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Scripture Reading: Dan. 3
In this message we will consider the victory of the young descendants of God's degraded elect over the seduction of idol worship.
In chapter three Satan's strategy was to seduce the young overcomers among God's defeated elect in the worship of idols through Nebuchadnezzar's blindness (vv. 1-7). Nebuchadnezzar made a great image of gold, sixty cubits (ninety feet) in height, and set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon (v. 1). He might have been influenced to make such an image by the interpretation of his dream in chapter two. Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the high officials and all kinds of officers and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image he had set up and commanded all the peoples, nations, and languages to worship his golden image (vv. 2-5). Whoever did not fall down and worship was to be thrown into the midst of a blazing furnace of fire (v. 6). Daniel's three companions were among the high officials gathered, but Daniel, the chief of the prefects over all the wise men in the province of Babylon, was not present. This seems unusual. I believe that Daniel stayed in a hidden place and prayed concerning the situation.
Daniel's three companions, the young overcomers among the Jewish captives, stood against the devilish worship and were accused by the Chaldeans (vv. 8-12). The Chaldeans were jealous of Daniel and his companions and took their refusal to worship the golden image as grounds to accuse them before Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, tempted the young overcomers by giving them another chance to worship his golden image, with the threat of throwing them into a blazing furnace of fire (vv. 13-15).
The three overcomers answered, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace of fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king" (v. 17). Their response to Nebuchadnezzar was impolite and very bold (vv. 16-18). Yet there was still something of the natural thought in their response. They said that God was able to deliver them from the blazing furnace. Actually, God did not need to deliver them from the furnace. He kept them in the furnace and made the fire of no effect (v. 25). They were bold, but they were not so spiritual. If they had been spiritual, they would have said, "Nebuchadnezzar, we are happy to go into the blazing furnace, because when we go He comes. He makes your burning furnace a very pleasant place."
Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the countenance of his face was changed toward the young overcomers. He commanded that the furnace be made seven times hotter than usual, and that certain mighty men in his army bind the overcomers and throw them into the blazing furnace of fire (vv. 19-21).
The mighty men were slain by the flame of the fire, and the three young overcomers fell into the blazing furnace of fire bound up (vv. 22-23).
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and said to his counselors, "Did we not throw three men into the midst of the fire bound up?...Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not harmed. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods" (vv. 24-25). This fourth one was Christ. Christ had come to be with His three suffering, persecuted overcomers and to make the fire a pleasant place in which to walk about.
Our natural thought is that we need to leave the fire of our circumstances. We may think that if we have a troublesome husband or a bothersome wife, we should pray and ask God to deliver us out of such a situation. But the Lord would say, "I do not like to deliver you from this situation in your married life. Instead, I will keep you there, and I will come and make your environment a pleasant place."
When the enemy throws us into the furnace, we should realize that we do not need to ask the Lord to deliver us. He will come to be with us and take care of us in our suffering, making our place of suffering a pleasant situation. I can testify of this from my experience of imprisonment under the Japanese invading army in China. During that time of suffering, the Lord was with me. One day, as I was talking to the Lord, I had the deep sense that He was there in prison with me. I wept before Him, saying, "Lord, You know why I am here." Instead of delivering me from prison immediately, the Lord, by His presence, made that prison a pleasant place. As the Lord was with those suffering overcomers in Babylon, so He will be with us in our suffering today.
Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the blazing furnace of fire and said to the young overcomers, "Servants of the Most High God, come out and come here" (v. 26). Then the young overcomers came out of the fire, and all the high officials and the king's counselors saw concerning these young overcomers that the fire had no effect on their bodies and that the hair of their heads was not singed, nor had their clothes been affected, nor had the smell of fire come upon them (v. 27).
Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him and changed the king's word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God" (v. 28). The three young overcomers did not simply frustrate the king's word — they changed it. Instead of caring for Nebuchadnezzar's word, they changed it in nature and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god other than their own God.
Nebuchadnezzar went on to make a decree that any people, nation, or language that spoke something offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego should be cut into pieces and their houses should be made a dunghill, because there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way (v. 29). Then the king caused the three young overcomers to prosper in the province of Babylon (v. 30).
The three young overcomers gained the victory over the seduction of idol worship. The whole universe saw their rejection of that devilish worship. Thus, God could boast to Satan that even in his territory, He had a people worshipping Him. They did not care for Satan. Today, in this dark age, everything seems to be discouraging. But there is still a group of overcomers to stand against the tide and to carry out God's worship, testimony, and interest on earth.
