Vol. 2, Issue 2

Spring 2008

by Paul Lytle

"You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up."

Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?"

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

-Daniel 3:10-18

e are often told the stories of people who were taken from their home and raised in a different place and culture, amongst different people. It is a rather common occurrence in literature, in works like Oliver Twist; in legend, such as the story of King Arthur; or even in comic books, as in the history of Superman.

But it also happens in real life, and sometimes in terrible ways. I am reminded of the people who were forcibly taken from Africa and sold as slaves early in this country's history. This sort of kidnapping continues in many parts of the world still.

While we have seen this sort of thing in situation, in books, and in stories, I think that few people reading this today would really understand what that is like. Even adoptions will normally (and ideally) take place during infancy, so that the new home will be the only one the child ever remembers. Perhaps circumstances may force an older child to make such a move, but even then it is rarely a move into a new culture, a move that would not only change lands, languages, but even a person's name. In America, we have not seen that sort of forcible change on a large scale since slavery was outlawed.

Such was going through my mind as I read the Book of Daniel. Several of the prophets in that part of the Bible are concerned with the Babylonian captivity of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. Jeremiah and Ezekiel had done their duties in warning the people and also describing the horror of that time, even though people would not listen. Jehoiakim had been king at the time, and the people really wanted nothing to do with God. These great prophets had warned them to turn back, but they had not listened. So God used King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to inflict His wrath. Even while Jerusalem was being besieged, the prophets implored the people to turn back to God, that it was not too late. But the false prophets promised victory without God, a promise that would never come.

The Israelites were scattered, but one group in particular went to Babylon, to the king's court. They were the smartest and prettiest boys, boys that were refined, knowledgeable, and wise. Many of them were actually of noble blood. They were brought to Babylon to serve the king there. Their names were changed, their culture was changed, and even their food was changed.

They were probably between fourteen and seventeen years old.

Amongst these boys were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Their names were changed, upon arriving in Babylon, to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. The meanings of these names were very interesting (though not really what I really want to look at), because their Jewish names reflected a trust and love of God, but the Babylonian names had to do with pagan gods. The Babylonians were trying to brainwash them.

One of the first things the Babylonians did was try to get all the Jewish boys to eat unclean food. We are only told of these four out of many, but it seems like these were the only four to resist the practice. Of everyone who came, only these four, with Daniel as their spokesman, desired to stay pure in a pagan land.

They won that battle with God's help, and at a later date I will return to this setting to tell of Daniel's faith specifically, and at that time I will tell more about this story. Until then, I want to mainly follow the other three guys. Suffice it to say, as far as this episode of the story goes, they were allowed to eat a very strict diet that was in keeping with their faith.

They were not out of the woods though. The other Israelites who had been taken, it seems, had become Babylonians for all intents and purposes. But God was with these four men, and they stood stronger and wiser than everyone else who had come.

Daniel had won favor with Nebuchadnezzar by interpreting a dream of the king, but still all four remained in a pagan land without hope of escape. There was still constant pressure on them to become Babylonians. To a degree, they went along with it. It seems that they accepted the new names, seeing as how it was not a sin to do so. They even served the king, not stubbornly refusing or protesting. But at a new lifestyle is where they drew the line even though it was expected of them. To go in for the forbidden food and worshiping false gods would have been sinful.

Which is exactly where I began thinking of how I would respond. And in thinking about it, I suddenly knew exactly how I would respond, and I was not proud of what I discovered.

It is very easy to slip into someone else's lifestyle, I have found. At work, the people around you are telling inappropriate jokes, and how easy it is to laugh instead of just walking away. How many times have I not defended someone who was being made fun of, just because I did not want to make everyone uncomfortable? Haven't there been times I did not bow my head to pray over a meal simply because no one else did?

I was getting a haircut just a few weeks ago, and the woman cutting my hair had a very sharp and sarcastic personality. She wasn't unlikeable in the least (actually quite the opposite), but hers was a sarcastic wit. She was simply very jaded. I noticed, right at the end of our conversation, that I had been talking in the same way. My words were drowning in sarcasm, my tone cynical.

That is the way I act under merely twenty minutes of very light pressure to be someone I am not. When I am not watchful, I fall so quickly into the culture around me.

Perhaps it would have been different for me in Babylon. I mean, being a little sarcastic is one thing, but would I betray such hard and fast rules as the dietary rules were for the Jews? Would I fall to my knees and worship a false god if ordered to?

I don't know for sure, and I hope I never have to find out. I hope that the day never comes when I have to choose between my faith and my life. I pray that my faith would rules my life, to take over every part of me, but I do not want to be put to the test in this way. Just based on my little survey of my own life, I don't know that I would be amongst the four that stood up for God.

You see, they were, in fact, ordered to bow down before a false god, which is where I want to pick up the story again. Nebuchadnezzar built an idol. He seems reasonably proud of this idol, since he called everyone together to have a massive ceremony to worship it. This seems to happen a lot in the Old Testament, with people making things out of gold and telling people to bow before it.

Before you scoff at these people, I wonder how the future would react to all of our directors claiming that their films will change our lives? How will the future judge our various religions, created by science fiction authors and polygamists? How will the future judge the commercials of get-rich-quick schemes and diet fads where the advertiser basically tells us, “Follow me and I will solve all of our problems!" We are not so different than Nebuchadnezzar, I fear. Perhaps worse, because at he was looking for a god. We seek only ourselves, almost as gods. But I digress.

Babylon made a big production of it, timing everything so that everyone would bow at the same time with music and fanfare and the whole getup.

Except that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego didn't bow.

Keep in mind, the punishment for not worshiping this statue was death. Everyone was doing it around them (it doesn't seem like Daniel was around at the time, because he is not mentioned in this episode). All of those other Israelites that had been brought from Jerusalem as teenagers were bowing.

Except these three.

Nebuchadnezzar even gives them a second chance, saying, “Okay, I know you didn't bow before, so we'll try this all again, and you can bow now. Otherwise, you're going to die."

And the three respond like this:

O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

If you don't know the end of the story, they were thrown into a fiery furnace. The flames were so hot that the people throwing them inside were killed by them. But when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace after them, he saw them walking around with a heavenly being. Then they came out.

INTO THE FIRE

id they know this would happen? I don't know. They spoke as though they knew that God would save them, but did their knowledge come from revelation, or just great faith? Since the Bible does not record any specific revelation to them (as it normally does when revelations comes), I believe it was the latter. No, God didn't tell them He would save them, but He didn't need to. They already knew.

And if they were wrong? If God did not save them? They spoke to this as well, and they were content to die before bowing before that idol. They were going to death, and they didn't care. Their faith was worth more than their lives.

As with many children, this was a favorite Bible story for me growing up. Why not? It had fire and death and drama and God letting everyone know who's boss. That's awesome! As children, we love those stories from the Bible, but we sometimes get so wrapped up in the story that we forget the point. I think we can sometimes do that with these three young men. They were saved from the flames, and that is critically important to our understanding of God's power. But the real triumph here is not that they stepped out of the fire, but that they stepped in.

When we stand up for faith, we triumph. It does not matter what the details of the outcome is, we have won. God will be glorified, and we will prove faithful.

Wait a minute, you may say. Those three guys were almost toast! And what if they had burned to death? Does that mean that they would have lost? No, because death is no defeat for a man of faith. We must remember Paul's famous line, “to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Later, Jesus tells us in Revelation, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (2:10). Death in faithfulness is only the beginning, my friends. It's not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it is gain.

So one of three things could have happened to our three Jewish friends here if they stood on faith. The first is that Nebuchadnezzar could have immediately backed down. That seems unlikely, but if it had happened, then the three would have won a great victory for their faith. They could have died. If so, they would be celebrated both here amongst the faithful, giving them courage, and also in heaven as men of great faith. God would have been pleased with them for their faith, and so they will begin their new life with God. Or third, God would intervene.

And that is what happened. God intervened in a big way, proving beyond doubt that He was Lord over all.

Imagine this scene, friends. Imagine it! Here, everyone has gathered to worship a false god, and even those who are a little uncertain about the whole idea fall to their knees, except these three foreigners who dare to defy the king! But when the king tries to punish them, he is humbled by the true God, who uses this occasion, the worship of a false god, to glorify Himself.

One more point. These three boys were not alone in the fire. They were with a man who described as “like a son of the gods" (verse 25). This person is, in fact, the Son of God. He is Jesus, come (as He did sometimes) in the Old Testament. It is critical to understand that when these three stood up for God, that the Son of God would be standing with them, whether or not they survived. Either in the next life or this one, Jesus would be at their sides.

THE OBJECT OF GLORY

ut we don't always see it that way, do we? We see all the supposedly bad things that could happen if we stand up for Jesus in this society. We worry about losing our jobs or our friends, or, in some extreme cases, our lives. Our decisions so often seek to glorify ourselves rather than to glorify Him who actually deserves it. We try to increase our wealth, our power, or our lifespan. I wonder how many people, if put to the test, would really embrace Paul's wonderful declaration. How many would remain standing when a nation fell to its knees in front of an idol?

If a boss asked you to lie for him, would you do it, or would you tell him no? To say that God will protect you, but even if He doesn't, and you get fired, you still won't betray Him like that? How simply we betray our Savior, and for far less than life. Yet Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah offered their heads rather than betray God.

Friends, we are failing the test of faith in this country and in this time. We have no interest in letting the glory go to God. We have no interest in being content in Him. We have no interest in dying for His glory. We do not think it gain at all!

I am moved to prayer thinking of this, simply to thank Christ that He had better faith than me. Imagine if He did not. Imagine if He were willing to sell out God as easily and for little as I am! But He did not. He had the faith to leave it in the Father's hands, even when facing death on the Cross.

But it is His faith that made that whole thing work. He took all of our little betrayals, all the times we seek our own glory rather than the glory of God, and all the times we bowed down just so we wouldn't stand out. He took all of that and laid them upon that Cross. He became our sin so we could take on His righteousness.

The story of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah teaches me how very far I have fallen away from God. Their bravery and faith teaches me how low I am. Let us thank God though for His Son, because His Son, in coming down so low, is able to lift us up to heaven itself. It is by that sacrifice that death can be gain for us, and no other way is there to God.

Let us take our inequity to Him and lay them upon the Cross. Confess your sins to Him and take on His righteousness. Once you have done that, you have gained the only thing worth having and the only thing they cannot take from you. You may save your job today with a lie, but you will lose it someday, even if it is only by death. But in Christ we have a reason worthy of stepping into the fire and not caring whether we step out again.

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