Daniel 3:1-30
Peer pressure is when you have to make a decision, and your friends influence you to make that decision. It’s a pretty powerful thing, because maybe you don’t want to do something, but because all your friends are telling you to do it, you end up doing it anyways. It doesn’t even have to be your friends telling you to do it. It could just be that because everybody is doing something, you feel pressured to do it too. I struggled with peer pressure a lot when I was in school. How I dressed, the music I listened to, how I talked, the kind of cell phone that I had to have, I felt the need to do what everyone else was doing. Sometimes though, we need to be able to take a stand and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Maybe everyone is picking on someone at school, and you need to be the one to stand up for them. Maybe you’re at a friends house and they want to watch something that you aren’t supposed to listen to, and you have a decision to make.
As we continue through Daniel this morning, we’ll see a very familiar story, one with great relevance for us today. At the end of chapter 2, we see Nebuchadnezzar recognize Daniel’s God as one of the gods, one who is powerful enough to reveal mysteries. Unfortunately, this doesn’t indicate any sort of heart change based on what Nebuchadnezzar does next. About 15 years have passed since chapter 2, and context is really important here. In 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar begins a 3 year siege of the city of Jerusalem, and in 586 BC he burns the palace and the temple to the ground. Then, we get to chapter 3 of Daniel.
Big Idea: God is present in our trials.
Read Daniel 3:1-12
Culture of Idol Worship
A few things about this statue. We know that it was 60 cubits tall by 6 cubits wide. A cubit is equal to 18 inches, so to translate, that would have been 90 feet tall by 9 feet wide, which is kind of an odd dimension if you think about it. We also know that the image was made of gold. Remember in the dream we talked about last week, Babylon was the head of gold. We don’t really know if it was solid gold or just a gold overlay on the statue, but either way it would have been a lot of gold that was needed. We also don’t know exactly who the statue was of. It could have been a statue of one of the Babylonian gods, or it could have been a statue of Nebuchadnezzar himself.
With all of that though, the important thing that we cannot miss is that Nebuchadnezzar set this statue up to be worshiped. Not only that, but he made it law that everyone had to bow down to it whenever they heard the special music being played. Remember we talked about how Nebuchadnezzar had twice now threatened death and destruction upon people. And here again, if you don’t obey the commands of the king, you will be thrown into the furnace of fire. “Therefore,” verse 7 says, the music played, and everyone immediately dropped to the ground to worship the golden statue, except Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Whether out of fear or respect, everyone worshiped.
Now remember, Daniel and his 3 friends had been given leadership positions over the Babylonian wise men, the ones called Chaldeans in our text this morning. Surely jealousy was raging when this happened. They must have been just waiting for their moment, and Daniel’s friends finally gave it to them. So they come before the king, and they remind him of the decree. “Didn’t you say, that when the music played, everyone had to bow down?” Yes. “And didn’t you say, that anyone that doesn’t bow down will be cast into the fiery furnace?” Yes. “Well some of the Jews…”
In the context of our passage, they are saying this in a derogatory way. They are saying it out of spite. They are saying it out of hatred towards these men. And the accusation they bring to the king is so manipulative. They are speaking directly to his arrogance and thirst for power. “O King, these men don’t care about you, they don’t pay any attention to what you say. They don’t respect you. They’ve been here for 20 years now, and they still don’t serve your gods!” And Nebuhadnezzar is filled with furious rage.
Read Daniel 3:13-18
Standing Firm in the Lord
Even though he’s raging mad, he still gives these men the benefit of the doubt. “Is it really true what they are saying about you? How about this, I’ll strike up the band, and when you hear the music, just simply drop to your knees and bow down. It’ll be quick and painless. No big deal. But, if you don’t, then you will be cast into the fire.” And we can’t miss what he says here in verse 15. “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” This shows the arrogance and god-complex of Nebuchadnezzar. Essentially, “I have complete power, and not even the gods can stop what I’m about to do.”
And these men, in this moment, are faced with a decision. John Macarthur says that “our decisions, our attitudes and our behaviors are determined by one of two things: external pressure or internal principle.” Fortunately for these men, just like we saw with Daniel, their internal principles were rooted and driven by their trust in God.
And so they respond, “look, you don’t need to play the music. We can tell you that will be for naught. We aren’t going to bow down. If you really want to kill us, we have a God that is far more powerful than you, who can save us out of the fire.” And here’s a really important statement that we’ll circle back to but I want to make sure we highlight here: “But, if God doesn’t choose to save us today, just know that our allegiance is still to Him alone.” They are confident that God is more than able to save them out of whatever may come, but they also recognize that He’s still God even if He doesn’t.
Read Daniel 3:19-23
The Fiery Furnace
When we get angry, usually our face changes to let people know that we are mad. Imagine this though: Nebuchadnezzar was already furious, but now it gets worse. He is filled with fury and his face changes. And what’s underneath the facial expressions is rage, so much so that he tells his officials to heat the furnace up to the maximum temperature. “I want the death of these men to be worse than any before them!”
And we can’t overlook some of these details. They wrapped rope around them, so that they couldn’t move. They were still fully clothed, which would have allowed them to catch fire quicker, and also showed the urgency of the king. In fact, when they opened the door to throw the men in, it was so hot that the officials who were throwing them were overtaken by the flames and died on the spot. So in the 3 men go, tied up and fully clothed, and then the miraculous happens.
Read Daniel 3:24-25
The king is astonished. This Hebrew word doesn’t just mean surprised but carries with it the element of fear. Why? Because not only are the men alive, but they are on their feet, walking, unbound. And most astonishing of all, there’s a 4th person walking with them. Nebuchadnezzar recognizes Him as like “a son of the gods,” but most commentators would say, and I would agree, that this 4th man was a pre-incarnate appearance, a Christophony, in other words, Jesus.
I don’t think we can save the truth of this moment for our application at the end. We have to stop and recognize that in the midst of the trials that we face, God is present. When we stand for truth in the midst of pressure to conform to the world, God strengthens us. When we walk through the difficult trials of life, God sustains us. The extent at which God protected these men is incredible.
Read Daniel 3:26-27
The furnace was heated as hot as it possibly could be. The hair on their heads had no burn marks, their clothes were fully intact, and there was no smell of smoke on them at all. It’s as if a protective fireproof bubble was placed around them. Not only were they saved out of the fire, but they were untouched in the midst of it. One commentator cleverly said that “The God who did not deliver them from the fire was the God who met them in the fire and delivered them out of the fire.” And He placed a hedge of protection around them the whole time.
So how does Nebuchadnezzar respond? Read Daniel 3:28-31
Nebuchadnezzar’s Response
We already saw in verse 26 that Nebuchadnezzar recognized God as the “Most High God,” and now he blesses God. He still doesn’t claim God as his own God, but he recognizes that He is real, that He is powerful. And think about how sudden this turn is! Just a little while ago, a decree went out that everyone had to bow down to the golden statue or die, and now, a new decree that says if anyone speaks anything against God, they will be torn limb from limb and their houses burned down. Sound familiar? Apparently that was a common punishment back then.
So where do we stand now, 20 years later in Babylon? Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the power of the Jewish God. Daniel is 2nd in command over the entire empire, and leader of all the wise men of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are promoted to leadership positions. The name of God is honored and protected against blasphemy. All because Daniel and his friends resolved in their hearts to stand firm in truth. They decided that death was better than bending the knee to false idols. Much like Paul declared: “For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.” These men were confident in the power of God to save, but also knew that if He allowed suffering to lead to death, that they would wake up in His presence.
Application
God allows us to walk through trials.
This is something that is true of every human being, and something that is promised especially to Christians. Jesus told us this: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Trials will come. Trials might come in the form of persecution because of our faith. Trials might come in the form of external pressure to conform, or internal faith defining wrestling. Here’s what we have to know to be true in light of our passage this morning.
God is present in our trials.
Just like God was present with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, He has promised to be present with us. Jesus tells us this as well in John 14: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.” Paul reiterates this multiple times, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” If the Spirit of God dwells in us, that means He is always present in our lives, in the midst of our trials. The Holy Spirit provides strength in our weakness. Comfort in our pain. Perseverance. Patience. Joy even. And not only is He present with us in our trials, He is also able to deliver us OUT of our trials.
God is able to deliver us out of our trials.
Psalm 34:17 says, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” It may take time. God may allow the trials to last. Sometimes, as we’ve talked about many times, our trials end when we die and enter the presence of Jesus.
Sometimes deliverance comes in glory.
James 1:12 - “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand for truth when the pressure of the world is so intense. It’s easier sometimes just to stay silent, to not engage for fear of mockery or to avoid conflict. It’s easier to just stay in my lane and not engage. So far we’ve seen incredible boldness from Daniel and his friends. We’ve seen miraculous things happen because of it. We’ll continue to see this as we move through Daniel, but this morning let’s remember that in a world that is beckoning us to worship anything but God, we can remain steadfast with our eyes on Jesus because God is with us every step of the way.
