Bow, Bend or Burn

Daniel 3

 

In the third chapter of Daniel, we meet three young men who functioned on internal principle and they didn’t care what the external pressure was.  And as followers of Jesus Christ, I think we have a lot to learn from them.  I want you to put yourself in this situation.  I want you to see yourself here, not just these 3 guys.  It doesn’t really matter that these three Hebrew young men did.  It doesn’t really matter to us today unless there is something here that we can gain personally in the way we confront the world.  Do we put God first?  Do we put His Word first?  Do we do what we do based entirely upon internal principle?  Or do we vacillate, and compromise, and act on external pressure?

 

A certain pastor was drafted into WWI, and had to go and leave his family.  He had a little son, and he wrote a letter to his little son from the trenches of France:

“The first prayer I want you to say for me is not, ‘God, keep Daddy safe.’  The first prayer I want you to learn is, ‘God, make Daddy brave, and if he has hard things to do, make him strong to do them.’  Life and death don’t matter, my son.  Right and wrong do.  Daddy dead is Daddy still.  But Daddy dishonored before God is something too awful for words.  I suppose you’d like to put in a bit about safety, too, as Mother would.  Well, put it in afterwards, for it doesn’t matter nearly as much.”

 

That’s the uncompromising integrity that God calls for, and that’s precisely what we see in the lives of these three men, who were able to face external pressure that was literally unbelievable but make decisions based absolutely and only on internal principle received through the divine revelation that they were taught.

 

This story flows from the ceremony, to the command, the conspiracy, the coercion, the courage, the consequences, the companion, and the commendation.

 

Daniel isn’t here in this passage.  I think as the new Prime Minister, he’s out of the country, making this a convenient time for the king to do this wild stunt - but these three young men stand alone without his support, and they stand courageously.

 

The ceremony 

Nebuchadnezzar makes a massive statue to himself, identifying himself as a god, and demanding that all of the highest ranking people in the Babylonian Empire fall down and worship him.  The gold head that represented Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel’s vision of the four world empires captivated his thinking, no doubt, and so he decided to make a huge statue all of gold to his own glory. He had a massive ego and needed everyone to bow to him.  Now if this reminds you of a modern day world leader I just want to say, I’m sorry.  Me too.  But still, God uses anyone to bring about His purposes.

 

Nebuchadnezzar was simply doing what all men tend to do if they don’t know God, and that is they worship themselves.  They invent gods of their own thinking to suit themselves.

 

And having established this great idol, and demanded that everybody worship it, this brought these three Hebrew young men into a very chilling decision.  Because they knew the Law of God regarding idolatry, and they knew what it was to set up graven images, and how heinous it was to the mind of God.  They had a decision to make.

 

Now, you’ll notice that all the nobles had little character, because in verse 2 it says he called them all, and then in verse 3 it lists them all over again, almost in a sarcastic way, and says they “all stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

 

In other words, typically, all of these leading politicians, and all of the hierarchy of Babylon was willing to do whatever it took to get the approval of Nebuchadnezzar.  And it reiterates them all in verse 3, I think, in order to sort of humiliate them in almost a satirical way as their lack of character is made manifest.

 

Now, we move from the ceremony to the command in verses 4 and 5. 

 

The command

When the music started, everybody was instantly to fall down and worship the image.  Now frankly, people, this guy’s really got an incredible ego. 

 

Worldly music has always been a part of sensuality and has always been connected with the worship of idols.  And like every other good thing that God has given us, Satan has surely perverted and used music to promote his evil system. 

 

The consequences

v. 6          Well, most people respond to external circumstances and external pressure.  They conform to whatever is required of them rather than internal principle.  So verse 7 says everybody did…almost.

 

If you want to meet a pile of non-thinking, intimidated people, this is them.  Typical approach to life:  You do whatever you need to do to get whatever you need to get, living on the lowest level, compromising internal principle based on external pressure.  Men invariably bow to the system.  They bend to the powers that be. 

 

As we read between the lines we realize that everybody was bowed down except three guys, and boy, did they ever stick out.  They didn’t go down. 

 

The conspiracy
v. 8-12     Now I told you when we first started to study this book that there were probably about 75, at least, young men who were taken from the court of Judah to the court of Babylon to be trained to work.  But out of all of the 75 - only 4 of them ever are presented as uncompromising:  Daniel and his three friends.

 

And so we assume that the rest of them just hit the deck with everybody else.  They were moving up in the system and they weren’t about to give themselves problems, and so they just followed along. 

 

Earlier, these 3 had been elevated above the Chaldeans, who resented this. 

 

‘Accused’ in v. 8 is a very interesting word.  It means literally to “eat the pieces of.”  As in an animal that would strip the flesh and the tissue off a body and consume it.  They came in a malicious way to slander in a cannibalistic way, to strip the flesh off, to literally devour to pieces these Jews.  So it’s not a legal term.  It’s not talking about something of a law court accusation, but rather a malicious, hating desire to tear their flesh.  And like cannibals, they came after these three Jews.

 

And the Chaldeans were energized by Satan, for they were the priests of the god known as Bel-Merodach, who was the main god - Bel being a similar to the form we know as Baal.  And so they saw their chance, energized by Satan through their own false religious system, to tear into these young Hebrews.

 

Hypocritically, they spoke to the king as if they were defending him.  They accused the Jews as if to aid the king in finding out if everybody had obeyed.  In verse 9, “They spoke and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever.”  Gave him all that flowery jazz that kings like to hear.  “We’re really here, king, just to assure you of our commitment.”  They were envious of the high positions of these Jewish boys, and they wanted to do all they could to change that but they came on hypocritically.

 

They revealed the real issue in verse 12. That’s what stuck in their craw – back in 2:49

Proverbs 14:30, “A sound heart is the life of the flesh:  but envy the rottenness of the bones.” 

 

We see this in King Saul, who heard people singing, “Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands.”  The Song of Solomon 8:6 says, “Jealousy is cruel as the grave.”  Jealousy and envy is like an acid.  It literally corrodes the soul.  It destroys the beauty of the soul like a grave destroys the beauty of the body.  And the Chaldeans were being consumed by the sin of envy.  And so they bring this to the king.

 

Now you just think about the pressure.  Nebuchadnezzar was their friend.  Nebuchadnezzar was their benefactor.  Their destiny was in his hands.  Resisting Nebuchadnezzar would be utterly useless.  They have no other resource.  Future advancement in their careers in Babylon were absolutely dependent upon their allegiance.  They could have said to themselves, “An idol is nothing, it’s not alive, so why do we worry about it?  We’ll just kneel down with everybody else, only we’ll pray to the true God.”

 

They could have said, “Everybody’s doing it.  If we’re going to reach people we’ve got to be part of them.”  They could have said, “Well, you know, the fire tends to be fatal, and if we’re dead we’re not real useful to God, and we’re in such a strategic place if we get burned up it’s just going to mess up the whole plan.”

 

And they also could have thought, “Well, if we don’t bow down, we’re going to play right into the hands of these jealous Chaldeans.” 

 

Charlie Kirk received constant death threats.  He had a beautiful young family and a great life.  Surely he was tempted to tone it down.  He didn’t want it all to end…and it didn’t.  It’s a thousand times bigger now!

 

Stephen Girard, the unbelieving millionaire of Philadelphia, years past, told his clerks one Saturday that they had to come the next day and unload a shipment which had just arrived.  Well, the next day was Sunday.  One young man stepped up to the desk and said nervously, “Mr. Girard, I can’t work on Sunday.”  “Well, sir,” replied the employer, “if you can’t do as I wish, we can separate.”

 

“I know that, sir,” said the young man.  “And I know, too, that I have a widowed mother to care for, but I cannot work on Sunday.”

 

“Very well,” said Mr. Girard, “go to the cashier’s desk and he’ll settle with you.”

 

For three long weeks the young man tramped the streets looking for work, and one day a bank president asked Girard to name a suitable person for cashier of a new bank about to be started.  After reflecting a moment, Girard named the young man he had just fired. 

 

“But I thought you said you fired him,” said the bank president.  “I did, because he wouldn’t work on Sunday.  And I tell you, the man that will lose his job on account of principle is the man with whom you can trust your money.”

 

Hey Neb, why bother about three guys?  You’ve got everybody else down.  What’s the big sweat?  But have you ever noticed egomania can’t stand one person that doesn’t conform?  One person is all it takes to make them literally livid. 

 

The coercion

vv. 13-15         At the end he adds this stupid statement.  “And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”  Boy, he’s really getting carried away.  He’s got a short memory, this guy.  Has he forgotten the same God that was able to reveal dreams and visions?  What a maniac.

 

O the folly and the stupidity of that kind of pride.  When you pit yourself against the eternal God, you have met your match. 

 

We go, then, from the ceremony, to the command, to the conspiracy, to the coercion, and next the courage, in verse 16. 

 

The courage

And this is the climax, it’s just fabulous.  What do they say?  They don’t give him all that “long-live-the-king” stuff.  “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.”  I love that.  “We’re standing, and that’s the way we’ll remain.”

 

They had faithfully served Nebuchadnezzar as far as they could.  But this was going too far.  And then comes the most sublime statement any mortal ever makes in the whole of the Bible, the greatest affirmation of true faith anywhere in holy Scripture. 

 

Verses 17 and 18.  “If it be so, our God whom we serve - ” and that’s pretty direct “ - is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king - ” one way or another.  “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”  End of speech, period, paragraph.

 

No rationalization, no dialogue, no, “Well, what would you like us to do?  Could we bend down half way?”  None of that.  “We don’t have any defense,” they say.  “We don’t have any answer.  We don’t have any out.  We have absolutely nothing to say, except our God whom we serve is greater than you.  And He’ll deliver us out of your burning, fiery furnace, and even if He doesn’t, we still aren’t going to bow down.”

 

What courage.  We all agree with that, and it’s easy here in this comfortable place.  They were standing on the edge of the fiery furnace.  Their testimony was unflinching and unwavering and their faith held true in the worst moment.

 

I submit to you that this is because they were absolutely committed to internal principle.  And it wasn’t dependent on whether or not they got their miracle.  They would accept God’s will even if it meant death.

 

And like Job in 13:15, they said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”  They knew that what happened to their bodies was not the issue, but that their soul had to be riveted on the truth of God. 

 

God is just as good when He doesn’t heal as He is when He does.  God is just as loving when He doesn’t provide all that we think we need as when He does.  God is just as gracious when He says “no” as He is when He says “yes.”  God is God, and God is to be uncompromisingly worshiped, and what He does is His business. 

 

Paul said it, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is - ” what? “ - gain.”  Death never put any fear in his heart.  He put his head one day on a block, and an axehead flashed in the sun, and severed it from his body, and he never flinched.

 

Listen, the Lord calls us to that.  In Exodus 32:26, the question was asked, “Who is on the Lord’s side?”  In Matthew 10, “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father whose in heaven.”  In Mark 8:38, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous generation; of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.”  “All who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

 

The world comes to us over and over again to call us to its idols.  We want to be popular.  We want to be famous.  We want to be liked.  We want to make money.  We want to get a promotion.  We want to get good grades.  We want to win somebody over.  And so we compromise and render ourselves useless and our testimony negative.

 

Naaman, 2 Kings 5, was cleansed of his leprosy and he stood before Elisha and this is what he said, “There shall be no god in my heart but Jehovah.”  Now that’s good.  Naaman says, “From here on out, there shall be no god in my heart but Jehovah.  [then he says] But in this I pray your forgiveness, - ” he says to Elisha “ - that when the king goes forth to the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow down before the god Rimmon:  in this way thy servant be pardoned.”  Now, Naaman was so concerned that he not compromise himself that he said, “Look, in my heart there’s nobody but Jehovah.  But when the king needs help to get his frame down, and I have to be leaned on to get him down there, you please forgive me, because it is not an act of worship to that god.”  And Elisha sent him on his way.

 

No wonder in 1 John 5:21 John closes his marvelous epistle with the words “Keep yourselves from idols.”

 

So, we see the ceremony, the command, the conspiracy, the coercion, and the courage. 

 

The consequences

verse 19.          Now, if you wanted to really torture somebody, you turn the heat down and prolong it.  Heat it up seven times hotter just means it will be less trauma.  He doesn’t even know what he’s doing.  He’s lost control of himself. 

 

Verses 20-22           They knew God was not going to save them from the fire.  That became abundantly clear as they were on their way in.  Plan B, if you can’t get saved from the fire, you hope to get saved in the fire.  Maybe they were remembering the comforting words of Isaiah 43:2, “When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” 

 

The soldiers were on the outside burned to death and the three were on the inside in verse 23.

 

The companion

verses 24-25            Now you think Nebuchadnezzar was shook when this started, he is really shook now. 

 

When the Lord says in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you, or forsake you,” He means that.  And I think God sends His angels to care for us in the midst of dire circumstances.

 

Years before, Elijah had been similarly honored by having God’s angels sent personally to serve him food at a time he was terribly discouraged.  You can read it in 1 Kings 19.  How wonderful it is to know that we go through no experiences where God is not there in divine companionship, and the hotter the fire the sweeter the fellowship.

 

You know, I can tell you, folks, in my own experience, that whenever I get into a situation where I decide to take a stand for something and it’s the unpopular thing to do, and you start getting flack, you have this tremendous sense of divine companionship. 

 

The commendation

verses 26-27           

 

verse 28, “They yielded their - ” what? “ - their bodies.”  What verse does that sound like?  Romans 12:1, “Present your bodies a - ” what? “ - a living sacrifice.  And be not conformed to this world.”  That’s exactly what they did.  You want an illustration of Romans 12:1-2, here it is.  They yielded their bodies.  And the king says, “Blessed be the God who can get that kind of allegiance out of His people.”

 

The commendation is in verses 29-30. 

 

You and I will probably never face a fiery furnace.  But you’re going to face trial by fire, believe me, and so am I.  It’s interesting that our text says the king saw the 4^th man in the fire, but not that the three children did.  You may not see Him.  But your enemy will see.  Just know He’s there!