HEBREWS MEN IN FIERY FURNACE
Daniel 3:23-26
Introduction: The revelation of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter two made an egotist of him. It should have humbled him. So in this chapter, he had made a great golden image on the plains of Dura. When it is completed, he ordered all his officials to come to its dedication. He had special band with six instruments. He commands that all these officials to fall down and worship it at the sound of the music.
`As you know about this account that this did not happen. When the music sounded, three men refused to bow. One preacher said recently that he did not believe that these men were not standing together. He felt that the men stood in separate areas. Wherever they stood, we know that by the authority of the Word of God that they did not bow, bend and shortly they would not burn. Why? God honored His Word when He said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus got into the furnace with them. When they came out, the king issued a decree that the death sentence should apportioned to any saying anything amiss of the God of Heaven, the Only True God.
Today as we look through this chapter, we want to note some important lessons that can be gathered around this miracle.
I. POSITIONS TAKEN GOING INTO THE FURNACE
A. Positions they could have taken
Vs. 3-6
“Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
Nebuchadnezzar gave his decree. The failure to do it was very plain. There was only one punishment. It was a sentence of death. Here is what they could have said:
1. "It is perfectly useless to resist. They king has the authority and the power to enforce this decree. Let us peacefully submit." This sounds reasonable. We do have some commands in the Bible in regards to those who are in charge. Romans 13:1-2
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”
But there is no command that any congress, king or government can give us that should ever cause us to violate God’s Word. If there is one given, Peter has given us the words that must be part of our mind set in the Book of Acts. Acts 5:28-29
“Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
2. "We are in a strange land. Its customs are not the same as in our homeland. While in Babylon, let us do as the Babylonians do." David gives us the answer to this. Psalm 139:7-12
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
No matter where we are, we are children of the KING. Let us act like it.
3. "We hold responsible offices. The government is corrupt already. A little deviation on our part will not matter. Paul and Peter give us these answers to this.
1 Corinthians 5:6
“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”
1 Peter 1:15-16
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
4. "We must throw away our chances. We have great opportunities for good in our officials capacity." How many people have I said that. The problem is that usually nothing good is even tried in these positions. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. said many times in his years this saying: "It is never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to something good. Do Right until the stars fall. DO RIGHT!!"
5. "We owe allegiance to our government. This is an unrighteous edict but the responsibility rests on the shoulders of others; we will submit." Paul gives his response to this. Romans 14:12
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
6. "We are not told specifically to deny our God, so there will not be much harm in doing this little act." Our Lord gave an answer to this.
Exodus 20:3, 5
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me”
Luke 16:13
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
7. "This will take but a few moments and then it will be over. Think of the long years of faithful testimony we can give." They would have been right on one count and wrong on the other. It would have been just few moments but their testimony would have been affected for the rest of their lives.
What great lessons we have seen so far from this passage!
B. The Position that they did take
Vs. 16-18
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 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. 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 word "careful" means "not anxious". They were not anxious over their fate. One of the reasons for their complete confidence in God was in the fact that they seen His faithfulness when they had refused to eat the food that offered to them at their youth. They avowed their faith in God’s ability to deliver them. They took this one step further. Regardless of whether or not God saw fit to deliver them, they would not waver in their allegiance toward Him. What heroes of the faith these men are! What a testimony of faithfulness to God regardless of the cost this is! What power would the church of the living God would be today if men had such faith in the Lord!
C. Their position is typical of all ages.
Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace to be fired up seven times hotter than usual. Can you imagine folks running around gathering up pine knots, pitch, oil and anything inflammable to do this? Satan was using sinful man to plotting for the suffering and death of God’s true witnesses. Nothing much has changed throughout the years. There are numerous places throughout this world that cause suffering and even death for being one of God’s children.
What is worse at times is that some of the enemies of God’s children will not use physical furnaces to try to kill God’s children. The furnaces of persecution, oppression, slander, accusations and suggestion is used. What does James say on the subject? James 3:6
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
How fast does the servants of Satan scurry these days to find fuel to add to the furnace of affliction of God’s servants? It may be an anonymous letter or telephone calls. It is many times misquoted utterances or some imagined innuendoes. These items are all fuel to the furnace of affliction to stop the testimony of God’s servants. Professing Christians does part of the damage that God’s servants suffer. Part of the lessons that we can glean from this is this. Be very careful that you are not gather pine knots for the furnace of the devil against God’s servants!!
I am reminded of a preacher who got an anonymous note placed on his pulpit. It had only one word on it. It was the word FOOL. He showed it to the church and made this comment: "I have received many such notes throughout my years as a preacher that were not signed but this is the first time I have gotten a note that was signed but nothing else on it."
II. PRIVATION FROM THE FURNACE
In other words, what did they lose? What did old king Nebuchadnezzar say? Vs. 25-26
“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. 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.”
They had lost their bonds. They had been bound from head to toe and thrown into the fiery furnace. Our Lord can use the furnace to purify us more. Gold loses more of its dross when exposed to extreme heat.
One of the greatest losses that you and I can have is to lose the bonds of the fear of man. Jesus gave us these words. Matthew 10:28
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
One of the greatest illustrations of this is seen in the life of Peter. He trembled at the question of the maiden in the judgment hall before Christ’s death and denied the Lord Jesus. Yet in a very short time, he is standing up for the Lord Jesus in front of he very people who condemned Christ to death and proclaimed his loyalty and allegiance to Him.
Another valuable lesson that we can learn from this account is this. We will be tested by fire some time. Will we deny our Lord or proclaim our allegiance?
III. PROFIT FROM THE FURNACE
Nothing could ever separate them from the love of God. Romans 8:35-39
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The garments of these three Jews men were untouched by the fire of the furnace. Their clothes should have been burned off the moment they were exposed to the fire. What a beautiful picture of every believer! We are clothed in the very righteousness of Christ. The fires of persecution may mar our reputation in the eyes of men but they cannot touch his righteousness before God. One day his persecutors, like Nebuchadnezzar, will face God and answer for their treatment of God’s men.
It is interesting that they were also walking. Walking in the Bible speaks of fellowship. Enoch walked with God. Jesus was walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. I don’t know when he began to walk with these two disciples but the trip was 7.5 miles. Think of the true fellowship Christ had with these men and they did not know He was until later on in the day. Our three Hebrews heroes are walking about in the midst of the fire. They are fellowshipping with the King of all ages.
VI. THE PERSON IN THE MIDST OF THE FIERY FURNACE Vs. 25
Nebuchadnezzar said that the fourth man was like the Son of God. Those unclean lips spoke eternal truth. It was Jesus who was with those Hebrew heroes of the faith. He is the same one who walked with Enoch and took him home. He is the same who told Noah to go into the ark. He is the One whom the Psalmist David says: “The Lord is my shepherd...Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
He is the One that Isaiah writes in 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.”
If that verse did not like your fire, this one should.
Isaiah 41:10
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
He was waiting for them in that furnace of affliction. The reason why some believers never go far for the Lord is that they are not willing to walk through the furnace of affliction with Him. Hebrews 13:5-6
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
Conclusion: What a blessing these lessons are for us to remember! But before I close, I want to point out a few facts that are worth mentioning. The image was 60 cubits in height and 6 cubits across. There were six instruments in the band. Six is the number man. It is stamped upon everything he does. Man was created on the sixth day. God told him that he was to work six days before he rest for one day. Goliath was the giant
that defied Israel was six cubits and a span high, He had on six pieces of armor. His spearhead weighed six hundred shekels. The number six is one short of seven- the number of completion and perfection.
The scene on the plains of Dura was a picture or type of the shadowing of the end of this age, when Satan’s superman whose number is six hundred three score and six. In other words, his number is 666. This man will help control the religious world and the political one in combination. No one will be able to buy or sell with his number on his forehead on the top of his hand.
The question comes down to this: Will you be ready for that day? As believers, you are saved from the wrath to come. But if you are not a believer, then you will be deceived in believing this man’s lies.
Thank God for this miracle of His protection.
