Steps to Life

Prophecy Seminar

Session 2: An Image to the Beast

At first Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by the vision he had received. His gods and his magicians had proved ineffective, while Daniel's God had accurately revealed what he had dreamed and had foretold in detail the future of the world. But soon he decided that he was not satisfied with God's revelation of the future. In the first place, as we saw in our last lesson, God had stated that it was only through His power and mercy that Nebuchadnezzar had attained to such greatness. Nebuchadnezzar did not want to give credit to anyone but himself.

Daniel 4:30 "The king spoke, saying, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?’ "

Isn’t that human nature? "I did it!" "I am number one!" "I deserve the credit!" Do you realize that it is only by the grace of God that we are alive today? Except for His grace not one of us would have awaked this morning. He gives us strength, wisdom, and opportunity. And yet we do not want Him to have any claim on our life. We want to run our own show. We don’t want any interference from some outside deity. But whether we want it or not, our very being is in the hand of God. He is the sovereign of the world. He permits mankind to rule for awhile, but there comes a day in every man’s life and in the existence of every nation when God takes control.

Daniel 2:20 "Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. 21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.’ "

It was at the height of Alexander the Great’s career, on his march back from the conquest of the world, that a fever struck him and he died a hopeless death. He never got to savor the joys of his victories. It was at the height of Nebuchadnezzar’s career, when he was at peace in his realm, that insanity struck him and he was driven from his throne.

There is nothing permanent in this life. There is nothing secure outside of a relationship with Jesus. Our lives can be turned upside down in a moment of time. We can go from the height of success to the agony of a hospital bed, from the spaciousness of a castle to the confinement of a casket, all in one day. Our only safety is to acknowledge the sovereignty of God in our own lives. But Nebuchadnezzar did not want to do that. Babylon was his kingdom. He would make his own decisions independent of God. He would establish a kingdom that would last forever. It is well known that Nebuchadnezzar’s great goal was to establish an eternal city, with himself as its founder, that would last forever.

Therefore, he decided to build an image similar to the one he had seen in Daniel 2, except instead of having just the head of gold, he would make the entire image of gold. You will remember that God had given Nebuchadnezzar a dream of an image which represented the history of the earth from his time forward. The image had a head of gold, which represented Babylon. That was followed by arms and a chest of silver, which signified that Babylon would be conquered by another, inferior country. That, in turn, was followed by the belly and thighs of bronze and legs of iron, representing two more world powers. The fourth empire of iron was not followed by a fifth world empire, but was divided, after which a supernatural Rock destroyed the image and filled the whole earth, representing God’s eternal kingdom. But Nebuchadnezzar decided to make an image, not with just the head of gold, but with the entire image of gold, signifying that Babylon would last forever, regardless of God’s predictions. Nor would there be any stone to smite the image on its feet.

This was in defiance of God. God had said that Babylon would not last forever. Man and his kingdoms and accomplishments are all only temporary. Only God has immortality:

1 Timothy 6:15 "Which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen."

This is what God affirmed to Nebuchadnezzar at the conclusion of His explanation of the dream in Daniel 2.

Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

Nebuchadnezzar Wanted to Be Like God

Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be like God. He supposed that he could sit on the throne of God and establish the eternal city. He supposed that he could command the worship of mankind. He wanted to be the Lord of lords and Kings of kings. Therefore he built an image entirely of gold and erected it on the plain of Dura. Then he assembled all the leaders and governors under his jurisdiction and commanded them to bow down and worship the image when his orchestra began to play.

Daniel 3:1 "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 3 So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then a herald cried aloud: ‘To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; 6 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.’ 7 So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshipped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up."

Who Was Really Being Worshipped?

In light of the fact that many of the prophecies of Revelation are built upon this very story—for believe it or not, this same thing will happen again at the end of earth’s history with only superficial differences—it would be well for us to pay attention to the details of this story. According to Revelation, there will again come someone or some power claiming the prerogatives of God and commanding men and women to worship an image, just as happened in Babylon 2,500 years ago.

Since someday we are going to face the same situation as did the faithful Hebrews in Babylon, let us ask a few questions:

The answer to all of these questions is Nebuchadnezzar himself. It was Nebuchadnezzar who was really being worshipped, for it was he who gave the decree and enforced it. It was his word that had to be obeyed. It was he who the head of gold originally represented, and now it was he who was represented by the entire image being made of gold. This was really an image to Nebuchadnezzar, the king.

Of course, if he had tried to force everyone to bow down to himself personally, they might have refused. Yet in bowing down to the image, they were in reality bowing down and worshipping him. They were yielding themselves to him as his servants.

Romans 6:16 "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?"

Thus the Hebrews were put to the test again, as they were in Daniel 1. Would they obey God or man? God had said in the ten commandments, "You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:4-6).

God had said, "You shall not bow down to any carved image, or any likeness." Nebuchadnezzar had said, "You shall either bow down and worship or be killed." Thus the Hebrews had to choose between obedience to God or death by man. The questions were:

The three faithful Hebrews, who were the associates of Daniel, determined to be true to God. They obeyed the laws of the land as far as they could without violating their conscience. They came to the dedication, which was not against their conscience, knowing that they were walking into a death trap. But when the music began to sound, and all the people bowed down, they remained standing. In that whole congregation, only three people were standing, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

Daniel 3:8 "Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. . . . 12 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up."

They were accused of not paying regard to whom? The image? No. To Nebuchadnezzar. It was his law that was transgressed, his god that was not worshipped. And Nebuchadnezzar was furious. But he tried to be diplomatic. He told them he would give them one more chance.

Now, they could have started to rationalize—I’m sure many of us would have. I know I would have been tempted to. They could have decided to kneel down and pray to their God while everyone else was worshipping the idol. They wouldn’t be worshipping the image, but praying to their God doesn’t that sound like a good solution? Thus they could continue to serve God. But how can a dead person serve God? One of the oldest ploys of the devil is to cause people to adopt pagan customs and give Christian significance to them, thus fooling them into thinking that they are truly serving God, when they are not at all. Today, many pagan customs have crept into the Christian church. Have you ever read anything in the Bible about Easter bunny rabbits laying eggs? Did you know that the Easter bunny and eggs were symbols of the fertility goddess in the old pagan religion? Somehow these pagan customs have adopted Christian garments. Now I’m not condemning anyone or telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t do, I’m merely pointing out some facts.

Why couldn’t these Hebrews have decided to pray to their God while everyone else was worshipping the image? Because God had said not to pray to images. Now they could have knelt down at any other time and in any other place and prayed, but they could not kneel down and pray there, because they would have been bowing down in the direction of the image. They could have rationalized it away all they wanted to, but they would still have been yielding allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and disobeying God.

There are many people who profess to be following the Lord and who really believe they are, but they have deceived themselves. Jesus said that not all who believe themselves to be Christians are going to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ "

These people believed they were following God—they even did many mighty works in His name. But God said He never knew them, because they didn’t obey Him. These were those people who bowed down to human images and obeyed human laws that were in conflict with God’s law.

Nebuchadnezzar did all he could to get these three Hebrews to obey his law. He offered to give them another chance. But they said that they didn’t need another chance.

Daniel 3:17 "If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king."

God is able to deliver us from your hand, O king. But even if He should choose not to, we still choose to obey Him. Dear friends, how would you like to have a faith like that? Well, the king was furious!

Daniel 3:19 "Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Therefore he spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace."

God didn’t deliver them! They were cast into the furnace. They expected that God would somehow prevent them from being thrown in. He would deliver them. But He didn’t.

Daniel 3:22 "Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ 25 ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’ "

Yes, they were delivered. But note that they were not delivered from the fiery furnace, but in the fiery furnace. Many people suppose that God is going to save them from trouble. But He didn’t save the three Hebrews from the fiery furnace. Rather, they were saved within the fire. And God will do the same for you, if you are willing to walk through the furnace for the Lord.

The Bible goes to great length in telling this story, not just to entertain children, but to teach us about prophecy—to teach us about the future. For as we noted earlier, this story is the basis of some of the prophecies of Revelation about the last days. In Revelation 13 we find a despotic power attempting to force the people into worshipping another image.

Revelation 13:11 "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon."

We haven’t discussed beasts yet, but Daniel 7 explains that a beast in Bible prophecy represents some earthly power. We won’t have time tonight to let the Bible reveal whom this beast represents, though we will in a later seminar, but I would like you to notice some of the things that are yet to take place on planet earth.

There will come some power that will cause everyone to worship another beast, a religious beast, a religious power. And again a death penalty is involved. But how is it that this beast will be worshipped? By bowing down before the beast itself? Oh, no! But rather an image will be set up.

Revelation 13:14 "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived."

In Daniel 3, we had an image to Nebuchadnezzar—an image that he set up and forced men to worship. It forced people to choose between obedience to God and obedience to man; between obeying God’s commandments and obeying man’s commandments. And so again there will be an image set up forcing people to choose between the commandments of men and the commandments of God. Down through the ages, repeatedly the test has been between obeying man and obeying God; between following human teachers and obeying human traditions, customs, and religious laws, versus obeying God. And thus it will be in the last days. Look with me at how those are described who do not worship the image of the beast.

The beast power mentioned in Revelation 13 is the same as the Antichrist power that will reign throughout the earth for a short time in the last days because it says concerning this beast power that he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God (Revelation 13:6). This power is against Christ and stands in the place of Christ because it says that all the people in the earth will worship him except the elect (Revelation 13:8.)

Those that do not worship the beast or his image or receive his mark are described in Revelation 14:12, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."

Again, there will be very few who have the faith to follow God or who are willing to stand alone for the Lord. The Bible says that all the world will marvel and follow after the beast and worship his image (Revelation 13:3, 14-16). The reason that only a few will be found to follow the Lord is that it costs something to follow Jesus. It is not always popular to follow Jesus. It does not always appear profitable to follow Jesus. In the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego it required them to give up their lives for the Lord in the burning, fiery furnace. Oh, I realize that they did not burn, but they were thrown into the fire, and God did not save them until after they were thrown in. Would you have been willing to go through that ordeal? I hope so. I will tell you this, if you will obey and follow God today, He will give you the strength and faith for whatever your trial may be tomorrow.

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

If you choose to be faithful to Christ, He will give you courage when you need it. He will give you faith. And He will bring you forth victorious in every situation of life. It was because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were faithful to God in the trials recorded in Daniel 1, when they were expected to eat of food that their conscience forbade them to partake of, that the Lord gave them the strength and faith to go through the greater trial of facing the burning fiery furnace. And the Lord did not forsake them.

God’s promise is, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That promise is only for those that choose to obey Him and accept Him as their Lord and ruler. God says, them that honor Me I will honor. "In thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11. The best place in the whole world for those three Hebrew children to be right then was in the fiery furnace because Jesus was there with them and friend, if you seem to be in a midnight of despair and trouble, if everything seems to be falling apart in your life, if you have problems for which there is no solution then you need Jesus. There is no emergency that is too big for Him. If you choose to follow and obey Him you can never be placed in a situation for which He has not made provision. If you have a terrible past and have committed terrible sins all that means is that you need Jesus more and He says, He that comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. The story of the fiery furnace shows that it is better to lose your job, your family or even your life rather than lose Jesus. Jesus says, if you lose your life for my sake I will give it back to you again.

Friend, you were created for happiness. That is why God created the human family. God wants you to be happy, but this story shows that the only way that your happiness can be insured is to be obedient to the Lord and His law. The greatest happiness if found by those who have a close relationship with the Lord and are obedient to Him. Are you missing out on the greatest experiences of life?

Romans 8:38 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Dear friend, the Lord loves you. He sent His only begotten Son to die for you, that you might not perish but have everlasting life. But you must choose to give Him your heart and to follow wherever He leads. You can trust the hand that was nailed to the cross for you. If you commit your life to Him you can trust Him to never lead you other than you would choose to be led if could see the end from the beginning like He can and know the glory of the purpose that you are fulfilling as coworkers with Him. We would never understand the power of God for His children as we do today if these three young men had not been willing to be obedient and faithful to God no matter what happened.

One Christian writer describes it this way: While the Lord has not promised His people exemption from trials, He has promised that which is far better. He has said, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Deuteronomy 33:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9. If you are called to go through the fiery furnace for His sake, Jesus will be by your side even as He was with the faithful three in Babylon. [God is no respecter of persons] Those who love their Redeemer will rejoice at every opportunity of sharing with Him humiliation and reproach. The love they bear their Lord makes suffering for His sake sweet. . . . In holy vision the prophet saw the triumph of the people of God. He says, "I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory, . . . stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." Revelation 15:2,3; 7:14,15; Mount of Blessing, 30,31.

As you respond to His drawing influence on your heart, He has promised to be your Savior in every situation. He may not deliver you from the fiery furnace, but He will deliver you through it.

Tomorrow night we are going to see one of the great forces that will prepare the world to worship the antichrist in the last days. This force is in the world already and it is doing a stupendous work in influencing the minds of men and although people do not know it they are preparing to worship the antichrist and think that they are worshipping Christ. Tomorrow we will look at Bible prophecy in Daniel and Revelation that will help you to understand events that you read about in newspapers and see on television that very few people today understand. It is a phenomenon that has exploded on our time within the last 30 years and very few people understand it but Bible prophecy predicted it 2000 years ago. The subject for tomorrow night is scary but if you have committed your life to Christ tonight, if you have chosen to follow Him and obey Him who delivered the three Hebrew worthies from the fiery furnace, then you will not have anything to worry about when we look tomorrow evening at some shocking events that are to transpire in our world.

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Last Updated: 06/18/03