Over All, Faithfulness to God

STUDY: # 930 – CHURCH IN THE HOUSES FROM: FEBRUARY 7 @ 13, 2017

TOPIC: " Over All, Faithfulness to God " Daniel 3: 16-27 Some Chaldean men came before King Nebuchadnezzar to speak maliciously against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel’s three young, Jewish friends. They came to the king with all evil intent. Because of the evil within them, they were very cunning. These men wanted to destroy God’s people (Daniel 3:8 “Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews”). Envy motivated them to talk about the young Jews with great spite. They didn’t do it out of respect for the king. Let us understand well, ENVY IS WHAT MOTIVATES MANY TO SPEAK THIS WAY! Daniel 3:17,18 "If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." The thing is these young men knew that if what the evil Chaldeans planned actually happened, GOD WOULD FREE THEM! "If it is our good fortune to be cast into the furnace, Our God is able to deliver us." "The furnace cannot contain the MIGHTY GOD that can deliver us." "If it is so, that I’m going to the furnace, OUR GOD IS THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN FREE US." "Let it burn as you like, but I will not even feel the smoke in my hair." King Nebuchadnezzar defied the three young men. ("Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?" Daniel 3:15) When the king received the firm and brave response that the young men would not bow down and worship the golden statue, he was filled with wrath. ("Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated." Daniel 3:19). "And if not, you know, O king ..." King Nebuchadnezzar should know that God is God. And I will be loyal to Him. Regardless of whatever I have to go through, because He will NEVER leave me! If our God delivers us, as he can do, if not, we will never worship your god." Even if He killed them (they would have to die because of Him), they would still trust in Him. They were exiled in a strange country, and without friends. Now they were before a king of absolute power, that no one could go up against, before the threat of a death as horrible as the one that awaited them. If these young men persevered in their faith in God, it would exalt the grace of God, which would lead them through such a test. (Daniel 3:19) King Nebuchadnezzar's face changed. His demons were coming out. He had previously concealed his anger with the apparent generosity of giving them indulgence or forgiveness if they worshiped the statue. He had proposed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that they should bow down to the statue, to the sound of music, and that would be beneficial to them. But now, anger filled him up, and manifested itself in his face. The king ordered that they heat the oven "seven times" more than it had ever been heated. Daniel 3:20,21 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace." To continue the test, the three young men had their hands and feet tied with tunics and garments. The power of God thus became greater. With so much clothes, the fire would burn faster. But, NOT EVEN THE SMOKE CAME NEAR THEM! The flame was for the enemy (Daniel 3:22)!

To the king's astonishment, those three young men, with no authority nor energy, walked inside the furnace of fire without suffering any harm. THE LORD’S ANGEL CAME DOWN UPON THE FURNACE! The Lord Jesus walks with us in "our fire." He never leaves us! "Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ He answered and said, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the appearance of the FOURTH is like a son of the gods." Daniel 3:24,25. The young men were now loose. God wrenched this confession from the very mouth of His enemies! The king himself said, "I see four, but only three were thrown bound together." He says, "They are loose." The king had wanted to see them suffer the worst. But now, he sees them without suffering, and he even saw God with them. Young saints, loose in the midst of the fire, and the Mighty God with them! They were walking in the fire! They never had to shout, "Get us out of here!" They were in a cloud of blessing together with Christ! They did not come out of the fire. They calmly waited for God to take them out. They were God’s prisoners, until God would totally set them free. The king acknowledged that they were servants of the Highest God ("Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Highest God ..." Daniel 3:26). He acknowledged that Jehovah was supreme over other gods ("Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way." Daniel 3:29). The fire couldn’t even claim their hair. They didn’t even smell of fire (Daniel 3:27). Nothing ought to leave a bad smell on us. No scars nor odor of what we have lived through, because the one who frees us IS THE SAME ONE WHO HAS EVERYTHING UNDER HIS POWER AND DOMINION! Brother, above all things, let your fidelity to Him shine through. Let an unshakable faith be seen in you, and rest in His bosom. FIDELITY TO GOD ABOVE ALL! Amen.