In Chapter 1 we saw how Daniel and his friends refused to accommodate themselves to the idolatry of the Babylonian, not because they were deliberately difficult or obnoxious, but because they feared God more than man. Truly, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge/ wisdom“ (Prov.1:7). As a result we read that God gave to these men ‘knowledge and understanding’ (1:17). This kind of knowledge was not based on a superior Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.), but this knowledge is the gift of God to those that fear Him.
These 4
young Hebrew men grew up in the household of faith in Israel. They were raised
to fear God, not in an abstract way, but in a real experiential way. They did
not simply know about God in an abstract way. They knew God. The longer one is
married the more knowledge one gains of the person one has married. We do not
gain an understanding of our spouse by reading all sorts of books about
the other gender or by studying personality theories - “5 scientific facts on why females act like
they do”, written by a specialist on marriage that has never been married. No!
We get to know our spouses when we live with them, when we experience them
first hand. These young men knew their
God, and because they knew Him they knew that they could trust Him (unlike the
gods of the magicians in 2:11),
especially when the odds were stacked against them. We shall see this again in Chapter 3.
By the time we come to Chapter 3, these young Hebrew men would have been through two major faith trials -
(i) not defiling themselves with the King’s food.
(ii) the trial brought about by Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which was humanly speaking impossible to interpret.
And now they are about to face their third
major trial. Again we will see them not compromising even at the risk of losing their lives (again!).
OUTLINE
1.
3:1 – 7 Nebuchadnezzar forces all to worship
the golden image.
2.
3:8 – 12 The faithful Jews accused of
disobedience
3.
3:13 – 18 Nebuchadnezzar’s fury and the Hebrew boys response
4.
3:19 - 25 The fiery furnace; Four men in the fire
5.
3:26 – 30 Nebuchadnezzar’s response to this
miracle
1.
3:1 – 7 NEBUCHADNEZZAR FORCES ALL TO
WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE
“King Nebuchadnezzar
made an image…”. Now
this is somewhat ironic. The substance
of the dream of Daniel 2 was a great image (Aramaic- sělēm) of a human
figure. We saw that that image represented 4 kingdoms which was smashed
by a stone (Christ’s kingdom) that grew
into a mountain. In the interpretation
of that dream Nebuchadnezzar was explicitly told that his kingdom would not
last (2:39). Nebuchadnezzar was
absolutely bowled over by that dream and interpretation, declaring Daniel’s God
to be God of gods and Lord of kings (2:47). The irony is that in the third chapter King
Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold. Has he not understood that human images and powers will also be
destroyed by the God of gods?
It was not unusual among Babylonian and Syrian rulers to
erect images to their own honour. This particular statue was massive: 27 metres
high and 2.7 metres wide! A ‘dedication service’ was to be held in the plain of
Dura[1].
All the people, including the conquered nations were commanded to bow before
this image[2].
Present at the ceremony was an orchestra. At the sound of the music, the people
were commanded to fall down and worship the statue. Failure to bow down would
be seen as treason followed by certain death in a burning fiery furnace. Most
people wanted to stay alive and obliged.
It is an unfortunate thing that false religion has frequently
been used to oppress. The emperor worship of the Romans cost many early
Christians their lives. Christians at
the time were being told, under threat of death, to renounce Christ, confess
that “Caesar is Lord,” and offer incense to the emperor. One of the modes of
torture/execution of Christians was to have them attacked by wild animals in a
public arena. The story of Polycarp (AD 69—156), bishop of Smyrna, one of the
last living disciples of John the apostle, is well known. The Roman authorities wanted him to
say “Caesar is Lord” and offer incense to him. Polycarp said, ‘Fourscore and six years have I been His
servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who
saved me?’” (Polycarp 9:1–3). Realizing
that Polycarp would not recant, his captors threatened him with wild beasts.
When that did not work, he was threatened with burning alive. That did not
frighten him, either. A pyre was made, and the wood caught on fire but Polycarp
was unharmed. Then a man stabbed him in the heart, and a great gush of blood
came out and extinguished the remaining flames. After his death by stabbing,
his body was burned.
Nebuchadnezzar looked for such affirmation from all his
subjects. The sad thing is that he had just witnessed a supreme demonstration
of the power of Daniel’s God (2:47),
calling him “God of gods and Lord of
kings…”. In truth he has learned nothing as he tries to exalt himself. He
saw, but he does not know. How very foolish to make people fall down in front
of a statue in worship, when you have just experienced the great power of the
God of gods. This is not a time for self- glory. This is a time to seek the All
glorious One.
2.
3:8 – 12 JEALOUSY AND ACCUSATION
In the meantime many of the
Babylonian wise men (aka. Chaldeans 3:8) had resented the success of the
Jewish wise men. Jealousy makes you nasty,
and when they saw that three of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (we don’t
know, where Daniel was) would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue (3:12), they grasped this opportunity
“to tell on them” (3:8). Before
we look at that, let us take a quick
look at the response of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and then the response
to their standpoint:
No compromise!
Why is it that these young Hebrew men were so adamant about not falling down
before the statue when everybody was doing it? As stated before, the principle
of “no compromise” was rooted in their understanding of the nature of God. They knew Him. They knew His nature for it had
been revealed to them in the law of Moses. They knew that He is the solitary, only
Creator and Owner of the universe. No one can stand alongside Him. They knew
that idolatry was a great sin. They knew the 10 commandments which state explicitly,
“I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD …You shall have
no other gods before me. You shall
not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under
the earth. You shall not bow down to
them or serve them, for I THE LORD YOUR GOD, AM A JEALOUS GOD…” (Ex.20:2-5).
As modern Christians we find
ourselves in the same predicament. Our battle is not so much with bowing down
to idolatrous statues but to idolatrous systems! Christians are constantly
challenged to compromise the clear standards which God has given us in His
Word. Here we simply consider what the world wants us to believe in matters of
creation (evolution), in matters of gender identity and human sexuality,
the marriage institution. The world has its own fiery furnace for those who do
not conform to the worship of these satanic thought idols. It is the furnace of
being ridiculed, ostracised, ignored and excluded, and called ‘narrow-minded’. But we cannot compromise. We know our God and the
words of Acts 5:29 come readily to
mind: “We must obey God, rather than men.” (Peter and the apostles before
the Sanhedrin)
In reality, the world is jealous. It cannot stand people that possess a godly righteousness. They
will do everything to side-line them, and if necessary to get rid of them.
Ultimately, these people are shaking their fists against God Himself! The
absurdity of this jealousy is that Daniel and his 3 friends actually saved the skins of these so-called
Babylonian wise men, by interpreting the dream
for the King. Had they not done that, all the wise men would have been
executed by now. Jealousy, which
issues here in malicious accusation is a sad attribute of our fallen human
nature. These Babylonian wise men were probably jealous of Daniel and his
friends, because they had risen to positions of prominence, which they
themselves had hoped to secure. Jealousy
is listed among the acts of the sinful
nature (Gal. 5:19). People who
persist in this sin are warned, that they will not inherit the kingdom of
heaven (Gal. 5:21). Sadly this trait
can even be found among Christians. In many churches the work of Christ is
hindered because of jealousy. [3]
May God deliver us from such!
3. 3:13-18 NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S FURY AND THE FAITHFUL
HEBREW BOY’S RESPONSE
We have already noted that
Nebuchadnezzar who had recently seen the power of God through the prayer and
testimony of these men (2:46ff), has
forgotten this. And right now he is in the hands of blind anger which always
impairs one’s sense of judgement.
Now see the response of the three Hebrew men to his threatening:
a. They affirm that God is able to deliver
b. But even if He doesn’t,
they will not compromise (3:18)
The Hebrew men ruled by their
knowledge of God stuck by God. They knew Him! That principle is KEY. When the
choice needs to be made between pleasing the most powerful man on earth and the
eternal King of Creation, there can be but only one way to go. Not deliverance but obedience is key!
And secondly, remember that the worst the world can do is to kill us! But it
cannot kill our soul, which belongs to God. Our accusers should be aware of the
fact, that they will have to give account of themselves in the day of judgement.
They must fear the ONE who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt 10:28).
4.
3:19 –
25 THE FIERY FURNACE: FOUR MEN IN THE FIRE
And because Nebuchadnezzar was furious (3:19) he commands the fire to be heated seven times as hot. The furnace was so hot that the fire killed the men who threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to the fire. Miraculously, however, the fire does not appear to consume these three men. Something very strange happens: A fourth person appears in the fire with them (3:25). He is described “like a son of the gods” by the King. Later in 3: 28, he is described as an angel. It is the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus who in all times and ages has stood with and delivered His people..
This is the promise found in Isaiah 43:1-2,
“But now
thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I
have redeemed you; I have called you by
name, you are mine.2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not
overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you”
The great lesson learnt here is this:
NOBODY LOSES BY REFUSING TO SIN,
whatever may be said to the contrary. We also learn that deliverance FROM the
fire was not to be their experience. God delivered them IN the fire … i.e. “when you walk THROUGH the waters… the fire...”; “when you walk
THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death...” Ps. 23)
5. 3: 26-30 OUT OF THE FIRE: NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S RESPONSE
What can Nebuchadnezzar say? He
knows, and acknowledges what has happened, and he again gives the credit to the
God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. But is he converted? We will leave that
answer for another time.
Our great encouragement is this: When one stands uncompromisingly for God
a. We may trust Him in the fire of our afflictions. When we say “NO” to the world, we are certain to experience fiery furnaces, but we may rest assured, that there is no fiery furnace which a mortal man can invent that can destroy the people of God.
b. Even our opponents
will be brought to respect Him. And again we see a promotion in 3:30
The warning is this: When we compromise the truth as it
is in Jesus we become like everyone else. We shall loose the power to do any
good, and we shall loose the truth. And ultimately we will reveal our true character and thus incur
God’s judgement.
Exhortation : 2 Corinthians 13:5,6
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