All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us, for we live at a time when the end is about to come.
1 Corinthians 10:11
This verse has never been more true than now. As we study prophecies for our time, it is more than just beasts and symbols. Some things happened to God’s people that were written down as warnings for us because “we live at a time when the end is about to come.” This is why I must talk about the events of Daniel 3 before we get into the heavy symbols of beasts and future powers.
As shown (from Scripture) in other blogs from this site, the end occurs when Jesus returns. There is no second chance with a seven-year tribulation. That time period and the events of the second coming have been misinterpreted. See: Part 3-Second Coming Predictions (7 years of Tribulation?).
There are two types of people when Jesus comes: Those caught unaware and not watching and those aware and looking:
To the unaware, the Lord comes like “a thief in the night.” They are not looking for Him and don’t expect Him. To them, everything continues day in and day out as it has since the beginning of time.
There is no need to write you, friends, about the times and occasions when these things will happen. For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night. When people say, “Everything is quiet and safe,” then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape. But you, friends, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief. All of you are people who belong to the light, who belong to the day.
1 Thessalonians 5: 1-5
Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2 Peter 3:4
It is not so much about the return of Jesus as it is being prepared and aware. Those who trust in Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him are not caught unaware. He will not come as “a thief in the night.” This is shown in their exclamation when he finally does come:
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God;we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isaiah 25:9
This story found in Daniel 3 gives us warnings, but most of all, it gives us hope in the One who will ultimately save us from the presence and power of sin. If we read a few verses beyond the warning of 2 Peter 3:5 (shown above), we can understand why the Day of The Lord is postponed. It is God’s great love and mercy that causes him to tarry.
The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you because he does not want anyone to be destroyed but desires all to turn away from their sins.
2 Peter 3:9
If you read all of 2 Peter, you will see that the above verse is in the context of the second coming. He promises to return, and He mercifully waits because when He comes, it is over. There is no seven-year second chance as the enemy and Hollywood would have us believe.
The events of ages past, including Daniel 3, were written down to give us hope during our lowest moments and through the fires of our trials. During this time come the words, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” May we all seek and grip tightly the hope offered us as we read this part of scripture about three young men who made a decision to follow the true God even if it meant giving up their lives.
Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us to have hope through the patience and encouragement that the Scriptures give us.
Romans 15:4
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We can see in chapter 3 King Nebuchadnezzar has changed his tune from chapter 2 when he proclaimed to Daniel:
“Your God is the greatest of all gods, the Lord over kings, and the one who reveals mysteries. I know this because you have been able to explain this mystery.”
Daniel 2:47
Twenty-three years have passed between the time of the dream of chapter 2 and the events of chapter 3. The king is like many who, after an exciting revealing of God and the passage of time, soon forget and even doubt the sovereignty of the great Creator. An experience with God is a continual growing journey, not a destination per se. We must learn to “continue” with God every day (excitement and high spiritual experiences, or not) otherwise, our tune will change too.
The 23 years of being king with no appearance of “an inferior kingdom of silver” has puffed him up, and his dramatic dream is a distant memory. Because the kingdom of silver has not shown up, the king perhaps doubts the truthfulness of the dream. Maybe it was all just a bad dream, or Daniel misinterpreted it.
The king’s pride and self-confidence led him to build an idol that was 90 feet tall and made of gold from the top of its head to the bottom of its feet and toes. There is no succession of metals such as silver, bronze, iron, and miry clay. There is certainly no reference or symbols to the rock cut out without hands filling the whole earth.
King Nebuchadnezzar then uses all his political power to force people to worship this idol representing Babylon, especially himself. He now believes his kingdom will never perish. He tries to become a substitute for Christ (the Son of man)…An anti-Christ of sorts. Anti does not mean “against” or opposing to Christ. No! It is something even more severe. It means “in place of.” The king is putting himself in place of God. This has been Satan’s desire from the start. To be a substitute for God, he is willing to work through the sinful and selfish heart of mankind.
“People of all nations, races, and languages! You will hear the sound of the trumpets, followed by the playing of oboes, lyres, zithers, and harps, and then all the other instruments will join in. As soon as the music starts, you are to bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.”
Daniel 3: 4-5
The king falls back into his pagan egotistical ways by making the image entire of gold, thereby denying the plan God has set out to have an “inferior” kingdom arise after the fall of Babylon. He then forces the leaders to come to this service to worship him, represented by this statue made entirely of gold.
The king is also proclaiming himself to be God, but the Lord has three men out of the thousands gathered by the king’s order who are faithful to only the true God. Their experience with God is continuous…
Jesus showing up is not a magic formula or saying the right words in prayer but rather the life that continues in Him and expresses faith (trust) daily.
When the king is informed that three men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) are not bowing as he commanded, he is enraged and heats the furnace seven times to burn them alive. This show of force does not deter the men whose names were changed from Hananiah (God is my Judge), Mishael (Beloved of the Lord), and Azariah (Who is as God?)
They are given a second chance to bow down and worship, but their answer is quick and to the point:
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
Daniel 3: 16-18
Their response is….our Lord will protect us and if He chooses not to do so, we will still stay true to Him. This is the same mind that Job had when he said,
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”
Job 13:15
This should be our mind, too; when the time comes for a test, a strong test, we will put our lives entirely in the hands of the Lord who walks with us among the flames of trials and temptations. Our afflictions are but light today. Most of us do not live under a threat of death, but that could all change one day. As we will see in the prophecies of Revelation and Babylon described in its chapters, there will be a similar time of being told to worship the Beast under the threat of death.
The furnace is so hot that the men who throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego bound by cords into the furnace are killed themselves.
As with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus shows up as the “other form” in the midst of their affliction at just the right time. Often it is not until we have demonstrated complete faith that He acts on our behalf. Other times, He just shows up when we are discouraged, as he did with the two men on the road to Emmaus. He knows and understands our weaknesses.
For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103: 14
The men come out of the furnace without a trace of the smell of smoke or flame. The cords that bound them are the only things burned by the fiery ordeal.
As we put our trust in the Lord during the flames, the cords and sin that bind us are consumed like dross from silver revealing freedom and a polished character.
Blessed be the experience, however severe, that gives new value to the stone, enabling it to shine with living brightness!.. From the devotional book, Our Father Cares, p. 282
When the King sees the men in the hot furnace, he asks and exclaims:
“Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”…Look!…I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Daniel 3: 24-25
The king then goes as near as he can get to the furnace and says to them to “come out” and “come here.” The men to come out and the rulers of the land observe that not only was no hair on their head burned, but they don’t even have the smell of fire or smoke on them!
….they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
Daniel 3: 27
To come out of an intense ordeal or experience is a powerful testimony for the Kingdom of God. Our experience with God is not just about our salvation from the flames, but for those who watch and see the protection and grace of our Lord. Our trials are opportunities to seek God’s will and witness for His kingdom to reach the hard heart of unbelievers.
This experience teaches the King something about the true God. He praises God and says,
“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!”
Daniel 3:28
The story ends with the promotion of the three men. But also the king’s proclamation that is not in character with God. The king still has much to learn about the character of God. In the next chapter, we see that he again slips back after this powerful experience.
I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
Daniel 3:29
King Nebuchadnezzar makes a decree that forces others to worship the true God under the penalty of death. While that day’s experience is a victorious turn of events and the king wants to recognize the great Deliverer, it is not a good decree. God does not force people to accept Him. Instead, He draws people by His character and His love as demonstrated on the cross:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, with lovingkindness, I have drawn you.”
Jeremiah 31:3
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
John 12:32
A better response from the king would be to honor God instead of forcing people under the threat of death. Thus it will be in the last day when the great image of the beast is erected for all to fall down and worship or be under a penalty of economic sanction and even death.
In Chapter 3 of Daniel, this story is a warning about another Babylon found in Revelation. God will encourage people to come out of her. The Beast of Revelation 13 will use the same force to make people worship another image. But those who know God and the light of His word will be like the three men who said,
“we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
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.
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.
Daniel 3: 17:18
Our Lord will walk with us during times of trouble.
But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble.
Psalm 37: 39
He has said,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
May we continue in God as we consider His warnings found in His word and trust in His promises.
As we get into the heavy symbols of end-time events, remember that regardless of how you might feel about them, it is essential that you know the Lord, for there is salvation in no other name. Knowing Him will keep us all safe from the treacherous events already arising on this earth.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10