Moreover, because bowing does not prohibit carrying out the great commission, i.e. "preaching," those who submit to the state and bow regard those who refuse to bow as a "cult," or simply trying to make names for themselves by standing while everyone else bows (Please note that we use "carrying out the great commission" very loosely. Those who bow fail to teach all things He has commanded. They fail to teach that Christ is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice for the church & individual). Anytime the `work of God' is submitted to civil authority in order to obey Scriptures through incorporation or NFP status, Exodus 20:4-5 is violated. The results will come to pass to the fourth and fifth generation. In fact, the fulfillment of God's Word does not depend upon man's believing it: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar" (Ro 3:4).
Is it hopeless as the large majority of God's people bow before the image? No! God still has faithful men who stand in the face of the forces of compromise. The applied Truth of God's Word will prevail.
Another Problem
Let us consider a problem with the civil authority. When those making the demands see the rest of God's people bowing so they can go on about the "Lord's business," they wonder about those who refuse to bow. Everyone but the three bowed. The percentage is probably about the same today - three out of thousands. Thus because the percentage who stand is so low, the civil authorities see them as just some hard-headed, stubborn people who are out of the mainstream of Christianity. Hence, the authorities gain encouragement to move against the three (We should mention that if all professed Christians stood for the freedom to worship the God of the Bible according to each group's understanding of the Word of God, the state would lose its power. In other words, the unincorporated groups should support the right of incorporated groups to be state churches, and the state churches should support the right of unincorporated groups to be free of the state).
We are either salt or we are not. Gary North says it like this:
As godly people begin to restructure their behavior in terms of what the Bible requires, the world around them will change (Backward Christian Soldiers? Gary North, p 10, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler TX 75711).
If the salt loses its saltiness, it will not prevent corruption. Rather than preventing corruption, it will be trod under foot by the corruption. As God's people bow to society's pressure to compromise, society gets worse, demanding more compromise (Mk 9:49, 50; Lk 14:34; Mat 5:13). The problem has never been and never will be the wickedness of the heathen; rather, it is God's people bowing to the pressure place on them by the heathens (Judges 6:1; 2 Chron 7:14; Isa 10:5,6). Moreover, the church that refuses to submit to civil authority in order to carry out the commands of her Lord will be mocked and criticized by those of `God's people' who have bowed to the image (2 Tim 3:12).
Why do those who bow say that we make such a big deal over so little, i.e. NFP &/or incorporation? Because if they admit the issue is something to seriously consider, they will be forced to seriously consider it also. Therefore, they must keep the issue small or even refuse to admit a problem exists. Furthermore, those still standing after others have bowed draw attention to those who have bowed to the image. Many of the pastors we know who belittle the issue simply refuse to admit there is something worth standing for. Maybe some who ignore the issue are fearful that there is an issue requiring action. They may hope that if the issue is ignored, it will go away, but it has not "faded into the woodwork." Rather, the implications of being a state religious organization are being pursued by the state. Bowing, whether as an individual or as a church, to surrounding pressure is idolatry, Daniel 3:7, fell down and worshipped.
Though we read later of a malicious attempt against Daniel's praying, Nebuchadnezzar's demand with the image is mentioned neither as a malicious plan nor as a trap for God's people. The image and demand that everyone bow appear to have been in the natural course of the human history of the fallen nature. It was not until the order came to honor the image in equal place with God that problems developed. The demand of submission to authority contrary to Scriptural authority brought about the conflict with those who wanted to glorify God as God (Ac 5:29; Rom 1:21).
The Charge & Response
The charge brought against the three Hebrew children is worth examining.
It was not a charge against them for refusing to serve Nebuchadnezzar or any other national (or local) god of Babylon. The complaint was not that they had refused to offer the sacrifices or to honor the false gods in the past. It had probably been about 18 years between chapters two and three, and the complaint had never been raised before. They serve not thy gods, nor worship (Dan 3:12). The issue of not serving the false gods of the land did not come up until now.
Therefore, the charge was that they would not submit their religious beliefs to the civil authority and bow before the image. It was not until they refused to submit to the civil authority that other charges were brought to make the refusal to bow to the king's claim of authority over all religion appear much worse. No doubt their refusal to worship any false gods was already well known throughout Babylon, but their refusal was not yet an issue. At issue was their present refusal to submit their worship of Jehovah God to the state. It was not until the state made its demand that all bow to its image that the truth of what really happened came to light. Apparently, the state did not intentionally make the demand to "smoke out" those who would stand. Rather, it probably made the demand because it saw each already serving his god under the state's authority. Thus the state saw nothing wrong with demanding that all bow to its image. Everyone had served under the state's authority for so long that any refusal to take the next step before the image surprised the state.
But God knew what was needed and how to do it (Jer 17:6-11). By His grace alone can one understand the precepts of His Word in light of situations at hand and then stand up from his long held bowing position (Ps 119:27).
These Hebrews were accused of ignoring the king. Really, the accusation was of rebellion against him, yet they were not in rebel- lion against the king. Rather, they were against his command that was contrary to the clear instruction of God's word. Today, though, many of "God's people" would consider them rebels in any stand for God's Word over the state's word.
The enemies of God knew very well what the issue was. The Geneva Bible notes say for Dan 3:1:
Under pretence of religion, and holiness in making an image to his idol Bel, he sought his own ambition and vain glory: and this declares that he was not touched with the true fear of God before, but that he confessed him on a sudden motion, as the wicked when they are overcome with the greatness of his works. The Greek interpreters write that this was done eighteen years after the dream, and as may appear, the King feared lest after the dream, and as may appear, the King feared lest the Jews by their religion should have altered the state of his commonwealth: therefore he meant to bring all to one type of religion, and so rather sought his own peace than God's glory.
Moreover, notice Dan 3:12, There are certain Jews that have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Thus the God-hating crowd knew precisely what the issue was: Nebuchadnezzar did not forbid the "worship" of any god, but they knew that it involved the worship of another god. We find that many times the unsaved, anti-Christ crowd understands the issue far better than do God's people. When we were working toward separating our church from the state, the banker holding the loans at the time clearly understood the precept of the state's authority over any corporation and, thus, over an incorporated church.
We see, therefore, that it is idolatry to comply with any ordinance inconsistent with the total of God's Word. Moreover, it is interesting that the Pulpit Commentary identifies the command to bow with an "attempt to enforce religious uniformity" (Daniel p 118).
Certainly, Christians owe civil magistrates obedience and honor; yet when magistrates overstep their Divine limits, they forfeit the Christians' obedience. The magistrates stand in place of God to protect society from anarchy and harm: to reward good, to promote conditions for good to prosper and to punish evil as defined by God. Therefore, our loyalty, as always, belongs to the totality of Scripture, not to men nor institutions. When men become loyal to institutions and other men rather than to God's Word, the door is opened for false cults. Only as institutions represent the basic premises of God's Word do Christians owe them loyalty.
The Response
Let us consider some points from Daniel 3:13-30.
Nebuchadnezzar was angry, yet he gave the young men a second chance. The order had already been given that anyone who did not fall down would be thrown into the fire immediately, yet he did not follow through with his order. Evidently, he respected the young men highly even in his fury and rage. He knew they served not his gods, yet their refusal was not an issue until they refused to bow to his image.
The boys did not stutter, but spoke right up. They had God's Word upon which to stand, and they stood firm. In this matter the conflict was not in other unrelated matters, but only in this matter. They had been obedient, model citizens in a heathen nation. The conflict came when they were commanded to submit their faith to civil authority.
Who is that God? To civil authority, the Lord God is only a god among gods; thus they see no problem demanding the submission of Scriptural faith to their authority. Of course, if He was a god among gods, there would be no problem. But He is not, so thus the problem. Civil authorities are to bow before Him, and this civil authority does shortly. Would civil authority have bowed before the Lord of Heaven if the "Lord of Heaven" had bowed before the civil authority here through these three young men?
If so be Their decision to stand was not made on the assurance of victory. As we talk to people about this issue, one of the first objections some make is the cost that might be involved. These three young men stood because they understood the precepts of God's word involved; they stood with no regard for the cost. How many pastors have made their determination on when and where to stand based on what a lawyer told them it might cost? But if they are incorporated &/or NFP, there will be problems if one desires to stand against civil authority's unBiblical pressure, viz. according to the Indiana NFP forms, the civil authority has the right to tax or regulate a NFP in any way it chooses. BJU proved the civil authority's right over a NFP (The Bomb and Its Fallout, p 5. Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC 29614).
But if not Their only responsibility was to stand on thy precepts; the results were up to God. Standing faithful to the Lord is the Christian's sole responsibility, duty and requirement (Ecc 12:13, 14; 1 Cor 4:2). Hence, the enemy's primary job is to hide from the Christian his responsibility to God. The enemy does this through his expert use of lies and deceits. His lies tell us that we are responsible to win the heathen king, and the best way to win him is to bow down to his level. "Don't compound the problem," the liar says, "Look at how much more effective you can be if you will work with them. After all," the lie goes, "if you are in the fire and are burned up, how will you be able to influence the `court' around you? You have a responsibility, and if you are destroyed by fire, you won't be able to carry it out." As we have already pointed out, would the king have bowed before God if God's three young men had bowed before the king's image?
The argument is common in our day of compromise: "Bow to the civil authority so you can continue to be a witness and preach the gospel. How do you expect to reach Nebuchadnezzar and the civil magistrates if you don't work with them? Look at what it will cost if you don't submit to that authority over our Bible belief. If you don't submit, it may cost you the buildings, members, tax-exempt status. Then what?"
The enemy has a long, throughly considered, reasonable list of things it may cost us if we do not submit the Biblical principle of authority to the civil government's authority. Many of God's people have bought his arguments. He is well-versed on what means to use to cause us to forget or ignore our responsibility to the authority of God's Word. Our requirement is not to be fruitful, prosperous, successful, &c, but to be faithful to Him and His Word. The one and only thing for which we will answer is how faithful we have been in following the Word of God in every area of life and thought, according to the measure of grace provided by the Spirit (1 Cor 4:2; Mat 6:33).