God Protects His Courageous Children

 (Daniel 3)

Introduction

Daniel chapters 1, 3 and 6 record the testing of the faith of Daniel and his three Hebrew friends. They prepared themselves in advance, purposing in their hearts even in their teenage years that they would not defile themselves. When faced with life-and-death decisions, they exercised strong faith and courage by choosing to obey God rather than men. A study of these events will encourage our hearts and help us to know that God is a powerful God, who protects and delivers His faithful, trusting, obedient and courageous children.

The believer’s faith will be tested when faced with a dire situation with severe consequence. For example, when the laws of man conflict with the Word of God like what we see in the book of Daniel: eat the king’s food that is unclean or face the king’s wrath (Dan 1:5); fall down and worship golden image made by the king or be cast into the fiery furnace (Dan 3:5-6); stop praying to God for 30 days or be cast into the lion’s den (Dan 6:7), will we have the faith, strength and courage to do what is right to glorify Him? Will we obey God’s Word rather than man’s law without hesitation?  

The Elder’s Page of 27 Sep 2020 covered Daniel Chapter 1 - God Delivers His Trusting Children. Today’s Elder’s Page covers Daniel Chapter 3 - God Protects His Courageous Children. God willing, Daniel Chapter 6 will be covered next.

The test of Courage - king’s command: worship the golden image or die in fiery furnace (Dan 3:1-7)

King Nebuchadnezzar made a huge golden image whose height and width were 90 feet and 9 feet. He set it up in the plain of Dura probably to proclaim the power and glory of man or Babylon’s god. He commanded that at the sounding of a great orchestra of six musical instruments, all the people, the nations, and the languages were to “fall down and worship the golden image.” Those who failed to comply with this decree “shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning furnace.”.

We as believers ought to recognise that Satan will continue to send temptations into our lives. We must be prepared in advance by grounding our faith on God’s Word. We must always pray that when trials and temptations come, we will stand firm on our faith and that God will grant us the strength and courage to disobey man’s law that is unbiblical and to obey God’s Word.

The stance of Courage – refusal to worship the golden image (Dan 3:8-12)

The three Hebrew men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego paid no heed to the king’s command. They refused to worship the golden image. The malicious spies soon carried the news to the king: “There are certain Jews …. O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set.”  (Dan 3:12).

By now Daniel and his three friends were in leadership positions. Their colleagues probably envied them for the promotions and favour from the king and had been observing them to find faults. This new decree from Nebuchadnezzar gave their enemies a golden opportunity to bring an accusation to the king.

The world will continue to be hostile to faithful and diligent Christians. God’s enemies will be looking for opportunities to bring them down.  God’s children must have strong faith to maintain a holy and righteous testimony, and the courage to share the gospel and stand up to defend Christ’s name no matter what.

After the death of Moses, in the LORD’s message to Joshua, Moses’ successor, He mentioned “be strong and of good courage” three times (Jos 1:6, 9 and 18); and “be thou strong and very courageous” once (Jos 1:7). Courage is what is needed to serve God. Courage is from God, and not from the flesh. Without courage, the Christian will not be able to stand and do what is right according to God’s Word.

The response out of Courage – the courageous God-honouring reply to the king (Dan 3:13-18)

King Nebuchadnezzar was furious with their disobedience and disloyalty. He commanded to bring the three Hebrew men to him. He allowed them to explain themselves and offered them a second chance to obey his decree, otherwise they must suffer death in the fiery furnace. He challenged them “who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (Dan 3:15). This was another temptation for them to change their minds in order to escape death. These three faithful Hebrew men said to the king that they did not need to answer the king in this matter (Dan 3:16). They determined not to yield to the threats and reasonings of the king.

Surely they knew God’s commandments that said “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, … Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” (Exo 20:3-5). With the conviction to obey and honour God rather than men, they gave this courageous God-honouring reply to the king: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Dan 3:17-18).

They clearly stated without fear and shame that their loyalty was with the God whom they served, for He was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace. But if not, they would not serve Babylon’s gods, nor worship the golden image. They served God because He is God, not because He can deliver them. They stood firm on their conviction to obey God rather than man’s law which would cause them to sin against God and lose their testimony. They witnessed a good confession of faith. With God-given courage and strength, they boldly stood before the king and all the leaders and people as the witnesses of the unmatchable power and glory of God. They feared God but not man. Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy soul and body in hell.” (Matt 10:28).

Daniel was absent in this account. The reason is not known. He may have been away on the king’s assignment to another part of the Babylon kingdom. We can assume without doubt that if Daniel was present, he would have done what his three friends did.

The suffering for Courage – thrown into the fiery furnace (Dan 3:19-25)

The king was terribly angered by their persistent disobedience. He ordered his men to heat up the furnace seven times hotter. He then commanded the strongest men in his army to bind and cast them into the fiery furnace immediately. The furnace was so exceeding hot that the flames of the fire burned to death the king’s men. Nebuchadnezzar was shocked that the fire did not torch the three Hebrew men who instead were walking in the midst of the fire with a fourth man whose identity is not known. Nebuchadnezzar described this fourth man as “like the Son of God” (Dan 3:25) and God’s “angel” (Dan 3:28).

The God of the three Hebrew men and the God we worship and serve today is the one and only true and living God. He is Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent. Man may devise the most wicked and most cruel plans to kill faithful and courageous believers, but God is in total absolute control and He has the power to save them according to His sovereign and perfect will. There have been many who were faithful and courageous like the three Hebrew men, but their lives were lost as they stood for Christ. The LORD was faithful to them by taking them home to glory, for their work was done.

The result of Courage – God protected them, God’s name glorified, and they were promoted (Dan 3:26-30)

Nebuchadnezzar went near to the door of the burning fiery furnace and called the three Hebrew men to come out from the furnace. All the nobles and counsellors gathered together to witness this spectacular event – they saw that the fire had no effect upon the bodies of the three Hebrew men, that they were untouched by the fire and had no smell of fire on them. This is a supernatural miracle. The LORD was present to protect His courageous children. The LORD said “… when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isa 43:2b).

Nebuchadnezzar was filled with admiration for the power of the great God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, “who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servant that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their God.” (Dan 3:28). He changed his mind and made a new decree declaring that anyone who would speak anything amiss against their God would be put to death. He promoted them in the province of Babylon (Dan 3:29-30). By this act, Nebuchadnezzar was giving public recognition of their LORD God Almighty. This is amazing, God’s name was glorified and exalted!

Conclusion

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were faced with a choice of either to bow down and worship the golden image set up by king Nebuchadnezzar or be cast into the fiery furnace. By faith in God and in obedience to His Word, they courageously stood firm before the king and all the leaders, refusing to worship the golden image. God is in total control and He protected and supernaturally delivered them from death according to His sovereign and perfect will.  Instead of executing them, the king rewarded them with promotion. God’s name was glorified and exalted.  Let us learn from this event to stand firm, be faithful to God, and be courageous to obey God rather than man.

Courage is what is needed to serve God faithfully. Without courage, we will not be able to stand up for Christ and do what is right according to God’s Word. We will become man-pleasers instead of God-pleasers. Courage comes from genuine faith and trust in God’s Word, as well as through purposing in our hearts not to defile ourselves, and through unceasing prayers.  

May the LORD help us to trust and obey Him, be strong and of good courage to do what is right in His sight, to obey God rather than man, whereby His name may be highly glorified and magnified.  Amen.