Here we find a particular passage of scripture that we all have at some point heard the story of the 3 hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego. Again I like to reiterate that the stories of the bible are real & true not just fairytales.
In this particular passage what has happened is this. King Nebuchadnezzar is having some concerns with his male ego. You see in chapter two of this same book Daniel interpreted a dream that the king had regarding a great image/statue that was destroyed & Daniel told the king that he (Nebuchadnezzar) was the head of that statue which was made of gold. Nebuchadnezzar decided he was satisfied being just the head of that statue he wanted to be the entire statue. King Nebuchadnezzar therefore had a image built a huge image about 90 feet tall & 9 feet wide. King Nebuchadnezzar then gathered the political leaders & made a decree that he want carried out. He said whenever the music plays everyone is to bow down & worship this great image. Now when Daniel interpreted the Kings dream Nebuchadnezzar was so pleased that he made Daniel the Governor of Babylon & Daniel in turn requested that his friends shadrach, Meshach & Abednego be promoted as well & that request was granted. So these young men in essence were now in good with the king. Understand that they were however foreigners in this land so they had what we’d call today, “some haters”. You see these young men were servants of the one true God & they knew that according to the law of Moses “thou shalt not have any gods before me” & so they refused to bow. So these haters went to the king & decided to tattletale. They weren’t going by the rule that exist today, “snitches get stitches”. They went to the King & said, sir didn’t you say that when the music plays everyone is supposed to bow down & worship your image, well your homeboys aren’t bowing. King Nebuchadnezzar not one to be embarrassed especially not in front of his political buddies & surely not by these guys he’s considered to be his friends now, he tries to give them a chance to explain themselves, bring them to me. Did you not hear the command I gave, what is this I hear about you not bowing, I know that can’t be true. He decides to tell these boys, look you gone bow or you gone burn. Then who is this God that will deliver you. If you remember the story you know they told the King “look, we not gonna bow, we’re not even going to answer your question. Our God is able to deliver us BUT even if he doesn’t we’re not going to bow down to worship your god”. King Nebuchadnezzar in all of his fury demands the furnace to be heated as hot as possible, & tossed the boys in there, the furnace was so hot that the guards that tossed them in the furnace was burned. and so we are here at our text today.
Shadrach, Meshach & Abbednego are in this fiery furnace, the king & his political boys are all standing by watching, The king looks into the mouth of the furnace & sees something strange. I imagine if he wore glasses he probably took them off & cleaned them. He said to his guest, didn’t we handcuff 3 men yet I see 4 walking around free.
Understand beloved that there will be times when we find ourselves in some heated situations. There will come a point in your life where you have to make a decision either you gone trust God or you gone trust man. Trusting God, walking with God isn’t always the popular decision. These young men made the decision to go in that furnace they embraced it. They could have bowed, they could have had the mindset to say “there are thousands of people out here in the crowd, who’s gone see us bow. we can bow to save our lives, God knows my heart. But how many of you know that God knows.
There are times church when you have to just trust God & go into the fire. Yeah I know it’s hot, yeah I know it’s been heated hotter than ever before but you’ve got to trust the maker. You got to know as the cliche says, “If God brings you to it He can bring you through it”. Yes going in the fire means you may loose some family & friends but beloved thats what the fire is all about, when things get heated dead weight seems to fall off. You’ll find that when people want to lose a few pounds they’ll sit in a steam room, so they can sweat as a result of sitting in that hot room sweating they lose a few pounds.
Not only must you at times walk into fire but often times God will place you in the fire understand that it’s not to harm but it’s to make you better. Malachi 3:3 says “ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver,”. Beloved in order to produce the purest form of silver & gold the refiner has to leave that precious metal in the furnace & while it’s in that fire, all the impurities are falling off. To the untrained eye it may appear that the silver/gold is ready to come out but the refiner knows better but just at the right moment not a second to soon he pulls it from the fire. The refiner knows it’s ready because she can see his reflection in it. Thats what God does with us. He has to allow us to go through the fire, go through the purging process, he allows us to shed the impurities & and just the precise moment, when he can look at us & see his reflection in us he pulls us out. I know , I know it seems a lil unfair, why do I have to go through this? God isn’t there a better way you can train me without me going through all this. I know you’ve cried many of nights God why? You took, my momma way to soon, God you took daddy away, God you took my baby away my baby hadn’t even begun to live. God you took the best job I’ve ever had, God they’re about to foreclose on my house. God my medical bills have medical bills, God my sickness has a sickness. God how much longer do I have to stay in this fiery furnace, God I’ve taken about all I can take.
But God says not yet, I CAN’T SEE MY REFLECTION IN YOU!!!!!!!
I hear somebody saying “well I’m just gonna give up, I can’t do this no more. But beloved don’t give up. Understand that just like the young men this chapter, you’re not alone.
3 of them went in there chained, bound. but while in there, they began to Praise God. How many of you know that when the Praises go up, Blessings come down, when the Praises go up, Healing comes down. When the Praises go up Deliverance comes down. When the Praises go up Miracles come down.
While in the fiery furnace, chained & bound, heated 7 times hotter then it ever was before, Shadrach, Meshach & Abenego begin to praise the most High God & the angel of the Lord joined them & they begin to worship. The word God says I will never leave you nor forsake you. Somebody ought to THANK GOD FOR THE FIRE!!!!!!
Understand this: The King & all of his political buddies were standing around looking & waiting for these men to perish. Look, haters gone hate, so let them hate. they sitting by looking at you trying to see how you gone handle this mess you’re in. You keep trusting God, you keep praising God keep coming to church, keep tithing, keep giving, keep worshipping, keep praising. Let them see you serving God. The King said didn’t we put in 3 but I see 4, loose & praising & the 4th one Looks like the son of God. Oh he didn’t want to acknowledge their God, but he knew what He looked like. Keep serving God, they may not want to acknowledge your God but they’ll know what His blessings look like they’ll know what his miracles look like. The king called them by name after that, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego you servants of the most High God come here. oh they may not want to acknowledge you now but when they see God deliver you out of this fiery furnace they’ll call you by name, Tiffany, Ramaan, D’Shaan, Gail, Freddie, Gwen, Cliff You servants of the most High God come here, I need you. I need you to pray for me, I need you to lay hands on me, I need you to believe with me.
Come on Church THANK GOD FOR THE FIRE. this situation you’re in may not be for you but so that the Glory of the Lord can be revealed.
The next part of or text says that when they came out of the fire, the men looked them over. Their clothes had not been burned, not a hair on their heads were singed bible says there clothes didn’t even smell like smoke. LOOK AT YOUR NEIGHBOR and say neighbor “I’m glad I don’t look like what I’ve been through”. Church the fire isn’t meant to harm you is meant to purge you, to cleanse you.
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty,you will not drown.When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
David said in Psalms 23 Yea though I walk THROUGH the valley.,,,,,
God didn’t deliver them FROM the fiery furnace HE delivered them IN the fiery furnace.
Beloved don’t get it twisted. You’re going to go through some stuff. but when you find yourself in the midst of going through & the enemy tricks you into believing that you’re being consumed by the fire, which simply means you’re worrying too much. I want to encourage you to do as they taught us as kids when you find yourself burning. You gotta STOP, DROP & ROLL!
STOP right where you are… DROP down to your knees, start praying, start praising, start worshipping & ROLL all your cares on over to the Lord & leave them there. STOP, DROP & ROLL!
It is worth noting that even though God delivered them, he still allowed them to endure the ordeal of being thrown into the fire.
Why? Because it brought more glory to God to have Nebuchadnezzar and his men see those they tried to kill walking around unharmed in the flames.
We should thank God for every opportunity he gives us for his glory to be seen at work in us. We should pray that we be given opportunities to stand up and announce that we are on his side. We should be confessing to the world, for God I live & for God I’ll die.
Let the world know you serve a great God. How Great is he? He’s so great that one day more than 2000 years ago he made the decision to die for my sins. They beat Him, they spit on Him, They called Him names. they hung Him high, stretched Him wide. He hung His head for me He died. But how many of you know the story doesn’t end there. You see He’s so great that after 3 days HE got up, with all power, ALL POWER, ALL POWER, in his hands.
