Sunday, September 21
One is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in their little hats. One of the funny details of this chapter is that it will say that they added their hats, like when they threw in it, it was like their hats and their robes, all of it, right into the fire. Also, when Nebuchadnezzar worships the God of Israel, that lasts literally about three minutes, and next thing you know, he's back to worshiping himself in chapter four. We'll get there next week. We're going to go ahead and pray, and then we'll dive into our text this morning. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are with us, even in the midst of the fire. And so I ask this morning as we face the choice between pride and jealousy and fear that you would call us instead to faithfulness, that you would set our feet upon the rock and that we would not be moved no matter what it is we encounter. Would you help us to see that all the flow,
though the fires of this life can seem great, you are greater, and that you use these moments in the fire oftentimes to purify, to free us, and to transform us. We thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So it was August 23, 2011. Some of you, if you have lived in this area, actually up and down the East Coast, you may remember this event. I remember very specifically where I was sitting. I was sitting up here. It was a weekday morning, and we were doing some work in the sound room, and I was sitting exactly where Derek was sitting. And on that morning, all of a sudden, it felt like somebody had driven a car into the side of the church, because the whole thing started shaking. And I had no idea at that time, we ran outside and hit the building, that there was a large earthquake centered down near Mineral, Virginia, 5.8 on that scale.
It felt from Georgia all the way to New England. And one of the interesting things as this earthquake occurred, and in the slight aftermath, more in the area around the epicenter, but where we are not very much, was the reaction. Our first reaction was kind of confusion. What just happened? Because we generally don't have earthquakes here, and so it was a strange thing. There was also a lot of fear, especially as the news came out that the epicenter was like 10 miles from the Lake Anna nuclear power plant, and we were just like six months after Fukushima in Japan, and everybody's worried that we're going to have nuclear. So fear was on some people's mind. And what's interesting, as you went further south, the damage did get worse, but nobody was seriously hurt. But there was also, in the midst of this, a mass of uncertainty. So one of the things that happened after the earthquake is everybody's
phone stopped working, and people said, "Well, it was damaged by the earthquake." No, it was because everybody from Georgia to like Vermont started calling each other at the exact same time. There were some people who didn't even realize it just happened. And then there were some people who found great humor in the situation. This was my favorite bit of humor was this image, right? "We will rebel," because this is about what happened in Winchester during that time. And so this picture of this earthquake, in many ways, gives us kind of a view into our lives right now. There are times in life where it feels like the ground shakes beneath us. And just like in that earthquake, people responded, some in fear, some in worry, some in curiosity, some with humor. We respond to the shaking of life in a lot of different ways. It's exactly what we see in Daniel chapter 3.
Nebuchadnezzar is told, in Daniel chapter 2, that while his kingdom is great, and the head of gold in this vision that he has, it will not last forever. And Nebuchadnezzar, upon hearing that news, responds in pride, trying to build an image that will last forever. The Chaldeans, or the wise men, or sort of the advisors to the king, they find out they don't have as much power as they thought in chapter 2, and so they respond in jealousy. They respond in jealousy, trying to tear down other people. And then there is the fear, the fear that lurks in every difficult situation, that whispers threats, that calls us to conform, that tempts us to compromise. These three things, pride, jealousy, and fear, these different responses, ultimately are masks for the same problem, is that we are insecure. And so in a life, when the ground shakes, one of our first instincts,
almost always, is to try to run to ourselves. It's been true since the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve run to themselves to try to fix it, run to themselves to try to hide, run to themselves to try to make excuses or blame someone else, and we haven't changed. And so when life gets shaky, one of our default positions is to turn ourselves inward. And Daniel chapter 3 is going to show us what happens when that begins to take over in our lives, why jealousy and fear begin to result. And ultimately, in all our pride and all our jealousy and all our fear, it will collapse. And so I want to start here as we turn our eyes toward the picture of trusting in ourself and to show you how this collapses. And I'm going to read just sort of some excerpts from this section. And so there is a slide for that. We're not going to go there because it doesn't all,
the computer put it all on kind of one slide in very, very small print. So I'm just going to keep that slide up. And I'll just read through this a little bit of this section. "King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth was six cubits. He set it up on the plains of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the counselors and the treasurers and the justices and the magistrates. And all the officials of the providences to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." And when all of these different people come, from all different nations and all different tribes and all different tongues, a messenger will proclaim this in verse 4.
"You are commanded, O peoples, nations, when you hear the sound of all of these different musical instruments, you are to fall down and to worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the burning, fiery furnace." And so when the people heard the sound of all of the musical instruments, all the peoples' nations and languages fell down and worshiped the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward to maliciously accuse the Jews. And they declared, "O King Nebuchadnezzar, live forever! You, O King, have made a decree that the sound of every horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, every kind of music, you shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning furnace.
There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the fairies of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these men pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." And the first thing we see in these first verses, in this first section, is that pride, first of all, seeks to find its strength in itself. And so Nebuchadnezzar, having this dream in chapter 2 of various kingdoms being superseded by another kingdom and by another kingdom on down through history, says, "One day my kingdom will be replaced." And instead of looking at his life and saying, "What shall I do with what God has given me here?" He says, "You know what? I'm going to try to build a kingdom that will last forever." So Nebuchadnezzar builds his own great image. And a great image it was, 60 cubits by 6 cubits.
I don't have a tape measure that does cubits, but if you want the approximation, it's about 18 inches. So we're talking about a 90 foot tall statue, about 9 feet wide. This is a massive golden statue. Let me just ask you a question, right? We just know that in his dream he had a statue. Now this statue that he builds, what do you think this statue really looks like? I imagine it's a statue of Nebuchadnezzar himself, 90 feet tall. And what you find is not only does pride seek to strengthen itself, but pride fights reality. And what Nebuchadnezzar is saying, "With all this gold, my kingdom is going to last." I know God has said, "Some will come after me, but not on my watch." Logically, we know that all things come to an end, right?
All kingdoms, no matter how strong, eventually fall, Nebuchadnezzar in this moment is fighting reality. And instead of using the time that he has for good, he just pretends that he can make it last forever. And so not only does pride seek ourselves and to lift ourselves up, pride denies the very reality that we live in. And what's remarkable here is that pride repeats history. There was another great tower that was set up in Genesis chapter 11. It was Shinar, and it was built as a picture of human glory. In Daniel chapter 3, we find this statue is built on the plain of Dura. And that is in the same location. It would be like saying Shenandoah Valley and Winchester. The plains of Shinar were the general region. This place of Dura is in the middle of this region.
And so this is the same general area where the Tower of Babel was built in rebellion against what God had commanded. Because God had said, "Go forth into the world, multiply, fill the earth up." And the people said, "We're not going anywhere." And they parked themselves on the plain of Shinar and built a monument to their own achievement. And here is Nebuchadnezzar with this dream that says to him, "There are going to be kingdoms after you." And yes, your kingdom is great, but it will eventually come to the end. And in rebellion against God, he says, "Not on my watch." And in the same area, builds a statue to his own achievement. You see, pride does and repeats history. And what you find is that pride ultimately replaces God with ourselves. Listen to what he says in chapter 3 in verse 15.
"If you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?" The implied answer here is there is no God strong enough to overcome the power of Nebuchadnezzar. And look how it's forgotten that in very recent events, Nebuchadnezzar has learned there's no God like the Hebrew God. In fact, just a few verses before this, at the end of chapter 2, he says that God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings. And pride ultimately only cares for itself. As he sends his soldiers to throw these Hebrews into the fire, they come in, and what happens is the fire was heated so hot his soldiers are destroyed. And what you find as well is that pride backfires. The decree to destroy these Hebrews becomes the occasion for God's glory and their promotion.
You see, pride pretends that it has forever, and it's an illusion and a lie to hide the uncertainty of our heart. And so here we see the second reaction: jealousy. And what jealousy does is it tears others down in order to lift itself up. And we meet these people, these Chaldeans, and we'll find that this used to be a term for a nomadic tribe in southern Mesopotamia. But in Daniel, a group of people who sort of sum up all of the knowledge arts: the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, the astrologers, the astronomers, those who could read and those who could study. And after this verse in Daniel chapter 2 that lists some of these groups adds the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans are sort of used as a blanket term for all of these knowledgeable professions. And in Daniel 2, they're the primary spokesman. In Daniel 3, they're the accusers.
And there is some history here with Daniel and his friends. In Daniel chapter 2, they are unable to interpret the king's dream and almost get everybody killed. God reveals the dream to Daniel, and he is promoted along with his friends. And in Daniel chapter 2, you find this happening: the king gave Daniel many high honors and many great gifts, made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. And then Daniel makes a request of the king, and he appoints Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as his helpers, and he remains in the king's court. And so this group, the Chaldeans, they've lost their power, they've lost their prestige and their influence, and they're upset. And jealousy, it's so interesting because it reveals itself frequently in two ways.
First, jealousy reveals itself as a desire for what somebody else has, right? Man, that looks good. I wish I could have it. And we become jealous and desire what somebody else has. But the second part of jealousy, which I think may be more dangerous, is anger over people having what we don't. So on one hand, jealousy says they have that. I wish I had it. On the other hand, it looks at what people have and says they don't deserve it. And it's that second tendency that begins to tear people down. And what we find out about the Chaldeans is they are a bunch of snitches. Because Daniel and his friends don't bow down to worship, and they immediately run to the king to try to tear them down. Listen to what they said. "There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the prophets of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." It's your fault. They are bad. You've appointed them. This is all your fault, king. And what we find is that jealousy tends to linger in our hearts. The problems begin in chapter 2, rears its ugly head in chapter 3. And what we're going to see again in chapter 5 is these same people seek to tear down, or in chapter 6. Jealousy tears down. If I can't have it, neither can they. Jealousy is also really good at finding an agenda. These Chaldeans shield their agenda in loyalty and concern for the king. King, we're worried about you. We're concerned about you. Hiding their motives behind fancy words. And jealousy ultimately is futile. It never gets what it wants because it's never satisfied.
Jealousy ultimately is like pride, and then it seeks our own agenda. And it's different, but it's also similar. Because jealousy oftentimes, instead of building up, seeks to tear down. Let me just give you what I think is a beautiful glimpse of the gospel in an aside here. These Chaldeans who are humbled in Daniel chapter 2, who seek to have these Hebrews killed in Genesis chapter 3, who get Daniel thrown into the den of lions. These people, 600 years later, there will be a group of Chaldeans, but we know them as wise men, of this same group, this same order. Astronomers, astrologers, people in the knowledge profession who see a star in the east, and they journey and they worship Jesus, the first people from outside of Israel, are part of this same group who 600 years before sought to kill God's people in Israel.
And you see this wonderful picture, that God, 600 years later, it's this same type of group, with the same kind of superstitions and the same kind of pagan worship that is called to come and see Jesus. You see, we're not too far away from hope. But we've seen pride that tears down, or bells up. We've seen jealousy that tears down. Let's take a look at fear. You see, what fear does is it bows down to save our own skins. The threat in verse 6 is either you bow or you burn. And the crowd bows, not from belief, but because they're afraid. They're not necessarily excited to get on their faces in the ground in front of a giant golden statue, but they're afraid of what will happen if they don't. And what you find is that fear makes us conform. Fear makes us compromise.
Or you can hear the whisper of fear. Just fit in. Just stay quiet. Don't stand for what you believe. You don't even have to really worship Nebuchadnezzar's statue. Just go through the motions. And fear ultimately enslaves us. You see, those who bowed thought they were safe, but they were captives of their fear. You see, fear bows to try to seek salvation, but it only makes us slaves. You see, pride, jealousy, and fear are all masks of insecurity. And in Christ, we are secure and unshaken. Ourselves, we always fail. Pride collapses. Jealousy poisons our heart. Fear enslaves us. And now we're going to take a look at a different response. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand before the most powerful king in the world. And instead of scrambling to save themselves, they stand with courage. And that courage doesn't come from themselves, but their faith in a faithful God.
Let's take a look at the courage of faith. So in verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar is in a furious rage. He commands Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought. And so these men are dragged before the king, and he will ask them and inquire of them, "Is it true that you refuse to worship the golden image that I have set up?" And then he does something remarkable. He said, "I'll give you a second chance. How about right in front of me? I'll call the band back in. They'll play their music. You bow down and worship. But if you do not worship, you will be immediately cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And whose God will deliver you from my hands?" Listen to their reply. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king. "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
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 your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that he will not serve the golden image that you have set up." And here you see the beautiful courage of faith. You see, first of all, faith answers boldly. These young men are massively outnumbered. It's very obvious they're in defiance of the king's command. If everybody else is laying on their face in front of this statue, and you're the only guy standing up, everybody can see you, everybody notices you. All these people, all this power, this mighty king, this force arrayed against them. And Nebuchadnezzar rages with a furious anger. And these three men, they say, "We don't have to answer."
They're not being rude. He's given them another chance, but what they're saying is that we don't need to answer this question because we've already answered it with how we have acted the first time you have called us to worship. What they're saying is that we are not budging. You see, faith answers with calm boldness, not frantic fear. And contrast this to pride that becomes so angry when questioned or refused. The faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in their calm response standing next to the fury of a king whose pride has been injured. And notice their conviction refuses compromise. Their words, "Respectful yet firm." They honor the king with their words, but they do so without surrendering their conviction. And they say this, "Even if it goes badly." Isn't it remarkable what they say? Our God can save us.
We believe He will save us. And even if we perish in this furnace, we will stand firm in the strength of our conviction. Contrast this to the futility of jealousy. While others tear people down to lift themselves up, these men elevate God at great personal cost. Faith doesn't bow even when faced with the furnace. You see, faith rests securing God, not just in the outcome. You see, their obedience isn't conditional. We'll follow God as long as they're saying, "Even if we die here, God is still faithful." Contrast that to the futility of fear. The crowd bows to save themselves, but these men say, "We are free and will worship God even if we die." You see, unshaken faith rests not in the results, but in the God who ultimately reigns. Here's what we see. Pride can't save you. Jealousy schemes collapse. Fear enslaves.
But this kind of courageous faith changes things. And the question is, how do we get from that kind of courage, how do we get that kind of courage? How do we get that kind of faith? It's one thing to look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and say, "Man, they're great." How is it possible for us to stand like that? And I think we find the answer in the fire itself. You see, courage comes from knowing the God who doesn't just reign over kingdoms, but the one who is with us even when we're in the fire. I'm going to pick it up in verse 19. Nebuchadnezzar is so filled with fury. The expression of his face is changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He orders the fire heated seven times hotter, and he gets some of his strongest men, his mighty men, to go tie them up.
And they are bound in their cloaks, their tunics, and their hats, and their other garments, and they are thrown into the fiery furnace. And because the king's order was so urgent and the furnace so overheated, the flames of the fire killed the men who took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the furnace. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound. Note that. They're tied up into the fiery furnace. King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and arose in haste. And he declared to his counselor, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" And they answered and said to the king, "True, O king." He says, "I see four men, unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. One is the appearance, like a son of the gods." And Nebuchadnezzar comes close, and he calls them out.
And he calls them now with respect, "Servants of the Most High God." And they come out of the fire, surrounded by all of the people who have just bowed down and worshiped. And they see the fire had no power over any of their bodies. The hair of their heads was not singed. Their cloaks were not harmed. And the smell of fire didn't even come upon them. And Nebuchadnezzar will say to be this, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants who trusted him. And they set aside the king's command, and yielded their bodies, rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb,
their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other God who is able to rescue this way." And the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babel. What I want you to see, first of all, is this fire is no joke, right? Heated seven times, so hot that to even get to the door, the guards carrying these men die. There is no escape, they are surrounded, they are bound, and it is deadly. And in the fire, here's what we see, the beauty of good news. I see four men, unbound, walking in the midst of fire, and they are not hurt, and the appearance of the fourth is like a Son of God. People have argued back and forth, "Is this an angel, or is this the pre-incarnate Christ?" And it's my view, I think, from what we see in Scripture, that this is Jesus.
Before He is born and lives and dies, standing in the fire with these three faithful servants. And I want you to see how this furnace contrasts everything else in this chapter. Because we love a good comeback story. We love when everything gets turned around. In verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar makes an image of gold, and he sets it up. And I want you to notice this. First of all, this image was made. And if you think about it, shouldn't gods make men rather than men making gods? But that's what happens here. Pride creates a reality. And creates false saviors we must make ourselves. In the first 18 verses, something like nine times, you run across this phrase we see here. He set it up. Over and over again. It's not an accident. They worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
They were commanded to bow before the image Nebuchadnezzar set up. And it's not an accident. And it shows the emptiness. To expose the futility of this worship of this idol. This idol cannot stand unless it is made and somebody props it up. If you go back to verse 25, look at what you see. The God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking in the fire. Not made. Not set up. Walking around. What you find is that pride tells us we have to go and make our own salvation. Here we see that God comes to us and saves us. Right? Even in the midst of the fire. Bold faith doesn't bow to idols that must be held up, but it rests in the God who holds us up. And He doesn't just deliver from the fire, but He delivers in the fire.
And what you find is that fire refines. It doesn't always destroy. Verse 27. Not a hair was singed, no smell of smoke. Their bonds, however, were burned off. You see, the jealousy of the Chaldeans bound them, but God uses the fire to set them free. You see, the fire should have destroyed them, but instead it sets them free from what had chained them up. And sometimes you and I, maybe not in the middle of a fiery furnace in Babylon, but we are in the middle of the fire of life. And we're saying, "God, get me out of the fire," when in fact God is using that fire to free us. And notice that this even applies to the smell of smoke. That in the fire, God sets them free from their captivity. This fourth man in the fire points to Christ, our deliverer, who ultimately goes and endures judgment on the cross on our behalf.
You see, fear bows to self, but Christ saves by giving himself. And so there's this closing contrast. Nebuchadnezzar will declare, "No other God is able to rescue in this way." And you see the futility of pride and jealousy and fear, and they all collapse, and faithfulness is revealed. Only God rescues. We started back in 2011 with our Virginia earthquake. It shook buildings. Some people's nerves were rattled. And it revealed to us, in some cases, how shaky we really are. And Daniel chapter 3 shows us the same thing. When the ground shakes, pride tries to build idols and clings to them. Jealousy tries to tear other people down. And fear bows down in order to save self, and all of it is empty. But the story here in Daniel 3 doesn't end there. The furnace reveals something deeper.
That God is faithful. He walks with his people in the fire. He turns flames into freedom. And he points us to Jesus, the one who went into the ultimate suffering, so that we can stand secure. And so when the ground shakes under your feet, you don't have to scramble for pride, jealousy, or fear. You can stand unshaken because he reigns, and because he walks with us in the fire. Just for a moment, I want you to try to diagnose your heart for a moment. I want to do so by asking just a couple questions. The first is, what are you leaning on? We all like to lean on stuff, right? When we're standing around and there's something to lean on, most of us will stand and lean on it. It's one of the reasons I enjoy working with horses.
First of all, you get a cool hat, and secondly, you get to lean on stuff. If you look at any cowboy movie, they're always leaning on a fence, leaning on a gate, leaning on a horse. And all of us in life lean on things, and when the earth shakes under our feet in the trials of life, where are we leaning? Are we leaning on pride, jealousy, or fear? Or are we leaning on a faithful God? And because our faith rests on God's faithfulness, we need to ask ourselves where we are resting. Secondly, I want to ask us this question: What are you speaking? Right, so notice this contrast: Pride gets very loud, jealousy gets very petty, fear gets quiet, but faith is both respectful and firm. Jesus says, "Our words show us our hearts." How are you speaking? What's the center of your speech?
And third, how are you walking? The picture of the Christian life that is used frequently in Scripture is that of walking. And just like a doctor might diagnose an injury or a problem with how we walk, so we as Christians must do the same. You see, when we struggle to live rightly, there is a problem that needs to be diagnosed, whether in fear, pride, jealousy. But maybe you're limping. Maybe God's leading you. You see, our life tells a story. What are we running after? You see, faith is not about our strength, but about the faithfulness of God. Because He reigns and walks with us, we can speak with courage, without compromise, and endure with hope, even in the fire. And all of this points to Jesus, the one who went into the ultimate trial at the cross.
So no furnace in this life can ever shake us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus and for grace. We ask that you would help us to see that you reign even when we walk through those difficult moments in life. We thank you for grace. It's in your Son's name we pray. Amen. We're going...