Even If 3

In our world you simply know that somethings always happen. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just how the laws of our world operate. In fact, it would be weird for us to live in a world where there were no such rules to govern the universe. It would be bad for us to live in such a world where you could jump and continue floating until you reached outer space - that would be a bad thing! Rules are helpful. Absolutes keep us grounded. Yet, there are instances in life where the natural laws that seem to govern our world are broken: instances where the miraculous transpires.

Consider some of the miracles in Scripture that we see. Talking donkey’s, massive armies suffering defeat to a few hundred soldiers, seas parting, walls falling down, dead men being raised to life. We see normal rules being broken in miraculous ways with a purpose in mind.

Several years ago there was a couple, Tom and Marsha, who wanted so badly to have a child but just like Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis, nothing was happening. Mandy had reached the menopause and her doctor told her that she wouldn’t be able to have a biological child. After a few months of swallowing this news, her husband stopped praying for a biological child and had resigned to look in a different direction, but Marsha wanted to go back to the doctor and have 1 final pregnancy test. 7 months after this prognosis and after years and years of trying, Mandy was pregnant to the shock of her doctor and his staff. Over the next 2 weeks she underwent 3 sonograms and 4 additional pregnancy tests because the hospital simply couldn’t believe what had happened… A miracle had taken place and 9 months later, Tom and Mandy welcomed their daughter, Amanda, into the world!

This shouldn’t have happened. Whenever you reach a certain point, the facts tell you that something like this is impossible. It’s impossible for Tom and Marsha to have a child. It’s impossible for someone dead to be raised back to life. It’s impossible for something to come out of nothing. It’s impossible for you to be thrown into a fire and come out the other side completely unharmed! But God… That’s the only explanation!

Friends, we are reminded over and over in God’s Word that our God has all power and that He is in control right now. He isn’t just kind of in control, He’s completely in control. He makes the rules and there is no such thing as impossible to Him. He is able to deliver His saints from any situation, even from a fiery furnace. He is able to deliver you today from whatever obstacle you are facing. But even if He doesn’t, He deserves our praise because of who He is and all that He has done.

Let’s continue reading in Daniel 3 to see what becomes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego as they stand up to a pagan tyrant and refuse to worship the gold statue that he has made

Daniel 3:16–23 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.

Trusting in God Will Lead to Persecution (16-23)

Last week we left off with a cliffhanger of sorts in Daniel 3:18 as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to worship the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar had made. They were given yet another opportunity to bow down, but they firmly held their ground. The Disney ending to this story would be that the king would realize that his command wasn’t very nice and he’d back down. He’d apologize and let these 3 go back to doing what they were doing and give them a pass of sorts… That might be Hollywood but it’s certainly not reality. Whenever you stand up to the king, you do so knowing that he will strike you down. This is exactly what the king does in the verses that follow. We read that these men have great faith in the Lord and we might expect them to be taken out of the situation immediately, but that’s not what happens. Instead of the king taking it easy on them, the king gets furious and increases his punishment! We read that he wants the furnace pumped 7x hotter than it normally would be!

Remember from last week, how hot can this furnace get? 1800 degrees. Does this mean that the furnace was usually 1/7 of that temperature? No, that would only be 257 degrees! Why would the king make this declaration? Because this is a proverbial statement

Proverbs 24:16 CSB

16 Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.

Proverbs 26:16 CSB

16 In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser than seven who can answer sensibly.

What’s up with 7 showing up in these verses? What if a righteous person falls down 8 times instead of 7? Does that make him a fool all of a sudden? No. The number 7 often represents completion or perfection. Why would Nebuchadnezzar make this statement in verse 19? So that the furnace would be at it’s maximum intensity. It would be as hot as possible!

Further, the king didn’t just have some random servants toss them into the furnace, we read that the king commanded some of his best soldiers to tie them up and then throw them in the furnace. He didn’t leave anything to chance - He made the hottest fire and used his strongest soldiers. He was the most powerful man in the world and he wanted these men to be punished for their rebellion - he called upon his marines to get the job done just like our leaders would do today! Do you see how this man simply didn’t get who he was dealing with? Look back to verse 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?”

It was all about Nebuchadnezzar’s power… His furnace, heated to its maximum temperature, using his strongest soldiers. This was a display of force meant to intimidate any other folks thinking about defying his command. He doesn’t want a mistake to be made. He wants to exercise his dominance! We read in verses 16-18 that these men are prepared for whatever God decides to do. They have made up their mind and they are ready for the cost… Put yourself in their shoes, though! Maybe you make the statement they made earlier on because you have faith, maybe you’re still feeling confident when you’re standing across from the furnace, but what about whenever these guys grab you and tie you up? What are you feeling then? Many of us would feel absolutely helpless and powerless. It’s one thing to be confident when you’re comfortable or when you’re in control… It’s another to be confident and faithful whenever there is an obvious consequence awaiting you. It’s another thing to be faithful to God whenever the heat of the furnace begins to make you sweat.

Whenever you trust in God you say, “Whatever happens to me, I will be faithful to God.” We shouldn’t be surprised whenever trusting in God leads to some problems with other people! We shouldn’t be surprised whenever trusting in God leads to being thrown into the blazing fire - often in the fire it is where we see our Savior most clearly! We see this throughout the Bible

John 15:18 CSB

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.

1 Peter 4:12 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.

The world hated Jesus, and if we act like Jesus, we should expect some people to not necessarily like us… We shouldn’t act like this is unusual, this is the norm for Christians throughout human history! Lots of people nowadays say something along these lines, “If Christians just acted more like Jesus then there wouldn’t be any problems.” Get out of here with that! Jesus was God in the flesh, He was perfect, He was loving and gracious, but He also called people out for their sinfulness and people killed him for it. They hated Him for what He did and for who He was - so Christian, don’t be surprised whenever people don’t like you because of your faith in Jesus. For years, Christians have been persecuted. They’ve laid down their lives. They’ve died by the sword, at the stake, and with spears through their heart! If you’re a Christian this morning, you can reasonably expect your trust in the Lord to be put to the test and persecution to come your way. You might even be thrown into a furnace because of who you follow… But remember that even in the furnace, you’re not alone!

Daniel 3:24–27 CSB

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.

Trusting in God Will Lead to Salvation (24-27)

Just as trusting in God will lead to persecution and opposition, trusting in God will always lead to salvation. What do we mean by that statement? Whenever you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, through His death on the cross in your place, you are saved of the punishment of your sin and you are saved as a son or daughter of God! That means that you are saved from the punishment of your sins, separation from God in hell, and you are saved to be a servant of God during this life and you have the hope of eternity spent with Him in glory!

Trusting in God, though it guarantees you of eternal celebration, doesn’t always mean that things make sense here and now. Yet, even though we don’t always see the end, we know that Jesus demands our trust and our allegiance. That is what these 3 men have and we see the story play itself out in these verses.

Logically, what should have happened? The fire consumed the soldiers Nebuchadnezzar ordered to toss these 3 into the fire, so the fire should have consumed them as well. They should have died. This is just what logic and experience tells us. But what do we see in verse 24? We see the response that you and I would have in the moment as well. If you wear glasses, you’d grab them and clean them really quick just to double check you’re not seeing things all of a sudden! The king looks into the flames through an opening, likely not the one that they were thrown into, and he can’t believe his eyes. He’s not dumb, he’s a smart guy and he’s been doing his best throughout this entire scene. He’s thrown his best at these men, his best threat, his best soldiers, his hottest furnace, yet… He looks in the furnace and see’s a 4th person in the flames. Not only had the flames not consumed them, another person had appeared and had released them from their previous bonds so that they could walk around in the furnace!

Who was this 4th person?

How did he get in there?

Verse 25 shares with us that the best guess Nebuchadnezzar could come up with is that this 4th person looked like a son of the gods. Maybe your translation says that the 4th looked like the “Son of God” singular rather than plural. Here’s the problem with that interpretation - who is making this statement? Nebuchadnezzar. Does Nebuchadnezzar believe in multiple gods or one god? Multiple. He isn’t suddenly a follower of Yahweh and saying that the 4th in the flames was the Son of God Himself because He doesn’t believe in their god in the first place! In verse 28 he guesses that this was an angel sent from God. Who was this 4th figure? We aren’t told explicitly because the Bible is silent and when the Bible is silent all we can do is speculate… The 4th person in the fire was either an angel or He was the pre-incarnate Christ. This is what we call a Christophany - an appearance of Jesus Christ. We see in the Old Testament several different appearances of God’s messengers. We see multiple times where angels appear or where the Angel of the Lord appears… Scholars estimate that of the 214 times in the Hebrew text where we see the word Angel, 1/3 of those times it is a Christophany - an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. That might be a little bit high, but the point is that Jesus is active long before Bethlehem.

Not only was the Son of God with these men in the flames, He delivered them and protected them! We often think of this story as the 4th person simply protects them and they come out unharmed - which is true and a miracle - but they also came into the fire bound and they left unbound. Consider something this morning, why do we go through trials? We don’t always have the answer! There are some trials that we go through where we gain something new through the journey such as a new perspective or an attribute but there are other times where we go through a trial and we come out the other side free of the things that were previously binding our hands and feet. We come out the other side not only safe but we come out stronger because of a renewed focus and a freed mind! Consider what a fire does to metal. What does it remove from the metal? Impurities - things that are not necessary or desired in the finished product. Whenever you go through a fire with Jesus as your plus 1, not only will He remain by your side, He will release you from those bonds along the way. Spurgeon put it like this, “Like pure gold that loses nothing but its impurity in the fire, so the Christian loses what he is glad to lose and his loss is blessed gain.” This is what Paul says in Philippians as he shares

Philippians 3:7 CSB

7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

Friend, if you are a follower of Jesus, you can look into the flames and smile knowing full and well that your God holds you, will be with you, is more powerful than the flames, and that He will loose you of your self-confidence and over reliance upon feelings in the furnace.

Maybe you’re thinking that this is a great Old Testament story but you’re failing to see its relevance to you in the midst of your storm or fire today. Consider this: Nebuchadnezzar said that there is no god who could deliver these men. He was almost right, there was only 1 God who could, and He did. Our God is the God who delivers His people. He redeems His bride. He saves His children! Not only did He do all of these miraculous deliverances in the Old Testament like part the Red Sea, bring Jericho’s walls crashing down, and save Daniel and his friends, we look to the cross and we see that God delivers His people from their bondage to sin and death through the death and resurrection of His Son.

Christian, in your moment of despair, you have an even greater story of deliverance to look back to than what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego possessed. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ today, you have already been delivered from a far more terrifying furnace than the one facing these men. You have been delivered by Jesus from the fire of hell - the worst furnace of all has been rendered powerless for God’s children because Jesus walked into it and turned it off. Rejoice today in what your Savior has done for you! Rejoice in the cross.

Friend, you are saved with a purpose in mind - you aren’t saved to sit on your blessed assurance and fill a pew or membership spot, you saved so that other people will see Christ’s power through your life. We serve a God who calls the dead to life and who brings men out of fiery furnaces without a scratch or burn. We serve the living God - we believe in Jesus Christ - do you know this Savior? Has Jesus saved you from the eternal fire to come?

Let’s see how this story wraps up

Daniel 3:28–30 CSB

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.

Trusting in God Will Lead to Evangelism Opportunities (28-30)

Why would God allow this to happen? Why let His faithful servants walk into a fiery oven? Why save them from the flames? So that His name might be glorified and exalted among the people. So that the lost might know of His greatness. Through the obedience of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, God is worshiped and glorified. Even if He hadn’t delivered them, He still would have been God and He still would have been in complete control of the situation, but by delivering them from the flames, His name was lifted high among a pagan people. Friend, whenever you trust in God in difficult times, understand that you are a living testimony of His greatness and power to those around you! Whenever you praise the Lord in the fire, you stand out in the midst of a culture that runs away from the flames. Whenever you trust in God’s plan in the midst of sorrow and suffering, you have a platform to point people to the One who gives you peace in your storm. You can be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or like Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 as he shares

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.

You can trust in God in your moment of weakness or opposition or suffering and know full and well that Christ’s power is more than enough to sustain you through the fire. In your moment of despair, you’re not walking alone! You aren’t without purpose - you have a responsibility even then.

There are 2 responses whenever a miracle takes place: Faithful Worship or Convenient Lip Service.

Consider what this story does to the king and his advisors… They went from throwing these men into the furnace to praising their God! They saw God’s power on full display and it led them to profess that they were delivered because of their God. They said the right words - they saw the power of God, after all! Yet, they didn’t fully convert. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t go back on his decree to worship his golden statue. Sure, he worshipped their God but he didn’t stop worshipping his own gods. He gave lip service to God. He didn’t bear fruit - Jesus said in Luke 6 that you can judge a tree by its fruit. Nebuchadnezzar simply made a decree to worship his statue… and don’t say anything bad about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Friends, Jesus + works = nothing! This is the wrong response. The correct one is to faithfully worship God!

If you’ve been through the fire or find yourself there today, don’t just give God lip service. Don’t just say the right words. Don’t just view yourself as someone who needs a pep talk or a little help or motivation - no! As sinners facing a blazing furnace, we need a miracle! We need another person to take our place and spare us from the flames we deserve. This is the Gospel. The Gospel is I was dead and I’m now found. I was blind but now I see. I was facing judgment but God gave me mercy!

Whenever we experience this deliverance, which I pray that you have, you have a responsibility to trust in God the rest of your life and to use your experiences to point others to Him! As you do this, you can use your story to point to God’s sovereign hand and unmatchable power

Isaiah 43:2–3 CSB

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.

Friend, in the fire know that you’re not alone. He is with you. He is for you. He has a plan and a purpose. As Alistair Begg asks, “Is your God big enough?” So many people believe in a God that thinks, talks, and acts just like they do… That “god” is far too small. In Daniel we see that God handed Jerusalem over to Babylon and he handed Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego, and Daniel over to Nebuchadnezzar… But God also handed these 3 out of the furnace and protected them. If you believe that you serve the same God, what is there to separate you from Him and His love? The hottest furnace is too cold, the longest chasm is too small, the highest canyon is too short. He is the Sovereign Lord of hosts who is in control and on His throne today! We have a Savior who can relate with us and sympathize with us in our weakness as Hebrews 4:15 shares with us and as we trust in Him we have a duty to proclaim His greatness to those around you!

Do you know this Jesus? Do you know the 4th in the fire? Have you not only come to know about Him, but do you know Him personally? Has He rescued you from the furnace of eternal fire? Is He rescuing you from your daily worries and temptations? Turn your eyes upon Jesus - the ultimate fire extinguisher. Trust in His power. Run to His open arms. Leave your past behind. Even if you’ve come here alone and ashamed, you don’t have to leave that way today. Just as God is the giver of life, He delights in saving sinners.

Would you stand or would you sit? That is the question we must ask today. Standing for Jesus is costly - but the cost of disobeying God is infinitely more expensive as it carries with is eternal consequences. Know that Jesus saves. Know that God delivers. Know that He is with you - and even if you’re experiencing suffering and sorrow today, know that He has delivered you from your greatest foe and from the greatest furnace. Turn to Jesus - trust in His goodness - take His grace - transfer your past to Him and leave here purified by the flames instead of being devoured by them. Understand this miracle of Scripture and be changed forevermore.

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