Key
Scripture: Daniel 3:17&18
“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 we will
not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Begin your study by praying and asking God to reveal the
truth of His word to you. Pray that you will be changed by the truth that
you hear.
Read Daniel Chapter 3
Daniel
Chapter 3:1
“King Nebuchadnezzar made an image
of God, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of
Dura in the province of Babylon.”
In the second chapter of the book, we read about Daniel
interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. (2:24-45) The king had dreamt of a
huge statue with a gold head, silver arms, a bronze belly, legs of iron and
its feet partly of Iron and partly of baked clay.
1. How
did Daniel interpret this part of the dream?
The next part of the King’s dream showed a rock being
formed “not of human hands” and striking the statue at its feet, destroying
the statue.
2. How did Daniel interpret this part of the dream?
It seems that the King did what all of us are capable of.
He took this dream and its interpretation and distorted it to please
himself. He may have just heard stories about victories from his armies and
couldn’t believe that his Kingdom could ever be destroyed. So he built a
statue, not just with a mere head of gold, but made entirely of gold from
top to toe.
3. How big was the statue?
The King ordered all the officials and leaders to attend
the dedication of this structure and then ordered that at the sound of
music, every person should fall down and worship the image of gold the King
had set up. If the people did not worship, they would be thrown into the
blazing furnace.
In North Korea, the Great Leader Kim Il-sung built an
image of himself 30 foot high and placed it in the capitol city of
Pyongyang. Kim Il-sung put himself in the position of a King-God and built
up his own belief system called Juche. Although Kim Il-sung died in 1994,
the people still call him the eternal president and his son Kim Jong-il now
leads the country
Anyone who was anyone was there at the dedication to hear
the decree. The idol was dedicated. It was talked about. It was given
“personality”. It was to become a focus of power and influence.
The threat of the fiery furnace was real. This threat
shows up the Babylonian system for what it was. No one was gathering to
worship the idol voluntarily. No one fell down because they had love for the
idol. King Nebuchadnezzar had powerful armies, a beautiful city, a talented
orchestra and now an impressive statue. But he had to force people to
worship with the threat of death if they declined.
4.
Can you think of any more recent circumstances where such abuses of power
have taken place?
The King was an evil man, and he had his spies out
watching for those who did not obey His commands. Interestingly enough,
these so called “astrologers” could not have been prostrate if they were
watching the others, yet they were not punished.
Four young Israelites who had been taken captive by the
Babylonians became qualified to work in the king’s service. Their names were
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The Chief official gave them new
names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. (1:6-7) Imagine how you
would feel if not only were your people attacked and defeated by a foreign
army, but you had to change your name to suit them! In the Hebrew culture
the meaning of names was of high importance.
|
Daniel |
God is
my judge |
Belteshazzar |
Bel
Protect his life |
|
Hananiah |
The Lord
shows Grace |
Shadrach |
Command
of Aku |
|
Misheal |
Who is
what God is? |
Meshach |
Who is
what Aku is? |
|
Azariah |
The Lord
helps |
Abednego |
Servant
of Nego |
The table above shows the names of the four men in both
Hebrew and Babylonian. You can see that in Hebrew the names are rooted in
Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How sickening it must have been
for them to be given names alluding to Babylonian gods. They had to learn
the culture, language and history of the Babylonians.
5. Why
do you think their names were changed?
These three Hebrew men had heard the instructions and
understood the threat. When the music began they watched the others fall
down in worship, but they remain standing. They knew the law of God,
“You shall have no other Gods but me. You shall not
make for yourself any graven image or anything that is in the heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”
(Exodus 20:3-5).
These men knew what God required of them, they remained
standing. Nebuchadnezzar's spies ran straight to him to tell on Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego (3:9-12). Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar was furious with
rage. No one could question his authority.
When the young men came the King recognised them and
called them by name. These were the men the King had been so impressed with.
(1:19-20).
He questions them. He gives them a get out option. If
they worship him now then their previous disobedience would be forgotten. If
not, then the furnace will be ready – and what god will be able to rescue
them?? (3:15)
The answer they give is one of incredible faith.
(3:16-18)
6. Have
you ever experienced trouble or confrontation because of standing up for
what you believe? Did you or could you answer in the same way as these men?
They had overcome the temptation to say “its no big deal,
its part of the culture here” as maybe all of the other Jews had said. Out
of His anger, the King made the furnace seven times hotter than usual and
the Hebrews were thrown in. The intensity of the heat killed the soldiers
who handled them.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were tied up and thrown
into the furnace fully clothed. But the Kingdom that the Lord is
establishing is not made of destructible materials. The church cannot be
destroyed as you can destroy mere man made things. When the King looks into
the furnace he is astounded that there are 4 men in the flames, not 3, all
unbound and unharmed. Reality hits the King. The fourth man looked like “a
son of the gods” (3:25). The uninvited God he was seeing had more power than
anything taking place during the dedication of the idol. This God had not
made an appearance at the dedication, or shown himself to the idol
worshippers. He had visited with three Hebrew men and turned destruction
into rejoicing.
7. In connection with this story, what images of Christ come into your
mind at this point?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not know in advance
that God would save them and He didn’t have to. They believed He could and
maybe they desperately wanted Him to, but they would not compromise their
faith and worship an idol.
Where was the true and lasting joy to be found that day
in Babylon? Was it in those lying on the dirt in front of a lifeless statue
trying to save their lives? Or was it found in those in the furnace, content
to lose theirs?
King Nebuchadnezzar made a decree that anyone who says
anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into
pieces and their homes destroyed (3:29-30) The people of God in Babylon were
preserved. It is not recorded as to whether the King ever removed the idol.
However, remembering back to the interpretation of the King’s dream, there
is a rock, not made of human hands, which will destroy the Kingdom’s of men.
8. What is this rock? What does it mean for the world we live in now?
In Nebuchadnezzar's own words, “No other God can save in
this way.”
A North Korean woman called Soon Ok Lee, who was
imprisoned in North Korea, tells the following story. She recalls;
“I went to the smelting factory. The work was almost
done for the day and I had to check the daily production.
I saw eight Christian prisoners carrying a big metal
kettle holding molten iron. An officer called to them using very vile words.
“Tomorrow is the day of re-education training. As you know, it is held
because of your stubbornness. You are supposed to turn yourself in. Tomorrow
is a cleaning of the mind day. Tomorrow you will go out and tell everyone
that there is nothing in heaven to believe in; there is no God. Otherwise
you will be killed. Do you understand?”
There was silence. Not one of the prisoners responded to
the officer. He didn’t wait long for an answer because he didn’t like to be
ignored. He knew that tomorrow was an important day for re-education and he
wanted the believers to recant. He yelled at the prisoners, “Why are you so
quiet? Answer me! Answer me now!”
No one said a word. The officer became furious and began
to curse at the men. At the top of his voice, he screamed, “All eight of you
come here and put your face to the ground!”
They came just as he ordered. They sat on their knees and
then bent their heads down.
The officer called over to the other male prisoners; “We
cannot let these men live. They think they do not know who I am. Bring
boiling liquid iron from the furnace and pour it on them!”
The male prisoners’ faces were full of fear. The liquid
iron was 1,200 degrees. They hesitated to do this terrible thing. The
officer gave them a fierce scowl. “Do you want to die with them?”
The frightened prisoners ran to get a kettle of molten
iron. Then they quickly poured the boiling iron on top of the people of God
kneeling so quietly. Suddenly the smell of burning flesh assailed my
nostrils. The bodies began to shrivel from the intense heat as the liquid
metal burned right through their flesh.
I fell to the ground and almost fainted from shock. The
impact on me was so tremendous that I screamed as if I was crazy. Other
prisoners in the factory screamed with horror as the eight Christians died.
I looked at their shrunken bodies and wondered in my
heart, “What do they believe? What do they see in the empty sky? What could
be more important to them than their lives?
In the years I was in the prison, I saw many believers
die. Yet they never, never denied the God who is in heaven. All they had to
do was say they don’t believe in religion and then they would be released.
I didn’t understand what made them not fear death. Their
unbelievable faith brought a big question into my heart. What did they see,
and what am I missing?”
The Christian prisoners were never allowed to raise their
heads or speak to the guards. But I if they were their words would probably
have echoed those of Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego, “We hear your threat,
and the God we serve is able to rescue us from your hand. But even if he
does not, we want you to know, we will not serve or worship anyone but Him.”
(We
gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Christian Solidarity Worldwide for
the development of this material.) |