Daniel Lesson 8 - Fairhaven Baptist Church

Daniel

Lesson 8

Text: Daniel 3:13-30 “Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 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. 18 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. 19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants 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 own God.29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.”

The Fiery Furnace,
1. The Subject,
  1. The Decree,
    1. what was the decree of Nebuchadnezzar?
      - It was what he repeated in vs.15,
        
        that at what time the music was played, all people would fall and worship the idol set up before them.
    2. First, I want to pose the question, is the scripture dependable?
      - What I mean, looking on this event through the lens of the world today seems a little fantastic.
        
        Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the burning furnace,…. and so on.
      - In 1899 the German orient society got to work on excavating the city of Babylon.
        
        The found some wonderful discoveries that compliment the bible:
        
        things like the greatness of the city,
        
        Dan. 4:30 Nebuchadnezzar declares what a great city “he” had built,
        
        But then in Jeremiah 51:58 “ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary. ”
        
        so you know what they discovered?
        
        The walls, the rubble, the burned marks, the gates… all of it.
        
        Another thing they found was an odd shaped building, that eventually they considered to be a kiln where the brinks would be fired in order to build the city.
        
        But that was not all they found:
        
        they found a tile on it that the translation read
        
        “This is the place of burning where men who blasphemed the gods of Chaldea died by fire ”
        
        but the bible is not the only source we have to prove that this was a punishment that the Babylonians used,
        
        That this method of punishment was in common use in earlier times is seen from an inscription of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal. It reads: “Saulmagina my rebellious brother, who made war with me, they threw into a burning fiery furnace, and destroyed his life.”
        
        Furthermore, a letter has come to light which indicates that a king of Larsa, a contemporary of King Hammurabi, gave sentence for a slave to be thrown into a furnace.
    3. So all that being said, the decree was form Nebuchadnezzar, to put into the furnace anyone who would not worship the idol set up.
    4. And as we saw last week, the three Hebrew men did not, and were brought before the king.
  2. The Question put to the Hebrews,
    1. give Nebuchadnezzar at least one thing, he did ask the men if it is true that they did not worship the image.
      - That’s more than many would do.
    2. But remember it was in his “fury” he had them brought them to him. vs.13
      - the other wise men accused them of having no regard for his gods, or even for him
        
        and from Nebuchadnezzar’s view point, here are these three who owe their success to him. And they have the nerve to have no regard for him.
  3. The Subject:
    1. Vs.17 “If IT be so”
      - what is it?
      - O’ king we are not careful to answer thee in this,
      - if you throw us in the fiery furnace, The subject/ the decree
    2. Our God—- Whom We serve—- Is Able—– And will deliver us from your hands.
      - We Know that God can deliver us “From” the furnace, and we know that He will deliver us form your hands
    3. So their answer to Nebuchadnezzar,
      - if you throw us in the furnace our God, we serve….
    4. But if Not, Vs.18
      - If not what? What is the subject?
      - There are a lot of people who change the subject here, form being the decree to being Gods deliverance,
      - but look at the last part of this verse and ask if it makes scene:
        
        If God doesn’t deliver us, we will not serve thy gods? What happens if God doesn’t deliver? They burn up, they can’t serve the gods of Babylonians
        
        If God doesn’t deliver us we will not worship the image.. but of course they cant worship the image, they would be ash.
      - The subject has never changed, it was the decree.
2. The Ultimatum,
  1. The Hebrews put Nebuchadnezzar on the spot,
    1. they were basically saying, if you follow the decree, Our God we serve is able to deliver us, and He will in some way,
    2. However if you choose not to follow the decree, we want you to know we still wont bow to your gods, or worship the image you set up.
      - Because of this, the king became angry again, commands the furnace to be heated 7 times hotter.
      - Notice vs. 19, his visage changed. His face/ look
3. The Result,
  1. Thrown into the fire,
    1. Troubles will come,
    2. John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
    3. I Peter 4:12&13 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings;”
    4. James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing”
  2. Loose in the fire,
    1. sometimes we need to go through the fire in order to be free
    2. vs.24 ask did we not throw them in the fire bound, then in vs.35, I see 4 men loose…
    3. consider the second part of James 1, but let patience have her work…
  3. 4^th Man with them,
    1. He will never leave us nor forsake us,
    2. Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
      - quoted form Deuteronomy 31:6
  4. They were unscathed,
    1. not even the smell of fire
    2. I Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”
    3. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”
  5. Their Promotion,
    1. once again we see the opposite of what the enemy wanted to happen, happen,
      - they were promoted.