We shall reflect on the thought that there can be no full experience of peace and rest unless our spiritual roots go down deep by faith into God. We need to learn to rest, not in the immediate, but in the ultimate understanding that God knows best, and that everything He does is motivated by His loving heart. The faith of the three young men in the passage we are reading has been described as the ‘if not’ faith. This is because they made it clear that if God did not rescue them they would still refuse to worship the image of gold, even though they knew that as a consequence they would certainly burn to death in the blazing furnace. They did not rest their confidence on condition in God’s immediate deliverance, but in His ultimate love. To have the faith that rests in constant goodness and love of God, no matter what we face or whatever happens, is really challenging. However, we read in the Bible many examples of those who trusted in God’s faithfulness regardless of what the situation is, and this is exactly what God wants from His real children. Many years ago I came across these lines, which I then wrote in my Bible: Nothing that happens can harm me, Whether I lose or win. Though life may be changed on the surface, I do my main living within. We may face many difficulties and struggle in life, but God has promised to be an ‘ever-present help in trouble’ as seen in Psalm 46:1. Even when we don’t understand or can’t see very far ahead, we too can learn, like these three young men, to trust in our God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Now let us read Daniel 3:13-30; 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and these men were brought before the king. 14 [Then] Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer or bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, very good. But if you do not worship, you shall be cast at once into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that god who can deliver you out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, it is not necessary for us to answer you on this point. 17 If our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up! 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and his facial expression was changed [to antagonism] against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded the strongest men in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these [three] men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics or undergarments, their turbans, and their other clothing, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame and sparks from the fire killed those men who handled Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king [saw and] was astounded, and he jumped up and said to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered, True, O king. 25 He answered, Behold, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt! And the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods! 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, the deputies, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered around together and saw these men—that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed; neither were their garments scorched or changed in color or condition, nor had even the smell of smoke clung to them. 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who believed in, trusted in, and relied on Him! And they set aside the king’s command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, and language that speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghill, for there is no other God who can deliver in this way! 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

This is exactly what our Lord God wants us to do, to believed in, trusted in, and relied on Him implicitly! A sermon on Daniel 3:13-30 would likely center on the theme of unwavering faith and obedience to God, even in the face of persecution and death. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's defiance of King Nebuchadnezzar's decree and their miraculous deliverance from the fiery furnace would serve as a powerful illustration of God's faithfulness and protection in the face of real faith. The sermon could also explore the dangers of idolatry and the importance of remaining true to one's convictions, regardless of social pressure. This morning we come to one of my favorite stories in the Bible. When I was young, I usually heard Daniel 3 referred to as the story of the three children of Israel in the fiery furnace. Being a child at the time, I thought Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were three young boys like me. As I got older and entered my teens, I learned these three men were captured as teens, and since this is only chapter 3, I concluded these were three brave young men that were my age or only a little older. Their defiance of the king’s terrible command was inspiration to a teenager to stand firm on truth no matter the consequences. As I got older and actually studied the book of Daniel in depth, I have grown even more in my appreciation for not only the example of faithfulness and integrity seen in these three men, but even more so of what the story reveals about God’s amazing character and ways in forcing Kings, especially King Nebuchadnezzar and all of his officials to acknowledge Him as the Most High God. No one dares our God because if you do, He has His way of showing you Who He is! The Trial – Daniel 3:13-15; In rage and with anger he has the three men brought before him. It appears that Nebuchadnezzar values these men and may have seen through the jealousy that motivated the Chaldeans to accuse them. Instead of immediately having them thrown into the fire, he calmed himself enough to question them and personally repeat his command to them giving them another opportunity to obey it but also including the stern warning and deadly consequence. Nebuchadnezzar then adds, “and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” There are two possible reasons or a combination of them that would cause him to make this statement. First, the king could be so proud and arrogant he claims that even the gods could not deliver them. Second, the worship of the golden image could include the worship of a god that he believes is superior that would prevent any god they served from rescuing them. Either way, this challenge is the set up that will ultimately bring glory to the true God. A Faithful Response – Daniel 3:16-18; The answer these three men give is the model for how all those who follow the true God should respond when challenged about being obedient first and foremost to Him our true and only God. Notice that in spite of their true faith in God they were not rude or show any pride to the king, but they were direct and sincere in their faith in the true God. In view of the king’s statement, they saw no need to give an explanation for why they would not bow and worship the golden image. They simply state their faith in their own God and His abilities while also yielding themselves to His will regardless of what He chooses to do or allow to happen to them knowing that He our God will be glorified in the end. Contrary to the king’s claim of absolute power to condemn them, they knew their lives were in the hands of their God, and they were at peace even if obedience to God cost them their lives. There are many times when obedience to God will mean persecution even to the point of martyrdom. Church history is filled with such stories and it continues to this day and especially in areas controlled by Communists, strict Muslims or fanatic Hindus amid others. Life is different for professing Christians that have that kind of trust in God’s abilities and yield themselves in that way to the Lord’s will, for such trust and submission results in a holy life that has a peace that surpasses all comprehension. It has a confidence when facing the future even when it looks bleak. I think that most of us would like to believe we would respond the way they these three men did if we were in their situation, but whether you would or not depends on what you actually believe about God. The reality is that we do face all sorts of similar though less dramatic situations in daily life that challenges our trust and submission to God. How you respond to those are the indicators of what you would do if facing a serious or even life threatening situation. The question now is what would you do if you find yourself in these similar situations? Now let us consider some of the situations we often face in practical life: Peer Pressure: 1) Your friends want to go to a movie that the reviews report glorifies immorality and blasphemes God. 2) Your friends are drinking and getting intoxicated. 3) Your enjoying an activity with your friends, but now they are breaking the posted rules and they want you to join them. 4) Your friends are advocating ideas and actions that you know are contrary to God’s word. These are some of the tempting situations we face following our peers, and the question is will we continue in situations that we know are not pleasing to God? School Pressure: 1) Your teacher is an evolutionist and grades down those who disagree with him and you have to write a paper on the origin of life and you know that if you really write the truth according the word of God, your teacher will fail you, what will you do?. 2) In a class discussion the claim is made that either God is impotent or does not exist because there is evil in the world. In such situation what will be your contribution in such class discussion when you know that if you tell the truth your teacher will place you in his wrong books! Work Pressure: 1) Your boss gives you new sales literature that lies about the product you are selling and you know it. 2) Your boss wants you to sign off on a padded expense list and you know exactly that it is padded. 3) You were hired with the understanding that you would not work on Sundays, but a new boss just changed your hours to include Sunday morning. 4) New work rules demand that you use a person’s preferred pronouns which are contrary to what they are in reality. These are some of the situations we face in real life situation and this is why our Lord God prepared us ahead of time saying, we should pray, lead me not into temptation! Can you now understand? This is why I as a person is always thankful to my Lord God Almighty for always not leading me into temptation! Notice that when we talk about temptation we are not meaning those situations that you can easily avoid bearing in mind that our God said He will not allow the things that are above us to come our way, but when they come what is it telling us? Government Pressure: 1) You are a photographer and you declined to work a homosexual wedding and now a law suit is threatening your business license. 2) You are a nursing student and a new State law requires you to participate in abortion training. 3) You are on a public sidewalk passing out gospel literature and a police officer arrests you for it. 4) You are being mandated to take an experimental medical treatment contrary to what you believe is the right thing to do before God. All of these are real situations that have happened and there are thousands more like them that are still happening. You will be put to the test of whether you will obey God first and foremost or yield to the pressure to conform to some other standard in some cases by force. Your ability to stand firm will be based on your level of believe, trust and submission to God, and one very vital character of our God is that He always trains you in relatively easy situations before you face the extremely difficult ones so that you can cope but more often we fail to take God’s training of us very seriously and some time we do not even realize that we are being trained by our God. Remember that 1 Corinthians 10:13 assures us that God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able which we talked about above. He our God always provides a way of escape so that you can endure the situation rightly but sometimes we fail to recognize these Way Of Escape before us! The Judgment – Daniel 3:19-23; Their calm but defiant response causes Nebuchadnezzar to completely lose his temper. If the king wanted to cause them to suffer, he would have cooled the fire so they would live longer in its agony and pains. In his anger he commanded the opposite and heated the furnace up seven times hotter which would kill them faster, but all that managed to do was cause the death of the mighty men charged with casting them into the furnace. The deaths of these valiant men proved the lethality of the fire. Lethality means the capacity to cause death or serious harm or damage. In addition, usually victims of this type of execution would be stripped first, but there was such haste that they were tied up in their clothes with even their caps on. This fact would become another proof in the miracle God was about to perform because it will enable to know they are really the three men. So with all of these, there is no denial of the judgment! The Deliverance – Daniel 3:24-27; The furnace was arranged in such a way that the king could see inside it and what he saw astounded him. Remember that they were cast in tied up. They would not have been able to run away, and once cast in they should not have even been able to stand up or to untie themselves. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar sees them walking around in the midst of the fire without harm and then he noticed there were four figures, not three, walking around. The fourth figure was different having the appearance of a divine being which he calls “a son of the gods.” His religious belief was that the gods had sons which would appear as divine men. “26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, the deputies, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered around together and saw these men—that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed; neither were their garments scorched or changed in color or condition, nor had even the smell of smoke clung to them.” Contrary to his earlier statement, the king now recognized there was a God that could rescue Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from his hands. The king now acknowledges that they are “servants of the Most High God.” There can be little doubt that he understood this to be the same God that Daniel served though the title is now supreme. To a polytheist, a “God of gods” is a great God, but the “Most High God” is the supreme God. The evidence of the miraculous deliverance is confirmed by three groups of the top officials in the kingdom – satraps, prefects and governors. Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego emerge from the furnace unharmed. The fire had completely burned away the ropes that had bound them, but did not even as much as singe their hair, damage their clothes or even leave the smell of smoke on them. Each of these facts only magnified the level of the miracle. The king responded with a new decree. Satrap is the governor of a province and it was used during the Persian time. This is what our God wants to be doing especially when those of other religion are involved so that through what He will be doing with us, through us, and for us those who will behold it will be amazed and it could result into conversion of such people and this is exactly what God will do with many other religions in other to showcase the incomparable nature of True Christianity with other religion. The Decree – Daniel 3:28-30; Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that they were correct to violate his command in order to serve and worship only their own God. He understood that this was a challenge of his gods verses their God and his gods failed and lost. He recognized the fourth man in the fire as an angel or messenger from their God that protected them. Speculation on the precise identity of this angel is not necessary because his importance was only in being obviously sent by God to protect Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Since their God proved Himself as the Most High God in protecting them, the king does not want to risk offending Him and so gives a new decree. No one from any people, nation or tongue was to speak anything offensive against this Most High God or they would be executed in a horrible manner of being torn apart and their memory dishonored by their houses becoming the public latrines. The king then caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to prosper in the province of Babylon. We can be sure that this was to the chagrin, the shame of the Chaldeans who had sought their downfall. Chagrin means annoyance or distress at having failed or been humiliated! Today sons and daughters of God are not allowing our God to always showcase Himself and be glorified!

God has proven Himself to not only be the Most High God by the manner in which He rescued His three servants, but also longsuffering and patient in dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. God could have just destroyed him for his idolatry and arrogant boasting. Instead, the Lord brings him to a greater understanding of the truth in the way He rescued His three servants. Nebuchadnezzar is forced to acknowledge that the Lord is the Most High God, but at this point he is not yet ready to renounce and abandon his false gods. Nebuchadnezzar also still has a serious pride issue that God will deal with as we shall see in chapter 4. Sadly, there are many people that are like Nebuchadnezzar. Even though God is patient with them and puts them in positions which force them to acknowledge Him in some way, they are still resistant and rebellious to yielding themselves to Him. They may add God to their belief system, but they are still holding on to their old beliefs too. That mixing of beliefs is called syncretism (Syncretism is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions) and it is evil. It is important to know that syncretism was the reason for the downfall of Israel and Judah and why God allowed that they had been taken away in captivity. Don’t be like that. The Lord is God and there is no other. You need to be like Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshack & Abednego) who proved to be wonderful examples of trusting God and submitting their lives to Him. Each of us needs to follow their example in obeying God trusting Him for the outcome of the various situations we face in life. Learning to trust and obey God in the relatively minor tests of faith strengthens you to face the greater tests that will be part of life among sinners in a sin cursed world. Notice that the Babylonians changed all the names of God’s servants, Daniel they called Belteshazzar in Babylon meaning ‘’Lady, protect the king’’ a girl’s name.