Fiery Furnace - Daniel 3
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
We've been bouncing around in our series in the Old Testament looking at impossible moments. where by human perspective there was no way forward, no option, no way to succeed. And by now we're in week 10 of our series, there's little to no surprise about how these sermons go, right? We know how it ends. We know that there's an impossible and probable situation, we know that at this point God intervenes in some way, whether through providing physical resources and answers or by providing supernatural answers. God is the one making the impossible possible. And so there are no surprises, and yet, each Sunday, a story can hit us differently. Each week we come here having experienced a different week than the week before, being in a different place, our hearts and our minds may be ready to pick up on a different aspect of God, of who He is and what He does. And so while we are week to week maybe repeating some similar themes in these stories, it only does our heart good to hear how amazing God is over and over and over again. All that to say, don't tune out. Don't tune out today, don't tune out, we still have a few more weeks in the series. Each week God may want to speak to you about something different.
So last week we were in Exodus, Pastor Lauren talked about Moses and the Israelites and as they were being led out by God away from Egypt, through the Red Sea, as a part of God's plan of deliverance. And today we're jumping ahead, far beyond Israel in the desert, far beyond Israel in the Promised Land, beyond King David and Solomon, so we're actually, sadly, the Kingdom of Israel is falling apart. We're going to be in Daniel today, and Israel's kingdom at this time, by this point, has been divided into two. We have the Northern Kingdom and the southern kingdom. And this foreign nation of Babylon has captured the northern kingdom of Israel. Part of the process of Babylon taking over nation after nation is that they would take the brightest and strongest young people of whatever nation they took captive. So they took the brightest and strongest of Israel back to their own so that way they contribute to the power in the kingdom of Babylon. And some of those taken from Israel were Daniel, and also three names that you may be familiar with, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those who were taken faced a new challenge of being immersed into a new culture surrounded with religious beliefs and practices that they did not hold and might even go against what they believed. And so they had to discern and navigate through that every day. They had to ask the questions to themselves, "How do I live out my faith in God? How do I believe and worship Him while being surrounded by false gods, false practices, and a view of this world that doesn't align with how God taught me to view this world?" So just imagine the daily struggle they faced in choosing God, it was a choice every day. And in that setting, following God was riskier, even more counter-cultural than what we experience today. While we at times may get a glimpse of having to choose Jesus every day in our settings, be it at school or at work or some social setting where we feel the waves of the world pressing in, We feel sin and darkness all around us. I still believe that Daniel's situation and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's, theirs was all that and more. Because their punishment for not following the religion of Babylon, not worshiping their gods, including their king, was death. We're gonna be in Daniel three, and I'm gonna summarize the beginning of this chapter. We won't read it at this point, but at the beginning of Daniel three, we learned that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had made a statue of himself, as you do, I guess, when you're king, you just start making statues of yourself.
By the way, in the Old Testament, if you just see someone making a statue out of gold, it never leaves, that's a down, that's a bad, bad thing. Don't do it, it always ends up bad, but he does it, it's gonna end up bad for him. But it was declared after the statue was made that all nations and peoples of every language are to fall down and worship the image of the king, and whoever doesn't will be burned up in a fiery furnace. And so the setting here in the eyes of the people, specifically the Jewish people who are now in Babylon, is that there are two gods. There's a false god, King Nebuchadnezzar, and the true god, Yahweh. Which god will the Jewish people worship and which god will they obey?
Daniel 3 continues that after this statue is made and the instructions are given to the people. If you were to worship it, you're to bow down to it. Some of the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar comes to him and says, "Hey, some of your officials," reminder, this is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're not just brought to Babylon, but they hold important positions. They are officials in the king's cabinet. And so some others rat them out and say, "Hey, some of your officials are not bowing down to your statue, specifically Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." And Nebuchadnezzar is furious. He feels betrayed to an extent. He's like, "I brought you people here, you're mine. "I gave you positions of leadership." And so he goes up to these guys and he confronts them. He says, "Is it true, you guys? "You're not worshiping my statue? "You're gonna be thrown into the fire. "And if you're thrown into the fire, "I mean, if you don't start bowing down to the statue, "who's gonna save you?" And remember, throughout this passage, there's a comparison being made here between Yahweh and Nebuchadnezzar. Who is the real God? And Nebuchadnezzar is coming to the three Jewish men, obviously mad, but also, in his mind, as a God who can save them. He's doing them a favor. He's mad, but in his mind he's exercising his godly, kingly authority.
In verse 15 of chapter 3 it says, "Then what God will be able to rescue you from My hand?" Basically saying, "I'm coming to help you out, you three. I'm giving you a chance." Technically, you should already be thrown in because you haven't been bowing down, so that means you should be thrown into the fire, but I'm not gonna do that yet, bow down, just do it from this point forward. And because if you don't, then what God can save you? If I can't, as a God, as a king, then no one can. That's what Nebuchadnezzar is communicating to the three. Who can save them? Well we know, it's week 10 in our series, right? We know, we know what's gonna happen. So let's start reading in verse 16 their response, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." We'll pause right there. What an amazing example of a God-honoring stance in an impossible situation. An amazing response by these three gentlemen, God-fearing, Yahweh-worshipping men who are less about defying the king and more about obeying their God. Now, their obedience to Yahweh does mean that they are defying the king's orders, but that's not their reason for their actions.
They are seeking to obey and worship God. And really that's the point of their response here, is we are taking a God-honoring stance in this impossible situation. These men fully know what they face being thrown into the fire, which is a sure death. There is no, by human means, there is no way to escape that, no way to survive that. And in their response we see incredible trust and faith in their God. They say, "God will save us and deliver us from your hand, and if He does not, we will still not worship these gods and these statues." The trust and faith in God comes from who they know God to be. They don't even know for sure what God will do, but they know what He can do. They believe that God will deliver them, and they share at the same time. They understand that He may not, and yet we're going to continue worshiping God and honoring Him and obeying Him no matter what. See, church, so often it's easy for our faith to become transactional. "God, if you do this, then I will give more of myself to you. God, because you did this for me, now I will offer more of myself to you. Now I will give more of my time or my finances." But that's not the case for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Before anything has happened, they proclaim their loyalty, their allegiance, and their obedience and their hearts and actions for God. whatever happens, whether they are saved from being burned to death or not, their hearts are clear. And that's what we need. Despite whatever happens in our lives, we need to be clear internally and know that our worship is for God. It's not contingent on how well or poorly life is going. It is consistent, it is always, and it is all of us worshipping Him."
Let's continue to read in verse 19 and see what happens next. "Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, majesty. He said, "Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come out of the fire, and the state traps, prefects, governors, and royal advisors crowded around them. They they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their head singed, their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants. They trusted in him and defied the king's command, and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I decree that the people of any nation or language, who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, be cut into pieces, and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other God can save in this way." Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
How amazing is this story right here? This is such an incredible example of obedience in an impossible situation. In verse 19, we see that the king ensured this impossible situation having the three men tied even tighter and the fire made even hotter. This is showing the full effort and capability of the king, his strongest men and the hottest fire, to the point where the fire even consumes the guards that were in charge of throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in. This is everything that King Nebuchadnezzar could muster. This is all of his power. And is it enough? No. Not for God. Because for God, anything is possible. And so these three men are thrown into the furnace, bound with all their clothes, their turbans and robes and all this, again communicated in Scripture to express that if the guards died just from being near the furnace, surely the three of them, with everything that they have on would be consumed in fire. But what happens next? There's four people in the fire. And I just, I love this moment. You want to talk about God meeting people where they're at, in their hardest situations, in the midst of whatever they're going through. This is a prime example. God sends an angel to be with them in the fire, to rescue them, to comfort them, to assure them that their obedience to God brought him joy. Can you imagine this scene, just being in the fire? This is all my thoughts on it, so this is not necessarily Scripture, but I just imagine this scene where maybe they're feeling terrified, confident that they made the right decision, but you can still be terrified about being thrown into a fire. And then you open your eyes after falling in, and you realize you're alive. And you look around and you see your friends also alive, and you see someone new. A divine being, an angel of the Lord there. And I just imagine that angel smiling, being like, "Yeah, this is happening. You're alive." And just, you can even hear the roaring fire. Fires are loud, just a furnace roaring. And I just imagine this calm joy swelling up inside of them as they realized that they didn't die, that God showed up. We knew He could. We said that He would, and He did. And maybe the angel is there saying, "Yes, you are alive. God loves you." They're just chilling in a fire, just walking around, just talking. This is amazing. One of the coolest moments in the Bible. They're just hanging out until Nebuchadnezzar calls them out referring to them as servants of the Most High God. From that moment, people know who they serve. The king sees now who they worship and sees the power of Yahweh. I think he recognizes how inferior he is. Everyone can see how the fire did not damage them at all. Their hair, their clothing, something that was impossible was made possible.
And then in verse 28 we see the kings praising Yahweh, looking back at the actions of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and seeing that this whole time they were just being obedient to God. The defiance to Him was all about them being obedient to Yahweh. and he even makes this decree that no others from any nation that Babylon is in control of can say anything against Yahweh. This is just an amazing account of God working in an impossible situation. And so now I want to finish our time this morning with focusing on how to have this obedience to God in the midst of our impossible situations. I know many of you have We are faced, or are facing, and I'm sure we all will face at some point in the future, more situations and moments that seem impossible. Maybe it's making it through a difficult, broken relationship, where the way forward with that person seems bleak, improbable, hopeless. Maybe there's someone that you're in a relationship with that just seems to be going in the wrong direction. And it's heartbreaking. Maybe it's navigating a difficult work situation, where coworkers or management or even the work you do is just soul-sucking, bringing you close to compromise, and there is little to no joy and what you spend so much of your day doing. Maybe it's processing the loss of someone close to you. Whether they have passed or maybe you're processing them being in the end of life stage. But maybe it's overwhelming, it's lonely, and it's terrifying to think of life without that person. Church, we face impossible situations in our lives, and what God desires of us, wants of us as we go through each of these, is our obedience to Him.
Obedience to God in impossible situations is of the utmost importance. Obedience to God in an impossible situation may mean not knowing the outcome of what will happen next. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they proclaimed their faith and trust in God without knowing for sure what would happen to them. Will you do the same? Will you have a faith that is untethered to what happens in the future, but anchored in the character of God? Obedience to God in impossible situations may mean trusting God more than you ever have. Talking about steps of faith here. When we face new situations, harder situations than we faced before, it requires a deep trust in faith. And will you trust God and have faith in Him when those moments come? Obedience to God in impossible situations may mean infuriating the people around you. Just like Nebuchadnezzar was enraged by the three men's obedience to God and therefore the defiance to Him, we may face similar reactions from people in our impossible situation. They may not understand. They may be confused. They may even be offended and upset by our obedience to Christ. But will you stand firm? Will you remain obedient to God? Obedience to God in impossible situations may mean the end of life as we know it. But Now I'm not talking necessarily about life or death situations. I think here in Rocklin, Roseville, Sacramento area, we're not facing a lot of those circumstances. But sometimes obedience to God still means a change to our lifestyle or our comfort. The reality is that we serve a God and belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. The things that people pursue and value in the world are different than what we as people of God what we value and what we pursue. So whether coming to faith in God and it's new for you or you've been following God for years, know that obeying Him may at some point mean a change, a drastic, life-altering change. And will you obey in that moment?
Obedience to God in impossible situations may mean entering or remaining in what seems like an impossible situation. Sometimes we're in the midst of difficult life circumstances, and sometimes they get even worse. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were facing death, the king then stoked the fire even hotter, tied the bonds even tighter. Sometimes our impossible situations are long, they call for endurance, they get worse. And when that will we continue to obey? Will we continue to follow Him? Now also, obedience to God in impossible situations also may mean the blessed experience of getting to feel God's overwhelming presence. Like the angel that came to comfort the three of them, when we are obedient to God, we can know that God will meet us where we're at. Who doesn't want to have the comfort and peace in his overwhelming presence in the midst of our chaos and darkness. Whether that's an angel of the Lord or you just know you feel in that moment, God is with you. You can know that God will be with you through it all. And lastly, obedience to God in impossible situations may mean people come to know and and learn who God is. At the end of our passage, even Nebuchadnezzar recognizes God as the most high God.
Your obedience in your impossible situation is a witness to people. God can use you in your experience to draw people closer to Him. So will you be God's witnesses in this world through your steadfast obedience to Him in all situations? That's a choice that you can make every day. Church, your impossible situations are not impossible for God. Take courage in whatever situation you are in. If you're in an impossible situation right now, take comfort in God. Know that you are loved and supported right here. And I don't want to just say that from the pulpit. You hear that week after week, like I hear that God loves me. We want to live that out. We wanna be there for each other as a church and family of believers here. I mean, you are loved and supported. Look around this room and we love and support you. We don't wanna just say it, we wanna live it out. And so I'll say this, if you are in that moment right now, you are feeling like you are in an impossible situation, we wanna pray for you. After this last song that we're about to sing and the service were dismissed, Come find myself, Pastor Chris, or elders, or just turn to someone next to you. If you trust them and are able to open up, be prayed for this morning. Do not leave this morning. If you are feeling like you need love and support, don't leave without being prayed for. And if you are not in an impossible situation, and that's okay, you're in a blessed moment of life, that's great, be there for someone else. Be a brother and sister in Christ today. Don't leave this Sunday only to check in next Sunday and say, "Hey, how was your last week? Was it good? Cool, I'll talk to you in a week.” Be there for each other now, throughout the week. Let us be the church, holding up those who are feeling down, supporting those who are in need of love. The best thing we can do to love someone is to pray and to pray with them. We can pray for them, we can say, "Hey, I'll be praying for you this week," but if you can, take a moment, pray for someone today. This is what being a part of God's family is all about. This week, let's remember this. In whatever situation you're in, family situation, relationship situation, work situation, and the others, in all situations, let's be obedient to God, faithful, and steadfast in everything, all the time with everything we have.
Let's pray. God, we are thankful for your example and account that you have shared with us through your word of what it looks like to be obedient in the most impossible of situations. God, to see how you empowered the three men in our passage and how you sent your angel to comfort. Lord, we want that in our lives. We want to feel your presence. If we are in the midst of something challenging right now, God, I pray that your presence will be felt by those who are feeling down, who are feeling hopeless, who are feeling lonely. God, this is our heart, that we would be obedient to you in all things. And we need your help to do that. God, through your Spirit, empower us, equip us, encourage us daily to be obedient to you. We want to give you all the glory. We want to give you everything we have. We want to live our lives for you. Help us, Lord, to do that. God, I pray that we as a church would grow in loving and supporting each other. For those who are feeling that they're in an impossible situation, give them the courage to speak out, to reach out, to say, "Because I need help. I need prayer. I believe that God is going to do something, but I just... Please be with me." And God, for those who are in a good place, help those to have courage to reach out and offer that support. We want to stand together united as a church, as a family, pursuing you together. So God we pray that you would empower us, equip us, and encourage us this morning. And that we would leave closer to your presence throughout this week, for you to continue to speak to us, continue to draw us closer to you. I pray this in your name. Amen.