Daniel chapter three. So I'm a read a little bit from this book this evening. I told you when I started this series that I was relying somewhat on this book by David Jeremiah, and so I'm gonna read just a few things from it this evening as we look at Daniel chapter three. So in Daniel chapter one, we are told of the captivity of Daniel and his three friends. We in verse eight, we read that Daniel purposed in his heart to not defile himself with the king's meat.

He and his friends were given the opportunity to be tested for several days at which time they were in better health than those who had eaten the king's meat. The Lord gave them favor in the eyes of their captors and they were promoted in the kingdom upon their graduation from their studies there. What is profound is that through all of the study in the pagan society and the pagan university there, these four at least did not lose their faith. They did not waver. They were consistent, they were faithful, and the Lord protected them as they trusted in him.

In chapter two, we have Nebuchadnezzar's dream that about the image and of course, we find that none of the phony wise men, the astrologers, and all of these people in Babylon could really tell the interpretation of the dream and Nebuchadnezzar figured that out when he asked them to tell them the dream before the interpretation, they couldn't do that. But again, God is more powerful and Daniel gave God the opportunity to be magnified once again in the eyes of the king when he went to the king and asked for a time to pray with his friends. The the king granted it and the Lord gave him the interpretation. The interpretation of which kind of sets forth the times of the Gentiles and the kingdoms that would rise in power to follow is one of the most profound prophetic passages of all of scripture along with chapter seven eight and nine later in the book of Daniel. At the end of that, the important thing is this, after the time of the kingdoms of the Gentiles and the men are over, there will be a stone that comes from the mountain of God.

It hits the statue that represents the kingdoms of men at the feet and the statue what? Crumbles into dust and blows away in the in the wind and that stone becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth. That stone is Jesus Christ and he will return and he will reign for a thousand years and then for eternity in a new heaven and a new earth. He will defeat Satan altogether, vanish him into the bottomless pit and then into the lake of fire and we who know Christ will spend eternity with him. That brings us to Daniel chapter three and a new chapter in our series here.

So in Daniel chapter two, the head of the gold the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar's dream was who? Who was that? Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold. And even though the king praised the God of Daniel as a God of gods in verse 47 of chapter two, doesn't really appear that he recanted or repented of his faith in his gods. And over time, year two, three later, Nebuchadnezzar has all but forgotten about the God of heaven and he sets out an image probably of himself as a God himself to be worshiped.

So Daniel chapter three verse one, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height with was three score cubits, breadth thereof six cubits, and he set it up on the Plain Of Dura in the province of Babylon. Three score cubits is 60 cubits which is approximately 90 around a 100 feet. So that's pretty tall. Think of a 10 story building, that's how big, how tall that this image was that he made, probably not of solid gold but clad in gold. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent together together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the prince of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Basically, Nebuchadnezzar called all of the officials of the kingdom. He's kind of centralizing his power here. He's making sure that every official of every territory in the expansive kingdom of Babylon is going to bow to whom? To him. Okay?

Verse three, then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers, the provinces were gathered together into of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then in herald cried aloud, to you it is commanded all people, nations, and languages that at what time you hear the sound, the cornet, flute, harp, sack buck, psaltery, gulf dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. Very clear. They are to bow down before this statue and what? What's the word there?

Worship it. Okay. They are worshiping this statue that is probably in all likelihood in the image of Nebuchadnezzar. That is what they're being commanded to do. Verse six, and who so falleth not down and worship it shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Therefore, at that time when all the people had heard the sound of the cornet flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, oh king, live forever. Thou, oh king, has made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall fall down and worship the golden image and who so falleth not down and worship at that image, he shall be cast in the midst the burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.

These men, o king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. So we're gonna stop there for just a moment and recap a few things quickly before we continue on. King Nebuchadnezzar, like many had made a profession at the end of the previous chapter but it didn't stick. Again, he's not the only one that has done that.

That sadly happens often. Sadly, many just like him make hasty declarations that do not fully represent their faith, their heart condition. And in time, their lack of faith and sincerity is revealed like Nebuchadnezzar's here. In the moment, Nebuchadnezzar confessed a half hearted belief in the supremacy of the God of Daniel, but without denouncing his false gods. This goes back again to verse 47 of chapter two.

The king answered unto Daniel, instead of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and revealer of secrets seeing thou couldest thou couldest reveal this secret. By saying God of gods, he is saying there are other gods, it's just your God seems to be more powerful than the other gods. Okay? Is that enough? The answer to that is no.

That is not enough. The Bible in the New Testament particularly uses the word repentance. Repentance is a turning away from the other gods to put our faith and trust in the only one true and living God and Jesus, who is Jesus Christ our savior. So Nebuchadnezzar made his half hearted declaration, but it wasn't long. Nebuchadnezzar forgot about the true God, but what did he not forget about?

He didn't forget about the head of gold in his dream, which was who? Which was himself. Okay? So he forgot about the most important parts of that dream and that prophecy and, the gold went to his head. Okay?

And most likely for reasons both political to unify his power and personal to pamper his pride, he had an image made which most certainly represented himself and he asked all his underlings to bow down to it and pledged their allegiance as they worshipped it. Not unlike what the antichrist will do one day during the tribulation as we read in the book of Revelation. He is the final head of this terrible snake of the kingdoms of the Gentiles that will finally be cut off. Nebuchadnezzar is not unlike him in several ways. He perceives himself to be ruler over what?

Overall. Okay? What was Nebuchadnezzar's goal? To rule over all the kingdoms of mankind. That is not new thing and he's not the only one and the antichrist is going to come on the scene and think of himself to do the same thing.

There was a song that popular when I was a kid, it's entitled everybody wants to rule the world. That isn't true. I don't think that all that many people want to rule the world, but it is true of several dictators that have come on the scene throughout the years and Nebuchadnezzar is one of the bigger of the bunch. It was clearly his passion to rule it all as it will be the Antichrist and like the Antichrist, he was defeated. His kingdom was defeated and and antichrist will be as well.

Number two, he made an image of himself and displayed it for to it displayed it for worship as does the antichrist in Revelation 13. In Matthew 24, Christ refers to this as the abomination of desolation spoke of by the prophet Daniel. In Revelation 13 in verse 14, we read this, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, this is speaking of the false prophet and the antichrist, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, the beast is the antichrist, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by the sword and did live. And he had power to give life under the image of the beast and the image of the beast that should both speak and cause that as many should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. So the Antichrist with the help of his cohort, the false prophet will set up his image.

We find out in the temple actually, he will defile it, set his image up there for it to be worshiped. What is he declaring that he is God and that he is to be worshipped? Nebuchadnezzar is basically doing the same thing. Number three, Nebuchadnezzar declared death to who to anyone who would not bow to the image. So we read here in Revelation 13 that whosoever will not bow to this image will not take upon them the mark of the beast is set for execution during the time of the tribulation.

Tyrants regularly pull this as well. You give pledge allegiance not just to a country, not just to a idea, but you pledge allegiance to me. If you don't, you will die. There is one of those in North Korea right now and if you don't haven't taken the time to read about the rule of North Korea and what is happening there, he is very much in the image of Nebuchadnezzar and likened to as what the antichrist will try to do throughout the world, to have men worship him and bow down to him. And if they don't, the punishment is execution.

In the end, we know what will happen. Who will win? God will win because he is the king of kings and Lord of lords. He is the only true God and whatever puppet Satan tries to set up on this earth in defiance of God, time and time again, we'll lose. The antichrist just being the last of the bunch.

But I wanna focus now on Daniel's friends. Like many who will defy the command of the antichrist and the false prophet during the tribulation and refused to take his mark, so to the friends of Daniel did the unthinkable. They refused to bow to the image. Now he this is a large valley, a plain near the city of Babylon. These people were gathered from all over Babylon and brought there And as the music played, they all bowed but three Jews as they're called here, they didn't bow.

They stayed standing. Now, can't imagine that they thought that they wouldn't be noticed. We don't know where Daniel was. It's likely that Daniel, was somewhere else because as we see Daniel's life before and after this, certainly Daniel would not have bowed to such an image. But he must have been on another errand at the time and so he was not there.

But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his friends were and they refused to bow. They refused to bow to him as though he were a God and they remained true to the only true God whether they were to be noticed or not. The music the use of music, don't think is incidental. Matter of fact, God in his record here kind of emphasizes the music. We have the list twice of the cornet, flute, harp, sack back, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music.

It's a it's a hodgepodge orchestra, so to speak. It's hard to equate a lot of those instruments to our instruments today because they're a lot different than most of our instruments today, but they were his orchestra, his music group. People were to bow down when the instruments were played, but again Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not. Music is a wonderful thing created by who? Created by God.

And when used in a proper sense to uplift people, to tell a good story, to paint a beautiful picture, or an honoring worship of God, music is one of the greatest things I think that God created. I love music. I have always loved music. The first thing I ever did in church up in front of people was sing. It wasn't speak.

Speaking came a little bit more difficult than singing upfront, but music is a wonderful thing. However, Satan was created as a a musical being, we are told. And when he became twisted in sin, he also twists the things that God created, the beautiful things into something perverse and something to lead people away from God and not to him. Sadly, Satan has done that with music today and music is often used by Satan to manipulate the minds of the masses to worship and practice all sorts of pagan debauchery. A rock concert is a worship service of sorts, but they're not worshiping God.

They're worship worshiping the often the debauchery of this world. They look something like that. Notice their hands in the air. This happens to be a fist. I'm not sure what the fist is in the air for.

I could conjecture, but I don't know. But if you've been or seen rock concerts jumping up and down, there are no chairs to speak of, they're all just a big mixing pot and they're all jumping down and grabbing at the people on the stage and this is how Satan uses music to manipulate the minds of people to lead them away from the Lord and not to the Lord. No doubt the antichrist and false prophet will do the same And sadly, the lack of discernment on church's part today, sometimes on the extreme edges particularly of music that is quote used for worship, may be actually helping to set the stage for what Satan will do. We must be careful. Everything we need everything we do, particularly in our worship at church needs to be done to the glory of who?

To the glory of God and not the glory of men, the glory of kings, or the glory of Satan or sinful things. Here it is being used for a to glorify Nebuchadnezzar, a sinful thing. Daniel's friends, they had what? They had enemies. Their friends, their their coworkers, they turned them in.

They came to Nebuchadnezzar. They told on them. They turned on them. I'm sure that possibly the day before, they were talking and having a great time. They were their friends.

But when they took a stand for who? For God and for what was right, their friends very quickly became their enemies. Satan's minions are always looking for an opportunity and are not bashful in their attempt. We read of several attempts of religious leaders in Jesus' day coming to him and trying to get him to say something that they could use to what? To condemn him, to to get him in trouble, to tattle on him about, to try to turn the crowd against him, you know.

Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. Jesus, of course, being God was never backed into a corner that he could not get out of simply by speaking the truth. Certainly, the antichrist will have plenty of help hunting down believers during the tribulation. There will be a multitude of people who will turn to Christ during the tribulation. The masses will believe the lie, but there will be many who refuse to take the what?

Who will refuse to take the mark. And there will be plenty willing to help hunt them down. As there were many that were willing to help Hitler hunt down their neighbors and coworkers and friends who were Jews during the holocaust. Praise the Lord for some who said, no, I won't do that, and hid them in their attic or their basement. But the majority just went along and turned on their neighbors.

That is the way not of the Lord, that's the way of the enemy, Satan. The name may come when we have to choose who we stand with, who we stand for, and who we bow to in a not so distant future ourselves. We don't know what's coming around the corner. I would not have imagined that we would be discussing some of the craziness today that we're we're that we're seeing in our world today just ten years ago, would not have imagined it, and yet we are here. We do not know when the day to stand may come and we need to be ready not to bow to the things of Satan and the world and be ready for the onslaught that will come when we don't.

I'm reading from the book here. The history of the church has been written in blood. There will always be warfare between the powers of darkness and the powers of light and there will always be pagan rulers who will cry out in sarcasm, who is that God? If you look in verse 13 of chapter three, then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, is it true, oh Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Do not you serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sack, but psaltery, dulcimer and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made well. But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

We see Nebuchadnezzar's rage. The God, little g, had been defied and he was not happy. How dare these men defy me? He demanded once more that they bow. He warned them once again that they would be thrown into a fire that was made for smelting different kinds of metal.

This is extremely hot. They would be tossed in if they refused him once again. But refusing him was the only choice they had. Exodus 20 verses three and four. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is an earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. That is the first the first and second of the 10 Commandments. They had a choice, so to speak. They could obey God or they could obey Nebuchadnezzar.

But really, in their heart, they knew there was only one choice. Come what may, God deserved their loyalty, their worship alone. And there was no excuse for bowing to another image, an image, Nebuchadnezzar's image, an idol. Nebuchadnezzar even challenged their God and said, who is that God who shall deliver you out of my hands? He should have known better.

But he wasn't thinking clearly. But that of course is a problem that humanity as we see all around us has, not thinking clearly. Not a wise move on the part of the of Nebuchadnezzar who would have to learn his lesson the hard way and not in a not so distant future himself. God would have the last word. That reminds me of Psalm two.

Psalm two reads, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, in parentheses, in defiance, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bands asunder and cut away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. It is folly and foolishness that men should defy their creator, but yet men often follow the little g God of this world, Satan, rather than following the true and living God and take his course. In the end, he as they will find out that we are no match for the true God.

Verse 16, Daniel and his friends seized the day, seized the opportunity. They seized it for God. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego answered and said to the king, oh king Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. In other words, we're not gonna walk lightly. We're just gonna tell you like it is.

We're not gonna be diplomatic, we're not gonna try to beat around the bush, we're not gonna try to flatter you and we're just gonna this is this is the way it is. We're not afraid. If it so be, 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 it 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. They did not mince words.

They demonstrated faith and courage in the face of what could have been, what by all natural means should have been, their death. They obeyed the Lord and his word trusting in God to do the rest. They didn't make any deals with God. They didn't say we'll do this if you do that. They simply said to the king, we're going to obey God whether he does this or that.

We don't know what God is going to do. We know he's able, but we know what is right. We're not gonna abandon him. They did what was right. They, like the apostles, declared we must obey God rather than men.

Like Esther who said, if I perish, I perish or countless others like Martin Luther, William Tyndale, or John Huss. God is looking desperately for people of this caliber today. Will he find them? Someone to stand in the gap, to take the risk to do what is right above all else. I'll read a couple more things here from this.

Athanasius was one of the early church fathers. We are indebted to him for the purity of the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ. The story is told that someone came to him and said, Athanasius, don't you know what the emperor that the emperor is against you? The bishops are against you. The church is against you.

The whole world is against you. Athanasius answered, then I am against the world. A phrase was coined and became rather famous in the early church. Athanasius against the whole world. Another entry here, Studdart, Studert, don't know how to pronounce that exactly, Kennedy, was a chaplain during World War one.

He was often thrust into the front lines of battle, ministering in places in places of danger to his life. One day, he was going through France, he wrote a letter to his son who was about 10 years old. This is what he wrote his little boy. The first prayer I want my son to learn to say let me start again. The first prayer I want my son to learn to say for me is not, God keep daddy safe, But God make daddy brave.

If he has hard things to do, make him strong to do them. Son, life and death don't matter, but right and wrong do. Daddy is dead. You see, daddy dead is daddy still, but daddy dishonored before God is something too awful for words. I suppose you would like to put in a bit about safety too and mother would like that, I'm sure.

Well, put it in afterwards for it really doesn't matter nearly as much as doing what is right. That's a testimony. A testimony he left with his little boy that somehow ended up in the pages of of this book. Maybe his boy remembered those or maybe his wife. What happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

Well, they were thrown into that fiery furnace. It was heated up seven times hotter. The people that threw them in were instantly killed because of how hot it was. But did it kill them? The answer is no.

What did the fire do? Well, the fire burned off their bonds. It burned away the ropes that held them, didn't kill them, didn't destroy them, it freed them. When they came out of that fiery furnace, they walked out. They didn't have to be tossed out as they were tossed in.

And who did they find was in the furnace already just waiting for them? The son of God. Even Nebuchadnezzar had to admit as he looked in there astonished, we threw three men in there. I see four. Four.

And and the fourth one looks like, and different translations translate, because be translated a son of the gods or it could be translated the son of God. May very likely be that Nebuchadnezzar thought son of the gods, but we know that it is the son of God, the true and living God. It was in the midst of the flame that the son of God was seen. In our trials and when we are weak, it's then that he makes us what? Strong.

It's then that we we see Jesus working the most. It's in the heat of the trials that the dross is burned away, that which holds us back, and we are made more into the image of Jesus Christ, savior. It's in our response in God's provision that is Christ is most often magnified before men. You know, others don't notice that you're happy when you ought to be happy. They notice when you're happy when in their estimation, you shouldn't be happy.

They notice when you are secure and confident, when they are not secure and confident. It's in these times when the Lord gives us grace that he is magnified in our life and before the eyes of others. But we have to be willing to trust God and do what's right. We have to be willing like these men to take a stand and give God the opportunity to be glorified as he was here before others. And it led to their promotion.

Look if you've read in verse 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Mecca, 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. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. The king was forced to praise their God.

Once again, the Bible says, one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Their enemies were punished and they were promoted. Promoted as those persecuted for the cause of Christ will one day be also. Revelation 20 verses four and six. When Christ returns, he will set everything right.

And I saw thrones and they sat upon them. Judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Blessed, verse six, and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. There is only promotion waiting for those of us who choose to stand with the king of kings and Lord of lords.

He will be with us through whatever trial. And the worst thing that can happen to a Christian is the best thing. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. They couldn't lose, we can't lose. Praise the Lord.

I was gonna sing a song with David and we're gonna have to sing it for you another time because my voice and everything is shot. So David, forgive me for putting you through that practice. Maybe we'll sing another time, but I wanna I wanna read it for you and then we'll just close in prayer. It goes, many years ago in a time of woe, three young men faced a bitter test. For the king decreed that they not be freed, but instead he had bound them fast because they would not bow the knee except to God on high and to the flames with great disdain, these men were thrown to die.

The second verse, when this evil king had performed this thing, he sat down upon his throne. But when he took yet a second look, he cried out in astonished tone, did we not cast into the fire a group that numbered three? Now they're walking round as though unbound with a fourth like deity. But who would have thought that the flames would set them free? And who would have thought that they gain the victory?

When with God our lot we cast, we'll have more than we could ask. We'll go walking through the flames with the son of God. We'll sing it for you sometime, just not tonight. If you would, please stand with me and let's close in a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for all that you have done, what you were doing, your unseen hand at work in our lives.

Sometimes we do not recognize, but, Lord, you were there. And if we'll trust you and walk into the fire, the trials with faith, Lord you will sustain us, you will deliver us, you will grant us grace and strength, and you will be magnified even in us. Lord, give us courage and give us faith. Help us to be, Lord, more like these young men in the world in which we live today. Thank you.

In Jesus' name, amen. You are dismissed.