It's no surprise that most of us would prefer that God would prevent us from suffering altogether, or at least quickly remove us from danger. Today on Truth for Life, we'll see evidence that God doesn't always deliver his people from trials.
Sometimes He delivers us through them. Alastair Begg is teaching from Daniel chapter 3.
Well, this morning we ended at the end of chapter two with the. for Isra Israelite men. being promoted as a result of all that had taken place. As uh Daniel had been privileged under God to give to Nebuchadnezzar both his dream and the interpretation of the dream. And it appeared at the end of chapter two that Nebuchadnezzar had really made a big change.
We left him falling on his face, paying homage to Daniel and ensuring that they are promoted and are in an even more privileged position than they were at the end of chapter one. Then we come to chapter 3 and we immediately read that King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and it is described here. He also, we're told, set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. In other words, he set it up on the plain in Shiner, as we noticed in chapter 1, which is where the Tower of Babel had been constructed all those years before. Where man had, to his own self-aggrandizement, said, We will be able to raise a testimony to ourselves, to our power, and our control.
And God had come and scattered them, and the story had continued from there.
Well, here you are, all these years later, and our man, Nebuchadnezzar, has decided that he's going to go ahead and do this. Perhaps there was in his heart a desire in the aftermath of the events of chapter two to really consider this God of Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. But the time lag between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three is probably somewhere in the region of nine years.
So nine years have elapsed. And in that time, a lot has taken place. And now we find that Nebuchadnezzar, who had been described as the head of gold in the statue in his dream, has presumably decided, well, I like that part about me being the head of gold. I did not like the part about how my kingdom was going to be collapsed and superseded by another kingdom. And so it would appear that in his endeavor to stand, as it were, against the word of revelation, against the word of prophecy that had been given him by Daniel, that he pretty well takes matters into his own hands and he says, and so I will erect this great statue of my own.
And I will raise it there as a symbol essentially of the power of Babylon.
Now, there is something that is inevitably repetitious about these narratives, isn't there? We're already beginning to see it. That in chapter one, the standout of Daniel and his friends has addressed the need that the exiles had to be assured of the fact that God is in control and that there is no need for them to compromise in their circumstances. In chapter 2, as we saw this morning, they were being reminded of the fact that the God of heaven deposes kings and sets up kings. And he does so to the end that man might know that his kingdom will outlast them all.
Now here in chapter three, In the context of once again the stranglehold of Babylon on the people of God as represented in these three men, the message that comes to the readers of the book is that this sovereign God is able to deliver his people from the furnace. And whether he does or doesn't, They mustn't serve foreign gods. Even if refusing to serve these foreign gods should result in their death. And it is that which is here for us in the balance of this record. Verses 3 to 6, and we'll have to move through again quickly, they're big chunks of narrative, aren't there?
In verses 3 to 6, the program is organized. And so what is being done here is you get this picture of the satraps, the magicians, the enchanters, the duz, the duh. You can see them all coming out in line. And he summons them all. And here they all arrive.
And he sets before them this great image that he himself has set up. And then the herald makes the proclamation. You are commanded. O peoples, nations, and languages. That when you hear the cacophony of sound that is going to come, not least of all from the bagpipes, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
It's amazing, isn't it? And uh you should know that if you don't fall down and worship, you're going to fall down in a fiery furnace because that's the way this works. If you hear this and you don't fall down, then this will be your portion.
Now the people who were listening to this knew that this was no idle threat. Death by cremation was part and parcel of the Babylonian. Uh strategy.
So, this is no funny little anecdotal material. This is a dead serious deal. I have had this amazing monument put up. And I want universal submission to this monument. This is for all the peoples, all the languages, all the nations.
If you know your Bible, You know how it ends, don't you? That it will be all the people, all the languages, all the nations that are represented before the throne of Almighty God, declaring that He is God and that there is no other. But en route to that final denouement, You find that man, in all of his opposition to God, again and again and again raises these monuments. to which he wants universal Acclination. What a What a what a world.
A pathetic picture, isn't it, in verse 7? When the peoples heard the sound of the horn and the pipe and everything, and they all bowed down. and worship the golden image that the king had set up. Made me think of Paul Simon, and all the people bowed and prayed to the neon God they'd made. And uh You see pictures all around the world.
of great swathes of humanity bowing down. at various shrines and places. often with great sincerity of heart. but not bowing down. At the place where God keeps all of His appointments.
at the cross of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. every other bowing down. to any other altar and to any other place. is to bow down in the realm of false religion. and emptiness.
and ultimate poverty of spirit. It is a solemn picture in verse 7. And they all Bowed down. Verse 8 is pivotal. At that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.
Here we go again. And in verses 9 to 12, they tell the king what he already knew. They rehearse for him the facts of the matter. And so they say that these characters whom you have appointed, verse 12, over the affairs of the province, in other words, there's a little dig in that, I'm sure. These are your boys.
You're the one who gave them the great job. Presumably, there's a measure of animosity and jealousy contained in that. There often is. And then these people pay no attention to you. They don't serve your gods or worship the image you have set up.
Well actually they were paying attention to him, weren't they? They recognized that they were the beneficiaries of his generosity and the promotions that they'd enjoyed. But it was true that they were not going to bow down to this golden image that had been established. And so in verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar, who is enraged by this, has the three of them brought in. And he starts by asking him, is it true?
That you don't serve my gods or worship the golden image that I've set up. I hate it. The notion is he's incredulous. Are you are you guys I mean, is this true? Everybody bows down to this image.
That's what I've said must happen.
Now, let me give you another chance, he says in verse 15. I'm going to get the orchestra out again for one more go. We'll get all the boys out, the bagpipes and the trigon and the lyre and all this cacophony of sound. The symphony will begin again, and we'll play the music, and I'm giving you a chance to fall down and worship the image I have made. If you do it, that's all well and good, but if you don't, then immediately you will be cast into this fiery furnace.
And Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego answered the king.
Now it's quite remarkable, isn't it? Basically, what they say to him is, God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. That's pretty gutsy, you've got to say. On what basis did they say that? Do we have anything in the record of the Bible so far where God has been delivering people from fiery furnaces?
Not that I know of.
So basically they're saying Our God, who is a powerful God, is is able to do whatever he chooses to do. But we want you to know that if any doesn't do it, We're not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image. You have said ah Now Let's just ask, let's pause and ask the question at this point, shall we? We could ask it later, but let's ask it now. Would you have bowed down to this image?
Would you have done it? I'll be dead honest. Think about it. It was only I kind of one-off. Deal.
What's the problem with just once? The statue is a joke. We know it's a joke. If we bow down, we're not really bowing down. We could bow down, but we're not really bowing down.
We're far from home, no one will know, our mothers will never find out. Uh They're not actually asking us to renounce God. We don't have to give a speech. We don't have to say anything. We could just slip in with the crowd.
We could just be in there. Most people wouldn't really know. And after all, he's been very nice to us.
Well, I mean, we got a pretty nice house. He gave us that, we got a nice job.
Well, it would only harm our conscience for a wee while. There are plenty of other people who are bowing down. Why wouldn't we bow down? If we bow down We won't die. And if we don't die, then we will be able to be useful to God.
And God wants us to be useful to him. Therefore, It would seem, Shadrach, a good idea. To bow down and bow down real fast. Because if you don't, apparently. But they don't do any of that.
Why? Because They Believe. God. And they believe that what God said In his law, He actually meant. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them. or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, I'm a jealous God. That was the beginning and the end of it. It wasn't a matter of pragmatism.
It wasn't that they would uh be able to benefit in any way from it. They said we're not going to do it. Because we're not supposed to do it. That was it. And we're going to trust God.
that when he calls us to obedience He will take care of us in our obedience. And if that means that we die in a furnace, we die in a furnace. If it means he intervenes dramatically, then we'll deal with that when it happens. But for now, King. You judge for yourself whether it's right.
for us to obey you or to obey God. We're going to Obey God. We will not bow down. To your Great monument. And then of course you know what happens.
The megalomaniac is completely consumed with fury and with rage, and he has the furnace heated seven times more. And if we're in any doubt about how hot it was, Uh the mighty men who were Called upon to bind Shandrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. And as they were doing so, These men themselves uh were burned In the process.
So The miraculous nature of what happens is absolutely undeniable. And in the encounter, there is the mystery of the fourth. Figure. King Nebuchadnezzar Yes. urgently involved in what has taken a place.
Here Rises up in haste, verse 24. He asked his counsellors, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, Yes. He said, But I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
Well, it's quite striking, isn't it? They tie them all up. And they threw them all in. Another another walking around. And they're not bound.
and they're in the presence of a fourth.
Well, who was the fourth?
Well There's a lot of Ink spilled over this one. And people can get in a raging argument about whether it is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, or whether it is, in fact, an angel, an angelic visitor. Uh I'm inclined to think of it in terms of an angel. Not because I don't believe that that wouldn't happen or doesn't happen elsewhere, but just in terms of what is there before us. And I'll explain to you as I finish in a moment why that is.
And Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. And he says, I want you to come out and come here. And out they came. And then here we go. The satraps, the prefects, the governors, the king's counselors, here they all are, gathered together and saw that the fire had not any power over the bodies of these men.
It's it's really terrific, isn't it? The ones who have come to testify against them, who thought they had finished with them in having them thrown into the furnace, now are the first to testify to the miraculous event that has taken place. They are the ones who verify the drama that has unfolded. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their cloaks weren't harmed, there was no smell of fire had come near them. Have you ever had a barbecue and got up in the morning and you took the same sweater and you said, Wow, there's no way in the world that you can be that close to a fireplace and not smell of the fire.
But there was nothing of that on them. And so Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abbed, Nego, who has sent his angel. And delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies. That's wonderful, isn't it? Look at what God has done.
Remember what Jesus said. As he sent his followers out, not a hair of your head will perish. The God who had delivered his people from Egypt. who had brought them into the bondage of this exile. Is the one who has now delivered his servants in this extremity.
He doesn't deliver them from the fire, he delivers them in the fire. And this angel who delivered them Save them. But they would one day die. an inevitable death. When Jesus saves, We will ultimately never die.
I like the notion. of the angel. Doing what the angel does at the behest of God. Making us think of what God is going to do. in the person of his son.
The angel joined them in the furnace. But the angel did not do as Jesus did. namely, give his life. to save them. What was it that these three characters had done?
Verses 28 and 29 tell us, in the words of Nebuchadnezzar himself, he says, Listen, you fellas. You who have been on the receiving end of this angelic intervention. You have disobeyed. Me? By obeying God, You have yielded up your bodies.
Rather Than settling For my Command. And so he makes another decree, verse 29: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid to ruins, for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. And once again, it ends. with the promotion. of the three individuals.
Question at the end of the chapter. In light of the beginning of the next chapter. Did Nebuchadnezzar get it at this point? I don't think so. Because when you read the record, you realize that he was impressed by the miraculous.
He was impressed by the men. By their faithfulness. Isn't that what you find people saying?
Well, I read that book about something and so on. It was quite a remarkable book.
Well, would you like to read the Bible? Oh no, I wouldn't like to read the Bible. Oh, I admire your faith. I admire your faithfulness.
Well, can I talk to you about you having faith? No, I have no interest in that at all. It's not unusual for people to be as Nebuchadnezzar was here. And one of the questions that I find myself asking, and perhaps you did too, and with this I will end, is did he dismantle this big Monument. Or did he just leave it there?
If he had been truly repentant, the best thing he could possibly have done. was take the sucker down. And everybody would have said. And have a kidnazer. Has been so transformed by the faithfulness of the servants of the living God.
That he has now, for all time, turned his back on all the idol worship of his heritage and so on, and he's become a servant of the living God. I don't think so. Because when you go into chapter 4, You find him in his proud arrogant perspective. sitting out on his balcony, Playing Oh, blue eyes. No, I di I di I did it my way.
That's what it is. You read chapter 4 for homework for next Sunday morning. I'll be in well. To think I did all that. And may I say, not in a shy way.
I think it's a good idea. Not old Nebogadnazzar. I did it. I did it my way. Isn't it amazing how cl how close people can come?
to the miraculous intervention of God. in a circumstance, in a life. And turn around and walk right outside the door again. I say to you again tonight, as I said to you this morning, you may be charmed by the gospel. and yet unchanged by it.
You may be brought to conviction and yet remain unconverted. You may be tonight under the hearing of God's Word what I would refer to as an unconverted. believer. You are orthodox in your intellectual appraisal of who Jesus is. But you have never as yet.
taken the idolic structure. and crashed it down. saying, The dearest idol I have known. whate'er that idol be, Help me. To tear it.
from its throne. and worship. Only day. When you think about this story again in the New Testament. And you think about First Peter.
And you realize Peter says to his readers, he says, don't be surprised at the fiery trial. that is coming upon you. And I don't think there's much. Doubt that he had in mind that picture here from Daniel chapter three. And In the words of Jesus himself, When he spoke, concerning these things.
He said The Son of Man who send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin. and all law breakers. and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun.
in the kingdom of their Father. In other words, Who is the God, says Nebuchadnezzar, who can rescue you from this furnace? The inference being there is no God. And the answer is Yes, there is. And he is the only one.
Who can rescue us?
Well Jesus ended that by saying, He who has ears to hear. Let him hear. That is Bible teacher Alastair Begg assuring us that God can be trusted to deliver his children. We're listening to Truth for Life. I hope you're benefiting from this study in the book of Daniel.
And if you've missed any of the messages in this series, you can catch up easily online. All of Alistair's teaching can be heard or watched for free using the mobile app or on our website at truthforlife.org/slash Daniel. Or if you'd prefer, you can find the complete series on the book of Daniel on a USB in our online store at truthforlife.org/slash store. The USB contains 21 sermons from Alistair that take you through this entire Old Testament narrative. Visit truthforlife.org/slash store to purchase a study in Daniel on a USB for just $5.
Thanks for joining us this week. Hope you have a great weekend and are able to worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll learn why our response to God's sovereignty is like a litmus test of our standing before Him. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
