Today we’re going to talk a little about the story of the 3 Hebrews that Daniel knew who got tossed into the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter 3.
First of all, King Nebuchadnezzar had made a huge statue – some records say 90 feet or 9 stories high, and it was all gold. He was very proud of it and so he called a meeting to which everyone who was anyone was told that whenever this music played, they had to fall down & worship his golden idol, or they would be tossed into the fiery furnace.
Soon after, some of the Chaldeans came before the King and accused some of the Jews. Apparently there were some Jewish people in the land who refused to go along with the high ruler’s idol worshiping agenda.
Daniel 3:12 KJV - There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Daniel 3:13 KJV - Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.
To understand his strong reaction, you should know that not only was Nebuchadnezzar a highly respected military conqueror, but at this time, he was one of the MOST POWERFUL RULERS IN THE WORLD. He was used to being OBEYED. Period.
Daniel 3:14 KJV - Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Daniel 3:15 KJV - Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Daniel 3:16 KJV - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Daniel 3:17 KJV - If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Daniel 3:18 KJV - But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Job 13:15 KJV
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Now let’s think about something for a minute. How did these men get faith SO strong that they didn’t even waver in the face of death??? They KNEW God could deliver them and they were willing to stake their life on it! This was before the time of Jesus and all the miracles HE did – they were back in the days of the law. They would have heard the stories of Moses and the Red Sea miracles, but….that’s really STRONG faith, yall!
Daniel 3:19 KJV - Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
It should be noted here that this was not a small oven like you make your dinner in. This was a huge industrial oven like they made bricks and smelted metals in!
Daniel 3:20 KJV - And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:21 KJV - Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:22 KJV - Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Daniel 3:23 KJV - And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:24 KJV - Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Daniel 3:25 KJV - He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Daniel 3:26 KJV - Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
Daniel 3:27 KJV - And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Daniel 3:28 KJV - Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Daniel 3:29 KJV - Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Daniel 3:30 KJV - Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
The 3 hebrew men said, If we die, we die, but we are STILL not bowing down to the enemy’s attacks!! Can you say Amen.
They were faced with a hard decision, in a time when God had set them up to demonstrate doing what is right. And you know what – if they’d chosen to bow down and compromised their principles just to not make a big deal about it, and to be ACCEPTED - they’d have died anyway. They would just have died in a different way at a different time and we would have never heard of them or been inspired by their great faith.
Did God have a purpose in allowing all this to happen? Could it be that He wanted to challenge them to be faithful and believe even while facing something they didn’t know how to handle?
The 3 Hebrew men for sure had 3 things right.
1. They were committed. They committed along with Daniel to eat the less desirable food of exile. WHY?? Why did they choose just vegetables and water instead of the richer Babylonian food? They did not want to get COMFORTABLE with the enemy. They did not want to get COMFORTABLE with a place that was not God’s Will for them. They did not want to get COMFORTABLE living above their means. They did not want to receive anything just because it LOOKED GOOD and it SMELLED GOOD from the enemy. They knew the enemy did not have their best interests at heart.
2. They chose their companions well. The 3 of them were companions of Daniel. Who are your companions? Do you keep company with other believers or will just anybody do? Do you keep company with people who walk in right paths or who try to lure you onto wrong ones? Are you hanging out with someone who is always negative? Or with someone who inspires you to go higher and do better for the Lord?
1 Corinthians 15:33 KJV
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. HAVE YOU EVER HUNG AROUND WITH SOMEONE THAT EVERYTHING THAT CAME OUT OF THEIR MOUTH WAS SOMETHING EVIL OR PROFANE?
Psalm 1:1 KJV
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Proverbs 13:20 KJV
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
3. The 3rd thing they had was Confidence. And they had to have known that God does not ALWAYS rescue us from the circumstances.
We know that, too, because If He did, the Bible would not say there are martyrs under the altar in heaven crying out. If He always rescued us from our circumstances, the Apostles would not have been martyred. The only one who did not die a martyr was John. In our case, we have to remember – We have been bought with a price. A very precious price. And that means the Lord has the right to not only our life, but also our death. Think about that.
How did they ever arrive at that level of confidence in the Most High God? They did not have the ability to have a personal relationship with Him like we do. The priests did everything in those days. I think they heard about the Red Sea and things like that and realized their God was very mighty. Maybe they meditated on that and built their faith that way. They had just made up their minds that whatever King Nebuchadnezzar did, their confidence was still in God.
So the king had had a giant gold statue erected and ordered all the people in his kingdom to worship it.
So let’s talk about King Nebuchadnezzar for a minute. Nebuchadnezzar II was the son of his father Nabopolassar who was the first king of Babylon. He was raised learning about the gods and customs of the nation. As he grew older, he became a general of his father’s army. In 605 BC, he fought against Egypt and Assyria at the Battle of Carchemish where he beat them. His Dad Nabopolassar the king died only 2 weeks later at the age of 53, so he returned to Babylon to become king of the Babylonian Empire. He is the king that is said to have built the hanging gardens.
Nebuchadnezzar II was coronated on September 23, 605. He is known as the greatest King of Babylon of all time. He was a man of exceptional military and organizational talent. In fact, to this day his surviving monuments are without rival in Mesopotamia.
Nebuchadnezzar, when he chose some of the brightest and best captives to be enrolled in Babylon’s educational system and ordered they be fed with the best of the food in Babylon and given the best of accommodations, was undoubtedly intending to seduce the young exiles with the splendor of Babylon and ingratiate them to himself. That way, he could reinstate them in their homelands and have them be loyal Babylonian plants. Or so he THOUGHT.
So the 3 Hebrew men had refused to bow down and worship the image Nebuchadnezzar had built.
Nebuchadnezzar was enraged when they refused to obey his command.
So Abshach, Meshach and Abednego politely declined the King’s dainty food and asked if they could be allowed to eat the food of exile for ten days and, if they were as healthy as others, to continue. They did not refuse the food because it was not kosher, but because they did not want to be seduced by the wealth and privilege of Babylon. They didn’t want to get COMFORTABLE there because they remembered who they were and WHOSE they were. Can I just say that? So instead of enjoying the fleshly pleasures that were offered so freely to them, they chose to keep in the forefront of their minds that this was a time of God’s Judgment and they were captives in a foreign land ruled by a pagan king. Dangerous beliefs were all around them!
No one knows for certain what Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image was, but scholars think it may have been the image he saw in the dream that Daniel interpreted in Daniel chapter 2. Because Daniel, who gave God the glory, was able to interpret the dream for the king no one else could interpret, he was promoted. When he was promoted, he asked that the 3 hebrew men be made his assistants.
My friend Nicole told me something I never realized, Daniel and the 3 hebrew men were believed to have been eunuchs. Look at Daniel chapter 1.
Daniel 1:7 KJV - Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: OTHER translations translate that the Chief of the Eunuchs for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.
So if you think YOU’RE having a bad week, just think about what THESE guys went through. Taken from their homeland in a time of God’s judgment. Renamed by foreigners. Had all kinds of foreign training and customs forced on them. AND may have been castrated against their wills on top of that! And I don’t know, but I don’t think they had any anesthesia back then, yall…So I’m just sayin.’ The next time you have a bad day, that should REALLY help you put it into perspective.
So after the whole ordeal with the 3 Hebrew men, Nebuchadnezzar still didn’t believe in anyone but himself. So the Lord gave him a dream, preferring to show mercy rather than judgment. The dream was of a magnificent tall tree that was ordered to be cut down.
Daniel interpreted the tree dream in Daniel 4, but Nebuchadnezzar still didn’t repent of the pride in his greatness.
Daniel 4:29 KJV - At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
Daniel 4:30 KJV - The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
Daniel 4:31 KJV - While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
Daniel 4:32 KJV - And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
Daniel 4:33 KJV - The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.
So Nebuchadnezzar who was known as Nebuchadnezzar the Great was the longest reigning king of the Chaldean dynasty AND was one of the most powerful rulers in the WORLD at the time of his death in 562 BC at the age of 80 which according to the World History Encyclopedia, went as follows:
“He died peacefully in the city he had built after a reign of 43 years but Babylon would not last even another 25 after his death. The city fell to the Persians in 539 BCE (See this is what happens when you have the nicest palace around and cool hanging gardens and all that…) and later efforts to restore it by Alexander the Great never elevated it to the heights it had known under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II.”
I found something interesting in my life application Study Bible about the 3 hebrew men. It says you know, they COULD have compromised or made excuses. Here is a list of workarounds the study bible says they could have tried to have it a little easier, but they chose to honor and glorify God and THAT is why He saved them from the fiery furnace:
1. They could have said, “I’ll bow down, but I won’t actually worship the idol.”
2. We won’t become idol worshipers but we will do it this one time, then pray for forgiveness.
3. The king has absolute power and we must obey so God will understand.
4. The king appointed us, we owe this to him.
5. This is a foreign land so God will excuse us for following the customs of the land.
6. Our ancestors set up idols in God’s Temple! This isn’t half as bad as that!
7. We’re not hurting anybody.
8. If we get ourselves killed and some heathens take our high positions, they won’t help our people in exile!
You know, when you walk through those fiery trials in your life, as a Believer, you can be certain the Lord will walk with you through them. You never walk alone.
When you stand for God, you stand OUT. It may be painful, it may NOT have a happy ending. Are you prepared to say, My God is well able to deliver me from this fiery furnace, BUT IF NOT….?
I want to share a story with you.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany began what we call WWII and swept across Europe in what Hitler called his “Lightening War”. When it was all said and done Hitler had driven the allies back to the sea. Nearly 500,000 British and French troops were trapped at the small city of Dunkirk on the English Channel called Dunkirk.
Germany had them at their mercy. Hitler’s armored divisions were only 15 miles away and the Luftwaffe bombed and strafed the hapless armies below.
Several of the leaders in Britain discussed trying to bribe or cut a deal with Hitler. Sir Edmund Ironside, chief of the Imperial General Staff, confided to a colleague that “This is the end of the British Empire.” Harold Nicolson, a member of the British government, wrote his wife that they might be compelled to commit suicide.
It was at that desperate moment that the churches of Britain called for a national day of prayer. Numerous political leaders, newspaper editors and King George VI issued a call for a national day of prayer on Sunday, May 26th. And people were flocked to the churches in droves and long lines were formed outside of places of worship. As the British people anxiously await word of their fate, a three word message was transmitted from the besieged army: "BUT IF NOT…"
The British public instantly recognized the message: "It's a reference to the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego standing before King Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace "Our God is able to save us… but if not, we will remain faithful to Him anyway."
At 7 o’clock May 26th, the order was issued to attempt a desperate evacuation of Dunkirk. Every tiny vessel and private craft was sent across the often treacherous waters of the English Channel.
But something “strange” happened over those 9 days of rescue. Hitler ordered his troops to halt in order to give the Luftwaffe the chance to seal their victory. But German air-power was hampered by the extremely unfavorable weather in the skies. Additionally a fog settled in that hid the troops as they boarded the boats. And the normally treacherous channel waters became unnaturally calm. At the end of 9 days - of the ½ million men trapped at Dunkirk - 336,000 were saved.
Why? Because Our God is mighty to save. Our God is able to deliver us. And when God steps up to defend you, there’s no power on the face of the earth that can withstand Him.
("Family News" from "Focus on the Family" May 2000; Charles Colson BreakPoint October 2001; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation)
How many times has the devil looked at you and said…I’m gonna turn up the heat until they Stop Praising. Stop Worshiping. Stop Giving. Stop Encouraging. …
Everyone I know is so battle-weary right now. We are so worn out from fighting the same old battles. And you know, sometimes it feels useless. It isn’t, of course, but you do get tired.
So I just want to tell you today that There is purpose in this season because the Word says the steps of a RIGHTEOUS man are ordered by the Lord.
Warren Wiersbe once noted that “when God permits his children to go through the furnace, He keeps his eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat.”
Our God is with us. He is well able to supply all that we need and He is ABLE to deliver us from the oppression we are coming under. BUT IF NOT…but IF He doesn’t, are you strong enough to stand on what you believe even as everything around you is going up in flames like those 3 brave Hebrew men who showed so much faith back in Daniel’s time? When the flames are coming closer and the calvary is not on the way to save you, when your own gov’t wants you to bow down and worship their twisted ideas…Is your faith strong enough?
We must endure to the end and that means not taking the easy way out when they take everything we have from us. It means standing for what we believe as we watch all we know crumbling around us, knowing our lives count for nothing down here but our faith counts for everything up there.
When that time comes, set your face like flint and determine to make your King PROUD. Pray that God forgive those oppressing you because as unsaved persons, they really DON’T know the seriousness of what they are doing.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15 KJV
