God has a plan. The Scripture, of course, tells us this in many, many places. God has a plan to “lift us up.” In fact, we're told that if we'll “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will lift us up in due time.” And that idea of lifting is the idea of promotion. Maybe not promotion in the eyes of the world, although oftentimes it is. It will be for the three that we're studying here. Sometimes it's just promotion in His plan.
God's promotion is not to ease and comfort; His promotion is to more work.
God’s reward for work well done is greater work to do. And we're going to see that that's going to happen for the faithful Hebrews that went into the fiery furnace in Daniel Chapter 3. Of course, the Lord miraculously delivered them and that's what we're going to be able to look at tonight. I mentioned before that confidence in God gives us courage before men. I think we're all going to need that in the days ahead. We realize that we're living in an increasingly hostile world. Any one of us may well face persecution simply for trusting in the truth of God's Word.
The passage in front of us is a very encouraging passage because it shows us God's ability to deliver us through those persecutions. Sometimes God delivers people out of the persecution. Sometimes He delivers them through the persecution, as in this case in Daniel chapter three. Sometimes He allows them to die in that persecution as a testimony of their faith.
Let's look at “The Devotion of Mature Faith” that we see here in Daniel 3:26-28. “Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke, saying, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here.’ And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came from the midst of the fire.” Verse 27 says, “The satraps, administrators, governors, kings, councilors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose body the fire had no power. The hair of their head was not singed, nor were their garments affected and the smell of the fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel and delivered his servants who trusted in Him. And they have frustrated the king's word [that's his word,] and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve their worship any God except their own God.’”
Notice in verse 27 who's walking on? The satraps, administrators, governors, kings, councilors. They're the ones that reported these three in the first place. They're the ones that will move with envy. We looked at that. They were hoping to get rid of these three. And now not only have they not gotten rid of their envy, which moves the King's arrogance (they both work together) to throw these guys in the fiery furnace has now done what? It has given incontrovertible evidence of the fact that their God is the true God. And so, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges this.
Let's see “The Promotion of the Faithful” in Daniel 3:29-30. “Therefore, I make a decree.” Now you can still see that Nebuchadnezzar is still running on his natural arrogance. He's going to make a decree now that any people, nation, language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and a medical will be cut in pieces. That's a great proclamation, isn't it? God gave man free will. God wants freewill worship. He wants freewill offering. And every person must have the freedom to say yes or to say no.
“Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.” So, what happens during our brief stay on this earth, it affects us now — it wounds us, hurts us. But we need to put it in perspective. And the perspective is, “I've got a mansion just over the hilltop.” Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled,” neither let it be afraid, “I am going to prepare a place for you. I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again.” That's what we need to be looking forward to.
The full audio lessons for Daniel as they are being taught are here:
https://basictraining.org/all-audio-messages/?enmse=1&enmse_sid=275
Thanks to "The Book of Daniel" 2013 movie for some of the scenes.
Notes mentioned are here:
https://basictraining.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/The-Book-of-Daniel-May2024.pdf
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