A. Chapter 3 Outline
I. Daniel’s Friends Would Not Bow (3:1-7)
a. The King’s Pride (3:1)
b. The King’s Politicians (3:2-3)
c. The King’s Proclamation (3:4-5)
d. The King’s Penalty (3:6-7)
II. Daniel’s Friends Would Not Budge (3:8-23)
a. The Threat (3:8-15)
i. The Chaldean’s Report (3:8-12)
ii. The King’s Reasoning (3:13-15)
b. The Testimony (3:16-23)
i. The Hebrew’s Answer (3:16-18)
ii. The Kings Anger (3:19-23)
III. Daniel’s Friends Would Not Burn (3:24-30)
a. The Discovery (3:24-25)
b. The Deliverance (3:26-28)
c. The Decree (3:29-30)
B. Message
III. Daniel’s Friends Would Not Burn (3:24-30)
The three Hebrews are cast into the fire, but an amazing thing happens. Instead of dying in the flames, they are loosed from their bonds and are walking around in the flames. Nebuchadnezzar cannot believe his eyes and commands them to come out, which they do, totally unharmed by the violence of the flames. Notice how this amazing preservation took place.
a. The Discovery (3:24-25)
Verse 24
Something caught the king’s eye. Astonied means, alarmed, amazed, startled. It was a miracle; either that or the king no longer had the ability to count! He leaps to his feet, grabs his councillors again and says, I’m sure we threw three men in there and they were bound tight!!!” – they answered “Yes, true.”
Verse 25
When Shadrach. Meshach and Abednego were thrown in to the flames; they found that they were not alone. The God they had professed faith in earlier met them in the fire. Nebuchadnezzar and the others with him could not believe their eyes! They threw three men into the flames and now there are four men loose and walking around!
Here is a lesson for you and me. Even in a furnace in Babylon, God kept His promise to His people, Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
We have the same promise this evening, Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5. When the flames rise around you, open your eyes, for Jesus is right there with you! Notice what happened because the Lord met them in the fiery furnace.
All the fire did is burn away the things that had them bound. The Lord used the fire to loosen these men from the ropes that held them. When the fires of persecution and affliction come into your life, you need to remember this truth: The Lord is merely freeing you from some of the things that have had you bound in your life. As the flames burn away the ropes of besetting sins, bad attitudes, bad habits, etc, you will find that you are freer in the fire than you were outside the fire!
Often, persecution seems like the worse possible thing that can happen in our lives. But, it can prove to be the best thing we have ever experienced. Look at John Wesley, he wanted to preach in the pulpits in England, but his doctrine was so different and his message was so contrary to the establishment message that was being preached in the day, they would not let him preach in the pulpits. They wouldn’t let him stand in a church and preach. John Wesley was not allowed to preach in a pulpit in an established church. Well, he thought that was bad. When that happened he thought he was being deprived.
God knew something Wesley didn’t know. God knew that the people weren’t in those churches anyhow. God knew that the masses of the people weren’t even coming to those churches. The masses of the people were out there. So John Wesley, going through the fires of being excommunicated and deprived of the pulpits of the churches went out into the open air. John Wesley and his brother, Charles, and George Whitfield, three great fiery preachers for God, they began to preach out in the open air where the people were and thousands of people were won to Jesus Christ. The flames just simply loosed them from the ropes that bound them.”
The fire has the power to set you and me free from the things that bind us and hinder or walk with the Lord.
We are told that they “have no hurt.” The fire did not kill them, it didn’t even burn them! God allowed them to go through the fire, but He did not allow the fire to go through them. Again, there is a powerful truth here for those who might be walking through a fiery furnace. The furnace may be frightening, but you were not brought to it for destruction, but for growth. God did not allow it for your hurt, but for your good, Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; [18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. .
Even thought the flames may come, they will only free you from what binds you. You will be fine in the fire, because there will be One with you every step of the way. He will not leave you, but He will preserve you through the fire and He will keep you for His glory!
b. The Deliverance (3:26-28)
Verse 26
When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fire, only three men went into the furnace. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he saw four men in there walking around. When Nebuchadnezzar called for the men to come out of the fire in verse 26, only three came out. What happened to that fourth man? Well, He is still in the furnace! So, when you go there, you will find Him waiting for you. The three Hebrew boys were preserved by the presence of God and you will be too!
Verse 27
When those boys came out of the furnace, they were inspected by Nebuchadnezzar and his men. We are told that not a hair was singed, there was no soot on them and they didn’t even smell like smoke! You can’t even walk into a house/place where people smoke without getting the smell of cigarette smoke on your clothes. But, the power of God operated in this situation and overcame the furnace totally!
That’s just God! When He does something, He does it all the way. When He heals, He heals completely! When He saves, He saves completely! When He forgives, He forgives completely. Whatever He does, He does it all the way!
How? He is all powerful, and He is able to use that power in your life and mine, Eph. 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,! So, when you find yourself looking at a fiery furnace, remember that you serve an all powerful God, Who is able to keep you in the times of affliction and Who is able to bring you through for His glory!
Verse 28
Everyone there that day came away with a greater understanding of Who God was and what God could do. Going in, the three Hebrew boys did not know what God would do for them, v. 17. But, they trusted Him anyway. Nebuchadnezzar thought that he was more powerful than they God they served, v. 15. In the end, they all learned that God was greater than the king and greater then the furnace of fire. Notice what happened when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were delivered from the furnace.
c. The Decree (3:29-30)
Verse 29
An old, pagan king exalts the name of the true God. Because of what he saw God do for His people in the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar sees things differently. God used this horrible moment in the lives of those three Hebrew believers to touch the hard heart of a lost, heathen king. You never know what God will do with the afflictions in your life. As we pass through the furnaces of life, leaning on the grace of God to sustain us, it may be that God is using those moments in your life and mine, those moments that hurt so much, to show a lost world that He is God and He can help them. That is why we need to submit to the furnaces of life, trusting God’s grace to be sufficient, 2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Verse 30
Because they were faithful to the Lord, they passed through the furnace. On the other side, they are promoted in the kingdom. There is a lesson in this for us. It is a true lesson, but it is a lesson that we might not like to think about.
God never really uses anyone in a great way until He first takes that person through the furnace of affliction. You cannot stand on Mt. Carmel in power until you side by a dry brook in humility.
You cannot lead the nation of Israel, until you first watch someone else’s sheep in a wilderness.
This truth is clearly seen in the life of Gideon, Judges 6-8. Gideon was a general with and army of 32,000. 22,000 left because they were afraid. Now, Gideon is a captain with an army of 10,000. 9,700 of those are rejected by the Lord. Now, Gideon is a sergeant with an army of 300. Then, he hears the enemy compare him to a “cake of barley bread.” That would be the equivalent of being called a “dog biscuit.” God took Gideon “the dog biscuit” and used him to win a great victory. When God sends you through the furnace, it is not to hurt you, but to grow you. He sends you there because He is about to use your life in a greater fashion.
If you are passing through a furnace time today let me encourage you to cling to the Lord. He is with you in what you face and He has a plan to bring you through what you face and to use you for His glory. Still, you might need to come and talk to Him about your furnace.
