Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston Salem. The church and the world need to see the power of people with a settled faith, not reacting in fear, but living out unshakable confidence in God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are an example of such unshakable confidence. They believed God to be good, omnipotent, and sovereign, and that knowledge guided their response to conflict and danger. In this message, Pastor Rich unpacks Daniel three eight through eighteen.
The Most High rules in the kingdom of men.
So Nebuchadnezzar has set up an image, and he's demanded all the leadership in the land to pay homage to it. You can worship your God as long as you worship mine too. If the worship of your God means that you cannot worship mine, then you're in trouble. It's like Nebuchadnezzar is saying, "You want to keep your place, then you pay homage to my truth. If you want to keep your place, you pay homage to my truth." We face such a demand today, on many fronts, and the same question is being asked as was asked by Nebuchadnezzar: "Who is the God who will deliver you from my hand?" We see then, as we look at this text in Daniel chapter three.
At verses eight through fifteen, we see that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah now are addressed as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their names that reflect Babylonian deities, and they are under a great deal of pressure to conform. Pressure to conform to do what everyone else is doing. Following now are the tactics of those who would pressure you and me to conform, as they did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to do what everyone else is doing. Because if you are not going to do what everyone else is doing, and you do so in the name of your faith, of your God, then you are worthy of these tactics.
And the first one is this belittling. They belittled Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. That word "accused" in the Hebrew means in the Aramaic. I'm sorry because it's written Aramaic.
He ate their pieces. It's like they were slandering them one little bit at a time and just chewing them up piece by piece. And they were belittling them. They these are resentful colleagues, and they refer to them as certain Jews. O King, that you have set over the leadership of the provinces, and what they've done here and belittling them is, as they're speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, is that they have painted this as a personal affront to Nebuchadnezzar himself.
Neb, these are bad people. I know, I know. You set them up over the provinces, but these are bad people, Neb. They're belittling them, and they made sure that Nebuchadnezzar knew that they were Jews. Not only were they belittled, but they were also deemed a threat.
They called them a threat. He says they do not worship your gods or the image that you have set up. They are a threat to the unity and the welfare of the empire. They are not loyal to you, Nebuchadnezzar, and those who are not loyal to you are not loyal to the country, and therefore are not good for the welfare of this people. They're a threat because their worship system requires them to worship one god and one god alone.
They are not. That is not the god of who we are. And therefore, they are a threat. They are not willing to affirm our truth.
Now, they haven't belittled it. They haven't slandered it. They're just not willing to worship it, pay it homage, and affirm it. Therefore, they are deemed a threat.
Now, this next point becomes a harsh part of the reality for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Because it says in verse thirteen, then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring these three young men to him. Rage and fury, meaning what? These guys are not affirming my truth. What did Nebuchadnezzar say?
I'm offended. You see why Christians shouldn't say that. Two kinds of people that get offended: the unregenerate and weak Christians. The only kinds of people that get offended. That's what the Bible says.
Psalm one hundred and nineteen, one hundred and sixty-five. Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing shall offend them at all. I love that verse.
So whenever a Christian comes to me and says I'm offended, I'm saying you mean you're admitting that you're a weak Christian. Try that sometime. It's true. Nebuchadnezzar comes to them and he says, "Is it true you're not affirming my truth? Is it true?
Do you really only worship one God? It's like Neb is saying to him, 'Say it ain't so. Do you really believe this still?'" We hear that today, sometimes, don't we? And it makes the recipient of that feel like they're on the fringe, like they're some kind of antiquated extremist, because you still believe in only one God and only one way to God. Peter warns us of this.
First Peter four four. They think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. You're strange. You're a bad person because you're not willing to acknowledge what everyone else is acknowledging. What are some of the parallels for us today?
Well, one of them is the very thing that we're doing right now, and that is taking the word of God literally. What the Bible says is what the Bible means. We understand it to be a word from God. We believe in the plenary verbal inspiration of the Scriptures; that it is an infallible word of God, and therefore, what it says is what it means. And many in the world will look at us and say, "Oh, you're a literalist," as if we're some kind of Bible thumpers, carrying guns or something like that.
Maybe some of you are. I understand, but. But that's said in a derogatory way. Oh, you're a literalist, as if that's some kind of antiquated extreme.
Well, if you don't take the word of God literally, then you can make it mean anything you want to. That's what they want. See, here's another one today that kind of makes us cultural exiles, and that's in the arena of sexual fulfillment. Right? Oh, you still believe that?
I mean, the norm is, and conventional wisdom is, that you are welcome and free to pursue sexual fulfillment, however, whenever, and with whomever you want, and no one has the right to tell you it's not okay. Right? That's the convention of the day. When we understand that it is God who has designed us, and for that to be realized within the context of a faithful monogamous relationship between a man and a woman, the marriage relationship. Oh, but that's so puritanical!
You really believe that?
Some of us have heard that. Maybe you have. You're a cultural exile. Welcome to the boat. Here's another one.
Do you really believe that there's only one way to God? Really? Do you really believe that? Nobody believes that anymore, right? And even many who would call themselves evangelicals are capitulating on this, as saying, "Well, you know, I heard one say, 'Well, there's only one way to God, but Jesus is the only way to God.' But there's many ways to Jesus, right?
Trying to get that out there. The exclusive message of Christianity is not welcome." It's not welcome at all because there is one God and there's one mediator between God and men, and that's the man Christ Jesus.
So, do you really? Do you really still believe that? And retreated as cultural exiles, as were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right here. And the people then that do that, they end up diminishing God, and that is also a tactic of those who would render pressure to conform. They diminish God.
They make God look small, as if God is the one who's in court here. Who is the God who will deliver you from my hand? That's what Nebuchadnezzar asked. You know what? That is an excellent question because you and I ought to be able to answer that question, and that's what the rest of the narrative talks about.
Who is the God who will deliver you from my hand? And where does Nebuchadnezzar place himself in relation to God? As many would accuse us today, God is but a projection of the human mind, and that's why there are many who believe that in Hinduism, for example, there are three hundred million gods. Who is the god who will deliver you from my hand? And in Nebuchadnezzar's time, there were many gods, and the gods were just—they were like us.
Maybe in a different form, we couldn't see them necessarily, but they were like us. They acted just like us. Today, people of faith are deemed to be oftentimes unintelligent and infantile. Really, you still believe that faith stuff hasn't science proven that there is no God? You know, people still say that today, believe it or not.
But what they're showing is that they are way behind the research, because the more science discovers, and in academia, the highest levels of scientific research, it's becoming unmistakably clear that the more science discovers, the more it points to a designer.
Okay, so if someone's going to say science has proven that there is no God, they're way behind the research. Who is the God? And man would diminish God because that's how we elevate ourselves by making God look small, and that's exactly what Nebuchadnezzar did.
So we have then here we have conflicting kingdoms. You have the kingdom and the rule of the infinite sovereign Creator, and then you have this lower king who is given the kingdom by the infinite sovereign Creator, who thinks he's the big stuff. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who are not willing to bow down to him or his image, and Nebuchadnezzar says, "Your God is a threat to my power." And some people will say today, "Your God is a threat to my pleasure." Maybe some of us are saying, "God is a threat to my pleasure." Have you said that? Who is this God who will deliver me? Can you answer that question?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did because Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, comes before these three young Hebrews, and he leans forward and he says, "Do you really?" He says, "I'm going to give you another chance. You bow down, and then I will rescue you from the fiery furnace." And what happens next would be tantamount. To Nebuchadnezzar running into a door because he was not expecting the confidence that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego demonstrated. He thought there was wide open space and he was going to occupy it, but instead, their confident faith let him run into a door and. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego confronted Nebuchadnezzar with their confidence in God.
That leads us then to understand and to see from this text the power of a settled faith. The power of a settled faith.
Now, for some people. And it may be even for some in this room, but for some people that I know, in all the years that I've encountered Christians, the jury is still out on the matter of trusting God. It depends on how favorable God is to you, or it depends on how favorable God is to your understanding. And it's then a matter of not trusting God, but you're trusting your faith. You know there's a difference between the two, and I ask you this question this morning, in hopes that you would ask yourself: Am I trusting God, or am I trusting my faith in God?
They're not one and the same. C.S. Lewis wrote in his book God in the Dock. He says this: The ancient man approached God, or even the gods. As the accused person approaches his judge, now he's going to use English terms here.
In English court, of course, the judge is at the bench. The dock is the place where the person on trial sits.
Okay. For the modern man, the roles are reversed. Man is the judge. God is in the dock. Man is quite a kindly judge.
If God should have a reasonable defense for being the God who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. Man is. The trial may even end in God's acquittal, but the important thing is that man is on the bench, and God is in the dock. We find ourselves judging God. Isn't that arrogant?
We we have a very small view of God. If that's the case, now this is not so with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Let's consider their settled faith. I want you because you know their answer to him. Right?
They said, "King, we're not going to do it. It's that plain and simple. We're not going to do it." Now they said it respectfully. They still acknowledged his kingship. They said it respectfully.
We should learn from that, all right. Look with me at verse seventeen. There is one phrase I want you to catch in verse seventeen, all right. Nebuchadnezzar asked the question, "Who is the God who will deliver you from my hand?" Here is the phrase, verse seventeen, at the very end: "He, God, will deliver from your hand, O king." Now here you are, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You are standing before the most powerful monarch of the ancient world, who is threatening you to throw you in the furnace unless you bow down to his image.
And what do they say? God will deliver us, O King. He will deliver from your hand. I know what you're thinking right now, aren't you? Their faith was so strong; they just knew God was going to deliver them.
You're not right on that.
Okay, what did they know? Was this just wishful thinking? Did they right there just fall down say, "Oh God, we know you're so good, you're going to deliver us," and we just know it? That is not what they did. He will deliver from your hand.
How did they know that? Let me tell you how they knew that. God had spoken, and that's what they trusted. You see, their faith was not their faith in God. Their faith was in God.
God had spoken. How had He spoken? What had He said? God had spoken, and they were just a small part of the big picture that God had established.
So this wasn't just wishful thinking. You want to see what God had said? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. This is somewhere in the mid, probably the the mid five hundreds BC.
Okay, Isaiah had written a book under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, somewhere about between six hundred and seven hundred BC.
Okay, Isaiah wrote a book. Do you think maybe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were a bit familiar with it? I'm convinced that they were, because based on that, they knew and they could confidently say, "God will deliver from your hand, O King." How do we know that?
Well, let's look at some verses in Isaiah. First of all, in Isaiah chapter forty-six, verse two, God is speaking of the impotence of Babylonian deities. Here's what he says about them: They stoop, they bowed down together. They could not deliver the burden. But they have themselves gone into captivity.
Jehovah God contrasts himself as the living creator. As opposed to these carved images teetering in the backs of a cart, in the back of a cart that's pulled by oxen, they have to be anchored down because they can't even stand up themselves. Those are the Babylonian gods. That's Bel. In Isaiah chapter forty-seven, verse eleven, God speaks through the prophet Isaiah of the humiliation of Babylon.
Here's what he says about Babylon: Therefore, evil shall come upon you; you shall not know from where it arises, and trouble shall fall upon you, and you will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know. He is speaking directly to and about Babylon in that verse in chapter forty-seven. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that Isaiah chapter forty-eight verse fourteen. God speaks of the favor of His people.
He says, "The Lord says of Jacob, the Lord loves him." He Jehovah shall do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. You see, this was written almost two hundred years before. Right now, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are standing before Nebuchadnezzar, and they knew that God had said this: Our God will deliver from your hand, O king. And how do they know that? It gets even better than this.
Back in Isaiah chapter forty-five and verse thirteen, God prophesied the, he foretold the return of Judah to the land. He says, "I have raised him up." What is God saying right here? He is speaking of Cyrus. Who is Cyrus? He is the reigning king of the Medo-Persian Empire that toppled the Babylonian Empire.
The Babylonian Empire is no more in this prophecy.
Now it's Cyrus, and God is saying of Cyrus, "I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city and let my exiles go free." Says the Lord of Hosts. Isn't that great? You see, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew this. That's why they said, "Standing before Nebuchadnezzar, our God will deliver from your hand, O King." Now that's faith.
Their faith was not in their faith in God. Their faith was in God and what God had said: He will deliver, O King. God had spoken. And they trusted what God said. Therefore, they entrusted themselves to God.
That's how it works. Not only did they know that God had spoken, but what made that important is the fact that they knew that God is God. God is God. God is God. G O D.
He is good. He is omnipotent. And he is dominant. Dominant meaning sovereign, central, and overriding. He is good.
He is omnipotent, and he is dominant. And we could find that in Isaiah chapter forty, verses eleven to seventeen, back in Isaiah's prophecies again.
Okay, we're not going to take the time to turn there, but the way it begins in Isaiah chapter forty, verse eleven. All right, he's good. He takes the lambs in his arms. He carries those that are with young. He is a good God.
And then in Isaiah chapter forty and then verse twelve, he is the God who measures the universe with the span of his hand. You really want to mess with that God? He's omnipotent, but he's also sovereign. Because it says in the verses following that he is the one who raises up kingdoms and he is the one who tears down kingdoms. He does his pleasure.
He's a sovereign God. He's a dominant God. And so, God Himself was the object of trust for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They knew who God was, and even though they were in exile, they knew that it was the Lord's hand that took them into exile. But God was the one that they trusted; therefore, they would not bow down to Bel's to to Nebuchadnezzar's god, and their object of trust was God Himself.
Their faith. Listen to this, please. Because the whole idea of faith is so grossly abused, not only in the world but among many Christians today. Their faith, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their faith was not.
That God would deliver them in this instance. Did you catch that? Their faith, their trust, their confidence was not that God would deliver them in this occasion. You say, Rich, how can you say that?
Well, look at the text, verse seventeen. If that is the case, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fire. Does that say He will? No, it says He is able, and He will deliver us from your hand, O King.
Now that's going back to what God had said earlier.
Now look at verse eighteen. But if not. You see, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In this instance, they were not expecting, nor were they demanding a miracle. They didn't call together a revival service and expect and demand God to perform miracle to deliver them from the fiery furnace.
They had no idea if God was going to deliver them or not. But their faith was in God. They still trusted Him.
So for them, they said, "We have no need to answer you, O King." In other words, we don't need to go prepare a defense. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't say, "Well, let's go have a prayer meeting about this and see what we ought to do." That's not what they did. They said, "We don't have to think about our answer to you, O King. Even if God does not deliver us, we will not bow down to your God." Christians, think about that. Think about that.
Their message was this: He is our Creator Redeemer. We have entrusted ourselves to Him. Period. That's their faith. We have entrusted ourselves to Him.
They were appealing to the highest authority instead of the lower power, acting in a way that does not acknowledge God. And so they said, "But if not, let it be known to you, O King, we will not bow down." Period. End of story.
Now they didn't say it with that kind of rudeness. I'm just making the point there. They said it with civility and with respect, O King. What they did say is, we know He is able to deliver us. You know why?
Because an omnipotent, sovereign God can do that sort of thing, and that's who Jehovah is. Whether he does or not in this occasion, three things. Number one is his prerogative. We know he can. Whether he does or not is his prerogative.
Number two, it's not the point here. Whether he does or not is not the point. The fact is, the point is, we know who he is and we know he can. Whether he does or not, number three doesn't change the fact that he deserves every ounce of my trust, because that's who he is. Many, many of us comfortable American Christians.
Have not gotten to the third point. We cannot identify with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Let me make this very important point here: for one who has a settled faith, personal welfare is not a determining factor in matters of obedience. For one who has a settled faith, personal welfare is not a determining factor in matters of obedience. Job said, "Though he slay me, what?
Yet I will trust him." The apostle Paul said. That with all boldness, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. Christ magnified in my body. That's a settled faith. That's not trusting my faith in God.
That's trusting God. That's knowing the big picture. I like what Ravi Zacharias says for our context in the New Testament. Faith is confidence in the person of Jesus Christ and in His power, so that even when His power does not serve my end, my confidence in Him remains because of who He is. That's exactly the kind of faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego exhibited.
They exhibited what Peter said in First Peter four nineteen. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. Two questions to leave you this morning. Number one, do you trust God? Do you trust God?
Do you know who He is? Do you know what He has said? Do you trust God? Are you not banking on promises that he never made? You see, God never promised Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that he would deliver them from the fiery furnace, but he did say that he would deliver Israel from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
They knew who God was. Are you trusting God for the promises he has made, not for the promises that you demand of him? Do you trust God? If your answer to that is yes, then the second question is applies to you. Then what are you afraid of?
If you trust God, then what are you afraid of? What the church needs, what the world needs, is to see. The power of people with a settled faith, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, not reacting in fear, but living out unshakable confidence in the living God. Let's be that people. This message, titled "Who Is the God Who Will Deliver You," was first preached on February eighth, twenty fifteen, at Grace Bible Church in Winston Salem.
You can hear the next message next Monday on Spotify or here at DelightInGrace dot com.
