So, if you remember from last time, a couple weeks ago, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream from Yahweh. He had a dream from Yahweh that was revealed to him from Daniel by Yahweh. And in the dream, the king was depicted as having a kingdom that would be represented by this statue that was in his dream, and he was the gold head of this large statue. And this statue was metaphoric for how God would deal with the kingdoms leading up to and through the giving of the promised Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And some time has passed now, Here we are in chapter 3. The Septuagint, I guess, actually records as about some 18 years have passed, but we're not sure about that. Nevertheless, some time has passed, and now the tyrant king himself decides to make himself a massive gold statue representing his power and his kingdom, perhaps even his gods. Quite amazing, but not surprising for this rash egomaniac tyrant king. And we have a lot to read, so let's get to it. We'll read all of the chapter, chapter three. And then we'll ask the Lord's help in prayer afterwards. But God's word says, King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth, its width, that is six 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, and the counselors, and 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 Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed, 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 in 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 heart, 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 a 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, and they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Then 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 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 up 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, 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. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he 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 are 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 heads 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, and who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. and set aside the king's command, and yield 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 is no other god who is able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon." That ends the reading of God's Holy and Spiritist Sufficient Word. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this amazing story that you've preserved for us and the imagery that we have in it of your deliverance, of your faithfulness, of your goodness to your people and the sort of trust that your people should have in you. We pray, Lord, for understanding. We know that this is such a familiar text and the danger of coming to such a familiar text is to just zone out and kind of We think that we got it all figured out already, but we know that Your Word is living and active and that it lays us open bare. And so we pray that You would help us to approach Your Word this afternoon, this evening, with understanding, Holy Spirit, that You would guide us into all truth and help us to know You and to exalt You properly. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Daniel's three friends here come into focus now in this chapter. It's interesting. This is the only time when they actually speak in the book of Daniel. They've kind of been in the background so far, but now life in Babylon is going to take its toll upon them. We have their Babylonian names given now. It's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Renamed now, of course, they got those names back in Chapter 1, but remember, renamed now for their service in Babylon. And if you remember from Chapter 1, these guys had actually graduated with honors from the Babylonian reprogramming school. At the end of Chapter 1, they end up standing their ground. remain faithful to Yahweh, and they get placed in leadership in Babylon, and God blesses them. Chapter 2, you remember the situation for them there. King Nebuchadnezzar is in a rage, and he's going to kill all of the court of spiritual advisors, including Daniel and his friends. So they join Daniel in seeking the mercy of God. They have no choice but to go to the God who can deliver, and they go to God, and they seek God for grace to help in their time of need. They go to the throne of grace in the face of death and God grants them the grace that they need. Daniel receives the content and the interpretation of the dream and they're spared along with all of the other royal court as well. And not only are they spared, but then at the end of chapter 2 they get promoted again along with Daniel. And now here in chapter three, God brings these three young men face to face with their most fiercest trial yet. And God was actually preparing them for this very minute, it would seem. This is something that we all need to recognize as God's people, because God is sovereign and God is working in all things. And that is the things that God is doing in our lives are things that end up preparing us for the things that will come up next in our lives. And remember Romans 8, 28, that God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Even the trials, that is, that we will inevitably go through. Someone has said before that you're either going through a trial, you're coming out of a trial, or you're being prepared for a trial. The Apostle Peter reminds us to not even be surprised by the fiery trial that will come upon us, as if something strange were happening to you. The reality is that trials are normal in this age that we live in. But the Christian is unique in that he will never go through or she will never go through a trial alone. At bare minimum, you'll have the Lord God with you always. And God has been preparing these three Hebrew youth. And now they would be tested. Now they would be tested. And so young people and not so young people, you'll probably not be faced with being thrown into a fiery furnace. Lord, I hope not. But I can guarantee you that if you pursue a life of godliness and righteousness, you will be tested. You will absolutely be tested. So let's see what we can learn from Daniel chapter 3. The first thing that strikes us here in these first seven verses, the introduction to the chapter really, is that Nebuchadnezzar actually seems to totally miss the whole point of the dream that he had, that God gave him. You remember the image of chapter 2. It's only the head that's made of gold and the head represents Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonian kingdom. And so what Nebuchadnezzar does, I mean, he's your regular scripture twisting false teacher. What he does is on the basis of that dream, he figures that he should make a statue of gold to symbolize his kingdom of power. But the whole thing is made of gold and after all you know he was only the head of gold in the dream and so he builds this gigantic idol 60 cubits tall six cubits wide that's 90 feet tall nine feet wide made of gold the whole thing it's made of gold probably gold plated but nevertheless made of gold representing of course him and his kingdom, his power, his grandeur, from head to toe. It's like he's almost trying to reverse the dream that Yahweh gave him. The location of the statue is actually pretty interesting. It's quite significant. The text tells us that it's in the plain of Dura, which, by the way, is the same area that the Tower of Babel had been in, in Genesis chapter 11. verse 2 there in our chapter 1 speaks of the land of Shinar, which was mentioned in Genesis 11. Genesis 11-2 speaks of the land of Shinar, the land of Shinar is where they were initially taken by King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 1. And so what Nebuchadnezzar is doing here is something that big government would just love. is something that the United Nations would approve of with great joy and great gladness. He's building a grand unifying symbol for this kingdom. And he's wanting to focus the kingdom upon it. And this is certainly attached to the dream of chapter 2. We're supposed to see that, to see his brashness, his foolishness based off of the dream that God gave him. He's going to build this entire thing out of gold, or he's built it out of gold, the same substance of the statue in which his dream, which represented him, which is kind of his way of his attempt at saying that this was a good dream for me. And I want my glory to last forever. If you remember at the end of chapter two, if you look there at verse 47, Nebuchadnezzar answers Daniel and said, Daniel 2, 47, truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery. And so the question is, is why in the world? After God had shown the king what he did, and then the king even praises Yahweh, why would he turn around and totally miss the point of the dream and put the attention on himself? Because if you remember, the point of the dream, the attention on the dream in chapter 2 was on that rock that would come and crush the statue. Well, St. Clair Ferguson puts it like this. He says it was a superficial and temporary setback to his own desire at self-glorification that that dream was. That's all that happens at the end of chapter 2, and then his praise of Yahweh. That's all that was happening. There's no grand conversion of Nebuchadnezzar. It's just a temporary, superficial setback to his own desire to glorify himself. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar personifies the words of Friedrich Nietzsche who said, if there is a God, how can I bear not to be that God? He is full of himself. At the end of the day, he believes that he's supposed to be worshipped, or his way of worshipping is the right way. And of course, there's a glaring thing missing in his architectural feat here, and that is that he has the statue, but note he conveniently leaves out that stone. He neglects the point of the dream, so Nebuchadnezzar sets up this great monument to his own self, essentially, to his own ideas, his own power, his own plans and purposes, and he has a dedication service for it, we read in verse 2 and 3. And notice that you hear the repetitions in the chapter. It happens a number of times. The word image, I think, 11 times. And then some of these other phrases repeated a few times. You're supposed to pay attention to those repetitions. There's a repetition, a repetition of all the bureaucrats, of all the officials who were invited. There's a repetition of the musical instruments that were made. And there's a repetition of the phrase, which you have set up. And there's a repetition a number of times of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And so we see that in all of this that Nebuchadnezzar is proud of his work and he's going to have this grand unveiling and dedication service. All of the prestigious people, all of the important people of the kingdom have been commanded to attend. And they all assemble for the dedication of this massive monument. It's that list of officials and that repetitious, really, list of officials. And it creates what it's doing here, what's happening here, what Nebuchadnezzar's goal is, is he's creating a scenario where obedience is mandated. Fearful obedience is going to be normative. It is going to be what is expected in practice and disobedience would be absolutely and utterly unthinkable. Remember how rash he was with those who wouldn't tell him the dream. Remember how quick he was to fly into a rage over that. It's what the plan is here that the purpose is. It's follow all of these high and mighty officials. All the important people are doing it. And so why shouldn't everyone else? You know this tactic well, I think. You're going to start seeing a swath of celebrities very soon start telling you which candidate to vote for, which presidential candidate you need to avoid. Or remember the celebrity response that we had to the COVID vaccination? They even made those ridiculous songs where they were trying to get you to be in favor to promote that garbage. Not much has changed in Babylon, honestly. The interesting thing about what Nebuchadnezzar does is that in verse 4, to six, you actually see that there's an intentional, it seems like, at least on his part, maybe not on his part, but on the demonic motivation that he has behind it, to reverse Babel. To reverse what would happen with the Tower of Babel. Remember, he builds this 90-foot monument right where the Tower of Babel would have been in ancient times, and he says that this herald proclaims in verse for his peoples, and then notice he says nations and languages. And what he's doing is he's bringing together, as it were, an international representation of the entire world, and he's attempting to unify them together in an act of worship, but not of worship of the true God, worship of his own self, his own power, his ideas, his false worship. Now if you think about what Nebuchadnezzar does in these opening verses, You realize that if some ruler was able to pull that off today, if some ruler was able to set this up and get all the different nations and peoples and languages to come together, he would be recognized as a hero and a harbinger of peace. I mean, think of what this is, a multi-national, multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic gathering of people asked all to set aside their differences and to worship together. It's kind of nice, right? Kumbaya. Kumbaya, like under an Antichrist, though. But notice in verse 6, there's capital punishment for the dissenters. You'll be tossed into a fiery furnace if you don't come along and do what is said here. Pretty effective way to get things done, if you ask me. This, by the way, is pluralism in its finest. You can be whatever religion you want. It doesn't matter to me, but you're going to worship When I tell you to worship in a specific way, and you're going to worship right now, and you're going to subordinate to my plan, whatever it is, in this grand movement. But you can still be what you want to be, but you have to do this here and now. Just a little bit of incense at the altar of Caesar, and you can buy and sell on the marketplace, and live a happy and comfortable life. You can still worship your God, but just a little bit of incense. It's the mark of the beast in Revelation. It's the same thing. And by the way, If you're not willing to do that, if you're not willing to bow down and worship and you hear the music, well then we've got another reminder right over here as to why you should. It's called the fiery furnace and that's where you're going to go. And so you've got a choice. You can either worship at the statue and show that you're playing for the team of Babylon or that your allegiance is true or you can actually refuse and then you can go to the fiery furnace that's over here. So what's your choice? What's your choice in this situation? You've got kids. You've got grandkids. You're young and you have your whole life ahead of you. And you have stuff that you want to do, things that you believe God wants you to accomplish, things that you want to pass on to future generations. What's your choice? Will you worship? Verse 7, we see the common response here. Everyone complies. Everyone worships. It's just, I mean, in a way, it's a magnificent scene. And so much for the tower being crushed by a stone without hands. You can imagine, you know, world peace at last. But it's all smoke screen. It's all, this isn't God's will. This is Nebuchadnezzar imposing his will. There's no peace here because this is an affront. This is an attack against the one true and living God. All it is, is it's the mystery of lawlessness which is already at work. It's the spirit of Antichrist. That's what this was. Notice in the first seven verses, you have all the marks of a totalitarian state. And they're all neatly in place here for us to see and to observe. Notice you have the symbol of unity, which is Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue. And it's in fact a religious symbol of unity. It's like that beast that's a scribe that comes out of the sea in Revelation that speaks of the state's religious powers of persuasion. And then you have of course the megalomaniac tyrant ruler. The king who demands that all religions are going to be subordinated to his, and that's an act of unifying worship that's going to be rendered to his status. And throughout history, of course, tyrants and dictators have taken up that very same playbook a number of different times. I mean, China and North Korea are simply modern, glaring examples right now. You get that unifying symbol, you elevate someone or their ideas or even the person themselves into a status of godhead, a status of being worthy of worship, and then you watch for those who don't comply. And you take care of those who don't comply. And that brings us, though, here to the twist in our story. Not everyone fell in line. Not everyone complied. Verses 8-12 brings up those charges. This testimony, which is brought against certain Jews, and the charges actually come after the entire decree has been reiterated. And of course, you know exactly what these people are doing, why they're doing it, why they're bringing these Jews to light here. They go and they suck up to the king. And here are these kids who just got promoted over them. And they say, oh king, live forever. And then they give a reiteration of his very own words in his decree, appealing to his pride, which of course a man like Nebuchadnezzar, he could hardly resist that. That's exactly what plays up his alley. And they say, there are certain Jews who aren't doing this. There are certain Jews who aren't doing what you have decreed to be done. One big question that people have asked over the years And this text is, where is Daniel in all of this? It's weird, Daniel is not mentioned at all in chapter 3. It's interesting. It's actually maybe not that hard to figure out why if we look again at the end of chapter 2 where we get a hint of where Daniel may have been. Verse 49 at the end of chapter 2, Daniel makes a request of the king and he appoints Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael over the administration of the province of Babylon. But Daniel was to be in the king's court. And so one commentator explains it like this. He says, the setting is set for a convocation for the officials of the provinces. As stated twice, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are officials in one of these Babylonian provinces that we see at the end of chapter 2. And although Daniel is an administrator over a province of Babylon, he doesn't serve in the province. He's actually in the king's court. So it's very possible that maybe Daniel is just not here. Perhaps he's away out on business representing the king. One thing that we know for sure is that he must be somewhere outside of this mess. Because if he had been here, we can say with great confidence that Daniel would be standing with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So, notice the charge of verse 12. There are certain Jews whom you, O king, these are your boys, Nebuchadnezzar. You've appointed them over the affairs of Babylon, the province of Babylon. They name them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they say, these men, O king, they pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you set up. And so notice the way that they appeal to the tyrant. First of all, Nebuchadnezzar, there are certain Jews that you have appointed, and they're not doing what you ask. And the charge is, is look how ungrateful these people are. You've given these kids so much, but look how they treat you now. They're not doing what you ask. These are ungrateful servants of yours. You put them into this position of high status and authority, and they don't even have enough gratitude to offer the most basic expression back to you of loyalty. But then notice the second part. The second part is they actually pay no attention to you. They've disregarded and disrespected you, O King. And if there's one thing a man like Nebuchadnezzar cannot stand, it's being disrespected and ignored. He loves being the most powerful of all the powerful men that are on the earth. And he's being now disrespected and ignored as if his word doesn't matter. According to these Chaldeans, they're ungrateful, they're disrespectful, and then notice they have no fear of you. Now, they not only fail to worship your gods, but they fail to do what you've said. They're not bowing down to the statue. And so, Nebuchadnezzar, you've actually put people in a place of authority who don't appreciate what you've done for them. They've disrespected you, and even more than that, they're undermining you, they're undermining your gods. Now, what are you going to do about it, Nebuchadnezzar? What do you think motivated these men to do this? Why do you think they would go and do this, turn in these three young Jews who just some short time ago, possibly very short time ago, possibly maybe some years past time, the same group of people were instrumental in saving the lives of everybody in the court. And yet here they are now turning them in to Nebuchadnezzar, trying to have them undone. Do you think that they were just religious zealots who couldn't stand seeing their gods and their king mocked? I don't think so. No, no, no, no. Not that. It's actually something very base in our fallen natures, in our depravity. It's jealousy that has these people turning against these three young Jews. These three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had higher marks in school than these other guys. They ended up getting better jobs than these guys. And then to top it all off, they're foreigners. And that strikes at the heart of the Chaldeans. And so Nebuchadnezzar, if one thing, he's at least consistent in his behavior. That's like the nicest thing we could say about him, really. But verse 13, he flies into a furious rage. That's his consistent behavior. And he gives orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in to be brought before him. perhaps delusional, how could this be true? Because, of course, he was so nice to them. He's given them so much, he's promoted them, how could this be true? Bring them in here. And he's furious, he's absolutely furious, and they bring these three young men in. Perhaps he's in disbelief, perhaps he likes them maybe, and maybe he's just such an egomaniac that he doesn't just say, burn them alive. What he does is, he makes them an offer they can't refuse. These people are going to be an example one way or another. And so, he probably assumes they're going to do a certain thing. And of course, what they end up being is an example of faithfulness to Yahweh and an example of God's mercy. But that's not what Nebuchadnezzar is thinking. So, he gives them a simple loyalty test. Very simple loyalty test. It's not a theology quiz that he gives them. It's not an exam on religion that he gives them. They're not even asked, interestingly enough, to renounce the God who reveals mysteries. He doesn't ask them to renounce their God. It's just simply a loyalty test. All you have to do right now, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is we're going to play the music and you can bow down and you can worship and we'll just forget all this ever happened. You don't even have to be sincere. I just don't want you guys making me look bad. It's kind of how this comes across. Because when I say bow, Nebuchadnezzar is thinking, there's one thing that I expect people to do, and that is to bow. I expect that from all my subjects without question. When I say bow, you bow down. And the king makes an assertion at the end of verse 15, that's a reflection of his own evil, unbelieving heart. And he says, basically, if you don't bow down, I'm going to throw you into the fiery furnace. And what God will there be to help you in that case? Remember, the Babylonians from chapter 2, they believe that God doesn't dwell with the flesh. And so, what will these three young guys be able to do? What God can help them? He's taunting their God. Nebuchadnezzar really did believe that his own power was superior to any of the gods. And by the way, you have to keep this in mind that, again, this is the same man, the same tyrant who said in chapter 2 that their God is the God who reveals mysteries and does what others cannot. And yet, here he is now, saying what God will help you. He's happy about it. But he turns around now and he says, you know what? If you don't bow, I'm going to throw you into this fiery furnace and who's going to be able to protect you from me in this moment? So you can imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes, perhaps, to be in the shoes of these young men. There's the statue. There's the furnace. What will you do? You can feel the heat. radiating from the furnace and they could have done something like this. They could have said, O King, live forever like the Chaldeans did. Can you give us just a few minutes to talk about this? And then, you know, they could have huddled together, these three young guys, and they could have said something like this, like, hey, look, we're in a different culture now, okay? And, you know, we've got a chance, really, to do some good with the status that we have here. What's it gonna hurt if we just bow down now and show them that we're not on some other team that's different from them? Plus, I mean, we know God is gracious anyways, right? I mean, look how He's been so favorable to us. After all, God knows our hearts. People look on the outside, but God looks at the heart. And what if, you know, when we're bowing down to the statue, what if we really are just meaning, you know, our worship is to Yahweh, but they don't know that because they're just looking at the outside. So let's bow down, but in our hearts, we'll just acknowledge that we're worshiping Yahweh and no one will be the wiser. What would you have done? I mean, you know, I can think of a lot of ways that a person can die. And being tossed into a fiery furnace and consumed by fire is not one of the ways that I would choose to want to have my life ended, of the many ways that it could happen. And so, what we see going on is chapter one, God is preparing these three young men. Chapter two, God is preparing these three young men. And it's all for this moment here, is what it seems like. And there, What God did at the end of chapter 2 is remind them of his sovereign power. That he is the one that knows all things and can deliver people when they are in trouble. And so they join with Daniel in prayer and blessing of God who is absolutely sovereign over all things and has all power over absolutely everything, even unknown dreams. And so there they stand now here in chapter 3 at their fiercest trial and they're prepared. They're ready, they're prepared because of what God has done for them. They're prepared because of what God's word has said to them. And here was their answer with absolute resolve and boldness. We don't even need to give you an answer, O King. Dale Ralph Davis, in his commentary here, has a really good insight. He says, this is the great miracle of the story, actually. We tend to assume that it's the fire. They're thrown into the fire, and they're alive, and there's a fourth person in the fire with them. But Dale Ralph Davis points out, I think, wisely, that this is the big miracle of the story, that these three young men did not cave to the pressure, but they professed faith in God despite knowing the possible results. And I can't help but notice in verse 16, when they respond, it's not, O King, live forever. It's, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. There's no flattery going on. There's no putting themselves necessarily underneath him as if he's the greatest that there is. What they end up saying is absolutely and utterly amazing. It's encouraging. So on to verse 17. If this be so, our God whom we serve, Well, it's possible they're saying something actually more provocative than that here. The CSB, the Christian Standard Bible, captures this and it renders it like this. It says, if the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire and he can rescue us from the power of you, O King. Now, these three. They're not doubting for a single moment the existence of God. But what they're saying is, is that the God that we serve actually does exist. Because remember, Nebuchadnezzar has said, there's no God that can save you from this. Who's going to work God to save you? So they're saying, our God does in fact exist. And let me tell you what he's able to do. He's able to deliver us and he most certainly does exist. And He most certainly does have the ability to deliver us from your hand. You want to know what God can deliver us from your hand, Nebuchadnezzar? It's our God. It's our God. It's Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And that God can deliver us from your hand. And so notice the posture of faith that they have. He can do it. He's got the power to do it. They don't doubt that power one single moment that we know that God is going to deliver us and that's all there is to it. It's not that they have to have enough faith or something like that. What we actually see here is an undeterred commitment to not break the first and second commandment. To be faithful to God no matter what the consequences are. By the way, that phrase, but if not, it's not an expression of doubt. What it is, is really it's the ultimate expression of confidence and faith and trust in Yahweh. Understand that when they say, but if not, it's not about God not having the power. It is a declaration that God can do what God wants to do. And what God wants to do is always the right thing to do. And they're going to trust Him no matter what. You understand though, of course, how many people today, modernly, and even still are confused about this very perspective of faith. whole false movements of Christianity are based on confusion here. And so people go to these, quote, healing services, and a man who can supposedly have the power to heal heal others, he prays, and he does all kinds of crazy stuff with his own body. Maybe he blows on them, or he waves his arms at them, or some other crazy things. And this person who is in need of some sort of healing, some sort of deliverance, is told to just have faith. And if you have faith, you'll be healed. And what that is, sadly, it ends up being faith in their faith that's being emphasized. They're being swindled by a charlatan. But that's not what we have here. These guys, these three young men, they don't have faith in their faith. That's not what this is. These three take a stand and their confidence is quite simple. It's God is sovereign and he will be glorified whether in our deliverance or in our death. But we're not going to sin against him. We're going to observe the first commandment. We're going to observe the second commandment. And he actually, Yahweh, not you Nebuchadnezzar, He gets to make the choice whether we live or whether we die. And the reality is, is we'll be faithful no matter what that result is. That is confidence in God. Now, you see, I think, that there are often consequences to being faithful. to standing for the truth. There are consequences for being faithful. And Nebuchadnezzar actually doesn't say at this point, Oh, well, you know what? That's pretty reasonable. Yeah, I appreciate your guys' stance. Let me just back off now. That makes sense to me. That's not how this man acts at all. Of course not. And so what actually happens is he goes from being furious to being unrelentlessly furious, uncontrollably furious, so much so, notice verse 19, that he's filled with wrath so much that his image changes, his facial expression changes. He's looking at them and he just can't believe it. He can't believe it and he's so angry. And so now, not only do they get to go into this furnace, he's going to make this furnace as hot as it possibly can go. I don't think there's like a dial on the side where you turn it up seven more or something like that. It's just a metaphorically metaphor with saying make this furnace as hot as it can go. The furnace is going to rage just like the king himself is raging. And so our three young men are seized at this point and the immediacy of it all is is right in front of us right because they have all the story makes a point to emphasize they have all their clothes on still even even their hats, their shirts, their pants. They're bound up like that and it's so hot. This fire is so hot that when they're being brought over to the furnace, the people who bring them over to the furnace and are going to throw them down into it, they get consumed by the fire and they end up dying themselves. It's so hot, the people who bound them up, they die in carrying out the king's orders. That's a picture, I think, isn't it? A picture of what end ultimately awaits those who persecute and even put to death Yahweh's people. You can't escape that. They'll have worse to come upon them. And so imagine, if you ever put yourself in a situation like this, where life and death is on the line, what would you do? What would you do in that time? You ever ask yourself those kinds of questions? Probably guys do, certainly. Maybe girls too. Girls, you need to think about that. There have been many women in the history of the church who have been put to death for their faith in the Lord, for not turning away from obedience unto their God. But what would you do? Be faithful? face jail, be faithful, face death. You ever think about that? And by the way, we might not have to think about it so much here in our culture, but there are people who every day must think of those questions all across the world. Believers, our brothers and sisters throughout the world, probably every single day, have to deal with this. In places where it's illegal to be a Christian, they have to ask those kinds of questions, even today. And so here they are. They're tied up. and they're hustled off to this fiery furnace, and you can imagine what that must be like, or they're like those martyrs of old, or like Pauli Karp, or William Tyndale, and many others, as they're led to the axe, as they're led to the stake, as they're led to the Coliseum. Maybe God's praise is on their lips at this time. Maybe they're praying, you know, Lord God of truth, into your hands I commit my spirit, like Stephen. Maybe they're singing psalms and hymns. Maybe it's all happening so fast and they don't know what's going on. We don't know, but we see there's a twist. Again, those who obey Nebuchadnezzar, they're killed by the fire themselves. Those condemned to die actually are dropped down into the fire, but they live. So they're thrown into this fiery furnace, and the most amazing thing happens. The reason why so many people, even unbelievers are aware of this story. Somehow this fiery furnace had the ability to have them be dropped into the furnace. But then Nebuchadnezzar had the ability to look in on the side of the furnace. So perhaps there's like a way to go into the top and there's a door down at the bottom where he's able to look in. Not exactly sure. Maybe it's like some sort of pit. I don't know. But there's Nebuchadnezzar and he is no doubt Relishing in his own barbarism and cruelty and inhumanity and showing these young men who refused to bow to his idol Who's really boss and there he stands waiting to see their bodies just absolutely incinerated waiting to hear what must be shrill cries that would come from a person at that time and he looks and he stands up from his throne and hates and he turns around and he asks all of those brown noses around him and he says Didn't we throw three people into this furnace? And of course, all the men said, yes, O king, we threw only three men in there. And Nebuchadnezzar turns around and he says, well, hang on a second because I'm looking here now and there's four men in the furnace. I see a fourth man in the fire and he looks strange. He looks like a son of God, the son of the gods. In chapter two, Daniel and his friends clung to the promise of first Kings 8. And His people would bring compassion upon others. And God worked in that way. You remember, and here now, God comes through again. And this time they cling, I'm sure, to Isaiah 43, 2, where there we read, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned. And the flame shall not consume you. And quite literally, here in this instance, And so they knew that God's promises are greater than the things of this world. Even physical death isn't the end. And so they could be bold and they could stand for God without wavering. Then Nebuchadnezzar, well, he seems to speak better than he actually knows, doesn't he? This theology, of course, is mixed up because he's a polytheist. He believes in many gods and doesn't understand how things really work. The Babylonians worshipped many gods, and Neb was even praising Yahweh just some moments ago. We can't prove it from the text, but I'd be willing to bet that that fourth man in the fire was none other than the pre-incarnate Son of God, what we would call a Christophany. But here's what we do know, obviously, that three were tossed in, and four were walking around the fire, and one looks different. one of these beings looked like a son of God and again he must be speaking better than he knows because I think that's really what was right there, that is the son of God, the divine second person that was there in a pre-incarnate state with them. And so one point being at least, that there is a presence in the fire with them showing the king that God is in fact with his people. Again, so much for the Babylonian doctrine that God doesn't dwell with man on this earth. And further, God didn't just rescue his servants from the fire, but he sent a personal emissary to pass through the fire with them. He's pointing us forward to what he would do for us and sending Jesus to go through the wilderness for us, to be our great high priest to be the one who leads us to the promised land. When God comes to dwell with us physically as Emmanuel, when the Son of God passed then even through hellfire and took the wrath that we deserve upon the cross. He doesn't just simply rescue us, but he comes and he dwells with us and he delivers us by doing what we cannot. Now Nebuchadnezzar, he's a slow learner. He's impressed He's dumbfounded, and so he gets close to the door of the furnace as he can, and he shouts, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, come out. Come out, you servants of the Most High God. Come out and come here. It seems like his memory was jostled just a little bit, doesn't it? He's remembering now who these guys serve. It's interesting. No mention of the mysterious figure coming out. We just read that one little sentence, and that's it of it. you get that little glimpse. And now you've got to think about this. Here are these three guys, and imagine what they're thinking. I know I've asked you that a lot, trying to put yourself in their shoes, but this account is so interesting. Imagine what they're thinking, like, what must have been going through their minds when they were in the fire? Or maybe they're thinking, you know, maybe just praising God for the Son of God who's right here with us. And so the king yells, hey, can you come out? And I have no doubt they probably looked at each other and shrugged and said, yeah, we could come out. We could come out, and let's go out. And so I'm wondering what expressions were on their faces when this happened. They're climbing out of the furnace, and they're making their way to the door. And they kind of stop, and the flames are nicking at their heels. And maybe they look at each other and give each other a little grin. I mean, what must be going on in their mind? It's a glorious deliverance that they've just experienced. And sure, King Nebuchadnezzar is impressed. And he's impressed now for a second time. Remember, he was impressed when the dream was revealed and interpreted to him. But that reminds us then as well to not get too impressed by Nebuchadnezzar being impressed again. They get out and they go and stand in front of the king. And they're in perfect health. The king is stunned. All of the officials, they're perplexed. They're bewildered. They don't have an explanation for what's going on right now. These guys don't even smell like smoke. Their hair is not even singed. You know how easy it is to singe the hair on your arm just when you're cooking some food. And these guys have been thrown in a furnace that engulfed them, and their hair is not even singed. And they come out, and it's like, yeah, this is the kind of stuff that our God does. We told you He can do that, that He's greater than anything else. He can do all things. So Nebuchadnezzar does it again. Nebuchadnezzar recognizes their God. He's impressed with the miraculous. Once again, by the way, it's not all that impressive to be impressed with the miraculous. Any old person can be impressed by the miraculous. The crowds were constantly impressed with the miracles that Jesus did all the time. The nation of Israel saw many miracles being led out of the wilderness. And yet, so many of them did not have faith. And Nebuchadnezzar here is impressed once again. He marvels at their courage. He marvels at the faith of these young men, their dedication. You guys were willing to be destroyed, to have your bodies burned for your God. You were willing just so that you didn't have to worship my idol. And he's impressed. These three guys are different than the rest of the people in his cabinet. But the impression is only skin deep. The impression doesn't penetrate his heart. There are people all the time that see God do amazing things and there are people that see all the time that see God's people endure incredible crisis and they go, wow, I'm glad that your faith worked for you. But that's the extent. It doesn't move them to actually worship It doesn't move them to repent and to trust God because that is a work that only the Spirit of God can do inside a person. It's not you having to see a great enough miracle. It's the life-giving effort of the Spirit of God in regenerating you. And so Nebuchadnezzar, being the thoughtful, non-impulsive tyrant that he was, right? Yeah, right. He issues a new law right on the spot. This is like Gavin Newsom's dream, right? You can say something and then boom, it's law now. That's how Nebuchadnezzar had it. So, Daniel 3.29, Quite a way to go. But this is... This is not some like Christian nationalism or anything like that. This is a madman being mad. And he says these things because there's no other God that can do what Yahweh did. He sees that. But notice he doesn't say here, Hey Babylon, we've been fools. For all we know, this statue was still standing for a certain length of time after that. The right thing to do would be to tear that statue down. To say, we repent. We need to be clothed in sackcloth and ashes and turn to the living God. We need to crush that big gold statue that I just made, but there's none of that. It's just, hey, everybody needs to worship the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because look at this really impressive thing that just happened. And he actually just creates an anti-blasphemy law And again, I ask you to imagine this point from the point of view of those who were there just one last time. Could you imagine being one of the guys that turned them in at this point? There they are. There's these Jews who they were planning on having put to death. They're going to be roasted, but they're not roasting at all. And now they can't even say anything about their God. This was not one of their better days. And then they get salt rubbed in their wounds. You know, our God sits in the heavens and he laughs. Verse 30, Nebuchadnezzar says, promotions for you guys now. You guys refused me, your God delivered you, promotions now for you guys. This is just great. You're going to prosper in the kingdom just like Joseph, like Daniel. God's people prospering in a hostile environment, showing the reality that their God is with them. So what can we say about Daniel chapter 3? and the faith and the courage that these three have. Well, the first is this, that is that God prepares us for times of trial. The Lord God is preparing us always for times of trial. And when that time comes, he gives us the grace that we need. He gives it when we need it. Don't fret yourself too much over, you know, what would I have done or what could I have done? It's good to ask those questions. It's a good situation to wrestle with. But remember, like what Corey Ten Boom said, God pays your train ticket, but only right before you're about to get on board. God is preparing us. He's preparing us for trials and the promises to give us the grace that we need when we need it. And so do you understand that it is God's promises and His past faithfulness that will encourage you in your present crisis? And it will encourage you in your present obedience. That's where these three found their strength. That's where their motivation was. It was all in God's promises and His past faithfulness. They could actually say in the moment of their trial, we don't need to answer you, King. We don't even need to think about this. Why? Because we have the promises of God, and we know God's track record with us. We can look back over our short lives, and we can see that God has been faithful with us, and none of his good word has fallen to the ground, but it has all pertained to us. He has been faithful to us each and every day, and it was that past faithfulness that compelled their present obedience, just like it was in chapter two. This is why it's such a blessing for us to know God's words, friends. and why these stories are recorded here and they're preserved for us, not just simply to fill our heads with knowledge and to instruct us in sound doctrine, but that we have examples of God's faithfulness to his people, of his holy and righteous character, that we can know that our God does such great things, but even if he doesn't, we can still be faithful to him. His faithful to us precedes and empowers our faithfulness to him. And we'll probably not face something like what Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah faced. But we do face thousands of lesser idols and temptations every day, every week. So many that compromise and seek to steal our worship without even the threat of a fiery furnace, actually with just a little bit of pleasure as the motivation. for giving in, for bowing down. The motivation for lesser idols and the motivation for a little compromise and the motivation for a little worship that we must always contend with is the concept of offering us pleasure at the expense of obedience unto God. And it's surprisingly easy not to be ready to stand in the face of these trials. And we find ourselves bowing over and over again and compromising over and over again, succumbing over and over again. There must by grace be present in us, a committed, a commitment, a predetermined commitment. It says, Lord, no matter what trial, no matter how it turns out, I will be faithful by your grace. And I will not bow to these idols by your grace and then resting in Christ, who is perfect in your place. This passage also reminds us that there is a time to disobey governing authorities, a time to disobey rulers and kings and the state. The principle is simple. It's Acts 5.29. It's better to obey God than man. And these three men had something put right in front of them that if they complied, it would have been blatant disobedience to God. And so what did they do? They chose to defy the king in order to obey God. And there's coming a day, it seems like, when we'll have to make some of these kinds of choices ourselves. People in other nations make them all the time with their faith, but with hate speech laws and things like that crowding and surfacing all around us, it does seem like there is a time coming, a time coming where you'll have to say, will I obey the governing authorities or will I obey God? And it may be something as simple and as natural or normal as whether or not you'll spank your children or Will you speak out against abortion and homosexuality? It may be whether or not you're willing to go to church when the government says, no, you must stay home. But that day is not far off. And so you have to be determined up front. I will not bow. I'll stand for Christ. But you know, that said, the most important thing about this passage isn't the impressive determination and courage of the three friends. It's not the example that they give, which we should seek to follow it. The most important thing about this passage is that there is a God who delivers His people. In fact, the whole history of redemption that proves our God is a God who delivers and redeems, and God's greatest acts of deliverance, the ones which every act of deliverance in the Old Testament was foreshadowing and pointing to, that was on Calvary. And you actually have something far greater than Daniel and his three companions did, friends. I hope you know that. They knew of God's faithfulness, but they were still looking forward to the cross. But God's past faithfulness to us and the cross is actually all the motivation that we need to trust Him at every single turn in our lives. You can actually experience the greatest deliverance today. A deliverance from the slavery of sin, deliverance from the oppression of this nature that fell on Adam. You can experience that by putting your faith in Jesus Christ, which is God's gift unto you, and He compels you to do so, and you'll find that God is still a mighty deliverer. And no matter what trial you find yourself in, in this life, when you've been delivered from your sins, when you've been born again, and you exercise faith in Christ, when you deal with a trial that is before you and you realize every one of those trials is a small thing when you compare it to the eternal promises that you have in Christ Jesus your Lord. They're but light momentary afflictions at that point. And notice in this trial something that is common to our trials. It wasn't that Jesus prevented them from going through the trial, right? He didn't keep them out of the furnace. but he found them when they were in it. And we may not always be shielded from the evils and the trials of this world, but we can trust that the fourth man in the fire will be there with us through it, and he'll keep us through it. So friends, by grace, let's look to Christ. Let's look to Christ. Remember the win-win situation described by the Apostle Paul, to live is Christ, to die is gain. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we're so grateful for your miraculous strength and your incredible power. We know that you can do all your holy will and that you are the creator of all things, you sustain all things, that fire is though a destructive force from our point of view, it's just another thing that you created, another thing that you control, another thing that you tell what to do and what not to do. So we're amazed by how different you are than us. And humbled in that, remind us how much it is that we need you, Lord. We're so grateful that you are the God who delivers and there's none who can stay your hand or say to you what can make you repay them and give a gift. You are like no other. You are the one. True God, it is our great joy and pleasure to behold you, and we're grateful for the redemption that we have in Christ. What deliverance like these stories in Daniel 3 are even pointing forward to. Help us to remember the gospel, Lord, and to be fully satisfied in you always. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.