Special Study
DIVINE PROTECTION FOR THE FAITHFUL
DURING PERSECUTION
Daniel 3:19-30
Some kinds of questions naturally provoke God to action.
Such questions might intimidate the fearful but they embolden the faith-ful
whose hearts are full of faith in their God. “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?” What
a question! It is a question that always provokes divine action, a question
that produces supernatural miracle, a question that demands the manifestation
of God’s supremacy and extra-ordinary power. When unbelieving despots ask such
questions, God always responds to protect His own and to silence the
blasphemer. “And who is that God that shall deliver you out
of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15). The king, himself later confessed,
“there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.”
“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven,
all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride
He is able to abase” (Daniel 3:29; 4:37). Pharaoh also asked a
similar blasphemous question and later received a sudden shocking, supernatural
answer in devastating signs and wonders (Exodus 5:2; 10:16,17;
12:31,32; 14:25,31).
Sennacherib, the king of Assyria during the
reign of Hezekiah over Judah
also asked, “Who are they among all the gods of the
countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD
should deliver Jerusalem
1.THE PERSECUTION OF NON-CONFORMISTS IN THE FIERY FURNACE
Daniel 3:19-23; 1 Kings 19:1,2; 22:13,14,23,24; Esther
3:3-6; Daniel 6:10-17; Mark 6:17-20; John 15:18-21;
1 Peter 4:3,4; Acts 16:19-26; 2 Timothy 3:12-14.
God loves faithful, uncompromising believers.
Non-conformists who refuse to be conformed to this world are His delight. Yet,
we must remember that the world and the god of this world hate whatever and
whoever God loves. Nebuchadnezzar, the Gentile king was enraged by the refusal
of these three faithfuls to worship his image. In his rage the tyrannical idol
worshipper invented a more strange and cruel punishment for these God-honouring
saints. And these saintly servants of God remained calm, patient and constant
in their devotion to God. They knew that God had power to deliver them from
death or if He desired to take them to a better place than this world, could
deliver them from the despot for ever.
The king was not only furious, he was
infatuated. “He commanded that they should heat the furnace
one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.” The great
intensity of the heat of his fury could not be satisfied without a greater
intensity of heat in the furnace. His anger was visible for all to see. Being
“full of fury, the form of his visage was changed” (verse
19). Betrayed in his whole comportment and countenance, he
ordered that the heat of the furnace be increased to the highest possible.
Passion overdoes and defeats its own end, for, the hotter the fire, the sooner
were they likely to be put out of pain. Would men in a passion but view their
faces in a mirror, they would be startled at their own folly and turn all their
displeasure against themselves.
We need not be frightened by the rage, fury and devise of
persecutors. Persecution purifies and preserves the true children of God; it
revives our dormant faith in some forgotten promises of God (for example,
Isaiah 43:2); it brings God’s omnipotence and faithfulness nearer in
manifestation. Persecution drives us to prayer and more dependence on God.
2.THE
PROTECTION OF NEW CREATURES IN THE FIERY FURNACE
Daniel 3:24-27; Isaiah 43:2-4; Exodus 3:2-4; Psalm
66:12-16; Zechariah 13:9; Hebrews 11:33,34;
Zechariah 3:1,2; Isaiah 26:11-13; 1 Peter 4:12-14;
Ephesians 6:16.
There are precious promises we can never prove until we
encounter some problems and pressures. There is a kind of sweet juice of the
grapes of grace which can only be pressed out by the hand of providence. There
are states of divine companionship which can only be experienced when we find
ourselves in situations where human companionship is impossible.
There is a
depth of divine love and intimate fellowship known only to believers who
courageously face the opposition of the world against righteousness. Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego had a fresh understanding, a divine contact and
companionship, an intimate fellowship, a new revelation of God’s power, an
experience of security and immunity, a fulfilment of an incredible promise, a
supernatural sign and wonder, in the furnace which they could not have had
outside the furnace. They lost nothing inside the furnace, rather they gained
incalculable spiritual wealth, immediate earthly rewards and heaven’s enduring
recognition. We lose nothing in the furnace of persecution, rather our profit
and rewards are abundant in the present life and in eternity.
“Nebuchadnezzar the king was
astonished.” He was yet to
learn that God is able with infinite ease to deliver His children in the most
terribly extreme situations. He knows how to deliver the godly out of fiery
trials and grant His own a perfect triumph over the rage of their enemies.
Nebuchadnezzar’s confession is significant and worthy of our meditation:
(1) “Did not we
cast three men BOUND into the midst of the fire? lo, I see four men LOOSE”;
(2) “walking in the midst of the fire”;
(3)
“and they have no hurt”;
(4) “and the
form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” The king and all his
men examined them when they came out of the
furnace. They all
(5)
“saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power”;
(6)
“nor was an hair of their head singed”;
(7) “neither
were their coats changed”;
(8) “nor the smell of fire had
passed on them.” There is both instruction and encouragement in the
climax of the king’s confession and declaration: “There is no other God
that can deliver after this sort.” Those who suffer for Christ
have His gracious presence with them in their persecution, even in the fiery
furnace, even in the valley of the shadow of death, and therefore need fear no
evil.
3 THE
PROMOTION OF NOBLE CONQUERORS AFTER FEARLESS FAITHFULNESS
Daniel3:28-30; 6:1-3; 2:47-49; 6:26-28; Psalms 34:7,8,22;
75:6,7; 91:14-16; John 12:26;
Job 42:10,12; Genesis
41:39-43.
“Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and
said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” (Daniel
3:28). He had earlier said, “Who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel
3:15). Now he has come to recognize the existence and power of
that God and His involvement in the affairs of men on earth. He referred to God
as “the most high God” who has no equal, rival or
comparison; for He said, “there is no other God that can deliver after
this sort” (Daniel 3:26,29). The manifestation of God’s presence
and the demonstration of God’s power changed the king’s mind. God’s
faithfulness in response to our faith can change the attitude and life of the
most idolatrous and wicked sinner.
Nebuchadnezzar’s god could not deliver or protect his “most
mighty men” (Daniel 3:20,22) but “the most high God”
delivered “His (own) servants that trusted in Him”
who would “not serve nor worship any god, except
their own God” (Daniel 3:28). Dead idols are impotent but
the living God is omnipotent. Truly, there is no other God that can deliver
after this sort. So he blessed God for His goodness and for His power.
Nebuchadnezzar’s praise and confession of God was
doctrinally sound and widely publicized but he did not renounce his god,
neither did he destroy the image which he had set up. There was no genuine
conversion, there was no decision to worship the living God only. Loud and empty
confession without genuine, life-transforming conversion is worthless in God’s
sight.
“Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, in the province of Babylon.” He reversed his earlier negative decision concerning these three faithful men, restored
them to positions of honour and even promoted them to greater places of service
and usefulness. Seeing their uncompromising loyalty and faithfulness to their
God, he could trust them more as men of high moral standard and unwavering,
righteous principle.
Inspirational Song For The Season
WILL
YOUR ANCHOR HOLD?
1.
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife;
When the strong tides lift and the cables
strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?
We have
an anchor that keeps the soul
Stedfast and sure while the billows roll:
Fasten’d to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love!
2.
It is safely moored ’twill the storm withstand,
For ’tis well secured by the Saviour’s hand;
And the cables passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy the blast, through strength divine.
3.
It will firmly hold in the straits of fear,
When the breakers have told the reef is near,
Though the tempest rave and the wild winds
blow,
Not an angry wave shall our bark o’erflow.
4.
It will surely hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold, chill our latest breath,
On the rising tide it can never fail,
While our hopes abide within the veil !
5.
When our eyes behold, through the gathering night
The city of gold, our harbour bright,
We shall anchor fast by the heavenly shore,
With the storms all past for evermore.
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