SURRENDERING ON THE PLAIN OF DURA

Fall down and worship the image which I made.

– Daniel 3: 15 –

Scripture references are the New International Version, UK edition of 1984.

DICTATORS APPEAR TO live in hope that they will endear themselves to the citizenry by planting gigantic statues and portraits of themselves across town squares and along main roads.

This delusion is invariably accompanied by measures guaranteed to achieve the opposite effect such as threats of imprisonment or death to anyone who refuses to display the obligatory affection for Our Dear Leader.

For decades the government of East Berlin discouraged defection to West Berlin by means of barbed wire, concrete walls, bullets, explosives and attack dogs a tactic unlikely to win the Dale Carnegie award of ʻhow to win friends and influence peopleʼ. The latest and most publicised entrant to the love-me-or-else league is Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea. He seems to attract the sort of universal and enthusiastic support from his subjects that could make Western leaders envious. If only it were that simple . . .

Yes Sir . . . Er . . . No Sir

Actions that show regard for one of higher station, such as bowing, curtseying, saluting, or standing when the judge enters the courtroom, are ancient and may vary from one culture and generation to another. Such courtesies are necessary to a polite, courteous and free people in their interaction with one another, lubricating the cogs of society. One may acknowledge the special office held by another without giving up one's integrity or independence of mind. Elected and appointed officials deserve the deference and honour associated with their function.

In Rom. 13: 1-7, the Apostle Paul extols the virtue of proper government and the respect due to it:

1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.

St. Paul is not naive in his view of the ʻgoverning authoritiesʼ. The government in this passage is a model, an ideal, one rooted in law and order. Roman governance of his day happened to be conducive to the interests of the Church and he advised compliance, not conflict. Persecutions from malign rulers would come soon enough. But for the present, under the generally benign and permissive cloak of Rome's authority the apostles and the congregations they served could prosper, with a minimum of interference. Nor was Paul a shrinking violet, afraid to speak up. Mindful of his own Roman citizenship the apostle on more than one occasion asserted his rights in order to secure proper treatment under the law (Acts 16: 22, 24, 35-39; 25: 10-12).

For Paul it was especially important that Christians abide by society's laws. This may seem like odd advice, coming from a man whose primary mission was to assert the lordship of Christ and proclaim the coming onset of a heavenly kingdom which would supplant earthly regimes. Nonetheless, for the time being, pagan governors and legislators held the reins of power. They were, therefore, ʻappointedʼ by God indirectly, and by His sufferance. This period of the early Church was of vital importance in its establishment.

Underlying Paul's philosophy is that the fundaments of law and order are godly principles. And as rebellion against God is unrighteous so, by extension, revolution against those whose authority He endorses is unrighteous. Even the mindless universe is lauded for its mute, if robotic, compliance with the laws of nature's God (Psa. 19: 1-3; 50: 6).

Like all empires before and since, Roman hegemony had enemies without and within. Zealots amongst the tributary Jewish nation had long itched for revolt against their overlords (Acts 5: 36, 37). The rebellion in the second and first centuries BC by the Maccabees against Syrian rule had already advised Roman opinion of this people now under their dominion. Even the disciples voiced their own expectation of a unified nation under God, asking Jesus, ʻare you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?ʼ (Acts 1: 6). Years later, we find the Apostle Paul reiterating the same hope (Acts 26: 7). In Rome's eyes, the Jews were a troublesome lot. The resulting friction led to a final confrontation in AD 73, when besieging Roman forces scaled the heights through to the mountain outpost of Zealot resistance at Masada, extinguishing the hope of national Jewish independence for the next nineteen centuries.

Paul does not argue for unconditional and eternal obedience to the civil power. This would be untenable, especially for any population living under despotic rule. The apostles Peter and John had years earlier refused to comply with an injunction to cease and desist from preaching. Their response in that instance has become the classic definition of the Christian's relationship to the State when loyalties conflict: We must obey God rather than men (Acts 4: 19, 20; 5: 27-29).

But violent overthrow of this world's governments is not permitted to Christians, whose conduct should be pacific, like that of Jesus. ʻIt is mine to avenge; I will repayʼ, says the Almighty (Heb. 10: 30). Paul's ambition for the members of the Church was that they love God, proclaim Christ, strengthen one another in the faith and live moral lives: lights in the darkness of a pagan culture (Rom. 13: 8-14).

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

In the administrative district of Babylon was situated the Plain of Dura. Advisors to King Nebuchadnezzar inveigled him into commissioning a ninety-foot-high gold-covered icon (pillar) and installing it here. When it was finished, he summoned the officials from the various provinces to attend its inauguration. But there was a sting in the tail. At the bugling of bugles and the fluting of flutes the attendees were to prostrate themselves before the structure to demonstrate their submission to the king. Any who refused to do so would be whisked away and thrown into a purpose-built furnace an unforgettable afternoon out (Dan. 3: 1-4).

No doubt many of those who bowed their heads had mental reservations. But better to keep one's mouth shut than be thrown into the fire. It is unlikely that the king or his advisors believed that all those prostrated in the dust really were devoted subjects who loved their leader. But affection was not what they sought. The elaborate exercise was a ruse to expose the traitorous loyalties of the three high-ranking Hebrews present, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, companions of Daniel who was absent on this occasion and have them carted off to the furnace, stoked seven times hotter just for them. The entire plot and its interesting conclusion is found in Daniel, chapter 3.

Revolution

One's perspective on the state of the world varies according to one's age. Looked at through younger eyes, life is good and getting better. Many older people have their doubts on that score. Probably this could have been said of all generations past. Perhaps an elderly peasant in 1490 lamented that things were better when he was a lad. Or perhaps not, for the social order of the fifteenth century did not change so comprehensively as ours. Today we can take a global and detailed look at the world, in a way which was never before possible. This historical picture ought to be of special interest to the Christian student of prophecy. For society has not arrived at this point of time by accident. The Most High rules in the important affairs of men, and we have got to where we are today through the deliberate progress of the Plan of God.

Our period is one of worldwide revolution of one sort or another. It is unnecessary to catalogue all the ways in which our present society is different from, say, that of a hundred years ago. We live in an age of miraculous technology along with profound social disruption. Though Britain has been spared the all-or-nothing uprisings which have occurred elsewhere, we get the sour taste of bloody revolt whenever a demonstration turns nasty and windows get broken and cars burn and police in riot gear storm the crowd, batons flailing.

Post-War Blues

In little more than a generation the global order has undergone changes unique in history. These began after the Second World War (1939-45).

On the geopolitical front, a shake-up of the major powers which had begun before 1939 generated tensions which would affect the world for the coming decades. Britain's decline as the first-tier power, hinted at around the time of the First World War, now appeared in stark contrast to the rising star of the United States. With its physical infrastructure and mercantile system intact, the U.S. emerged as the principle hub around which other democracies clustered for protection against Soviet Russia (U.S.S.R.).

Continental Europe, much of it destroyed and impoverished by seven years of total warfare, was distilled into two mutually antagonistic blocs, East and West political opposites. From the 1950s onwards the free nations of Western Europe shifted toward political, commercial and monetary union, partly to fend off the possibility of another war. However, the military and economic heft of the United States made it a more influential power in Europe than any European nation, and the Continent became the front line defence for America against the Soviet alliance (Warsaw Pact).

Such developments led to various countermeasures, including on the part of the West the creation of the U.S.-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and deep collaboration among the Atlantic powers in all matters ideological, diplomatic, political, economic and military such as the sharing of intelligence, cooperation in monetary policy, deployments of American, British, Canadian and French forces in a vanquished Germany, etc.

In other theatres the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. waged proxy or ʻdominoʼ wars through their respective allies, the Chinese throwing the occasional inscrutable spanner into the works. On the watch of President Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, bringing a technical end to the Cold War. Since then, terrorism by non-state actors has been on the rise, forcing former enemies into new alliances and covert operations around the globe. Now the rapid economic and military ascent of China has added further twists to this continuing story.

At the grass roots level, another revolution or, rather, series of revolutions got under way in the 1950s. This was the age of the protests, many of them sprouting from fears and anxieties triggered by the spread of nuclear weapons. The sight of thousands of marchers in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) snaking through the major cities of Britain, Europe and North America sent chills of apprehension throughout a world hoping for a bit of peace and quiet.

Innovations in music (rock ʻnʼ roll from America, The Beatles, etc.) and the rise of a youth culture with money to spend caused a shift away from a rigid pre-war family structure to more flexible expressions of personal freedom, driving a wedge into the family circle. Easy access to birth control and abortion encouraged sexual promiscuity and ʻliving togetherʼ, and the consequent loosening of marriage ties, all to the accompaniment of salacious films and television programmes. Scandalous practices were nothing new: what had changed was the scale and widespread acceptance of them.

The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls never to rise again. – Isa. 24: 19, 20

These corrosive influences first ravaged Western societies, then hitched a ride on the expanding ʻconsumer cultureʼ and fanned out around the globe. The result was that most nations became substantially Westernized, their conservative traditions under threat. Some cultures in Africa and the Middle East may resist the worst of the perverse trends for some years being insulated by language and strong religious affiliation but most will at length capitulate and accommodate them. Change is inevitable, for it is impossible to participate in a modern world without being modern. This applies to nations, as well as people.

Standing Tall and Unbowed

The effect of these revolutions on Britain can be seen in the swapping of a Christian-inspired culture for a secular culture, one which has a whiff of the dictatorial about it. A prudent government ought to prize the integrity which Christians bring to the home and the workplace. The ideal citizen is one motivated by a desire to do good to all and to obey the laws of the land. In endeavouring to do the will of Christ, the Christian citizen and the Christian family promotes the well-being of the whole nation.

The dogmas of atheism, human evolution, and aberrant sexual rights all causes which are related at root may at some point coalesce into a secular orthodoxy, to which all will be expected to render lip-service or allegiance, under threat of derision, humiliation or prosecution. Faced with such penalties, few will risk standing up when everyone else is kneeling down.

These developments will make the dedicated Christians stick out like warts on the fabric of society similar to the status they occupied in the days of the early Church. But we must obey God, rather than men. The exhortation of the Apostle Paul to the Church in his day applies with renewed force in our own, that

you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life . . . – Phil. 2: 15, 16

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