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6, 6, 6, and a Babylonian Celebration

It’s true friend, we depend on your regular gifts to bring you this daily broadcast.
Now let’s go to the book of Daniel for some high-tension drama. First, a relatively recent story.

Philip Ozersky and his girlfriend decided to go to a ball game at Busch Stadium in St Louis. They chose the game carefully. On that day Mark McGwire had the chance to hit his 69th home run of the 1999 season, and break his own record. They got good seats and were thrilled to watch him send # 69 into the stands. Later in the game, McGwire connected again. Imagine their astonishment to see the ball coming directly towards them. Philip jumped to his feet, arms outstretched, and a split second later he had the ball in the palm of his hand.

It would prove to be a very valuable ball. Within hours he'd been offered a million dollars. But he wouldn’t part with his treasure. At least not then!

Later in the year, the ball came up for auction in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The occasion had the atmosphere of a circus as the loud speakers blared, "Take me out to the ball game."

The bidding for McGwire's ball #70 started modestly at $400,000. But quickly climbed to $1.2 million. Then a pause. Then up to $1.7 million. Another pause. And a third burst brought a bid for $2.6 million. A bidder via telephone bettered that with $2.7 million. At that point Irwin Sternberg, a necktie manufacturer (neckties must be selling better than I thought) whispered, "The person on the telephone might not have a bottom line!" Sternberg dropped out.

You could have bought a ball identical to this for a few dollars! But as the auction-house owner quipped, "without doubt, [this is] the most significant baseball ball in the world today." And on that basis the bidding continued on up into auction-house heaven. It took a bid of $3,005,000 to bring down the hammer.

What is that ball worth? Well, that’s the wrong question. Anyone who’s gone to a sporting goods store knows you can buy a baseball for about $10. The real question is, How much would you pay for this ball? Which brings us to the third chapter of Daniel and a similar question: What price are you prepared to pay to maintain your relationship with God?

And that reminds me, to remind you, of the main themes of Daniel. First, this book is written to reveal Jesus and all He does for us. We see that in the central verses of the book where Daniel paints a beautiful picture of Jesus at work on our behalf in heaven right now. And the second theme is to demonstrate how Jesus will always come to our rescue no matter what the circumstances.

The setting for today’s chapter begins in Daniel 2, which we’ve discussed over the last two days. The two episodes are intimately connected. God gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream. It troubles him——as God intended it should. Daniel told the king his God could reveal the dream and its meaning, but first he must have time to pray. And the king agreed. Just imagine, the affairs in the palace of the king of a great empire are all put on hold while the prophet goes away to pray!

In answer to those prayers, God told Daniel, and Daniel shared with the king, both the dream and its meaning. In his dream the king had seen a metal statue with a head of gold which represented the kingdom of Babylon. The metals in the chest, lower torso, and legs represented the kingdoms that would come onto the world stage as history unfolded in future centuries.
The king found himself so overwhelmed by this précis of the future, he elevated Daniel to Prime Minister of Babylon, and chairman of the King’s College of Councilors.

But all was not well in Babylonian Camelot. A head of gold to represent Babylon sounded great. An inferior kingdom (as silver is less valuable than gold) conquering Babylon is not good news. Nebuchadnezzar fretted about it, obsessed about it, became paranoiac about it. And this led to the decree to build the mammoth gold statue described in Daniel chapter 3, a statue with the strangest dimensions. The Bible says read:

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in Babylon.

Now let’s think for a moment about the expression, 6, 6, 6 so prominent in millions of copies of contemporary religious novels. It comes from a prophecy in Revelation, which in turn is based on this chapter in Daniel.

The world at large today operates on a base-10 system of mathematics. We call it the decimal system. But there are other ways of calculating. For example, there's a lot in our culture that's rooted in a base-60 system. For example there are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour, and 6 x 60 degrees in a circle, and there were 6 x 60 days in the Babylon year. And we used to measure two sets of 6 to measure a basic unit we called a foot, and there are 5280 feet in a mile, which is divisible by 60.

We have the Babylonians to thank for the base-60 system. In reality it's a mixture of base-10 and base-60 systems, for 60 can also be expressed as 6 x 10. It's known officially as a sexagesimal system. Now, suddenly some things in this chapter begin to make more sense! In a boastful attempt to show his determination to have Babylon rule in perpetuity, he erected a statue of all gold designed on their base-60, or 6 x 10 measurement. The statue was 60 cubits high and 6 wide.

The mystical number 666 in the book of Revelation has nothing to do with quantities. It symbolizes the character of rebellion against God that lies at the heart of symbolic Babylon. And that takes us back to Nebuchadnezzar the great showman.

He contrived an occasion the likes of which had never been seen in the history of the world. He provided great entertainment to keep the crowd happy. The Babylonian Symphony Orchestra rehearsed for the concert of their lives. After the orchestra played, the king would command everyone to bow down and worship the statue.

The Babylonians built their city with clay bricks and became among the most successful brick makers in history which meant great skill in building brick kilns. On this occasion, the stokers fired up the kiln sending smoke belching from the enormous smokestack. Then after the warm up, the royal spokesperson announced, (I read Daniel 3:5, 6):

. . . As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

At this grand, national event, Nebuchadnezzar gave the signal and the orchestra played. I imagine it must have been highly motivating music, the kind that raises your pulse and quickens your national spirit, music that makes you proud to be a Babylonian under the reign of a great king like Nebuchadnezzar. And as the music reached its climax, the giant crowd bowed low like wheat before a brisk breeze.

Everyone knelt before the sculpture—everyone except, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
At that point, I imagine the jealous wise men rubbed their hands together gleefully. "We've got them, there's no way out now, they're trapped.”

They approached the monarch and with barely disguised astonishment asked the king about his decree, and whether there could be any exceptions, perhaps for foreigners who had not yet taken the oath of allegiance to the United States of Babylon? The flushed face of the king showed the depth of his anger. A short time before, he'd been almost fawning in front of one of the pawns he’d brought back from Palestine. But now he forgot all he had said on that occasion in the royal chambers, and called the three in front of him and expressed his rage. He offered them one more chance. If they refused to bow, they'd be thrown into the furnace. And as a final shot he taunted them:

"And who is this God that can deliver you out of my hand?"

Suddenly God was on trial, as well as the three worthies. What will they do? What will God do? Can He deliver these three noble young men and emerge with His character of love in tact? And what price are the three young men prepared to pay in order to be faithful to God?

Such important questions! Be sure you join us on Monday for the conclusion of this true tale from ancient Babylon.