The apostle Peter writes to suffering Jewish believers who had been driven from their homes in 1 Peter. To them he compares their suffering to being tried by fire in 1:7: “the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried or tested with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” Again, in 4:12 Peter uses the illustration of believers being tested as by fire: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try or test you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.”
It is very possible that Peter had Daniel 3 in mind when he wrote to the persecuted and scattered Jewish believers. In Daniel 3, is the story of the persecuted and scattered Jewish believers named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego whose faith was literally tested by fire when they were thrown into the fiery furnace.
A bestselling author on the Christian market disagrees with what Peter wrote about fiery trials and what the three Hebrews experienced. He wrote a book promising that whatever you speak or declare you can have. He wrote “Our words have creative power. Whenever you speak something....you are prophesying the future.” He wrote when you make a faith declaration, you will be “blessed beyond your normal salary . . . beyond your normal income . . . God will suddenly change things in your life.” “Use my book, that you can purchase at Amazon.com for $9.13, as your guide for declaring your victory each day – declare health – declare favor – declare abundance” (Joel Osteen. I Declare, Faith Words, 2012, p. 3).
The only problem is that the words he wants you to declare contradict the Words God has already declared.
The book of Daniel is all about the sovereignty of God. God is in control of your life; you are not. He controls your circumstances. The sovereignty of God includes what Peter wrote about: “the trial of your faith” and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego experienced in Daniel 3.
I. The Test of Faith (1-12)
The events of chapter three are directly linked to the events in chapter two. In chapter two, Daniel prophesied the future by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a great image in 2:31-33. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire which lasted 87 years and then was replaced by the silver chest and arms of the Medes and Persians. So proud Nebuchadnezzar makes a giant image with not just a head of gold but an entire image of gold in defiance to what God had said would happen.
A. When was the image erected?
In 586 B.C. when Babylon completely demolished Israel’s temple and religion (so says the LXX). This was about 16 years after Daniel’s interpretation. That would have given Nebuchadnezzar plenty of time to get over his false profession of faith in 2:47.
B. What did the image represent?
The image was colossal (3:1-3) 90 ft tall or eight stories and 9 ft wide. Probably built on high pedestal to give the proper proportion of man. Man is colossal. The image was made of gold. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that only his kingdom was gold, only the head was gold, therefore it would be conquered by the Medes and Persians. Nebuchadnezzar defied this prophecy from God and made the whole image of gold or declared that his kingdom would never end no matter what God predicted. Nebuchadnezzar who was the head of gold according to Daniel’s interpretation, out of pride made the entire image of gold. This image may have been dedicated to the god Nabu, the patron or protecting god of Babylon, and his representative who was named after him, Nabu-chadnezzar. Everyone must bow to Nebuchadnezzar. I am the greatest. I am the captain of my soul; the master of my fate.
The image was built in the plain of Dura about twelve miles from the city of Babylon. But in ear shod was the roaring fiery furnace. The people must choose between worshiping man or being cast into the furnace. The choice was idolatry or worship the one true God.
Who must worship man or himself? Everyone (3:2-6). No exceptions. Steven Davy states that these were leaders from the pentagon, all the mayors, senators and representatives, the fortune 500 CEO’s and CFO’s of the nation, supreme court justices, United Nations representatives, law enforcement officers, sheriffs, and leading lawyers. No tolerance for any other beliefs. The choice go along with the crowd or stand alone for God.
Who caved and worshiped MAN? “All” in 3:7 which included all the rest of the Jewish captives from Jerusalem who were brought up to worship only the one true God. “All” except the three Jewish believers (3:8-12). Not only did Nebuchadnezzar have his Nazi like furnaces but also his “Secret Police with their master race prejudice against the Jewish traitors. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego obeyed God rather than man. God had commanded in Exodus 20:3, 5 not to bow down and worship other gods.
The issue is not “Everybody else is doing it.” But what does God command me to do.
II. The Response of Faith (3:13-18)
Their response was not compromise (3:13-15f). Nebuchadnezzar made this into a contest between his gods and Israel’s God (3:13-15) between “my gods” (3:14) and your “God” (3:15). Their response was not presumption nor arrogance that God must deliver
Warren W. Wiersbe: “There is such a thing as ‘commerical faith’ that says, ‘We will obey God if He rewards us for doing it.’ Again, it’s the devil’s philosophy of worship: ‘All these things will I give You if You will fall down and worship me’ (Matt. 4:9, NKJV; Job 1:9-12). In my pastoral ministry, I’ve heard people make promises to God so they can ‘persuade’ Him to heal them or change their circumstances. but this isn’t believing in God----it’s bargaining with God” (Warren W. Wiersbe. Be Resolute (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications, 2000), 43.
Their response was that they would honor God whether He delivered or not (3:16-18). They, like Daniel, were courteous but courageous. Where is Daniel? Maybe he is on the king’s official business in other parts of the world. He could have been sick which occasionally hindered his official duties (8:27). Gleason Archer gives six possible reasons Daniel was not present. God doesn’t always deliver us out of the fiery furnace as Hebrews 11:32-40. These OT believers do not obey because of this OT version of Individual Soul Liberty as was practiced by Peter in Acts 5:28-29.
III. The Attack on Faith (3:19-23)
To insure their death, Nebuchadnezzar called for the fire to be heated to maximum intensity, to throw them in fully clothed so their apparel could fuel the flame as if a flame seven times hotter than hot needs more fuel, and to bind them with ropes, so they could not flee the flame which was so hot it slew the soldiers who cast them into the furnace.
All of these additional guarantees that the three Hebrew children would be martyred only gave more credence to the one true God who alone could delivered them in spite of all these additional measures to ensure success. It is similar to all the safeguards that the tomb in which Jesus was buried could not be broken into or escape out of.
Nebuchadnezzar was so enraged and intolerant that he lost all sanity and rationality. If he really wanted these religious zealots to suffer he would have decreased the temperature so they would have suffered longer instead of being dead before they hit to the floor.
The greater the attack the greater God can be glorified when He delivers.
Stephen Davey of a journal article he read recently, the author asked a question that provoked my thinking. He wrote, “Imagine you’ve been handed a script of your child’s life; then you’re given an eraser and told you have 5 minutes to edit out whatever you want – whatever you read that you don’t want your child to experience, you can erase out of the manuscript.
You begin to read as fast as you can. You soon discover that that a learning disability will cause your child to find reading difficult, making education difficult and tiring – do you erase that disability?
You read further and notice that he or she makes a number of friends in high school, but then one of closest friends dies of cancer – do you edit out that friendship and the grief it will cause?
Sill further, you discover that your child gets into the college of their choice but while there, they get into a car accident and end up losing a leg – do you erase the accident?
A few years later, you read that they land a wonderful job in their field of expertise, but then an economic downturn causes them to lose that job and face difficult and stressful times – do you erase those months and years of a difficult economy?
Imagine . . . with the script of someone’s life in your hands – what would you erase? What would you leave for them to experience, no matter the suffering or pain or uncertainty?
Even though you would never want your child to suffer loss or rejection or adversity, if you could erase every failure and every disappointment from their lives, wouldn’t that actually hinder rather than develop them into faith-filled, fruitful lives? (Stephen Davey)
Listen to James 1:2-3: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different trials; knowing this, that the trying of your faith works endurance.”
IV. The Deliverance of Faith (3:24-27)
The one true God did deliver them “out of Nebuchadnezzar’s hand” (3:15). Supernaturally, the three believers were unharmed without even the smell of smoke on them. Only the ropes that bound them was selectively burned off so they could leisurely walk around in their sauna. They experienced Isaiah 43:2. They obey government here (Romans 13) as in contrast to 3:18, because their Christian conscience was not being violated.
V. The Testimony of Faith (3:28-30)
Testimony to Nebuchadnezzar. Again, Nebuchadnezzar has to confess that Israel’s God is the superior God (3:28). Again, he rewards the faith of courageous believers (3:29-30).
The testimony to future generation of persecuted Jewish believers. Gleason Archer noted “A significant fact in the subsequent history of the Jews is that the sublime courage of the three Hebrews and their faith in Yahweh greatly encouraged the Jewish patriots at the time of the Maccabean revolt, whose leaders emulated it in their own struggle against Antiochus Epiphanes. First Maccabees 2:59 tells how the dying Mattathias of Modin recalled the heroism of David and Elijah and said, ‘Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael believed and were saved out of the flame” (Gleason L. Archer, Jr. “Daniel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 12 volumes., edited Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1985), 58.
The testimony to future generations of Christians. James Montgomery Boice wrote of “Dr. Joseph Tson, the Romanian pastor who before his exile was called before the Communist authorities to answer for his religious convictions and preaching. He expected to be killed. So he set his affairs in order, and when he appeared before the interrogated officer, he said, “I have to tell you first that I am ready to die. I have put my affairs in order. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying, because when you kill me people all over Romania will read my books and believe on the God I preach---even more than they do now.” The interrogator replied, “Who said anything about killing?” and eventually let him go. Today Joseph Tson is in America, where he prepares weekly radio broadcasts into Romania that are listened to by most of the population. He is heard because he would rather have died than compromise” (James Montgomery Boice. Daniel: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1989), 46.