6-10-2018 Weekly Message

The Meditation of the Week: Psalms 67:1-7

Text: Daniel 3:1-30

The title of the Word: Let us be the remnant  keeping faith until the end!

         King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who ruled the whole world, worshiped the God of Daniel with his lips, knowing the living God through Daniel:

“The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.“ (Dan. 2:47)

         The king of Nebuchadnezzar knew who the God of Daniel was and confessed with his lips, but he did not believe or worship the God of Daniel. He did not abandon his belief in his god but instead made the image of his god  he believed of gold, and all the people, nations and languages were commanded to bow down before the image of gold.

          Even today, while people believe in God, they go  to church and worship God, but many of them worship  various idols in the world. The Holy Spirit made the apostle Paul bear witness of  idolatry in the last days:

” Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:.” (Colossians 3: 5)

           Through the main passage,  Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a burning furnace because of not worshiping the gold statue to show the confession of faith in God in action. It is once again possible to realize that true belief is in their confession with their mouths before they are thrown into the furnace:

” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

17If 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 hand, O king.

18But 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. “(Dan 3: 16-18)

           God used Daniel and these three young men to manifest Himself to all the earth, and He Himself kept them in the fire with them in the form of man:

”  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..” (Dan 3:25)

            Again, God once again declared in the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar all the earth about  Him who they believe:

” Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.. “(Dan 3: 29-30)

          Through the faith of Daniel and his three friends, God is clearly speaking to the children of God who live in the last days of  what the true faith is. In the words of Jesus when he was in the flesh, we can see what the faith of these three youths is:

” He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

         Jesus  spoke at a human eye level. A man who does not know what life is  mistaken for his own life, and he avoids doing all kinds of things in order not to die, but whoever realizes what life is, he will save his life.

           When we look at the faith of these three young men, we are once again thinking about the shameful past history of Korea.  All the Korean Christians society in Korea under the ruling of Japan worship the gods of Japan to save their carnal  life.

Through Church history, the Roman Catholic Church, which was a mixture of Christianity and Babylonian religion through the Nikea in 325 AD, gave birth to another  idol in the world after Babylon was born. It is not only the visible form, but also the spiritual form of idols that are invisible to the eye, deceiving the young generation so that they may not  worship the spiritual God. Now that Babylon has emerged, people are  not be able to see  God, so now they put all kinds of idols in their smart phones and make them feel like they are going to be crazy if they do not see it in their hands even  for a while.

The Bible speaks clearly. As soon as God  judge this world through the Great Tribulation, one more Babylon appears on this earth, telling you that it will make the image that Nebuchadnezzar made in the past and make all nations worship:

 “ And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. “(Rev. 13: 14-18)

The one man is the  Antichrist who will rule the whole world through the New World Order. King Nebuchadnezzar of old Babylon is the model of the Antichrist to appear in the future. The height of the image of Nebuchadnezzar is sixty cubits, and the breadth thereof is six cubits, which is revealed by the number of Antichrists six hundred sixty six (666).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are to show the remnant of the Jews who will keep their faith in the coming the Great  Tribulation and their shall be beheaded.   The Bible tells us about the remnants who will be slain in the next Great Tribulation period and the rewards they will receive:

” And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received hismark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.. “(Revelation 20: 4)

But the Philadelphia Church, which kept faith until the end shall be saved  from the time to test the whole world  in the Great  Tribulation:
” I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. “(Revelation 3: 8-11).

In the words to Timothy, the  beloved son of Apostle Paul  before he departed the world, we should be able to keep our faith in God and not emerge into the great Tribulation without serving the idols of the world given by Babylon. It is to be engraved:

” I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. “(2 Tim. 4: 7-8).

Amen! Hallelujah!