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Part Four of Seven
by
A. T. Jones
(All emphasis added)
Chapters Eight - Nine
The principle taught to Babylon
God had delivered His people from Egypt, and united them to Himself in order that they might be separated from all the nations. And having brought them out of Egypt, and joined them to Himself, He said of them, "The people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations". Numbers 13:9 [23:9]. [But] it was only by remaining faithful to their union with God that they could be separated from all nations. Exodus 33:16.
Israel was then the church - the "church in the wilderness". Acts 7:38. That church was united with God in solemn covenant, upon which the LORD said, "I was married unto you", and, "I was an Husband unto them". [Jeremiah 3:14; 31:32] Thus was the church united to God. And in this there was a complete separation of church and state.
But Israel was unfaithful to God. She rejected Him and set up a state and thus formed a union of church and state. The result was the complete ruin of the state which they had formed, the scattering of the people into captivity among the nations and the desolation of their land. In their captivity and their trouble they sought the LORD in contrition, and joined themselves again in faithfulness to Him. And this brought them back to their original position as the church only, and so to their original condition of total separation of church and state.
God had planted Israel - His church - in Canaan to be the light of the world and to give the knowledge of the true God, as at that time, and for ages afterward, Palestine was the pivot of the known world. By their being faithful to Him and having Him abide with them, He intended that they should influence all the nations for good. But they revolted and became not only "like all the nations", but even worse than the heathen. Therefore the land became sick of them and spewed them out, as it had spewed out the heathen before them. Leviticus 18:25,28; 20:22.
As by their apostasy and union of church and state, Israel had frustrated God's purpose to enlighten all nations by them in the land where He had planted them, He would fulfil His purpose, nevertheless, and, separating them again entirely from the state, would enlighten all the nations by them in the lands where He had scattered them.
Israel, by being like all the nations, had lost the power to arrest and command the attention of all the nations, that the nations might know God and be taught of Him. Nevertheless, God would now use them to enlighten those who under Him, had acquired the power to arrest and command the attention of all the nations. Thus by them still He would bring to all the nations the knowledge of the true God, and teach them that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will". Daniel 4:17. This is the whole philosophy of the captivity and subjection of Israel and Judah to Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
God conveyed to the kings and people of these mighty empires, the knowledge of Himself, and of His truth for people and kings. And as we have found over and over again in these studies that the separation of religion and the state is one of the fundamental principles of the truth of God for kings and nations, this is one of the great truths [He] taught to the kings and people of these great empires. And this instruction was written out in the word of God for the instruction of all kings and people until the world's end.
In the second year of his reign, alone, to king Nebuchadnezzar there was shown in a dream a great image, whose head was of gold, his breast and arms of silver, his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, and his feet and toes part of iron and part of clay. [Daniel 2]. By the word of the LORD through Daniel this was explained to Nebuchadnezzar as signifying the course of empires from that time until the end of the world.
This dream was given to Nebuchadnezzar because that, while upon his bed, thoughts came into his mind as to "what should come to pass hereafter". [Daniel 2:29]. From what came to pass afterwards with him, it is evident that his thoughts upon that question were to the effect that the mighty kingdom of Babylon, which he ruled - the head of gold - would in its greatness and glory continue on and on indefinitely. To correct this view, and to show him the truth was the purpose of the dream.
The instruction in the dream, through the divine interpretation, was that the golden glory of his kingdom would continue but a little while, and then another would arise, inferior to his, and another, and another, and then there would be division, with all these descending in a regular scale of inferiority. And then, at last, "the God of heaven" would "set up a kingdom", and this alone would be the kingdom that should stand forever and not be given to other people. [Daniel 2:44].
But Nebuchadnezzar would not accept this view of the subject.
Accordingly, he formulated his own idea in a great image, about a hundred feet tall, all of gold from head to foot. [Daniel 3]. This image he set up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon, to be worshipped, and called all his princes, governors, sheriffs, captains, rulers of the provinces, and people generally, to worship it. This was a positive setting up of his own idea against that of God. This was to declare to all people that his golden kingdom was to endure forever; that there was no such thing as another kingdom arising separate from his and inferior to it, and after that, others, descending so low as iron mixed with miry clay. No! There should be only his golden kingdom of Babylon, and it should never be broken nor interrupted; but should stand forever.
In a number of points this was an open challenge to the LORD. It was the assertion that Nebuchadnezzar's idea of the kingdom of men should be accepted as the true and divine idea, as against that of God's, which had been given. It was the assertion that the embodiment of this opposing idea should be worshipped as God. As the idea and the embodiment of it was altogether Nebuchadnezzar's, this was simply the putting of Nebuchadnezzar himself in the place of God, as the ruler of the kingdom of men, the head of all religion, and the director of all worship.
A great day was set for the dedication of Nebuchadnezzar's idea, and the inauguration of the universal worship of it. A great multitude was assembled of many peoples, nations, and languages of his wide realm. When all were assembled, a herald proclaimed, "To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace".
In the great assembly there were three young Jews - Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. And when all the others fell down and worshipped, these stood bolt upright, paying no attention to the law that had just been proclaimed, nor to the image. They were at once reported and accused to the king. Then the king "in his rage and fury" commanded them to be brought before him. It was done. He asked them if it was true and of purpose that they had not worshipped. He then repeated his decree and the dreadful penalty. But they answered: "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 from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hands, 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".
The furnace was heated seven times hotter than usual, and they were bound and cast into it. But suddenly the king rose up in astonishment from his throne and cried to his counsellors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said unto the king, "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".
Then the king called them forth, and said in the presence of all, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God".
God had commanded all nations to serve king Nebuchadnezzar, and that whatsoever nation would not serve him, that nation the LORD would punish. [Jeremiah 27:4-8]. Yet here He wrought a wondrous miracle to deliver the men who had openly and directly refused to obey a plain and direct command of the king. How could this consistently be? - Easily enough. This command, this law, of the king was wrong. He was demanding a service which he had not right to require. In making him king of the nations, the LORD had not made him king in the religion of the nations. In making him the head of all the nations, God had not made him the head of religion.
But, being an idolater, and having grown up amid idolatrous systems, Nebuchadnezzar did not know this. With idolaters, religion always has been, and still is, a part of the government. In heathen systems, religion and governments are always united; while in the true system, the genuine Christian system, they are always separate.
And this was the lesson which God there taught to Nebuchadnezzar. In a way in which it was impossible not to understand, the LORD showed to that king that he had nothing whatever to do with the religion, nor with the directing of the worship, of the people.
The LORD had brought all nations into subjection to king Nebuchadnezzar as to their bodily service; but now, by an unmistakeable evidence, this same LORD showed to king Nebuchadnezzar that He had given him no power or jurisdiction whatever in their soul's service.
The LORD thus showed to king Nebuchadnezzar that, while in all things between nation and nation, or man and man, all people, nations and languages had been given to him to serve him, and he had been made ruler over them all; yet in things between men and God, the king was plainly and forcibly given to understand that he had nothing whatever to do. The God of heaven there taught to that king, and through him to all kings, rulers and people forever, that in all matters of religion and worship, in the presence of the rights of the conscience of the individual, the word of the king must change: the decree of the ruler is naught.
And this is written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. This important instruction is present truth today, for throughout the whole English-speaking world today king Nebuchadnezzar's example of arrogance is being followed - and that even by those who profess to know God and follow the Bible!
Nebuchadnezzar's offence was in setting up his own idea and forming it into a decree, and then enforcing it as a law. And throughout these nations today, there are people who profess to know God and to be guided by the Bible, who have set up their own, or some other one's altogether human idea of the Sunday-Sabbath against the Sabbath of the LORD, and have secured the framing of it into a decree, and are having it enforced as the law.
But it is all wrong, just as Nebuchadnezzar's assumption was wrong.
And every one who will be faithful to God must say:
"We will not serve your gods nor worship the image of the Sabbath which you have set up. And in the presence of the rights of conscience of the individual today, the word of the ruler must change: such laws are simply nothing". [See Daniel 3:18].
Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson, and this truth was spread to all the nations and languages in that day. [Daniel 4:37]. And it must be spread to all in this day.
Will all who today are following this wrong course, learn this lesson and correct their ways, as did he?
The principle taught to Medo-Persia
[On] the night in which Babylon fell Daniel had been appointed by king Belshazzar "the third ruler in the kingdom" because of his interpretation of the terrible handwriting on the wall. [Daniel 5:29-31]. The reason that the highest honour that could be bestowed upon him was that of THIRD ruler was that Belshazzar was only associate king with his father. This gave two kings, and so a first and second ruler; and another could not be higher than THIRD ruler. Thus it was with Daniel. And when that same night Babylon fell, Belshazzar was slain and his father was a prisoner and no longer king, this left Daniel the chief official with whom the conquerors could communicate in re-arranging the affairs of the Babylonian state. Because of this, and more particularly, "because an excellent spirit was in him", the king of the conquering Medes and Persians thought to set him over "the whole realm". Thus was Daniel "preferred above the presidents and princes". Daniel 6:1-3.
When all the other presidents, princes, governors and captains saw that Daniel, a captive Jew, was preferred before themselves, who were high and mighty Medes and Persians, they were much dis-satisfied. And when they discovered that he was likely to be yet further promoted, they determined to break him down utterly. Therefore, they formed a conspiracy and diligently "sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom". Verse 4. But with all their diligence, and with all their suspicious and prejudiced care, "they could find none occasion nor fault: forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him".
There was, however, one last resource, which, by a trick, they might employ. They knew that he feared God. They knew that his service to the LORD was actuated by such firm principle that, in rendering that service, he would not dodge, nor compromise, nor swerve a hair's breadth, upon any issue that might be raised. Then said these men, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God". But even in this there was nothing upon which they might "find" an "occasion". In order to find it they must create it! And create it, they did.
Pretending to be great lovers of their king and country, and to have much sincere concern for the honour of the king and the preservation of the state, they "assembled together to the king", and proposed "to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask any petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions". [Daniel 6:7]. They presented the case in such a plausible way, and with such evident care for the public good, that Darius was completely hoodwinked, and "signed the writing and the decree". Thus the invention of the conspirators became the "law of the land".
Daniel knew that the writing was signed. He knew that it was now the law - the law of the Medes and Persians too, which could not be altered. [Verse 8]. Yet, knowing this, "he went into his house", and "kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime". Verse 10. He knew perfectly that no law of the Medes and Persians, nor any other earthly power, could ever, of right, have anything to say or do with any man's service to God. He went on just as aforetime, because, practically, and in principle, all things were just as aforetime. So far as concerned the conduct of the man who feared God, any law on that subject was no more than no law at all on that subject.
In the Medes and Persians a new set of men had come upon the world's stage. The power of empire had passed into new hands. And these new rulers, as well as Nebuchadnezzar, must be taught the truth of the separation of religion and the state. And in order that they should have an opportunity to learn this, Daniel, who was the possessor and representative of this great truth, must stand unswervingly to the principle.
And so he did.
And then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and asking supplication before his God. They expected to find him praying; that was exactly what they "assembled" for! And Daniel was not afraid that they would find him so doing. They immediately hurried away to the king, and asked him, "Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, 'The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not'. Then answered they and said before the king, 'That Daniel which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree which thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day'". [Daniel 6:12-13].
Then the king suddenly awoke to the fact that he had been duped. And, "he was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him". Verse 14. But it was all of no avail. The conspirators were persistent to frustrate every effort which the king could make. And they had a ready and conclusive argument against everything that might be proposed. That argument was "the law". "Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree or statute which the king establisheth may be changed". There was no remedy. The law must be enforced. Accordingly, though most reluctantly, "the king commanded and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions". Verse 16.
The king passed the night in fasting and sleeplessness, and very early in the morning went in haste to the den of lions, and "cried with a lamentable voice ... O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" To the infinite delight of the king, Daniel answered, "O king, live for ever. My God hath sent His Angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt". Verse 22.
This is divine testimony, published to all the world, that innocence before God is found in the man who disregards any human law that interferes with his service with God. It is also divine testimony that the man who disregards such laws, in so doing does "no hurt" to the king, the state, or to society.
Thus God taught to the rulers of the Medo-Persian empire the separation of religion and the state: that with men's relationship to God, rulers and states can have nothing whatever to do. And it is written for the instruction of all rulers and states unto the world's end.
In these two experiences recorded in the book of Daniel - the one of Nebuchadnezzar and the worship of his great golden image, the other of the conspirators against Daniel's service to God - all people are taught in the most impressive way that the God of heaven forbids any ruler to require His subjects to conform to his ideas of religion, and forbids all people to frame any laws on any subject touching men's relation to God.
In these two experiences the God of heaven, in the strongest possible way, teaches all people, and particularly His own people, that in the presence of the rights of conscience, in the presence of men's relationship to God, and in all matters of religion, the word and authority of every king or ruler must give way. That all laws framed, which touch in any manner men's relationship with God, which touch any matter of religious observance, are simply naught - are no more than no law at all on such a subject.
In it all the God of heaven also teaches to all, that He vindicates and declares innocent all who refuse obedience to such decrees of kings and rulers, all who utterly disregard all such laws; and also certifies to all kings and rulers that those who do disregard all such laws do "no hurt" to either king, ruler or people.
And these lessons need to be perseveringly taught everywhere today.
In almost every country in the world, and especially in the English-speaking countries, the schemes and inventions of men in matters religious, and particularly as to the observance of Sunday, are crowded into the law, and so forced upon all people. These men profess to be jealous guardians of religious liberty and the rights of conscience. [They say that] they "do NOT believe in enforcing religion upon anybody", yet all the time they are steadily working to get religious dogmas and institutions recognised and fixed in the law. And then to demand obedience to the law, and throw upon the dissenter the odium of "lawlessness, and dis-respect for constituted authority", while they pose as the champions of "law and order", the conservators of the state, and the stay of society, exactly as did the conspirators against Daniel.
Sunday, not only according to their own showing, but by every other fair showing that can be made, is a religious institution, a church affair only.
This they all know.
And yet, in almost every land, these people are working constantly to get this church institution fixed, and more firmly fixed, in the law, with penalties attached that are more worthy of barbarians than civilization. And then, when somebody objects to the enforcement of such laws, they all cry out, "It is not a question of religion at all! Religion hasn't anything to do with it - it is simply a question of regard for law. The law! The law! It is the law of the land! We are not asking any religious observance by anybody, all that we ask is respect for the law".
But the lessons in the book of Daniel teach to all people that no religious or ecclesiastical institution or rite has any place in the law. And that, when against right, it is put into the law, it gains no force from that, and is to receive no respect nor recognition whatever.
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