Fearless in Babylon: Daniel 3
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church/ECC
01-22-2023
Which line is longer?
Imagine you walk into an experiment and there are ten people in the room. On the board are three lines [slide] and all you have to say is which line is the longest, which is obviously line A.
What you don’t know is that the other nine people in the room are actors and have been instructed to say that line B was the longest, when it obviously wasn’t.
What would you do? Everyone in the room identifies line B as the longest. You know that line A is obviously the longest. Do you go against the crowd or do you go along with them?
In research that has been duplicated multiple times, children all the way to adults agreed with the crowd more than 75% of the time!
Why? Because it is hard to stand against the crowd. It’s difficult to go against the flow. Peer pressure is real and it doesn’t go away when we become adults.
What do we do when the world we live in, modern-day Babylon, asks us to bow down to their way of thinking that differs from what we believe?
That’s what we are going to explore today as we study Daniel 3.
Turn with me to Daniel 3.
Prayer
Fearless in Babylon
In week one of this series, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, had been deported from their home in Judah to Babylon, a thousand miles away.
They were enrolled in Babylon High School and trained in the language, literature, and culture of the Babylonians. They had access to the king’s cafeteria but RESOLVED in their hearts not to eat the food because it wasn’t kosher and had been sacrificed to idols.
Daniel proposed an alternative diet of veggies and water and after ten days they were healthy and prospering.
In order to live fearlessly in Babylon, they had to resolve beforehand what they were willing to say no to, no matter the consequences.
In week two, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and asked the wise men of his court to not only tell him the interpretation of the dream but the contents of the dream itself.
The wise men balked and said that no one was able to do such a thing and the king ordered their mass execution.
When Daniel heard about this, he asked his three friends to “PRAY and SEEK MERCY” from God. God answered their prayers and gave Daniel the interpretation in a vision in the night.
He explained to the king that in his dream he saw an “enormous, dazzling statue that had a head of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly, and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.” (Daniel 2:32-33)
This statute represented the Babylonian empire and the empires that would come after that.
Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed that he made Daniel a ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all the wise men.
And “at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.” (Daniel 2:49)
Look at Me! [Slide]
In chapter three, fifteen years have passed. Nebuchadnezzar’s ego has run amuck. He erected a ninety-foot gold-plated statue [Slide] on the plain of Dura of himself. This was very similar to the Washington monument and would have been brilliant and visible for miles.
By the way, the statue in the dream only had a head made of gold. This entire statue was gold!
He invited all the dignitaries of Babylon to the opening ceremony. Interestingly, Daniel was not present and may have been out of the country on official business.
Nebuchadnezzar made the crowd an offer they could not refuse. They had a choice between bowing down to the statue and being thrown into a blazing furnace. This was an easy choice for most.
Estimates place about two million people on the plain that day. When the music blasted, 1, 999, 997 people hit their faces to the dirt. There was enormous pressure to bow down. The Hebrew actually says “as soon as they were hearing they were falling down.”
But, in the back, those three Jewish rebels were at it again. They stood up. While other Jewish exiles were on their faces thinking of excuses why their actions were not blatant idolatry, Hannah, Mishael, and Azariah stood tall.
“At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:8-12)
They would not bow. [Slide]
Don’t you hate tattle-tales?! These wise men had been passed over in favor of these Jewish teenagers and they wanted a chance to get back at them.
As little children, these Hebrew heroes were taught the Ten Commandments, and the admonition to not make or worship idols was drilled into their heads. Now the choice is clear. There is no way, after all, that God had done for them, that they would give their worship to anyone or anything else.
They would not bend. [slide]
After being spotted, they are brought before the king and he explained the whole thing to them again. He gave them a second chance.
"Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (Daniel 3:13-15)
The king doesn’t just take the wise men’s words but asks the three Jewish kids Himself - is it true?
He then gives them a second chance with the same warning as before.
But listen to his mocking question - “…then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
They would not break [Slide]
Their response to the king is one of the boldest declarations of trust in God in the whole of Scripture.
“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 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. 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.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
When given a second chance, they did not fall victim to doubt or waver in their faith. They felt no need to defend their selves in this matter. The king could threaten all he wanted to; they were resolute in their stand.
They understood “but, if not.”
They depended on God’s omnipotence (He could save them) but trusted in His sovereignty (He may choose not to). Whether God saved them from the fire or not was irrelevant.
They had different priorities and feared God more than the king.
Well, let’s look at the rest of the story. So far, these guys have stood out, stood together, and stood up. Now, in one of the most intense miracles in the Bible, Jesus stands with them in the midst of the fire.
They would not burn [Slide]
“So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.” (Daniel 3:21-23)
Hanniah, Mishael, and Azariah’s defiance caused the king’s “attitude to change.” In fact, in a fit of rage, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter and had the three bound and thrown into the fire. The fire was so hot the guards were immediately incinerated. That was that. “No young whipper-snappers are going to openly defy me in front of two million people and live to tell about it”, thought Nebuchadnezzar.
“Then 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.”
He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:24-25)
He peered into the furnace, through the flames, and saw something that made him “leap to his feet in amazement.”
Hanniah, Mishael, and Azariah were taking a stroll around the furnace! They were alive.
The Septuagint actually says that they were singing praises in the fire much like Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail!
Impossible! Nebuchadnezzar shook his head and looked again. He saw four men in the fire and one looked like the “son of the gods.”
Even the king, in all his “glory”, recognized a miracle when he saw it. All the people gathered around the furnace must have been asking the same question, “Who is the fourth guy in the fire?” We will come back to that.
The king called for them to come out and they “saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.” (Daniel 3:27)
In youth ministry, we did a lot of bonfires and my clothes would smell like smoke for weeks afterward. But they didn’t smell like fire at all.
This led Nebuchadnezzar to praise their God:
“Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.” (Daniel 3:28-30)
Chuck Swindoll wrote:
“The mighty king who ordered the world to bow before his image now bows before the king of the world!”
What can we learn from these three guys about living fearlessly in our Babylon?
To live fearless in Babylon, sometimes we have to stand out while everyone bows down. [Slide]
This past week, Ivan Procorov, [Slide] a defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, opted not to wear a rainbow jersey for warm-ups on Pride Night. He said, “I respect everyone but I have to stay true to my faith.” He was called a homophobe, and a bigot and one commentator said that he is proof that all religious people are terrible people.
The same thing happened in Tampa Bay for their Pride Night. Five of the players refused to wear the rainbow patches and received the same condemnation.
Whether it’s in the area of sexuality, business, ethics, or relationships, we all feel pressure to go along to get along. We don’t like to stand out.
I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases Romans 12:2:
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, and develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Romans 12:2, The Message)
August Landmesser joined the Nazi party in 1932 and was committed to the cause. That is until he fell in love with Irma Eckler, who happened to be Jewish.
[Side] This picture was taken at a 1936 rally. While everyone around him gave the Nazi salute, he stood there with his arms crossed. This didn’t go unnoticed by those around him. But he couldn’t salute a man who wanted to kill his beloved wife.
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor.15:58)
[Slide] Martin Luther was called to the Diet of Worms and asked to recant his teaching about the Gospel. He was given 24 hours to pray and then he came back the next day and declared:
“My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”
When God gives you the opportunity to stand up, what will be your motivation?
To live fearless in Babylon, we have to remember God’s faithfulness.
These three Hebrew guys had been raised by faithful parents, given names that honored God, and had probably experienced their Bar Mitzvah before being kidnapped.
They had learned the Bible stories of God’s faithfulness. They knew the story of the parting of the Red Sea. They sang about the faithfulness of God to Abraham. They had memorized the promises of God.
But more than that, they remembered back to that night when Daniel asked them to pray that he could interpret the dream. It was a matter of life and death. And God answered their prayers and saved their lives.
They knew and trusted the promise of Isaiah 43:2:
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”
Paul wrote of God’s faithfulness in what seemed like hopelessness:
“Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:910)
Charles Spurgeon wrote these words:
“In the fiery furnace of Babylon, the Son of Man visited his people. Because his soul delighted in them, he could not rest away from them, for his heart longed after them. Never were they absent from his heart, for he had written their names upon his hands, and graven them upon his side. As the breastplate containing the names of the tribes of Israel was the most brilliant ornament worn by the high priest, so the names of Christ’s elect were his most precious jewels, and glittered on his heart. We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord, but he never ceases to remember us. Let us chide ourselves for past forgetfulness, and pray for grace ever to bear him in fondest remembrance. Lord, paint upon the eyeballs of my soul the image of thy Son.”
To live fearless in Babylon, we have to love/fear God more than our lives.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego TRUSTED God and their hearts were devoted to Him completely.
They knew that God was able to rescue them, (nothing is impossible for God) but they didn’t presume upon God.
Even if God didn’t rescue them, they still wouldn’t bow down and worship anyone other than the true God.
Job said the same thing:
“ Though He slay me; still I will hope in Him.” (Job 13:15)
They loved and feared God more than their own lives. They weren’t the first and they wouldn’t be the last.
Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword in Ethiopia.
Mark died at Alexandria, after being cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.
Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in Greece.
John was put in a caldron of boiling oil, but escaped death in a miraculous manner, and was afterward branded at Patmos.
Peter was crucified in Rome upside-down.
James, the Greater, was beheaded at Jerusalem.
James, the Less, was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and then beaten to death with a club.
Bartholomew was flayed alive.
Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to his persecutors until he died.
Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel in the East Indies.
Jude was shot to death with arrows.
Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded.
Barnabas of the Gentiles was stoned to death at Salonica.
Paul, after various tortures and persecutions, was beheaded in Rome by Emperor Nero.
In the end, it wasn't the church that died, but the Roman empire.
[Slide] Polycarp was one of the early church fathers, and was put on trial because of his faith in Christ. When the Roman proconsul told him to deny his faith, Polycarp answered, "For 86 years I have served Him, and He has never wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King, who has saved me?"
The proconsul then threatened to cast him in with the wild beasts, but Polycarp answered, "Call them!" He was then warned that he might be burned at the stake. Even that failed to move him. He responded, "You threaten me with fire which burns for only a moment, but you are ignorant of the fire of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly."
These are Polycarp's final words: "O Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ! I bless Thee that Thou has counted me worthy of this day, and of this hour, to receive my portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Christ."
Polycarp died at the stake. It was said that the flames weren't hurting him, so one of the executioners pierced him with a spear, and the blood that came out of him put the fire out, though he died.
God doesn’t always prevent us from the fire but He will preserve us through it.
Writer and author Garrett Kel writes:
Christians are not always rewarded the same in this life for their faith.
Abel was murdered, Enoch was raptured.
Daniel shut the lion’s mouth, others were eaten by lions.
Some are famous, and others are forgotten.
Keep trusting, one day God will reward us in full.
August Landmesser watched as his wife and baby were taken to a concentration camp where they would die. He would spend three years in another concentration camp and when released forced to fight. He went MIA in Croatia.
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev.2:10)
There is a purpose in the furnace. If you noticed, what’s the only thing that actually burned? It was the ropes that bound them!
Peter wrote:
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…” (1 Pet.1:6,7)
Mike Baker writes:
What does it mean to be refined by fire? In the world of metallurgy, it is a process called smelting in which the raw materials of a metal (called “ore”) are heated in a furnace at extremely high temperatures to extract the pure metal itself. Gold, silver, copper, iron and other base metals are refined by fire in this way.
In the spiritual world, prophets like Malachi, Isaiah, and Zechariah speak of this refining as God purifying his people from their sins so that he can mold and make them into the people he created them to be. In a way, that we can’t fully understand and rarely makes sense to us at the moment – the furnace is a part of Christ following life.
