Daniel #6

            ¶ Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. (Daniel 2:46-49 KJV)

            It would be surprising if someone correctly guessed a nightmare and its future outcome. However, people these days probably wouldn’t worship someone just for interpreting dreams. Nebuchadnezzar, despite his arrogance, feared God more than any ruler today. More so than any theologian, the Pope, more so than any famous religious figure, or any other man of God. God loves people who Love His word, and he receives the brokenhearted. The Bible is very clear that God receives those who come to Him brokenhearted because of their sins. Nebuchadnezzar quickly understood the word of God, unlike many who hear it proclaimed today. He worshipped Daniel instead of God, which showed his fear of the word of God and his reverence for people. The Bible mentions that many gifts and spices were offered to Daniel, but he simply let Nebuchadnezzar bow down to him. When the angel of the Lord appeared to John in the book of Revelation, John simply bowed down. The man said, “Do not worship me. Only worship the Lord. I believe this to be Daniel. “I am a servant prophet like you.” Because the Lord told Daniel what was going to happen, but then he told him to seal it, and he revealed it to the apostle John.

            Daniel should’ve told Nebuchadnezzar to worship only God, not him when the king fell down and worshipped him. Again, Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest king alive back in those day. Of course, God bestowed such power unto him. Daniel did not hesitate to sit at the king’s gate. The king’s gate means to become the second in command. Then he put Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in charge of the affairs of Babylon as well as himself, and Daniel accepted all sorts of oblations and gifts. In a way, this could be seen as Daniel being tested and failing as even a man of God can sin. No one is perfect. The Bible says: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 KJV) And we’re going to see what happened to Daniel when he went into the lion’s den and almost died. You’re going to see some terrible suffering. When you read the scripture, you realize that even people who appear to be blameless and righteous in the eyes of man have one or more blemishes. No one is perfect. Even Joseph, who was the second in command in Egypt, his deception by hiding the silver cup in Benjamin’s money bag and used that to leverage Benjamin as hostage. Look at Noah. Noah was a righteous man in his time, but then he is saved from the flood, as he and his family were the only ones left in the world. Feeling like the king, he let himself loose and got drunk and slept naked, ended up cursing Ham. Noah wasn’t a perfect man either, and we know from the Bible that no one can claim righteousness apart from the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. What about David? David was also a perfect man. God says he was perfect except for his sin with Bathsheba, as he ended up committing adultery and murder. What about Moses, he couldn’t control his anger, he killed a man and he struck the rock twice. God told him to speak to the rock, but the people made Moses so angry that he struck it twice. Sure, the water came out of it, but because of that Moses couldn’t enter the land of Canaan. What about Paul? The Holy Spirit told him not to go, but he ignored him four times and went to Jerusalem. Philip’s daughters prophesied that Paul would be imprisoned if he went to Jerusalem, but he ignored it and went. What about Peter? He made an oath to follow the Lord even unto death. But he denied the Lord three times. Stephen was a perfect obedient man. But when he was martyred, he did not pray for the sinners, but for himself. However before our Lord died on the cross, He prayed for sinners to be forgiven of their sins and said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. The bottom line is that no one can deny they are a sinner without the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus said to the Jews, Matthew 5:48 (KJV) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. But we can’t be perfect. The only way we can be perfect is through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, because He has taken away all our sins, and when we put our full faith in Him, that’s when we’re made perfect. That’s the gospel. Out of 10,000 laws, even if I violate one but obeyed 9999, we have no choice but to fall into hell. Everyone is full of flaws. But who blotted out all flaws and sins? It is Christ who died and rose again for all who believe in Jesus, and we cannot condemn anyone. The Lord has already died and risen for each and every one who believe in Jesus, and we cannot judge anyone. That’s why we should also pray for our enemies. The Lord died on the cross for them as well. Jesus prayed first for His enemies, then for the Roman soldiers who crucified Him, and then He breathed His last breath. In this way, among those who have appeared on earth, there is none righteous, not even one, except Jesus Christ, who appeared as a man. Romans 3:10 (KJV) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There was not then, there is not now, and there never will be. Daniel was no exception. Only the Lord is to be praised. No one else can be exalted, and no one else can be judged. For the Lord has died for them all.

Daniel 2:47 (KJV) The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth [it is], that your God [is] a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Nebuchadnezzar had the intellect to immediately know the Word of God. But he did not know that God was his Savior. But he knew at once when he heard Daniel speak. He only knew that God is the God of gods. Many people are like that. They claim to believe in God. But don’t know why they should believe in Jesus. There are also many people who say, “I received God, not Jesus Christ,”  they do not know the gospel. Jesus did say: John 14:1 (KJV)…ye believe in God, believe also in me. In verse 48, they gave gifts and made them rulers. In the past, Balaam received many things from a gentile king and ended up being rebuked by God. We can see in that scenario God recompensed, but if we dig deeper, such minor mistake leads into a greater one, starting with the fact that Daniel did not stop Nebuchadnezzar from bowing down to worship him. We can once again affirm that only God is righteous.

Daniel 3:1-3 (KJV) Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height [was] threescore cubits, [and] the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. We just saw in chapter 2. When the king worshiped Daniel, he accepted it and made this mistake. A picture of: Once you fall into sin, you will continue to sin. Here they make a golden image and worship it. And many people claim Daniel must have gone on a business trip. An extraordinary event of bowing down to the golden image was taking place, but where could Daniel, the second in command, go on a business trip? For some reason, I thought Daniel was a perfect person. Daniel can’t possibly be bowing down to the image. But there is no scripture about whether Daniel bowed or not. Those who did not bow down were condemned to die. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace because they disobeyed the king’s orders. If Daniel hadn’t bowed down, he would have fallen in there along with his companions. Considering that Daniel already made a mistake and sinned in chapter 2 and was later thrown into the lions’ den, we must believe absolutely nothing happens without God’s permission. We’ll go over this later. Had Daniel just bowed his head without realizing it, how would he feel when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the furnace? Back in the day, famous Korean pastors bowed their heads at the Japanese Shinto Shrine worship. And even though they had to go through heavy repentance, it’s to show that anyone can commit this sin. During the Korean War, the People’s Army came down from the North and threatened to kill anyone for attending church on Sundays. Out of fear, most went off to work. Only a few went to church. The pastor of the church who Pastor Song once served, always wanted to be martyred. While many wrote down notes on the church buildings not to be bombed on June 25, this pasto