It seemed like a great thing for four young men, captives, to presume to know more about what was best for them than all the king's wise men, and a very bold thing for them to mark out a course for themselves, entirely different from the one that had been planned for them; but in the chapter before us we have a test of faith and loyalty that was much stronger.
It was, however, only the natural sequence of the first test. If these young men had not been true to principle in the first instance, they would not have stood in this trying time. The germ of all their faithfulness was in that question of eating and drinking. If any man will but eat and drink just as he ought to, and in the fear of God, he will not fail in anything else.
Nebuchadnezzar the king had made an image of gold, exceeding great and high, and set it up in the plain of Dura, where he assembled all the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, and the treasurers, the counselors, and the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, in fact, all the great men in his kingdom, which meant all the great men of the whole world, for that was the extent of his kingdom. (See Daniel 2:37-38)
Daniel's three companions were there, for the king had set them over the affairs of the province of Babylon. (Daniel 2:49) Where Daniel himself was, we are not told, as he does not appear at all in this affair; but we may be sure that he was not present, for if he had been there he would have stood for the truth as sturdily as did his companions This we know from his record.
When all were assembled, the herald cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. And whoso falls not down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace." (Daniel 3:4-6)
You may be sure that the people in general needed no second bidding, after that decree was announced. "At that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up." (Daniel 3:7)
It was a gorgeous spectacle, and one calculated to dazzle the senses. Then the music must have been most ravishing and enchanting; people would almost involuntarily be bewitched by its charm into falling down and worshiping. It was so easy and natural to follow the crowd of great men, even if there had not been hanging over their heads that fearful threat to the disobedient.
But there were three men in that vast company who dared be peculiar, and who were not afraid to do differently from all the rest of the world. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, for so had Daniel's three companions been named by the king, stood upright while all the rest fell prostrate.
You may be sure that they did not like to be peculiar, that they did not stand up merely for the sake of attracting attention to themselves. It was very dangerous at that time for one to attract attention to himself. Brave men are never foolhardy. These men were not acting from a spirit of bravado, but from principle. They were not obstinate, but they could not do differently, because they knew the commandment of the God of heaven, "You shall have no other gods before me," (Exodus 20:3) and, "You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow down yourself to them nor serve them." (Exodus 20:4-5)
This command is from the King of kings, and takes precedence of any command made by any king on earth. Disregard of Nebuchadnezzar's decree was therefore not disobedience, but the most perfect obedience. Both the king and his Hebrew captives were subjects of the King of the universe, and the fact that the king was disloyal did not absolve them from their duty.
The king, however, had forgotten his obligation to his Maker, and assumed that he was absolute ruler over the souls as well as over the bodies of men. Accordingly he was in a great rage and fury when the word was brought to him that three men, and captive Jews at that, had dared ignore his commandment.
Yet there were noble traits in Nebuchadnezzar's character, and even in his idolatrous pride and the rage of offended dignity, he would not act hastily. So he generously offered the Hebrews another trial. He might, according to the decree, have sent them at once to execution; but he did not. He would overlook this act of defiance to his authority if at the second sounding of the musical instruments they would fall down and worship the image. It is quite likely that the king also thought that there must have been some misunderstanding; for he could scarcely conceive that any one would deliberately disregard his decree, when such awful consequences of disobedience were staring them in the face.
But there was no misunderstanding. The three men had not acted without full knowledge of what they were doing, and they told the king that they did not need another trial. They could answer him now as well as later, that they would not worship his image. Listen to their bold language: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter. If it 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 unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)
There was no doubt nor hesitancy in their answer. They were very prompt and bold, but calm and deliberate. They had confidence in God's power to deliver them; but even if He should not see fit to save them from the furnace of fire, that would make no difference. They were not serving the Lord for personal gain. They did not have the notion that God was under obligation to give them an easy time if they served Him, as so many have.
There are very many who would be willing to serve the Lord, if He would insure them against hardships; and there are very many professed ministers of the Gospel, and religious teachers, who are inculcating this notion, and teaching the people that they cannot be expected to do what they think is right unless the way is made so easy that there will be no possibility of their suffering.
We see this in the demand for Sunday laws, in order that men may be free to keep the day which they hold to be the Sabbath. They profess to believe that God's law demands Sunday observance; yet by making pleas for human laws restraining employers from requiring labor on that day, they virtually say that men do not need to serve the Lord unless everybody else does, or if men in high positions are against it.
There was no mistaking the answer of the Hebrews. Such a seeming defiance of his authority the king was not accustomed to, and he could not endure it. So he commanded that the rebellious men should forthwith be carried to execution. Such a flagrant disregard of authority must receive signal punishment, so that all others might take warning, and orders were given that the furnace should be heated seven times hotter than usual.
Then the three men were bound in their mantles, their turbans, their hose, and all their other garments, just as they stood, and were cast into the super-heated furnace. So hot was the furnace that the men who were appointed to cast the captives in were killed in the act. What must have been the terrible fate of the men who were cast into it bound in all their inflammable clothing?
A wonder took place. The executioners were slain, and the condemned men were set at liberty, and that by the agent of death. Such a thing was never known before. Nebuchadnezzar himself was the first to notice it. He rose up in haste and amazement, and said unto his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" (Daniel 3:24)
He can hardly trust his own senses, and seeks confirmation of what he sees with his own eyes. "They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." (Daniel 3:24-25)
Only their bonds were loosed. Thus would God demonstrate to all the world that His servants are free men. In the face of this record, how weak and foolish sound the excuses sometimes made by men, for not serving the Lord. "I could not live, if I should keep the commandments."
Well, the three Hebrews lived, and no one will ever be placed in a more desperate situation than they were. Men sometimes shrink from going as missionaries to some heathen land, because it is so hot there, but no one can ever get into a hotter place on this earth than those men were in; yet they lived. Their experience demonstrates that there is no place where men cannot live and prosper if God is with them. They were better off after they went into the furnace than they were before. In their case we see the fulfillment of Christ's words, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20)
His name is I Am, therefore He says, "When you pass through the waters, I am with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you." (Isaiah 43:2)
There was not so much as the smell of fire on their garments. A fiery furnace can become a pleasure garden, where men can walk to and fro at their ease, if the Lord be with them. They who "walk righteously, and speak uprightly, ... [can] dwell with the devouring fire, [and even] with everlasting burnings." (Isaiah 33:15,14)
Although these three man were nominally captives, they were the most powerful men in the entire kingdom, not excepting the king himself; and the king was the first to acknowledge the fact. "Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God." (Daniel 3:28)
Then compare that with the words of the Apostle Paul: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Romans 6:12-13)
There was not defiance of man, but yielding to God. In yielding was their strength, for they trusted in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength.
It would have been an easy matter for those men to compromise with their consciences, by saying,
"We can fall on our faces, so as not to attract attention to ourselves, and thus incur the penalty; but we need not worship the image. We can be calling on God in our hearts."
No, it would not have been an easy matter for those men to reason in that way, but it comes very natural to a great many. What a failure their whole lives would have been if they had. What a glorious opportunity they would have missed.
"Oh, yes; we could stand out for the truth as well as they did, if we were sure that God would interfere to save us."
Exactly; we could serve the Lord if we had confidence in Him, and could trust Him. The difficulty is that everything is so commonplace when we are called upon to witness for the Lord. The way looks so shut up, that we just dare not go ahead. But those men had no assurance that they would not be burned alive. To all appearances that was the last of them. But that made no difference; they would serve the Lord whatever happened, and God honored them in their honoring Him.
The same God lives today, and He has the same power to deliver. His law also is just as holy as it was then. Not one jot of its requirements has been relaxed. Men have set it at naught, and kings and rulers have enacted laws contrary to it, and even requiring its transgression, as, for instance, the laws requiring observance of Sunday instead of the Sabbath, and also laws requiring men to kill their fellow-men; and thousands of professed Christians think that these human laws absolve them from their duty to the law of God.
But since God has not changed, things are in exactly the same condition that they were when Nebuchadnezzar set up his image in the plain of Dura, and commanded all men to fall down before it. Where are the men who will be faithful even unto death?--Present Truth, July 6, 1899--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons--Daniel 3:14-28
E.J. Waggoner