Summary: If there is anything that can get your attention, it’s a fire. As a child I remember our neighbor’s house caught on fire and I watched from our window as the house was burning down.

“Faith to Face the Fire”

Daniel 3:1-30 and 1 Peter 4:12

If there is anything that can get your attention, it’s a fire. As a child I remember our neighbor’s house caught on fire and I watched from our window as the house was burning down. Later in life the church we grew up in had a fire and the old sanctuary, no longer in use, burned completely to the ground. Word spread quickly all over town that the church had caught fire. In a small town it was the talk of the town that day. A fire gets our attention.

In this passage today we find 3 men who faced a fire. Unlike most of the fires that we face, these men had a choice as to whether or not they would go into the fire. We usually don’t have a choice. Fiery trials just come our way….seemingly out of nowhere. These men could either just go with the flow, do whatever everyone else was doing and bow down to a false God or they could burn in the fiery furnace. That was their choice. A fire is not something we would normally choose. A trial is not something we choose. But still we face them. In fact the scripture reminds us “that we should not be surprised” when they come our way. Yet we are. Every single time. They always catch us off guard.

For several weeks now I have been preaching on some trials God’s people were confronted with and then we have looked at how Jesus responded and how God’s people responded. These have been stories of grace. Stories of times when God’s people had to face difficult decisions and make a decision as to what they would do. Stories of illness, stories of hardship and trials and how God took their situation and turned it all into a Place of Grace.

In our country and around the world today we have been faced with a fiery trial as we have watched a virus spread across the world, taking the lives of over 6500 people worldwide; at least 70 of those right here in America. Now over 150 documented cases right here in Florida. And so you and I have had to decide what our response would be. This fiery trial is known as COVID-19, a virus unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime. For some it has tested their faith. Many have asked the question…..is God allowing this to get our attention? I find myself asking, what is God trying to say to His people?

I can imagine that these 3 men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were asking the same thing regarding the trial they were facing. The king had his men build an image over 90 feet tall and nearly 20 feet wide…..it would have been visible in that area for at least 15 miles from any direction. The area was completely flat. The king summoned 7 different all of the officials for a meeting …. In our day it would be the equivalent of saying OK, everyone who is on the Federal payroll needs to show up. No one was excluded and the meeting was mandatory. And this is what the king told them. From this point forward everyone must fall down and worship this image. It was gold-plated by the way. Can you imagine? And if they didn’t, they would be thrown into the fiery furnace …. There would be no waiting period. It would happen immediately. This included everyone. The scripture says that men of every language must comply. And as soon as the music started, as soon as the instruments were played, right at the first note of the orchestra, they had to all fall down and worship. So perhaps you can imagine this huge crowd of people falling down in worship of this golden image …………. except 3 young Jews who shocked everyone and just remained standing. It was basically; it seems, that they were being asked to bow down and worship King Nebuchadnezzar. But these 3 young men remembered that the OT taught them a simple fact …. “You shall have no other gods before Jehovah God.” One of the Ten Commandments. We then learn in verses 13-14 that the king was furious with rage. How could anyone defy his orders, knowing they faced immediate death?

Now just in case they had misunderstood, the orders were repeated. Nebuchadnezzar responded by asking, “What god do you think will be able to rescue you from my hand?” This was their response. V. 16. “We do not need to defend ourselves in this matter. If we are thrown into the fiery furnace/the fire, the God we serve is fully able to deliver us from it.” Pretty bold, right? Then they go further in verse 18, “but even if he doesn’t we want you to know we still will not worship your gods.”

There is a saying that has been going around in recent years for several years now based on when Jesus calmed the storm when the disciples were out in the boat and were afraid. It goes like this:

(1) Sometimes God calms the storm;

sometimes He calms His child.

In other words at times He calms us by taking away the storm. At times He calms us by leaving us in the storm. Either way, God calms His people. Whether a miracle occurred or not, it didn’t matter, whether they were delivered or not, they didn’t seem to care. Whatever God did OR did not do was up to HIM. And they would accept the outcome. They had taken a stand and regardless of the consequences, they would not worship a false god.

To me, this is the ultimate display of courage … to be willing to offer your life for Christ, not knowing whether He will step in or not. Reminds me of what the writer of Hebrews had to say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Heb. 13:6.

So now a king who was already furious and a furnace that was already hot; both were even hotter! The king has literally lost his cool. He tells them, “turn the furnace up 7 times hotter than before.” Then the king commands some of the strongest men available to carry out the execution. All of this happened immediately. The 3 men were grabbed and tossed into the fire. In fact Daniel elaborates on their clothing. Nothing changed and I will tell you in later in the message why that mattered.

Now let’s be clear. There is no reason to consider anything short of a miracle here. No way they would have survived if God did not intervene. They would not have survived if the furnace was at regular heat, but in this case the flames were so hot that even the soldiers who tossed them in were consumed on the spot from the heat. Then comes the greatest surprise of all.

Verses 24-25. Instantly the king jumped to his feet in amazement because his mind could not compute what his eyes had seen. Men who should be dead were alive and walking around. Men who were bound were now unbound. Here is a truth to write down and remember. Listen.

(2) Any place can be a place of grace. Sometimes we

discover that the place of grace is in the middle

of the fire. In the middle of the trial.

And another thing had happened. They had thrown in 3 men. Now there were 4 and the 4th looks like a son of the gods. We don’t know what the king saw in the 4th man that made him look so different from the other 3. But we do know his response. Let me give you a word you may not be familiar with. We call this a Christophany. An appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus. Same one who appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden; same one who wrestled with Jacob, same one who spoke to Moses at the burning bush, same one who spent the night with Daniel in the Lion’s den and the same one who came to be born in a stable. This was God in the flesh. And the king would no longer question their actions. Because he recognized their faith was real. Their faith was superior. Their faith was in the one true God.

Here were these 3 men and now another walking around in the fire. Now the king would no longer ask, “What god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” Instead he says they must be servants of the most High God. Their God is the real deal. Now he approaches the furnace and orders the men to come out. I mentioned this earlier …. This is where the importance of the clothing comes in. The fire had been stoked as hot as the king could make it …. But not a single burn was left on their bodies; their robes were not even scorched AND there was not even the smell of fire on them. The only thing missing were the bonds that had been placed on their hands and feet. How could this be?

I am reminded of Isaiah’s prophecy in the OT to Israel: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:2.

Now, King Nebuchadnezzar has what we know as a conversion experience. Because of the faith he has seen and the miracle that has occurred right before his eyes he now wants to worship the God they worship. He realizes this 4th man in the fire was a direct messenger from God Himself. He then instructs his kingdom that no one is to say anything against the God of the Hebrews. He tells them there is no god that can save like this one can.

A couple of thoughts I want to close with.

(3rd Truth) Fear is a liar.

An acronym for fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. Listen, they stood there staring at a fiery pit and they knew they were about to be thrown in. They knew their lives were in danger but they knew a greater truth. No matter what God would choose to do, God is still good. Always has been. Always will be. The 3 men say here that even if God did not choose to help them and they were to die in the furnace they would still not bow down to a false god. Faith is trusting in God when everything around us seems to be falling apart. For the most part we have to realize that for most of us we have just finished a trail OR we are right in the middle of one OR there is one out there waiting for us in the near future. They are a part of life. So as Peter reminds us, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you but rather rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ.

When the Japanese invaded China during WW2, a missionary was forced to leave the area. She worked with orphans there and for her it was simply NOT an option to leave them behind. So she and over 100 children ran making their ways through the mountains of that area attempting to get to the area known as Free China, the area not affected by the war. It was a very difficult trip to navigate with such a large number of children and she was becoming very anxious about whether they would make it to safety or not. And we know people are becoming more and more anxious on a daily basis right now.

But one little girl in the group, just 13 years old reminded the missionary of the story of Moses and how God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to get across safely. The missionary cried out in her desperation, “but I’m not Moses.” To which the young girl replied, “of course you aren’t, but God is still God.” Once they made it through safely they were all reminded that no matter how inadequate we may feel for the task that is front of us, God is still God and we can ALWAYS trust Him. Trust Him today. Trust Him for tomorrow. Trust Him right now. We are praying for you.