Light Brings Salt
Volume 2, Issue 29 July 25, 2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Steadfastness Under Great Pressure
In Daniel chapter 3 we find the three friends of Daniel, Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego faced
with a dilemma. Obey God or the state! The situation here is that Nebuchadnezzar had
erected a great idol and decreed that it be worshipped by all, no exceptions.
This decree would not have required any Jew to abandon their worship
of YHWH. It did not require exclusive
worship. Any one who had national gods
that they desired to worship, no problem. Nebuchadnezzar did not want to change their
religion. What he wanted was for them to
go along with everyone else and worship his image, and if they wanted to go
back to their home and worship YHWH, that was okay with him! What ever else they did they had to worship
his image.
How does that kind of thinking, you can
worship what ever, how did that fit with the worship of
Back to the dilemma. Is it not true that in the Bible the believer
is commanded to be in submission to the authority of the state in which he
lives? For us today 2 passages that
point out our relationship to civil authority: Rom 13:1-7 makes this very
clear. 13:1 "Let every person be
in subjection to the governing authorities." Also 1 Pet 2:13-14 "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution,
whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him,..."
For them at the time to obey the king's decree put them in violation
of the first 2 commands of the Decalogue, Ex 20:3-6. "You shall have no other gods in addition to or besides me"
and "You shall not make for yourselves an
idol....shall not worship or serve them." Also others like Lev 19:4 "Do not turn to idols."
So they are in the midst of a dilemma, obey the king and stand in
violation of God's expressed will or obey God and experience the kings fury. They had to make their decision quickly and the
pressure was great.
These 3 made the right decision!
They choose in favor of God. When
the signal was given every one fell down and worshiped the image but these 3 Jewish men. They continued to stand!! Once again they refused to sacrifice the
truth of God on the altar of expediency.
NOTE: Are there legitimate grounds for defiance of
the state? Any time you find a believer
in the Bible who defies the state you will find that 2 things are true. It was true in the case of the Hebrew midwives
who refused to kill the Hebrew children.
They defied the state,
Peter later would say "I
would rather obey God then men." He defied the state. How do we relate these with the commands we
have to obey the ruling authority? Two
characteristics of every situation where the believer defied the state and it is clear that
it is the will of God to do so.
#1 The state called for action that was
clearly forbidden by the Word of God. In each case in scripture there was no
question, there was no option, it was either obey the state or obey God; there
was no middle ground at all. no gray areas. The Bible always encourages submission to
authority of the state unless you come to a situation where there is a clear
cut issue where it is either clearly God or clearly the state. When that is the case then defiance of the
state is in order. That's what is
happening here.
#2 The
individuals never asked for any exemption from the consequences of their act
either from God or from the authorities.
These 3 men are absolutely remarkable, they are
prepared to accept the will of God, whether its death or life, and they don't
even try to influence God's decision in either direction.
Would you have done it that way? Have many commands of Scripture to
cast our cares on Him. I think most of us if not all would have tried to give
God some good reasons that He should deliver us from the fire, somehow convince
Him that it was in His interest to do so. They never tried to influence the
will of God to go either way, they trusted His will totally.
Situation as we find it here!
In 3:8-12 we discover that they had some antagonists. They didn't bow and they got tattled on! Seems that some of the Chaldeans came
forward and brought charges against the Jews. These were some of the
high level "wise men" the elite. It appears that they may have been
jealous of the high positions that these young men held and that for some years
by this time.
So they "brought charges" (3:8) is okay but doesn't really give the flavor
that's here. The Hebrew word means "ate the pieces of"; the emphasis is to devour
piecemeal, one piece at a time. It
describes the nature of the attack, the antagonism against them. Which would be
easier, being stood up at sunrise and shot or to be pecked to death by a
chicken?
This points to the fact that they are facing two different kinds of tests.
#1 The crisis type;
from the king and their life is clearly at stake.
#2 The continual day in day, day out kind, from the hands of the Chaldeans, the daily grind; their sanity being at
stake.
Observation: The believer with
any doctrine will usually pass the test of the crisis well. Its the constant
pecking of the chicken, the pressures of the daily routine that usually gets to
you.
The Chaldeans reiterated the Kings decree in 3:9-11 and then in
vs:12 get down to the issues as they saw it. The
specific charges made to the king about them.
#1
they have the
gall to disregard your decree. #2 they
did not serve your gods, Nebuchadnezzar.
#3 they did not
worship the golden image which you have set up.
Basically Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego are
charged with ingratitude for their high position and rebellion against the
king. Look king you honored these
conquered Jews with high positions and what did they do, they turned around and
dishonored you and your gods. This set the king on fire
full of rage and anger.
Nebuchadnezzar interrogated
them, giving them a 2nd chance. The most important thing that we see here is
their attitude and convictions! (3:13-18)
To Nebuchadnezzar's
credit he asked them if the charges made were true! His boast in
Their answer in vs:16-18 does not demonstrate arrogance at all, but with their
statement "we do not need to give
you an answer concerning this matter;" they are admitting that the charge against
them was true; and therefore needed no
defense or apology.
What really sticks
out here is the fact of their convictions. Basically they go 2
directions.
#1
They have
convictions about man.
Their convictions
about man are rooted in their understanding and convictions about God. They do not fear man because they know who
God is! Consistently throughout scripture,
those who knew who God is are always fearless as far as men are concerned.
In
Their convictions
about God are noted in
The conditional aspects
indicated by the "ifs" here are not questioning whether God is able
or not to deliver them. It's pointed towards their lack of knowing what God is
going to do.
Notice what they
did not say here!
#1. God is willing
to deliver us. #2. That God is obligated to deliver us.
What they did say
was that God is able to deliver us. Aren't they really saying that they are
perfectly willing to rest their case with God, let Him call the shots! In fact don't they come across here very laid
back and relaxed? Why would they be so
relaxed? While one way they die and the
other they live!
Why would you be
relaxed?? Because you believe that God
is wise! Whatever He does is the right
thing! The correct thing! They knew and applied the same
thing that Jeremiah does in Jer 32:17, also vs:27.
Observations:
Have you ever heard
a believer make this mistake, to confuse the ability of God with the willingness
of God? (His purpose) Or the mistake that because
God is able then He is obligated?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are saying
that God is able but He is not obligated.
That's their mentality.
1. We must be careful not to fall into the trap
of wanting something so badly, no matter what it is,
that we conclude that God must want the same thing as we do! You wouldn't call
that kind of thinking "submission to the will of God" would you?
They don't even
attempt to influence the will of God! Don't see it anywhere! Not even a hint of it. All they say is that we
know that He is able to do it if He desires
to and we rest our case!
2. What else do
they know about God that would motivate them not to attempt to influence God's
course of action? Not just that He is
sovereign but that he is also wise and therefore His choice will be the best
one.
3. Their tremendous
courage before men is derived from their enormous conviction and knowledge
about the character of God.
In
Their mental
attitude and their actions are an expression of their faith, should remind us
of what Job said in