Take your Bibles with me tonight, and we're going to look at one of the most well‑known stories in the Bible—the old Sunday‑school favorite: the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace of Babylon. That's in Daniel 3. So if you all want to turn to Daniel 3, we're going to cover this whole chapter tonight.
I want to say thank you to everybody that came to our church picnic on Sunday. That was a blast, and it was really a blessing for me to see how well attended it was. I think we had eighty‑six people come to the church picnic, which is great. Normally, if we have an activity or something like that, we’re doing well to have sixty or seventy people.
And it was just a blessing to see everybody there. Brother Wilkerson was a blessing and just a good, good weekend. Since then I have been to Louisville and back. I went on Monday night and preached Tuesday morning at a pastors’ conference/fellowship there, and came back and was at work today.
I’m excited about preaching this story to you guys tonight.
Daniel chapter 3 probably takes place sometime after Daniel chapter 1—maybe as much as 20 years later. In Daniel chapter 1, when they are brought into the king’s college, if you will, they decide not to eat the king’s meat. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were young men, perhaps in their early teenage years.
And here they are probably in their mid‑30s. Some time has passed.
Let's go ahead and read verses 1–6.
1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: 6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
So Nebuchadnezzar, if you remember, had a dream. The dream was of an image: the head was gold, the chest silver, the belly bronze, and the legs iron. You remember that dream.
Well, here again—probably many years later—Nebuchadnezzar sets up an image in the plain where everybody can see it. This image is said to be sixty cubits tall and six cubits wide, about ninety feet tall and maybe ten or eleven feet wide. If you can picture that, it’s not the Statue of Liberty; it’s more like the Washington Monument—probably an obelisk.
It would have been overlaid with gold. There wasn’t enough gold in all of Babylon to make a statue that tall out of pure gold, so it was likely made of wood or something and then covered with gold. Still, it was an impressive thing.
It was probably done after Nebuchadnezzar’s conquests, maybe hoping to unify the kingdom under his rule. He had all the leaders of the kingdom come for this big ceremony, which would have included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because they were leaders in the government.
The herald cries: when you hear this music, you need to fall down and worship the image. If you don’t, you’ll be thrown into a fiery furnace.
Now that is a problem for any God‑honoring person because the commandments—the Ten Commandments—include “You shall not make any graven image or bow down to any graven image.”
And so there’s a test here. All these thousands of people surrounding this image, the music that was no doubt meant to break down their emotions and manipulate their emotions. The threat hanging over their heads
Are they going to do this?
I'm going to give you six principles from this story about being faithful, because really this is his story about the faithfulness of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And the first principle I want you to write down, number one, is this:
1. Being faithful means resisting the world's desire to conform you to its image.
You know, Romans 12:1‑2 says.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1-2
And that tells us the world is trying to conform you, trying to push you into its mold.
You know what you have to do to avoid being conformed? Nothing. You just have to give in to the pressures around you and conforming will happen naturally.
You don't have to go out of your way to be worldly. You don't have to go out of your way to be like everybody else. All you have to do is just be normal. Just let the pressures of the world conform you and push you into its shape.
But as believers, we're not to be conformed to this world. We're to be conformed to the image of God.
Imagine all the excuses that these three Hebrew men would have had. Everybody else was doing it—literally everybody else was doing it. You know, many of those other people had their own religion, and they weren't being asked to give up that religion.
They were only being asked to add something to it, to add the worship of Nebuchadnezzar to their pantheon of existing gods. Imagine the pressure when your boss and your boss's boss and all your co‑workers are falling on their faces. The pressure of the music being played to drum up your emotions.
Church, I understand why people are worldly. I understand why many young people decide they're gonna cohabit with the opposite sex before they get married. I understand why families decide that they're gonna play travel softball on Sunday morning rather than be faithful to church. I understand why we let our kids dress more and more skimpy and worldly.
That's natural. That's just the pressure of this world system. But if we're going to be faithful Christians, then we have to resist the world. We have to stand when everybody else is bowing. We don't do what we do because everybody else does it.
We do what we do because of the commandments of God.
Remember, part of the strategy of Babylon was to conform people. They brought people from all over the world, from their own countries, into Babylon to try to pressure them into becoming Babylonians. And throughout this book we see Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not giving in to that pressure.
So I want to challenge you tonight.
Don't be conformed.
Don't conform yourself to the image of the Nebuchadnezzars of the world, the Babylons of the world.
Let's keep reading.
7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. 9 They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. 10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: 11 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.
So they play the music, and sure enough, everybody bows down and worships—except for these three Hebrew children. They get ratted out by the Chaldeans, who are probably sore because God had seen fit to promote these men before them, probably jealous of them.
They come before Nebuchadnezzar and say, “Listen, you said when the music plays everybody is supposed to bow down before this image you set up, but these three leaders— they are not doing it. They are standing.”
Now you might ask, where's Daniel? Why wasn't his name named? And the short answer is we don't know.
The best we can do is speculate, and the best speculation is that he was away, probably on official business, and exempted from this episode.
But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not. And they literally take a stand. Now don't miss this: that stand was against the law.
That stand was illegal. The word of Nebuchadnezzar was law, and they were standing up against it. I don't think they were ugly about it.
I don't think they were blowing the trumpet before them and saying, “Hey, you guys are all terrible. We're the only right ones.” But they took a stand.
A second principle we can learn from this story is.
2. Being faithful sometimes requires civil disobedience.
I would say 99 % of the time, God's desire for Christians is to obey the law. There are whole chapters of the Bible about this—Romans 13, for example. God set up the magistrate, and we're to obey the magistrate, we're to obey the king.
But there are instances in Scripture where we're not to obey the king or the magistrate. If the law or the king tells us to disobey God, we obey God rather than men. Think about the Hebrew midwives in Egypt who were essentially told to commit partial‑birth abortion on all the male babies. The Bible says they didn't do it. They disobeyed that law, and God blessed them for it.
Or think about the apostles being brought before the magistrates and commanded to stop preaching Jesus. Those apostles said, “Listen, we're going to obey God and not man.” Sometimes being faithful means resisting so much that we even have to stand up against unjust laws.
May God give us the grace to do it.
Think about our brothers today—we have millions of them. Brothers in places like China, where it’s illegal to go to church, where it’s illegal to preach the gospel. Would you have them not obey God so they could go along with the laws?
Now we obey God rather than men. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego sure did.
Let's keep reading.
14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
You know, Nebuchadnezzar, for his part, doesn't just take these sour leaders' word for it. He asked Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego about it. He says, “Didn’t you hear the rule? I made this rule that when this music plays, you’re supposed to bow down and worship this image.”
Didn't hear the thing about the fiery furnace? I’m gonna give you another shot. Notice what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say. They say, “We’re not careful to answer thee in this matter.”
So we’re not afraid to tell you this, King: we’re willing to go to the furnace. God might deliver us, but He might not. But you need to know that we’re not going to serve other gods, and we’re not going to worship a golden image.
Can you imagine the courage that God gave these men, here, to stand before the most powerful person in the whole world and say, “We’re not afraid. God can take care of us. But even if He doesn’t, we’re gonna be faithful to Him.”
Can I give you a third principle?
3. Being faithful means obeying God despite the consequences.
There are some preachers who tell you that if you obey God, you’re going to be blessed—everything will just go your way. You’ll have money in the bank, you won’t get sick, and things will be happy, happy, happy for you all the time.
But that’s not what the Bible teaches. I’m going to be honest: sometimes obeying God brings difficulty and challenges into your life, as God tests you. God is going to test your faith.
Warren Wiersbe said, “A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted.” I like that.
It's easy to say, “I’m gonna follow God, I’m gonna follow the Lord” when things are going well for you, but it’s quite another thing to do it when it costs you something.
It’s easy to say, “I’m going to go to church,” when your friends and family are there.
It’s quite another thing when they’re making fun of you for being faithful to church.
It’s easy to say, “I’m going to be a Christian,” when it goes well for you. But what if being a Christian, being faithful, and having a clean testimony keeps you from being promoted at work?
You’ll still be faithful then?
I love what Job said in Job 13:15:
15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job 13:15
And we are faithful to the Lord, even if that faithfulness doesn't yield what we're hoping for. May we say, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—if not, God could bless me and deliver me; but if He doesn't, He’s still good.
Let's keep reading
19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
I've kind of already covered this, but a fourth principle about being faithful is this...
4. Being faithful doesn't mean that you don't have to go through the trials.
You know, I'm not trying to allegorize the scripture here. There really was a fiery furnace, and these three men were actually thrown into it. But fire and a furnace in the scripture are often a picture of God's judgment—a picture of God's trials. And what we see here is that even though Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful to God, that didn't mean they got to escape the furnace.
James 1 says:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4
Without the trials, our faith would never be what it's supposed to be.
Without the difficult test, our faith would atrophy, be weak, be untested.
How many ever watched a movie like this? This is the plot of the movie: the man starts, he has a dream, and immediately he gets everything that he wants. Not a lot of movies have that plot.
Because that's boring. If your life has no conflict, no challenge, it's boring. It doesn't develop character. We like to read stories and watch movies about people who have to face challenges and difficulty and persevere through it.
It's not God's plan for His children, just to walk on flowery beds of ease. It's not God's plan for His children to walk on smooth roads and wide, swift, easy travel, needing no guide, never a mountain, rocky and steep, never a river, turgid and deep.
Paul had to go through a shipwreck and betrayal, be stoned and left for dead, let down city walls in a basket, escaping for his life.
Peter had to go to prison.
Jesus had to go to the cross.
None of us get a road without challenges.
Let's keep reading.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
I just love this. They're in the fiery furnace, but they're not there alone. Nebuchadnezzar looks and sees these guys untouched by the fire, and he sees someone else among them—the form of the Son of God.
I believe it was the Son of God. I believe Jesus was there with them.
Can I tell you something about being faithful? Being faithful doesn’t mean you get to escape trials, but…
5. Being faithful means God will be with you in trials.
The Lord will comfort you. The Lord will protect you. The Lord will give you His presence in the midst of those trials.
They went in bound. He looks again, and they're loose. They're walking. The fire hasn't touched them. And they're not by themselves. There's a fourth in there with them. In a minute he's going to call that fourth an angel, because that's the only word a pagan has for somebody who can walk in a fire and not burn. But you heard what he said when he saw him. The form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Isaiah said this long before Daniel's day.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:2
Church, that's the promise. When you walk through the fire, you don't walk through it by yourself, and the fire doesn't get to have you.
Notice what burned and what didn't. The ropes burned. Whatever had them bound did not make it. But not a hair of their head was singed. Their coats weren't changed. The smell of fire hadn't even passed on them. God can bring you through a trial, and the trial doesn't get the last word on you.
Some of you are in a furnace right now. I'm not going to stand up here and promise you that God is going to put that fire out tonight. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't know if he would, and I don't know if he will for you. But I know this. If you are his, he gets in the fire with you. He will comfort you. He will keep you. You are not in there alone.
Let's keep reading.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
6. Being faithful means other people will see the glory of God through your life.
So they come walking out of that furnace. And don't miss who is standing there watching. The princes, the governors, the captains, the king's counselors. This is the crowd that hit the ground when the band started. And now they're staring at three men who should be a pile of ashes.
Listen to Nebuchadnezzar. A few minutes ago he said, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Now listen to him. Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Now don't run past this. Nebuchadnezzar does not get converted in Daniel chapter 3. If you speak against their God, he'll cut you in pieces and make your house a dunghill. That's not repentance. That's a proud king who saw something he cannot explain.
But he saw it. The faithfulness of these three put the glory of God on display in front of the whole empire. The king says they yielded their bodies. They were willing to hand their bodies over rather than bow. That's what Romans 12 was talking about. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. They did that. And a pagan court had to admit that their God delivers like nobody else.
He promoted them too. But the new job is not the point. The point is that people saw God.
Church, somebody is watching your life. Your kids are watching to see if you'll bow when it would be easier to bow. The people you work with are watching. You don't take a stand so they'll applaud you. Plenty of times they won't. You take a stand because God said so. And God has a way of letting other people see his glory through a believer who will not be conformed.
Let me bring it back to where we started tonight. The world is still building its image, and the music is still playing. Everybody else is going down. Just get along. Don't be the difficult one. Bow a little to whatever the king is pushing, and you can keep your own beliefs off to the side.
So where is the music playing in your life? Where are you being pushed to bow, just a little, so you can get along? Don't bow. The Lord will be with you. And somebody standing there is going to see him.
