Faithful in the Fire

Introduction

We’re at a crossroads of sorts in our world. We see many needs and many organizations seeking to meet needs but they lack what they need, often times, in order to meet the needs in their community, country, or context. Interest is decreasing while needs are increasing in our community and around the world. In this day, we as Christians have a divinely given opportunity to shine brightly in a world walking in darkness. As we’ve been celebrating Missions this morning, I am thankful for the missional heart of this church. Whenever I met with the pastor search team in 2021, I asked a few questions regarding the view that the community has of FBC Salem and what FBC Salem does to reach the community. I received several promising answers, but you never really know the answer until you arrive on site because there’s always stuff that you can’t discover until you’re pastoring the church. Whenever Lindsey and I officially moved to Salem, it was quickly apparent that they weren’t pulling our leg - FBC Salem is a church that loves this community and desires to fulfill the Great Commission starting with our neighbors and extending to the nations. This made my heart glad! As we celebrate today what God is doing missions wise, we celebrate locally as we have the opportunity to share the Gospel with thousands this year through VBS, Camp Joy, Love Thy Neighbor, as well as partnering with other local ministries in our community. We have the opportunity to send missionary teams around the world to build homes, feed families, teach kids, encourage parents, train Bible teachers and most of all share the hope of Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world! The needs are many, but God’s provision is greater. As we think of our purpose as a body of believers to make a dent in Dent County for God’s glory, one life at a time, we know that our only hope in this process is Jesus. This is our mission field. This is our mission.

But this isn’t unique to us. This has been God’s call on His people for centuries. To go therefore and make disciples. To be faithful witnesses of His Kingdom. This is what Christians historically have done as they have gone to their neighbors and the nations with the Gospel, regardless of the cost. Years ago there was a missionary named JW Tucker who was called by God to go to the Congo in the 1960s, during the height of a civil war raging throughout the country. As he was administering aid, he was captured by rebel forces and killed. This wasn’t a surprise to this man. Before leaving for Congo, he had this conversation with a friend. His friend warned him, “If you go in, you won’t come out.” Tucker replied, “God didn’t tell me I had to come out. He only tole me I had to go in.” Christian, whenever you have died to self, you don’t fear death. You know that you aren’t promised a happily ever after, but you have been promised a happily forever after. God’s good, perfect, and pleasing will is infinitely better than the pain and suffering we endure in this life. As we pick up in Daniel 3, we see 3 men who know this to be true as well as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand on God’s Word before a furious king, a fiery furnace, and a frightening proposition of being tossed into the fire alive. What will they do? What will God do? Let’s see how the God of the Bible reveals Himself as the one true God in this showdown.

Daniel 3:16–30 CSB

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. 17 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, the king. 18 But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times more than was customary, 20 and he commanded some of the best soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 So these men, in their trousers, robes, head coverings, and other clothes, were tied up and thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. 22 Since the king’s command was so urgent and the furnace extremely hot, the raging flames killed those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?” “Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king. 25 He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and called, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God—come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. 27 When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.” 30 Then the king rewarded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

Aren’t you thankful that our God is faithful? He works all things for His glory and our good in Christ.

God is Faithful When His People Are in Exile (16-18)

We left off last week with these 3 verses that have become the anthem for God’s children ever since… Even If He Doesn’t - We Will Praise Him! Why do we pick up here in our text? Because we have to understand where these men are at. They are in exile. They are in Babylon. They are working for this king. They are outsiders here. Yet, despite all of this, they stand on God’s Word and trust in God’s perfect plan. Why would they do this? Whenever everything had changed in their life, whenever the task before them seemed impossible, whenever it at least appears as though their lives are on the line, what do they do? They fully trust in their God. Why? Because they knew that even in exile, God was still faithful. God hadn’t abandoned them. God hadn’t left them. God hadn’t been kicked off His throne. God was still good. God was still able. God heard their prayers. God was with them. God was and still is faithful even when His people are in exile. Even when we are in difficult circumstances and situations, God is still faithful. And God would have been faithful regardless of the outcome, their statement in verse 18 acknowledges this point. Even if God doesn’t save us, we will trust in Him. He is still good. He is faithful. He is in control.

How often in our lives do we find ourselves facing difficulty, and the idea of God’s faithfulness flys out the window? Instead of thinking that God is in control and working all things out for His glory and our good we instead go straight to the “Why?” question. Why me? Why them? That’s not fair! We’re tempted to forget, especially in our lowest of lows that God can be nothing other than faithful. He is the covenant keeping God. Even though you and I are in Babylon - this world that hates God. This place that is not our home. Even here, God is still sovereign. God is still faithful. God is still good. Christian, remember these truths when you face opposition!

God’s Fire Consumes God’s Adversaries (19-23)

Maybe we expect the Disney ending to this story picking up in verse 19. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand on God’s Word… the Disney ending would have King Nebuchadnezzar apologize for his command. He would back down. He would let these 3 go back to doing what they were doing. He’d give them a pass and it would be happily ever after. But Disney isn’t reality. These men knew that standing up would mean the king would strike them down. This is what the king does! The king is livid. We see in the text that his face changed towards these 3 men. Whenever you stand on God’s Word, Christian, you stand out from a godless world. When you stand out in Babylon, Babylon wants to get you to either fall back in line or to get you out of the picture. We see this in our world today and we see this in our text as the king orders the furnace to be 7x hotter than normal. Last week we talked about this particular furnace as it was likely used not for food but for the building of this statue. This furnace got hot! We’re talking temperatures up to nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit! Here the king says that it is to be pumped 7x hotter than customary. Does this mean that the furnace got as hot as 14,000 degrees? That would be impossible! For context, this would be as hot as the 2nd layer of the sun’s atmosphere. That’s incredibly hot. It can’t be 7x hotter than it’s maximum temperature. Maybe we wonder is 2,000 degrees the maximum and if we divide it by 7 then we reach the customary temperature of 286 degrees? 286 degrees won’t even bake chocolate chip cookies much less melt gold or bake bricks. What is all this about?

The number 7 here is used as it often is in Scripture to represent completeness. The King is ordering for the furnace to be as hot as it possibly can be - some have speculated that they achieved this intense heat by throwing tar into the furnace to make it even hotter. Look at what the king orders next in verse 20, he orders for his best soldiers in the whole Babylonian army to tie Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego up. Why all of this detail? The King is doing everything in his power to destroy these men and assert his dominance. He heated the furnace to its maximum temperature. He is using his most powerful soldiers. He is leaving nothing to change - he wants these men to suffer! After all, what “god” could rescue them from his power? What “god” could rescue them from his soldiers? What “god” could rescue them from his fire? One small miscalculation on Nebuchadnezzar’s part… This wasn’t his fire. It was God’s. Abraham Kuyper once shared, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

This is God’s fire. Not the king’s. This is why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could say that their God certainly could rescue them from the furnace. They knew the power of their God. They knew that God created all things. They knew that God uses fire for His purposes. God used fire to guide His people in the wilderness. We also see that God uses fire to bring about judgment on the wicked. We see in Scripture that fire can also be a refining process as Malachi 3 tells us that the fire is able to capture impurities that do not belong. We see Jesus talk about this as well in the Gospels as He uses fire to judge His enemies, but He uses fire to save and purify His people. Fire reveals the nature of a person, at least at times in the Bible. Fire either burns or it saves. We can think of miraculous stories where there’s a house fire that burns everything in the house down to the foundation but there will be a Bible left completely unharmed. It’s one thing to know this about fire in the Bible, it’s one thing to be confident when you’re comfortable or seemingly in control, but it’s another when the furnace is starting to make you sweat! It’s one thing to have faith when you can stand on your own, but what about when those soldiers grab your arms?

There is a temptation to think that we’re the first people to suffer in this specific way. We’re the first people to go through a fire. Look at 1 Peter 4:12-14

1 Peter 4:12–14 CSB

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

What do we see here? Don’t be surprised! Instead, rejoice because you are blessed! This world hated our Savior. This world has hated and persecuted Christians for 2,000 years! We shouldn’t act like this is anything new or something that we should expect to avoid. We will face fires. But remember, this wasn’t the King’s fire in the first place. This was God’s fire. This fire consumed these soldiers. God’s fire is that of judgment upon His enemies, but it is refinement and rescue upon His saints. Following Jesus might mean that you get delivered from temporary suffering, but following Jesus might just mean that it gets you tossed straight into the flames. Into this fire go Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What happens next?

God Fellowships With His Followers in Suffering (24-27)

God has delivered His people many times to this point in Scripture. Think of Noah. Noah wasn’t a perfect person by any stretch, but he believed in God and we see in Genesis 7-8 that God rescues Noah from the flood by placing Him in the Ark. God delivers Moses in Egypt as he is placed in the Nile River in an “Ark” yet, God saves him. God saves the Israelites by parting the Red Sea. If you go back to Deuteronomy 4:20

Deuteronomy 4:20 CSB

20 But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.

God has already brought His people out of an iron furnace before. He has delivered His people before. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn’t know that God would deliver them but they at the very least knew that God could deliver them. And either way, they would be with Him. This was enough for them. They trust in God and we see in verse 24 that the king is immediately surprised by what he sees in the furnace. This is likely an hourglass structure with an opening or window at the bottom that the king looks inside and he is confused from the get go. If you wear glasses the king is asking each of you to take them off, clean them, put them back on and double check that they’re seeing straight here because this doesn’t make sense. He’s the king. He’s smart. He’s been throwing his absolute best at these 3 Hebrews this whole time. His hottest furnace, his best soldiers, his best threat, yet he looks inside and sees not 3 men but 4 in the flames. Not only this, they aren’t tied up anymore. They are walking around. The fire isn’t hurting them.

We have to ask a few questions here:

Who is this 4th person?

What is He doing in the fire?

How are they alive?

Who is this 4th person? The king notes in verse 25 that this fourth person looks like a son of the gods. Some translations say that he is the “Son of God” capitalized and singular. Here’s the problem with that interpretation - who is making this statement? Nebuchadnezzar. A pagan, polytheistic, king who believes in a pantheon of gods, not just one. He isn’t suddenly a converted Christian who believes that there is just 1 God. He is giving his best educated guess that this is a son of the gods and in verse 28 we see that his guess changes as he says that their God sent an angel to rescue them. So, who is this 4th in the fire? We aren’t told explicitly and where the Bible is silent, we can speculate but we can’t know for certain. Some argue that this is an angel, and others argue that this is THE Angel of the Lord, or a Christophany - a before Bethlehem appearance of Jesus Christ. So, who is this? Scholars are nearly completely divided. Some argue that this is an angel sent by God to protect them, but others argue that this is none other than Jesus. Regardless of WHO this is, we know WHO sent him there - God. What is this 4th person doing? Simply what God told him to do. Nebuchadnezzar had said this back in Daniel 3:15

Daniel 3:15 CSB

15 Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”

What is happening here? God is answering the king’s question. There is but 1 God, I am Him, I am more powerful than you. Watch me save my people from this situation. God is revealing Himself to this king and his entire kingdom! How are they alive? Because God has all power. God not only protects them from the heat, but also from the smoke. How many of you like bonfires? What happens after you sit around a bonfire for a while, though? You smell. That s’more is good, but the smell lingers. Look at what verse 27 tells us about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… The fire had no effect on them. No hair or robe were touched. Not even a smell that they were near a fire. Y’all this is a miracle! God fellowships with His people in sufferings. This is an obvious example in Daniel 3 as we see that God didn’t remove the fire, God simply remained with them in it. This is such a powerful reminder to each of us today! This is God proving His power and achieving His victory over Nebuchadnezzar and the gods of Babylon. Maybe in our suffering, we feel alone and abandoned, but we know from Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus knows what it is like to suffer - He is with us in our sufferings. We have this promise from Isaiah 43:1-3

Isaiah 43:1–3 CSB

1 Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and the rivers will not overwhelm you, When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched and the flame will not burn you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place.

We might be thinking that this story is an old one and that we’re so far removed that it’s not really relevant today. Oh friend, don’t be doing that. We see throughout Scripture that God is with His people and that God delivers. In fact, if you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, you have a greater story of deliverance than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Think of the furnaces that Jesus has saved you from!

Note the 2 fiery furnaces that Jesus delivers His people from today

Fire of Exile in Our Sinful World

This world is not our home. Philippians 3:20 tells us that our citizenship is in heaven. This means that we’re just passing through this world. We are exiles here. This means that this world, in more ways than one, is Babylon. We live in a world that exalts sin and worships idols left and right. We’re not in Jerusalem. We’re in Babylon. Yet, because of Jesus coming to the earth to live a sinless life and die on the cross for sinners like you and me, we have hope. Jesus was thrown into the furnace of suffering on Calvary so that you and I wouldn’t be tossed in like we deserved to be.

Fire of Eternal Suffering

Not only was Jesus thrown into the furnace of suffering on Calvary, we know that Jesus defeats those flames. Jesus rose 3 days later victoriously! Because Jesus conquered the fire of death, as Christians we know that our eternal destination is secure. Jesus Christ might not deliver us from the fire of temporary suffering, but He has already rescued us from the fire of eternal suffering. God doesn’t promise to remove us from every fire in this life, He calls on us to remain faithful to Him in the fire while He continues His work of sanctification inside of us so that one day, we walk out the other side as though we had never even entered the flames. You might not be saved from the pain of sin today, but today because of Jesus, you are saved from the stain of sin. This is our hope and it’s all because of the finished work of Jesus!

You and I have hope today because the worst furnace imaginable has been rendered powerless for all of God’s children because our Savior defeated it once and for all. God promises not to get rid of our suffering, but He does promise to be with us in our suffering! If you have been delivered from the fires of hell and if death can’t separate you from Jesus as Romans 8 reminds us, then rejoice in knowing that a furnace can’t separate you either. Suffering can’t separate you. Sickness can’t separate you. There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! He is your living hope. He is faithful. Is this your story? If so, then know deep down that it’s really about God. Just as God saved these men, it is God who saves us. It is He who holds us fast. It is He who has a plan for each of us. It is He that we share with a lost and dying world. It is, finally

God Receives The Glory in Times of Suffering (28-30)

While these men were thrown into the furnace, we see that the result is that God is praised. Sometimes we wonder why on earth would God allow something bad to happen. We talked about God’s providence last week. Why am I sick? Why did this happen? Why is God doing this or that? God is always doing millions of things in our lives and we might be aware of 3 of them… but whenever we look backward, we can usually see a better picture of what God was doing. I can look back at my life and when I was born with cleft-pallet and malnourished as a newborn I can see what God was doing - I can look back and see how my parents struggled for years to have a biological child and waited for years to adopt a child. I can see all that suffering had a purpose - it’s God’s story which means that it’s God’s glory. Suffering is real, but God works in those moments for His glory and our ultimate good in Christ. Even when things don’t seemingly go the way that we expect, we know that He is good and He is at work. We live in such a way to give Him glory, even in our weaknesses and sufferings. This is Paul’s prayer in the midst of his suffering

2 Corinthians 12:9 CSB

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

Whenever we suffer and God miraculously provides, we can do a couple of things: We can faithfully worship Him or we can go through the motions.

Look at what the king does. He praises their God. He issues a decree similar to the one from chapter 2 and notes that there will be a consequence for anyone who says anything offensive about their God. His rationale is that no other God can save like this. This sounds nice! This might sound like faithful worship! Let’s think through what happens whenever we’re saved. What always follows salvation? Fruit. Luke 6 tells us that we can judge a tree by its fruit. Nebuchadnezzar made a nice decree to save face. But he didn’t stop worshiping his false gods. He just added their God to his already long list of gods. This is the wrong response and sadly this is a common response in our world and even in our lives. As we think of missions, we have the best news of all to share with our world! Jesus Christ Saves Sinners! Our God wins! He provides hope! He gives us life! Think about how your story glorifies God. You were once dead in sins but now you’re alive. You were once blind but now you see. You were once facing mercy but now you’re a recipient of amazing grace. Don’t buy into the lie that says that suffering is pointless or purposeless. That’s nonsense according to the Bible! Whatever God ordains is right. God is working all things for His glory and our good, and God uses suffering - He doesn’t waste it. As we think of walking through fires in this life, we have to remember to see things the way that God does. So many have a “god” who thinks, talks, and acts just like them. That’s a false god and that god is far too small. Look through Daniel to this point. God handed Jerusalem over to Babylon. He handed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel to the king. His hand also protected them through the furnace. If you believe that this is the same God that you serve, what is there that can separate you from His love? The question that we must ask is simply this: How am I to glorify God in this situation? There is always an answer to that question. How can I glorify God in my suffering? By keeping my eyes on Him. By bearing witness to others about the hope that Jesus gives me each day. By having a joy that doesn’t come from circumstances but from the Holy Spirit that lives in me. By diving into God’s Word daily. By praising Him with my church family. By singing God’s praises. God receives the glory. The hottest furnace is too cold, the longest chasm is too small, the highest canyon is too short. Our God rules and reigns on His throne as the Sovereign Lord of Hosts and He commands us to proclaim His greatness to the nations just as these boys did before a tyrant. This is why we go. This is what we do. We stand on the Word and we let the Word do the work.

Application:

Trust that God Holds His People Fast

Your salvation is not dependent upon your hold of Jesus. Just as we see in our text, these men weren’t delivered because of their perfection… God held them and He delivered them. As Martin Luther once shared, “I look at my sin and wonder how on earth I could be saved… Then I look to Calvary and wonder how on earth I could be lost!” Calvary is the measure of God’s love for us. Despite lifelong heartache and storms of suffering that seem to rock our world, the cross is our eternal warrant for confidence in our faithful God who always comes through! He holds us fast. We trust not in ourselves but in His character and faithfulness.

Remember that God Delivers His People

Because our God holds us fast when it comes to salvation, we can trust in Him that He delivers His people from the day to day things that we face. He might not deliver us in the way that we expect or want, but He only does what is best for us! As we reflect on Scripture, we see that God is the deliverer of His people both in this life and in death. We know that that eternal deliverance is our ultimate hope and the best message that we have to share with those around us.

Stand Strong and Suffer Well: Jesus is With You

While we wait on this eternal deliverance, we know that in this life we aren’t promised that God will remove every fire we face. As Jesus promised, we shouldn’t be surprised whenever we suffer in this life! We must be a people who stand strong on the Word and suffer well while we do our Father’s work. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. FBC Salem, let’s be a church on mission because, in Babylon, many people don’t know this God who is faithful in the fire. We have the best news of all to share - it is finished! Let’s fulfill our mission!