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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
...who through faith...shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword.
Hebrews 11:33-34
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Imagine you were Daniel.
You were obedient to the Lord’s call and as a result were blessed to the point where the king of the Babylonians, Darius, was ready to put you in charge of his kingdom. Unfortunately, jealousy raged in the hearts of the rival Babylonian administrators and satraps, so much so that they hatched an elaborate scheme to get rid of you.
This scheme involved getting the king to agree to execute anyone who would bow down to any god or human being other than him by throwing them into a lion’s den. They did this because they knew you (Daniel) would refuse to worship anyone or anything than God.
And so Darius issues the decree, you go on doing as you have always done, giving the Lord your full attention and dedication, and the administrators and satraps run to the king to rat on you, reminding the king of the decree he had declared. Here’s where your uncompromising spirit toward God took you:
The king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Daniel 6:16-17
No one had ever come back out of the den of lions once within. The lions were a hungry lot and would easily make quick work of any human being. And yet in the morning, when the king came to check on the den and you, here’s what he found:
At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent His angel, and He shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. Daniel 6:19-23
Tossed into the lion’s den, all Daniel had to hold onto was his faith in God and he held onto it hard. The king had a very sleepless night after committing Daniel to what he believed was his sure demise but it’s very interesting to me that even the king, a non-believer, held onto some hope that the God Daniel served possessed the power to rescue him from what was seemingly an impossible situation. As we read, he gained great relief when he heard Daniel’s voice crying out from inside the den with the amazing testimony of how God sent an angel to “shut the moth of the lions” so they couldn’t harm him. He was spared because God had found him innocent and if he was innocent before God, then he was certainly innocent before the king.
Imagine the amazement of King Darius when Daniel emerged from the den without a “would found in him”. And we know what happened next. All the administrators and satraps who had tried to get Daniel killed were tossed to the lions with their families as punishment and no one survived.
What do we gain through faith?
In Daniel’s case, we see that when we trust God will bring us rescue, no matter how impossible the circumstances might be, He delivers.
Need another example?
We have one more in looking at the life of Daniel. For before he faced a den of lions, three of his friends survived a visit within a fiery furnace. Here’s what we learn in chapter 3:
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.
Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”
Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”
He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants! They trusted in Him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
Here we read where King Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon and he had set up a giant golden idol, ordering the people to bow down to it every time an instrument sounded a signal.
Similar to the story of Daniel and the lion’s den, there were some villains in this story, a group of astrologers who went to Nebuchadnezzar and informed him that three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were defying the king’s decree and not bowing down to the idol. The king had the three brought to him and they were openly defiant in their steadfast devotion to God and God alone.
And so the Babylonian king, in a fit of rage, had the furnace fired up seven times hotter than normal. His intent was to quickly reduce the three Jews to ash but what a surprise he received when he gazed inside the furnace to not only see the three men walking about but accompanied by a fourth figure. There’s no certainty to the exact identity of the fourth man in the furnace but we know it was a supernatural figure who was involved in saving the three from perishing.
When Nebuchadnezzar had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego brought out of the furnace, he was astounded by what he saw for none of the three were harmed.
Not a singed hair on their heads.
Not a burn on their robes.
No harm to their bodies.
Not even a whiff of smoke on them.
No one could have caused such an outcome than the Lord God Almighty who Nebuchadnezzar formally recognized as the superior God after witnessing the miracle.
While none of us may face the danger of dying in a lion’s den or blazing furnace, we will face our own perils in life and I don’t know about you but I am grateful for the biblical account of Daniel and his three friends because their stories inspire me to hold fast to my faith in God, no matter what, for over and over again, He has shown what the scriptures confess...that with Him, all things are indeed possible.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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