“You don’t look like what you’ve been in”
Daniel 3:14-27
The story about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego is a familiar story that most people admire and love to tell because it reveals to us what steadfastness and courage can do in the life of a child of God. The three Hebrew boys are an encouragement to those of us who try our best to stand on the word of God. They stood on the word of God together even in the face of danger when King Nebuchadnezzar sent a decree throughout the land that mandated all of the people of the land to bow down and worship his golden image when the music is played. He commanded that all of his subjects bow down to his god because he desired that his god would be the god of the land. However the three Hebrew boys stood on the word of God that said, “Thou shall have no other God before me.” They would not sell out to Nebuchadnezzar even though the king had blessed them with status position and power. They would not give in even if it meant their lives. They would not be bought by a few dollars. (No, no!) They had already determined for God I live and for God I’ll die. And so when Nebuchadnezzar finally realized that these boys were serious he decided, “Well, I guess I am going to have to show these boys that you don’t bite the hand that feed you. I tell you church these boys were brave soldiers in the army of the Lord. Not even the possibility of being burned into a crisp would make these boys give in to the king and step off of the word of God. And it amazes me, Manasseh, how so many people these days will forsake the word of God for position status and power. It amazes me that for so many people God’s word is taken for granted. If the word says that thou shall have no other God before me, that means the god of money, the god of status, the god of friend, the god of fraternity, the god of sorority, the god of pastor, the god of husband, the god of wife, the god of children, the god of self, and/or the god of career should not ever come before Him. The three Hebrew boys stood firm on God’s word and God rescued them from the hurt harm and danger of King Nebuchadnezzar and the fiery furnace.
Church I am impressed at the fact that these boys stood on God’s word without wavering. And they are an example for us because we all should stand on God’s word without wavering. The Holy Ghost is here to help you to stand on God’s word without wavering. The Holy Ghost will help you worship Him in spirit and in truth because that is God’s word. It will help everything that has breath to praise the Lord, because that is God’s word. The Holy Ghost will give you the faith to bring the tithes into the storehouse, because that is God’s word. It will help you to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love you enemies, and everything else that may be hard for you to do that is in God’s word. So these three Hebrew boys are worthy of merit because of their faithfulness to God’s word. However within the realm of this story, I am most impressed with God. Their preponderant characters seem to overshadow the story, but the main character of the text is still God. This periscope is about what God is worthy of, who God is supposed to be, how God should be viewed, where God is supposed to be in our lives, and how God rewarded those who diligently sought Him. I love what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego does in the face of conflict and controversy but I am most impressed with God.
Can you fathom a fire set seven times hotter than normal not devour anything placed in it? The normal temperature of fire is 650 degrees Celsius. So these boys stood within a furnace that was 4550 degrees Celsius and walked out without a hair singed. Just the heat from a fire that hot could damage something, but these boys were in these violent flames and walked out without a blister. They are in the fire but the fire does not harm them. They are in the fire but the fire cannot scorch them. They are in the fire and the fire is much worse than usual but they walk out of the fire in good health, good spirits, good attitudes, and with good looks. The smell of smoke did not even make itself present upon their clothes. They walked out of the fiery furnace as a representation of the power of God. And it is all attributed to God. God protected them. God proved himself to them. God proved to Nebuchadnezzar that no weapon formed against a child of the true and living God shall prosper. And most importantly God showed everybody in the land that there is no other God but Him. And because of God they did not look like did not look like what they had been in. And church if the truth were told correctly their story is also our story. Because we all have been thrown into the hot flames in life and the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego has been there to help and protect us.
And I stopped by today to let you know because of that you have a testimony that the angels in heaven cannot give. Because some of us have endured life’s fire. Some of us could not take the heat but had no way of getting out of the kitchen. Some of us have endured abusive relationships. Some have endured racism, classism, sexism, and every other kind of –ism. Some have endured financial hardship. Some have endured depression. Some have endured the dangers of sin. And while you were in it sometimes it seemed as if it was seven times worse than usual. Your trials felt seven times harder. Your sickness felt seven times worse. Your worries seemed to last seven times longer. Satan thought the fire would hurt you. It should have killed you. It should have stressed you out. It should have had you in the psyche ward. But because of God’s love, His care, His help, and His protection you have been in the fire, but you have not been consumed. You are living well. You smell good. You feel good. And I got news for somebody today; you don’t look like what you’ve been in!! So, why did the fire not consume us while we were in the midst of flames that were seven times greater than normal?
I.
The fire was not meant to consume you, but to refine you. When precious metals are found, they have to go through the fire as the means of their refining process. And what the fire does is it removes all of the impurities and unwanted materials in the precious metals so that when they come out they look smooth and polished. They don’t come out looking burned and bruised, but they come out of the fire looking like something ready to make spectacular jewelry. They come out as a representation of the fire’s work. And the fire that you go through in life is not meant to destroy you. But it is meant to refine you. You were a precious metal. You were lost. You were hurt. You were distressed. And then when the Lord found you; you thought that life was going to be peaches and cream. Somebody told you that troubles and strife was going to be a thing of the past. They told you on the television ministry that if you give a certain amount of money that you would get rich and no longer suffer lack. Somebody told you that now everything was going to be all-good. But when God truly saved you is when you found out that Satan really wanted a piece of you. That was the time he was going to see if you were real or not. You felt life’s fires like never before. But I got news for you. You are just like Joseph, because the fire that was meant for evil God meant it unto good. Because, the backstabbers refined your gift of discernment. The struggles refined your faith. The hard time strengthen you heart. The trials worked you patience. When you were in the fire you found out that there was a learning in the burning. The refinery fire is where you learned, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. The fire is where you learned, that when my mother and father forsake me the Lord will take me up. And when the fire seemed like it was going to last forever you found out, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. The fire did not consume you because it was meant to refine you.
II.
The fire was also meant to destroy that which held you bound. The bible says that Nebuchadnezzar ordered for his strongest men to go and tie these three Hebrew boys up and take them to the fire. Now, I want you to understand that there are two ways to get to the fire. One way is to take yourself to the fire. The other way is for others to take you to the fire. When they lay you off of your job that is when others take you to the fire. When folk lie on you that is when others take you to the fire. When the powers that be jack up gas prices to over $3.00/ gallon when every trained economist on the face of the planet says that all of these oil companies have an abundance of oil packed away in mountains; that’s other take you to the fire. When Mr. president Bush get on the television interrupting my favorite show to try and convince me that my young brothers and sisters fighting in Iraq should be there I know that He just took them to some unjust fire. But I am so glad that God has got a way of making he fire get so hot that the fire you meant for me is the same fire that will destroy you. My grandmother use to say it like this, “If you dig one ditch you better dig two because the ditch you dig for me, might be the ditch for you.” The text proves that two times. (1) When Nebuchadnezzar’s men took the three Hebrew boys to the fire the text says that it killed the men and not the three Hebrew boys. The second time the text lets us know that the fire burned off the ropes that had the three Hebrew boys bound. Because I heard Nebuchadnezzar when he asked, “Didn’t we put three boys in there bound? Well I see four walking around free.”
Sometimes the fire in your life can get so hot that it will refine you, but it will burn off anything that have you bound. (Let me make that live) You did not understand why the Negroes that took you to the fire; when you looked around they were gone. They were the same people that said I will always be with you. They said I’d never leave you. They told you we are in this together and the next thing you know they were gone. That is because even though they took you to the fire it got too hot for them. And they eventually fade out of your life. But that was the fire getting rid of those unreliable, untrustworthy, undependable folk out of your life. You were about to marry somebody that would only had you bound and meant you no good until the fire got rid of them. You were about to go into business with somebody that was going to have you bound but the same fire they took you to is the same fire that freed you from them. And after the fire freed you from the person it burned off everything they put on you. The fire burned off your dependence on man. It burnt off your need for greed. It burned off everything that would have you bound. So don’t feel bad, don’t feel like you’ve been left alone, just know that God allowed the fire to be as hot as it needed to be to refine His precious metal in you and set you free from anything that could have hurt you!!!
III.
However, like I stated earlier there are two ways of getting to the fire. I told you about someone else taking you to the fire. But the other way was some of us take ourselves to the fire. When Michael Jackson knew what people thought about his relationship with children, and he knew that he has been through lawsuits about that issue before, for him to take another child to his bedroom was simply crazy. I refuse to believe that the boy’s mother took Mike to the fire. Mike to himself to the fire long before the court date.
Oft times we take ourselves to the fire. But even when we take ourselves to the fire God is so merciful that he still saves us in the fire. Jesus loves to show up in the fire. Jesus loves to come into our mess. For John said, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God. And the Word was with God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” A perfect Jesus came into and imperfect world, and dwelt among us. Many scholars like say that when Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth man in the furnace’ he saw a pre-incarnate Jesus. He saw a theophany of the Messiah. And even though he was a wretched man he had to recognize what he saw. Because he said, “The fourth image looks like the Son of God.” Because Jesus comes into the fire and saves his people from their mess. I don’t know about anybody else today, but Jesus saved me while I was in my mess. He touched me while I was in my stuff. He gave me hope when I was in a hopeless situation. He touched me when nobody else could get to me. And that is why I don’t look like what I’ve been in. That is why you don’t look like what you’ve been in. Because Jesus reached way down and saved you while you were in your mess. He blessed you when you didn’t deserve it. And because of His grace you don’t look like what you’ve been in. I heard somebody say, “There’s a light in the valley of death for me, since Jesus came into my heart. Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll, since Jesus came into my heart.” Now I’m glad about the fire. Because if I never had a problem. I never knew that God could solve them. And through it all, I’ve learned to depend on Jesus. Through it all, I’ve learned to depend on God. Through it all, I’ve learned that the Lord is the strength of my life; whom shall I be afraid. That’s why we don’t look like what we’ve been in. We’ve been in the fire, but not burned. We’ve been through the flood, but not overwhelmed. We’ve been with the dogs, and have no fleas. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair. We are forsaken and struck down but not destroyed. Because Jesus fixed it all on a hill call Calvary. They whipped him all night long. They hung Him high and stretched Him wide. They put nails in His hands. They put nails in His feet. They killed Him on a criminals cross. They buried him in Joseph’s tomb. But early on Sunday morning when Mary saw Him; He didn’t look like what he been in. Because He was up with all power in His hands. Power for us to live. Power for us to give. Power for us to make it. Power so you won’t look like what you’ve been in. Ain’t that all right!!!!
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
