"On
coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed
down and worshiped him…"
{Matthew 2:11a} (NIV1984)
Objections
immediately arise if I make the statement, “to worship is to bow down”. Yet the
Ten Commandments clearly link worship and bowing down. Satan understands the
link, because he tempted our Lord by offering Him the kingdoms of the world in
exchange for our Lord bowing down and worshiping Satan. Daniel 3 demonstrates
to us that the three friends of Daniel believed in the link strongly enough to
die for not bowing before an image of the king of Babylon.
The Bible is full of
examples of men and women bowing down and worshiping God. This link creates a
problem for us in Canada in 2012, simply because we don’t bow or curtsy to
anyone. The spiritual truth hasn’t changed, but our cultural situation has
changed. This makes it difficult for us to know whether or not we are bowing
down before God or bowing down before Satan. Sincere worshipers of the Lord
Jesus Christ will make the effort to determine whom they bow to, simply because
they desire to worship God and only God.
To help us in this search, note that
our Lord and the three friends of Daniel told their tempters that they would not
serve anyone except God. In our society, built on the rights and powers of the
individual, we do not bow to anyone, but we serve many. May the example of the
wise men remind us to draw near to God and serve Him only!
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