When God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a dream about a huge image, the prophet Daniel interpreted its golden head as representing the king. But not satisfied with being just the head, the king commanded that an all-gold statue be made. The king could not allow his subjects to think of his golden kingdom becoming one of less value and less weight.
When the statue was finished, Nebuchadnezzar ordered everyone in his kingdom to bow down and worship it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to do so, and, as we know, walked into and out of the fiery furnace unharmed by the flames.
Why are demagogues never satisfied? As the old saying has it: “Every idol has feet of clay.” (Iron systems do not mix with the basic human desire for freedom.) God has determined that religious Babylon will fall, just as ancient Babylon did — next time to be smashed to pieces and scattered to the winds by The Rock of Christ’s kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are witnessing the decay of an image that must fall if the world is to be ruled equitably, with justice, liberty and peace for all. “Now [at this time] my kingdom is not from here” Jesus informed Pontius Pilate, who represented the Roman Empire. The time when Jesus superimposes the kingdom of heaven on earth is surely close at hand, and everyone who believes in Jesus and his soon-coming kingdom is “taking it by force” — “crowding into it forcefully”!