DANIEL 3
Read Daniel 3:1-30
The acknowledgement that God is the true god that the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, made at the end of the last chapter, did not last long. We see him now creating a gold statue of himself that everybody must bow down to. As far as Nebuchadnezzar is concerned, God isn’t the most important person in the world, Nebuchadnezzar is. And he issued an order that anyone who did not worship this idol of himself when instructed to do so would be thrown into the fiery furnace.
In Chapter 1 we saw that Daniel and his three friends went to some extent to integrate into Babylonian society, but there was a sticking point. They would not break God’s dietary laws. The Babylonians accepted this and the four of them continued in the king’s service. In Chapter 2 we saw that God honoured Daniel’s faithfulness in depending and trusting in the Lord to tell him about the king’s dream. Daniel’s witness to the Lord made King Nebuchadnezzar respect both Daniel and his God.
Now it is the turn of Daniel’s three companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, to be honoured by God for their faithfulness to him. These three Israelites, obeying God’s laws about not worshipping idols (after all, that was the reason that the Israelites were in Babylon in the first place – it was judgement upon them for worshipping idols rather than the one true God), refused to bow down to this golden idol of himself that Nebuchadnezzar had made. Some informers ratted on the three – and we are told that they were astrologers, so they may have been seething about Daniel’s success in Chapter 2 and had developed a hatred of these incomers from Israel – and the three were hauled before the king. They refused to defend themselves against Nebuchadnezzar, which only enraged him all the more. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not waver before the king. They knew that their God was more powerful than the king and that God could save them. But the important point here is that they also said – ‘but if not’ (v18). God could save them from the fiery furnace, but he might choose not to. In any event it would not matter to them; they still believed and trusted in God as their Lord and saviour.
We know the story! They were thrown into the furnace but were unharmed. But what amazed King Nebuchadnezzar even more was the fact that there was a fourth man in the furnace now (v25). We are not told who it was, but it is clearly God honouring his faithful servants with his presence. Throughout the Old Testament God has said to his people, ‘I will be with you’ and here he is being faithful to that promise.
I think the important aspect of this story is the phrase ‘but if not’. We all know that God can do much more that all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). But sometimes he does not do what we want when we want, but that should not impact upon our faith in him.