Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to Living Hope. We're glad that you've chosen to join us. And maybe you're here today because you're visiting, maybe because of a baby dedication that was happening earlier, and maybe something else brought you here. So I hope that as we walk through God's word this morning, that you'll be encouraged. Robert, if I could get this on that screen, that would be helpful. The series is called Faithful Living in a Foreign Land. We're walking through just a few weeks looking at the life of both Daniel and some others in the book of Daniel and seeing how they have chosen to be obedient to what God has called them to do and to be in a land that is not their own. They're brought as captives into this land of Babylon from their home. And we're going to be able to learn, just as followers of Jesus, how should we be walking as children of God in a land that is not our home, because earth is not our final home. Amen.
[00:00:55] That is good news for us and for all those who have trusted in Jesus around the world, brothers and sisters, that we have, that the earth is not our final place, but rather heaven is. And so walking through the world as we do, to trust and to trust in the Lord and to look to him as our guide, as our king, as the one who decides how we walk and who our allegiances lie with in this world. So, Daniel, Chapter three, a story that many of you know. We'll read it kind of through it in a little bit. But before that, I'll ask you a question. Have you ever been told to do something that you didn't want to do? Any of you? Okay. And I'm not just talking about someone asking you to do the dishes, asking you, or telling you to take out the trash or to clean the bathroom. I'm talking about being told to do something that you didn't want to do because you believed that it wasn't right, something that you believed was morally wrong. Have any of you been in that situation before? Maybe a situation arose at work that you were part of and you were asked or told to do something that you said, I think that is wrong. Or maybe a friend asked you to do something that you knew wasn't right, but they really, really, really, really wanted you to do it. Maybe a family member asked you to take part in something that wasn't totally above board, but the quality of your relationship maybe depended on whether or not you were going to do it. We all have kind of maybe run into these kinds of situations where we're dealing with a moral struggle based on somebody else asking us to do something that we didn't want to do. Situations that test our allegiance to what is morally right arises in our lives probably more frequently than we remember. So we think back now or even that we pay attention to. So today we'll meet three men who were told to do something that they didn't want to do because they believed that it was morally wrong. Many of you are probably aware of this story and even how it ends. And if that's you, I encourage you. Please just stay tuned because I believe that God has some powerful lessons. For as we walk through this passage, we're called to live faithfully as his children and as his ambassadors in a world that is not our own, in a world that is truly a foreign land. And today I believe we'll learn some very real practical lessons in how we can do that. Well, if you look in your Bibles in chapter three, that's where we're going to start today. But if you look back, chapter two is before chapter three, and before chapter two is chapter one. All right. And if you were here last week, Pastor Les walked us through chapter one and Daniel being brought from his homeland to a foreign land. And we saw his resolve. If you look in chapter verse 8 of chapter 1, it says that Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself. And then we look a little later on, we see his friends engaged in that resolve to not defile themselves as well. And Pastor Les walked us through what it looks like to trust God in the midst of hard change that happens in our life. And so today, as we walk through this chapter, in chapter three, we'll encounter these three young men who stood their ground in the face of a kingdom that wanted them to bend their knees to an idol, to a God, if you will, that was not their own. Chapter two is right in between there. We're not going to walk through that today. You could read that in your own time. But it is important for us to know that in chapter two, we see that Nebuchadnezzar the king, interacts with Daniel and he praises God. At the tail end of the chapter, we see that he's actually praising God for God's power, and that's important for how we're going to transition. So you see faithful in the fire. Babylon is the most powerful nation at the time, and we see that in chapter two. So we're going to start off in chapter and see what's going to happen before we do. Let's Pray if you would join me. Lord Jesus, we need your help. As we walk through this passage, we look back even at our own week, last month, last year in our life and we know that the world we're living in is not your kingdom, it is not our final destination. You are in charge and you are sovereign. But there is brokenness that we see all around us. There is sin all around us. There are things that pull our attention and our heart from you, not towards you.
[00:05:29] And so as we look at this passage, I pray you would open our eyes to how you want to work in our hearts, to draw our hearts and our minds back to you in a world in which we live that is drawing us away from you.
[00:05:43] Help us to stand with resolve as your people in the midst of an environment that pulls us away from what is right and what is good and what is true. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:05:55] Chapter two, verse 46, we see at the tail end of that chapter, Nebuchadnezzar. It says in verse 46, if you look in your Bibles, it's not on the screen, it says Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel. What had just happened was Daniel had interpreted a dream. And in this dream, the kingdom of Babylon was seen as gold or as one of the strongest kingdoms at the time. It's one of the most powerful nations, if not the most powerful.
[00:06:23] And it's interesting here, as we look at the tail end of chapter two, we see the king falling down and saying, truly, in verse 47 of chapter two, it says this, truly your God speaking to Daniel is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and the revealer of mysteries.
[00:06:41] And so you would think that perhaps this king would be ready to bow his knee before God. But what we see in chapter three, verse one is that this king does not continue to bow before God, but rather he says this, I'm going to make an idol so that other people will bow before this idol and just sit with me here for a minute. You've just seen the power of God. You've fallen down on your knees and said, wow, look at the power of God. Then the next chapter says, let's build an idol so that other people can worship this idol. Are you with me here? This just doesn't seem to make sense. This guy's so focused on look at me rather than let's look at God, even though he just saw the power of God. Isn't this true in our life as well? We can see the power of God and Then we can look right back at ourselves and say, let's edify me again. What did this idol look like? Let's start out in verse one here. We'll just read through this. You can write this in point one on your outline. Is the idol really simple outline? We're just walking through this story instead of staying humble. King Nebuchadnezzar, verse 1 of chapter 3, made an image out of what?
[00:07:54] Gold? You can say that loudly. Out of what gold? And this is probably an image overlaid with gold, whose height was 60 cubits and whose breadth was 6 cubits. And this is about 90ft. Can you say 90ft? That's a tall.
[00:08:09] A major statue, major image there that he just made. 90ft tall by about 9ft wide. And he set it on the plain of Dura. This is on a major big area where everybody could see it again, it's a massive statue there, made of gold, so it would have reflected in the sun. Everyone could see it. It's on a plain in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, the governors. We're going to get through this list a lot, by the way. The governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that the king had set up. Now, we don't know what this image actually looked like. It very well could have looked like him or had his face, but it doesn't tell us. We just see that there's a major image that he has set up. Then the satraps, or the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that the king Nebuchadnezzar had set up. In other words, anybody who was anybody was there. They stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, O peoples, nations and languages. So this is people from all over who have any and all kinds of positions that when you hear the sound of the horn. We're going to go through this list quite a bit too. Horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, which by the way, is like a triangle. Harp.
[00:09:38] The harp. The bagpipe. Hey, they had bagpipes then.
[00:09:41] And every kind of music. You are to fall down and what worship the golden image that the King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and what worship shall immediately be cast into a fiery furnace? What motivation is that? All right. Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the trigon, the lyre, the harp, the bagpipe and every kind of music, all the people, the nations and the languages fell down. And what's the word again? Worship. That word keeps showing up. That phrase. Fall down and worship will show up over and over. Through this passage, they worship the golden image that the king had set up. Now, what's important for us to know in this is this is quite literally a test of allegiance. You're going to see that throughout this passage because the king had, at this time, he's brought people from nations all over the world to under his rule, under his power. And so what he's saying is this. You can basically do and worship what you want to worship, but when it comes to me, everyone needs to bow, every knee needs to bow before me. So he wants to see, are all of the people, are all of these nations and all of these languages from around the world, are they going to align themselves with my power? This is not a religious choice. If you choose not to obey, you can't write on a little piece of paper and say, I want to be excused from this, like you might be able to do today. But rather, if you don't obey, this is treason.
[00:11:10] This is an act of rebellion against the throne. It's not about whether or not you want to worship or whether or not you want to submit to his authority. If you don't, what was the consequence?
[00:11:21] Death.
[00:11:23] Very quickly. So, well, did everyone submit to the king? Yes. Look what it says. All the peoples, the nations, the languages fell down and what's the word worshiped? The golden image that the king had set up. Now, what's the lesson for us before we move on? It's this. The world wants us to bend to its causes, not to God. They will show us that everyone else is buying it, going to watch it, visiting it, saying it, putting up the flag, driving it, talking about it. And if we don't, we aren't in.
[00:11:58] But in reality, this isn't our home. And so we don't need to abide by all the policies and the values that the world puts forth. It doesn't mean that we don't live in it and serve. But when the time comes that the policies of the world conflict with the policies and the principles of heaven, our allegiance must first be to our true home, not the foreign land that we live in. Our citizenship is where friends Heaven. And thus our allegiances must first be to the king of Heaven rather than the kings of this world, the rulers of this world. For Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, there was a huge peer pressure. Again, everybody who was anybody was there. We see in chapter two that they were raised up. They were lifted up into a high political position.
[00:12:45] And so for them, there was major pressure. How are you going to respond? As we'll see in a moment, and we've already seen in chapters one and two, Daniel and the. His three friends all served in these powerful political positions.
[00:13:00] They had an opportunity here. Are we going to stand for what we believe in, or are we going to take a step back and hide somewhere? Are we going to let other people or even bow down? Are we going to let other people see that we truly our allegiance is with God? So firstly, this idol was a test of allegiance. Maybe ask yourself this question or write this down. I encourage you to actually just write this down somewhere. This question. How is your allegiance to God being tested?
[00:13:28] Because if you believe that it's not being tested, I would say that this is probably the case. Your eyes are closed because you live in a land that is an enemy of God. And he's saying, you follow me? And the world is saying, no, you follow me. And so if you think, no, no, I think my allegiance is never tested in the world that I live in. Maybe you're just not having your eyes opened. Because every moment of the day we have a choice. Am I going to find myself leaning towards trusting in obeying and following the Lord, or am I going to trust in what the world has to put before me? Am I going to bow to the causes of money, to the causes of fame, to the causes of popularity, the causes of friendship, whatever those things may be. How is your allegiance being tested?
[00:14:17] It's being tested. Somewhere, somehow, we move on in the story to the accusers. The accusers. Therefore, at that time in verse 8, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously what accused the Jews. And most likely these people were people who wanted to have places of high esteem. And most likely these Jews probably superseded them in that opportunity because they were smarter. If you look at chapters one and two, they were able to show themselves to be better than others there. So they probably rose above these other maliciously malicious accusers. They declared, verse 9. To the king, O king, live what forever? What a nice way to start. Verse 10, you, O King, have made a decree that every. This is like buttering him up. Made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the. Here goes the list again. The horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And everyone who does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews who you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, they pay no attention to you. That's not true. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. So that part is true. So they tell a half truth to the king. And yes, even today, people tell lies about others, don't they?
[00:15:46] But they do this here to promote their own ways because they want something out of this. They want to squash these Jews. And so they say, hey, look, these Jews that you set up, they're not paying attention to you. They know this king has an ego.
[00:16:02] To tell him somebody doesn't care about you, he's going to grab his attention very quickly.
[00:16:10] Notice also that when this happened, most likely you have this image. Imagine here, this major plane, the image is set up, and you have thousands of people, most likely, if not hundreds of people there, who have now bowed down when the music played. And then you imagine over in the distance, maybe three people still standing.
[00:16:30] And these guys are perhaps watching. I mean, they already know, these Jews. They might have been waiting. I wonder what these three guys are going to do. And so they see them still standing. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they didn't grab signs and hold them up saying, we won't bow. We won't bow. Like, they didn't. They didn't do that. They didn't start some petition or anything like that. They just stood there and would not bow and waited for the accusers to come to them.
[00:16:58] We see then that the king gets very angry. Verse 13 through 15. The choice. Now there's a choice that they have the king. You can write that in the choice. The king, Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage. If you look back again and you look forward, the king has an anger problem, okay? He needs anger management therapy. He needs help with his anger problem. He moves from being calm and then angry and then calm and like all sorts of things, furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be brought. So they were brought before the king. Now, Nebuchadnezzar, he does something that is truly wise.
[00:17:39] Some credit should be given to him here. Verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, is it true? He asks the question. He doesn't take the accusation at face value, but he says he checks them. Is it true that you're not going to serve my gods or worship the golden image that I've set up? And then he gives them a choice. Now, maybe that was then, but here's another opportunity that you have to bow. You know, it can be hard sometimes to stand for what you believe in when you're face to face with somebody who's opposed to you. Sometimes it's a little easier to be like, yeah, I'm all for whatever it may be. Let's say even I'm all for following Jesus. I'm all for being a Christian and I'm willing to go and tell everybody that as long as there's 15 other people behind me supporting me. But it's one on one with you and the person who's against you. That can be a lot harder, can't it, when you're face to face with the opposition. And here it's one thing for them to stand and say, I'm going to do what's right. It's one thing, for example, I'm going to vote for what is right. No one's going to see. It's just one more name on a ballot, whatever that might be. But when it's face to face with moral opposition, they now make a stand. They don't back up, they don't compromise in any way. Now, if you are ready. So here it is. When you hear the sound, here's the list again. The horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music. You are to fall down and worship the image that I have made. So do that well and good. But if, but if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.
[00:19:12] If you want somebody to worship, I guess that's one way of making them do that. Just tell them you're gonna go into a furnace if you don't. And then he asks a powerful question. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?
[00:19:26] Who is the God who is strong enough to do that?
[00:19:31] Of course, God is the only one. You live in a land of polytheistic people, people who have gods for all sorts of things. And here these three men are saying, we have faith in one God who is stronger than all the rest. We don't have a concern here.
[00:19:49] It's one. I'm sorry. The threat of punishment can be Scary and plentiful. Believers have died at the stake.
[00:19:55] Believers have been killed by lions, been cut, been hung. The list goes on. Why would they let that happen to them if they had a choice? Because they made a choice long before they were confronted with the trial, to stand for Christ. And here, these men, they have decided long before the fiery furnace, we're going to stand with God. No matter what comes against us, we're going to stand with him. And, friends, if you've trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you've made a good choice. The best choice. Amen. The best choice. There is also another choice that you and I must make really, every single day. And it's this.
[00:20:34] Yes, he's my Savior, but today will I choose for him to be my king? Will he be the one that I bow to today? Because there's a lot of other things out there that I could bow to. But will he be the one that I bow to? No matter what the opposition may be, no matter what the threat of punishment may be, There's a lie that has permeated our world. The world tells us that if we do life God's way, we might suffer. But if we do life the world's way, we can be safe. This lie has permeated the minds and the hearts of billions, like a small candle in a. Like a large. A strong candle in a small room. From the garden until now, this lie that Nebuchadnezzar tells has been told by so many in so many different ways. Do life God's way and you'll suffer. Or at least your life won't be optimal. Isn't that what the devil said in the garden?
[00:21:30] You want to do it God's way, You're going to miss out. But do life my way and you'll find happiness and you'll find safety. This lie is all around us, isn't it? Ignore God. That's how you get happiness.
[00:21:45] What part of your life is that lie finding itself?
[00:21:52] Where is that lie finding life in your life? Where is it showing up? Where you're trusting in the lie of do it my way because it's better that way as opposed to God's way.
[00:22:03] They had a choice. They choose now what? To be faithful. Verses 16 through 184 on your outline point 4 is the faithful Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar. We have no need to answer you in this matter. What a great reply.
[00:22:23] This is not something that we're thinking about. This is not something we're considering. Which one should we choose? We know what we're going to do. Verse 17, if this be so, I.e. you throw us into the fire. Our God whom we serve is able maybe underline that, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up here. We must lean in a bit more to these few verses and learn about what biblical faith is, because that's what we're seeing here, an example of great biblical faith. One pastor, his name's Gary Hamrick, says this when defining faith, maybe write this down somewhere. In biblical terms, faith is trust, confidence and a firm reliance upon God.
[00:23:21] They did not presume upon God saying that he would save them from the fire, but that he would strengthen them and deliver them from. Bowing down to this king. This shows that just because you speak safety and protection over you or someone else doesn't mean that it's going to pass. It doesn't mean if them being faithful. It wasn't them saying, oh King, I'm going to speak into existence that you're not going to do this or that the fire is not going to burn us. Rather, their faith was in God, not in their preferred outcome.
[00:23:52] Three things we want to lean into here. Firstly, is this. Maybe write this down somewhere. Faith should be in God's ability, not in the desired outcome. Faith should be in God's ability, not in the desired outcome. Yes, we are to have specific prayers and pray and not doubt. Very true. But our prayers are to God and faith in the one who is able.
[00:24:14] Speaking your desired result over something doesn't mean necessarily that you have faith in God rather than you really, really want something particular to happen. Are you with me there? Does that make sense?
[00:24:25] Rather, our calling is. Secondly, here is to trust that God's will is going to win out in the end. God does not work according to our wish, but according to his will. Maybe write that down somewhere. God does not work according to our wish, but according to his will. And that doesn't mean that God doesn't want to hear our wishes, which we should come before him and tell him our wishes. But we must remember his will is going to win out. Jesus did this too, right in the garden. Remember, he's on his knees and he's praying and he says, not my will, but yours. He was honest with God. Here's what this is gonna be like even in the Lord's Prayer. Our prayer is that God's will would come to be. It is meekness, not weakness to pray that God's will would come to fruition in our life. And then thirdly, this area of faith, the results do not define the quality of our relationship with God. How many of you have prayed something and God didn't do what you asked him to do?
[00:25:28] All right, and for those of you who that's always happened, let me know how you did that.
[00:25:34] Most of us, we've prayed, we've God, I want this to happen. I want this to happen. And then sometimes it doesn't happen.
[00:25:41] The results, true faith means the results do not define the results of our prayer, do not define our relationship with God. If God doesn't answer what I asked him to do, it doesn't mean God, never mind, I don't want to believe in you anymore. And here's we see this true in this story. They had a resolve that transcended any results that would come about and that should be true for us as well. That my resolve to follow the Lord is going to transcend whatever happens in my life.
[00:26:16] I saw this somewhere when I was kind of getting ready and thinking about this, thinking about this phrase. Maybe you underline it in your Bibles. Even if God doesn't save, we won't bend a knee to the King of the world. Maybe you underline even if God doesn't save, do we have even if faith or for as long as faith? I will believe in God for as long as he does blank or is. Even if he doesn't do it my way, I will still believe. Do we have even if faith or for as long as faith? I think it's easy for us to say I have even if kind of faith. Even if God does. Whatever it is, no matter how hard it may be in my life, I will still press on. But there's times in our life that that's called into question, isn't it? Am I following him because my life has been good so far? Or am I going to follow him even when my life is hard for as long as or even if. Point five, number five on your outline. Is this the punishment? Verse 19. And following verse 23 then King Nebuchadnezzar was encouraged by their boldness.
[00:27:24] That's not what it says.
[00:27:25] And King Nebuchadnezzar, if he wasn't already filled with fury as we saw earlier, he is now so filled with fury and the expression of his face was changed Against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We saw this. He was angry that they weren't bowing. Then he calls them and he says, is that true? All right, here's another chance. And they say, no, even if we go to the flames, we will not bow. And he becomes greatly angered by this. And he ordered the furnace to be heated how much hotter?
[00:27:55] Seven times more than it was usually heated. Now, this furnace is most likely like a smelting kind of furnace. It's not made to be like a torture chamber. He probably was thinking of, how could. Can we punish people who don't bow? And then he saw smoke from the furnace. He's like, we're gonna do that one. And that's what he decided as the punishment, perhaps. And so here, now he's sitting, and he's most likely sitting in his throne room. He's had this conversation with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They say, no matter what happens, we are not gonna bow. And he says, now I'm angry, and probably grabs them. We see here that they were bound, but he probably takes them from the throne room, wherever that was, to the furnace. So there's a transition time that most likely took place here. We're also going to see later that some of the other. Those others in the government were brought along. So people heard, man, there's three guys who aren't bowing. What's the king going to do? Is he really going to throw him into the fiery furnace? So we see other people come along. Now we're at the furnace here. And then he says, heat it up seven times more, which, by the way, is a sign that he's truly angry and not thinking. Because if you want to make someone suffer, you don't heat up the furnace hotter.
[00:29:12] You cool it down, because you're really. But. So he's clearly not thinking clearly about this. He didn't want them to suffer. He wanted. I don't know. He's just trying to make the point. Heated times seven times hotter. So anyway, he orders the mighty men, which is like Seal Team 6, let's say. Which I don't know why you need them for three young Jewish men who aren't looking to put up a fight. But anyway, he gets his mighty men of his army, which you'll find out later when we read here, that he's going to lose them. And then he binds them, which I don't know why you need to bind them. Anyway, he binds them, and he casts them into the fiery furnace. And most likely we don't see a picture of how this is drawn, how this furnace is designed, but very well, it could be this major furnace. You can throw in things on top. So if it's a smelting furnace, you can throw in metals on top. It might fall onto this pan in the bottom where the fire is coming up from underneath and where it would melt. And then there's a door, probably on the side, where when you wanted to go in and take out the metals that you had just burned, you could do that. So kind of have that image in your mind. It thrown in. Verse 21, these men were bound with their cloaks. This is important later. Their cloaks, their tunics, their hats and their other garments and were thrown into the fiery. The burning, fiery furnace. Now, because verse 22, the king's order was so urgent, the furnace overheated. How much hotter? Seven times. The flames of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. That is the mighty men, the seal team. Six guys. These three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell bound. That's important for later. Into the fiery furnace. The end.
[00:30:53] Right?
[00:30:56] No, it's not. Verse 24 is coming. But before we look at verse 24, we need to see this. We usually try to avoid punishment as often as it comes in the form of pain or inconvenience. We know punishment might be coming. If we know it's coming, we might try to find ways to avoid it. But not these three men. They had resolved even to the point of death, that no matter what punishment might be coming their way, their minds were made up in this matter. They didn't believe that if they obeyed God, everything in their life would work out, which kind of happens to be in our belief system in this world today. If I obey God, everything in my life will be good. But if I'm disobeying God, then maybe things are going to go poorly.
[00:31:36] That's not what they believed. Because if that were the case, they would think, maybe we're disobeying God here. They didn't believe that punishment would only come to those who did wrong. They're being punished for something they did that was right. They didn't believe that compromising their convictions for the sake of comfort or safety was part of God's plan for their life. They did believe this, though. They did believe that 100% allegiance to God was worth it, even if it meant their death.
[00:32:05] You know, we struggle with 100% allegiance, don't we? I am 100% for God. Unless there's something else over here that draws my attention, I'm 100% for him. But that movie is kind of cool. And I know he wouldn't really approve of it, but the compromise can easily creep into our life. Number six on your outline, verses 24 and following. Now we have the miracle. Finally, the coming to the end of this. Then Nebuchadnezzar. So they got thrown in. However this is designed somehow. You're able to look into the furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was what?
[00:32:45] Astonished.
[00:32:47] We've gotten a lot of different emotions out of him just in these few verses, haven't we? He's gone from, yeah, look at me, build a big image for people to worship me. And then he's angry, and then he's threatening, and then he's fine, and then he's angry again, and then he's asking questions, and now he's astonished. He rose up in haste and he declared to his counselors, did not we cast how many men? Three men. Oh, what's that word? Bound into the fire. And they answered and said to the king, yes, king, you don't want to be ever disagree with him, by the way. And he answered and said, but I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God. Now, a few things there before we look at verse 26 and following. They were thrown in, bound, and then he sees them unbound.
[00:33:35] What's so neat about that?
[00:33:39] The only thing that the fire burned up was their bound was the ropes that they had been tied up with, which to me maybe, and you, as you're thinking about this, sometimes God allows us to be thrown into a proverbial in our life, most of the time thrown into the fire. And sometimes the result of that is not us getting burned, but it's the parts of us that are binding us that need to get burned up. It's the refining aspect of us that God is going to work out in us when we get thrown into the fire. We see this all through scripture, right? That in the midst of trials, God is working through that to unbind parts of us that are bound up, whether that be struggles with misbelief about him or lies about him, whether that be addictions or whether that be weakness in some area of our life, whether that's growing our strength. God uses fire to purify. I also, this is probably again a smelting kind of furnace. There's purification going on here. These men didn't get deserved to be bound. And what did God burn up when they were thrown in the fire? Their bounds. We also see here this fourth man, sometimes believed to be Jesus. Perhaps it was. We see that the king says, like the son of God or the son of the gods. We see that's just his image.
[00:34:59] The word here in the original language really is the word gods. And then the word before that is bar. So someone like God. So it's not saying he is actually the son of God. He's simply saying it's like an angel. Later, actually, he mentions it speaks to him as being an angel or like an angel. Then King Nebuchadnezzar, he comes near the door, but not too near because he doesn't want to get burned up. The burning fiery furnace. And he declares Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of who? The most high God. His senses has come back to him. He recognizes the power of God. Come out and come here. Then they come out of the fire. And here's the list again. The satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together. So again we see a group of them come together around these three men, and they see that the fire had not had any power over them. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Did you see what happens here? God uses this miracle, this powerful miracle of the fire not affecting them in any way, and brings about something that perhaps is more important than the miracle of the fire not hurting them. Is the king saying, I realize again that there is a true living God out there, and I'm not it. And my gods, they are small in comparison to the most high God. What's the lesson here? It's this. Trust the Lord and the things that bind you will fall away. People may put restrictions on you, may lie about you, may try to put you in a mold that God didn't design for you. And if you and I are willing to do things God's way, we can experience freedom. It's trust. It's faith. It's saying, God, I'm gonna do it your way. I'm gonna be allegiant. I'm gonna align myself with you, no matter the cost, and see that in the end you will show yourself faithful. Now verse 28 to the end, verse 30 is the response number seven. And then there's a couple summary questions or things you can write in it after this. The response is the end. There Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his what, an angel or this other being, whoever it might have been, and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own.
[00:37:27] Wouldn't that be neat if that said, of all of us, I see this person. And they were willing at all costs. They left friends, they left families. Isn't that what Jesus calls us to do sometimes when we follow him? He says, be willing to leave everything to be aligned with me, to come and follow me. And the king sees that. Therefore he has to make another decree. And this is a good decree to some extent.
[00:37:54] Look at this with me. Any people, nation or language that speaks against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, so don't speak against it. And then here's the threat, because he seems to need to have a threat every time shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid to ruins. Like you were going on such the right path there. Like, yeah, worship. Wait, no, just don't speak against God. And if you do, we're going to tear you apart. For there is, and here's the good part again, four. Why? For there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. No other God can do this. Then the king promoted these three men in the province of Babylon. Now here's, here's the lesson here as we close. God didn't need Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to make his point. But he used, and this is you and I as well. He used faithful men, courageous people who are willing to stand no matter the opposition and say, I'm aligning myself with God no matter what's against me. I'm not going to compromise my values. No matter what I'm being asked to do, I will stand fast. And maybe you right now or have or will, I'm sure, be asked to do something that you don't want to do. You all raise your Like I have been asked to do something or told to do something that I don't want to do. There's going to be times in your life you're asked or told to do something that you go, you know what? Would Jesus have me do this? No, he wouldn't. Now I can make a choice. Am I going to stay aligned to the principles of Heaven or am I going to align myself to the principles of the world?
[00:39:31] Let's be willing, friends, to trust God and to trust his way. Even when it sounds painful.
[00:39:38] Let's be willing to be, even if Christians, not for as long as Christians.
[00:39:45] When hardship comes, remember, friends, that God is working and that he is going to use whatever the trial is to free you, to grow you, to change you into being, into his likeness. Look out. Here's a warning. Look out for idols in your life that are being set up around you. People are saying, come and bow down to the idol of money. Come and bow down to the idol of friendship. Come and bow down to the idol of luxury. Come and bow down to the idol of comfort. Come and bow down. And the list goes on and on and on. Come and bow down. And we have to look at them as idols, not just as, oh, you know what? Maybe it's okay if I just let this go this one time. No one's gonna watch. No one's gonna see.
[00:40:35] Ask yourself, where are those idols showing up in my life? Where are those images showing up? And I can choose. Will I bow down like everyone else's, or will I stand fast? How is this related to Christ?
[00:40:47] Just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego's allegiance was to God, even to the point of death, so too was Jesus allegiance to the Father, even to the point of death, no matter what came his way. And we've seen through the book of John through this last year over and over again, people are trying to kill him and people are trying to stone him, People are trying to arrest him. He's like, I'm going to be aligning myself to the Father's will over all things, even to the point of death.
[00:41:18] And if you've never trusted, firstly, if you've never trusted in Jesus, do that today.
[00:41:25] It's interesting as I even say that out loud and not to sound like this king, but the alternative of not aligning yourself with Jesus is flames, isn't it?
[00:41:40] And the promise of Jesus is, align yourself with me and you will find safety. But that promise is reversed in the world that we live in.
[00:41:51] Live for him. That's weird. That's wrong. That's pointless. It's going to lead to frustration. Come and follow us. You'll be happy. But in reality, Jesus says, come and follow me. If you truly want to have spiritual safety. Let's pray together.
[00:42:08] Lord, as your people here today, you are calling us to yourself. You are calling us to open our eyes to the idols that are around us to the images that show themselves around us, that call us to bow before them.
[00:42:22] Whatever those things may be, we have them popping up regularly in our life.
[00:42:28] We see people, friends, family, that bow down to the image, the idol of government, of money, of luxury, of whatever the things may be.
[00:42:38] And you've called us to say, hey, I'm going to stand firm. No matter the cost, no matter the temptation, we're going to stand firm.
[00:42:50] Help us to be encouraged by your love for us, knowing that whenever that time comes that we stand in the fire, that you will be with us. Just as we saw in this passage, the fourth man in the fire, you have promised to never leave us and to never forsake us. No matter what problems we're going through, no matter what trials we're walking through, you will be with us.
[00:43:14] You didn't save them from being thrown into the fire, but in the midst of the fire, Lord, you walked with them and you brought them out free.
[00:43:24] Lord, you promised us, as we walk with you, we truly will experience freedom.
[00:43:30] It is you that we put our faith and our trust in today. In Jesus name, amen.
