Sermon Text: Daniel 3:16-28
Date: October 27, 2024
Event: Reformation Day (Observed), Year B
Daniel 3:16-28 (EHV)
Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “We have no need to answer you about this matter. 17Since our God, whom we serve, does exist, he is able to save us from the blazing fiery furnace. So, he may save us from your hand, Your Majesty. 18But if he does not, you should know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods, and we will not worship the golden statue that you set up.”
19Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed against Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego. He said to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was usually heated. 20He ordered some men, who were soldiers from his army, to bind Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego in order to throw them into the blazing fiery furnace. 21So these men were bound in their coats, their pants, their turbans, and their other clothing, and they were thrown into the middle of the blazing fiery furnace. 22Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace was extremely hot, those men who carried Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego were killed by the intense heat of the fire. 23But these three men, Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego, who had been tied up, fell into the blazing fiery furnace.
24Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and immediately stood up. He said to his advisors, “Didn’t we throw three men, who had been tied up, into the middle of the fire?”
They answered the king, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”
25He said, “Look! I see four men, who are untied and walking around in the middle of the fire, unharmed. What is more, the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
26Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing fiery furnace. He said, “Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” Then Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego came out from the middle of the furnace. 27The satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the royal advisors gathered together and looked at these men. The fire had no power over their bodies. Not a hair on their head was singed, their robes were not damaged, and the smell of fire had not stuck to them.
28Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego, who sent his angel and saved his servants, who trusted in God and ignored the king’s command. They gave up their bodies and did not pay homage or worship any god except their God.
Stand Confidently in God’s Grace
Our First Reading this morning takes us back thousands of years in history, but it might take you far back in your personal history as well. The Three Men in the Fiery Furnace is an account that is in almost every children’s Bible and Sunday School curriculum. Despite the grim possibility of three young men being burned alive in a furnace, it is often referred to encourage both young and old to stand confidently, to follow in the pattern of these young men and their trust in God’s promises. This morning, as we observe this Reformation festival, let’s join them in standing confidently in God’s grace, his undeserved love for us.
To properly understand what is happening here, we need to back up a bit. Or, maybe a lot. This event occurs in the late 600s or early 500s BC, centuries before Jesus was born. But it was something that God had said was a possibility almost 1,000 years before it happened when the Israelites first settled in the Promised Land. Moses warned the people just before they entered the land God would give them that if they were not faithful to God and even served false gods, this would happen: The LORD will lead you and the king, whom you will set over you, to a nation that you and your fathers have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. You will become an object of horror, the subject of proverbs, and the butt of sarcastic taunts among all the people to whom the LORD will send you. (Deuteronomy 28:36-37).
And so it was. The Israelites were unfaithful and ignored God’s continued calls to repentance through his prophets. And so, finally, God sent the nation of Babylon to exile the people to this faraway land where they would be cut off from their homes.
But this exile didn’t happen all at once. Babylon rolls through and makes several deportations, and in the earliest of these deportations, they examine who among the Israelites is perhaps worth having as servants in the government—pillage the best and the brightest to be a blessing to Babylon. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar directed one of his officials to choose young men who had no blemish, who were good looking, who had insight into all kinds of wisdom, who possessed knowledge, understanding, and learning, and who were capable of serving in the king’s palace, in order to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. … In this group of young men were the Judeans Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. (Daniel 1:4, 6). This is how Daniel (who much later as an old man would be thrown to the lions yet saved) and the three men in our reading end up coming from Judah to Babylon.
And the Lord was with them and blessed them. They were shown to be very adept at many things; God blessed the work of their hands so much that they rose to be the cream of the crop in the king’s service, not just of Israelites but of all the officials in the land. You can imagine how this might have left some of the other officials feeling—especially those who looked down on these men from Israel as inferior to themselves. The king highly favored our three young men.
And then trouble came. At the beginning of Daniel chapter 3, we're told, “King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue. … [T]he satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all of the rulers of the provinces assembled for the dedication of King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. … The herald called out loudly, “To you peoples, nations, and languages, this command is given: When you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the harp, the triangular harp, the drum, and all kinds of musical instruments, you will fall down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.” (Daniel 3:1, 3-6). It’s a lot of words, but it boils down to this: the king commanded that when the special music played, everyone gathered had to bow down and worship this giant golden statue he had made.
You can see the problem for these young, faithful Israelites. They knew not only that the worshiping of idols was forbidden, but that was primarily why their nation was in the mess it was currently in. Their people had largely been unfaithful to God, and now here they were, exiles in a foreign land. They resolved to not continue that pattern, be it bowing to sinful weakness or the command of a foreign king. They would be faithful to God and would stand confidently in his grace.
And so, their enemies see an opening! They tattle on the three young men, saying that these guys would not bow down and worship the statue when the music played. The king is furious, but also you can see his love and admiration for these men because he doesn’t just throw them into the furnace as he had declared. He summons them, questions them, and then gives them a second chance to do what he had commanded rather than immediately hurling them into the furnace. And the men’s response to this second chance is where our First Reading picks up: “We have no need to answer you about this matter. Since our God, whom we serve, does exist, he is able to save us from the blazing fiery furnace. So, he may save us from your hand, Your Majesty. But if he does not, you should know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods, and we will not worship the golden statue that you set up.”
There’s a little phrase that we should not miss in that statement, “But if he does not…” That phrase speaks volumes. God had not given them a heads-up about this. He had not appeared to these men the night before to say, “Don’t worry about the furnace; I will save you.” For all these men knew, they were staring death straight in the face and they would not budge. They stood confidently in God’s grace, either to save them from physical death or, at that moment, to bring them to eternal life.
And it’s really that, rather than the rescue itself, that I want us to focus on this morning. Yes, God did intervene very directly to save these men from fire so hot that it killed the soldiers throwing them in. Yes, a fourth person was there to protect them, whom Nebchadnezzar described as the “son of the gods,” whom we might assume is one of the angels or perhaps even Jesus himself before his incarnation. And yes, they were so protected from the furnace that they were spared even the negative effects of a grill or campfire—they didn’t even smell like smoke! But on this Reformation Day, let’s focus on their dedication to God in the face of not knowing any of that would happen, their firm stance to do what was right in the face of immense pressure to do what was wrong.
I won’t speak for you, but I can assure you that no one has threatened my life with fire or anything else because of what I believe. No one has held me over the flames, or put a sword to my throat or a gun to my head and said, “Abandon your God or die.” And for so many reasons, that is reason to give thanks. But then when I consider the faithlessness that is still present in my life, it brings even greater shame.
How often haven’t I remained silent when I had a chance to share God’s comfort? How often haven’t I let my faith and life of thanksgiving fade into the background so that I could blend in with the people or even the world around me? How often haven’t I slunk back from boldly standing for what I believe in not because my life was on the line, but maybe it was my reputation, my family relationships, my friendships, or even just the commradrie of strangers I’ve only just met. How quick I am to bend the knee to save my own hyde and my own comfort. I truly fear what I would have done had I been in the place of these three young men.
Perhaps some of those points resonate with you, too, and sound more familiar in your life than your comfortable thinking about or admitting. The reality is that the temptation to give up on God’s truth can come from many different and varied places. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it came from their king, demanding them to sin against God. For Luther and the other reformers 500 years ago, it came from the false teaching of Rome that said people could earn and even buy their way into forgiveness and a proper standing with God.
Perhaps none of those resonate with you. Perhaps neither your boss nor your government nor (I pray) leaders in your church are leading you into false worship or even demanding it from you. But, all of us struggle with a temptation to veer off course from God’s path in our hearts. Because all of us have a sinful nature that would rather serve ourselves than God, that would rather seek our own ways rather than God’s ways, that would do what seems right to us rather than what God says is right.
And so the sinful nature might lead us to think highly of ourselves, perhaps that we have no real wrongdoing before God or, even if we do, that we can do a few things to make it up to him. We might make compromises to fit in with those around us and avoid scrutiny or justify our actions by thinking that our sin isn’t so bad because it doesn’t seem as bad as what other people around us are doing.
These compromises, big or small as they may seem, are all bowing down to a giant golden statue. Because anything that takes priority over the true God is our false god. Whether we worship money or work or fame or grudges or entertainment or anything else, it all distracts us from God’s truth.
And so, truly, this is why Jesus came for us. Because this situation was as hopeless as it sounds. On our own, we are lost with no abilitiy to get ourselves back on course. In fact, you and I are no more able to make God happy with us by our own work than the people in Babylon could have made God happy by bowing down to that statue. And any time we or someone else might try to fget us to think that we can, Jesus’ warning from our Gospel should ring in our ears, “Be careful that no one deceives you” (Mark 13:5).
Eevn for these three men, with their amazingly brave and bold faith to face near-certain death rather than veer from it, that did not come from themselves. They were not so amazing on their own that they had the courage to stand confidently in God’s grace come what may. No, that faith and that resolve were the gift of God as well. Jesus promised his disciples that before those who persecute them, boldness and courage to speak and even the words themselves would come from the Holy Spirit. So it was for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So it is for you.
Whether you face a maniacal king trying to get you to worship his latest art project, or those who would seek your life because of your faith in Jesus as Savior, or simply the fear of mockery and rejection by those who are close and important to you, be bold and stand confidently in God’s grace. Not only do you have forgiveness for every time you have caved to internal or external pressure to turn from God, but you also have forgiveness for every sin. That forgiveness won by Jesus in his life and death in your place and given to you as a free gift gives you the boldness and the confidence to stand in God’s grace against anything or anyone who would threaten it, even if that attack comes from within you.
So, stand confidently in God’s grace. He loves you and will protect you from all spiritual harm until that day when he brings you home to heaven—that free gift won for and given to you by your Savior, Jesus. Give thanks for those who have confidently stood on this truth in the past, and pray that we may also pass down this same confidence to the generations that come after us. Amen.
