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.
Read verses 19-20. These young men's public refusal to obey the king's decree threw Nebuchadnezzar into another violent rage, and his attitude toward them suddenly changed. His face flushed with anger and he ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Then he pronounces his verdict: the three young men were to be immediately executed. He commanded some of the strongest soldiers to bind the three and throw them into the blazing furnace. Their execution must become a public example; a warning to other citizens against treason, rebelling against the laws issued by the king and the state.
Read verses 21-22. The soldiers quickly moved to carry out the king's orders. As fast as they could, they bound the three young men and then walked up to the furnace to throw them in. As soon as they approach the opening to the furnace, a blazing, swirling flame leaped out and caught the soldiers on fire, burning them alive.
Now let's think about that for just a moment. These soldiers have the three young men bound and in their hands. The normal position would be for them to be behind the three that were to be executed—behind them pushing them toward the flames of the furnace. Yet, the flames leaped out and killed the soldiers and even at this point did not harm the three young men. So already a miracle has occurred.
Read verse 23. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were securely tied and at this point fell from the soldiers’ grip into the blazing furnace.
Let's stop there for tonight and examine what we have studied so far. In our lives we are going to have trials and temptations. In times of these trials and temptation, the one thing we need above all else is a strong, steadfast faith. These three young men could have easily compromised their faith.
They could have done what we do so often. They could have done what we are so often tempted to do and take the easy way out, thinking such things as:
- Everybody else is doing it, so why not me?
- I have to participate or I will lose my job.
- I have to go along with it in order to remain friends with my fellow workers.
- My wife or husband will never know if I bow to this statue.
- I can do more if I compromise and stay alive than if I refuse to compromise and die.
It takes a solid unwavering faith to withstand the temptation to compromise. Throughout life, we will face some critical decisions just as Daniel's three friends did. If we choose to deny the Lord, we may escape the threats and the suffering for a brief time, but the day of us leaving this world will eventually come. Eventually we will die.
And the person who denies the Lord gains nothing but loses everything. On top of that, that person will be doomed to face the judgment of God. So in all of this, the Lord encourages us to place our faith in Him and to grow a strong, steadfast faith.
It was Jesus who said, "And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved." Matthew 10:22
And it was the apostle Paul that said, "Therefore, my brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 15:58
Next time we will get to the climax of this story as we finish chapter 3.
