May I please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word.
Let us turn to the book of Daniel, chapter 3, and we'll read verse
28. The book of Daniel, chapter 3,
and reading verse 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and
said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath
sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in
him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies,
that they might not serve nor worship any God except their
own God. Well, as we've read together
this morning in this third chapter of Daniel, the account of Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, I'm sure we found it, and I'm sure all
of us, including the young people, found it a very interesting account. And we should recognise that
the Lord does grant that there are such accounts recorded in
the Word of God to instruct us. They're not just there for a
fascinating picture, but they're there for a good reason. And
so we might ask ourselves the question this morning, well,
what does this account actually, what does it really tell us?
And of course, there are a number of things that it tells us. And
it's good to ponder and to think about these things. We've seen
these three godly Hebrews or godly Jewish men who had come
being captured had come into Babylon were under the king and
yet the king had put them into a prominent place along with
Daniel himself and now the king had this whim that he wanted
everybody to bow down and worship the idol, the image of gold that
he had set up. And they were told that if they
didn't do this, they would be cast into the burning fiery furnace. So there was a very real and
a very solemn punishment to all of those who did not do this.
Well, these three godly men clearly worshipped the true God and therefore
did not in fact bow down to this idol, this image of gold which
the King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. You young people might realise
it was very high, it was 60 cubits high, something about 25 metres. So it wasn't a small image. And
there it was. for anybody to bow down to. And
yet these people, these godly men, they did not bow down to
them. So of course the Chaldeans, they were looking for an excuse
really to get rid of these Hebrew people who worshipped God. And
as you may remember later on in this same book, Daniel himself
was put down into the lion's den because he didn't bow down
to their gods. Well, here we have this time
and we might say, well, what does it teach us? It teaches
us really a testing time. Were they to bow down or were
they not to bow down? And you may say, well, what reference
does that have to us today? Well, we live in a day which
is becoming more and more difficult for us in this world. There are
many things today we would disagree with, because they disagree with
the Word of God. And we should recognise that
we have to already stand out and to testify the things that
we stand for, the things which the Bible sets before us as a
wonderful example, and not to bow down to the evil laws of
sinful men. Well, these men They had this
testing time, and the great blessing was they had faith in their God. They believed in their God. And we're told in the Hebrews
that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. So these men were blessed with
faith in God. You may think, well, of course,
blessed with that faith in God, then God would surely come and
God would hear their prayer and God would wonderfully deliver
them. Well, as we read in this account,
the Lord tested their faith and he enabled them to stand firm
for the great and glorious truth of God. And so they were able
to speak to the King, Nebuchadnezzar, And they spake and said to the
king, O king, live forever. You see, they weren't rude to
the king. They acknowledged that he was the king and they came
before him in a right way. And that's good for us to realize
today, we should come in those who rule over us in a right way
and not just treat them in a wrong and evil way. These men came
in a right way and they said, Then the king came and said,
in his rage and fury, he commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king, and he asked
and said, Is it true? Do not ye serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be
ready, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet,
flute, harp, sapphire, psaltery and dancement and all kinds of
music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made well. If they do that, it will be well.
It would have been well with the King, but it wouldn't have
been well with God. You see the great difference.
And it's the same difference we have today. Temptation is
very often to please man rather than to please God. Almighty
God. And so he told them, but if you
worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst
of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? So he was really laying down
a challenge to these three men. Who is the God that can possibly
deliver you from this burning, fiery furnace." Nebuchadnezzar
obviously thought he had everything under his control. Well, these
godly men, they answered the king and said, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. It doesn't
mean to say they answered in a wrong way, they answered it
in a humble way, but in a true way. And they said, If it be
so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up. That really is a very
wonderful and instructive statement for us. Because what it means
is this. These three men, they had faith
in God. They believed that God could
deliver them. And yet, they also realised that
it may not be the will of God to deliver them. And therefore,
if they were to be thrown into this burning fiery furnace, they
would accept that condition and that situation. Well, we need
to ponder these things because obviously there are those times
when we may be faced with a difficulty and we know that God will and
can deliver us, but we need to submit ourselves to the will
of God. because we don't know what the
outcome will be. These men didn't know what the
outcome would be. And yet of course there was a
very glorious and a very wonderful outcome. And so we can recognise
that they feared God and yet were submissive to God's will. You see sometimes in our lives
we may say, I've got a plan, and I want God to work to that
plan. And we may pray to God that he
would work to that plan, but what we should realise is that
we may have a plan, but God has a greater plan, a better plan
than our plan, and therefore to submit ourselves to God's
plan, And it may not seem, on the face of it, to be sensible.
On the face of it, it may seem that we are to do all that we
possibly can to have our plan to work out, because we think
it's a good plan and it will bring honour and glory to God.
Whereas of course the Lord may have a plan which will bring
much more honour and glory to God. And when Solomon wrote the
Proverbs, He was well aware of the power of God and he tells
us this in the 29th proverb, in the 25th verse, he says, the
fear of man bringeth a snare. And that means if you and I just
bow down to the things that men say, whatever they may be, if
they are not in accordance with God's will, they will not work
out and they may be a snare to us. We need to be very careful
in our thoughts, in our prayers, in our desire. But Solomon goes
on to say, But whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be
safe. What a mercy then, if you realise,
again we learn from this wonderful account, to be given that faith
to trust in the Lord our God. Because the Lord knows the end
from the beginning. We can only see in our lives
the immediate now. We can't look into the future.
We don't know what the future holds, but God does. And therefore
we may think we're making a big mistake. We may think, well,
God is never going to be honoured and glorified through this. But
God's ways are higher than our ways. And it's a great blessing,
therefore, to come and to trust in the Lord. Again, in Proverbs
3 verse 5, a well-known verse really, trust in the Lord with
all thine heart. and lean not to thine own understanding."
Isn't that good? Isn't that good for us today
to think of that? How easily we weigh things up
and we come to our conclusion and our understanding is, well
this must be right and I'm sure it's right and I'll follow that
way. It may not be. Trust in the Lord. Leave the
issue with Almighty God. Because the Lord has all men's
hearts in his hand. The Lord knows what is good.
The Lord knows what his purposes are. And what a blessing it is
for us, therefore, to remember that. To remember that the ways
of God are good and the ways of God are right. And what it
really means is that if the way of God is set before us, and
it was set before these three men, not to bow down to an idol,
not to bow down to that which is wrong, and the Word of God
encourages us in such action. In the book of Samuel we're told,
and we should be very thankful that there are those words in
God's book to encourage us, and we're told Samuel tells us in
the first of Samuel the second chapter the 30th verse those
that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed what that really means is we have the will
of God set before us and it may not be to our liking it may not
be to our understanding it may be too difficult a path for us
And therefore we don't really want to walk in it. We really
want to go in our path. We really think our way is far
more logical. It is far better. But are we
honouring God in that path? It's a great question, isn't
it? You know, so often in our lives, there are times of testing. Times of testing. And what it
is, it's the trial of our faith. The trial of our faith to see
whether we are those who truly follow the path directed to us
by Almighty God, or whether we have our own path. Well, so says Samuel, be it far
from me, for them that honour me I will honour and they that
despise me shall be lightly esteemed it's a short exhortation, isn't
it really? but it's very easy for us to
despise the Word of God to despise the Way of God and we don't want
to be, I'm sure, lightly esteemed by Almighty God. It may be so
sometimes in our life, in our path, we don't seem to enjoy
perhaps the spiritual prosperity that we desire. We don't find
ourselves walking close to the Saviour. We don't find ourselves
enjoying the love of God in our hearts. Is it because perhaps in our
minds, perhaps in our words, perhaps in our actions, we are
indeed not honouring our God? Now God knows, and you know,
whether we are honouring God in our lives. You don't have to look around
and ask people. We have the Word of God which
is very clear and yet it's very wonderful because
it tells us this great truth, they that honour me, I will honour. And God's Word is true. God's
Word is true. To prove it, we're called upon
to walk it out. It's not just a theory. It's
God's Word. And by not walking it out, the
effect is that we're really despising God. Despising God. Well, these three men, they didn't
despise God. They desire to honour Him. a desire that his great name
would be lifted up and their lives, in one sense, in their
view, were as nothing. They were willing to lose their
life. They were willing to be burnt
in the fiery furnace so that God's name may be honoured and
glorified. And where it despised me shall
be lightly extinguished. These three men did not despise
God. My friends, may you and I not
despise God. Let us not despise the way of
God. Let us not try and twist God's
word to suit our position, to suit our case. Don't forget,
our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. What a blessing
it is then It's the Lord God comes to us and controls us and
blesses us. And so these three men told the
king what their position was, but they would not obey his command
because it was contrary to the word of God. And they would be
willing to suffer that which the king had said he would do
for them. And so, if it be so, our God,
whom we serve, is able to deliver us, is able to deliver us from
the burning fire furnaces, and he will deliver us out of thine
hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O King, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden
image which thou hast set up. Of course, the result of that
statement was what we would expect. Nebuchadnezzar was angry. His visage was changed and therefore
he commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times
hotter. Well, that was an obvious command
and that they should cast these men into the burning fiery furnace. So these men were not to escape
this condition. We need to recognise that. We're
not always to escape a difficult situation. We might think, well God's of
course going to hear my prayer. Of course God's going to deliver
me. Well God, may deliver us. In fact we could probably say
the Lord will deliver us. But it doesn't mean to say we're
not having to go into the furnace like these three men did. If
they hadn't gone into the furnace, if Nebuchadnezzar's mind had
been changed to say, okay, you three, I understand what you
say, carry on and worship your God. You see, there wouldn't
have been the wonderful evidence of God's work. There wouldn't
have been the wonderful evidence of God's deliverance. No, these
men had to be thrown into the burning, fiery furnace. So therefore, I don't know what's
before any of us. There may be a great difficulty,
which may be like a burning, fiery furnace. We may want to
escape it, but we may not be able to, because our religion has to be
thoroughly tested. We might say, as it was in this
case, tried into fire. No doubt, these three men of
religion was tried into fire, wasn't it? And so they were taken,
they were bound, so they couldn't escape, and thrown into this
burning, fiery furnace. As we're told, the furnace was
so hot it slew those men and picked them up to throw them
into the furnace. And then a miracle happened. And then God appeared in a most
remarkable way. A way which would not have occurred,
would not have been observed, unless they had been thrown into
this fiery furnace. What do we find? We find this, submission to the
will of God. So what does this account tell
us? Submission to God's will. And of course we have a wonderful
example of submission, don't we? in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we should never forget that. We have the glorious words which
he spoke in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing what was before him,
and yet praying to his Father. Total submission, this is what
he said, Father, if Thou be willing, if it be possible, remove this
cup from me, this cup of suffering, this cup of facing all that situation in the judgment hall
and then of course on the cross at Calvary. If thou be willing,
remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. This was the blessed example
of the Saviour. This was the example of these
three men. We might say this, they were
made willing in the day of God's power. And God does bring His power to bear in our lives
in such circumstances. We may say they are very exceptional.
Well, they are exceptional. And we may have exceptional circumstances
come into our lives. But you see, it's very wonderful
if our lives, by the grace of God, follow the pattern that
these three men set before us, and that gracious pattern and
glorious pattern of the Saviour Jesus Christ. And so we see these
three men then were in this situation and they were willing to be cast
into the burning fiery furnace. Well, when that was so, then
the Lord appeared. Then the Lord did wonderful things. And as we read in this account,
then Nebuchadnezzar, he was astonished He rose up in haste and spake,
and said, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the
fire? They answered, True, O King. He said, Lo, I see four men loose,
walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. And the
former, the fourth, is like the Son of God. So what does this
teach us today? If we are conformed to the will
of God, to do His will, however high it may seem, we can believe
that the Lord will be with us. Jesus didn't leave these men
to themselves. Didn't say, well you get on with
it now. God was with them, in the furnace. That's a wonderful blessing.
That's a wonderful consolation. That would put everything right.
It would mean this. If God before us, who can be
against us? No one can stand against us.
And so the Lord came. We might say at the eleventh
hour, when it was, but there they were, fell down into the
furnace and the Lord was with them. He no doubt had been with them
before, but now there was the evident presence of the Saviour
with them. What a blessing for us today,
if the Lord comes by His Spirit and we feel His presence with
us. in the fiery trial. So he came there and he said,
the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. So he comes,
he speaks then to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Ye servants of
the Most High God. What a change! What a change
in the way He speaks to them. There is now an acknowledgement
that they are the servants of the Most High God. Not their
God, but it was their God, but the Most High God. It's a wonderful
demonstration of the wonderful favour and influence that Almighty
God can bring into the life of people. And so it was here. He
came and said, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, ye servants of
the Most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego came forth out of the midst of the fire. There was then, you see, this
wonderful deliverance. God's work had been accomplished. God had brought about what He
determined to do. He had delivered them in His
way, a very different way to what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
could ever have envisaged. And the Lord does so today. He
still brings deliverances in our lives in a way that we could not have envisaged. Whoever would have thought that
these men would have come out of the burning fiery furnace?
Who could have ever thought the Lord would have been evident
with them in that furnace? And yet it was so. And so we're
told that the princes, governors and captains and the king's counsellors
being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire
had no power, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither
were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed
on them." And if you and I know what that is, you only have to
get near to a fire, you only have to, if you're putting any
logs on a fire or anything, and put them on, when your hand gets
near to the fire, the smell of fire comes upon you. So here
there was no smell of fire but a very clear deliverance. Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and
said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has
sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in
him and have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies,
that they might not serve nor worship any god except their
own God." Well there was indeed therefore a wonderful deliverance. What a good thing it was. We
have so many encouraging words in the scriptures to speak to
us and Micah that little prophecy in the last chapter of chapter
7 and almost the last verse we read therefore I will look unto
the Lord that's who these men look to they didn't look to the King
and say Lord King have mercy upon us they look beyond the
King they look to the Lord and so what a blessing it is therefore
I will look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me." Their God had heard them. My friends today, our God still
hears our cry. He does indeed. Let us be very
clear, it's not always answer in the way that we expect. I
suppose we could probably say, he very seldom answers in the
exact way that we expect. And the reason for that is very
clear. The Lord tells us, my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. The great purpose for our lives
is the honour and glory of God. And God therefore brings things
to pass in our lives, which so clearly demonstrates the power
of Almighty God. So that his name is lifted up
and his name is glorified. And this King Nebuchadnezzar,
well it's not, in my mind and many people's, it's not clear
whether this king was a believer or not. But whatever the position,
he clearly set forth the truth of God. in these words, and he
goes on to say, therefore I make a decree, a law, that every people,
nation and language which speak anything amiss against the God
of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, their
houses shall be made in dunghill, because there is no other God
that can deliver out of this sort. How true. How true it was. How good that this king was brought
to acknowledge it. If it hadn't been brought about
by this way, then that verdict would not have been given. But
come back to the situation. These men had to go into the
burning fiery furnace. their faith had to be tested. It had to be made very evident
that they were trusting in the Lord. It had to be proved very
clearly that they were submitting to the will of Almighty God for
them. Therefore, as we think of these
things and The Lord knows in the day and age in which we live
we may have to face difficulties which we never thought we would,
and yet to be blessed with that trust in the Lord. And as David tells us in the
50th Psalm, he speaks here of the Lord, call upon me in the
day of trouble. I will deliver thee and, and
this is very important, and thou shalt glorify me." God brings
about deliverances for his honour and for his glory. So if God
graciously comes and delivers you, perhaps from the burning
fiery furnace, whatever it may be from, don't forget to thank
God. Don't forget to praise God. Don't forget to
honour and glorify His great and holy name. Yes, this God
is a great God. He is a mighty God. Mighty to save. It's a lovely
phrase that. I love to speak of it. Mighty to save. He was in the case here of Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego. He is mighty to save in all of
our lives. It's wonderful. Isaiah, that's
where it comes from in Isaiah 63 and the very first verse and
it's a wonderful statement. Let me read it to you. Who is
this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah? this
that is glorious in its apparel, traveling in the greatness of
its strength, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save."
What is it? Of course, it's the words of
the Saviour. It's about the Saviour. It's a wonderful statement, isn't
it? And we're thankful to know that we have the same mighty God today because
the word tells us Jesus is the same yesterday and today and
forever and he's mighty to save us today as he was in all those
years ago in the life of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego he hasn't
lost any of his power what a mercy that is And what a blessing it is for
us today to realise the power of God. Now these three men have
been cast into the burning, fiery furnace. They may have feared. They may have feared. Well there are many fear nots
in the Word of God and we are thankful for it. But there are
those times, you may remember that glorious occasion in the
life of Peter, James and John when Jesus was on the earth and
he took them up this high mountain and was transfigured before them
and in that transfiguration Moses and Elijah came and spoke with
the Lord about his decease and we're told that a cloud overshadowed
them and we're told this that Peter, James and John they feared
to enter into the cloud, but in actual fact it was a cloud
of blessing. These men, it wasn't a cloud,
but it was a burning fiery furnace and it was a time of blessing.
So let us not fear therefore, although at the time we may to
be given faith, to trust in the Lord. Because the Lord tells
us this. The Apostle Paul tells us, under
the influence of the Spirit of God, when he wrote, for we know,
going through Romans, for we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God and to
those who are the called. called into his calling. In the
Apostle's life, there were many occasions when he suffered greatly. But the Lord was with him. The
Lord blessed him. My friends, we live now in 2021,
but we have the same God who still delivers. And the same
God who teaches us for our profit. You see, when you and I pass
through these times, we never forget them. Never forget them. And it proves to us that we're
worshipping the true God. We're not worshipping a false
God. We're worshipping the true God. The God who lives forever. Bless God when therefore he brings
us into situations which, faced with them, we think it's a terrible
thing and a difficult thing and an impossible thing. But there
must be found trusting in God that there will be a good result. There would be a blessed result. And as I've said, don't forget
those words of the Apostle, all things work together for good.
all things, he says, not just some things, all things, trace
back our lives, see how it's been worked out, bless God with
faith to believe that in the future it will be worked out
for our good and above all things for the honour and glory of Almighty
God. Well, this is indeed a wonderful
account and may we think upon it and It's a very interesting
story for you young people, but it's a wonderful account of God's
deliverance and of God's mercy. And so may all of us this morning
rejoice in it and bless God for it. Amen.