A Bold Faith

January 14, 2018 Background Scripture: Daniel 3 Lesson Passage: Daniel 3:19 – 23, 26 – 28 Someone once said that a faith that has not been tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. In today’s lesson, Daniel’s three friends have their faith put to the test. Nebuchadnezzar had created an idol and was insisting that everyone bow down and worship it when the music played. It is interesting to note that the scriptures do not tell us what was going on with Daniel during this time of testing of his friends. We don’t know if Daniel was complicit to the king’s request or away on official business during this time. However, we do know that Daniel’s three friends were there and they refused to bow down and worship the king’s idol. They were threatened with death by being thrown alive into a super-heated furnace for their rebellion. The king favored them because he had selected them for special positions in his kingdom. In spite of the king’s feelings toward the young men, the king knew that he could not allow any of his subjects to disobey his direct orders without risking anarchy in the kingdom. Therefore, the king extended the privilege of providing personal counsel to them so he sent for them to be brought to him. The king explained to them his request for everyone to worship the image and the punishment prescribed for anyone who disobeyed the king’s order. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego declared boldly that God, whom they serve, has the power to deliver them from the furnace and that He would deliver them from the king. To this they added, if God chooses not to deliver them from the furnace, they would still obey God and not worship the image. This was a bold faith. They were willing to risk their lives with no guarantee other than knowing that they were following the Law of God concerning the worship of idols. Nebuchadnezzar was undeterred by their faith in God and had his servants increase the heat inside the furnace seven times above its normal level. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound with ropes and taken to the opening of the furnace and thrown in. The fire from the furnace was so intense that it killed the king’s servants who threw the three men in the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, on the other hand, were unharmed and Nebuchadnezzar saw them walking around inside of the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was so amazed at what he witnessed that he went to the door of the furnace and called for the three men to come out of the furnace. The fire in the furnace was real. It had killed the servants who threw the three men into the furnace. Yet there was no damage done to their bodies, their hair, or their clothes. Their clothes did not even have the smell of smoke in them! When the king witnessed this, he praised the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He praised their steadfast faith in their God even to the point of disobeying the king’s commandment. Then the king issued a decree that if anyone, regardless of nationality or language, speaks offensively against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego they should be destroyed and their property destroyed. The king wanted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to bow down and worship his idol but instead the king ended up praising the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because of their bold faith. Robert C. Hudson November 29, 2017