Untouchable Protection (Dan. 3)

Have you ever been around someone who REALLY wanted to make THEIR thing YOUR thing?

I remember when I was in first grade and I had this other first-grader friend who REALLY loved Michael Jackson and Ani DiFranco...

And here I am… this little sheltered first grader who listened to like 4-Him and Michael Card...

And so I go over to his house one day and he’s playing me cassette after cassette of Michael Jackson and Ani...

And I didn’t really know what to do… this was a lot for me to take in… and I remember not really liking it… but of course, to his face, I was like, “Oh yeah, that’s awesome!”

But have you ever been around someone who REALLY wanted to make THEIR thing YOUR thing?

Maybe someone thinks that your relationship with THEM should take up a lot more of your focus even when the Bible would say other relationships are at least equal or more important.

Maybe it’s a belief that they hold that doesn’t line up with what God has revealed in the scriptures…

Or a lifestyle that they’ve chosen that they pressure you to approve…

Maybe it is a cause that they fight for… and they devote ALL of their time and energy and resources into promoting that cause… and they wonder why you don’t care about it as much as they do...

It could even be a GOOD thing… but when good things become GOD things… they become idol things.

When someone is demanding that you take your focus and dependence and allegiance off of God and his eternal kingdom... and that you devote yourself to something or someone else...

Then we have a problem… we call that idolatry.

We are in the middle of a study in the Book of Daniel called “Indestructible Kingdom,” and through this series our goal is to live with an undivided allegiance to the indestructible kingdom of God.

To develop a devotion… a resolve… that we will remain faithful to God and his ways no matter how much pressure there is around us to bow to the gods of this world.

Our God has left us as strangers and exiles in a world that is hostile to his ways… and yet he is coming to set up a kingdom that will never end.

But in the meantime, the god of this world… Satan… will try to lure you away from God’s kingdom...

He will try to get your allegiance off of God and onto something else… ANYTHING else...

Politics, money, power, stuff, family...

He will use other people to influence your focus and dependance and allegiance away of God and toward anything else…

And so here’s the big idea for today:

Big Idea: When others want you to bow to their idols, refuse by trusting God's untouchable protection of the righteous.

Your Bibles are open to Daniel chapter 3… just to remind you of where we are right now...

God’s chosen nation of Israel had rebelled against him...

And so God delivered on the consequences of his promise: a foreign nation would come and take them out of the Promised land…

So the nation that God used to do that was Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar…

Now in order to gain control over the nation’s he conquered, Nebuchadnezzar took to brainwashing the youth of their nobles and rulers...

Wooing them to give their allegiance to Babylon and Babylon’s king.

We’ve been following four of them... Their names were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (or we know those last three better by their Babylonian names… Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego…).

In chapter 1, we saw these four youths… during the time of their “education” in Babylon… refusing to eat the King’s food, which was probably used in Idol worship...

And they stood unshakeable in their conviction, and God protected them.

In chapter 2, we saw these four youths demonstrate the unparalleled wisdom of God by crying out to God TOGETHER in fervent prayer…

And God revealed the interpretation of a dream he had sent to King Nebuchadnezzar...

A vision of an image that represented the greatest empires of human history that were still yet to come… Babylon was the first kingdom, but it would be followed by Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome… and then a kingdom that is still in our future that is a blend of Roman government and some other form…

And that vision demonstrated that those empires that made up this idol would one day be destroyed by God and that he would set up his indestructible kingdom in their place.

Now despite Daniel telling Nebuchadnezzar the bad news of this vision, Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel the ruler of the province of Babylon ad chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon… because none of THEM could tell him the vision nor its interpretation

And he made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego high-ranking officials too.

And that’s where we pick up the story in chapter 3… probably a few years after their schooling was over…

they are probably around college age right now (although they could have been as old as 40 because we don’t know the exact time this occurred… all we know is when Nebuchadnezzar died...

But they are probably in their early 20s…

Daniel is likely in Babylon going about his business in his high-ranking job, the other three are scattered around the province doing their jobs in a VERY godless world...

And then this happens: Read Daniel 3:1-7

What do you do when others want you to bow to their idols? You need to refuse by trusting God’s untouchable protection of the righteous.

Four Times you Need to Trust God’s Protection:

(and not just need to… you CAN… and you must… trust God’s protection at these times…

The more we sink into a post-Christian society like we talked about the first week of this series, the more we are going to face similar pressures that these three men faced while in exile.

One of my primary jobs as your pastor is to EQUIP our church to remain faithful when those pressures come.

Just like we see in this chapter, the demands to bow to the world’s idols will start with relational pressure… but someday they will increase dramatically even to the point of risking life… as they already are all over the world.

And the first time we can trust God’s protection is...

1. When the pressure to bow comes from every side. (v. 1-7)

Explain: So Nebuchadnezzar makes this image of gold… it’s about 90ft tall and 9 feet wide and deep…

That’s a pretty big statue…

Kids… that’s like having 15 Pastor Ben’s stacked on top of each other…

That’s taller than the steeple outside...

Nebuchadnezzar is trying to impress some people...

We don’t know what it looked like...

One thing it was PROBABLY not was a big chocolate bunny as portrayed in Veggie Tales (I’m sorry to burst your bubble)...

But it could have been a statue of one of the main Babylonian gods whose name was Bel...

It could have been the image that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in the dream...

Maybe he thought that he could still control the outcome of the dream if he wasn’t just the head of gold… but if he maintained control of the whole statue… maybe then the statue would not be burst into pieces.

That’s possible… not certain…

The image could have been a statue of Nebuchadnezzar himself… a symbol of his authority… often the rulers of empires were deified as a representative of the gods...

It’s interesting that Daniel doesn’t tell us WHAT the image was… just that it was an image that they were to bow to...

The emphasis is instead on the fact that Nebuchadnezzar COMMANDED EVERYONE to bow to this image.

It was a symbol of allegiance… we will see in v. 12… to HIS RULE as king… to the gods of Babylon...

It was an act of allegiance that was expected from EVERYONE… especially the rulers of the land.

And so Nebuchadnezzar gathers all of these officials in his kingdom…

There really isn’t a lot that we know about their different positions… they are probably listed from most powerful to least powerful positions…

But the point is that there were a LOT of them… and this bowing was COMMANDED of ALL of them.... oh yeah, and if you don’t… you will IMMEDIATELY be thrown into the furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar is going to make SURE he doesn’t have any rogue leaders in his kingdom… nobody stepping out of line here.

Remember… the whole reason he had brainwashed the teenagers in chapter 1 was so that he could subdue the lands that he had conquered by gaining the allegiance of their young leaders.

If I brainwash them, they will lead their people to submission in my kingdom.

This is probably the test that his brainwashing worked.

So he commands that any time they hear any music from a variety of different instruments… they should bow and pay homage to this golden image.

I don’t need to go into what all the instruments were… the point is that it was a large variety of instruments… and ANY time they heard the music of EVERY type of instrument, they should bow down.

Hear the music - drop and worship - or get burned in the furnace.

And guess what... people do it!

Not a huge surprise… The potential consequences are high… but also, to people who worshiped a lot of gods, bowing to one more idol wasn’t a big deal.

In fact, it may have even seemed like a cool and unique spiritual experience to them.

Remember… it’s not just Israel that Nebuchadnezzar had conquered. We see in his decree that he is commanding peoples… nations… languages… to fall down... just going right along with his demands.

In verse 7 we see ALL the peoples nations and languages falling down and worshiping at the feet of this image.

That’s important. Remember that for later.

But for now: what do you do when it seems like EVERYONE is of the same opinion… bowing to the same idols of the culture?

What do you do when the pressure to bow to others’ idols comes from every side?

Let’s just acknowledge for a moment that this is a really hard position to be in.

Kids… students… when your group of friends wants to believe something or say something or do something that will not honor God… and it seems like you are the ONLY one who isn’t going along with their fun… how hard is that?

Or maybe someone listening finds themselves in a family that is putting tremendous pressure on them to behave a certain way that will make them compromise on their convictions or their allegiance to the Lord and his way...

Maybe its in your workplace or with your neighbors.. and the gods of the world are being set up in conversation or in policies… and they are looking at you to see if you will bow down… and they all agree with one another... the pressure to conform is strong…

Maybe its society at large… you feel the pressure to conform to what the news outlets or your social media feed or your political party is telling you you should think, be or do...

Over time that ca wear you down. You start out feeling pretty strong… but when everyone is bowing around you, you start to feel out of place.

Apply: Have you ever felt the pressure of everyone bowing to the idols of our culture around you while you stand alone? How did you respond?

It is in that place that we need to trust the untouchable protection of God.

We need to trust that our God has left us as a people in a land we don’t really belong… we ARE out of place in this world because we are exiles who belong to another kingdom that is indestructible.

Many people think that in order to reach others who don’t know Jesus, we need to show them how much LIKE them we are.

We need to have “the image” that the world is looking for.. we need to get the celebrity status and the looks and the sound and the influence....

We need to “catch-up to the times” on certain issues that the world says are essential.

We need to “build a bridge” so that the world can relate to us a little better.

But listen Church… that won’t win anyone. The world doesn’t need more people bowing to their gods. They need to bow to the one True God.

The only bridge that we need to a lost and dying world is the one that has already been built… the gospel of Jesus proclaims that we too were once dead in our sins, but JESUS saved us because of his great mercy… and HE is Savior and Lord over all!

The way that the world… the way our friends and families and neighbors and coworkers... will know that OUR God is great... is when they look around and see that we aren’t bowing to their gods…

When everyone is bowing to the idols of our day, and we are standing… that says something about our God.

We aren’t standing self-righteously… we are simply standing in allegiance to the unrivaled King of the indestructible kingdom.

I love this: what we see next is that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t go marching up to the king to make a big stink so they could preserve their religious rights…

They didn’t have any...

They just didn’t obey the kings command.

They were simply the ones standing when everyone else was bowing.

And this gets the attention of some certain Chaldeans…

Look at verse 8 [read v. 8-22]

Four times you need to trust God’s protection: when the pressure to bow comes from every side.... now this:

2. When the fury against you gets hotter. (v. 8-22)

Explain: So we have these Chaldeans… you remember these guys… they were some of the so-called “wise men” who couldn’t tell the king his dream in chapter 2 and almost got everyone killed…

And apparently they have some beef with the Jews… specifically that’s referring to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego...

We don’t know where Daniel is… he obviously would not have bowed, but he is nowhere to be found.

The best explanation I found was that chapter 2 said that he stayed in the city of Babylon while the other three were sent somewhere else… and the scene for this is on a plain somewhere away from the city.

We also don’t really know why these Chaldeans are mad at the Jews…

Maybe they are still bent out of shape that a Jew could tell the vision and they couldn’t...

Maybe they were mad because they used to have prominence in the kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar’s dad… but now they don’t… and now these Jews have these high positions...

We don’t know what their beef is… but they definitely have one.

And so in their hatred, they remind the king of his stated consequence… and they show that these Jews have disregarded both Nebuchadnezzar and the gods of Babylon.

They are furious about something… and they are just stoking the fires of Nebuchadnezzar's fury...

And in v. 13, we see that it is working… he is in a FURIOUS RAGE.

I’m sure you’ve seen someone in a furious rage before: There’s not going to be much reasoning with him...

But for being in a furious rage, it’s surprising what he does next… he’s ready to give them one more chance.

Again, we don’t know why because the consequence was supposed to be immediate in verse 6… but he’s ready to give them a second chance...

But these guys respectfully reply, “We understood what the consequences were when we decided not to bow the first time. If you throw us into the furnace, God is able to deliver us. But if not, we won’t serve your gods or worship your golden image.”

I love that… unshakeable conviction like we saw in chapter 1.

Conviction is formed at the crossroads of competing fears.

And these guys feared God... more than they feared the king… more than they feared death itself.

They know God is worthy… and they know God is able.

Now it’s worth noting that they they say, “God is ABLE to deliver us.... he will deliver us… but IF NOT...”

That’s important… because God does NOT always do what he’s about to do next.

In fact, in the New Testament what he promised to Christians more often is that they WOULD lose their lives for the sake of the gospel.

In the 1550s, Queen Mary of England burned more than 200 protestant reformers for essentially not bowing at the feet of the Catholic pope…

And God used their deaths to spark a great revival in his church.

All around the world, righteous people die at the hands of sinful governmental rulers and God doesn’t always preserve their lives… at least on earth...

In fact, according to Open Doors USA, eight Christians around the world are martyred for their faith every day.

(Source: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/every-day-8-christians-killed-for-their-decision-to-follow-jesus/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Open+Doors+USA&fbclid=IwAR0GZrLVsWyXGPqfWc1nLuWWal8vJzt2FdK-F1Am8NLRemFcKLoVDtcH4b4)

God is able… but for his own purposes and glory he does not always save his people out of the fires.

But now his ability is going to be put to the test.

In verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar was already in a furious rage… and now in verse 19, he is FILLED with fury… the expression of his face is changed...

I wonder what that looked like? Were his eyes popping out of his head? Was his face purple?

Kids, show me on your face what “furious rage” looks like?

Yeah… that’s King Nebuchadnezzar...

And so he has the furnace heated 7x hotter…

This is probably a kiln used for making lime bricks...

And so if you throw someone in a kiln where you would heat bricks, I’m pretty sure just the normal heat from a brick making fire is hot enough to do the trick…

Like heating it 7x hotter is just excessive… it’s a show of his fury… “How DARE you defy me! And when I’ve given you another chance!!! You are going to PAY now!”

And not only that… he has them thrown in with all their clothes on… I guess that’s just kindling at this point… he just wants to see them burn… don’t waste any time getting them in the fire.

The kings’ fury is HOT… so hot that he doesn’t care about the collateral damage… his own guards are dying for what these three guys have done.

What do we do when the world’s fury gets hotter the longer we don’t bow to their idols?

What do we do when their response to our stand with Jesus seems irrational?

What do we do when the consequences for not bowing to their idols move from a little relational discomfort to them dragging their names through the mud...

What do we do when it’s no longer just relational… when it gets physical?

When our not bowing to the idols of this world hits us in our pocketbooks and affects our ability to put food on the table?

When our not bowing to idols could even mean death like it does in some other countries?

Do we give in and bow? Do we stomp our feet and whine about our comfort and our rights?

Or do we say, like these three guys, ““If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us… and he will deliver us… But if not, be it known to you… that we will not serve your gods or worship your idols.”

I love that… it’s not fighting… it’s not giving in… it’s trusting God.

Apply: When others get angry at you for not bowing to their idols, what is your strongest temptation? To fight in the flesh? Or to give in?

I know my tendency. I hate when people are angry… so when someone gets angry at me, I tend to get angry back.

And then, because that doesn’t always work, and I really hate people being angry with me, I give in.

What is your strongest temptation? To fight in the flesh? Or to give in?

I want to encourage you: do neither. Simply refuse by trusting God's untouchable protection of the righteous.

Leave the results in his hand.

Even when their rage against you is so hot that death could be a very real consequence.

Look at v. 24 [Read v. 24-27]

Four Times you Need to Trust God’s Protection:

1. …when the pressure to bow comes from every side. (v. 1-7)

2. ...when the fury against you gets hotter. (v. 8-23)

Here’s the next one:

3. When death is the consequence for not bowing. (v. 23-27)

Explain: I don’t know about you, but I read this passaage and I’m like, wait a minute! If God is so in charge, why do they even go in the fire in the first place?!?!

Like, why can’t they do some kung-fu backflip, throw the guards in the furnace instead, and get away?!!?!

But listen… God takes them ALL THE WAY to the place where death is inevitable.

and it is there that he meets them.

Nebuchadnezzar must have some sort of view of this furnace from a safe distance… his fury is so hot that the only thing that will satisfy it is making someone pay for their sin against him.

But when he looks in the furnace, he sees not just three, but four.

And he’s doing the math on his fingers… and he notices that the fourth one is not like the other 3… he is like a son of the gods.

Now the phrase “Son of God” or “son of the gods” is important because it is used three different ways in the Bible...

First, it’s used of the King who sits on David’s throne… any of them in his line that was faithful to God.

Second, it is used of angels and demons… messengers who do God’s bidding as they sit around his throne in the Divine Counsel.

specifically of the Angel of the Lord… who is identified in some places as God himself.... we say it is an appearance of the second person of the Trinity before he became man.

And then finally, the term Son of God is applied to Jesus himself AFTER the second person of the Trinity became fully God and fully man…

In this way, he takes on the identity of the other two… He is the King who sits on David’s throne in the flesh who appeared at times as the Angel of the Lord, God himself, throughout the Old Testament.

Now, the man who Nebuchadnezzar saw COULD have been a simple angel of the Lord (if you can call them simple)… and that would have been awesome enough…

But I believe that this was the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God, entering into the place of death.

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” (Psalm 34:7, ESV)

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2, ESV)

I believe God is making good on his promises to personally protect his people through death.

And we see the Son of God do this again 600 years later...

As the Spirit of God overshadowed a virgin named Mary who was in the line of David… and she conceived in her womb one who would be called “The Son of the Most High God” and she named him Jesus.

And Jesus would endure every temptation to bow to the idols of this world.

When Satan tempted him he said, “Worship me and I will give you everything...” he refused to worship any other god but the true God.

When countless religious groups grew furious with him for not sharing their priorities, he did not give in… he did not fight back… he trusted his Father...

When the evil Roman government complied and nailed him to a cross, he did not bow to the power of Pilate or anyone else...

And HE DIED. He went to the place of physical death… becuse he knew that’s what our sins deserved.

While Nebuchadnezzar had no right to be filled with wrath against these guys for not bowing to his image, God has every right to be filled with wrath humanity does not bow before him, our Creator!

And Jesus went to the place of death and took the wrath of God upon himself so that we might pass through death and into life.

And on the third day he conquered death so that our life could be found in him… if we would TURN from our sin… turn from the idol worshiping ways of the world and trust Jesus alone for our salvation.

The one who did that for you and for me… is the same one who is in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

And he deserves your faith… and he deserves that your knee would bow to him alone… he deserves your undivided allegiance because he went to the place of death for you to bring you out on the other side.

Do you understand that the Savior of the World is calling upon you today to trust him???

Do you understand the same God who was with these guys in the fire endured the payment of Hell for you and WON!?!?!

When death cannot touch you, what else is there left to be afraid of???

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

That’s the attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… they know the ability of God to protect them, even through death… and he does it!

That is the hope of the resurrection… and this one in the fire is the one who one day, every single person will have to bow before as the Lord over all.

The final verses of chapter 3 foreshadow that day: [read v. 28-30)

Four Times you Need to Trust God’s Protection:

1. …when the pressure to bow comes from every side. (v. 1-7)

2. ...when the fury against you gets hotter. (v. 8-23)

3. When death is the consequence for not bowing. (v. 23-27)

Finally this:

4. Until every knee bows before Jesus alone. (v. 28-30)

We resist when others demand that we bow to their idols... by trusting God’s protection of the righteous... and we don’t stop resisting until every knee bows before Jesus instead.

I love this… the three groups of people who were commanded to bow to the image in v. 7 (people, nation, or language) are now commanded to not say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.... for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way.

Now that’s not very strong… but it’s a start.

And it foreshadows chapter 7 of Daniel, where the Son of Man (that’s Jesus) takes his place before the Ancient of Days…

Flip over to Daniel 7:14 - And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (ESV)

God knows exactly what he is doing when he reveals it to us in this way… he wants us to see that the Savior of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is the one who sits enthroned forever in the indestructible Kingdom.

Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that one day, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And that day wasn’t in Nebuchadnezzar’s day… they were still bowing to idols...

And that day is not today…

But it’s coming...

And every day until that day, the question still stands: will you bow down before him and confess him as the ONLY Savior and Lord worthy of your worship and allegiance TODAY… while the hope of salvation from the wrath of God still stands…

While you can still pass through the fires of death and into eternal life.

Or will you have to endure forever the eternal fires of Hell, that are far more effective than the fires of Nebuchadnezzar… that are far more effective than any fire this world has to kindle.

Apply: Are there any idols you are bowing before to please others? Maybe just to please your own desires? Turn from bowing to every idol others demand you bow to… and bow before Jesus alone.