“King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. So all these officials came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.” Daniel 3:1-3
Twenty years passed and Nebuchadnezzar does what most of us have tendencies of doing. At first Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges truly that the God of Daniel is the God of gods and Lord of kings but as time passed Nebuchadnezzar began to question. ‘Who says my empire will end? Who says it has to happen that way? I am the head of gold and I am not letting my empire be overthrown.” Therefore Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and set it up in the plains of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Miracles do not build or grow a person’s faith. Faith comes only by hearing the word of God. The children of Israel are the generation which saw most miracles and God revealing Himself to them but they remained a rebellious generation up to today.
By making an image of all gold, Nebuchadnezzar was saying that his kingdom will never end but last forever. He was telling the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that He will not get in his way; he had big plans for his kingdom. He meant that he is going to be in perpetual power and make every person bow down to this image which represented his empire. Every person bowing to that image was to make sure that every person was in submission so no one would overthrow his kingdom. The demand that all come to the dedication ceremony means that Nebuchadnezzar meant to use the worship of this image as a test of allegiance.