The Zone Gathering

I am in an accountability/Bible study group with some amazing women, and we have been going through a Beth Moore study on Daniel: Lives of Integrity and Words of Prophecy. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we have been challenged by our study of the book of Daniel and the parallels we can draw between the struggles Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego faced in living lives of integrity and our own lives.

Today I want to share with you some insights we received in Beth Moore’s video lesson on Daniel 3.

The Set-Up

Daniel 3 begins King Nebudchadnezzar (let’s call him “Neb” for short), ruler of Babylon, building an image of gold 90 feet high and 9 feet wide and setting it up in the plain of Dura. Think about how massive this image would have been – as a frame of reference (and because April is finally here!), 90 feet is the distance between the bases in a Major League Baseball field. What a huge idol this was! After King Neb set up the image, he summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all other provincial officials to come to its dedication – basically, anyone with any sort of authority in the Babylonian kingdom. This included Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, who, at Daniel’s request, had been appointed as administrators over the province of Babylon (Dan. 2:49).

After all these leaders were assembled on the plain of Dura, they were given the following instruction: “As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold….Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace” (Dan. 3:5-6). Well, you know how the story goes – all of these men of authority obey the command when the instruments sound, save three – Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. Some overzealous astrologers “denounced the Jews” and tattled on the three men to King Neb, who offers then one more chance to worship the idol before he would cast them into the furnace. Notice their response: “O Nebudchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:16-18).

From the Scriptures, the blazing furnace seemed to be right there in front of the three Israelites as they made this declaration to King Neb. Their willingness to be bold and not to waver in their worship of the one true God – even in the face of a blazing furnace – is amazing given that they were facing three possible scenarios. And they were doing it without Daniel, who “remained at the royal court” (Dan. 2:49).

The Scenarios

The three scenarios confronting Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego as they made this declaration before the blazing furnace are three scenarios people of God today deal with when we face fiery trials.

Scenario 1: We can be delivered from the fire. In the case of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, God could intervene and perform a miracle to deliver them from the fire. When God delivers us from fiery trials, our faith is built.

Scenario 2: We can be delivered through the fire. Sometimes, God allows us to experience the fire in order to refine us and build us into His character. In John 11, Jesus spoke of Lazarus’ sickness (and impending death) in this way: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). He knew that the experience of the trial would strengthen the faith of those who would witness his miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead, and God would be glorified. I Peter 1:6-7 illustrates Scenario 2 this way: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” When God delivers us through the fire, our faith is refined.

Scenario 3: We can be delivered by the fire into His arms. This one may be hard for us to imagine, but sometimes God’s people suffer fiery trials and are delivered into God’s arms. Think of a Christian who suffered from cancer and wasn’t miraculously healed or became cancer-free through surgery, radiation or chemotherapy treatments. For this person, deliverance may have come through death, only to be taken into the arms of God Himself. Life on earth is fleeting and vaporous – as humans, we tend to put a stranglehold on our earthly lives, but Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego were willing to die rather than worship a false idol, because they knew that “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” James 1:12 gives this promise: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” When God delivers us by the fire into His arms, our faith is perfected and made complete.

The Salvation

After ordering the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than normal, King Neb ordered the three men to be bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. We all know how the story ends – the three men survive the furnace (although the guards who throw them in do not!) and are joined in the fire by a fourth man who “looks like a son of the gods” (Dan. 3:25, NIV). Now, I have to share something I learned in Beth Moore’s explanation of this because it is too cool not to share. The original language in Dan. 3:25 translated “sons of the gods” (NIV) means “son of deity.” The King James Version (KJV) translates the word “son of God.” Any time in Scripture there is a visual manifestation of God, it is always Jesus Christ. Indeed, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego may have been joined in the fire by a preincarnate Christ – how awesome is that! (And how important a lesson for us - God does not abandon us in times of fiery trials - He is right there with us!)

Beth Moore also points out a benefit of deliverance in the fire. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were bound with ropes and thrown into the fire – but only their ropes were flammable. The power of the fire burned their bonds. Sometimes God allows us to experience fiery trials to release us from bondage – we are not burned, but our bonds are.

And the resolution of this story – King Neb orders Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego to come out of the furnace. All of the leaders in the Babylonian empire gathered around them and “they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them” (Dan. 3:27). Do you see that? Full deliverance means no longer smelling like fire. No more bonds, no remaining bitterness, no reminders of the life or circumstances we are delivered from. When we allow God to deliver us through fiery trials, and we allow Him to do so completely, the smell of smoke won’t be on us. And that is pretty amazing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Bible Drills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.