Meeting God In The Fire

MEETING GOD IN THE FIRE

Dan. 3:1-25

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: Some can’t tell how bad their life smells!

1. The Smelly Debt Collector. Andy Smulian may dress like a skid-row bum and smell like a dead rat, but he’s a hit among London businessmen plagued by those who won’t pay their bills.

2. His technique is to douse himself with the most hideous odors and go into a deadbeat’s office & refuse to leave until they pay their rent. The secretaries usually threaten to quit unless their boss pays up.

3. Smulian has been taken to court because of his villainous stench but says he’s not to be sneezed at and isn’t worried. “The law doesn’t define when a smell becomes offensive.” But who is he to talk? He has permanently blocked sinuses so he can’t smell a thing! [February, 1980, Campus Life, p. 23]

B. TEXT: Dan. 3:1-24, NIV

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, 90 feet high and nine feet wide....5 [He told all his officials] “you must fall down and worship the image of gold...6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” 12[It was told to the King] “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego...pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.” 13 Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned [them]. 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” 19 Furious...[the King] ordered the furnace heated 7X hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to...throw them into the blazing furnace. 24 King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” [vs. 25- NKJV]

C. MAIN IDEA

1. Three men, bound with ropes, were dragged toward the mouth of the inferno. The heat was so intense that the soldier’s clothing caught on fire as they gave their last shove to the prisoners, thrusting them into the fire.

2. What happened next was so unexpected, the bystanders had to rub their eyes & pinch themselves to believe they weren’t imagining it. The soldiers lay dead on the pavement, their carcasses burning to ashes before the withering flames – but the prisoners – they were alive in the inferno!

3. It was like a story out of myth. The impossible was happening. Some power was protecting the prisoners in the 1,000s of degrees of heat! And then the bystanders heard praising – singing – coming from the fire! What could this mean?

4. King Nebuchadnezzar was on his feet. Despite the heat, the hair of his arms and neck had goose bumps on them. Shielding his eyes he said, “Weren’t there three men we tied and threw into the fire? Look! I see 4 men walking around in the fire...and the 4th looks like the Son of God!” (Dan. 3:24-25).

D. THESIS & TITLE

1. Who was that fourth man? What distinguished Him from the others? Why had He shown up at this crucial moment of mortal danger to these 3 men? What meaning does this event have for us?

2. The title is “Meeting God in the Fire.”

I. WHO WAS THE FOURTH MAN?

A. THE PREINCARNATE SON OF GOD

1. No wonder the king was confused. You throw three men, bound with ropes, into the furnace. They don’t die. The ropes burn off, but the men don’t burn. They get up and walk around inside a blazing inferno.

2. Then a fourth man shows up. Where did He come from? Who is He? Why did He come? The Fourth Man in the fire can be none other than the preincarnate Jesus Christ. He’s God’s Son, who has no “beginning of life nor end of days” (Heb. 7:3); He lives forever with God the Father. Micah prophesied His human birth, saying that He lived “even from everlasting” (5:2). Hebrews 1:2 says it was through Jesus that God created the universe!

3. Jesus was manifested throughout the O.T. as “THE Angel/Messenger of the Lord” (the word means both). He is identified with the Lord, yet distinguished from Him. [Footnote]