Children's time: Daniel 3
Props: 3 signs, one saying “the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up” one saying “furnace of blazing fire,” and one saying “ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” We practiced saying the names aloud. As I came to that phrase in the text, I would hold up the appropriate sign, and the children would say the phrase.
King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue and set it up in Babylon . Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent for the princes, governors, judges, and accountants to come to the dedication of the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.So the princes, governors, judges, and accountants came for the dedication of the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up . When they were standing before the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, the herald proclaimed “Hear ye, hear ye, peoples and nations and languages: When you hear the sound of the horn, harp, and drum or any music at all, You are commanded to fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire."
So as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, harp, and drum or any music at all, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Some Chaldeans said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, harp, and drum or any music at all shall fall down and worship the golden statue and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.
Three Jews who work for you, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, pay no heed to you, O king. They do not serve your gods and they do not worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in and said to them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego , that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up?
Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, harp, and drum or any music at all to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend God. If the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, let God deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up."
Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So the men were tied up, still wearing their clothes and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Because the king's command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, all tied up, into the furnace of blazing fire.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king." He replied, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god." Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, " Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego , servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the princes and governors saw that the three weren't burnt: their hair was not singed, their clothes were not harmed, and they didn't even smell like smoke.
Nebuchadnezzar said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,who has sent his angel and delivered his servants. They disobeyed me and risked their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way." Then the king gave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego big promotions in the province of Babylon.
In Romans, Paul writes to Christians who think they don't need to follow any law of the land, just the law of God. Claudius is the ruler during Paul's lifetime, a kind ruler, compared to those before and after him (Caligula and Nero). Claudius let the Jews worship in relative freedom. Paul is eager for the Christians to thrive in Rome, and so in Romans 13 (NRSV) he says “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities… those authorities that exist have been instituted by God; whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed; For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; …if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them-- taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.”
Can you see how any government figure would love these words of Paul's? “We rule because God has appointed us. If God didn't appoint us, we wouldn't be your rulers.” One government wrote its preamble with great humility: “ In humble submission to Almighty God, who controls the destinies of nations and the history of peoples; who gathered our forebears together from many lands and gave them this their own; who has guided them from generation to generation; who has wondrously delivered them from the dangers that beset them.”
It sounds generous enough, until you find out that this is from the constitution of South Africa , when apartheid was the law of the land. By claiming God controls the destiny of nations, they could claim that God destined them to have the power. Under apartheid, blacks or Asians or people of mixed race could not run businesses or own property in most of the country. They were forced to live in the homelands and townships, small areas on poor soil. Their property was confiscated, and the fathers who did have jobs outside the homelands were not allowed to live with their families.
And that sort of thing can happen here. It did. Some of you know that President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 (May 28). Part of Jackson 's campaign platform was removing all Southeastern Indians, even though a Cherokee chief had saved his life in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1812. Indians who had always lived on the east coast were going to be moved west of the Mississippi . The Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles lost their land. Thousands of Indians died on the long walk to what is now Oklahoma and Arkansas. Those walks are called the Trail of Tears.
Some of you are old enough to remember what happened to Japanese-Americans and Aleuts during World War II. The lucky ones had a curfew imposed, and could only travel to and from work. Most were ordered from their homes and placed in interment camps; they lost their businesses and homes.
I wanted to remind you of instances where the state was responsible for evil acts, depriving innocent people of property and livelihoods, so they could not buy or sell anything. I hope this prepares you for our reading today. For me, Revelation, especially chapter 13, is about identifying evil. Notice what the beast has control of in our text. Two weeks ago, we left Revelation 12 with the angry dragon on the beach, ready to attack the winged-woman's children, the ones who obey God's commandments and witness to Jesus.
We continue with John's Revelation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Revelation 13. (NRSV)
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed.
In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.
Let anyone who has an ear listen: If you are to be taken captive, into captivity you go; if you kill with the sword, with the sword you must be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all; and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived; and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.
This ends our reading of God's word.
What does 666 mean? By a common Hebrew numerology, the name Nero adds up to 666. Sort of like, if you know Roman numerals, the word mix, MIX, would add up to 1,009. So I am persuaded the beast is supposed to be Nero. Nero was a much harsher ruler than Claudius was. Nero was a tyrant who killed Christians and Jews, prevented them from worship, and kept them poor. But the beast is much more than just Nero; its many heads and diadems represented all sorts of oppressive governments.
Also, 7 is the perfect number, so 666 misses being perfect three times. I don't believe the number 666 is evil, though; I don't think Christians should fear having three successive sixes in a telephone number, address, or license plate.
The other question this chapter brings up is “What is the mark of the beast?” The beast required the people to worship it; people interested in making a living had to have the beast's mark. The beast controlled buying and selling. And the mark of the beast has a Hebrew connection; in the apocrypha, 3 Maccabees tells how King Ptolemy tried to make the Jews perform pagan sacrifices. He decreed they register and be branded with the ivy-leaf of Dionysus; if they wanted to worship in their own sanctuaries, they had to make sacrifices on his behalf. If they didn't register, they could be killed. (1)The Jews bravely refused to worship idols.
We heard from the story in Daniel that brave Jews continued to disobey laws requiring idol worship. King Nebuchadnezzar told all the peoples, languages, and nations to worship the golden statue he had set up. The beast in Revelation was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation. People asked "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?"
It was a rhetorical question; their answer was “No one is like the beast, no one can fight it. We might as well give in and do the best we can.” John's answer is of course, “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” I expect the Christians living under Nero and Domitian found comfort in reading the horrible description of the beast which exposed the corruption of the state. Revealing evil for what it is helps us withstand evil, and recognize that oppression and persecution are not part of God's plan for us. Naming what is evil is a powerful act of resistance, even if the evil succeeds in its plan, like the evil done to Native Americans almost two centuries ago.
Davy Crockett, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster spoke on behalf of the Cherokees. So did some of the Presbyterian missionaries who worked with the Five Civilized Tribes. Pastor Samuel Austin Worcester and 11 other pastors published a resolution in protest of the president's removal act; they were all arrested. The tribes walked the Trail of Tears. It is a part of our history that we have to know and remember. I value the way those pastors held to the gospel in the face of the president of the United States of America . It is not easy to resist your country's government; it is rare for a country to admit it was wrong; we know presidents aren't good at doing that either.
Judges are sometimes braver than presidents. During the internment of Japanese Americans, in 1944, Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy wrote: “I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States." http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/intern05.htm )
Sometimes a country does acknowledge the truth, even when it is shameful. In 1988, the US passed a Civil Liberties Act. It acknowledged the injustice of the evacuation, relocation, and internment of Japanese-Americans and Aleuts during World War II. It apologized on behalf of the country, and provided funds for restitution, and funds to inform the public about the internment of such individuals so as to prevent the recurrence of any similar event.
And sometimes governments can see the writing on the wall, and end their oppression. South African church leaders wrote the Kairos Document, critiquing the state theology that implied God had ordained the whites to be in power and the blacks to be in townships. They named the evil: “the state theology that blesses injustice, canonizes the will of the powerful and reduces the poor to passivity, obedience and apathy.” (chapter 2 of the Kairos Document,www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/SAKairos.html ). I've seen that kind of theology. It tempts us. We so want God to be in charge, to know that God's plan is working, that we close our eyes and ears to injustice and evil. We can convince ourselves that we are being faithful when we believe things are the way God means them to be. And if we can't believe that, it's because we just don't have enough faith.
It reminded me of this joke.“A minister, visiting the home of a blind parishioner, found him in an angry mood, and asked him what had upset him. ‘Well pastor, ‘the man replied, ‘I've been blind all my life, and I've learned to live with it. But I can't stand these people who tell me that if I had more faith, I could be healed.' The pastor replied, ‘The next time someone tells you that, poke them with your white cane. Then tell them if they had more faith, that wouldn't hurt .'” (Fellowship of Merry Christians, October 2004, p. 6).
Apartheid is no longer the law of the land in South Africa . It is still a troubled country, but the nation has moved toward truth and justice, repentance and reconciliation. They are searching for God's shalom. In the story from Daniel, I though it was interesting that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told the king that “We don't need to make a defense. If our God is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, let God deliver us. But if God does not deliver us, we still won't serve your gods and we won't worship the statue.” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego weren't interested in testing God, or proving God. They trusted God, no matter what happened.
This is my last sermon on Revelation until next summer. I expect some of you feel like applauding in relief. I do some days, too. I knew so little about the book, my learning curve was steep. But we live in a time of false prophets, when people will tell us what we must believe, and we need to hear the message of Revelation: endure, and have faith.
(1)3 Maccabees 2:25 When [Ptolemy] arrived in Egypt , he increased in his deeds of malice, abetted by the previously mentioned drinking companions and comrades, who were strangers to everything just. 26 He was not content with his uncounted licentious deeds, but even continued with such audacity that he framed evil reports in the various localities; and many of his friends, intently observing the king's purpose, themselves also followed his will. 27 He proposed to inflict public disgrace on the Jewish community, and he set up a stone on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription: 28 "None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves. Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death; 29 those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status." 32 But the majority acted firmly with a courageous spirit and did not abandon their religion; and by paying money in exchange for life they confidently attempted to save themselves from the registration. 33 They remained resolutely hopeful of obtaining help, and they abhorred those who separated themselves from them, considering them to be enemies of the Jewish nation, and depriving them of companionship and mutual help.
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