Daniel 3

Daniel 3

Meyer observes that… There was no doubt about their being bound. Their turbans, mantles, and other garments had bound their limbs so tightly, that when first they reached the furnace they fell down bound in its midst. Whatever else the fire could not do, it at least freed them, so that they walked loose; and the dewy glades of Paradise were not more fragrant and delightful than were those white-hot cinders. This is what trial has often done for us. We had become conscious of the binding effect of our own habits which we had permitted as comparatively innocent; but gradually the conviction grew that they were amongst the weights that should be laid aside. Yet they clung to us until some fiery trial befell us, and from that hour, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we were free. Do not fear the fire. It cannot hurt one hair of your head, or leave the smell of burning on you; but it will eat out the alloy, and gnaw away the iron bands that bound you. Beat on, true heart, for ever! Shine bright, strong golden chain; And bless the cleansing fire And the furnace of living pain. But Jesus never allows His beloved to walk the fire alone. If it is heated seven times hotter than its wont, this is only the reason for his becoming more real, as our living and glorious Friend. There always goes beside the tried saint, though not always patent even to the eye of the spirit, another whose aspect is that of the Son of God. Reach out thy hands to Him, beloved—He is there. The Refiner not only watches the crucible, He is in it with thee. In all thy affliction He is afflicted. Warren Wiersbe -When God puts His own people into the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. He knows how long and how much. (If we rebel, He may have to reset the clock; but if we submit, He will not permit us to suffer one minute too long. The important thing is that we learn the lesson He wants to teach us and that we bring glory to Him alone.) We may question why He does it to begin with, or why He doesn’t turn down the heat or even turn it off; but our questions are only evidences of unbelief. (Job 23:10-note) is the answer: “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come come forth as gold” (NKJV). Gold does not fear the fire. The furnace can only make the gold purer and brighter." (Wiersbe, W. Be Patient. An Old Testament study. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books) Daniel 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. servants: Da 3:17 2:47 6:20 Ezra 5:11 Ac 16:17 27:23 Ga 1:10 Rev 19:5 Most High God - Ge 14:18 Come here - Jos 3:17 4:10,16-18 Isa 28:16 52:12 Ac 16:37 Daniel 3 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Then - marks sequence of events. Came near to the door - One wonders how he was able to come near in view of what happened to his soldiers (Da 3:23). Servants (Lxx = doulos) - Notice that Nebuchadnezzar recognizes that the three lads serve the Most High God even before they are out of the furnace. Most High God - See discussion of El Elyon: Most High God - Sovereign Over All. (Most High God is repeated in Da 3:26, 4:2, 17; Da 4:24, 25, 32, 34; Da 5:18, 21; Da 7:25) Come here… came out - They could not obey the king's godless request to worship the image, but do not hesitate to obey his command in this instance. THOUGHT - The actions of the 3 Hebrews validated what they said they believed. Do I see trials and afflictions as opportunities to bring God glory (cause others to see Him as He really is) or do I view them with irritation and questions ("Why me Lord?")? THE TWO SUFFICIENTS Evil shall pass with the day that brought it, As the sea is stayed by the barrier land; When the Giver of Good shall say, "No farther," And bid the foeman restrain his hand; But the grace of the Lord outstays the evil, Outlasts the darkness, outruns the morn, Outwatches the stars in their nightly vigil, And the foe that returns with the day re-born, As he left it unwearied, shall find it unworn. --Annie Johnson Flint (click for more poems) Daniel 3:27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them. Satraps - Da 3:2,3 1Sa 17:46,47 2Ki 19:19 Ps 83:18 96:7, 8, 9 Isa 26:11 Ac 2:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 26:26 on the bodies: Isa 43:2 hair: Mt 10:30 Lk 21:17,18 Ac 27:34 Daniel 3 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries GOD'S DELIVERANCE IS COMPLETE! The satraps, et al - These pagan leaders saw (and thus could bear witness to) a miracle in that the fire had no effect! Three men walked by faith and not by sight (2Cor 5:7) and became living epistles (2Cor 3:2) that pointed to a supernatural God Who even the king of kings was forced to acknowledge as the Most High God! THOUGHT - When we stand for Christ, He stands with us (whether we feel like He is there or not - His promise is sure = Heb 13:5,6-note) and the world receives a witness through our stand, regardless or whether they surrender to Him or not. What an encouraging example for each of us to stand fast like these three did. By their one act of steadfast faith they became witnesses of the true and living God to the entire Babylonian Empire! May their tribe increase in our world which desperately needs to see supernatural evidence of the Living God lived out in and through His children! The fire had no effect on the bodies - This could be the event referred to by the writer of Hebrews who records that men of old "quenched the power of fire" (Heb 11:34-note), and they did so not by might nor by power but by His Spirit and by faith (Heb 11:33-note) in God's faithfulness and His faithful Word of deliverance either in or through the fire. Four things were unchanged in the fiery furnace - (1) They were not burned in any way; (2) Their hair was not singed; (3) Their garments were not altered (no soot); and (4) There was no smell of fire. The only changed was the removal of the rope that bound them! Bob Deffinbaugh makes an important observation and application of this section noting first that… Theirs was a complete deliverance, because God accomplished it. They were not merely delivered from the fire; they were delivered through the fire. They were delivered through the fire which brought death to their executioners and in a way that destroyed only their bonds. They were delivered from sizzling, singeing, and even the scent of smoke. That is complete deliverance. The deliverance which God has accomplished for us is like that described in Daniel 3. It is, first and foremost, God’s deliverance. It is not a deliverance from all suffering and trials, but one which exists because God Himself experienced the fire. As the fourth person was present with the Hebrews in the furnace, Christ has endured the wrath of God, in our place. We are delivered from God’s eternal wrath because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered for us, in our place. Deliverance, all deliverance, has been accomplished on the cross of Calvary. I doubt that you and I fully grasp the extent of the deliverance we have in Christ. We say we believe that God has delivered us from Satan, sin, hell and death, but do we really believe it? Why do Christians frantically seek deliverance from drugs, addictions, fear, guilt, and bitterness in sources other than the shed blood of Jesus Christ? We do not fathom or experience the totality of the deliverance which God has for us now, let alone in eternity. God’s deliverance is complete deliverance. (Faith and the Furnace) Comment: As an aside, you might want to study the passages in the Psalms which use the words deliver, Deliverer, deliverance, etc, most referring to Divine Deliverance (most positive, some negative) - Ps 3:2; 7:1, 2; 17:13; 18:1, 2, 17, 43, 48, 50; 22:1, 4, 5, 8, 20; 25:20; 27:12; 31:1, 15; 32:7; 33:16f, 19; 34:4, 17, 19; 35:10; 37:40; 39:8; 40:13, 17; 41:1; 43:1; 50:22; 51:14; 54:7; 56:13; 59:1f; 60:5, 11; 63:10; 68:20; 69:14; 70:1, 5; 71:2, 11; 72:12; 74:12, 19; 78:62; 79:9; 82:4; 86:13; 89:48; 91:3, 14; 97:10; 106:43; 107:6, 20; 108:6, 12; 109:21; 119:170; 120:2; 142:6; 143:9; 144:2, 7, 11. Listen to Chris Tomlin's song The Everlasting God as you ponder and praise Him for being our Strong Deliverer - Everlasting God) Walvoord has an interesting thought writing that "Just as the reign of Nebuchadnezzar is symbolic of the entire period of the times of the Gentiles, so the deliverance of Daniel’s three companions is typical of the deliverance of Israel during the period of Gentile domination (Lk 21:24). Particularly at the end of the Gentile period Israel will be in fiery affliction (cp Da 12:1) (Ibid). Comment: A number of commentators take a similar approach to using the events in Daniel 3 as a foreshadowing of the future of Israel during the Tribulation or Daniel's Seventieth Week, identifying Nebuchadnezzar with Antichrist (I would take issue with this genre of interpretation because Antichrist never speaks of the true God in such exalting language as did Nebuchadnezzar, not to mention that in Daniel 4 we read the story of his likely conversion!), his image like the one in Revelation 13, the fiery furnace like the Great Tribulation, the 3 Hebrews like the believing Jewish remnant who come through the Great Tribulation, the executioners like those kings who align with Antichrist but are destroyed when Christ returns and the mysterious absence of Daniel as a picture of the absence of the church during the Tribulation. While there are undoubtedly parallels between these events (especially the image of the beast in Revelation 13-see notes above). Whether this was one of God's intended purposes of Daniel 3, the reader will have to decide applying the principles of the Bereans (Acts 17:11-note), remembering that the field of typology has been subject to extremes pro and con (see Typology - Study of Biblical types) The danger of focusing on this type of typological (pun intended) interpretation is that one might miss some of the profound principles for living an uncompromising, unbending life of faith fully surrendered to God in the face of intense peer pressure to conform to a godless, idol worshipping culture like our country in the "post-Christian" era!