or astrologers ran to the King and informed him about the Jews refusing to bow down. When confronted, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego were brave in their declaration “…we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Such conviction inspires, but also shoots chills through one’s body because of its finality. There is no way to negotiate after you have said it—you can’t unsay it. This is when the King dons the black wig represented in British courts signifying the impending death sentence.
What kind of person doesn’t bow down?
The standard answer to such a question is to select a list of attributes that fit the contemporary Christian narrative. Read the Bible, pray, practice spiritual disciplines, go to church, I am sure there is merit in such an answer, but that is not where I want to start. Because a list of activities does not describe kind of person, only the schedule of a person. I begin with the simple observation that obedience is a natural reaction to what you know is right. Faith is more than a cerebral proposition, it is the divine capacity to act, which provides a person with the strength to stand up to danger, overcome fear, and trust God with the results.
Daniel seemed to be the valedictorian of Judah’s royal family. He was chosen to enter a three-year program that would give him elite and privileged status in Babylonian life. He had to be smart, physically strong, and good-looking. He would be trained in the language and literature of the culture. He would be trained for three years and then enter into royal service. His three friends were also chosen. Daniel was the leader and determined not to defile himself by eating food and wine given to them by the king. Daniel had to demonstrate that his special diet would not hinder him—under threat of death.
Daniel and his friends thrived and God rewarded them with an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. From that time forward the four young men excelled and were ten times more capable than any of their fellow scholars or rivals.[6]
Benefits of obedience
1. The answer to the question, what kind of person doesn’t bow down, is initially a person whose habit is to bow down—but only to the right God. This was Daniel. Such was his practice and he was admired, therefore, followed by his friends. Daniel also knew that he was being watched by his fellow captives and the other young men in the Royal Service. Daniel and his friends did that from the first day they arrived. This was a personal trait that they had developed by admiring and following leaders who had gone before them. They believed that God could be trusted and would provide them with what they needed.
2. They also were strengthened by the fact that, out of obedience, God gave them “unusual aptitude” and “ten times the abilities.” It must be said that these benefits would have laid unused, even uncreated, by God if they had allowed their fear of failure and harm get the best of them.
3. The power of community, tradition, expectations, promises of God, admiration of ancestors and one another, all combined to give them the needed courage. They were accustomed to living by covenant in community. Isolation is lethal. Young disciples who are given materials and told to go it alone will almost always lapse and fail. The primary difference in results between a communal culture and an individualistic culture is about how one develops identity. When living in a community the community names you, creates your values, and assigns you an identity and role. This identity is almost always accurate and best for the person. Yes, sometimes there is abuse, corruption, and the community gets it wrong because the community is wrong. The other way to acquire identity is to look inward instead of outward, this is a method that is growing into dominance today. You are told to follow your dreams, don’t allow anyone to define you, name you, or have authority over you. This has led to the identity of everything from personality to gender and to profession.
God is the only one qualified to provide us with our identity. Because the only identity that will last is from God, it is not earned, it is received. We are made in the image of God, we are children of God, and we are called, gifted, and God has a plan for each of us. This is what Daniel and his friends knew very deeply in their souls.[7]
4. They didn’t take actions based on results or promises of safety. This was made clear when Daniel’s three friends told the King,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up. Daniel 3:17,18 NLT.
But even if he doesn’t
The three scholars were thrown into the furnace—almost everyone knows the story. The furnace was seven times hotter than normal. Anyone who got too close was consumed. The king saw that the three men were joined by a fourth. And he exclaimed, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?…I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”[8]
It is so wonderful to read about and even to experience when God rescues us and overpowers danger on our behalf. We give great praise to him for His mercy. But as his faithful disciples, we must also say in unison with the three young men, “…even if he doesn’t…” This is real freedom, and I must confess, a freedom that I have rarely experienced. Not because I have failed to stand, indeed, I have failed many a time, but because this trait is underdeveloped in me because I have avoided such confrontations. The freedom is found in not holding back. I have spent a good deal of time holding back, not giving my all, measuring my statements, commitments, my exposure to danger. It is this addiction to safety and comfort that plagues the contemporary church and its members. And can we really blame ourselves? Because safety, comfort, pleasure, and advantage are very desirous.
This is not a call to be inhuman, it is a call to be overcomers, to be free to believe that “even if he doesn’t” come through in a pinch and we find ourselves at a funeral, or in a hospital, or in the unemployment line, living with and dependent on relatives or the federal government, we will take our stand for the gospel, for the moral standards found in scripture. And, of course, there is the loss of prestige and advancement in our careers because of hot political and moral differences we have with a culture in decline.
And finally, what it meant was that they may perish in the fire but end up with God. Heaven, or the eternal state, was a bit less clear to the Jewish exiles than for today’s Christians. But one gets the idea that clarity doesn’t make for more courageous disciples.
Different Disciples, New Disciples, Better Disciples
This is our work: make disciples. And we have and we are, and we have failed to cultivate and improve the culture. We are considered by the elites of our enlightened culture to be resistant, a retardant to progress, and an enemy of diversity, inclusion, and equity. If you don’t believe in God, their views make perfect sense. But we do believe in God, and we must believe we are the light, not the dark, the good, not the evil, the sweet, not the bitter.[9] And like Daniel and his friends, we must believe it deeply enough to lay aside fear and to refuse to bow down to those who would seek to control or destroy God’s work. Regardless what it costs us.
Bill Hull
May, 2023
[1] It is somewhat a fallacy that Ancient Greece was an intellectual feast. Socrates got the hemlock because he asked too many questions. Plato advocated the children be taken from their families and raised by the state. Aristotle may have been the most democratic, but the elitist Plato’s Republic would not pass muster even in Present day America.
[2] Genesis 11:1-10
[3] Jeremiah 51:64
[4] Jeremiah 29:4-10
[5] John 10:10, 8:44
[6] Daniel 1:17-21
[7] Ephesians 2:10
[8] Daniel 3:24,25 NLT.
[9] Isaiah 5:20
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