A Steadfast Faith Series

Last time we saw how Nebuchadnezzar had become emperor over a vast empire and was wondering how he could bring all the people together. He remembered his dream from years before and decided to construct a gold statue. Then he ordered the people as they hear the orchestra play, they were to bow down before the image. He thought this would create one empire religion and unite the people. He made a decree that anyone who did not bow before the image would be thrown into the fiery furnace.

He had most every leader in his vast empire come so that he could give instructions of what he wanted. For whatever reason, Daniel wasn’t there. The orchestra played and all of the leaders bowed down with their face to the ground. That is, all of the leaders except for three. The three friends of Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the image.

The occult advisors of the king were jealous of these three and so they rushed to the king to remind him of his decree and pointed to these three Jews who did not bow before the image. And that is where we left off last time.

Read versus 13 - 15. So, the king breaks out into a furious rage and has the three young men appear before him. He asked them if these charges were true. Had they committed treason against the government? Had they refused to bow down before the gold image that represented the state? Without waiting for a reply from them, for some unknown reason, the king demanded that they prove their innocence.

Nebuchadnezzar was offering the three young men an opportunity to save their lives. Most likely it was because of the king's high esteem for these men that caused him to give them a second chance. But his esteem for them was not going to exempt them from declaring their first loyalty to the state. He tells them that he is going to have the orchestra play again and they must bow before the state's gold image. If they refused to declare their first loyalty to Babylon, they would die.

At the end of verse 15, we see how egotistical and self-centerred Nebuchadnezzar had become. Notice what he says. If they refuse to worship the image of the state, what God would be able to deliver them out of his hand. Nebuchadnezzar was exalting himself above all so-called gods. So, he declared that no god, not even the Lord, the one true God, would be able to deliver these young men from his hand. He basically said that no god had such power. So, their execution in the fiery furnace was assured unless they obeyed the law of the land.

Read versus 16- 18. They answered Nebuchadnezzar quite firmly. They refused to plead for their lives. They trusted and loved the Lord with all their hearts. They surrendered themselves into the hands of God. They inform the king that they didn't need to defend themselves, that they're first loyalty belong to the Lord and Him alone.

These three knew that God was able to save them from the fiery furnace. They were fully casting themselves into the Lord's hands to actually rescue them. But even if the Lord chose not to deliver them, they still could not betray him. No matter what the king did to them, they could not worship the gods of Babylon nor the gold image that represented the state.

We all say that we have faith, but is our faith this strong? The strong faith of these three men is a perfect picture of a total surrender to the Lord.

Now let's think about the fiery furnace for a moment. Imagine facing this threat of being thrown into a flaming furnace, a furnace so large that four men could stand up and walk around within it. It appears to have been built to melt the metals and harden the clay for bricks of this gold statue. Remember, at the announcement of the commands to bow before the statue, the fiery furnace was just off to the side for all of them to see.

So these three believers submitted themselves to God's will. They knew that He could deliver them if He so chose. But they also knew it might be God's will for them to perish in the blazing furnace. Simply stated, these young believers knew that God could rescue them, but He might choose to let them die as a testimony to their faith in the Lord. Yet they still stood their ground. What a testimony of complete surrender and a strong faith.

God may not ask us to go to these measures to show our faith, but still, we need a testimony of our own to our faith in the Lord for others to see. These three young men were willing to die for the Lord because of their faith in Him. Yet we get nervous when we come across an opportunity just to share Jesus with someone.