Dennis Tuuri

# Daniel Chapter 3

And unlike last week, I’m going to encourage you—well, I’m not going to encourage one way or the other—but you may want to wait to put your handouts into the binder until after the service is over because then in the sermon, it’s a little easier to write on them on top the binder than to try to keep the binder open. So we’re still working with this binder thing, but hopefully these handouts will prove useful to you and your family over the years to come.

One other note before we get started reading Daniel chapter 3, the sermon text today. I have this in your handouts. The text and the way I will read it and discuss what’s happening in chapter 3. There is one change to the New King James Version. I’m going to actually read it, and one other that I want you to be aware of, but we’re going to read it the way the King James has translated it. Modern scholars believe that the plain of Dura listed in verse one of Daniel 3 really is a mistranslation.

Dura means walled. So you know, with names in the Old Testament, it can refer to what it’s saying, or it can be a place name. Dura has never been found, alluded to, or anything else. So almost everyone these days agrees that a proper way to translate this would be to say that it is a walled plain, not the plain of Dura. One other note: as we read this, recognize that eleven or twelve times in the text a word is going to be translated “men.”

The same word is translated “certain Chaldeans” and “certain Jews.” The word is the word for mighty men. So a more accurate translation probably would be to read “mighty men,” but we’re going to stay with the New King James. But just when you hear that iterated over and over again, you might think of mighty men, because that’s what we’re going to be talking about today. Mighty men of God. Who are they? What do they look like? Who are the opponents to them? Etc.

So please stand for the reading of God’s word, Daniel chapter 3.

“Very unusual text as you’ll notice as we read through it. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the walled plain in the province of Babylon. And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud, ‘To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations and languages. But at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.’ So at that time when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews.

They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Oh king, live forever. You, oh king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery and symphony with all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the gold image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews which you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.’ Then Nebuchadnezzar, enraged, in fury gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, ‘Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up?

Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, and symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good. But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?’ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘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.’ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the expression of his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more hot, more than it was usually heated.

And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army, to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their outer garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ He answered, ‘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.’

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.’ Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and 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.

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 and yielded their bodies that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 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 one.’

Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.”

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your most holy word. We thank you, Lord God, that this is gospel to us. Help us to hear the good news of this text as we hear it in every text that you speak to us in covenantal Lord’s day worship, and help us, Father, to understand our proper response to this wonderful news. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen.

Please be seated.

It was a delight yesterday morning to go to the future men’s camp that we had at the Malala Retreat Center and to hand out the awards to the men. What a delightful event that was, and so timely, so timely that the Lord God in his providence has brought us to Daniel chapter 3. I know Elder Wilson did a great sermon on this three or four weeks ago, but I’m going through the whole book, so I got to cover it. And in the providence of God, what a wonderful time to do it.

You know, this idea of this future men’s camp that we had was to help encourage and promote and build up mighty men of God—these future men who are in the midst of our congregation. And the congregation at TRC had several young men there too. What a delight! Wonderful lads. It was wonderful that Isaac M., my assistant, brought back this idea to us from Moscow as he came back here. And what a wonderful event it’s going to be in the years ahead for our church. I’m just sure of it.

And then to have David T. step up and take over this event and coordinate it and be the overall coordinator for it—it was just wonderful. David has a real gift of administration and he did a delightful job. And Brian E. stepped up as the activities director and brought his now infamous and legendary energy and go to these boys to make this event successful. And Doug H. stepped up and did the teaching for the event. Wonderful teaching I hear. What an encouragement to the boys and to the fathers that were there too.

Roger W. helped. David H. came down to help keep the scores. There were various team leaders, other fathers at the event. Wonderful event, mighty men of God.

Well, today’s text is about mighty men. As I said over and over and over again in the text before us, the word translated “men” is “giborim”—mighty men. It’s the Hebrew term. This is Aramaic, of course. We know that these six chapters, Daniel 2 through 7, are in Aramaic, but it’s a very similar language to Hebrew. One probably excellent theory is that all language essentially came from Hebrew as the original tongue. And this in Aramaic means basically the same thing it means in Hebrew: mighty men.

Other words could have been used. They weren’t. Over and over again, twelve times in this chapter, this Aramaic word for mighty men is given.

You young kids, young ones, and maybe some of the teenagers want to do this too—but there’s a coloring page in the handout. See if—kind of a picture I found on the internet. It’s kind of a good picture of what the text is about. Who looks mighty in this text, or in this picture rather?

Well, it’s those army mighty men of valor—mighty men of valor. The word “mighty” is done twice there in that little section describing these guys that Nebuchadnezzar has toss our mighty men into the furnace. These guys look tough, don’t they? They’re soldiers in the text. They look burly. They’ve got those shaved heads. They’ve got those earrings. Look like Mr. Clean if you’re an older person here. Big, strong. They’re going to clean up, you know, the kingdom of this riffraff Hebrew stuff that won’t worship Nebuchadnezzar’s image. And they’ve got knives—kind of circled the knife there. Yeah, knife on there. See? Who’s it look as strong here? The three. They’re pushing around the guys who are bound, right? And they don’t look so tough. They’ve got kind of robes on instead of the firm pantaloons that the servants of Nebuchadnezzar have. Their hands are tied behind them. They’re being led off.

The text contrasts mighty men—the mighty men of the old era, the mighty men of the new area. Certain Chaldeans, mighty men—Chaldeans is what it means—and mighty men, Jews. The Chaldeans are ticked off, aren’t they? We saw that last week. Chaldeans represent all those wise men that Nebuchadnezzar had brought together from all over to counsel him. They couldn’t figure out the dream. Daniel could. And as a result, Daniel and his three companions were put into prime rulership positions. And now these guys are getting ticked off and they see the opportunity to strike out. They’re the mighty men of the past, the old order that’s passing away.

So this text is going to focus us on mighty men the way this wonderful event—praise God—that we had the last three or four days over at Malala Retreat. Thank you so much, fathers and men who helped make that a success. And we look forward to what these mighty men, these future men here at RCC, are going to do with their lives as they press forward.

So, boys, this is sort of like the last lecture from your future men’s camp. Hopefully this will be an encouragement to you and what God has called you to be: mighty men serving him.

Now, before we get to more of an explanation of this text and what it means to us, a couple of things. Number one: the children’s handout, the one with the questions and then the blanks for answers. Question number 11—I have six blanks. There should be seven blanks for the word we’re going to be putting into that answer. I checked over my notes again, kids. Last week’s handout, I wasn’t sure if I touched all the things, but I know I did. I reviewed it. So if you listen carefully—shama, big ears, open wide—got to hear what God’s text is about today. You’ll be able to answer all these questions. And if you don’t know one of the answers, I’ll start putting out answer keys. You can come up and talk to me. You can ask your folks, see if they listened real well. Figure out what the blanks are that you missed. So recognize that number 11 I got a little wrong. Should have added one more blank to it.

Now, as I said, we’ll get to the text in just a minute, but first I want to talk again. And Elder Wilson covered this, but I’ve found over the years that it’s, for some reason, kind of a difficult concept for people to get. The first four commandments form a unit. The Sabbath is a day when we rest, certainly. But when God comes with his people in Lord’s day or Sabbath—before Christ came, God came to enthrone his people. That was the purpose. He came to help them mature and grow. He comes today to us in the Lord’s day to enthrone us, to give us positions of ruling and authority, to help us understand who we are, have his word, know how it governs, how we’re to rule. Really, the Sabbath day is about enthronement. It’s the culmination of one week and the beginning of the next.

Well, commentators have for many, many years—centuries—seen that the first four commandments kind of move through a sequence. You know, there are ways to provide a shortened form of the ten commandments. And one way is just to cite the first four commandments. And we see this in various Bible texts. So we can think of the Ten Commandments as the first four that give us the overview. They’re all about our relationship to God. And then the next ones talk about what we do on a horizontal plane, right? So vertical in relationship to God and the last six horizontal.

Now, I know parents are kind of a picture of God. It’s sort of vertical, but you know, they’re people. So we can think of these first four commandments moving through the first three. And if you do those well, when Jesus comes, he puts a crown on your head and makes your crown shine brighter. He enthrones you in Lord’s day worship. He empowers you.

So this section of Daniel begins with four chapters. You know, this text particularly is clearly written to be read aloud back there in Jerusalem. First and foremost, they send this chapter back of Daniel’s writings. Children of Israel still there. Nebuchadnezzar just takes a few at first. It’s going to be later on that he takes all of them out of there, and they’re hearing what Daniel has to say. And this text is written in an odd way, isn’t it? Repeated lists over and over and over. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, over and over and over. Why?

Well, we don’t know for sure. I got some ideas later on, but clearly the ideas have to be heard by these kids. And they probably would have laughed at the long list of things. We’ll talk about that in a little bit as we get to application. The point is that as we move through these four units that are sent back to Jerusalem, they form one big picture. There’s the beginning in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and he’s not, you know, submissive to Yahweh. But by the end of chapter 4, Yahweh is the God.

Now, today, he’s going to get to the place—you know, it’s kind of personal. Nebuchadnezzar’s name is mentioned over and over in the text. By the end of this text, he’s going to know that this is the only God, that this God cannot be spoken against.

Last chapter, in the image, he learned that God was the God above all other gods. So he’s the head of the pantheon. But now in this chapter, he’s going to issue a decree that this God cannot be spoken against. He can deliver. Not only can he give wisdom, he can give might. Okay? And then in the last chapter, he’s going to know that Yahweh is the God.

So Nebuchadnezzar is progressing in his knowledge of Yahweh. And God is moving him over time, converting him and causing him to be a new person. By the end of chapter 4, there’s a movement. And this movement sort of goes the same way those four commandments move. The first commandment: no other gods. And while God is one God, he exists in three persons. And “no other god”—no other father is what we can think of. The transcendent God is stressed in the first commandment.

The second commandment: you can’t worship him through any intermediary sources other than the one he establishes, which is what? The Son, Jesus Christ—the rock that grows into the mountain. Jesus is the only mediator between man and God. So the transcendence of God in the first commandment: how are we in our relationship with the transcendent God? Do we wait for his timing on things? And then how are we in relationship to the God who is immanent, who declares himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who becomes incarnate to us—the mediator. There’s one mediator between God and men.

That response to the first commandment sort of takes us from commandment one and takes us into commandment two. And then third, you know, we’re not to take God’s name upon us emptily. Elder Wilson pointed this out, but understand that’s what it means. It doesn’t mean no swearing. It means that, too. But what it really means is have a full, spirit-empowered witness of Christ in the context of your world. We don’t want to sin against the Father—commandment one; the Son—commandment two; or the Holy Spirit in our witness-bearing in commandment three. And as we’re faithful to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, then God brings us into Sabbath enthronement and salvation.

You see, that’s the way these commandments are a unit. The first four, they end up with Sabbath day enthronement and they form a unit. And this first section of Daniel four forms that unit, bringing salvation to Nebuchadnezzar over a process of primarily seeing how is he going to be in relationship to the transcendent God when the children, the four witnesses, declare their obedience to him through this food thing they took upon themselves? And how is he going to be in relationship to Jesus, the mediator, that establishes history? And what’s he going to do now when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have a spirit-empowered witness to the truth of Christ when he orders them to do something they shouldn’t do?

How’s he going to react? How are the children of the Hebrews reacting? What are they doing?

You know, Genesis is about three falls. Adam in the garden is supposed to be patient as Dad gives him eventually the fruit of rule from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Hebrews says we’re supposed to be able to discern that—not right from wrong, but how to rule. Well, Adam wasn’t patient. He acted against the Father by taking what was his, by stealing from him. And then after Adam, along comes Cain and he doesn’t strike out at himself—he strikes out against God, the Father. But the primary picture is he’s striking out against the Son, the image-bearing son who’s pictured to us in the story by Abel. He strikes out on a horizontal level by not being kind and loving but by hating and by striking out against the image of God—second commandment.

And then the Sethites come along—the sons of God. And they’re supposed to be holy and bear full witness in the context of the growing empire that’s developing in the world. But they like the pretty daughters of men. They like the girls down the street who may be into Hinduism or Islam or pluralism or whatever it is. And they’re not careful about who they marry. They marry wrong, and the judgment of God comes against them.

The three falls in Genesis are a picture of a violation of these first three commandments. And then after that, Genesis tells us there’s three recoveries from these things. Along comes Abraham after a period of time. And Hebrews tells us that he patiently endured and thus received the promises. He wasn’t like Adam. He wasn’t impatient. He was patient, patiently enduring, and God eventually gives him the promise.

Abraham has a grandson, Jacob. He doesn’t kill Esau when he gets power and blessing from God, when he comes back into the land after being blessed by God. He is kind to Esau and blesses Esau. He doesn’t strike out at his brother. He’s the picture of love and kindness. Yes, he’s the picture of love and kindness. I know you’re thinking, “Well, he stole his birthright.” Well, no. Esau tried to steal his birthright because God determines this. And God said that Jacob would be the one who would be blessed. Jacob obtains blessing from God that he might bless Esau. That’s the way it works, you see. And that’s what he does. He blesses Esau as a mature man. He’s the picture of—as Abraham is patient, Jacob is kind to his brother and loving.

And then we have Joseph at the end of the book. And unlike the Sethites, he doesn’t marry Potiphar’s wife. Won’t have relationships with that gal who’s tempting him. He flees, you know, runs away from temptation because he’s holy. He’s committed to holiness and who he has relationships with, who he’s going to marry.

So you see the sins of Adam and then Cain and the Sethites are reversed by way of picture as these last three men are patient, kind, and holy. And as a result of that, by the end of Genesis, we have the whole world serving Egypt and the Pharaoh is brought to faith in Yahweh. The whole world is brought to salvation just as Nebuchadnezzar’s empire—a picture of all the world—is going to be brought to that same salvation.

You see? So the first four chapters of Daniel picture this movement of the first four commandments and they remind us that the Christian life, while it’s filled with all kinds of details, you know, there’s three big character qualities that we’re supposed to have as pictured in these first three commandments. Patience toward the Father who rules, patience waiting for his delivery. Kindness toward our fellow man, not being hateful or envious, as these men are in today’s text. And then holy to God, bearing a spirit-empowered witness in the context of empire.

That’s another thing I ought to mention just in passing here. The Old Testament tells us that there was a period of time when the people of God were tribes—little cities, little tribes over the area. And God blesses them and they become a kingdom. And then God blesses the kingdom and what he sets up, as we saw last week, the last five hundred years of this history is an empire. That’s not wrong. The movement from tribal to kingdom to empire culminating in what we’re reading here in Daniel—this empire period—that’s the provision of God, right? We saw that last week. God sets up empire.

We’re moving now in this country. We sort of started out colonies, then became a nation. Now we’re becoming part of an empire. That movement is not in and of itself wrong. Sometimes we tend to think it is. You know, the law is given primarily in the context of a tribal period. God didn’t expect us to apply it in exactly the same way the case laws because we’re going to move into kingdom, then we’re going to move into empire, and things change. The principles of the law of God apply the same.

But God doesn’t say it was horrible that we became one nation as opposed to a series of connected states. And he doesn’t say it’s wrong for empires to exist. He sort of sets them up as a way to bring salvation to the world.

So we’re now in the context of empire in this third section, bearing spirit-empowered witness to Jesus, as Elder Wilson told us so well and so usefully a couple of weeks ago. This is a test for us. You know, we know who God the Father is. We know we’re not supposed to kill each other, but being able to talk about Jesus in the context of our international corporations, our empire, the pluralistic society in which God has placed us—you know, this is our tough sledding for us, or it can be.

So that’s kind of the context for this story. We have the empire developed and now will these young men be mighty by bearing a spirit-empowered witness to God even under the threat of death from Nebuchadnezzar? That’s what’s before us in this text.

Let’s talk now about the text directly. And I’ve given you another outline on the handout. And really, it’s pretty easy. You know, in the first section of this text, you heard it over and over again if you were listening or if you looked at the bolded words: set up, set up, set up, set up, set up. Nebuchadnezzar sets something up. And by the end of the text, he’s promoting, setting up, so to speak. He’s promoting God’s men.

This text follows, of course, the last chapter. What happens? Daniel convinces Nebuchadnezzar—well, yeah, your empire will go away and eventually one will come to replace it. But what Nebuchadnezzar took away from that was the old Babylonian concept of continuity between man and God. Tower of Babel, right? Continuity. Man is of the same basic thing as God. We just got to work a little harder, climb a little higher, and we’ll, you know, essentially be one with God.

Nebuchadnezzar was being affected by Daniel’s prophecy. We saw that clearly. The change is happening, but he interpreted it in terms of his pagan concepts of continuity. And so he builds this big worship facility that basically sort of centers on him. He sets up this image—probably an obelisk, an obelisk. You know, it’s interesting because once you understand that this is a walled plain, what Nebuchadnezzar is setting up here is false worship.

You know, he calls everybody together. Now, we don’t know why. Maybe some have theorized that his empire was starting to weaken a little bit at this time in history. We’ll see next time I preach—not next Sunday, I’ll be gone, but two weeks from today in Daniel 4—we’ll see a real important connection between historical events going on in Israel and what’s going on in Babylon. There’s these historical connections. We don’t know why exactly Nebuchadnezzar does it at this time, but it’s related to him seeing that, oh yeah, God set me up. That must mean that I’m of a one being with God. I’m sort of God on the earth. So I can set up worship.

And this worship is a walled plain. So there’s a big fence around it. And then there’s this big huge obelisk at one end. And in front of that obelisk, someplace, is the burning fiery furnace. The furnace that you can throw guys into or put them into—this mouth that he speaks into and it eats them up. And then not only that, but he’s got all these singers and musical instruments around him, right?

What is this? What is this? Well, just as we saw last week, Daniel had sort of revealed that he was a new dwelling place or temple. That’s kind of what he’s doing here. If we think about it, this is a false worship center. It images, or is a pale copy of, the tabernacle and later the temple.

Temple had a big wall around it. At one end of the temple is the dwelling place of God, the holy of holies, with the mercy seat there. And out in front of that is the big bronze altar. And we normally think of an altar like one of our barbecues. It wasn’t. It was like a big constructed bronze thing that had a mouth in it. And the fire was inside of it, and you would shove things into this opening, not on top of it. So it’s like a belly. You know, you eat and you get heated up. You have combustion going on.

Well, we’ve said that the temple is like—in Nebuchadnezzar’s image is a big person. Jesus says he is the temple, and we know that we’re the temple of God. We’re the body of the church, and individually we’re temples. So this food goes in there for God and it’s consumed in this fire, you see.

And then in temple—after David sets up tabernacle David worship, Solomon later brings in all those musicians and singers to sing while the sacrifice is going on. Hezekiah, we know that, you know, as the sacrifices are being burnt in that altar, the musical instruments are playing, the Levites are doing their thing, bringing beauty and glory and music.

Well, that’s what Nebuchadnezzar is doing. We read last week from Isaiah 2: “All the nations will flow up to the mountain of God.” He calls all his rulers from all his provinces—peoples, nations, and languages. Everybody come together, worship what I established. He says, “What I set up.” By the end of it, God’s going to, you know, break him down. Chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar is going to be a tree set up and God’s going to chop him down—as he has a way of promoting him.

So here at the very beginning of this story, Nebuchadnezzar sets up this worship, and at the end of the story, the God who should be worshiped and praised—you know, his men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—they’re set up, so to speak. They’re promoted to further rule in the kingdom.

Now, after that, in the next section, the old decree is talked about. The certain mighty men Chaldeans. These enemies of God’s people speak against the mighty men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So they remind Nebuchadnezzar. This word “decree” is used. And at the end of this story, Nebuchadnezzar has a new decree. The old decree was wrong. Part of the old order. The new decree is right. Don’t speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over and over again, repeated.

So there’s an old decree and a new decree. And with that old decree, this is where the Chaldeans come in. The old order. You know, Thomas Kuhn wrote in “The Nature of Scientific Revolutions,” when you challenge the existing orthodoxy, you can expect opposition from those guys. Envy raises its ugly head, and these Chaldeans are ticked off. And now is their big chance.

We’re going to see this again, won’t we? In Daniel 6, we’re a different Arioch, a different lion. Daniel’s thrown into the lion’s den. Why? Because when he starts to serve Persia the way he served Babylon, just the same thing happens. The guys who used to rule in Babylon, the Chaldeans, are envious against the mighty men of God. And in Persia in chapter 6, the mighty men of Persia—the earthly rulers, the old order—strikes out in fear and envy against Daniel and they try to get him killed. Same thing.

You see, there are bookends here in this big Aramaic section. And so what’s going on here is this old decree in the second section of the book and the new decree in the corresponding sixth section of this structure. And then moving in from that, the mighty men are thrown into the furnace. And then after the center, the mighty men are brought out of the furnace. So the mighty men are thrown in and then these mighty men are brought out.

The very center of this—seen in this way—the climax is that God delivers the mighty men. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar had said, “Who can deliver such a one?” Last chapter, what was it? “Who can give the kind of wisdom, who knows these dreams?” Only the gods as advisors tell him. And sure enough, God is the God who reveals things. And now God is the God of might who delivers people.

You know, Daniel chapter 2—remember the center of Daniel chapter 2? Prayer and praise. God’s answer. Remember his praise: “You have all might”—or knowledge rather, and might. And the end of that praise of God, “You’ve given knowledge and might to your people.” Chapter Two, God gives knowledge of dreams. Chapter Three, he gives might. He shows he’s a mighty God who can deliver. So there’s this movement again of these three chapters and the demonstration of God in various ways.

We could also think of it this way. Chapter one was about school, right? Daniel and his friends are going to Babylon. And God is the one who blesses them with understanding at school. Chapter two, Daniel is serving the state. God is the one who has established the flow of civil magistrates and calls them to acknowledge that—school, state. And now we have church. You know, Nebuchadnezzar sets up a false worship service and God’s three mighty men demonstrate that in church we’re supposed to be consistent in our devotion to King Jesus.

So school, state, church. The comprehensive claims of Yahweh are being given over and over again to Nebuchadnezzar. And then we’ll see how this works in its completion next week in chapter 4.

So that’s the basic flow of the text. Let’s see if there are some specific things I want to mention from the text itself. As I said, the emphasis in the first section is this setting up and this continuity. We have these various repeated phrases over and over again and different kinds of lists of instruments as well.

And then in chapter two—as I said before—we have these mighty men, these certain Chaldeans. And there’s this very deliberate contrast. There are certain Chaldeans, mighty men Chaldeans. And they say there are certain Jews, mighty men Jews. And so the question is: who will emerge by the end of this story as the mighty men?

Now, if you’re hearing this text read to you, you know, you may laugh at the text, right? Because of these repeated lists. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, even repeated over and over and over and over. Are those the Hebrew names or the Aramaic names for these boys? They’re the Aramaic names. The Hebrew names are prettier names: Azariah, Mishael, Hananiah. Daniel instead of Belteshazzar. You know, you go to Poland and you hear all these hard sounds, K’s and Z’s, and it sounds foreign to you. You know, what is this language? Well, that’s the way these names would have sounded to the hearers of this chapter back in Jerusalem. And they would have heard these sounds, these aku sounds.

Aku, moon, God. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, referring to Aku. And they would have heard these sounds: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, over and over and over. So, you know, it’s like the claim that they’re going to make Babylonians out of these guys. But the end of the story is: no, they’re committed servants of Jesus and of Yahweh, even in the context of that foreign land.

The other thing you might have thought about as you’re hearing the story of these men thrown into a fire—burning fiery furnace—you know about burning fiery furnaces, don’t you? You know that Genesis, Exodus stuff really well. And you know that God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. And you know that your ancestors went through a burning fiery furnace in Egypt. Remember, toward the end, they were actually heating those bricks up. But the whole picture is described as a burning fiery furnace.

So you know that burning fiery furnaces are kind of a metaphor for difficult trials and tribulations. And as you see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you hear them going to get ready to be thrown in. You know, they’re not going to worship this obelisk. You know they’re going to get thrown into that burning fiery furnace. But you’re pretty confident, too, that they’re going to come out the other side. And not only that, but God is telling you, and he’s preparing you for the next four or five hundred years of your whole nation being taken into exile into a burning fiery furnace of trial and tribulation. Taken off to Babylon, ruled over by Persians, later on ruled over by the Greeks.

They’re going to come across your land time and time again. Daniel will tell you at the end of the book: killing and ravaging and pillaging people. And you know, it’s going to be tough for God’s people the next five hundred years. It’s going to be a burning fiery furnace. But the story girds your loins up for those years, saying that you will come out okay if you don’t make the mistake that the Sethites made years ago, and if you’re faithful to honor God in that.

The Sethites didn’t just marry the daughters of men. Another big problem they had: another plain. The plain of Durah—the walled plain—reminds us of that plain of Shinar. Mighty men here. Who was the mighty man on that plain of Shinar at the tower of Babel who built that, not at the tower but who built Babel, the city? Well, Genesis tells us it was Nimrod. And Nimrod is a mighty man, a mighty hunter, man before God. And Nimrod makes this city Babel in this area.

And so later on at Babel, all the tribes and nations and languages are one. And they’re trying to build this tower to God—another huge obelisk you could go up. And the text tells us, if we look at it carefully in Genesis, that the children of Seth, the Sethites—the godly Hebrews—ones who were not so godly. They traveled to that same area and they lent their hand to the building of the tower of Babel. And God then brought confusion of tongues.

But God’s moving us ahead. He’s saying that the time will come when my people will not be faithless in their witness in the context of empire, when all the nations are gathered together to worship some sort of vision of continuity between man and God. Unlike those Sethites who joined in Tower of Babel worship, not so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Not so the church of Jesus Christ will be established at the end of this time. They’ll be firm. They’ll stand for true witness to Jesus in the context of whatever persecution may happen to them or whatever temptation they may fall into.

So if you’re hearing this text then, as you hear it now, recognize that victory is the picture. The future belongs to the mighty men of God in this text who may look weak—bound, no knives, not army trained, twenty-year-old guys, not tough guys, seemingly. And yet these are the mighty men left standing. That’s another kind of nice image. Last man standing wins. Well, the last men standing here are these mighty men.

What happens when the big, strong, mighty, burly men try to throw these guys into the fire? The fire is so hot it comes out there and licks them and kills them. In that coloring picture, you see one of them’s already starting to cringe a little bit. That fire is hot. God is protecting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But not so the mighty men of Nebuchadnezzar. That fire is going to destroy them.

Trials and tribulations, difficult times come upon the face of the earth. And we have to recognize that as we stand firm in those times, we’re established. We’re the last man standing. The images of the nations round about us set up false gods. What they set up will be torn down. And those who are mighty men for God will prevail. They’ll be demonstrated as the true mighty men that God has called to worship him.

Daniel chapter 3 is a tremendous encouragement to us in the specific details of the text. It tells us this wonderful gospel story of victory and the reversal of the curse affected ultimately by the mighty men in the middle. Right? Because we know that the reason why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are unharmed, the reason why their clothing, their governing robes, are unchanged is because they are Jesus’s appointed people.

A fourth mighty man appears in the furnace to Nebuchadnezzar—one that looks like the Son of God. Same expression from Psalm 2, one we know that alludes indirectly or directly to Jesus Christ. It is the presence of Jesus in the context of the afflictions of the saints that they suffer because of their obedience to him that rescues them. He establishes them so that their rule, authority in the land is not removed. He establishes them. And by doing so he brings salvation increasingly closer to the doorstep of Nebuchadnezzar.

Notice in this text, in Daniel 2, I think Nebuchadnezzar is actually named a couple times, “His Majesty” or all “king.” But here it’s Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar. Why? It’s getting personal now. Nebuchadnezzar is being acted upon personally by God, not just as king, but his personal sin is being alluded to here. He is personally being called to repent of this vision of continuity between himself and God, that they’re one. And we’ll see that process brought to completion in chapter 4.

So God is driving home to Nebuchadnezzar the requirement to honor and worship him alone.

All right, let’s talk about some applications from the text—some major lessons this text tells us.

**Number one on your outlines: Mighty men of God are faithful to him in school, state, and church.**

You see, that’s the story, isn’t it? Whether it’s going to Babylon, you’re talking about the kingdom, or now talking about worship. Mighty men of God, we all want to be. They are faithful to God in their schoolwork. They ask God’s blessing and his understanding on what they learn. May God grant our home schools, our private schools, and whatever else our children are doing for schooling this year the same sort of striving for excellence in knowledge that Daniel and these three men had. And may he grant us, by his grace, understanding of the subject matter of what we speak or what we seek to learn about.

And we’re faithful in the state, faithful to proclaim God’s witness to Nebuchadnezzar the way Daniel did in chapter 2. And faithful here, on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s part, to witness to the civil ruler that he was out of line and trying to command people to worship this image that he had set up, as opposed to what God had set up.

And in the church, our worship of Jesus Christ must be that of faithfulness in the context of the school, the state, and the church. Daniel and his young men had started well. They’d eaten that seed bread. They’d been patient in the context of God’s exaltation. And now that patience pays off. The patience pays off by then being able to witness faithfully to Jesus Christ or to Yahweh in the context of a matter that would bring much difficulty to them.

God is the God of knowledge, but God is also the God of might. So they’re to have excellence and diligence in worship. Mighty men of God.

**Secondly, mighty men of God are attacked by envious members of the old order.**

Jesus said that he came to bring a sword, not peace, from one perspective. When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God might establish his kingdom, we are also praying implicitly that he would destroy every other kingdom established by men. And when we do that, the opposition rears its ugly head.

What was the reason why the Jewish leaders crucified Christ? The text of scripture tells us it was envy. At the end of it, it was envy. These Chaldean counselors had been replaced, or at least much of their authority had, by these three mighty men—Hebrews whom Nebuchadnezzar had promoted. And they were envious. We have to warn ourselves against that. Mighty men will be attacked by others. We have to expect the attack.

And the correlary to this is: mighty men will not attack when other people are promoted. When other people are blessed by God with skills and talents that we don’t have. You know, envy is kind of like the worst form of coveting. Coveting says, “You have what I want and I’m going to try to get it.” Envy says, “You have what I want. I can’t get it, and I’m going to kill you because of it. Or I will kill it so I can get what you have.”

We have a culture today built in large part—you’re going to see for the next two months in political campaigns—built in many cases solidly on the basis of envy. Envy of the rich, envy of the powerful, envy of people. And we have to steel ourselves. Mighty men of God are not small-minded men with small-minded hearts that look at their brothers or sisters, friends, relatives, or strangers being blessed by God and get envious against them and then start to wag their tongues to mom or dad or the elders or the police or whatever it is about how lousy our brother and sister, our friends are.

That’s what these Chaldeans do. They’re envious. We must expect attack from the opposition, from those who are established authorities. But we must not respond in kind.

**Third, mighty men of God are more concerned with God’s glory than their own well-being.**

You know, Elder Wilson pointed this out really well. The text doesn’t say, “Yeah, God can deliver us. He’s going to.” No, they say ultimately our well-being is secondary to God’s glory. Very important. Because Nebuchadnezzar had tied his person in this continuous relationship to God. Psalm of the peace, and their response to the king is so wise. They see what’s going on and they make clear that while we are creatures of God and have relationship, and he cares for us, we are not God, and our well-being is secondary to his glory.

So they say: even if—you know, we don’t have to talk to you about this matter. God can deliver us, and even if he doesn’t, that’s okay. What God does to glorify himself, even if it hurts us in the process, we’re with that plan. That’s a faithful witness. That’s honoring the Lord Jesus Christ by putting his glory in front of our well-being.

**They’re not ritual control freaks. They adapt to God’s unexpected actions in history.**

You know, that’s—I think some of the commentators say—this is what this repeated repetition over and over again in the text is telling us: that when man sets up worship, it’s almost always incantational. Say the same words over and over, do the same thing over and over. Repetition, repetition, repetition as a way to manipulate God. You know, it’s a—and Nebuchadnezzar is trying to control the entire extent of his empire by having him go through these ritual actions. So Nebuchadnezzar is this ritual control freak.

That’s frequently what pagan men are like. And in contrast to the lists over and over and over again, we have the plain-spokenness of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You know, their speech in the midst of all this repetition—as you hear it read verbally—their speech is a contrast to all of that. It’s the soundness of Christian men who aren’t just into babbling things over and over and aren’t saying the rosary over and over and aren’t doing the prayer wheel over and over.

Some repetition of things is good. But God says we’re real people with real minds, and he expects us to speak plainly as we interface with men who would dishonor Christ. We have a plain-spoken witness and we’re not ritual control freaks. We adapt to changes in history. They’re not freaked out by this. Well, God has his ways, you know.

Well, we didn’t plan right for the posterior nature. How can you? Future never looks like how you’re going to predict it. The question is: how do you react to difficulties and changes in plan? Does it freak you out and do you lose control and get all ticked off the way Nebuchadnezzar did when they wouldn’t worship? Or do you think, well, what is God doing in this? How is he changing history?

Mighty men of God adapt to the movements of history. We had mighty men of God three years ago—celebrated it or not celebrated it, but commemorated it yesterday. We had Christian firemen and policemen who walked into a burning fiery furnace, right? We were attacked out of envy by, you know, Muslims and atheists against Christian prosperity, attacked as we should expect to be. And in response to that, there were men who were called to be courageous—mighty men of valor—to walk into a burning fiery furnace to try to do their simple duty that day, to do the next thing right, to adapt to the circumstances.

We never thought it looked like this, but they didn’t get freaked out as some of us did by seeing what happened. No, they did the next thing. They were frightened, no doubt. Courage means doing the right thing in the face of fear. Mighty men walked into that building at 9/11.

Mighty men—the future men of RCC will walk into whatever it is. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. David S. is walking into the burning fiery desert furnace of Iraq, confidently, mighty men of God, trusting in him, not being a control freak, but recognizing that we can’t control anything. But what we can recognize is God is working in our history. Then we can trust that even if we die in the effort, we’re to do what glorifies God in the context of our lives. Mighty men of God.

Now, if we put it in that extreme, then can we be mighty men and do the right thing tomorrow when we’re programming the computer, when we’re dealing with the child that doesn’t act right, when our car doesn’t work the way we want it to? Are we going to be Nebuchadnezzars, striking out in anger and fury and no control? Or are we going to be these calm-headed, mighty men of God—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—doing the next thing, knowing that God is in control, we’re not, and that we’re to glorify him, even if the car breaks, you know, the job doesn’t go right, people don’t treat us with the respect we think we should have?

Whatever happens, the Lord God calls us to be mighty men of his.

**Four, mighty men of God have union and communion with the mighty men, Jesus Christ.**

We can’t do this on our own. What happens at the center of this text is the recognition that there are a fourth mighty man in there—the metal man, Jesus Christ, right? The picture of the empire set up in Daniel 2. Jesus is that same picture in Revelation 1. Jesus is the great man, the temple of God who’s constructed a person. Jesus—it’s him that these three mighty men have union and communion with that causes them to survive the fiery furnace. And more than that, to come out the other end promoted, made better.

You put gold in a furnace and what happens to it? It gets shinier. You put us through trials and tribulations and we come out holier and more useful for God because of our union and communion with the person and work of the mighty man, the one that looks as the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is our union and communion with Christ that produces the mighty man.

Now, look, now look! Jesus didn’t show up just in the furnace. The furnace reveals the presence of Christ with these men. But how were they faithful to him before the furnace? Jesus was there. That’s why their union and communion with Christ through the worship of Yahweh was intact. That’s what empowers them. The furnace reveals that to us.

Jesus doesn’t just come with us to us in times of trouble. If you wait for the time of trouble to call out for union and communion with Christ, Proverbs says more often than not, he’s not coming. If you don’t cry out now, if you don’t love Christ and have union communion with him now, you won’t be ready for the trial.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had union and communion the rest of the time. That’s why they wouldn’t worship the obelisk that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. That’s why they were confident, even if they had to die for the glory of God. Jesus was with them.

Mighty men of God are mighty and powerful because of their communion with Christ. What a delight Friday night at the future men’s camp to hear all these young men doing the Bible trivia test. My! They did good. That was heartwarming to the dads and young men that were there to see how well our children are getting to know the word of God.

Christ is ministered to us by the Spirit through his word. Union and communion with Christ is a personal relationship but is one that is founded upon a knowledge of his word and the mediation of Christ’s blessings to us through that word. Praise God that these future mighty men here at RCC know his word.

**Finally, number five: Mighty men of God are world changers, purified through tribulation to shine the brighter at the end.**

They’ve changed the Babylonian Empire. You know, they don’t have the swords. They’re not in an army. They’re not big burly guys. But these mighty men, through commitment to Christ and holiness—through a commitment to holiness in the school, in the state, in the church, faithful to serve him, who refuse to have a poor witness of Jesus when the empire calls them to believe in the God of pluralism and continuity. Those men are the ones who rule the future.

Always look through the eyes of faith at the world round about us. The eyes of sight will tell us that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are weaklings and have no impact. But we see with the eyes of faith in this text. They changed the world and they were an important part of the process by which Nebuchadnezzar comes to salvation. They already changed the world with the new decree. The old decree is out. The new decree is in. The old mighty men are gone. The new mighty men are established.

Nebuchadnezzar’s worship is torn down and he now says only Yahweh is the one to be spoken of in terms of favorable worship. All that changed because three twenty-year-old guys in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ—in terms of Yahweh—were faithful and holy and took their strength and their might from that, not their physical prowess. Physical prowess is good, but at the end of the day, it’s glorifying God that enabled these mighty men to be mighty and to be world changers as a result.

When we go through the fiery furnaces—our fires will come. Some are always in the midst of this church. Some are starting to go through it. Death of relatives, always a fiery furnace. Test and evaluation with extended family. How linked are we to our past with our parents? How tough will it be as we move on? Problems with employment and money. Problems with our children not doing what we wanted them to do. Problems with our spouses. Problems with Muslim terrorists wanting to kill us and blow us up.

When we go through the fiery furnace, we can go through it confidently, not knowing that God will always deliver us, but knowing he can deliver us whenever he wants, and he will if it abounds to his glory. We know that the world is shaped by mighty men of God who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who are faithful in their witness of him, and as a result are willing to endure trials and afflictions, knowing that as they come out of those trials and afflictions, they’ll shine the brighter. They’ll be holier, and they will rule for Jesus here and now.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for this wonderful gospel of Daniel 3. We thank you, Father, for the wonderful good news that we are your mighty men and women. We know, Lord God, that in Proverbs, that Proverbs woman—the same word is used about her, a warrior wife. We thank you, Lord God, that we, all men and women, can be mighty and powerful for you. Help us, Father, to do that this week.

Help us to consecrate ourselves anew. As we come forward, help us, Father, to once more remember to walk in the faith of our fathers, to walk the way Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked. Help us, Father, to be holy, consecrated to you in the midst of a culture and empire that has become increasingly pluralistic and doesn’t want to hear about Jesus. Help us to witness to him and help us, Father, to endure our trials and afflictions, knowing that your hand is upon us for good, and that history moves in relationship to your mighty men.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.