Daniel and his companions were victorious over the seduction of idol worship.
In each of the first six chapters of Daniel, we see an aspect of how Daniel and his three companions overcame Satan and his stratagems.
- In the first chapter, we see that Daniel and his companions were victorious over the demonic diet, choosing rather to eat food according to the Word of God – and God blessed them.
- In Daniel 2 we see that Daniel and his companions were victorious over the devilish blinding that prevents all people from seeing the great human image and the crushing stone as the divine history within human history.
- In Daniel 3 we see that Daniel and his companions were victorious over the seduction of idol worship. In all these experiences, they were together as one entity!
Today in the church life we can overcome by being with our God-given companions and praying together, pursuing the Lord together, and fleeing from the youthful lusts together!
It is when we pursue the Lord together with those who call on His name out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22) that we see clearly the vision of the great human image (and its end) and we can overcome any seduction of idol worship.
Lord Jesus, shine on us. Keep us together with our companions – pursuing You, loving You, seeking You, and enjoying You. Lord, make us the “Daniel and his companions” of today. Gain many vital groups that overcome Your enemy and bring in Your kingdom on the earth today.
Overcoming the Devilish Blinding and Seeing the Vision of the Great Human Image and Its End
If you read Daniel 2 you will realize that no one today really sees or understands what’s going on, and we don’t even remember what we dream.
It’s only the God in the heavens that reveals secrets to men, and He can reveal the vision of the great human image to His seeking ones who are in a vital group (Daniel and his companions).
The magicians and wise men don’t know “the dream and its interpretation”, but the young overcomers, Daniel and his companions are victorious over the devilish blinding that prevents all the people today from seeing the vision of the great human image and the crushing stone!
The corporate Christ as the stone and the mountain is the Bridegroom with His bride and the corporate man of God with the breath of God; this One will crush and slay Antichrist and his armies by the breath / the sword of His mouth (Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45; 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 19:11-21; Gen. 11:4-9; cf. Isa. 33:22).
As the human image is growing and developing, behind the scenes Christ is secretly producing His bride as the new creation by growth in the divine life, transformation in God’s image, and maturity in God’s life (Col. 2:19; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2; Heb. 6:1a).
If we see this, we will realize that we urgently need to grow in life unto maturity! As we grow in life unto maturity, Christ as the STONE (the living and precious stone, the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone) of God’s building infuses us with Himself (the stone element) as the preciousness to transform us into living and precious stones for His building (see 1 Pet. 2:4-8; Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9; 4:7, 9-10).
We can become part of the corporate smiting stone by growing in life today and staying in the process of transformation into living and precious stones.
Overcoming the Seduction of Idol Worship
When the enemy throws us into the furnace, we should realize that we do not need to ask the Lord to deliver us. He will come to be with us and take care of us in our suffering, making our place of suffering a pleasant situation. (Life-study of Daniel, pp. 26-27)
King Nebuchadnezzar made a great image and ordered everyone to worship it (see Daniel 3) or else they will be thrown into the burning furnace.
Because Daniel’s three companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did not worship the image, some people who were jealous of them told the king and they were brought before him. Their response was so bold and clear,
Dan. 3:17-18 …Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace of fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand….But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image that you have set up.
Daniel’s three companions had a true spirit of martyrdom – they didn’t care for their life, but they stood for the Lord as the unique God and they strongly stood against idol worship at the cost of their lives.
The king was furious and ordered that the furnace would be made sevenfold as hot, and then threw the three young men into the fire. The people who threw them in were burned and died, but the three young overcomers were untouched and unaffected by fire as they were walking together with another One who had the appearance of “a son of the gods” in the midst of the fire (Dan. 3:25).
God may allow us to be persecuted and even go through suffering for His name’s sake, and He may not deliver us from the fiery and painful situation we are in, but He will be there with us as the Son of Man, making the fire a pleasant place in which to walk about.
In our natural thought and feeling we want to get out of there – we don’t want to stay in a troublesome situation, in an environment which causes us pain and suffering.
But the Lord as the excellent Son of Man wants to come into the fiery furnace of our situation and be with us, walk with us, sympathize with us, and be our suffering Companion. His presence is making the place of suffering a pleasant situation.
Beware of the Most Subjective Idol: the Self
Today idol worship may not be that obvious and outward as in Daniel’s days, when people would literally bow down in front of an image or statue. But an idol is not just something outward but anything that is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God.
Whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol, and we should beware (1 John 5:21).
The greatest and most subjective idol is the self – the self is the enemy of the Body of Christ, and the self replaces Christ with its self-interest, self-exaltation, self-glory, self-beauty, and self-strength.
We should not seek our own interest but God’s interest. We should exalt not ourselves but God. We should give glory to God and not seek our own glory. God is our beauty and God is our strength.
In the Body of Christ and for the Body of Christ we deny the self and do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord (Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:5). As the Lord is faithful to expose our self, again and again, we need to deny our self and live Christ by exercising our spirit to live one spirit with the Lord.
Lord Jesus, we love You. Keep us in our spirit, joined to You as one spirit. Lord, thank You for being with us wherever we are and whatever situations we are in. We love You as our suffering Companion. Your presence is everything to us, Lord, and just by being with us You make our situation of suffering a pleasant one. We treasure You and we love Your shepherding in all the things we go through. Lord, keep us joined to You, one with You in our spirit, and away from any idols! May nothing replace You in all our heart – we give You the first place, the preeminence!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother Ed Marks’ speaking in this message and portions in, Life-study of Daniel (msgs. 3-5), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 6 (entitled, The Victory of the Overcomers).
- Further reading: The Heavenly Vision (by Witness Lee, chs. 3-4).
- Hymns on this topic:
# You’ve the right to take all that I love, / But replace it with Yourself much more. / You are what I need, give Yourself to me, / Do not give all that I want.
# Idols once they won thee, charmed thee, / Lovely things of time and sense; / Gilded thus does sin disarm thee, / Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence. / Captivated by His beauty!
# Lord, teach me to refuse the worldly fames, / To waver not through water deep or flames, / Willing to suffer shame and loss with Thee; / For Thy name’s sake a martyr I may be.
Our natural thought is that we need to leave the fire of our circumstances. We may think that if we have a troublesome husband or a bothersome wife, we should pray and ask God to deliver us out of such a situation. But the Lord would say, “I do not like to deliver you from this situation in your married life. Instead, I will keep you there, and I will come and make your environment a pleasant place.” When the enemy throws us into the furnace, we should realize that we do not need to ask the Lord to deliver us. He will come to be with us and take care of us in our suffering, making our place of suffering a pleasant situation. (Life-study of Daniel, pp. 26-27)
The excellent Christ as the Son of Man, who had comes to be with His suffering, persecuted overcomers and to make the fire a PLEASANT place in which to walk about… Christ as the Son of Man, is qualified and capable of sympathizing with God’s people in everything, He is our COMPANION and He takes care of us in our suffering, by His PRESENCE making the place of suffering a PLEASANT situation. Many of us can testify too many times we asked the Lord to rescue us from the furnace and we missed too many opportunities to be transformed. Too many times we ask the Lord to give us blessings because we seek His kingdom and His righteousness. But the kingdom is obtained through suffering (Rev 1:9). We don’t need to ask for the sufferings to come, but when they do come, we need to thank Him and simply enjoy His presence and let Him make our furnace a pleasant place. “Lord, give us a spirit of martyrdom, transform us into living and precious stones for Your building.”