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Prophecy Watchers
When the World Demands Worship… What Will You Do? (Daniel 3:1-18 ) | Matt Freeman
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All right, well, I think Mondo did a great job last week on his Palm Sunday message. And I hope all of you got to listen or at least catch up if you weren't here on the recording. So we're going to dive back into Daniel and continue through. Start chapter three this morning and take the first 18 verses of. As a quick reminder from last time, Nebuchadnezzar had that dream and Daniel interpreted it and saved all of the, you know, quote unquote. I'm using air quotes. Prophets in Babylon, but all the astrologers and the occultists and the magicians and the sorcerers and all these people and saved their lives. Nebuchadnezzar gave homage to Daniel and his friends and made them administrators in the empire. Well, now we're going to turn the page of chapter three, and a lot of time has probably passed and some really Nebuchadnezzar goes off the trail, so to speak. So not in a good way. So we're gonna. Let's pray and we'll dive right in here. Father, I just thank you so much for this time together. And Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would fill this place and that, Lord, you would place your mighty hedge of protection around us as a nation and as your people. God, I pray that right now you would speak to us out of the book of Daniel. Lord, we are leaning on your Holy Spirit to give us discernment and wisdom and knowledge and understanding of your word right now. And that, Lord, you would teach us everything. So, Father, thank you again for this time together. Lord, let us not take it for granted that we get the ability to gather together as your people in one accord and to study your word without the threat of persecution or being hunted or murdered for just simply being here to study the Bible. And that is not a privilege in most of the world. And so, God, we do not take it for granted, and we give you thanks for that right now. So, God, be with us this morning as we go through your word and teach us out of it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, so as we're continuing through Daniel, it's one of the most important prophetic books of the Old Testament, and we definitely will need to lean on the Holy Spirit to teach us everything out of it, especially as we continue here and continue through chapter three and get into a lot of the prophecies moving forward. When Daniel sees the beasts out of the sea and the ram and the he goat and all these different things, there's so much imagery that the Lord uses to describe the Gentile world powers from Daniel's day. Looking forward. So as you're reading, if you do any kind of study in the Bible every day, which I hope all of you are at this point, then you definitely need the Holy Spirit to teach you out of the Word of God. And Satan has all of the knowledge of the Bible you can have, but no understanding, because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. And that's where the understanding comes from. And you need the teacher from 1st John 2, 27 and 28 to teach it to you. And then we have the commandment out of Acts 17:11 to be in the Word of God daily. And so I just encourage each of you to make that a part of your daily routine. Now, just as a reminder, Daniel is this unique book in the Old Testament that focuses on the Gentile side of the world. Powers from Nebuchadnezzar all the way through to the Antichrist, whereas most of the Old Testament focuses on Israel. This is the one book that the Lord really shifts his focus and gives so much prophecy about the Gentile nations and the Gentile world powers. And it's in that regard, it's very unique. It has the only chapter in the Bible written by a Gentile king, actually, which is very unique. And we'll see that here probably in the next few weeks. But Daniel has tried to be disproven by people that are scoffers of the Bible for thousands of years. And every time they go after the Book of Daniel and try to disprove it, all they end up doing is proving it more. And it's very interesting. But in 1899 through 1917, there were all these excavations done around Nebuchadnezzar's palace and the Babylonian city surrounding it. And the banquet hall that we'll see in Daniel 5 and later actually was found to be 173ft by 56ft in size, which is huge. And so when we read about it in Daniel, just to give you a scale of that, there's a lot of important archaeological discoveries that have been made in Babylon, which is a literal place next to the Euphrates river in modern day what we would call Iraq, just south of Baghdad. So it's never been completely wiped out. And we'll talk about that as we continue the book as well. Daniel is the beloved prophet of the Old Testament, and Jesus validates him as a prophet Both in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14. He's the only one, the Old Testament, that God calls his greatly beloved The Lord's greatly beloved. And yes, like I've mentioned several times, God loves everyone, there's no doubt. But there's a special relationship between the Lord and Daniel that you also see between the Lord and John the apostle in the New Testament as the disciple whom he loved. It's just a term of endearment and affection in terms of the level of their relationship. Now, Abraham, for example, he was loved by God, but the Lord refers to him as my friend. And it's just a hint of these concentric circles in the Bible that you look at. There's always groups of people that are closer to the Lord than others. And you see that especially in the New Testament with the multitudes, the 700, the 70, the 12. And even inside the 12 there are Peter, James and John, these inside three that kind of had an inside track on a lot of unique things that Jesus did. The rising of Jairus daughter and these different supernatural events, the mount transfiguration, Andrew joined them in that. So he got an inside look there. But it's just important to recognize that the closer you get to God, the more opportunity you have to be involved and to know what his plans are and what he's doing. And it's, it's a level of trust that he has with you in, in the relationship. Now Those are the three verses that God calls Daniel the greatly beloved, 9, 23 verse, chapter 10, verse 11, and Daniel 10, verse, verse 19. And so those are referenced there for you. He's also spoken of in Ezekiel, which I've always found really fascinating, that God attributes when he's going to wipe out Jerusalem and the city of Israel before all of their rebellion and idolatry. He attributes three individuals as being very righteous in the Old Testament, that even if they lived there, it would not spare the city. So he goes through Noah, Daniel and Job. And you know, you've learned a lot about those guys. But Job, especially the Lord at that time, at the beginning of Job says there were none more righteous than he in all the earth. And so God's attributing a very high level of accomplishment, so to speak, in terms of their relationship to Noah, Daniel and Job, in that even if they were there, they would not spare the city. So that's really interesting. The Bible has nothing bad to say about Daniel, and which is, which is quite a feat. I've been going through my daily reading through Ecclesiastes and First Kings right now, and first and Second Kings, I should say. And you can see when Solomon, for example, just makes the wrong turn and it's in Second Kings. And then all of a sudden you see the Lord start to talk about him very differently. And that never happens with Daniel. So the first six chapters are historical with some visions. And we're going to start chapter three today, which is the famous chapter about the fiery furnace. Chapter 7 through 12 are prophetic chapters with a little bit of history. So they, they're really the heavy prophecy part of the book is really kind of the back half of it, whereas the first six chapters are more historical in nature. Now remember, these are not in chronological order. So 1 through 4 are in chronological order of events. Chapter 7 then is next, then 8, then it's back to 5, then back to 9, and it kind of gets scrambled at the end. So as we move forward through the chapters, just keep in mind that the way the book is laid out is not necessarily in the order of the events as they occurred. Okay, and here's our chart again. The first, second and third siege of Jerusalem. It's really important as you study Bible prophecy to understand the servitude of the nations and the desolation of Jerusalem as it lays out with the first, second and third siege of Jerusalem with Nebuchadnezzar. So the decree of Cyrus is what starts. That's when Cyrus comes in as the Persian general takes over Babylon and his decree to go rebuild the temple ends the servitude of the nation, whereas the desolation of Jerusalem ends with the decree of Artaxerxes to go rebuild the city and the wall. But that decree is what triggers the start of the 70 weeks of Daniel from chapter nine. And that's a very, very critical thing to understand in Bible prophecy, which we'll spend a lot of time on when we get there in chapter nine. This is that picture of the image we've been looking at that Nebuchadnezzar had in chapter two. So remember, you had Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and then Rome in two phases, or the divided Roman Empire, or the Antichrist kingdom, simply where Jesus comes back as the stone cut without hands and shatters the feet of the image and destroys all Gentile rulership over the earth from there forward for all of eternity. A gentile power will never rule the earth again at that moment all the way for the rest of time. That is, at that point you could consider, I guess, non existent, so to speak. But the stone cut without hands will come back and set up his kingdom that will fill the earth. Now, time will exist obviously in the millennium because there's A thousand years and eternity afterwards, because the tree of life gives its fruit for 12, one different type of fruit every month through the year. And so God still tracks time, it's just, it never ends. Which is interesting. Okay, so in chapter three, verse one here, so remember, some time has passed and we don't know exactly how long from the close of chapter two to the start of chapter three. So that's kind of important to understand. There's has to be some amount of time that's passed because remember Daniel and his friends came with the interpretation in chapter two and really wowed Nebuchadnezzar. And so he was, he was really surprised that Daniel not only could tell him the interpretation of the dream, but tell him the dream, the details of the dream. And so he's really surprised. He pays homage to Daniel. Remember he, he praises and worships Daniel at the end of chapter two when really he needed to worship the God of Daniel. And he puts Daniel and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Sorry, I started to say their Babylonian names. I'm trying to get everyone to not to say their Babylonian names, but Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, he set them over the affairs of Babylon and set them as administrators. And we're going to see actually historical evidence of that here towards the end of this message. But some time has passed. Nebuchadnezzar now does something that he shouldn't have done. And so the king, starting in verse one, 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. So the first thing you should keep in mind here is that the dimensions of this image have three sixes in them. So three score cubits would be 60 and then six, six cubits. So you have six, six, six here. And what you have is this image. It's really weird. He makes this image and he doesn't really say what it is necessarily. He doesn't say if it's a picture of a man, it's something very tall and slender. Okay? So he tries to unify the religions of his empire by this self deification. And a lot of people assume, and maybe rightfully so, that he's demanding worship of himself because it's made of gold. And the image he saw in the dream where he was the head of gold, and so that's the thought, is that he's making an image of himself. Now we know this will be repeated It's a typology, so to speak, by the final world dictator, the Antichrist. Because when the false prophet makes an image of the beast and he commands the world to worship him and worship the image, so the final world dictator is the last head of the gentile world dominion. Okay? And you see this in Revelation 13, starting in verse 11. And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns. Those are the ten kings we've talked about. And as pawn as heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard. Now Daniel sees this in Daniel chapter seven, but in the reverse order. In terms of the animals, John is looking backwards in time and seeing it from Daniel's age being the last of it, not the first. If you compare those chapters side by side, it'll make a lot of sense. But the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard. And his feet were, were as the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. So the dragon being Satan obviously. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death. And his deadly wound was healed. And all the world wondered after the beast. So this is the false, the false Messiah, the Antichrist. And receiving a deadly wound. And he will be have a false resurrection so which will deceive the entire world. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. And they worshiped the beast saying who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And which is a really silly question because the king of kings will make war with him and wipe him out. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy and, and power was given unto him to continue 40 and two months. So three and a half years. When you see in the, in the Bible the tribulation is broken up into seven. It's a seven year period, two halves of three and a half years, 42 months or 1260 days. Remember, God's calendar is always 360 day years. So do you take 42 months times 30? You get the 1260. So just keep that in mind if you're, when you're studying that in the Bible, God does not change that. He sees it as 1260 constantly. But the false prophet is going to have some kind of image made to the Antichrist and demand that the entire world bows and worships Him. And if you don't, then you're martyred and you're. And you're beheaded, basically. You're hunted and killed. And I even remember growing up, you know, as a kid in the 80s and the 90s, you read that and you would. And you think just logically, physically, how would that happen? You know, if you. If some guy over in the Middle east somewhere set up an image and demanded that us in Oklahoma bow down and worship it? How would he ever know if that happened or didn't happen? And now you can obviously see how he would know. Quantum computing, cameras everywhere. Heck, maybe robots at this point, who knows, Walking around, maybe it's Optimus, the new Tesla robot is just going to walk around and monitor everything, have no idea. But you can clearly see how it will happen. And AI and the onslaught of that, processing all of that data instantaneously to know who's bowing and who's not. So look at chapter seven in Daniel, verse eight. Now, I considered the horns and beheld, there came up among them another little horn. So the little horn is the antichrist in Daniel 7, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the root. So those are three of the ten kings that the Antichrist takes down. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, of man, and a mouth speaking great things. It's interesting that it's eyes like the eyes of a man, but not a man, which just makes you really think. You can get your head spinning there, thinking through that. So look at Revelation 19:20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophets. So when Jesus comes back at Armageddon, wipes out his enemies at Armageddon, the blood fills the valley of Jehoshaphat up to the horse's bridle. And Jesus then takes the Antichrist and the false prophet, and he does not. This is so interesting in this verse, because he doesn't cast them into the. Not the lake of fire, but the bottomless pit, so to speak, waiting until the end of the millennium to be resurrected. He goes, they go, straight to the lake of fire, Gehenna. So with him, the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image, these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So there's some speculation there that because they're not resurrected, the second death or second resurrection at the end of the millennium, which is the great white throne judgment in Revelation at the end of that, all humans are resurrected through judgment there, who have been in the bottomless pit waiting for that time, and they're judged and then they're thrown in the lake of fire. They skip that. And they're not resurrected at the end of the millennium, the Antichrist and the false prophet. So it leads some to believe that that might be just a hint that they are not truly human. There's some kind of angelic hybrid or something, some kind of a fallen angel or something that's doing this. And again, I'm not saying that's true or not. I'm just saying that's where people get that, that idea, which very well could be. But the image that Nebuchadnezzar makes is made completely of gold. And he gets that. A lot of people think he gets that because he was the head of gold. And so he's trying to say, hey, my kingdom will last forever and I'm going to build this image that's all of gold. Forget what the Lord of the universe said, there won't be these other gentile powers. I'm building an image that's all of gold and I'm going to make everyone bow down and work, worship it. So one question, just as an engineer, how did the image stand? Its height's 10 times its width, which is curious. So we can engineer that today. But just think about back in, you know, 600 BC or so. That's. That's a unique feat. That ratio of height being 10 times the width is. That happens to be the same ratio as the Washington Monument. When I was looking this up, and if you do some math on, the Washington monument is roughly 555ft and a couple inches. I took off the inches, but roughly 555ft tall. And it's 55ft wide at the base. The 555ft tall, if you do the math, times 12, it has a lot of sixes in it. But in any case, the image of gold is described as being 60 cubits or about 90ft, roughly by 6 cubits or about 9ft wide. So pretty tall. The Hebrew word for the image implies an image in the very broadest sense. So an image, broadly speaking, some type of image. And it's not just. It doesn't describe enough. Is it a statue of a man? Is it an obelisk like the Washington Monument, or an obelisk like the Washington Monument? Is it something else from ancient times? We don't really know. It probably was in human form, but it may have been A pillar with a pedestal that the human part of the statue set on top of it. That's one way to kind of think about it. And I'm just trying to give you some ideas to think through this and think about maybe what they saw. But the proportions of 6 by 60, it's obviously too tall and skinny to be looking like a normal human. Human if the whole thing was a human figure. So just think about that. The, the image like I mentioned may have been on a pedestal really, really high. Okay, so in verse two here, the Nebuchadnezzar was the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Up. So Nebuchadnezzar is trying to bring all the rulers to this dedication of this image, but will then make, after they dedicate it, he's going to make everyone bow to it. So there's kind of a two step process he's going through. They're going to hold this big party to glorify this idol, which obviously is a big mistake. And we'll see in chapter four that it is a big mistake. Then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, 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. So they're all standing there. Then an herald cried aloud to you. It is commanded, O people, nations and languages. So this is interesting. All of the people, nations and languages were commanded to bow. So it seems to imply that it may have been more than just a local issue there in Babylon. This may have been something again which would add to the typology of the tribulation time of the entire world having to bow to this image. But it may be a reference to all of the different nations that Nebuchadnezzar had conquered and the different nations and languages being assimilated in the nation. That's another way, another possibility that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, harp, the sackbut, the sultry, the dulcimer and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. Now, I don't know if maybe the worship team would let Me play the sackbut in the, with the team. I have no idea what kind of instrument that is, but it's referenced in the Bible so many times we have to do some research in archeology and figures out what in the world they're talking about. But it likely took some time after chapter two, like I mentioned for the astrologers and the occultic practicing people of Babylon to kindle the pride of Nebuchadnezzar to get him to this point, because he was, he was really in shock at the end of chapter two and so he's gone far away from where he was. And it should be a lesson for all of us to be very leery of what anyone around you is saying and speaking into your life. To whom gets the credit and the glory should be the Lord at all times, no matter what, no matter what is going on in your life, what accomplishment you have, how hard you're working at something or whatever it is, God gets the glory. And that's the truth. Okay, in verse six, and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Okay, so that's the punishment if you don't bow down now to this image. Now this is an echo of Revelation 13 in the worship of the beast in the final seven year period of Gentile ruling history. Okay, Bow or burn, it's bow or die. So it's interesting that everything Satan does is a counterfeit because there will be a time that if you have not bowed to Jesus beforehand, then you will burn for all eternity. And that's interesting to me. But therefore at that time in verse seven here, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. So they're trying to, they're doing this. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. Now why would they accuse the Jews? Not only because they would not bow, but because they proved in chapter two that their God, our God, is superior to any of their gods. And from Revelation 12:10, Satan is always an accuser of the brethren. And I heard a loud voice saying, in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser, our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. So be very careful when people start accusing other Christians of things, you just, you have to be very careful with that. Accusations and people throwing out accusations about people is very dangerous. And it's satanic. Satan is. Is an accuser of the brethren. Do not be an accuser. Be someone. If you see someone that's going through something or in need, come alongside them, pray with them, ask them if they're okay, come and help them. That's what brothers and sisters should be doing. Verse 9. Here they spake and said to the king, nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. Thou, O king, has made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flight, flute, harp, sackbut, sultry and dulcimer and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. So they're reminding him. So this gives a hint that they likely wrote the decree and convinced the king of enforcing it. And we're going to see that same thing in future chapters of Daniel when Persia conquers Babylon and the whole lion's den event, okay? Because the people, the same, these same astrologers and magicians and occultic practices, people make the Persian king write this decree of not bowing to the God of heaven and earth, and otherwise they'll be thrown into the lion's den. And so they convinced the Persian king to do this in the future. So they likely convinced Nebuchadnezzar to do this somehow. And they're reminding him of what decree he had made. So it probably was a setup just to get the Jewish people killed, is is my guess in verse 11. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Now, there are certain Jews in verse 12. Here there are certain Jews whom thou has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Again, they're Babylonian names. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up. So they were elevated in the kingdom and rewarded for what happened in the previous chapters. These three friends of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Okay, here are their names again. They found favor with the king until pride took control of Nebuchadnezzar. Hananiah's name in Hebrew means beloved of the Lord. Lord, they named him Shadrach, which is illuminated by the sun God Mishael. His name means who is God in Hebrew. Meshech in Babylon means who is like unto the moon God Azariah. In Hebrew means the Lord is my help. And Abednego means servant of Nego, or shining fire. So they changed their names to all of these Babylonian false, false God names when their Jewish names had such deep meaning to the God of the Bible. Now, in the Istanbul Museum, there's a clay prism, there's a link at the bottom of your notes if you want to go check this out. But there's a clay prism on display that likely describes these three Jewish men. Found on the list is the name Ardnai Nabu, who was an official of the royal prince. And that name is the equivalent to the Aramaic name Abednego. So that's interesting and may in fact be the first mention of one of Daniel's friends outside of the Bible. Another name found on the list is Hanunan. He was the commander of the king's merchants. And the name Hanun may be the Babylonian equivalent for the Hebrew name Hananiah. And another name on the list was, was Meshullam Marduk, who was an official to Nebuchadnezzar. Now, Marduk was the name of this Babylonian God that they worshiped. And if Marduk was left off the name, you'd wind up with Meshilam, which is referred to Mishael. So it's just interesting that they found this clay prism with these three friends names on it and what their titles were back in Babylon, in Nebuchadnezzar's court. And that's really, that is so fascinating to me. So in verse 13 here, the Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. So Nebuchadnezzar spake. So he's, you know, flustered with anger, right? These three won't bow to your image. Bring them here. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, is it true? O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up. Now, there may be a play on words here with Nebuchadnezzar thinking that he has control in some aspect here. And if you study people in modern times that are messing with occultic demonic practices, one of the things you'll find that some of them have in common is that they think they have control in some way over this demon or this spirit. And they're directing them and they don't. They're the ones being controlled. But look what Nebuchadnezzar says, do not ye serve my gods? It's kind of a hint. It's subtle, but it's a hint that he thinks he's in control of these somehow. Now, in verse 15, now, if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harpsack, but psaltery and dulciner and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, so if you do that, well, we'll be with you. But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God? What an interesting accusation. Who's that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? It's the same accusation that Yuval Noah Harari in the World Economic Forum makes in modern times. Who is that God of Abraham? All he's done is. And he makes these lists and he goes down these tangents criticizing what the God of the Bible has done in creation, in creating mankind, in how he's formed the earth, the fact that when there's judgment, he can stop rain from happening. And Yuval Noah Harari comes out and says, well, in the Old Testament, you know, we disobeyed God. Droughts would occur and famines. And now we've got that figured out with cloud seeding and making synthetic meat and all these other, you know, wicked practices that they do. But it's the same question, who's that God? And that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we serve and who by and only by is salvation attributed. It's interesting how the enemies of the Lord seem to ask that question a lot. So think of all the scoffers in our modern times who question the authority of Jesus and the fact that he's going to return. As Peter talks about in the last days, there will be scoffers saying, where is the promise of his coming? You know, who's that God? He doesn't intervene in the affairs of men. That's the accusation. So in verse 16 here, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. In other words, we will not hold our tongue or mince words. So these three young Jewish guys are bold in their faith, and they're standing there and going, hey, we will not hold back our answer to you. And this is the truth. And in verse 17, if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to Deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou has set up. So what they're telling him is we don't know if God is going to save us or not. We know he's capable, but if he allows us to be martyred for our faith, then so be it. But we will not bow down to your images and your false gods. And that same stance has to be the stance that you and I take in modern times today, that I don't care what you threaten us with. The worst thing you can do is take my life and I'll be in the arms of Jesus instantaneously. So go ahead. That's the. That's the absolute worst thing man can do to you, is kill you. And at that point, you're going to enter glory and eternity with the Lord forever, which wouldn't be that bad, you know, at this point. So I think that you're. You're just fine staying on the. On the winning team side and not denouncing the king of kings, but their commitment, their content, they are content with the entire outcome, no matter what it is. Now, one thing I want you to think about. Where was Daniel in this whole thing? So Daniel is this young Jewish man. He's the leader of the four of them. He's the one set up over as all the affairs of Babylon and what's going on in Nebuchadnezzar's court and his kingdom and all that. But he's conspicuously absent in this whole discourse. It doesn't mean he wasn't there, but it does. The Holy Spirit has intentionally written the text so that Daniel is not there. So here you have, in this chapter to start, chapter three, someone acting like the Antichrist, making an image, demanding that the entire world bow to it or die. You have Jewish people that are not bowing to it, but being. We'll see as we continue. Chapter three. And you all know the story, but they are preserved through the fire. So. And then you have someone who's beloved of God that's not there, not present in the whole thing. So it's a. The whole event is a typology of the Church, the tribulation, and the Jewish people being preserved through it. Just like Romans declares, it's the time of Jacob's trouble, but he will be saved out of it in Jeremiah. And they're preserved through the tribulation. Now we know, in Zechariah 11, not all of them are preserved. Two out of three Jews died during the Tribulation. But the Jewish people, the nation, and those that accept the Lord, they are preserved through the Tribulation. So that's pretty amazing. This whole event is a typology of that. Okay, so Daniel, you know, he was this captive young man in a society that was aggressively against his God. And it's exactly where you and I are today. And all the way back from in chapter one, he wouldn't eat the demonic things that they were sacrificing to idols. He would not partake in their wicked satanic practices. And so if you fast forward today, he wasn't even present at the golden statue, this golden image event, and we're going to see later, he doesn't stop praying to his God when he's commanded to. He doesn't fear the lion's den. And at the end of the day, he faced the exact same question that you and I do, which is, who will you serve? And what are you going to do with your life? Now, in my daily reading, we've got just a couple extra minutes here. So in my daily reading, I was reading through Proverbs recently, and listen to this in Proverbs 4, 7, 9. This isn't in your notes, but the Lord reminded me of it this morning. If you were here. Back then, we went through the inheritance and rewards study, and we talked a lot about the crown of glory. This is amazing. The crown of glory is mentioned in Proverbs chapter 4, Wisdom. This is starting in verse 7, 7 through 9. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give thine head, an ornament of grace. A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. That is amazing that that is in Proverbs. And I don't. I didn't go back and look when we were studying in the inheritance Rewards study. I don't remember if we pulled out these verses or not during that time. We very well may have, but it's been several years, which has felt like an eternity, but it's been a few years since we went through it. But that is incredible wisdom. So what about wisdom? Well, Proverbs 8, 13, 21, if you read Proverbs, wisdom and counsel and understanding, it all turns into personal pronouns in the Book of Proverbs, which I've always found fascinating. It's obviously speaking of Jesus. But Starting in chapter 8, verse 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogancy. The evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. Counsel is mine that's speaking of Jesus. And sound wisdom I am understanding that's Jesus. I have strength, that's Jesus by me. Kings reign and princes decree justice by me. Princes rule and nobles even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me. And those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment. That I may cause those that love me to inherit, inherit in eternity forever substance. And I will fill their treasures. The crown of glory and wisdom in allowing the Lord to take control of your life. That's the call and the call for each one of us to live in a world that's hostile to our king, that we do not bow down to it. And that's what each one of us has to keep in mind. So Father, we just come before you right now. And Lord, I thank you so much again for this time together. God and I thank you for the book of Daniel. I thank you for your holy spirit. Lord Jesus, we pray that you would give us wisdom and understanding and knowledge of all things, Jesus, because you are wisdom and you are truth and you alone are understanding. You alone raised up kings and decree justice and righteousness in the earth. And so right now we are praying that over the world right now, in the United States, in Israel, in Iran, in Iraq, in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt and the uae, in Turkey, Lord, in Russia and Ukraine, in Europe. Lord, there is a very evil spirit encroaching upon the earth right now that seeks to change times and seasons. And Lord, right now by the blood of Jesus, we are pleading over the doorframes of our lives and the lives of your people all over this planet. That God you would protect them, that you would give them strength, that you would anoint them with the oil of gladness, that God you would lead them in truth and be a light unto their feet. And God, let your word go to the ends of the earth and back. And God, we pray that many millions and perhaps even billions Lord would come in to know you during this time of seeing your hand move in a mighty way before you call us home in the rapture of the church, Lord, whenever that may be, we pray for peace upon the earth. Until then, because Lord Jesus, you are the Prince of peace. And God, we pray that you would settle the matter as only you can. Lord, we are so thankful for the blessings that we have here in the United States. And God, we pray that you would let Babel enter into the camp of the enemy. There'd be no more shootings. That Lord, there'd be no more terrorist plots. That God, you would diffuse the situation literally. And that Lord, they would fear your name and run in terror because the King of Kings has set his throne over this land and God upon this land. We are pleading the blood of Jesus. And that your hedge of protection, Lord, would be around every side of this nation. And that, Lord, this would be a place where the generation behind us would seek your face. And they would be raised up to new life. And that you would breathe into them the spirit of the living God. And that, Lord, they would not be confused of their identity any longer. But God, they would find their identity on the rock that is Jesus and be unmoved and unshakable to carry out exactly what you have of them. So God, we thank you again and we just pray that you'd be with us right here next Sunday, Lord, as we gather together around your word to celebrate your arrival as the King of Kings. In Jesus's name, Amen. Amen.