Daniel 3:12-18 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men… The world crowns with the heroic wreath those who have been distinguished for valour in the field of carnal strife, "but there is something which has tried the souls of men more than the muzzle of a gun ready to pour its contents into the unshielded breast of a soldier." So there have been heroes who never set a squadron in the field, or bared their breast to an enemy's steel flattery and frowns, blandishments and dungeons, and cross and the stake, have had no power to turn them from the right. I. THE ACCUSATION. No man may expect to escape from calumny. But happy is the man who can be assailed only because of his virtues — his adherence to religious principles. And such is the base passion of envy, that it withers at another's joy, and hates the excellence it cannot reach," and will, therefore, seek to elevate itself by detracting from the reputation of another. II. THE TRIAL. The trial of these young men was one of the most extraordinary to which men were ever subjected. It was so as by fire. Now, truth and virtue are on trial. What will be the issue? Come, ye angels that excel in strength; come, all the world that hang in hope upon the truth of religion, and await the result. "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king! that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." The answer illustrates: 1. The duty of pleasing God rather than men. "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter." But just here the text is found at which so many fail. Men are careful to answer to their fellow-men, rather than to God, for their conduct. Public opinion is the great golden image before which they fall down in worship. Fashion also sets up its great golden image, and commands all to bow down and worship it. It has passed into an aphorism: "You had as well go out of the world as out of the fashion." God says: "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." There is also a great golden image set up in the form of prevailing social customs, by which persons are tried whether they will do right or conform to the example of the company they are in. 2. The confidence that God would take care of them if they honoured Him. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery" furnace, and He will deliver us out of thy hand." And their knowledge of the character of God assured them that no real harm could come to them in the way of their duty to Him. But their answer went further; if it had not, it would have lacked in one great element of force, which we shall see presently. They said: "But if God does not deliver us, we will not serve thy gods." If this had not been added, it might have been said: "No wonder they are so heroic, having the assurance that God would save them from the threatened punishment; in other words, they were willing to serve God as long as they were exempt from suffering; as long as it went well with them in this world." That was the kind of religion that the neighbours of Job thought he had — a mercenary religion. 3. We have in this answer an exhibition of true principle as the foundation of a religious life. Their were governed by principle. "True religion," says Albert Barnes, "is a determined purpose to do right, whatever may be the consequences. Come wealth or poverty, honour or dishonour, life or death, the mind is firmly fixed on doing right." A man who loves what is right, and is determined to do what is right because he has deep down in his soul a recognition of the everlasting blessedness of virtue, is not the one who will want to bring weak excuses for worldly conformity; for doing what he has misgivings in his own mind is not right. He who is in earnest about saving his soul will not frame weak excuses for yielding to temptation. In fine, principle, and not impulse, will be the mainspring of his religious activity. True religion is a determined purpose to live for God, come what may. III. WE COME NOW TO THE CONDEMNATION AND DELIVERANCE OF THESE YOUNG MEN AS THE FINAL GENERAL PROPOSITION OF OUR SUBJECT. They were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Though they had been so faithful to God, yet He permitted them to be brought into this dreadful place. Now may Nebuchadnezzar utter his infidel sneer: "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Even faith itself may be so tried as to say: "It is vain to serve God; He is so indifferent to our efforts to please Hire, or He is powerless against the world." But do not be in haste to judge. God did not save them from the furnace, but He went with them into it and protected them there. So His people may not be exempt from trials, but they have the presence of Jesus in these trials. "In the world ye shall have tribulation," and through great tribulation ye shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. But if He sees that it is necessary that we go into those trials, He will give us blessed compensations. And then, if He sees fit to put us in the furnace in order to purify, and sanctify, and fit us for glory, it is because He knows there is something in us worth the trial. Men do not put dross in the crucible — a thing of no value — and sit there watching over it. Then, if you are in the furnace, there is something in you which God values, and by this process He will develop it. "They walked in the midst of the fire and had no hurt." How true to the history of God's people in all ages of the world-walking in the midst of the fire and not burned. From this we learn that it is not the outward circumstances of an individual that can harm him. His welfare depends upon the inward state of the heart. Hence a Christian has a source of consolation which no earthly influences can turn aside or obstruct. But the same fire which was harmless to God's servants destroyed their enemies. And thus it is that those trials under which Christians are happy are overwhelming to those who have no faith in God. I cannot leave this subject without one more thought. These men were called up out of the furnace. And that was not all; they were promoted in the kingdom. From the fires of trial to which God subjects us, always comes a higher state of life. But this higher state is produced by those experiences which seem so hard to us. We rise upon the wreck of the earthly to the Heavenly. After they were well tried the king came and called these young men out of the trial — out of the furnace. Then the king promoted them in the province of Babylon. And thus will God, when He has seen that we have been suffciently tried, and are fitted for the better world, call us out of the furnace and promote us to the kingdom of everlasting blessedness. (J. T. Murray.) Parallel Verses KJV: There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. |
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