DANIEL 3:8
The Bible says in Daniel 3:8-18, “Wherefore at
that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.[9] They
spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.[10]
Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of
the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of
musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:[11] And whoso
falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a
burning fiery furnace.[12] There are certain Jews whom thou hast set
over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego;
these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up.[13] Then Nebuchadnezzar in his
rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they
brought these men before the king.[14] Nebuchadnezzar spake and said
unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my
gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?[15] Now if ye be
ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the
image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye 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?[16] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered
and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in
this matter.[17] 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.[18] 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.”
These three believers made a very brave decision. I hope it is a decision that
any believer would make. We cannot bow down and worship a false god. Jesus is
our Savior and our God. Jesus is the only One that we will worship. It does
happen for some in this world that they will be faced with the decision to
chose life and the denial of Christ, or to choose death in order to stay
faithful to Him. What will get us through such an ordeal even it does lead to
our death: faith. It says in First John 5:4, “For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith.” We
know that Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego had faith because they said in Daniel
3:17, “our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.”
That did not mean that God would deliver them, but He could. We are all going
to die eventually, unless Jesus comes back first. If the Lord delays His
return, the day will come when more people will have to make tough decisions in
order to stay faithful to the Lord Jesus.
The Bible says in Daniel 3:19-25, “Then was
Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they
should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.[20]
And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.[21]
Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and
their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery
furnace.[22] Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and
the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.[23] And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery
furnace.[24] Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in
haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men
bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O
king.[25] He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like
the Son of God.” The three children of
The Bible says in Daniel 3:26-30, “Then
Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake,
and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God,
come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth
of the midst of the fire.[27] And the princes, governors, and captains,
and the king's counsellers, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose
bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither
were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.[28]
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-nego, 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.[29] Therefore
I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing
amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in
pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other
God that can deliver after this sort.[30] Then the king promoted
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon.”
In verse 26 King Nebuchadnezzar called Meshach,
Shadrach, and Abednego “servants of
the most high God.” There were probably many
things that could be said about these three men, but the king noticed their
closeness to God and the true spiritual lives that they had. For believers,
that is what we all want. We know that Jesus wants us to be witnesses for Him.
It says in Second Peter 2:12, “Having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as
evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in
the day of visitation.” The word
“conversation” means “manner of life.” When people see that we live a life of
faith, some will be attracted to the Gospel of Christ. That is what happened
with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When a difficult and deadly situation
came their way, they trusted in the Lord and in His will.
The king saw what the Lord did in
their lives. The king’s conclusion about what happened when the three were
saved out of the fiery furnace was that God “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.” We might not have a literal fire that we will pass through, but
we will most certainly have fiery trials. It says in First Peter 1:7, “That the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” It also says in First
Peter 4:12, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto
you:” We will have victory over our fiery
trials if we do the same thing that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did:
believe that the Lord is able to deliver us, and trust in Him to do His will.
The Bible says in Daniel 4:1-3, “Nebuchadnezzar
the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth;
Peace be multiplied unto you.[2] I thought it good to shew the signs and
wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.[3] How great are his
signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion is from generation to generation.” In these verses we can see
that the king of
The Bible says in Daniel 4:4-17, “I
Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:[5]
I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the
visions of my head troubled me.[6] Therefore made I a decree to bring in
all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the
interpretation of the dream.[7] Then came in the magicians, the
astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before
them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.[8]
But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar,
according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods:
and before him I told the dream, saying,[9] O Belteshazzar, master of
the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and
no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and
the interpretation thereof.[10] Thus were the visions of mine head in my
bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof
was great.[11] The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof
reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:[12]
The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat
for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the
heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.[13] I
saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy
one came down from heaven;[14] He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down
the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his
fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:[15]
Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of
iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the
dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the
earth:[16] Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart
be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.[17] This matter is
by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to
the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of
men.” The purpose of this dream was to show to Nebuchadnezzar
what was going to happen to him personally. From his high and lofty position he
would be brought low. That was absolutely necessary if Nebuchadnezzar was going
to be brought to the place of seeing his need for God. One of the greatest
enemies of man is pride, because pride keeps people from coming to know the
Lord. But often the only way to get rid of the pride is to bring a person down
from their lofty perch. One of the reasons that God allows bad things to happen
to people is so they will see their need of Jesus and turn to Him for
help.
There are several interesting phrases
in this passage of scripture. Notice verse 17, “This matter is by the decree
of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones.” “The
watchers” refers to either angels or to the trinity. The One who makes decrees
and demands is God. But whether you are calling angels or the trinity
“watchers,” the message is the same: someone is watching the affairs of men
because that someone is interested and involved. Verse 16 says, “and let seven
times pass over him.” The phrase “seven times” means “seven years,” and we will find the
word “times” used for years quite a few more places in the book of Daniel,
which will be important for understanding a timeline of the events of the last
days.
Finally, let’s consider Daniel 4:17, “the most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and
setteth up over it the basest of men.” There are two
principal truths given here: 1. God sets up the leaders of countries. 2. The
leaders of countries are “the basest of men.” That is not a ringing
endorsement, by the way. No wonder the countries of the world are so messed up.
The worse people in the world are the leaders. You could take almost anyone off
the street, and replace our leaders with these common individuals, and we would
all be better off. Of course, then would come into play the fact that power
corrupts, which is one of the reasons that our leaders are the basest of men.
Whenever human beings get too much of anything, they seem to be corrupted,
whether that is too much wealth, too much fame, too much beauty, or too much
power. That is another reason that Jesus is the King of kings. Jesus will have
all these things and more, and yet He will still be holy and good.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2013 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved