Participants: Ty Gibson & James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000004B
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00:01 Welcome back to our study of
00:03 the book of Daniel. 00:04 We are in Chapter 3 James. 00:06 As we have been looking at this 00:07 Chapter we've seen that Nebuchadnezzar has defied the 00:10 dream that God gave him in Chapter 2 and now he is seeking 00:14 to implement, through force and coercion, 00:17 his own system of worship. 00:19 All the people are governed by fear and yielding even, 00:24 obviously many of the captives from Israel. 00:28 Obviously bowing as well and then we have this remnant 00:31 left standing, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego. 00:34 They will not bow and now we have this incredible scene. 00:40 These three young men are defying the monarch of Babylon. 00:45 The story picks up there. 00:47 Of course they've been reported. 00:48 There is no way that you can 00:50 stand among the multitudes, 00:52 probably thousands maybe even more. 00:54 Tens of thousands of the leaders and officials of this 00:58 world wide empire, and not be noticed. 01:00 I don't know, they may have been standing individually, 01:03 they may have come from different provinces and may not 01:05 have gotten together in the crowd. 01:07 One may have been over here, and one may have been over 01:08 here, and what may have been over here, which makes 01:10 it more interesting. 01:12 We don't always, in our witness for God, we don't always 01:15 necessarily stand together. 01:17 We may not have another person by our side, but eventually 01:20 they are all brought together, if that is the case. 01:22 They are all brought together and they end up before the 01:24 King, now the King is really not happy. 01:28 It says in verse 13 that Nebuchadnezzar "in his rage" 01:31 "and fury commands to bring Shadrach, Meshach," 01:34 "and Abednego" and a bring these men in before the king. 01:37 And I believe there's two reasons why the King isn't 01:39 happy, one is because he's been defied. 01:40 He's the king, he's the monarch you don't defy me. 01:43 I think number two is because, Nebuchadnezzar made the 01:46 image all gold because he was afraid. 01:48 He was afraid of the future. 01:49 The image of gold, the head, stopping right here. 01:53 Then to go to the silver, he doesn't want that. 01:57 He doesn't want that and so he makes this image of 02:00 solid Gold because he wants to somehow 02:02 make certain his future. 02:06 He's afraid and the people bow because they are afraid, 02:09 because they know if they don't bow they will die. 02:12 Yet here are three young men who aren't afraid. 02:15 They are not afraid at all, in fact they go on to explain 02:19 to the King that they won't worship the image that he set 02:23 up they explain in verse 16 through 18. 02:26 They say with a very strong confidence that our God, 02:31 whom we serve is able to deliver us, even if you throw 02:35 us in the fiery furnace He is able to preserve our lives. 02:39 Then they say in verse 18, "but even if not," even if 02:43 not, if we are cast into the fiery furnace and God 02:46 doesn't preserve us, this is about something more than 02:50 preserving our lives. 02:51 "Let it be known to you, O king that we do not serve" 02:55 "your gods, nor will we bow down and worship the gold 02:59 image which you have set up. " 03:00 Whether God preserves us are not, we are not bowing. 03:03 This goes back to Chapter 1 and verse 8 where Daniel 03:07 purposed in his heart to maintain his integrity 03:10 before the Lord. 03:11 It is of no consequence to them whether they live or die. 03:14 What is of consequence to them, is that they continue 03:18 in integrity to serve God faithfully. 03:21 It is vital that Nebuchadnezzar sees this, 03:23 this heart experience. 03:24 In fact, it isn't about them 03:26 anymore, it is about God. 03:28 Another reason why is not 03:30 only because you see them 03:32 standing and revealing something that Nebuchadnezzar 03:36 doesn't have. 03:37 He is afraid and they are not. 03:39 I think part of his outrage is that he is afraid and they 03:42 are not, they had something he does not have. 03:44 Well God has led Nebuchadnezzar to an intellectual assent 03:48 to the truth so far in Chapters 1 and 2. 03:51 He has come to recognize that this God that Daniel and 03:55 his three friends serve, is a God above all other gods. 03:59 He is the most high God. 04:01 Intellectually he is converted but now we see in Chapter 3 04:04 that God is giving Nebuchadnezzar a living witness. 04:09 A living demonstration of what it really looks like to 04:13 serve and worship the one and only true God. 04:15 These three guys, these three young man, Meshach, Shadrach 04:19 and Abednego, they are testifying to Nebuchadnezzar. 04:23 God is using them to get deeper into his heart and to 04:26 lead Nebuchadnezzar to a deeper conversion. 04:30 So he is thinking in his mind, could it be true? 04:32 Could there be people in my kingdom who are fearless? 04:35 I would love to have that experience. 04:37 I'm going to test them, let me test them now. 04:38 He says in verse 15, I'm going to give you a second chance. 04:42 Maybe you didn't hear me right. 04:44 "If you be ready at the time you hear the sound of the" 04:47 "music," goes through all the instruments. 04:49 "And you fall down and worship the image which I had made" 04:51 "well", but if you do not worship" 04:53 Make sure you understand this! 04:54 "If you do not worship, you will be cast that same hour" 04:59 "into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. " 05:02 And here is, okay? 05:03 The dumbest question in the Bible, are you ready? 05:06 "And who is that God that shall deliver you" 05:10 "out of my hands?" 05:11 Nebuchadnezzar should know better, he should know better! 05:13 At this point Nebuchadnezzar should know the God who 05:18 is able to deliver. 05:19 God has communicated with him. 05:21 God has revealed to him his dream and the interpretation 05:24 of his dream back in Chapter 2. 05:26 He has seen a faint outline of the power of this God. 05:31 He is feeling a rather inflated sense of himself here. 05:36 Plus he doesn't know God. 05:38 No he doesn't. 05:40 Intellectually he does. 05:41 He knows about God, but who is this God? 05:43 Think Ty, just think, can you think of this question being 05:47 asked not so much from the negative, as it might be from 05:51 the positive, in other words Nebuchadnezzar is saying 05:54 they have something I don't have. 05:56 I would love to be fearless like they are. 05:57 I can't believe it, it upsets me that they got it. 06:01 Who is this God? Who is this God that can deliver you? 06:04 In other words Nebuchadnezzar, people just generally 06:07 want to be introduced to a God that can take away 06:10 all of our fear. 06:12 It is as if, yes Nebuchadnezzar is arrogant, yes he wants 06:15 them to bow down and worship but, somewhere in the back 06:18 of his mind, he is doing 06:20 in an experiment here. 06:21 He has already seen Daniel's 06:23 God in action one time before. 06:25 Now he is asking the question, is your God able to 06:32 deliver you from me, from my power of the fiery furnace? 06:34 He is about to get the answer to his question. 06:36 We are all doing an experienced Ty. 06:38 We are all looking for that God. 06:39 Every one of us is looking for 06:41 that God and we are looking for 06:43 the removal of fear from our 06:44 lives in from our hearts. 06:46 This Chapter reveals who that God is. 06:48 The problem is that humanity gets in the way of 06:52 Nebuchadnezzar and of us. 06:53 Humanity gets in the way and so what happens here, 06:56 is when he sees these young men defy him again, 06:59 really revealing this fearlessness that Nebuchadnezzar 07:03 really needs so badly. 07:05 When he sees them defy him again he gets very upset. 07:07 It says in verse 19, "then Nebuchadnezzar was full of" 07:11 "fury and the form of his visage was changed against" 07:14 "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, therefore he spake," 07:17 "and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven" 07:19 "times hotter than needs to be heated. " 07:23 Yeah and then the command is given, throw them into the 07:27 fiery furnace, the mighty men are called in verse 20. 07:31 To take these young men and hurl them into this 07:35 extremely hot fiery furnace and it is amazing what 07:40 unfolds at this point. 07:41 Not just the mighty men, in verse 20, "the most" 07:43 "mighty men. " 07:45 Now the reason why this is significant is because you 07:48 have the strongest, the biggest, baddest men in the 07:51 kingdom of Babylon. 07:52 These are the guys that have conquered nations and they 07:54 come up to that furnace and they throw Shadrach, 07:57 Meshach, and Abednego into the flames of that furnace, 08:00 and then what happens to them? 08:02 Well, it is so hot that they are consumed themselves 08:05 and died because of the heat of the flames that they 08:08 came too close to and throwing them in. 08:11 You know the greatest trials in this life are going 08:14 to destroy us, the greatest trials we face are going 08:17 to consume us. 08:18 There is too much heat, there is too much evil, 08:20 there is too much pain in this world for us to survive. 08:23 It doesn't matter how strong or mighty we are, 08:24 there is no way we can survive unless we are willing to 08:28 go into the furnace with Jesus. 08:30 And that is why we want to go all the way with Jesus. 08:32 That is a powerful lesson that we see here as these 08:34 three young men are thrown into this furnace. 08:37 What an incredible story as it unfolds. 08:39 Nebuchadnezzar watches with 08:42 astonishment as suddenly he 08:45 recognizes that these men are 08:48 walking around in the fiery 08:51 furnace, but then as he looks he notices, he does a quick 08:55 headcount here, and not only does he see three living 08:59 individuals in the flames of fire, but he sees a fourth 09:03 individual and he says in verse 25, "it looks to me 09:07 like the son of God. " 09:10 Now there you go Ty, you mentioned earlier that 09:12 Nebuchadnezzar knew who this was. 09:13 He knew who God was, yet he did, but he needed the witness. 09:17 He needed to see God lived 09:20 out in the lives of God's followers. 09:23 There are people out there 09:24 friends, there are people out 09:25 there are witnessing and sharing believers. 09:27 Maybe you are a person who is looking for God and you have 09:30 heard all these truths of the Bible. 09:32 You have gone to the seminars and have understood these 09:35 prophecies, but you have not seen the people of God. 09:39 What I mean is, the witness of the Spirit of God, 09:43 but fearlessness of God, is not seen in the lives of 09:46 Church people, believers who profess to follow God. 09:49 That is what Nebuchadnezzar he's seeing right here. 09:52 He seen three people who were bound thrown into the 09:55 furnace, and now he sees them free walking with Jesus. 09:59 What that means is this, there are people on this earth 10:02 were so serious about their relationship with God that 10:05 no matter what trial comes their way, no matter how hot 10:08 the furnace gets, or how difficult life gets, 10:10 they are free because Jesus is with them. 10:13 Then we see here that is Nebuchadnezzar realizes what's 10:18 taking place, I mean just previously he is feeling 10:22 powerful, he is feeling arrogant, and feeling like he 10:25 can just do anything he wants to do. 10:27 You are certainly going to obey me or I'm going to kill you. 10:30 All of a sudden this king goes through a humbling, and 10:35 he realizes he has no power over these men. 10:38 There is a God who has power above and beyond his. 10:42 Who has charge of the situation. 10:44 Nebuchadnezzar, it dawns on him James, 10:48 that he is witnessing, not only the incredible integrity 10:54 of these young men, but he is witnessing that their God is 11:00 a God who is with them in their trials. 11:03 With them in their suffering, this is certainly a faint 11:08 Old Testament outline, a silhouette of what we see 11:11 taking place in such a beautiful form in the 11:15 incarnation and cross of Jesus Christ. 11:18 When we are in the fire of affliction, which we all are 11:22 as human beings, it is evident in Scripture that Jesus 11:26 does not abandon us, God does not abandon us. 11:29 He is with us in our trials, in our struggles. 11:33 He is literally with us taking us a step further. 11:36 He has come near to us in the sin problem as a whole. 11:40 Has identified with the human race, has become one of us 11:45 and went to the cross to bear the totality of all the weight 11:50 of sin on our behalf. 11:51 And let's face it Ty, what a contrast to the idea 11:54 if you become a Christian and accept Christ that all your 11:56 problems are going to go away. 11:57 That is just not the reality and millions of people on 12:00 this planet know that. 12:02 Billions of people on this planet know that their life is 12:06 not changed necessarily because they turned to God 12:11 and accept Him. 12:12 They do not need a God who 12:13 says if you turned to me I 12:15 will rain down blessings 12:16 from heaven and everything 12:18 economically is going to be fine and all of your problems 12:21 are going to be fixed. 12:22 They need a God who is going to be with them through the 12:24 trials and through the difficulties. 12:26 He is going to give them the peace that brings them above 12:29 that storm and allows them to have in their hearts, and 12:33 their lives, the joy that surpasses all the difficulties 12:36 and trials that we face. 12:37 In closing Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar has brought 12:41 exactly to the place he was brought to in Chapter 2 where 12:44 he is just praising God, but now I think he's praising God 12:48 just a few steps forward from where he was before. 12:52 Again God is working out the radical conversion of 12:56 Nebuchadnezzar, he is reaching into his heart. 12:59 He is seeking to win him to Himself and here he again 13:03 is brought to his knees before the most high God to 13:08 praise and worship Him. 13:09 He takes one more step friends, one more step. 13:11 That is what this is all about, taking one more step to 13:15 understand who God is, how He loves you, and what He wants 13:18 to do in your life. |
Revised 2022-11-14