Daniel: Living a Life of Integrity Week 3

This week we are continuing our series in the book of Daniel. So far we have covered the first 2 chapters

Week 1: Personal History of Daniel (chap. 1)

Week 2: The dream of Nebuchadnezzar (chap. 2)

As I mentioned in week 1, the book of Daniel is divided up into 2 main sections. The historical and the prophetic. The historical chapters detail the story of Daniel and his friends. The prophetic talks about the future of Israel. For the most part, the first 6 chapters are historical, while chapters 7-12 are prophetic. You could argue that chapter 2 is the odd-man-out…which is what we covered last week. As we move on to chapter 3 this week, you will notice that we step away from the prophetic ideas of chapter 2.

I do want to address my sermon last week, as I attempted to present the King’s dream and how that relates to biblical prophecy. I am pretty transparent about the fact that biblical prophecy is not one of my strengths. Because of that, I can struggle with presenting the information confidently and in a way that is easy to understand. I am working on that. Biblical prophecy is an area that is very difficult to preach in a consistent manner, as so much of it is conjecture or opinion. All that said, I want you all to know, as we approach the more prophetic chapter of Daniel, I am seeking to both, understand it better and present it better. I ask for you patience as I learn how to present the information in a balanced manner.

PRAY

The book of Daniel is well known for 3 stories: King Nebu. dream, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den. Two of these stories take place in the first 3 chapters of the book. Our chapter today…chapter 3 covers the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you grew up in church or have been in or around church for any length of time, then you are probably familiar with this story. Regardless, we are going to go through this story today and try to pick out some things that can be meaningful to our walk with Christ. On your handouts I have included an outline of chapter 3, which is how we will cover our passages today.

Daniel 3 Outline:

III. The image of Nebuchadnezzar (chap. 3)

A. The building of the image (3:1–7)

B. The accusation against the Jews (3:8–12)

C. The faith of the accused (3:13–18)

D. The deliverance by God (3:19–30)

Before we start I want to take a teaching moment. There are some stories in the O.T. that are subject to an immense amount of allegory.

Allegory:

a story, play, poem, picture, or other work in which the characters and events represent particular qualities or ideas that relate to morals, religion, or politics.

I’ll give you an example from our story today:

In our story today, the young men were bound with ropes before they were thrown into the fiery furnace…however, they were not harmed while in the fire. The ropes that bound Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were burned off by the fiery trial surrounding them. That is why Peter would tell us to rejoice in fiery trials (1 Peter 4:12, 13). They burn off the cords that would otherwise paralyze us.

That sounds good, right. That can be exciting to hear....The problem with using allegory is that is often inconsistent with overall biblical principles and the original story. For example: In the account in Daniel 3, Nebu. tied up the 3 young men so they wouldn’t struggle. It would be easier to put them in the furnace that way. I then used 1 Peter, which talks about fiery trials.

1 Peter 4:12–13 “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.”

In this section of Scripture, the author is talking about making sure we are being persecuted for Christ and not for sinful things. He says:

1 Peter 4:15 “Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler.”

Neither our story in Daniel or the passage in 1 Peter have anything to do with being bound by chords that paralyze us. Usually, he type of cords that paralyze us are things that are self-inflicted, things such as pride, anger, those sorts of things. If anything, it was Nebu. that was bound with cords that paralyzes them. This has nothing to do with suffering for righteousness sake. So, what happend is that I took a story about standing up against the enemy and suffering for the sake of righteousness and made it about something unrelated and (quite frankly not true). Again, while it may sound good, it has nothing to do with our story today, or with the passage in 1st Peter for that matter.

I share that with you because I want you all to be discerning learners. While there is nothing wrong with using allegory every once and a while, some people rely on allegory to make scripture relevant. There is plenty for us to learn from our story without having to allegorize it.

A. The building of the image (3:1–7)

We begin our story somewhere between 10 to 20 years after the events in Daniel chapter 2. If you recall from last week,, after Daniel interpreted the King’s dream, Nebu. heaped praises on both Daniel and the God of Israel. He gave Daniel and his friends positions of authority within the kingdom of Babylon. However, it is clear that Nebu still did not view Israel’s God as all powerful. If you think about it, it makes sense. A number of years prior, Nebu. had totally defeated Israel in battle. Not only that, he looted the temple and took the items as sacrifices to his own gods. Nebu then naturally though that the God of Israel, while good at revealing mysteries was not able to inflict wrath and judgment. We will talk more about this in just a bit. Let’s begin with:

Daniel 3:1–3 “King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue, ninety feet high and nine feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue the king had set up. Then they stood before the statue Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

We are not given the reason why Nebuchadnezzar decided to assemble this gold statue. There are 2 main ideas as to the reason he decided to build such a massive statue.

Reason for building the statue:

After Jewish uprising.

After fully conquering Jerusalem and destroying the temple.

Either one of these are possible, but regardless of the event, the purpose of the statue was the same…to “unite” the kingdom under one main religious and political figure. We must remember that the Babylonians were polytheists…they believed in multiple gods. For the most part, King Nebuchadnezzar did not care if the Israelites worshiped their own God, as long as they worshiped the Babylonian god’s as well. I say for the most part because we will see the Kings advisors get Nebu. to go against this in chapter 6. But, we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

Nebuchadnezzar build a statue 90 Feet High and 9 feet wide. It is believed that the actual statue was around 50 or so feet, and that the 90 feet included a rather large base that the statue sat on. Also of note, notice that the statue is made of Gold…again, I couldn’t find anyone to confirm that it was solid gold, rather a wood frame with Gold plating....either way, it was impressive. I do not believe it is a coincidence that in the King’s dream Daniel told him that he was the head of Gold. We aren’t sure if this is why Nebuchadnezzar constructed the statue of Gold, but it is highly possible.

Last thing on this, it is often taught that Nebuchadnezzar’s statue was made in his own image…but the story never suggests that. Rather, most believe the statue was formed into the image of the kings patrol God, Nebu, or the main god of the Babylonian people…marduk.

Nabu: God of literacy and scribes

Marduk: chief god of the city of Babylon

After the statue was built the king called all of the government officials together:

Daniel 3:4–6 “A herald loudly proclaimed, “People of every nation and language, you are commanded: When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, you are to fall facedown and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.””

What we have here, in essence, is a pagan altar call. The horn blows, the music plays and everyone must prostrate themselves and worship the gold statue. Earlier on I mentioned the reason that the king built the statue was to “unify” his political and religious power within Babylon. This is where I get that from. It was common in that culture for people to bow down or even lay down when a king or a high-ranking government official walks by. This was known as a sign of respect. Even today, over in Europe, when you are in the presence of the queen, you are to bow your head or curtsy, depending on your gender.

Bowing down does not indicate worship, only respect…but Nebuchadnezzar took it one step further. He not only required people to “bow down” but to “worship” the image as well. Of course, this went directly against the Jewish belief that there is only one God…Yahweh, and you are to worship no other God.

Ten Commandments: Exodus 20.

B. The accusation against the Jews (3:8–12)

Imagine in your mind the senerio that day. The king had summoned all of the government officials from the region, not only that, there were, no doubt, a large crowd that had gathered around this statue that day. We are talking thousands of people more than likely. This was not just a small group of people. We are not sure where Daniel was, perhaps he was away to another part of the kingdom when this happened. It is also very likely that the Kings closest advisors knew exactly what would happen when the king made this decree. I say this because over in Daniel 6, we see these same officials try to set up Daniel. We have to remember that Daniel and his friends were exiles from Jerusalem. They did not belong in Babylon…they were outsiders…Israel had been conquered and its people forced to serve Nebuchadnezzar. Except for Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendego. They had been given positions of authority. Not only that, but they were very effective at their jobs. This would have caused much jealousy.

All that to say, once the king made the decree, sure enough, our 3 friends did not bow down or worship the idol…and sure as a tick sucks blood, these jealous advisors were there to tattle on the 3 men.

Daniel 3:12 “There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.””

No doubt, this was the opportunity these men were looking for. In there minds, there is no possible way that these 3 men could get out of this without ignoring their principles....which they would not do. If this story were a weekday soap opera, this is where it would be continued until next week…at the cliffhanger.

In scripture, Satan is often portrayed as an accuser. We see this in the book of Job, where Satan stands before God, accusing Job of being unfaithful. Whether used by Satan or just because of their own jealousy and pride, other people can also fill the role of an accuser. Earlier on I quoted from 1st Peter…the verse where we are encouraged to withstand fiery trials…very often, these trials come in the form of false accusation. We see this happen multiple time in scripture…to almost every prominent figure. Not the least of which was Jesus....who went to the cross because of false accusations.

David was another man in scripture who faced many accusers. In the book of Psalms he wrote

Psalm 109:1–5 “God of my praise, do not be silent. For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues. They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I continue to pray. They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”

Some might argue , those who were accusing Shadrach, Meeschach, and Abednego were correct in their accusation....so how can we claim their accusers were wrong…they were not being accused of something false. That is true, but it is the motive of those who stand as their accuser that makes them wrong. These advisors were not going to the king because they were so offended at the disobedience, they were bringing these accusations out of jealousy, envy, and pride. They wanted to see these young men suffer. It is the worse kind of motive we can have…that of malice.

Malice: Desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another; having ill will against someone.

So, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the idol, and as a result were brought before the king:

C. The faith of the accused (3:13–18)

Rather than order their deaths right away, because the king had some affection for the 3 men, he perhaps wanted to give them another chance to change their minds. Except he probably knew that wasn’t going to happen. He warned the men that they would either bow down and worship the idol or they would face execution by fire.

Daniel 3:15 “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?””

Not only was Nebuchadnezzar threatening the men, but he was also directly challenging the God of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar was so arrogant and full of rage that he considered himself all powerful…that nothing, whether God or man could stand against his orders and decrees. Nothing would dare challenge his word.

Similar to Daniel, we see such poise and determination from Shad., Mesch., and Abednego. Let’s take a look at how they replied to the king:

Daniel 3:16–18 (CSB)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. 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. 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.”

Think about all of the idolatry we see throughout the Old Testament. After God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery the people were constantly engaging in one form of idolatry or another…so much so, that God allows a king like Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Israel in battle and take the people captive. Yet, the Lord would always keep around a few faithful image bearers…people that would refuse to compromise and fall into the trap of idolatry.

The 3 young men reply to the King that they would prefer the fiery furnace over dishonoring God.

Better a thousand times over to die with His favour than live without it. Better a fiery furnace for the body than the fire of hell and a guilty conscience for the soul. REV. THOMAS ROBINSON

I believe it is difficult for us to really understand the type of faith that Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were displaying. Even if we do not say it out loud, our faith in God is usually tied to our circumstances and mood. It is difficult for us to live with the type of faith that says…even if I do not receive what I think is best or what I believe God wants, or what I believe God’s will is, I will not falter.

It would be really easy in that situation to compromise…well, maybe I’ll bow down, but I won’t worship in my heart…or, perhaps, the greater good would be to bow down so I can retain my position…in order to tell people about God…after all, if I’m dead, I can’t tell people about God.

Regardless of the consequences, the 3 men were not going to obey the King’s order. This takes us into our final section of the story.

D. The deliverance by God (3:19–30)

This section is kind of lengthy, so I will not be reading it straight through, but we will cover all of it. Before we look at this last section, I want to give you one more example of what I talked about earlier…how this story is really easy to allegorize. The following statements come from 2 of the most well-respected and well known scholars

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Chapter 3)

So, Dan. 3 is a prophetic forecast of Israel during the tribulation period, after the church has been raptured. Nebuchadnezzar represents the Antichrist; his image represents the image of Antichrist that he will erect; and the three Hebrews represent the believing Jews, the 144,000 who will be protected during the Tribulation. It is likely that these Jews will read Daniel 3 and understand it and know that their God will go into the furnace of tribulation with them and bring them out again for His glory.

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 2 (Psalms–Malachi) (Daniel 3:26, 27)

The number of the image of the beast is 666. Nebuchadnezzar’s image was sixty cubits high, six feet wide, and there were six kinds of instruments played. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar’s image is a foreshadowing of the beast of the Tribulation period.

It is really easy to take a story or fact or figure from the O.T. and apply it to something that may seem related, but there is no real evidence. Again, be discerning learners.

So, back to our story, the 3 men tell the king that they will not bow down and worship the statue. As a result, the King becomes enraged…which seems to be a pretty common theme with Nebuchadnezzar. The King orders Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego to be tossed into the fiery furnace. The king order the furnace to be stoked to “7 times hotter” than normal.

Daniel 3:19 “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,”

We’ve probably all been around someone when they got super angry. Verse 19 says that the kings “expression on his face” changed toward the 3 men. At this point, the only thing hotter than the furnace was the King’s anger.

“Anger Face”

Another way to say this is that the kings countenance changed toward the 3 Hebrew men. This is not just about a facial expression, but it is the way that the King viewed them, in general. Of course, the refusal to follow the king’s instructions were bad enough, but the calm demenour in which the men disobeyed just added coals to the fire…so to speak. Sometimes a gentile answer does not turn away wrath…sometimes a gentile answer only angers an unreasonable person all the more. You know this if you’ve ever gotten into an argument with someone, where you are all angry and up in arms, but the other person is calm. This was the picture of my marriage for many years.

The King then ordered his best soldiers to tie up the 3 men and put them into the furnace. The Bible records that the fire was so hot, the soldiers that brought the 3 men to the furnace were consumed by the fire...

Daniel 3:20 “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.”

Daniel 3:22–23 “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. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.”

Just for information sake, the furnaces back then would typically have two openings, one big opening at the top, where material was put into the furnace and a smaller opening toward the bottom, where the ashes could be scooped out.

Furnace Picture

Into the fire goes Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. Realistically speaking, because of the heat, the 3 men should have been dead before they even entered the furnace. Yet, as the king looked on, he was astonished to see that the men were not screaming out in pain, they were not being consumed by the flames…rather, they were in the furnace roasting smores.

Not really!

The text says that once the king saw the men in the furnace, walking around, without being harmed, the king remarked that he sees a fourth person inside the furnace.

Daniel 3:24–25 “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. 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.””

Can you imagine what the king was thinking? The king was witnessing one of the most spectacular miracles in all of scripture…so much so that it is even mentioned in the book of Hebrews chapter 11. The king says that the fourth person in the furnace looks like

“A son of the gods:” ether Jesus or an angel.

There has been much discussion as to who this 4th person was. The literal translation means

“messenger of the gods.”

Many people contend that this was the pre-incarnate Jesus…meaning Jesus before he was born as a baby on this earth. Others say that is was an angel. Either way, God had sent a heavenly host to bear witness to the mighty miracle.

Immediately Nebuchadnezzar calls the young men to come out of the furnace. Everyone there was amazed that the young men were completely unharmed by the flames....even making the comment that their clothes didn’t smell of smoke. If you’ve ever stood besides a camp fire, then you know how quickly the smoke can make your clothes stink. Sometimes it takes more than one wash to get the smell out.

As is expected, the tyrant King stands amazed

Daniel 3:28 “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.”

At least Nebuchadnezzar had the presence of mind to recognize that something extraordinary just happened. If you recall from last week, after Daniel successfully interpreted the kings dream, he paid homage to the God of Israel as well. This time though, the king uses a bit stronger language…recognising that the God of Israel is not just a revealer of mysteries, but also has the power to protect those who serve him.

It is believed that this event was spoken about by the prophet Isaiah

Isaiah 43:2 “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.”

Our chapter then finishes up with the king issuing a new decree. I’ll read it as it is recorded.

Daniel 3:29–30 “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.” Then the king rewarded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.”

While it is good and noble that Nebuchadnezzar recognized the God of Israel, in typical fashion, he then threatens to kill and torture anyone who speaks against the Lord. I could not find one single resource that pointed out that this decree was not a good thing…the kings habit of using violence as a means to an end …when not directly commanded by God, is never the answer to winning hearts and minds. The king then rewards the 3 Hebrew men and life continues in the kingdom of Babylon.

Conclusion:

There are just so many lessons that we can learn from Daniel Chapter 3. We could talk about how God is always with us, through even the most difficult trial, we could talk about the faith of these young men and how we are called to live by that same level of faith today. This story can be a wonderful faith builder…even today. We could talk about God’s provision in the midst of persecution. All of these are valid ways to apply our story. That said,

I want to take the last 5 minutes and compare and contrast the way that the 3 Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego viewed God verses the way that King Nebuchadnezzar viewed God…and why the way we view God still matters so much today.

In the first 3 chapters of Daniel we see a major difference between King Nebuchadnezzar and the 4 Hebrew exiles…Daniel, and his friends. Even when the King has his moments where he is impressed by the God of Israel, he still is only able to view God as but one of many gods. Not only that, but his violent and sadistic personality often determines his reaction to being impressed. Because of this, Nebuchadnezzar is very fickle and fails to ascribe ultimate authority to the God of Israel.

Compared with this, Daniel and his friends view God, Yahweh, as the one and only true God and that all others are false gods. Because of this, they do not waiver in their convictions. They are willing to suffer and even die for the one true God. The 4 Hebrew men did not view God as just one of many options....something to hang on to when times got rough…no, there was simply no other option. Only God is worthy of worship and adoration…no other god, or thing, or man can take that place. Additionally, the 4 men walked in complete (what I call) strong humility. Strong humility to having strength of character and convictions, yet walking those out in humility, even when the enemy attacks. Again, compare that to Nebuchadnezzar being filled with rage...

How we view God and the priority with which we place him in our lives will affect how we live out our faith and how we treat others. When the cares of this world, or trials or temptations come our way…or even when we are drawn away from the Lord because of our own lusts…when that happens, if God does not retain the number 1 position in our life, we will ultimately bow down to things that aren’t God.

Let me end by reading a portion of scripture from 1 Tim.

1 Timothy 6:12–16 (CSB)Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Be encouraged this morning and know that we still serve the same God as Shad., Mesch. and Abednego. Be both encouraged and reminded that we must have a healthy view of God, as He has been revealed through Christ in the pages of scripture.

PRAY