A Resilient Remant (Daniel 3, Part 2): Even If

Intro

Daniel 3:13–15 NASB 2020

Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar began speaking and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods, nor worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can rescue you from my hands?”

Big Question: Do we love God to the extent that we will stand with Him even if He does not show off for us?

Big Idea: Revival often begins with a few believers who love God with a singular focus, devote themselves to God regardless of the opinions of others, and who trust God with the outcome of their lives no matter what happens.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were a group of young men who modeled for us what an "even if" faith looks like. They were resolved to follow God no matter what happened to them. They exemplify well the sort of believers whom the Apostle John described in Revelation 12:10-11, "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death."

Many love to serve God, so long as God is serving them in a way that meets their expectations of Him. They give the tithe so long as He blesses. They come to church so long as everything in their lives goes okay. For many of these same people, as soon as things go south they quickly abandon serving God. Instead of remaining faithful, they become faithless.

They are Job's wife. "Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips" (Job 2:9‭-‬10).

True faith however, believes God even when it doesn't make sense. Abraham never saw his promise fully realized. At times he struggled and even tried to bring about the promised son in his own strength, but he believed God. Jeremiah never had a single convert that we are aware of. He was heavily persecuted, almost killed, and was eventually forced to go to places he did not want to go. He wrote a book of lamentations out of his woes, but he believed God. Paul asked the Lord to heal him. The Lord said no, but he believed God. Jesus asked if His suffering could pass from Him and it did not, but He believed God. It is likely that each one of the martyrs in Heaven had a moment similar to one of these, in which they asked the Lord to deliver their mortal bodies but the Lord said no. They still believed God and so they stand next to Him today, asking for justice which the Father has promised to supply soon.

Here we find Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego is a moment like the many we have just mentioned. They are facing certain death because of their faith in God but they refuse to bow down. They consider a life lived without Christ to be a life that is not worth living anyway. So they boldly declare to the king that they have all faith that God can deliver them. They go on to say that even if He does not, they will not bow down to the king's idol.

Even if... what a powerful statement. What is the thing which you have desired? What have you asked God for time and again? What if He never gives you the answer that you desire? Will you still serve Him? Have you held His unwillingness to answer your request according to the way you desire it over His divine head, refusing to believe Him that His way is better?

There is much that we don't understand about divine wisdom, but if we have come to know the character of God then we know that He withholds nothing from His children which is good and necessary for them.

A resilient remnant, is an "even if" remnant. This is a people who are so committed to God, who are so entrenched into believing God, that we trust that whatever God does is the best thing for us and for our world even when such a thing does not match up with our expectations. An "even if" people bows to God's will rather than expecting God to bow to ours as if we were entitled children.

Had these men burned up in the flame, it would not have lessened their faith nor their place with the Father. However, we know that the Lord performed for them a miraculous deliverance.

Truth

Four observations about the furnace…

I. The men were resolved.

Daniel 3:16–18 NASB 2020

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we are not in need of an answer to give you concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods nor worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

They knew God and they knew who they were in relation to God.

The answer to the identity problem is God. We were made for Him and we are designed to have our ultimate meaning and identity wrapped up in Him.

The reason so many are restless wanderers is because they don’t know God.

Remember Aragorn from LOTR? He was a strider, a wanderer because he has lost his identity as king.

Knowing who you are in God gives you the resolve to tackle anything that may come your way.

These young men had made up their minds to serve God long before they faced the decision to bow down to the king’s idol that day.

Joshua charged the people in this way, "“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”" -Joshua 24:14‭-‬15

It has always been true that to serve THE God was to serve Him alone. Worshiping another god was equivalent to abandoning the God of Israel. It was to divorce themselves from Him. These men would have chosen death over such an outcome.

Their resolve to serve God did not immediately become a reward.

The still had to go through the trauma of being bound and thrown into fire.

I’m sure this was not a comfortable experience for them.

Daniel 3:19–23 NASB 2020

Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in order to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps, and their other clothes, and were thrown into the middle of the furnace of blazing fire. For this reason, because the king’s command was harsh and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell into the middle of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.

How many times in Scripture do the saints go through an experience like this one?

Abraham and Issac… Elijah on Mt. Carmel… Noah waiting for the flood… The disciples being sprung from jail the night before their execution... It is a common these in Scripture for the Lord to show up at just the right moment.

The Lord knows that it is good for us to have our resolve tested. As James says, the testing of our faith produces endurance.

How much stronger do you think the faith of these men was after they faced the fire and were delivered?

How is your resolve lately?

Some of us start throwing a fit the moment something doesn’t go our way.

If you are in a moment like that, it could be that God waiting for you to believe Him in the midst of your difficulty before He will bring deliverance.

The fire is an opportunity to be refined, to develop our faith. The Father will not allow us to go through a difficult experience if He does not intend to ultimately use it for our good and for His glory in us.

II. Jesus showed up.

Daniel 3:24–27 NASB 2020

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up quickly; he said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the middle of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Absolutely, O king.” He responded, “Look! I see four men untied and walking about in the middle of the fire unharmed, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came out of the middle of the fire. The satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men, nor was the hair of their heads singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had even the smell of fire touched them.

While in the heat of the flames, these men literally met the God whom they loved so dearly.

You have the Holy Spirit in you. When was the last time that you met with Jesus?

I am convinced that having resolve to face the flames begins with resolve to pray in my room.

III. Jesus delivered the men of faith.

The men who delivered them up died, but the Lord made a distinction between the men of Nebuchadnezzar and His men.

Only the men who had faith in God were delivered.

Those who were in close proximity to the deliverance miracle but who lacked faith were not delivered.

This is a good reminder to us, that proximity to faith is not enough to save a person. We must ourselves have the gift of faith.

I am concerned that there are many today, even among those who claim to have faith in Christ, who are in proximity to faith but lack a true faith in themselves.

If that’s you, feeling like you are in proximity to faith but without truly possessing a saving faith in Christ, I would encourage you to seek the Lord now. Ask Him for that sort of faith which can save a person from an unquenchable fire in Christ.

IV. God was glorified.

Daniel 3:28–30 NASB 2020

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and surrendered their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or population of any language that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses made a rubbish heap, because there is no other god who is able to save in this way.” Then the king made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego prosperous in the province of Babylon.

The king meant to burn up the Lord's servants in the flame. Instead he lit a flame in many for God as his flames were rendered useless by the power of Christ.

As a result of God’s displaying His power in these men, the entire empire was forced to respect the true God.

Because these men were willing to burn for God, the whole world heard of God’s glory.

It is said that the Magi who sought the Christ hundreds of years after this were descendants of the disciples of these man and Daniel.

We are never living closer to our true purpose than we are when we are living for God’s glory.

Romans 11:36 NASB 2020

For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

The world calls us to live for all sorts of things which is why we are miserable.

We were made for His glory alone. To try and satiate that desire within us with anything else but God’s glory is like eating cat food and pretending like it is a perfectly cooked ribeye.

Gospel Application

Perhaps you are thinking that there is no way you could ever have the resolve that these men in our story today had. That would actually be quite true, if it were not for Christ.

In Christ, all things are possible. By the cross and empty tomb we are set free from sin and death in order to live unto Christ. In fact, with Christ, you can become an even if sort of believer.

Even if Christians love God with a singular focus, devote themselves to God regardless of the opinions of others, and trust God with the outcome of their lives no matter what happens.

They are caught up in God.

Colossians 3:1–4 NASB 2020

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

We are dead men and women living.

Consider this truth, our moral bodies along with our sin nature are not worth ultimately preserving.

To be sure, the day is coming within which Christ will raise us from the dead and glorify these bodies, but it is that day we live for and not this one.

Our aim is to leverage each moment we have in this life towards our future with Christ in His glory. His glory is our reason for being here and if we spend our moments on anything less, we are wasting them.

Christ gave us the ultimate example of the sort of logic Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego lived with.

Christ stood before the enraged flames of the cross, the sin and death of the world with all of its hellfire, and said "even if." He knew that even through His suffering, even through His pain, the Father was working a glory beyond compare in Him.

Philippians 2:9 NASB 2020

For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

Would you and I pass through the fire of men if it means that we be set ablaze with the Father's glory?

God never promises that our mortal bodies will be preserved. Sometimes that happens, but often people who stand firm for God die. Ask men such as William Tyndale, Jan Hus, and George Wishart amongst many other men and women who have refused to compromise on their love of God in the face of death.

If we are living for Christ, then what we treasure most is ours whether we live on this side of eternity or the next. The Christian can never truly lose.

Philippians 1:21 NASB 2020

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

These men faced a decision point, much like those which have been faced by many believers throughout history. Their mind was already made up so they needed no trial before the king.

The real question here, is your mind made up? Do you love God to the extent that you would rather die with Him than live a life without Him?

In Christ, and in Christ alone, we have the power to become this sort of people who are so singularly in love with God that His presence makes all of the pleasures of this world seem like nothing in comparison.

Challenge

Our challenge for today is to pursue Christ no matter what, even if He does not do for us as we expect Him to.

Revival is often proceeded by a church getting right before Him. Our religious affections must be in order if we are to be prepared to witness about Christ to a fallen world.

We must learn that it isn’t about what we can see, but what God sees. A resilient remnant is ready to die because we trust that God has us in His hands, that our future is tied up in Him, and that if that since He never fails neither can we so long as we are in Him.

If you are holding something over God’s head, saying you won’t follow Him until he appeases you, it’s time to repent of that sin and let it go.

If you lack the sort of faith we have described today, God can give it to you. Faith is a spiritual gift. We want to lay hands of you and pray.

If you have a habit of walking with God, how might you increase it?

Standing for God when we face fire begins with standing with God in prayer when I am in my room.

Weightlifters are never content with their goal. They recognize that we stagnate if we don’t keep pushing for the next level. This can be true of our spiritual practice too.