“Even if He does not”
The days work is done, the kids are in bed, and Creedence Clearwater Revival is playing. What better time could there be to go over Daniel chapter 3?
This is the very famous account of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego defying Nebuchadnezzar; thus being sentenced to be burned alive. It’s written very poetically, with a limited use of pronouns and a very lyical feel.
Seems Nebuchadnezzar was so inspired by the vision that is detailed in chapter 2, that he decides to make a literal representation of it. And he takes the interpretation to it’s illogical end, requiring worship by proxy. And of course, the three Hebrew boys don’t worship, even though they are set up in high governmental positions. So they are sentenced to die, and God miraculously saves them.
I have glossed over the narrative quickly, but I want to go back & highlight a couple of details. In verse 16-18, the three heroes are responding to the king. He has just pronounced their sentence, and thrown in a dig at their God for good measure. Let me quote their reply for you;
O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire: and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
Can you imagine? They have just been sentenced to a torturous death, and yet they remain openly defiant to the king and firmly trusting of God. I can imagine the shouts and gasps from the courtiers. It says in the next verse that Nebuchadnezzar’s “facial expression was altered.” What a nice, understated way to put it. According to verse 13, the king was already enraged, so this latest refusal must made his face even redder that the very furnace itself.
”Even if he does not.” Wow. How do you stand at the edge of certain death, and retain the composure to utter such a statement. Reminds me of Stephen, the martyr who is described to us in Acts chapter 7. Stephen, as he is about to be stoned, has the audacity to tell the homicidal crowd that he can actually see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. This compels the Council to angrily stone him. And Stephen faced it bravely, just like Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego.
Makes me think of the missionaries in Ecuador, who in the 50’s went almost knowingly to their deaths in bringing the gospel to the Aucas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Saint How does a man, who has just lost everything, focus only on eternity and God, rather than whining through a checklist of all the things he has been forcibly divested of?
We all know the end of this story. God saves the three men. In a way so miraculous that the king does an about face, calling for the God of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego to be honored. But of course, as we’ll see in the next chapter, Nebuchadnezzar is given to the gargantuan relapse.
These men are amazing to me. Shadrach. Meshach. Abednego. Stephen. Nate Saint. All men, who embodied the apostle Paul’s credo that living is good so that we can embody the will of God, but dying is so much more personal gain. I humbly submit that most of us do not believe that we could match the faith of these men. But I would venture, that prior to the circumstance, they would also not ascibe such faith to themselves. As God always does, he supplies the faith necessary to overcome the obstacle.
We have to be careful not to discount the strength of our faith. Because the faith shown by these men was the same faith that all Christians have. It is not the faith that is strong. The strengh is supplied by the object of the faith. As the martyr John Rogers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rogers_%28Protestant_minister%29 said , “We are not saved by the strength of our faith; but we are saved by our Lord Jesus Christ, who is laid hold of by weak faith as well as by strong faith.”
