Consolation for Non-Conformists
Dan. 3: 1-18
Last time we looked at Daniel and his friends in Ch. 2; they were in a fix! Neb. dreamed a terrible dream and he woke up demanding the interpretation of it. His wise men said, tell us the dream and we will interpret it; yet Ned didn’t make it that easy for them. He basically said; No, you tell me the dream I had and if it is right; then I will know that you can show the true interpretation. Man what a request! The king was saying; “Read my mind and if you don’t or can’t then you will die!” Aren’t you glad you don’t work for a person like Ned. Always having to guess what he or she is thinking and hope that you are right! Well, the wise men couldn’t give what the king requested for they were just men themselves. They only had the wisdom of the world to go by; and they were drawing up blanks.
However, word of the king’s demand came to Daniel who went before the king and was granted a window of time to pray and seek the Lord’s wisdom concerning Neb.’s dream. The answer might be hid from just mere men; but nothing is hid from God! So in Ch. 2; 17-19 says; “Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.”
Daniel and his friends had a time of prayer and the answer was revealed and so Daniel made his way to the king with the answer to his dream.
This just goes to show that there are just some things that need to be prayed about before acted on. There are some times when we need to pray until the answer comes!
Prayer takes on a whole new meaning, when you get what you need from the lord through prayer.
Then in 2; 19-49 Daniel proceeds to tell the King not only the dream itself, but what his dream meant. God was showing that He really is in control of the world. God was showing that there maybe questions and doubts about why our present circumstances seem to go against what we know about God; yet God reassures Daniel that He’s still on the throne by revealing the future empires.
We aren’t going to look at the dream and the interpretation; yet it is worthy of your notice and your thoughts. So here is a handout to help you put things in perspective as you read these verses on your own. Basically put, Neb dreamed about a great big statue; probably like the one in the handout. The interpretation of it is pretty simple; in v36-45 is where God reveals the next three gentile world empires.
Two things to keep in mind.
The times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) really began with the Babylonian captivity, 521 b.c., and will extend to the time when Gentile nations will no longer assert control over the city of Jerusalem. [1]
The fullness of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:25) is the time of the Rapture, when Christ’s Gentile bride will be completed and taken from the earth and when God will resume His dealings with Israel.[2]
God here is giving out the latter day events as far as the world powers go. The Jews since the time of the captivity have been under Gentile rule. In this revealing of the future, there is Neb. whom God allowed to become this great “head of gold” to fulfill God’s will on the earth. God still has his way in the heavens and in the earth.
Look at v44-45 we see the last world power to rule the earth; which is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is this stone that smites this image and it crumbs! John the Revelator put it this way when he saw it:
Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Daniel has just revealed a whole lot of prophecy, which includes the last Kingdom to stand; the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
By telling all that was in his small little mind; Daniel and his three friends were promoted to a great authority in the kingdom. Through this prophecy teaches that God is in control; we want to pass it so we can come to the events of ch. 3.
Ch. 3 opens up some 20 years later; but yet we see that Neb. is yet the same egocentric person. Just like the lost people today they twist and distort the things of God ordained to bring a person to repentance; so does Neb. The dream that was given to warn him and humble him that there was someone greater than himself; he turns to his own advantage and builds the statue in his dreams to satisfy his own ego.
I. The Statue and the King’s Command v1-7
Neb. was attempting something more than just rearing up an idol unto himself. He was trying to unite his people under the guise of religion. Nothing unites a people than a belief in something or someone; that’s a strong tie that binds folks of all different walks of life together. Neb. knows that if his kingdom will be great it will be because there is an oneness there among his people.
The Statue was set up and the command went forth; “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace,” v6.
A. Music in worship.
We can’t help but see here that music was playing apart of this new worship experience. The decree was Dan 3:10 “…when every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image…”
I don’t want to make this message all about music; but I want to say that music does put a person in the frame of mind for worship. Don’t think that just because something has the title “Christian” on it that it is really Christian music. And it’s not just what the pastor wants or thinks is right. The final authority for music as well as for any other question that pertains to this life or practice is the bible. Don’t be so naïve to think that the devil doesn’t have his hand in the music business. What does the bible tell us about these questionable things?
Jo 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Before we leave remember this. If God has music that honors him (not just hymns written hundreds of years ago) but even good music like “How great thou art” written I think in the 1960’s made popular of all people by Elvis Presley. If the God has his music; believe me the devil has his, so you ought to be wise to know the difference.
So the majority sees no problem in worshipping the way a man tells them to. They are mindless robots just doing whatever they are told, so as to keep their lives the same. Almost everybody was conforming to the new trend, this new fad, except for three men that stood tall while everybody was bowing. They were Daniel’s friends of ch. 1 and 2; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were not conforming as the rest; because they had something called convictions which would not let do what they knew was wrong even just for the sake of saving their hide. They refused to go the way of the world, and worship an idol in the place of their God. It is interesting to note that we don’t hear or see Daniel in this whole chapter. A lot of people think that he was away on the king’s business in some faraway land; yet he would have done the same thing as his friends.
B. The world attempt to change us.
The world will always try to pour Christians into their mold of what they say we ought to worship God. If you let the outside world tell you how to live, worship or anything else that you need to do; it will! If we are to please God; we can’t be pleasing to this world! We can’t have it both ways. We are either going to have to obey God and live for him, or we are either going to obey what ever comes down the pipe from the world. A lot of churches and Christians, and preachers are following that route. The latest fad, the newest trend, the newest bible of the month; please these things scream conforming to the world, conforming to man’s ideas about godly things!
We are not going to reach the world by being just like the world! If we did we would have nothing to offer them, that they couldn’t find outside the church, a find a whole lot more of. Read you bible; Paul didn’t take on the Greek way of doing things to reach the Greeks. Jesus didn’t sub come to the pressure of the Pharisees and Sadducees to get a following.
If we are to offer the world something; let’s offer them the example of how God has changed our useless, wasted lives; ruined by sin and self and has been changed it into something useful and beautiful. By the way that’s the one thing that every skeptic and critic can not argue against; that is a changed life for the better.
Though world is trying to get us to conform to its standards; the world will succeed. This whole story is just a foreshadow of what the Antichrist will do when does come on the scene. Neb.’s statue was three scores tall and six cubits wide and it was fashioned in the form of a man; that right there is a good pattern for the Antichrist’s number 666, number of man is 6, because he was formed on the sixth day. And then add that he demands the entire world to worship it and himself as god is just some parallels that show that the devil will arrive at this one day!
But hallajue; I won’t be here for it!
II. Standing tall amidst Pressure v8-18
Well, they didn’t bow and soon enough they were fingered as rebels, non-conformists. They were brought before the king to make their appeal, and I just can’t get over what they said; look at it! vv16-18 They were saying that they not worried about him or the fiery furnace. They said; that God was able to deliver them out of the King’s hand, and if God didn’t deliver them they would still not fall down and worship the image! “But if Not…!” They were going to be faithful to God no matter what came their way!
A. There was Pressure
When the pressure is put on you at work, at home, at wherever your at; do you give in and go the way of the least resistance? I’m sure there were some other people there that ‘came over on the boat’ with Daniel and these three so to speak and they might have been asking them not to make a fuss about this matter of worshipping God. “After all,” they might have said; “just humor this guy, we know your heart, we know that this really isn’t our God; just don’t ruin in for the rest of us”.
There some things you need to make a fuss about! Because if you don’t they with, go away!
Whether you believe it or not; the devil wants your worship! The devil wanted these guys to fall down and worship this image. The devil wanted Jesus to fall down and worship him; promising all the kingdoms of the world in return. The devil wants your worship, even if he has to sneak it in under the name of something else.
You know why? Because you ultimately become what you worship! The Greeks worshipped gods that allowed immortality and evil, that’s why they were immoral and evil as a society. Whether it is education, sex, money, or power you will become what you worship!
Your worship is more important than what you think. So important, they you might need to call it a day early on Sat. night so you don’t set yourself up for failure on Sunday Morning when its time to worship! Oh, but there is pressure that pushes you until, you aren’t the right frame of mind or not even here to begin with! The devil has you right where he wants you! The devil has your worship; whether you openly worship him or your stopped from worshipping God, he’s got you all the same!
We as 21st century Christians are going to have to learn not to let this pressure from the world push us away from God; but let it push us to God! You are either letting the things in your life push you away from God or allowing them to push you towards God! The deciding factor is which way you lean!
Because you usually fall the way you lean; and I would rather fall further into God, fall further into church, fall further into prayer or the bible!
B. There was Determination also.
They said God was able to deliver them from the king’s hands, but if not, if no deliverance came they were still not going to do what they knew was wrong and against God. What a faith! What boldness to believe God!
I’m reminded that our forefathers left England because they were non-conformists too. The church of England said; you will worship God the way I say; you will pray the prayers I say is right, you will do this and do that by what I say. Yet, there were some hardheads in the bunch, which had the bible and read it for themselves and found out that they didn’t have to let some institionized church tell them how to do this or that.
So they left.
And right half in their voyage to the new land there fall a storm on them in the middle of the open sea; the water was as black as ink, the winds were wild as demons, there in the creaking, leaking, ships, among sickness and death; they knelt on their knees and cried out to God to help them, saying, “Still God, thou can save!” Still God, Thou can save!
And God did!
There was a determination in them that just would not be put out by any circumstance or discouragement!
There was a determination in these three that would not give up or give in!
That’s the type of determination that moves mountains. That’s the type of determination that we need for our lives in our day!
III. Peace in the middle of the Fiery Trail
Well, the King was angry, v19 and commanded them to be bound and thrown into the fiery furnace. But guess what? The furnace wasn’t a place of torment but a place of peace.
Look at v23-25! Not three men, but four men! You see the Lord was right there with them all the time! This trail turned out to be a place of peace and fellowship with their God! I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gets bent out of shape at you and throws you into a furnace of some sort. You say, I don’t deserve it, it’s not fair. Yes, it maybe, but if you are right with the Lord, then he’s in there with you. This trial could be a time you get closer to Him than you ever were before!
And by the way, those who threw then in the fiery furnace; got killed by the heat themselves. I would be careful of who I tried to throw into a fiery trial. I just may turn around and ruin me.
Dr. Norris went through many fiery trials of his own. His haters burnt down his church twice, sent a man there to kill him and Norris shot him first, and had many hurtful things said about him. But after them all, he found out that if you stand by the Word, then the God of the Word will stand by You!
God stood with his three non-conformists right there in the middle of a trial. What peace!, what comfort!, What fellowship!, which only comes to you when you have been thrown into persecution because that’s right where the Lord is.
Tradition says that as the Apostle Peter was in the city of Rome; word came to him to flee for his life. Peter at once started to flee for his life; and as he exited the city gates; he saw something strange. He saw as it was; the Lord walking into the city bearing a cross. Peter said, Lord where are you going? The Lord replied, “I going into the city to be crucified again.” Whether it was real or not; Peter’s heart sank, at the thought that Jesus didn’t run away from his final trial! So Peter returned and the next day was crucified; only he was crucified upside down, at his request; because he felt unworthy to die like his Lord!
You can run all you want from some trials, and when you get through running they will still be there waiting!
These three non-conformists came through the trial without even the fire touching them, because God was there will all the while.
Closing:
You take you stand God, he will surprise you; he will stand will you! I wonder if you are in some trial tonight; someone else threw you in, or maybe you stumbled in yourself. There’s no place where God can come too, to bring comfort and cheer.
The trials come to prove that we believe what we say we believe. They make God more real to us than ever before.
If we aren’t going to go the way of the lost world, then you should expect a trial.
But God’s there!
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[1]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Lk 21:29). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Lk 21:29). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.