Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro- Last week we talked about Daniel revealing and interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

We talked about the statue and the kingdoms that were represented.

The king was impressed by Daniel and Daniel’s God but he wasn’t converted and he wasn’t ready to give up idolatry.

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The Setting

The Setting of Chapter 3:

This was somewhere between 10-15 years after chapter 2.

Where is Daniel?

V.49 of chapter 1 tells us that he remained in the kings court.

This event took place in the plains of dura, in the province of Babylon.

Which is where the king made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego rulers.

The Historian William H. Shea comments that a revolt against the King took place a short time before the statue was built.

In the king’s mind, this statue was likely a unifying act as well as a reminder of the greatness of their empire (remember the golden head?)

The statue was 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide.

Archaeologist have suggested that this (show slide) is the remains of the base of the statue that the king had built.

The Threat

Too often we think of accounts such as these in a more mild light than they deserve.

It is like since we teach this account to children we tone it down in our mind.

Let’s not do that today.

The king commanded that all people would commit idolatry or be burned alive!

This was not unusual.

King Nebuchadnezzar was known even before the exile of killing people by burning them alive.

(These two who were roasted were likely Jews, more on that later)

The furnace was likely shaped like a beehive with an opening at the top where bodies were dumped.

This style of furnace, would reach temperatures in excess of 1,500 degrees.

The Rebels

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It seems as though in the sea of people the king didn’t notice that the three rebels didn’t bow.

So the Chaldeans maliciously accused them.

These Chaldeans were likely upset by being passed over for a promotion by these Jews.

The king was willing to give them a second chance.

It may have been that he had grown to like them and did not want to kill them, or it may have simply been him trying to not have chaos after killing 3 rulers of a province.

Notice Nebuchadnezzar’s mockery in V.16- “Who is the god who will deliver you?”

You may remember he was impressed by the God of Daniel in the last chapter, but not convinced.

In his mind there was a vast difference between knowing a dream and rescuing from fire.

The Deliverance

They did not Know that God would save them.

In fact, they may have had reason to believe that He would not.

Remember the two men who the king roasted?

He did not save them.

God did not save John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, Stephen, or Jesus.

God allows things to work according to His will and His glory.

The key for every child of God is to have the faith that these men had, that Job had.

Fortunately for these rebels, God had a purpose for them, and His purpose was to prove that no kingdom was greater than His.

V.19 the king ordered the furnace to be heated 7 times hotter.

Most agree that it would have been impossible in a furnace like this to heat it even twice the normal 1,500 degrees.

This was this king’s way of saying “as hot as possible”

They are tossed into the furnace and the strong men that bound them died from the heat.

- These men were military men of valor, they weren’t just weaklings.

There is a lot of speculation as to who it was that was walking around in the fire with them.

Was it an angel?

Was it the pre-incarnate Jesus?

The king referred to him as one like the son of the gods.

We must keep in mind Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t really know God, and has never seen Jesus, this is just His perspective.

One note on the matter:

In this prophecy dealing with God being a savior and delivering his people to something new (could be a reference to the new kingdom following the exile) Speaks about walking through fire and not getting burned because God is with them

Refers to Jesus as “God with us”- It is entirely possible that Jesus was their savior physically as well as He is ours spiritually.

V. 27 describes God’s complete dominance over the fire, not even their clothes smelled like smoke.

This chapter ends with The king again praising God.

He still is not what we would call converted, but he seems to be getting closer.

The Application

God did not deliver them from the fire, He delivered them inthe fire.

God did not stop Abraham from killing Isaac before he climbed the mountain.

Faith in God requires our obedience without the assurance that things will physically turn out for our good.