We are again going to split chapter 3 into two sections, based solely on my own thoughts on the chapter. Chapter 3 is the very famous story of the huge golden statue which Nebuchadnezzar built for everyone to worship. Of course, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego didn’t bow down to this statue because they only worshipped the true God. They were put into a fiery furnace, but they survived because God helped them by sending an angel (or possibly a pre-incarnate Jesus). It is a very famous story, because it has danger and amazing miracles and some good lessons.
Firstly we must again focus on the king, Nebuchadnezzar. He is one of the most recognisable characters in the entire Bible, and has one of the most amazing stories. The book of Daniel says a lot about his character and his story. It is apparent that Nebuchadnezzar didn’t take much out of his previous encounter with Daniel, and his God. Although he accepted that it was a wonderful miracle, and promoted Daniel to high places, he didn’t connect this with the fact that it was all God (which Daniel made perfectly clear - 2:30). This is frustrating, because it still happens today. I’m sure you’ve had the experience – something quite amazing happens to you and someone asks how it happened, and you say ‘God blessed me’ or something along those lines, and they sort of seem amazed, but don’t take it to heart, because you know if they took it to heart they would want to know more about this amazing God. I have a friend, who incidentally I’ve never met, and whom I believe receives these emails. She is a wonderful ambassador for God and His great grace and favour. I was talking to her not very long ago and she was telling me the most amazing things that happened (and if she gives me permission I’ll tell you all what happened). She was so amazed at how gracious God was and couldn’t think of anything better than living in His favour all the time. And yet she has friends that come to her for help because their lives are spiralling out of control, and when she tells them that Jesus is all they need (them having witnessed the incredible things that she had gone through), they just don’t understand. These are the people that we need to pray for (and I’m sure Daniel was praying for Nebuchadnezzar!).
In either case, it is quite evident that Nebuchadnezzar does not recognise the true God, because he is infatuated with himself. He builds a huge statue (about 30m high and 3m wide!) that depicts himself covered in gold. This could be an idea he got out of his own dream in chapter 2. Furthermore, he puts forward the order that everyone should worship it (‘everyone’ being all the leaders of the people he invited to this sort of ‘opening ceremony’ – this included Daniel and his friends). Yes, Nebuchadnezzar did have a pretty big ego. But who wouldn’t, when you reign over pretty much the whole known world, you’re a shrewd and magnificent ruler, and you have riches beyond comparison? In his eyes, there is no-one in the whole world that matches him, and therefore he ought to be worshipped. Again, we bring this concept back into our day and find that society has degenerated. Today, it is not just the president of the United States who has a ‘right’ to be narcissistic, indeed, every single person has it drummed into them from school age and before that they are the most important person, and that their whole life should be built around the central value of themselves. All products are based on optimising the centrality of self, or beautifying self, or entertaining self. Today, even a homeless beggar on the streets of some way-out town can be self-centred. In all this, just like Nebuchadnezzar, we have lost sight of the true God, who is not for us, but for Himself (primarily – of course He does always work for our good!).
The sad thing about people that love themselves when they have power, is that it inevitably ends in prejudice and killing – the result of suspicion and jealousy. We see this:
‘Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”’ (Daniel 3:4-6)
We see that Nebuchadnezzar is not completely confident that everyone will love him as much as he loves himself, so he takes measures to enforce this. This is the sad result of a mixture of self-love and power. It is seen in so many situations in modern history and the modern day that I’m sure you can think of a few off-hand. But it is no less devastating in the small scale. For indeed, power does not only mean government, but power can mean being stronger than someone, smarter than someone, or ‘better’ at anything than someone else. Combine this with a love of self, and the results are disastrous. Bullying, intellectual persecution, uncalled-for criticism, stealing, murder. A string of words that no-one deems desirable, and yet natural results of the worldview currently thrust upon all of us from childhood. Be careful of loving yourself. Very careful. It is possibly the most deceptive evil in the world, and will trick the unwary very easily (it has tricked me many a time!).
Tomorrow (or next devotion), we will look at our response to this, and ways to keep away from it!
So we continue with Daniel 3, focussing on verses 8-18. We have already seen that Nebuchadnezzar has ordered that everyone (all the governors and leaders of the people anyway) must worship his golden statue when the music plays. Now, of course, this presents a huge compromise for the Jewish people, of whom we know that Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego are a part. Notice that for the pagan religions of the day, it was no compromise – it was not as if worshipping yet another ‘god’ was precluding them from worshipping their own multiple gods. They added and added to their list of gods as they saw fit. So, worshipping a huge golden statue of their earthly king was nothing out of the ordinary, and since they would pay with their lives if they didn’t do it, there was really no questions asked!
However, for the Jews, it presented a big problem. The Jews had only one God – the Almighty Most High God besides whom nothing is in any way comparable. Thus, to worship a golden statue was like in Jeremiah where it says they had turned away from the fountains of living water and turned to their own dry and dusty means. There could be no other god; there could be no other thing worthy of worship because God is all in all, Alpha and Omega. Now this challenge was a bit more ‘straightforward’ than the food issue in chapter one. That is, with the food it would have been harder to see that it was wrong. But in this case, the options are very clear-cut. However, this issue was apparently a matter of life and death – ie. If they did the wrong thing they would live, if they did the right thing they would die. So although the choice was more clear-cut, the stakes were much higher.
Now we all know what happened – the three men of God didn’t worship the statue, and some of the Chaldeans noticed it (they were looking out for it I suspect, because they were a bit jealous of these guys, who had embarrassed the rest of the wise men in chapter 2). So they were brought to Nebuchadnezzar, who gave them another chance. Again they refuse, and so Nebuchadnezzar gets really angry (he was pretty sure that everyone should be worshipping him). Nebuchadnezzar makes this ironic statement:
‘...And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?’ (Daniel 3:22b)
Do you see the irony of this statement? Well it becomes more clear later on, but you see, Nebuchadnezzar set himself up as a god, and what he was in effect saying was – which god is more powerful than me? If a god were to deliver them from his hands, that god would be proved to be more powerful than him, and Nebuchadnezzar would have none of that (hence the rhetorical question). Ironically, the Jews actually answer his question, with a statement that is quite beautiful:
‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”’ (Daniel 3:16-18)
This is a statement of faith. This is real faith. ‘Yes’, they said, ‘Our God can save us from your hand if He so wishes, and if He does wish, He will definitely save us, but on the other hand, even if He doesn’t save us, we still won’t worship you or your gods’. In effect they were saying that God is more powerful than Nebuchadnezzar and could save them, but it didn’t matter to them whether or not He did save them, they still had faith He was better than everything that Nebuchadnezzar could offer, even if they had to die for that faith. This shows us a little of what faith is. Sometimes faith can be construed (or misconstrued) as believing always that God will save you, heal you, bless you etc. If you don’t believe that He will, then you have very little faith and obviously need to ‘get some more’. However, this story shows that much stronger faith is a faith that sees God for who He truly is, no matter the circumstance. Real faith denies the lies of the world that say health, popularity, comfort and life itself are better prizes than God Himself. Instead it affirms the power of God to do all things, and accepts the will of God which is beyond us (ie. God is powerful enough to save us, but even if He doesn’t...). Real faith is enduring through hardship because it is based on sure knowledge, not on emotion and hearsay. Yes, we can take a lot out of what these three guys stood up for.
Finally we will focus on the last part of Daniel 3 (vs 19-30). This is the really cool part – where the three men are thrown into the fire, which is first of all made 7 times as hot, but then survive without even a singed hair! I want to focus on the completeness of God’s miracle, and how that shows His true power.
When Nebuchadnezzar hears that the three friends think their God – the Most High God – is more powerful than him, he gets pretty angry, and tells the fire tenders to make it seven times as hot as usual. Seven times as hot! Fire is always pretty hot anyway, so seven times (the perfect number?) signifies that this heat is extremely deadly. Just to make sure you understand this, Daniel records that the guys who chuck the three men into the fire are killed by the flames!
‘Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.’ (Daniel 3:22)
So the guys who chucked them in were a bit hasty and got a bit too close – all in God’s plan to show that this fire could definitely kill!
Now when they were in the fire, Nebuchadnezzar is a bit confused because he sees four people in there, and not three. And he remarks that the fourth is like the ‘Son of God’ (ie. A supernatural being). Indeed, God was helping his three devoted men, and they were saved. When they came out:
‘And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.’ (Daniel 3:27)
So this same fire that had just killed three people on the outskirts, had not even singed their hair, or made them smell like smoke. This was God saying – ‘Yes, I can do all things, there is nothing beyond my power’. It is an undeniable statement of power, aimed most likely at Nebuchadnezzar whom originally made the ironic statement in verse 15. Again we can only sit back and wonder at God’s awesomeness and power – and His love for us.
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