Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, King of the world, built a great statue of gold. On the day the statue was dedicated, the king gave an order to fall down and worship the idol when the music played. This event was so momentous that the king gathered all the governors of his empire to come pay homage to himself and his new statue. Among the witnesses of the event were three Jews by the name of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. They were given the same order as everyone else—at the sound of the music, fall down and worship the idol. The penalty for anyone’s disobedience (i.e., not worshiping the idol) was to be cast immediately into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1-18).
There was a dilemma here similar to one found in Daniel 6—honor God or honor the king. Believers are to be subject to governments since they are instituted by God (Romans 13:1f), but what about when they give orders contrary to the law of God? In those cases, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego stood boldly before the king and said, “No.” Knowing the command of the king and the punishment to follow for breaking the command, they were believers and would not violate the law of God. We, also, must boldly stand against the king and his fiery furnace when he commands us to violate the law of God.
[A fiery furnace may not await the children of God who opt to obey God rather than men when God’s laws and man’s laws collide head on. However, other inconvenient, hurtful or even catastrophic consequences may afflict God’s children when they dutifully and loyally defer in their submission to God rather than to mere mortals. While Christians should not troll for trouble, neither ought they to waver when this kind of trouble assaults them. Incidentally, just because saints cannot conscientiously conform to one or more laws that violate biblical instructions for us today, they are not excused from complying with all other laws, irrespective of whether we agree with them. ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
