But Even If
By Jack Wyman
The sun beat down upon the throng of people gathered in this public place. Everyone was a bit nervous. They looked at each other. Then together they gazed upward, transfixed.
It was a majestic sight.
An awesome monument had been erected. A massive, 90-foot gold statue made to honor the established secular power and the glory of the king. Lifted high, that all might behold it. It was magnificent. It was beautiful. It represented the sole authority of this realm.
There would be among the people no questions or doubts; no argument, no disagreement, no protest; no convictions to the contrary. No declarations of conscience.
This was unity. This was authority. This was the power of the State. Today, we’d call it the penultimate political correctness, gained not by consent but by command. The king was omnipotent, the people powerless.
All of King Nebuchadnezzar’s government officials—his governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials, showed up for this special ceremony.
The political establishment, weaklings and cowards all, hurried to their positions of submission.
When the orchestra started to play the music of compliance, “people of all races and nations and languages” were commanded to “bow to the ground and worship the gold statue” (Daniel 3: 4-5).
The three young Hebrews from Babylon stood while everyone else bowed. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to consent. They rejected conformity and defied authority. They stood by their conscience, their faith, and their convictions. They honored their God and held to their allegiance. They refused to be cowed by the threat of a fiery death or intimidated by a monarch’s power.
We know how this ends. God is vindicated, the young men are protected in the furnace, the king becomes a believer, and the brave dissenters are rewarded. Most of us learned this in Sunday School. Knowing “the rest of the story” tempts us to a certain complacency in appreciating its lessons. You and I should resist that easy dismissal.
These young men showed true courage—not because they knew they would be delivered but because they didn’t.
They were prepared to suffer and to die for their beliefs and had no reason to think they wouldn’t be called upon by God to do so. After all, millions have.
Two of the greatest words found in the English Bible are “if” and “but.” These are the great amplifiers of scripture. They change lives, outcomes, and eternal destinies. These little words have power to surprise us all.
When Nebuchadnezzar gave the young men one final chance to comply with the royal edict, he promised them that if they refused they would perish in a blaze. “And then,” he sneered, “what god will be able to rescue you from my power?” (Daniel 3:15).
They would not defend themselves to this king. They would not seek to explain, excuse, justify, or temporize. Nor would they plead for the king’s mercy or make any false promise in order to escape their plight. Instead, they calmly and confidently expressed their united faith in Almighty God’s divine ability to rescue them from this mere mortal’s skimpy earthly power.
“But, if not . . .”
“But even if he doesn’t . . .”
Come what may. Regardless of what God wills. No matter what happens to us. Whether we live or die. “We want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up” (Daniel 3:18, emphasis added).
Never.
That’s the lynchpin. Full trust in God, based not on our desires or deliverance, but on his sovereignty and purpose. Rooted not in our convenience, but in his glory. If the ultimate price is to be paid by our own blood, so be it. Here is the martyr’s declaration, echoed down in praise and hope through the centuries. It is the cry of brave Christian followers around the globe today. This must be also our inspiration in these difficult days.
But even if.
“Here I stand,” declared Martin Luther before the Diet of Worms in 1521, “I can do no other, so help me God.” Courage. When all else fails, it is the crowning virtue of noble men and women. It is, described novelist Ernest Hemingway, “grace under pressure.”
In the pivotal and ominous spring of 1940 one man in the world stood alone between freedom and global darkness. He was a short, balding, cherubic-faced, cigar-smoking 65-year-old controversial has-been. By the grace of a providential God, he helped rescue western civilization from the powerful clutches of Nazi tyranny.
While so many others called for appeasement and surrender, Winston Churchill called for strength, resistance, perseverance and courage. He called for victory, no matter the cost. It was Churchill’s—and the world’s—finest hour.
But even if.
“We shall go on to the end,” Churchill told England and the world. “We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be . . . on the beaches . . . the landing grounds . . . in the fields and in the streets. . . in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Never.
Courage.
You and I are engaged in a titanic spiritual warfare. The destructive forces unleashed upon the world—forces aimed at our children, our families, our freedom, and our values; our compassion, virtue, justice, and our very humanity—are not the fault of misguided politicians of either party. They are the designs and agenda of the evil one.
Let us recognize this struggle for what it truly is. And let us put on our spiritual armor and go out into this troubled and suffering world in the strength, love, confidence, hope, and faith we have in Jesus Christ.
The final outcome is not in doubt. The victory already won. So do not despair—rejoice!
But even if.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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