When the music begins to play, the crowd of dignitaries bows down before the image. It must be gratifying to Nebuchadnezzar to have all these people bow down before the statue. There must be a lot of people, because we get the impression that the king himself does not see the three men who remain standing. The victory seems great to Nebuchadnezzar and it appears that the devil is victorious.
Time and again there are moments in history when it feels like some human power in the service of Satan is overcoming the kingdom of Christ, and when this happens the question is asked, What does the church, what does Christ really represent? These situations should be expected in the period between Christ’s ascension and return. This is outlined in Revelation 13:1–18 where the beast rises from the sea, determined to attack the faithful. Many people will succumb to the compulsion that comes upon them to give divine honour to the beast as shown in Revelation 13:8, And all who dwell on earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life, the book of the Lamb who was slain.
Under Nebuchadnezzar’s compulsion, representatives from all the nations of the empire kneel before his image. The kingdom of man and of the devil forcibly coerces some kind of unity religion in the unitary state. We see something here that stands in contrast to what is really going to happen in Revelation 7:9–17.
7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.