I love it when I encounter truth in God’s word that contradicts common stereotypes, one of which is the inaccurate generalization that God is a God of wrath in the Old Testament and a God of love in the New.
As I was reading through Daniel I found a beautiful portrait of God’s patience and kindness toward the arrogant, pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar. In chapter 3 we read of Nebuchadnezzar's 90-foot statue, before which he commanded all peoples, nations, and languages to bow in worship lest they be thrown into a burning fiery furnace.
Only God has the right to demand worship like this. King Nebuchadnezzar exalted himself to be like God, making himself worthy of God’s fierce and just wrath. What a perfect opportunity for God to confront this pagan King. He could have said something like, “You threw my servants (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) into the fiery furnace for failure to worship you, a self-exalting man. Prepare yourself for my everlasting fiery furnace on account of your failure to worship me, the living God." But what we see in chapter 4 is not an episode of God’s wrath but rather God’s grace to humble the king through drastic means in order to show him that God alone is the Most High, the King of heaven, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion.
This contrast between the mercy of God, who has every right to demonstrate his wrath, and the arrogant harshness of a man, who has no right to demand worship the way he does, is wonderful. Praise God, that He is not like us, especially in response to our thinking that we’re like Him!
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