Focus: God honors our trust
in him and demonstrates that he is with us and for his people at all times.
Function: To encourage the people to serve God with the conviction that God, in Christ, is with us and for us in life and in death.
Text: Daniel 3:16-30
One of the most powerful and comforting expression of Christian faith is the Heidelberg Catechism’s confession, which says that “I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” Wherein does this power and comfort lie?
“He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation” In other words, the work of God in Christ Jesus is the foundation of our comfort in life and in death.
“So, what?” you say. “Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.” That’s the bottom line for any follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. We live for him.
That’s been the case for Christians throughout the centuries; it was also the case for Daniel, his three friends, and for all the Jews in Israel as well as in the Babylonian empire. God honors our trust in him and demonstrates that he is with us and for his people at all times.
Nebuchadnezzar is flabbergasted and angry. He does not get it. Did not the God of Daniel and the Jews show Nebuchadnezzar that Nebuchadnezzar is the supreme ruler of Babylon? And does not that mean that Nebuchadnezzar is “God’s agent at this stage in history” (Jordan, p. 214). So if these stubborn Jewish friends of Daniel refuse to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s image, and if Nebuchadnezzar than throws them into the blazing furnace, then what God is there who can deliver them out of Nebuchadnezzar’s hands?
Angry at these Hebrew men’s refusal to bow before the image and respect his command, Nebuchadnezzar orders the furnace to blaze with hellish heat. His soldiers bind them like a sacrificial lamb--as Abraham once did with his son Isaac--and the soldiers throw Daniel’s friends into the fire. So hot is the fire that the soldiers themselves perished in the heat. Hell’s fury unleashes itself on Nebuchadnezzar’s loyal subjects—but not on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! Why not? God honors his people in this case and demonstrates that he is with and for his people at all times.
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Nebuchadnezzar does not get it—yet. But God is at work. Nebuchadnezzar can’t believe his eyes. Three people were thrown into the furnace, but now he sees a fourth person with Daniel’s friends. And that person is like “a son of the gods.” And this divine, angelic being, this son of the gods walks around or dances around in the fire with Daniel’s friends. Their hands are untied; their clothes unsinged; and their bodies unharmed by the flames. Truly, this is a miracle. What does it mean?
What Nebuchadnezzar sees is a theophany—a manifestation from God, who appears as a protector angel. This angelic being is more powerful than Nebuchadnezzar, for Nebuchadnezzar could not protect his own soldiers from perishing in the blazing heat. Nor could Babylon’s gods. But the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is able to protect them from the hellish flames.
What Nebuchadnezzar sees—and what we see—is a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God from everlasting to everlasting. And what we see here is a foreshadowing of what is to come at the end of the ages, when Jesus will come again as the victorious Son of God. For then judgment will come. And all those who put their trust in Christ and are found in him, will go through the fires of judgment unscathed, unharmed, unsinged, because the Son of God is able to rescue us from the fires of hell.
Oh, Nebuchadnezzar is beginning to get it: He shouts: “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” Nebuchadnezzar realizes that he lost this battle. His golden image, his Babylonian gods and his military powers could not stop these three Hebrew men from worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Surely, the God of the Hebrews is the Most High God. And Daniel’s friends are servants of the Most High God.
Nebuchadnezzar may be Babylon’s emperor, but Nebuchadnezzar will not be allowed to set the tone and direct the form of worship for God’s people in exile. Babylon’s gods will not have the upper hand; the God of Israel will rule—and protect his people wherever they live. God honors our trust in him and demonstrates that he is with us and for his people at all times.
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Ah, the reward for Daniel’s friends and for all the Jews—in exile as well as back home—is sweet. Nebuchadnezzar praises the God of the Jews. And Nebuchnezzar issues an order to all his subjects saying: “…I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” Thus Nebuchadnezzar legitimizes the worship of Israel’s God in the empire of Babylon.
And to make sure that his decree sticks, and to make sure that all Nebuchadnezzar’s officials get it, Nebuchadnezzar “promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.” Thus we see the sweet reward of Daniel’s friends as they demonstrated their loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. They now are the protectors of God’s people right in the midst of Babylon, right there at the center of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.
What does it mean for us today to live as servant leaders for the sake of Christ and his kingdom? Our culture has idols galore! Our neighborhoods and workplaces provide us with plenty of opportunity to bow down to lesser and major gods, ranging from sexual immorality to lust for power to greed for wealth.
There is the altar of abortion on demand; the altar of military might, and the altar of euthanasia. There is the altar of selfishness, the altar of hatred, and the altar of corporate wealth and power. There is the altar of illegal drugs and psychedelic powers; there is the altar of Hollywood glamour and self-aggrandizement. So many altars, so many gods to choose from and to serve.
Yet, only One can save us in life and in death. His name is Jesus Christ. He lives with us and with all who put their trust in him. And he promises us that he will never leave nor forsake us. Not even in the grave. The reward of serving him is sweet: in life and in death, we belong to him. Therefore, we shall not be afraid. We shall worship him only! Christ, our Lord! Amen.