In Jer. 27:1-8 is clearly shown that the power of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was ordained of God; nor to him alone; but to his son and his sons son, which is to say, that the power of the Babylonian empire, as an imperial power, was ordained of God. Nebuchadnezzar was plainly called by the Lord, my servant; and the Lord says, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and says that whatever nation of kingdom will not serve the king of Babylon, and will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and will not put their neck under the yoke of the King of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord. Now let us see whether this power was ordained of God in things pertaining to God. In the third chapter of Daniel we have the record that Nebuchadnezzar made a great image of gold, set it up in the plain of Dura, and gathered together the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to the dedication of the image; and they stood before the image that had been set up. Then a herald from the king cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages that . . . . . ye fall down and worship the golden image that the king hath set up. - Dan. 3:4, 5. In obedience to this command all the people bowed down before the image and worshiped, except three Jews. Atheists, they would be called now-a-days, - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. This disobedience on the part of the Jews was reported to Nebuchadnezzar, and he commanded them to be brought before him, and asked them whether it was intentional that they had disobeyed his order, and repeated his command himself direct to them. These men knew that the had been made subjects to the king of Babylon by the Lord himself. It had been prophesied by Isaiah (chapter 39) and by Jeremiah. Yet knowing all this, and having the Scriptures in their hands, they made answer to Nebuchadnezzar thus: O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to 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 hast set up. Then these men were plunged into the fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated; but suddenly Nebuchadnezzar in astonishment rose up in haste and said to his counsel, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered, True O King. But he exclaimed, Lo I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. The men were called forth. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and hath changed the Kings word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God. Here we have demonstrated the following facts: First, God gave power to the kingdom of Babylon. Secondly, he directly subjected his people to that power. Thirdly, he directly, by a wonderful miracle, defended his people from a certain assertion of that power. Does the Lord contradict himself, or oppose himself? Far from it. What then does this show? It shows, conclusively, that this was an undue exercise of the power which God had given. By this it is demonstrated that the power of Babylon, although ordained of God, was not ordained unto any such purpose as that for which it was here exercised, that though ordained of God it was not ordained in things pertaining to mens consciences. And it was written for the instruction of future ages, and for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 13:18:31 +0000
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