Daniel 3 records a worship setting in which idolatrous worship was compelled from a vast, noteworthy group of people by their hearing the statements revealed in these verses:
Daniel 3:4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Based on the information that was given to them to elicit their idolatrous worship, we learn the following points about the nature of the worship and the instrumental music that was used to elicit it:
1. This was idolatrous worship that was compelled from people who were under the threat of dying a horrific death for any who would refuse to comply.
2. Such an idolatrous worship setting was anything but a setting of acceptable worship that was characterized by love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
3. Such compelled idolatrous worship was not acceptable worship from the heart and in spirit and in truth.
4. The instrumental music used to elicit this idolatrous worship would reflect all these realities. Ominous, intimidating, and overpowering music that aggressively and assertively communicated the urgency and necessity of complying with the demand and also communicated the danger of failure to comply was the most fitting music to use for the use of music to elicit such compelled idolatrous worship.
These considerations definitively support the conclusion that the instrumental music used to elicit the idolatrous worship that is recorded in Daniel 3 was not good music that would ever be acceptable to God for use in worship.
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