Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Female): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Guest (Male): Let's read Daniel chapter 3 and beginning from verse 1. Nebuchadnezzar 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. Then Nebuchadnezzar 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.

Then a herald cried aloud, "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 had set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace."

Therefore at that time, 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 worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore at that time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men unto the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that ye do not serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well. But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"

Gideon Levytam: I could sit and let somebody read to me that story many times over. It is such an enjoyable story to read. I think one of the best stories to read to children when they are young is the stories from the Bible because it is so real and it is so fresh and it is so appealing to the heart to see the faithfulness of God. There were historically some men, boys, girls, who were faithful to God and God had promised to take care of them, and indeed He did.

Now, before we go into chapter 3 this evening, I want to remind us of a few things that I think are very important. When we have covered chapter 2, one of the things that was really important for us to learn in chapter 2 was the course of history. In chapter 2 of the book of Daniel, we have learned about the times of the Gentiles.

This is such an important chapter alongside chapter 7 in the book of Daniel, which we are going to speak about as time goes on. It is essential for us to get a hold of. Chapter 2 gives us the times of the Gentiles. This great image that Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed and he could not find out or he could not know what was the meaning, what was God telling him until the time when Daniel came in and Daniel gave him not only the interpretation but first of all he told him what he had dreamed and then he had given him the interpretation.

Basically, what we have learned from chapter 2 is three things. Number one, we learned that the times of the Gentiles go through four different empires.

Guest (Male): The Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman.

Gideon Levytam: Four different empires will take over this long period of time from the beginning of the Jewish people, Judah, being taken to Babylon.

Guest (Male): 605 or 586 BC.

Gideon Levytam: All the way till the time when the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah of Israel will come again and establish the Messianic kingdom. That is what we saw: the stone that fell on the toes. I want to remind you that the stone that fell did not fall on the head, not on the chest, not on the belly and the thigh, not on the leg, but on the ten toes, on the feet.

Guest (Male): Which suggest that the course of the four empires through the time of the Gentile is going to have to take its course all the way to the end.

Gideon Levytam: Before the Messiah is going to come and establish the Messianic kingdom. It is very important to see where the stone fell upon. It fell upon the ten toes representing the future revival of the Roman Empire, which will have an end at the second coming of our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So this is the first lesson that we learned when we studied chapter 2. Secondly, we learned that the times of the Gentiles will come to an end at the second coming of the Messiah.

Guest (Male): Not at the first coming.

Gideon Levytam: He came once. The Messiah came to die, to give His life a ransom for many. He is the one that Isaiah the prophet says prophetically of the future remnant of Israel who will say, "All we like sheep have gone astray, each one have turned to his own way, but the Lord laid upon him..."

Guest (Male): This is the Messiah.

Gideon Levytam: "...the iniquity of us all." That was the first coming. But the second coming, as Revelation 19 tells us, is that He is going to come as King of kings and Lord of lords. No longer to suffer and to die, but He is going to come to rule and to reign and to judge this world in righteousness.

Guest (Male): The third thing that we have learned before we close that second chapter is that the Jewish people, though they are going to be cast and dispersed, they are still going to have in many ways high levels of position in various kingdoms.

Gideon Levytam: And we have seen it throughout the history of the times of the Gentiles, that somehow by divine design, God still gave His earthly people, the Jewish people, certain positions in these kingdoms throughout the whole four kingdoms.

Guest (Male): And like we learned in the book of Daniel in chapter 2, where we have closed last time if you remember, the King Nebuchadnezzar in verse 46 fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel and commanded that they should offer oblation and sweet odor unto him.

Gideon Levytam: And verse 47, the king answered unto Daniel and he said, "Of a truth it is that your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and the revealer of secrets, seeing you could reveal this secret." Then the king made Daniel a great man.

Guest (Male): It is interesting. Here is the king. He have elevated Daniel and placed him in a high place now because by divine design, God have allowed that to be so.

Gideon Levytam: But it is so beautiful also to learn about Daniel here is that Daniel at the end of chapter 2 did not forget his friends. You know how we are like that. When things are well with us, we have an inclination to say, "Oh, who cares about those friends of mine and who cares about these?"

Guest (Male): Remember Joseph when he interpreted the dream to Potiphar who was in jail with him, the baker and the butler?

Gideon Levytam: Remember? And he said to the one, "In three days your head will be lifted up and you will be restored." To the other one he says, "Your head is going to be lifted up but you're going to die. You're going to be hanged."

Guest (Male): And then when God have fulfilled this promise, the chief butler, he have gone to King Pharaoh and for two years he forgot Joseph.

Gideon Levytam: Joseph told him, "Remember me when things are well with you." He forgot Joseph. He had been restored, had been elevated, and he left Joseph in jail for two years until one day somehow something happened and the king needed some help with interpretation of dream.

Guest (Male): Then this butler remembered Joseph, Yosef.

Gideon Levytam: And then he actually called Yosef and Yosef came and he helped Pharaoh to interpret the dream that he had with the seven fat and seven skinny cows and seven sheaves of wheat and the other seven that are skinny and fat. But Daniel did not forget his friend. Notice what it said at the end of chapter 2 where we have closed.

Guest (Male): "Then Daniel requested of the king that he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king."

Gideon Levytam: And that is how we closed last time our ministry meeting as we have been occupied with the times of the Gentiles that we go through over a very long period of time which will culminate or will end with the second coming of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the stone which fell upon the toes and destroyed completely the whole image which was made out of gold, out of silver, out of bronze, out of iron, and out of iron and clay mixed together. Today, we are going to start in chapter 3.

Guest (Male): And it's very interesting that as we are studying in chapter 3, notice how this chapter began. I think it's fantastic to see how this chapter began.

Gideon Levytam: Chapter 3 begins with an interesting thing. Verses 1 to 7 is the first section of chapter 3. I want you to notice how the chapter began: "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold."

Guest (Male): Now let's just stop here for a second. Now why in the world King Nebuchadnezzar would make an image of gold, totally of gold, and why would he make an image altogether?

Gideon Levytam: I would like to suggest that King Nebuchadnezzar perhaps have made now the very same image that he thought about or in his dream that he was dreaming just the chapter before. For us it was a chapter, but for them it must have taken some time. He now, after he received the interpretation from Daniel, what did Daniel tell him?

Guest (Male): "King Nebuchadnezzar, God is telling you concerning events that are going to occur throughout the time of the Gentiles."

Gideon Levytam: "God wanted to tell you how things are going to proceed in the future days. You are the head. Another kingdom is going to come after you, which will be the chest and hand, and then another one, the belly and the thighs, and then another kingdom which will be the legs and the feet and the toes."

Guest (Male): "You are of gold. Then the second kingdom is going to be of silver. The third kingdom of bronze and the fourth kingdom of metal, of iron."

Gideon Levytam: Well, King Nebuchadnezzar, even though in chapter 2 he came to say, "Of a truth your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings," apparently Nebuchadnezzar was not satisfied with what God's instruction through Daniel was given unto him. So he is building this great huge image.

Guest (Male): But you know what he does? He doesn't build it out of these four metals. He made it out of gold.

Gideon Levytam: And guess why gold? Because Nebuchadnezzar did not want to accept the fact that there is another kingdom coming after him, so his kingdom will have an end. So what does he do? He makes not only the head out of gold, also the chest, the belly, and the thigh, the legs, the feet, the whole image completely out of gold. Whether it was pure gold or overlaid with gold, I leave it for you to find out.

Guest (Male): But I can assure you that this man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar, though he expressed this, "your God of a truth it is he is the God of gods and Lord of kings," he never yet came to a point to acknowledge that your God is the only God.

Gideon Levytam: Is the only true God. There are many gods, you see, he is saying. And your God is the God of those gods. But he hasn't yet come to acknowledge that the God of Daniel is the only God. So he is building this great image and notice what it says in verse 1 as he, Nebuchadnezzar, responds to his dream. Then we say he builds such a huge image. He made an image out of gold. It says that the height of it was threescore cubits and the breadth of it was six cubits.

Guest (Male): That is about 90 feet high, some suggest even more, and about nine feet wide. It must have been a humongous image.

Gideon Levytam: You couldn't walk from far, you will be able to see that huge image. And you know what he was really saying is simply that when he was building that—you can read it between the lines—"I'm not intend to have an end to my kingdom. I am not intend to give my kingdom over to another nation. I am the king and I'm going to remain a king. And therefore I'm going to build that humongous image that everybody will recognize that this is the image that is representing me. And also I'm going to make it totally out of gold, which really saying I'm not going to be making that image which will represent the future kingdoms."

And so notice what he does in verse 2 now. By the way, this is a complete self-will.

Guest (Male): That is complete self-will. This is simply self-will.

Gideon Levytam: It's really pride. It is really pride that Nebuchadnezzar, you can see the heart of Nebuchadnezzar being represented by his action. In verse 2, the call for all government members to the dedication. Notice up to now you hear only the word dedication. And it says in verse 2: "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs even, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up."

Guest (Male): By the way, you notice up to verse 2 we don't even talking about worship here. It's only like a dedication. It sounds like a very nice thing.

Gideon Levytam: Sometimes you would go to a certain city in United States or in Canada and they are going to have a certain tower or a certain building or even an image. Like we have in Niagara-on-the-Lake, there is an image of Bernard Shaw and there is a dedication. It sounds very harmless. It is only a dedication and so there is no problem. All of us have gone to various dedications: dedication of this building, dedication of this meeting room. There is not so much a problem with dedication.

Guest (Male): But you can see what he leads to. He is not intending to have only a dedication. He is intending that all of them eventually are going to worship that particular image.

Gideon Levytam: Which really, when you think about it in light of chapter 2, really represent himself, even though it is not worded here. And so now in verse 3 notice what we find out. "Then the princes and the governors and the captains and the judges and the treasurers and the counselors and the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king have set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up."

Guest (Male): Now remember, all these people are the people in the government. Those are the leaders of the Babylonian.

Gideon Levytam: If you just remember what we just read at the end of chapter 2 in verse 49, that Daniel requested of the king to set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. So we know that that will include the three friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We know the Hebrew names Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. They were included in the event of the dedication of that particular image.

Guest (Male): Again, I want you to remember there is not a problem with the dedication. Up to this point everything is fine. Well, everybody is gathering in verses 2 and 3.

Gideon Levytam: And verses 4, 5, and 6 now there is a command. It was an appeal first of all for everyone to come for the dedication, but now in verses 4 to 6 there is a command not only to come to dedicate the image, but this time to fall down and to worship the image. And so we read in verse 4: "Then a herald cried aloud: 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 kind of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up."

Guest (Male): And right now you find out that Nebuchadnezzar had in mind not only to have a special celebration to have an image and dedicate it.

Gideon Levytam: Now he is really having in mind a command, giving a command that now not only they are coming there to just celebrate about this great image, but now everybody is responsible to fall down and to worship that image the moment that they are hearing all kind of musical instruments such as cornet and flute and harp and sackbut and psaltery and such a musical sounding.

Guest (Male): And you know how up to date it is, unfortunately, with all the music that's going on these days.

Gideon Levytam: I am not speaking about that which honor the Lord. There is so much music that become like a noise with what is going on with the music that the world somehow suggest and give us. Even believers, many times we hear the sound of the music and it is almost like it gets you into that mood of going out of yourself and completely like throwing you into all kind of feelings. You can see that it's nothing new because it's already in those days you have this thing here. And so now he's giving to them in verse 6, there is a warning.

Guest (Male): "Whosoever falls not down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace."

Gideon Levytam: You see there is a warning now that you not only voluntarily make a decision if you like to worship or not, but here there is a command. If you are not going to worship, look what is going to happen to you. You are going to be cast into the burning fiery furnace. Now the thought is interesting is that this command that was given for the people of Babylon to worship many gods, it's not a problem. You worship one god, then you can worship the other god, and you worship another god. So it's not so much a problem for the Babylonian.

Guest (Male): But for the Jewish people it is a big problem because God had given strictly instruction for the people of Israel not to worship any other god.

Gideon Levytam: And so now notice this in verse 7: "Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kind of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set."

Guest (Male): The vast majority of the nations had the multitude of gods and they can worship this god and worship this god. It's not a problem. You can worship this image or worship that image, what's the difference?

Gideon Levytam: But for the people of Israel, for the Jewish people, it was a great problem. As we are going to enter now into the next verses, I want you to understand that God sometimes take His people through testing. God is sometimes by way of maturing and blessing His people and testing them to find out their faithfulness towards Him, sometime He takes His people through various tests.

Guest (Male): And you know they just finished chapter 1 where they were commanded to eat all kind of food and God had taken them through this test and He helped them there.

Gideon Levytam: Now we find out that these Jewish boys, these boys that have been taken captives from Judea, now they are going to go through a second test. And so in verse 8 to verse 12, there is accusation against these Jewish boys. First of all, there is accusation by the Chaldeans. In verse 8: "Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews." Now I want you to pause with me for a minute. This word "accused the Jews," it is a repeated history that have been throughout the ages. We know it happened before that time and it happened after that time. Now why would they accuse the Jews? Just think with me for a minute. Remember what happened.

Guest (Female): You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.