Peace in the Fire

Well, good morning and welcome to Sacred Mission Church this morning.

My name is Jared, and I'm one of the pastors here at Sacred Mission.

And we just want to remind you at this time of year, we go through a time of mission and vision.

And so this was our uh vision month and uh our vision that we hope and pray and want to see uh take place in the Mason Westchester areas that all may know the joy of his salvation.

And so one of the ways that we do that throughout the month of May is the last two weeks, we kind of take a break from mission groups and we gather here on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m.

We had one this past Wednesday night.

It was a great time of worship and prayer together and to uh glorify God together as the church.

And we have one again this Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

If you have children up through age four, we also provide child care for them so you can come in and worship and rejoice in the Lord together as the church.

In June, we celebrate Milestones Month.

And so what we have coming up in June is a new mission group term launch.

So if you have been at Sacred Mission for some time now, or you're just now starting to engage with us and you're not a part of a mission group, this is a great opportunity where what we like to do is we like to scatter as a church, but then gather within people's homes on mission.

And so it's a great opportunity for you to gather in your area where you live with a group who open the Word of God together, spend time in prayer, and just spend time fellowshipping and growing together in Christ.

And so we want to encourage you, if you want more information, you can do that through our app, or you can talk with one of our leaders out front.

We're also gonna be celebrating baptism in June.

So if, like a mission group, if you've never gone through the waters of baptism, but you have professed faith in the gospel, this is a great opportunity for you to publicly declare that you have professed faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Or if you've never believed in the gospel and today's that day, you can also go through the waters of baptism.

And one of the pastors would love to talk to you more about what that means to go through that.

And then finally, membership class.

So if you've been tracking with us at Sacred Mission, but you're not a member and you're kind of curious about who Sacred Mission is, what we're doing, and why we're doing it, this is a great opportunity to kind of take a deep dive and dig into Sacred Mission, what we believe, why we believe it, and to decide is this the place that you want to engage with and join as a covenant member with us.

So you can check all that out on the app and kind of figure out where you're at and what you want to do.

So this morning we're jumping back into our series in Daniel 3.

And if you grew up in the church, then this is one of those stories that you've heard from the time you were little.

It's in every Bible storybook.

And if you didn't grow up in the church and you've heard people talk about the Bible, more than likely this is one of those stories that came up.

Whether people said it was true or not, they talk about the fiery furnace.

And it's one of those.

And as we come to Daniel 3 this morning, we see something shocking in the midst of this moment for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

We see them have peace.

Three young, three young men standing before the most powerful man in the world, their lives on the line and yet calm.

No bargaining, no begging, and no fear.

Why?

Because in the midst of this moment, in the midst of their circumstance they're facing, their peace didn't come from their circumstance.

It came from the God they trusted.

And so this morning, what we're gonna see is the same peace that these three had is available to us as well.

God may not deliver us from the fire, but he will always be with us in it.

And that kind of peace, peace in the fire, doesn't come from the world.

It comes from knowing who God is, even when the pressure is turned all the way up.

And so this morning, as we continue our series, Daniel, Sacred Lives in a Secular City, we're stepping into a moment where the fire is real and the stakes are life and death.

So I want us to jump in.

We're gonna first examine the first 18 verses, and our summary is this.

In verses 1 through 18, we see our summary as the power of man.

So as we jump back into Daniel and we come to chapter 3, we want to be reminded of who King Nebuchadnezzar is.

So back in chapter 1, this is the man who invades Jerusalem.

He comes in, he takes the vessels from the temple, and according to Daniel 5 2, we learn that these vessels were of gold and silver, and he places them in his own house of worship of a false god.

He steals from God and treats it like a trophy.

And then we come to chapter 2, and we see him shaken by a dream that initially no one can interpret, and he is frustrated until Daniel steps in and God gives him the understanding of what the dream is about.

By God's power, Daniel interprets the dream.

And what does Nebuchadnezzar do in that moment?

He falls on his face and he pays homage to Daniel.

He even makes a stunning proclamation in Daniel 2.47 Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings.

This pagan king even recognizes Daniel's God.

And don't miss this.

In Daniel 2.37, you, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom the power.

Daniel 2.44, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.

And so in chapter 2, we're shown what God has done.

And Pastor Jessin did a great job bringing us up to this point because we understand that Nebuchadnezzar had been given power.

We see what he will do.

He establishes, God does, a kingdom that will never fall.

And then we come to chapter 3.

Same king, same dream.

And yet, listen to what Nebuchadnezzar does in just the first seven verses.

He starts out by making this image.

Now we learn from the text that the image is 60 cubits high and six cubits wide.

Now, according to tradition and what we know from this and history, a cubit is about 18 inches.

So you can understand.

Now if we do the math, this statue is 90 feet tall and nine feet wide.

Very small base, very tall.

Doesn't seem very stable.

If I was building something like this, I'd probably go wider, but this is what they did.

This isn't just a king displaying power, though.

What we find is this is a moment of idolatry, a direct rebellion against God.

But it's not isolated.

We see this over and over again, a pattern throughout the Bible.

We actually see the Apostle Paul describing centuries later in Romans 1 the problem with this.

Romans 1.23, he says this, and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images, resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

In both stories we see the same situation: humanity turning from the creator to created things.

Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue of gold, a man-made object demanding worship.

The Apostle Paul says this is what happens when people reject God.

They don't stop worshiping, they just redirect it to something else, something lesser, whether it's a towering statue or a self-made image, idle in the heart.

And this is the core of idolatry.

The exchange of God's glory for man's imitation.

And why do we know this to be true in Daniel 3, what Nebuchadnezzar is doing?

Because four different times in the first seven verses, we read how Nebuchadnezzar sets up his image, this image.

Verse 1, he being Nebuchadnezzar, set it up.

Verse 3, everyone gathers for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Verse 5, when you hear the sound of the instruments and the music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

Verse 7, as the people heard the sounds of the instruments and all the music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

I don't believe this was unintentional that Daniel is taking these words from God and pinning these down because what we're seeing is man's kingdom versus God's kingdom.

In chapter two, we encounter the dream and the interpretation of what will happen comparing man's kingdom and God's kingdom.

One will be destroyed and one will never be destroyed.

And so we see through the beginning of chapter three here in Daniel that now the image has been set up and a demand has been issued.

In verse five, the proclamation was made 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 this golden image.

The king had demanded people fall down in the same way that he had fallen down upon his face in chapter two.

And if you do not fall down and you do not worship this image, what was the consequence?

Verse 6.

Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the burning fiery furnace.

And so how do the people respond there?

How do the people of this area respond?

Well, in verse 7, we learn that as soon as the people hear the sound, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worship the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

And then we are reacquainted with three individuals who were introduced to us back in chapter 1: Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednego.

Now, as far as the text here in Daniel 3 is concerned, King Nebuchadnezzar would have never known that these three individuals had not bowed down and worshiped this image.

Except for these individuals, these Chaldeans who come forward, which we see a similar situation take place in Daniel 6 as well.

They're reminding the king of the punishment of not doing what he said and then pointing out who had rejected it.

Oh, king, remember what you said?

Well, here's some guys.

They're not doing it.

And the king, what he does is he actually comes along and he offers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego a final chance to bow down and worship the image he created right in front of him.

What follows from this king reveals the pride, arrogance, and raw assertion of human power.

At the end of verse 15, Nebuchadnezzar asks, And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?

With this question, it's clear he believes there is no God greater than him.

There's no one greater than him.

To the king, to Nebuchadnezzar, he's given them an escape route, right?

Just bow down.

Just do it.

We can all move on with our day.

We'll just I'll forgive it and we'll get on.

But refuse, and you're gonna die.

Imagine Nebuchadnezzar here.

Who could possibly save you guys from me?

Now listen to how the three respond in verses 16 through 18.

Oh Nebuchadnezzar, they don't even dress him as king here in this moment.

You think you have control over us?

Nebuchadnezzar might be able to change their names as we learned in chapter one to assimilate them into Babylonian culture, but they will never assimilate into Babylonian worship.

They don't even dignify his threat with a ri with a defense.

They don't need to explain themselves.

They fully understand the consequence of not bowing down, they understand that it is the burning fiery furnace.

And yet listen to their words.

In other words, you think you have power?

Our God has the power to save.

But even if he doesn't, so they don't stop there.

They're not, they're not like testing God here.

They're not they're not going that to that length.

They're saying, but even if he doesn't, even if God allows us to die in the fire, we will not bow.

They will not serve his gods and worship his golden image.

Why?

Because these three men would have would have understood the Old Testament.

They would have understood the first commandment back in Exodus, verses chapter 20, verse 3.

You shall have no other gods before me.

And then the second commandment, Exodus 24 through 5, you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation, to those who hate me.

You see, their bold response in verses 16 through 18 of chapter 3, they were not just guessing about what God might want.

They understood that worship belongs to God alone, even if it cost them their lives.

Their loyalty to God was not conditional on the outcome.

And I wonder for us sometimes how often our trust in God is shaped more by our desired outcomes than by a deep desire for God Himself.

I mean, ask yourself that question.

How often when we need something from God, it's it's based on what we desire and the outcomes we hope for.

And if if God you do this, then I'll trust you.

But if not, I won't.

Because true faith isn't rooted in results, it's in rooted in a relationship with God Himself.

You see, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren't bargaining with God for rescue.

They were standing firm because they knew his holiness, his sovereignty, and his worth.

They teach us that genuine worship is not a means to an end, but the end itself.

I love how John Piper has been famous for statements like, God is most glorified in us when we are most glorified in him.

Not in what he can do for us, but in him.

You see, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't know the outcome, but they knew their God.

Their faith was grounded in God's power, not their own abilities.

They didn't try to fight these men.

They weren't like, let's go, let's get in a ring, king, let's do this.

Get your best men and me.

No, they understood who their God was.

Now let's take a moment to recognize something key here.

Because when we come to Old Testament stories, where someone acts courageously, it's easy to enter and think about the story related around that character.

Right?

You open up, turn on a veggie tails, and you see some great characters.

Usually that's what the story is, right?

For instance, with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we might focus on how bold and fearless they were.

And the reality is they were.

They were bold and fearless.

They certainly displayed great courage, but that's not the full picture.

We can highlight that, but if that's our focus, we're missing the point.

See, their bravery wasn't the result of some exceptional quality within themselves, it was a result of their unwavering faith in the one true God.

Their trust in his power, not their own, was what gave them the strength to stand firm.

You see, the hero of this story in Daniel 3 is not Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The hero of the story is God and how great his power is.

And this is what we find in verses 19 through 27, and our summary is this the power of God.

So we go from the power of man, and now we're shifting to the power of God.

Now, I don't think any of us would be surprised by King Nebuchadnezzar's reaction here, right?

You can imagine who would go against the king, the most powerful man in the known world.

Literally, the one who controls life and death.

Or at least you can imagine what King Nebuchadnezzar would be thinking.

Listen, maybe you all didn't understand my command, right?

And he's blowing his horn for that.

And he's like, here is your second chance.

No, I mean, you can imagine.

No one's gonna now to my face.

Maybe you did it in secret, some people saw you, that's fine.

But now before me, you're gonna bow.

Come on.

Like, I literally, like, it's on, like, I can control this whole situation.

I am the king.

But they did, and now they're gonna pay.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, think about this.

They go in chapter 2 from being appointed by this king to rule over the affairs of the province of Babylon to now being his enemy.

Just like that.

Now they will pay and understand how powerful King Nebuchadnezzar is.

According to verse 22, because of the urgency of this moment, the furnace is overheated, and the flames actually kill the men who are going to take Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the furnace.

I love how one commentator said it when he said this.

Ironically, Nebuchadnezzar's order resulted in the death of his own soldiers, demonstrating the fact that the Lord is able to protect his servants better than Nebuchadnezzar could protect his own.

Incredible.

The most powerful man can't even protect his own soldiers.

And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Benego, they actually fall bound into the furnace.

Men are killed, they fall in.

They were fully aware of the cost of their conviction.

They would not serve these false gods, they would not worship the golden image, so with unwavering faith, they stand firm in front of the king, choosing the flames over compromise, trusting God even if deliverance didn't come.

Centuries later, another man would face the fire, not in Babylon, but in Oxford, England.

Thomas Cranmer, he was born in 1489.

He was the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, and a central figure in the English Reformation under Henry VIII and Edward VI.

But then someone else comes into power, Queen Mary I, a devout Catholic.

She comes to power, aiming to reverse the Reformation that was taking place.

So Cranmer, what happens to him?

He's arrested, imprisoned, and charged with heresy.

Now we would agree at Sacred Mission with Cranmer's theology, but to the Catholic Church, he was a heretic.

From 1553 to 1556, he is held in Oxford and he's pressured relentlessly.

And during this time, he recanted publicly, abandoning his Protestant beliefs multiple times.

What did he accept?

He accepted the Pope's authority.

He accepted the Catholic Mass and transubstantiation.

He accepted the fact that what the Catholic Church holds is that the bread literally turns into Jesus' body, and the wine and the cup and the bowl literally turn into Jesus' blood.

And what they do is they re-sacrifice Christ every single time they go through this.

He rejected justification by faith alone.

And what he was hoping in this moment was that his recantations would spare his life.

But on March 21st, 1556, he's brought to St.

Mary's Church in Oxford to affirm his return to Catholicism before his execution.

But Cranmer did the unexpected.

He boldly reaffirms salvation by faith alone, the authority of Scripture over the Pope, the rejection of transubstantiation.

He shocked the crowd, especially because what he had done was he wrote his speech, he submitted it to the church, and they said, Okay, that's good.

You can speak publicly.

But he changed.

He did that intentionally so he could get up in front of everyone, and he boldly declared, And as for the Pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy and antichrist, with all his false doctrine, referring to the hand that had signed those recantations, he added, As for the hand, it shall be first burned.

They led him out to the stake.

And they say that Cranmer thrust his right hand into the flames first, saying, This hand hath offended.

He was burned alive, dying with the name of Jesus on his lips.

Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Cranmer faced the fire, not with fear now, but with faith.

See the same peace that carried them through the furnace carried Cranmer through the flames, calm, confident, and completely trusting in Christ.

Now we come back to Daniel 3, and you can imagine Nebuchadnezzar here before them, having them cast into the fire, thinking to himself, your God deliver you, I'm king.

I am God.

What do we see happen?

Verse 24 King Nebuchadnezzar, astonished, he rose up in haste.

Why?

Three men had gone in, and now four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire unharmed.

And incredibly, Nebuchadnezzar says, the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.

Now I want to pause and I want us to examine this fourth man here.

There's a lot of debate around who this fourth person was.

Who is this mysterious figure?

And there's two main interpretations held by faithful Bible-believing Christians, including those in the Reformed tradition.

So I want to touch base on both of those interpretations and then share which one I believe is to be the best option.

So the first view we have is this mysterious fourth man is Jesus Christ Himself, which would be called in the Old Testament a Christophany.

A Christophany is a preincarnate appearance of the Son of God in the Old Testament.

For example, we see these situations happen in Genesis 22 or Judges 6, where the angel of the Lord speaks as God.

Joshua 5, where the commander of the Lord's army does not prevent Joshua from worshiping him.

So when we come back to Daniel 3 here, then this would be This view would hold that the fourth man is Jesus Christ himself.

One individual who held this view was Charles Spurgeon, one of the most famous preachers we uh would agree with, from London, and he said in a sermon, Surely he has none other than the Son of God.

Jesus will not leave his saints in their trial, he will come to them in the worst of their distresses.

But then we have the second view.

The second view is this that the fourth man was an angel sent by God.

This view holds that God sent an angel to protect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Because in the Old Testament we do see at times where God sends an angel to protect his people.

For example, in Genesis 19, you have two angels that come to rescue Lot from Sodom.

In Daniel 6, Daniel states that God sent his angel to shut the mouth of the lions.

John Calvin, a theologian and reformer from the 1500s, said this in his commentary on this verse.

It is more probable that it was only one of God's angels, for God was not yet manifest in the flesh.

So here we have two godly men in the Reformed tradition who we hold in high esteem, disagreeing on who this fourth man was.

So here's where I would stand, and here's where I think theologically the best view is that it's Jesus Christ Himself.

Now why?

Because I believe this reflects a Trinitarian reading of the Old Testament where Christ is seen as a visible member of the Godhead.

I believe it fits the broader pattern of the angel of the Lord we see throughout the Old Testament speaking as and being worshipped as God Himself.

I believe it also fits within the redemptive historical framework of the Bible.

We even see a cross-reference where Isaiah 43.2 points us to Daniel 3.25 and 3.27, meaning that when Dan when Isaiah is talking there, he's pointing us forward to Daniel 3, 25 and 3.27.

God is speaking in Isaiah as Israel's only Savior, saying, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you.

When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Listen to what is said about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in verse 27.

The fire had had not had any power over the bodies of those men.

The hair of their heads were not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.

Now at the end of the day, we can disagree, maybe, on that.

That fourth man, if you hold the angel view or you hold the Christ view, what we need to grasp is that God does not abandon his people.

Even when hardships arise, even when we feel like we can't go on and there is nothing left, God is with us.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed that God would rescue them, that he could.

But they also proclaimed that even if he didn't, they would not turn their back on him, even if it cost them their lives.

They didn't try to avoid the fire.

Their peace wasn't tied to their circumstances.

It wasn't tied to whether God would spare them or not.

It was tied to who God is, his presence, his promises, and his power to save.

And that brings us to what we need to hold on today ourselves.

Peace doesn't come from avoiding the fire, it comes from trusting the one who entered it for us.

That's the main idea of Daniel 3 this morning.

Not just that God can rescue us, but that he will be with us in the flames.

The fire doesn't get the last word, God does.

Our main idea is this: peace comes not from avoiding the fire, but from trusting the one who entered it for us.

Now, when I say peace, this is what I mean.

It's a peace that is not an external calm or the absence of struggle, but a deep anchored trust in God's presence even in suffering.

Look at, if we go through the Bible, we have some different examples of what this could look like.

In Psalm 23, David speaks not just of green pastures, but of God's presence in the darkest places.

Psalm 23, 4.

His peace doesn't come from escaping the valley, but from knowing the shepherd walks with him through it.

After losing everything, Job doesn't understand why, but he clings to the Lord.

Job 1 21.

The Lord gave and the Lord is taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

We go to the New Testament, Acts 16.

Paul and Silas are beaten and chained in prison.

Yet at midnight in Acts 16, 25, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.

Their bodies were hurting, but their hearts were at peace.

And then there's Jesus.

On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus is in agony but fully surrendered to the Father.

In Luke 22, 40, 42, not my will, but yours be done.

The Son of God enters suffering, not with worldly peace, but with deep trust in the Father's plan.

And this is what we see here in Daniel 3 with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Whatever happens to us, we trust our God.

And I wonder if the same can be said of us.

Can we, like David, say, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me?

Can we like Jesus say, Not my will but yours be done?

I believe there are two traps, two ditches that we can fall into when we're trying to understand this a little bit better.

And that's what we have in our story today.

The first is this I'll use God to avoid the fire.

I'll use God to avoid the fire.

Sometimes we we might say, listen, I believe in God, but if we're honest, it's not because we want Him, it's because we want relief.

We want rescue.

We want out of the fire, but not into a relationship.

And that kind of faith isn't rooted in love, it's rooted in self-preservation.

It treats God like a tool, not a treasure, but a means to an end.

Maybe it's using God for safety.

You go to church, you pray, you follow all the rules, but underneath it's fear.

If I don't do those things, then something bad might happen to me.

And when suffering shows up, you think, I did everything right.

Why is this happening?

God, why would you do this to me?

That reveals something.

Obedience was about protecting yourself, not worshiping God.

That's where we flip obedience, right, in love.

We are obedient to God because we want his love, as opposed to we're obedient to God because of his love.

Maybe it's using God for comfort.

You really dig into prayer and scripture when you're hurting and you don't know where else to turn, which is good, right?

You should.

But then when the pain fades and things start to get a little better, so does your pursuit fades of God.

You don't really need him anymore.

In that moment, God was relief, not the holy God who deserves worship in every season.

It could even be using God for control.

You think if I if I do something good, then God will do something good for me.

Right?

I'll give money to the church, I'll give money to good causes, I'll give money away, and then God will bless me financially.

I'll pray really hard, really hard, really, and then I'll get answers, right?

God has to answer me.

I'll parent well, I'll have the best kids because I did all the right things.

So when they're older, they'll be perfect, they'll be good citizens.

But what we're revealing is it's a transaction.

If I'm faithful, then God owes me.

But when things fall apart up fall apart, you feel betrayed because your faith wasn't trust, it was manipulation.

God is not a vending machine.

He doesn't just deliver us from the fire, he walks with us through it.

You can't control your way into peace.

Peace comes through surrender, not manipulation.

And that's one side.

But then there's the other side.

People who think they don't need God at all.

And that's this.

The other part of our story is I don't need God to avoid the fire.

So one is I use God, the other is I don't need him.

I'm gonna reject him.

Like the crowds in Daniel 3, they bow to whatever image culture sets up: success, popularity, comfort, control.

Not because it's true, but because it feels safe.

All those people bowed down and worship that image because it was safe.

They wouldn't die.

We'll just do it.

If I just bow down, it will be okay.

Then I'll ask for forgiveness.

You rely on hustle and hard work, you rely on whatever God is currently trending, and for a while it works, right?

You can be successful, you can do some good things until it doesn't work.

Because that fire will still come.

Eventually, success fades, comfort fails, and suffering shows up uninvited.

Illness, betrayal, and loss.

And the peace you built melts with it.

Because the reality is the gods we make always demand more and give less.

They collapse under pressure, they melt, they fade away.

But there is a better way.

True peace isn't found in using God or avoiding him, it's found in the one who steps in the fire with us.

Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednego, we don't need to worship what the world worships.

We don't need to build gods out of control or comfort.

We have a God who doesn't just save us from the fire, but he enters it with us, and ultimately he enters it for us.

And that's our gospel conviction this morning.

Jesus went through the fiery furnace of the cross so we could have peace.

In Daniel 3, you have the fiery furnace, but when we jump to the New Testament, we learn of another fiery furnace.

In Matthew 13, 41 through 42, Jesus gives us this image that no one would ever want to experience.

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's eternal judgment, a real place for real sin.

A furnace not of refinement, but of wrath.

And by rights, you and I belong there.

All have sinned.

All are lawbreakers.

The furnace is not for someone else, it's the destination justice demands for you and me.

But here's the beauty of the gospel.

Here's the beauty of Jesus.

Jesus, the only one without sin, entered the furnace in our place.

He didn't belong there, but he walked into the fiery judgment of the cross willingly.

As Isaiah 53, 5 declares, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

See, on the cross, the Son of God bore the fire meant for lawbreakers.

He took the furnace so we could be spared the flames.

And because of his sacrifice, Romans 5.1 tells us, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, Thomas Cramer, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And here's the truth.

You don't have to face the fire because Jesus already did.

So what should our response be?

What should our response be when we come a part of this final part of our passage this morning?

Well, in Daniel 3.28 through 4.3, we see this man's response to the power of God.

So we saw the power of man, then the power of God, and now we see man's response to this.

And what should our response be?

Well, listen how Nebuchadnezzar responded when he saw the miraculous power of God, awe, worship, and declaration.

In Daniel 3.28, after witnessing God's power to rescue Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebedega, Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednego, 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.

Then Nebuchadnezzar says something interesting in Daniel 4 1.

To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you.

And then in Daniel 4 3, erupting in praise, how great are his signs, how mighty his wonders, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

Listen.

If a pagan king responded that way to a temporary rescue from a momentary fiery furnace, how much more should those who have been saved from an eternal fiery furnace by the blood of Jesus live in peace and worship the God who gives peace?

Remember what I mentioned earlier in Romans 5:1?

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This isn't just a private peace.

This isn't just a feeling.

This is a declaration.

You and I are now citizens of a kingdom of peace brought near by the blood of Christ.

And here's where it gets real.

That peace we've received, it's meant to be seen, which leads us to our gospel vision this morning, and it's this that we would be a people who show the world where peace is found.

Listen, look around the world right now.

People are trying to find peace in everything people, culture, identities, wealth, status.

People are trying to find peace in all those places, and we have the answer.

As we live sacred lives in a secular city, let us be people who reveal by our lives where true peace is found.

In the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, and Him alone.

Let's pray.