Daniel 3

I'm going to give you more passages this morning for Daniel chapter 3.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

I encourage you to turn there with me.

Daniel chapter 3 is at page 739.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

You can get my help from the wall there.

Let's do something to do.

A little stretch, because I'm going to go for a long time this morning,

and you're going to need it.

Just kidding.

All right, Daniel chapter 3.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

Let's start, since it's a bit of a longish passage,

I'm just going to read the first 23 verses, and we'll pick up from there.

Okay?

Verse 1.

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits,

and its breadth 6 cubits.

He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent together the satraps, the prefects, and the governors,

the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates,

and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image

that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors,

the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates,

and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image

that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

And they stood before the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

And the herald proclaimed aloud,

You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,

that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,

and every kind of music,

you are to fall down and worship the golden image

that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

And whoever does not fall down and worship

shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace.

Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre,

trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music,

all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down

and worshipped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward

and maliciously accused the Jews.

They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar,

O king, live forever.

You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn,

pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music

shall fall down and worship the golden image.

And whoever does not fall down and worship

shall be cast into the burning, fiery furnace.

There are certain Jews whom you have appointed

over the affairs of the province of Babylon,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

These men, O king, pay no attention to you.

They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage,

commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought.

So they brought these men before the king.

Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them,

Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?

Now, if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,

and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good.

But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace.

And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,

O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace,

and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But if not, be it known to you, O king,

that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,

and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.

And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace.

Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments,

and they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace.

Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated,

the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

fell bound into the burning, fiery furnace.

Go ahead and sit down.

God, we do ask for your help now as we come to your word,

that you would allow us by your spirit to have an understanding

of what you're saying to us and teaching to us about you and about us

and about your gracious provision for us.

And Lord, what it means to respond faithfully to who you are and what you've done.

Be with us now, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

In 1934, in Barman, Germany, a group of church leaders, theologians, and laymen

gathered to consider how they would respond to the greatest crisis they had ever faced.

Almost immediately after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933,

Protestant Christians faced pressure to arianize the church,

expel Jewish Christians from the ordained ministry,

and adopt the Nazi Führer principle as the organizing principle of church government.

Sadly now, just one year later in 1934,

many churches had already bowed to Hitler's ideology.

And now, here, how would these church leaders respond?

Would they capitulate to the theological claims of the Nazi state,

perhaps in the name of German unity,

or in the name of church unity,

or a great risk to their churches and their lives,

would they resist?

Well, in great courage, they chose the latter.

And they drafted what's become known as the Barman Declaration.

We reject, they wrote, the false doctrine that the church could and should recognize as a source

of its proclamation beyond and besides this one word of God,

yet other events, powers, historic figures, and truths as God's revelation.

We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life

in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ,

but to other lords.

The Barman Declaration stated in no uncertain terms,

in the face of a totalitarian regime,

that the church gives exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.

No other powers, no matter what their threats,

will take the place of Christ as Lord.

And our chapter this morning is meant to inspire

such unconditional allegiance to God.

But you know, it's meant to do so not just for church leaders and theologians,

and not just at momentous events and moments in history,

but it's meant to do so for all of us.

You see, friends, the book of Daniel is a lot about what it means

to be the church in the midst of the world.

Not separated from the world, not assimilated into the world,

but being the church in the midst of the world.

What does it look like to live as citizens of the kingdom of God

in the midst of the kingdoms of this world,

especially when the kingdoms of this world seem to have the upper hand?

And we're going to learn three things from this text

about living as citizens of the kingdom of God

in the midst of the kingdoms of this world.

First, the pressure we will face.

Second, the confession we should give.

And third, the assurance that we can have.

So first then, the pressure we will face.

When chapter 3 opens, these three young Jewish men,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are not priests,

not religious leaders, not super all-star saints.

They're civil servants in the Babylonian Empire.

In fact, at this point, they've become high-ranking officials

in Nebuchadnezzar's administration.

They're out working in the world.

And it hadn't been all smooth sailing to this point.

In chapter 1, you remember, they had to negotiate ways

of maintaining their Jewish identity

in the midst of their Babylonian training.

In chapter 2, their lives were actually in danger,

along with all the other Babylonian wise men and counselors,

because of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

But through it all, God had preserved and even promoted them.

They flourished in their training, with their prayers.

Daniel was able to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

So they had hit some critical bumps along the way,

but through it all, God had put them in positions

of authority and influence, even though as a people,

the Jews were in the midst of exile.

So far, so good.

But in this chapter, things take a turn.

Up to this point, they were able to navigate

their allegiance to God and their position in Babylon

without much conflict.

In fact, they were sort of the rising stars of the empire.

Then Nebuchadnezzar builds a 90-foot tall golden image

and demands that all the officials of his kingdom

bow down and worship.

And suddenly, the pressure to conform,

the pressure to abandon their exclusive allegiance to God

comes barreling down on these three young exiles.

Now, you see, Nebuchadnezzar in this chapter had a problem.

You see, he had conquered this vast number of nations

and people groups and had consolidated them

into his empire.

But the problem was, how would he keep the whole thing together?

What would he do to bring unity and ensure common loyalty

from such a diverse group?

What would keep his empire from splintering apart?

And his answer, of course, is the golden image.

The image, by the way, probably didn't represent

Nebuchadnezzar himself.

It probably represented one of the Babylonian gods.

But still, it was the image he had set up,

as the narrator emphasizes over and over again.

So he was going to take personally

any rejection of the image.

You see, this image was a test of ultimate loyalty to him

and to the power of his state, to the power of Babylon.

And of course, Nebuchadnezzar wasn't saying

that they had to stop worshiping their own gods.

The ancient Near East, much like the modern West,

was very pluralistic.

You can keep your gods in private, whatever works for you.

But here, you better worship this one.

You better prove your loyalty.

Now, my guess is that few of us have had to confront

the pressure to bow before a 90-foot-tall,

nine-foot-wide, gold-plated totem pole.

But the pressure to worship some other god than God

is still alive and well today, isn't it?

We just don't make statues of them anymore.

You see, friends, what the Bible tells us

and what our experience shows us

is that the human heart will always worship something.

The natural tendency of the fallen human heart,

whether individually or corporately as a society,

will be to exchange the worship of the Creator,

the one true God, for some created thing.

To make ultimate something in the place of God.

And as Christians living in the midst of the world,

as we should be, seeking to be salt and light,

seeking the good of our city and our communities

like these three young exiles,

serving faithfully in the positions God grants us,

as we live in the midst of the world

as citizens and ambassadors of God's kingdom,

we will face pressure to conform

to the gods of the world around us.

At work,

in pursuit of the common goal of profit,

will there be challenges to go against your conscience,

to let slide your loyalty to God

as the pursuit of profit becomes the God of profit?

Maybe by fudging just a little bit

on those quarterly reports.

That's what everyone does after all.

Be a good team player, your supervisor says.

At school,

when your friends are all eagerly talking

and agreeing about their views on sex or gender or religion,

and then slapping each other on the back,

they turn to you and say,

you agree, don't you?

You're with us on this, right?

You're not one of those, are you?

Again, that pressure to conform.

Or you're in the studio or in the lab,

and the God of success or approval

means that all your peers are putting in 60,

70, 80 hours a week.

And you,

are you really going to leave this early?

Are you really serious about being here?

Do you really deserve to be here?

Or maybe even in your family.

This is the way we've always done things.

This is what it means to be a part of this family.

The pressure to conform.

And look a little more closely at the anatomy

of this pressure here in chapter three.

First, this idol is very impressive, is it not?

90 feet high, covered in gold.

Second, it seems to me a real need.

Unifying the empire.

A well-organized government's a good thing, right?

Getting everyone on the same page.

Keeping conflicts at a minimum.

It's seeking a good goal, right?

Third, literally everyone is doing it.

The list of officials in verses two through three

are representatives of the entire empire.

All the people, nations, and languages of the empire

have their highest ranking officials present.

Talk about peer pressure, right?

Even the band is an international ensemble.

Instruments of every kind from every place.

Wouldn't it be rude?

Just a bit culturally insensitive not to just go along?

No.

But of course, those three things are just the tip of the iceberg, aren't they?

Not content to just wow the attendees

by the impressive height of the image

or the international makeup of the ensemble,

Nebuchadnezzar issues a threat.

If you don't worship,

you'll be thrown into a burning, fiery furnace.

So much for freedom of conscience.

And suddenly we realize that we're not playing games anymore.

Refusal to worship will cost you your life.

You know, some of us have encountered this story so often

in children's Bibles or in Sunday school

that it's become so sanitized in our minds.

We've almost become immune to the horrible threat

that these men faced.

Real and certain death if they did not comply.

And you know, at first,

when we get to verse 7,

it seems like these three young exiles

are able somehow to get out of the line of fire.

Perhaps as officials in the very province of Babylon,

they weren't required,

like these dignitaries gathering

from all the far-flung corners of the empire,

perhaps they weren't sort of required

to prove their allegiance in this way.

They were already on the team, you see.

Maybe the ceremony didn't quite include them at first.

And so, wisely,

they kept quiet

and kept their heads low.

We don't know for sure.

We're also not sure where Daniel is

while all this is taking place.

The text is silent,

so all we can do is speculate.

Was he away on the king's business?

We just don't know.

But we do know that

in addition to the threat of the furnace,

these men also face the jealousy of their co-workers,

and the pressure mounts even more.

Their low profile is suddenly blown.

In verses 8 through 12,

certain Chaldeans,

that is Babylonian officials,

counselors, scholars,

maliciously accuse these three men.

And what's their motivation?

Well, we see from their conversation with Nebuchadnezzar

that it seems to be

wanting to get some professional revenge

on these foreigners

who've been given such high position

in their city,

at their game.

And all this leads to a confrontation

with Nebuchadnezzar himself.

The pressures, the threats, the accusations

bring everything to a crisis.

Nebuchadnezzar surely can't have members

of his own administration

embarrassing him

before the gathered officials

of his entire kingdom, right?

And so, justly,

he gives these three men a chance

to come and bow

and make things right.

Let's brush this under the carpet, fellas.

But if they won't prove his authority,

he will.

He will prove his authority

and absolute rule

by casting them into the fire.

And who, he says,

is the God

who will deliver you

out of my hands?

Now, many of us won't face

such a literal life-or-death confrontation.

Although, for Christians worldwide,

this is a reality for many.

And we ought to be in prayer

for our brothers and sisters globally.

But for us,

the threat,

the accusation,

the confrontation

still will present us

with a cost.

Maintaining our loyalty to God

will at times be very costly.

Our physical lives

may not be at stake,

but perhaps our reputation will be.

Or our professional success,

our job security,

our family's approval,

maybe even a close friendship.

The fire will threaten

to consume something costly,

something dear to us.

And as we stand in a position

of weakness,

outnumbered,

at the mercy, it seems,

of those in power over us,

that taunt will become

a doubt in our hearts.

who is the God

who is able to rescue us?

So how should we respond

to the pressure?

That brings us to the second point,

the confession we should give.

In verses 16 through 18,

we're given the incredibly brave response

of the three young exiles.

It forms sort of the center

of the whole text.

And what we see in their confession here

is a picture of robust,

biblical faith.

Dale Ralph Davis,

in his commentary on Daniel,

summarizes it this way.

This sort of faith, he says,

knows the power of God,

guards the freedom of God,

and holds the truth of God.

It knows the power of God.

In the height of his pride,

Nebuchadnezzar declares,

who is the God

who can deliver you

out of my hands?

And the men reply,

the God whom we serve

is able to deliver us

from the burning, fiery furnace,

and he will deliver us

out of your hand, O king.

We have no need to answer you

in this matter.

The men have no doubt

that the creator of the universe,

the almighty Lord of all,

is able to snuff out

this flaming furnace

as easily as you or I

would blow out a birthday candle,

whether it be seven times hotter

or 70 times hotter.

This is the God

who created the stars

and the planets

and every living thing

with a simple, sovereign word.

He is able.

Nebuchadnezzar can't even keep

his empire from falling apart.

It's his inner insecurity

and anxiety

that drives him

to build this idol

and that's also why

he bursts into rage

when his rule is threatened.

He knows deep down,

just like all of us,

that we aren't in control.

But God,

God orders and preserves

all things

according to the counsel

of his will.

What are the hands

of Nebuchadnezzar

compared to the hands

of almighty God?

God.

The confession of faith

knows the power of God,

but it also guards

the freedom of God.

Perhaps the most powerful moment

in the whole chapter

are those three words

that begin verse 18.

But if not.

They know God is able

to deliver them

and still they confess,

but if not.

God may not choose

to do so.

You see,

these young men

don't treat God

like we so often do,

like a cosmic

vending machine

that if we just

insert the coins

of religion,

out-clunk the soda

bottles of God's blessing.

It's an easy exchange,

isn't it?

But no,

they don't presume

to know

what God's plan is

in this moment.

They don't presume

to tell God

what he must do

or not do,

and they don't think

that they deserve

to be saved

because they've been

so faithful to God.

They're utterly open

to the possibility

that God may not

choose to deliver them.

Faith in God,

real robust

biblical faith in God

means guarding

God's freedom

and entrusting

oneself to him

whatever he decides.

And third,

the confession of faith

holds the truth of God.

These men may not know

what God's sovereign will is,

what he's decreed

to happen in this moment,

whether he will save them

or not,

but they know

what God's revealed will is.

That is,

they know what God

commands them to do.

You shall have

no other gods

before me,

God says,

and they resolve

to obey.

Now,

imagine how they could

have responded

in this moment.

I mean,

it would have been

pretty easy

to just justify

bowing down

to this stupid statue,

wouldn't it have been?

After all,

what's a ten-minute bow?

We know we don't mean

anything by it.

The gods of the nations

are nothing.

We serve the one true God.

A simple little act

of prostration

isn't going to change that.

And besides,

hadn't God put them

in this important position?

Didn't God have a purpose

for them there?

Didn't the other Judean exiles

need friends like them

in high places?

Wouldn't it be better

for them

to keep their position

and remain useful

to God?

Wouldn't it be much

more expedient here?

Much more useful

for God's kingdom

to just take a little bow.

What use would they be

to God

if they were burnt

to a crisp?

We can often reason

the same way,

don't we?

But listen to what

Charles Spurgeon has to say

in a sermon

on this same text.

He says,

if an act of sin

would increase

my usefulness tenfold,

I have no right

to do it.

And if an act

of righteousness

would appear likely

to destroy

all my apparent usefulness,

I'm still to do it.

It is yours

and mine

to do God's will

though the heavens fall

and to follow

the command of Christ

whatever the consequences

may be.

That is strong meat,

you say.

Well,

be strong men

and women

and eat it.

You could only

get away with that

in the 19th century

in London,

I think.

And yet so often

we don't eat it,

do we?

In those moments

when the pressure

mounts

and the cost

is high,

I know my own

heart, friends.

I waver

and I falter.

We aren't

brave

like these three men,

we aren't courageous.

When our boss

tells us to fudge

the numbers,

we fear losing

our jobs

and so we go along.

And when our friends

are all assuming

that we'll just agree

with their views

and their ideas,

we fear losing

their approval

and their friendship

or afraid

of being alone.

And so we laugh

along with them

in the moment

and say and do things

we know we shouldn't

say or do.

So often we aren't

Shadrach, Meshach

and Abednego.

When the band plays

and the furnace is lit

and everyone

is bowing down,

down we go too.

But thankfully

there's more

in this passage

for us to see.

Yes, this text

is meant to inspire us

with the example

of these three

young men.

It's meant to model

the strong,

bold confession

we should give.

But friends,

even more than that,

it drives us

to our third point,

the assurance

we can have.

The assurance

that will empower

our weak hearts

to stand strong

when they're weak,

to be brave

when we're afraid.

And what is

that assurance?

You know,

it's not immediately

what you might think.

The promise

of this passage

is not

that God

will rescue us

from the furnace.

Sometimes we will suffer.

Sometimes we will

even lose everything.

Everything.

God doesn't always

save us

from the furnace,

but He meets us

in it.

Let's pick up

in verse 24.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar

was astonished

and rose up

in haste.

He declared

to his counselors,

did we not cast

three men

bound into the fire?

They answered

and said to the king,

true, O king.

He answered

and said,

but I see

four men unbound,

walking in the midst

of the fire

and they're not hurt

and the appearance

of the fourth

is like a son

of the gods.

Then Nebuchadnezzar

came near to the door

of the burning

fiery furnace.

He declared,

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego,

servants of the Most High God,

come out and come here.

Then Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

came out from the fire

and the satraps,

the prefects,

the governors,

and the king's counselors

gathered together

and saw that the fire

had not had any power

over the bodies

of those men.

The hair of their head

was not singed,

their cloaks were not harmed,

and no smell of fire

had come upon them.

Nebuchadnezzar answered

and said,

Blessed be the God

of Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

who has sent his angel

and delivered his servants

who trusted in him

and set aside

the king's command

and yielded up their bodies

rather than serve

and worship any god

except their own god.

Therefore,

I make a decree,

any people,

nation,

or language

that speaks anything

against the God

of Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

shall be torn limb from limb

and their houses

laid in ruins,

for there's no other god

who is able to rescue

in this way.

Then the king promoted

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

in the province

of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar looks

into the furnace

and to his surprise,

he sees a fourth man

with them

in the midst of the fire.

And they are all unbound,

walking,

unscathed.

And this fourth man

to Nebuchadnezzar

looks like a son

of the gods,

which for a pagan Babylonian

like Nebuchadnezzar

means a divine being,

or as he says

down in verse 28,

an angel.

And you know,

commentators for centuries

have wondered

about the identity

of this fourth man.

Was it just an angel

or could it be

someone even greater?

The text doesn't tell us

for sure.

But we do know one thing.

The point

is that God was present

to them

in the fire.

God was with them.

And you know,

the real reason

that fire didn't consume them

was because centuries later

there would be

another young Jewish man

who also lived

in a time

when God's people

were under foreign rule.

And this young man

would demonstrate

courage and obedience

not just in one moment,

but he would be

perfectly obedient

to God

his entire life.

But when his moment

came

to face the greatest test,

instead of having

his friends

with him

at his side,

making the good confession

with him,

they would deny

and desert him.

And instead of knowing

God's intimate presence

in the midst

of his torture,

the father would

turn his face away.

Why?

Because you see,

friends,

when Jesus Christ

died on the cross,

he was taking

the only fire

that could really

destroy us.

In complete

faithfulness

to the father,

he was bearing

the flames

of divine judgment

that all of our

unfaithfulness

deserved.

For all of our

wavering,

for all of our

treachery,

our king came

and he bore it all.

And because he

quenched that

fire for us

and rose again

in victory,

we know that

if we're trusting

in him,

then, friend,

there's no fire

left

that can truly

harm us.

Even if we

lose our

very life

itself,

we cannot

ultimately

be consumed.

because of

what he's

done.

Because of

what he's

done,

friend,

there's no

fire that

this world

can throw

at you

that he

will not

take

and turn

into a

refining

fire

for your

good.

He'll

meet you

right in

the middle

of it.

Isn't

not this

the great

promise with

which the

New Testament

opens?

Emmanuel,

God

with us.

In the

midst

of the

furnace,

his

fellowship,

his

friendship,

his

presence

will meet

you there.

And in

the end,

it will be

for his

glory

and for

yours.

When Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

step out of

the furnace,

there in

verse 27

are all

the officials

of the

nations.

And there

are all

the king's

counselors.

And they

all see how

great God

is.

They all

witness the

great

deliverance,

the great

vindication

of God's

servants.

And even

Nebuchadnezzar

glorifies God.

The one who

scorned their

God now

turns and

blesses him.

There's no

other God

who's able

to save

in this

way.

Friends,

one day,

all of

God's

creation

will witness

the

vindication

of God's

church.

In the

new heavens

and the

new earth,

we will be

raised with

Christ.

And God

will make

all things

new.

One writer

put it this

way,

Christ did

not keep

them out

of the

furnace,

but found

them in

it.

He does

not always

shield you

from all

distresses

and dangers,

but it is

in the

loneliness,

in the

betrayal,

in the

loss,

that the

fourth man

comes and

walks with

you.

He has

the knack

of both

exposing you

to,

yet keeping

you through

waters and

rivers and

fire and

operating rooms

and funeral

parlors and

an empty

house.

The fourth

man can

always find

his people.

And so,

friends,

when the

pressure is

mounting,

and when it

seems like the

whole world

is bowing

down,

stand

fast.

fast,

stay firm,

don't give

in,

don't lose

heart.

The only

flames that

can really

harm you,

the only

furnace you

really need

to fear has

been quenched

by your

faithful Savior.

And now

these fires

you face can

only refine

you.

The fourth

man,

the Lord

Jesus Christ,

will meet

you in the

flames,

and you

will not

be alone.

When through

fiery trials

thy pathways

shall lie,

my grace

all-sufficient

shall be

thy supply.

The flame

shall not

hurt thee,

I only

design thy

dross to

consume,

and thy

gold to

refine.

The soul

that on

Jesus has

leaned for

repose,

I will

not,

I will

not desert

to its

foes.

That soul

though all

hell should

endeavor to

shake,

I'll

never,

no never,

no never

forsake.

Let's

pray.

Oh Lord

Jesus,

what a

promise we

need to

hear,

that you

are with

us in

the flames.

Oh God,

by your

Holy Spirit

would you

take that

truth and

bury it

deep in

our hearts.

Make it

come alive

this week

to us

God,

as we

seek to

be your

ambassadors

and servants

in this

world.

God,

you've

placed us

here to

love this

city and

to love

our neighbors

and to

see peace

and justice

flow like

rivers.

But God,

we know at

times we

face the

pressure and

we face

the furnace,

so God,

help us

remember in

those moments

Jesus,

who took

the flames

for us

so that we

might be

refined.

Amen.