Well, I invite you to turn this morning to Daniel chapter 3, as we continue our study in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 3 this morning, and we'll give our attention to this fascinating chapter. Let's hear the word of the Lord. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasures, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music you are to fall down and worship the golden image that king nebuchadnezzar has set up and whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace therefore as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn pipe lyre trigon harp bagpipe and every kind of music all the people's nations and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that king nebuchadnezzar had set up therefore at that time certain chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the jews they declared to king nebuchadnezzar oh king live forever you oh king have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn pipe lyre trigon harp bagpipe and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image and whoever does not fall down in worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace there are certain jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of babylon shadrach meshach and abednego these men oh king pay no attention to you they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up then nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that shadrach meshach and abednego be brought so they brought these men before the king nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them is it true oh shadrach meshach and abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that i have set up now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn pipe lyre trigon harp bagpipe and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that i have made well and good but if you do not worship you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace and who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands shadrach meshach and abednego answered and said to the king o king nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter if this 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 to you o king that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up the nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury. And the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated the flame of the fire killed those who took up shadrach meshach and abednego and these three men shadrach meshach and abednego fell bound into the burning fiery furnace then king nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste he declared to his counselors did we not cast three men bound into the fire they answered and said to the king true oh king he answered and said but i see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods then nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace he declared shadrach meshach and abednego servants of the most high god come out and come here then shadrach meshach and abednego came out from the fire and the satraps the prefects the governors and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not any power over the bodies of those men the hair of their heads was not singed their cloaks were not harmed no smell of fire had come upon them and because they're answered and said blessed be the god of shadrach meshach and abednego who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own god therefore i make a decree any people nation or language that speaks anything against the god of shadrach meshach and abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way then the king promoted shadrach meshach and abednego in the province of Babylon. There's the reading of God's Word. Well, it may be helpful to rehearse just a few of the key points that we have developed in this study so far. Key themes that we have learned that are emphasized in the book of Daniel. And one of those great truths is that we've seen God is absolutely sovereign in all the affairs of the nations. He doesn't simply look at israel he doesn't simply look at at the particular nation in the earth he is sovereign over all the affairs of all the nations in the earth and he appoints their rulers and determines their times as he sees fit that was something i said last week that god appointed joe biden god appointed donald trump god appointed barack obama all of that is said romans 13 all these authorities that are put in place god has determined this is what we're seeing in the book of daniel this is what daniel prayed about and recognized in god's sovereignty and that god is turning the times and the seasons as we've looked at in providence the the good times and the difficult times the the the times of of prosperity and the times of poverty all those things are in the Lord's hand and he is turning these things for the great purpose another key thing that we've seen that the book of Daniel really develops to showcase in his timing the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the only kingdom that will stand eternally the only kingdom that cannot be toppled through this king who lives and reigns over all and whose kingdom shall have no end every kingdom of this world is crumbling fading away none of them will stand think of the most mighty kingdoms in the earth today who are strong tomorrow they will not be this is the message we saw last week god that's what was shown to nebuchadnezzar last week in his dream god was uh daniel was amazed that god showed to nebuchadnezzar the visions of his head when nebuchadnezzar didn't even understand them remember that vision the powerful figure was put before nebuchadnezzar in his dream a head of gold a head of gold that symbolized his kingdom Babylon and then you had a chest and arms of silver and a belly and thighs of bronze and legs of iron with feet partly of iron and partly of clay it's an image that showed strong and grew weaker and weaker and weaker until this stone struck the image and it blew away in the wind and we looked at who those kingdoms were last time we looked at that head of gold representing Babylon, then to the Medes and the Persians, and then to the Macedonian kingdom of Greece, remember, and then to Rome, where the kingdom of God came into history with the person and the work of Jesus Christ. That's the image, and that's the vision that Daniel explained last time that was important it showed that nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was just temporary that's what it showed just temporary just a little spot in the map for a time and after all all of that all these other kingdoms would would in a sense weaken until the glorious kingdom would come in that would be like a mountain over all the earth we considered that last time of the kingdom of christ well now what we have today is nebuchadnezzar's response to all this whatever the case the message is clear god in times of persecution and opposition is putting on display his wisdom his power uh his might to undermine what's happening when kingdoms overexert themselves as we've been looking at this is immensely comforting this is what should comfort us in our times for the lord wants us to see that always throughout history as i'm trying to maintain in this study that in the periods of great darkness then are we ready to see light it's how it's always been you see the light in the darkness and you see it in surprising ways in which god works well that's what we're looking at briefly here this morning all of a sudden nebuchadnezzar reacts to all this and he imposes a tyrannical law an unjust law daniel's friends then are highlighted in their righteous disobedience and the lord intervenes in his wonderful deliverance so we're going to look at that today briefly here chapter three is a significant moment in the book significant in chapter three of what happens as nebuchadnezzar's response what we read here in chapter three and there really shouldn't be a break i mean there probably was some time here as nebuchadnezzar thought about this whole thing but however much time passed there's a connection here that the that daniel wants us to see that nebuchadnezzar then goes and he makes a massive golden image its height was 60 cubits and it's brett six cubits that is 90 feet 90 feet i don't like to ask questions in the middle of the sermon but brent how high is this 45 it gives you some perspective here 90 feet he sets it up on the plain of dura in the province of babylon so so nebuchadnezzar gathers all the authorities in the kingdom and you'll notice here that that all the great rulers of the kingdom all the lesser magistrates the satraps the prefects the governors the counselors the magistrates the treasurers the justices all the officials and they come up to this giant dedication service it's a dedication service to the image that nebuchadnezzar has set up they're celebrating they're dancing this is a great moment in babylon a great thing has happened by the way you can't help but to think here is this deja vu for israel they made their own golden image and danced around it now the whole thing's imposed on them in babylon they stood up before the image that nebuchadnezzar had set up and the herald uh proclaim so they have a preacher that they set up in the midst of this a preacher begins to proclaim this is supposed to be good news i guess you are commanded oh people's nations and languages when you hear the sound of the all that notice all the great i mean this was this was the best instrumental worship service you could ever get pipe lyre trigon harp bagpipe every kind of music whenever you hear it you are to bow down and you are to worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar has set up with this great clause that whoever doesn't fall down and worship notice the language immediately you will go into the fiery furnace can you imagine that scenario what if a golden image of america were set up somewhere in washington dc and it was draped with american flags and every day the call was you are to bow down and aim your worship at the direction of this image you are to bow down to it you know i i just was kind of stunned the other day driving through central escondido and i passed a house that the whole thing is draped in in american flags and images of donald trump the whole thing i mean i if it were an hoa i think that would cause a problem you know it's it was a startling corner i i guess at night they say it's lit up it's like christmas imagine if such devotion was commanded and that you are to make the greatest object of your loyalty in this life, America and its greatness. Right now. And you are to bow to it. Your first allegiance is to America. You will praise America. You will bow to America. you see what Nebuchadnezzar did in the spirit of total patriotism. He commanded their loyalty and he commanded them to worship Babylon. You know where the image was set up? In the plain of Dura. That is the exact location of the Tower of Babel. Did you know that? He puts it right where Babel used to be. Come, they said, let us build a city and a tower whose top shall reach the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed over all the face of the earth, lest our kingdom fall. It was direct rebellion in the state to challenge the dream to challenge the vision with a spirit of autonomy they were rebelling i think you can make the case that all the tyranny we've seen throughout history comes down to the point that when you see tyranny and when you can go through history and see some really bad points of tyranny and kingdoms and it's confusing for us especially when a lot of people die it comes down to this point that they know their kingdoms are weakening i think you can make the case that when it's healthy you don't see this as much but when the kingdoms are weakening they move to control and wield power to control the masses they're desperately grasping for control and to hold on to the sinking ship nebuchadnezzar just had a dream revealed to him that his nation would fall that was the heart of the dream and that his glory would not continue you know think of egypt you know we still dig up the bodies of these greats over there who believe that their glory would continue in their kingdoms into the afterlife they all believed this so what does he do in response is he he erects in a desperate attempt to keep the glory of babylon from crumbling he erects this massive image the dream only showed nebuchadnezzar with a head of gold nebuchadnezzar makes a 90 foot image of all gold of babylon that's the direct challenge and i think that's important why i asked last week you know to which is our ultimate allegiance to which which and who what kingdom is our ultimate allegiance we talk about the good of the city we talked about last time i'll come back to that but but notice here behind all this is so much demonic activity that the evil one would love to have as your primary drive in life all of your devotion all of your loyalty everything given to babylon there's something also interesting here what did nebuchadnezzar do when the dream was revealed to him he gave lip service to the praise of the king i find that fascinating that that comes right before this daniel revealed his dreams and nebuchadnezzar belts out truly your god is the god of god and the lord of kings and the revealer of secrets since you could reveal this secret did he believe that You ever watch presidents get up and put on the show? Some have held Bibles, but they've not been in worship on the Sabbath. All of our presidents, to some degree, this was the common thing to do, give lip service to the king. Did they believe it? Or were we just happy to hear it? It's all for show. It's all for show. If it weren't for show, the idolatry would be removed, right? Now, I think we have to consider for a minute what happened here up to this point. There had been no opposition in Babylon. Remember, Jeremiah said last week, go ahead, build houses in Babylon, plant vineyards, enjoy the works of your hands, build your families in Babylon, eat off the fruit, build vineyards, enjoy life as my people separate in Babylon, and then at the appointed time, I'm going to bring you home. I'm bringing you to Jerusalem again. That's why that psalm, difficult as it may have been, A for effort, it was great. That's why that psalm's important. because Jerusalem is held out for us. I'll bring you home. That didn't sound like too bad of a deal up to this point. Judah had been given free exercise of religion. All until now, there's one, think about this, one lawless, tyrannical decree in a moment. everything had been okay you could handle it in one moment everything was pulled out from under them and now it would test them and i want to say can you imagine the confusion and the fear here you know if you're if you're sitting at home with your children and you just heard this law come down and all of a sudden we've got to go out tomorrow and bow down to an image. What do we do? Do we do it? Well, I want to say there must have been a lot of fret, but then I started thinking, have they been so assimilated into Babylon that it didn't bother too many people see the response here is to a grab for power they're grabbing for power and what we have and what we've seen throughout history is that when you have attempts to grab for power, it's intricately tied to the natural tendency of the human heart to worship something. History has proven that what happens is is that there's often a replacement with another religion and where there are spiritual forces of darkness backing it there all there comes a demand of allegiance in the form of worship i think this is what daniel will say in chapter 7 that this pompous figure speaks words against the most high he shall wear out the saints of the most high and shall think to change the times and the law and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time, wearing out the saints with this stuff. How would you feel? Threatened, panicked, fearful. Every sort of totalitarian nation throughout history has used sources of law and cultural influence to establish and assert themselves. We looked at over God at some point. At some point this happens in the nations. First century Christians in Rome, think about it as the kingdom was breaking in isn't it something that right about that time they're all being commanded to bow down and call Caesar Lord first century Rome as Jesus shows up on the scene of history what happens in the story it's it's where it gets interesting today these um Nebuchadnezzar comes and and he hears the report there are certain magistrates that report to nebuchadnezzar that there are certain jews shadrach meshach and abednego and they say didn't you command oh king king live forever didn't you command but they pay no attention they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up and nebuchadnezzar is furious you have a choice you will when that sound happens either bow down and worship the image or you will go into the furnace i think the surprising thing about this text today is how confident shadrach meshach and abednego are i said a minute ago where are the masses not bowing down of israel of judah what had happened that we only have this kind of record whatever the case notice the confidence in their answer we don't even need to answer you in this okay if this be so our god notice the confidence whom we serve is able to deliver us from this burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand oh king but if not let's say god doesn't decide to do that let it be known to you oh king we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up you know let me just say as a side point of application anytime you stand up and do what's right in times like this you're going to feel very alone this is life think of luther think of martin luther anytime you're going to feel very alone you will not be with the masses you will not be accepted you will not be popular but I like to realize something else that's important here it's it's it's what's exposed it it moved notice it started with foods and Nebuchadnezzar started with commanding about foods and and and eating his delicacies and and then it moved notice where it began that all of a sudden it began with these things and it moved to the politics of the nation the politics of the nation became the religion the politics of the nation became the religion and that drove the idolatry do we appreciate that no longer was there any distinction between her politics babylon's politics, and the idolatry itself. I think that's a really important point here. I think that's what you can see. They were intertwined together. This is what came to a head. You will bow down to our idols, which symbolizes Babylon. You will bow down in whatever ideology it comes. and I think you can draw the lines how many people are so caught have you ever seen a time where we are more caught up in politics ever in your lifetime important as it may be that it has become the religion of our land they used to say there's two things you can't talk about are politics and religion notice no one talks about religion because politics is religion and whatever idolatry it comes whether it be a flag a rainbow flag wrapped around the symbol of America it's all put together the test will come as to a matter of loyalties in some ways it's it's kind of a gift when it's like this because we should be able to see clearly then whether it's just over foods and peripheral issues we're not on peripheral issues think of Elijah on Mount Carmel when God's people had been caught up in Baal worship how did God's people get so wound up into Baal and what was Elijah's call listen if the Lord is God worship him if Baal is God worship him who's God who's God do you hear Shadrach Meshach and Abednego he can do whatever he wants but he's God and we're not bowing to this stuff and that's where our attention and devotion has to be to the lord ultimately i talked about last time so no one hears me wrongly seeking the good of the city praying for the good of the city influencing the politics of the city i think there's a place we've been thinking about that of christians getting more involved in helping the city in political things for righteousness and truth i think we need that in our time and that should be encouraged so what happens Shadrach Meshach and Abednego are bound up and they are thrown into the midst of the fiery furnace that's our greatest fear right here if anything that is going on right now for fear of Christians in our time this is our greatest fear it is the worst kinds of persecution that might come upon us this is it this is this is it that that you either bow down or you die and the question i think of the text today is is there any situation outside the sovereign power and will of God? Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O king. He answered and said, but I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not any, listen to this, any power over the bodies of these men. Their hair was not singed. What do you say in your Heidelberg? There is not a hair that falls from our head without the will of our Father. The hair was not singed. Their cloaks were not harmed. No smell of fire had come upon them. Who died here? See, I think the Lord wants to encourage us all. We're so modern. We're so modern. We think God can't intervene like this. We think God can't intervene like this. Or that He wouldn't. If we were to go into the lion's den or we were to go into the fire. The only thing that was burned on them were the ropes. They're walking free in the fire. It's the only thing that was burned. You ever been to a campfire? What do you hate about campfires? You stink afterwards. You can't even smell the smoke on them. They recognize that in refusing this idol, that God can do what he wants. God may not spare us. And then guess what? We're okay with that. We're okay with that. Split second, we get to go to be with the Lord. Paul said that, far better to go to be with the Lord, but for your sake it's more needful that I stay. Point is, God has the power to deliver from all this foolishness. And he can do it in his all-wise way and the most surprising of ways. And what a message, I think, for us today to close this out. Revelation warns on the latter day, people will worship the beast and its image it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain that's revelation 13 one pastor observed an important important point nebuchadnezzar is not the only one here threatening fire nebuchadnezzar is not the only one threatening fire for those who refuse to bow down where's the fear of the true god the god of heaven and earth has said all who do not bow to his king will go into the everlasting torment there is only one who holds the keys of what death and hades it's not nebuchadnezzar nebuchadnezzar says i see four and one is like the son of the gods and scholars debate is that a christophany i think so i think christ was with them Christ was walking among them Jesus is Emmanuel God with us he's the one who endured the fire of that wrath so that we would never have to face it so that Isaiah would say when you pass through the waters I'll be with you and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you ultimately isn't that the truth notice the peace on shadrach meshach and abednego our god is able to deliver us a thousand may fall at your side 10 000 at your right hand but it will not come near you you will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked there's no fear here nebuchadnezzar gets closer to the kingdom you know was he converted i think i preached this not so long ago and thought this must have been the point where he was converted and some of my friends in the in the congregation here give me a hard time because i'm always trying to figure out when people are converted in the scriptures and i don't typically get it right i've changed my mind i don't think he's converted at least here yet but it's an amazing thing he does it's an amazing thing he does blessed be the god of shadrach meshach and abednego who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own god therefore i make a decree any people nation or language that speaks anything against the god of shadrach meshach and abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there's no other god who's able to rescue in this way well times and seasons just changed just like that and who did that god himself just like that with the faith the faith of his servants and that's where we close today what is this all showing us it's not earthly rulers who established the times and the seasons that was daniel's prayer you oh lord change times and seasons you control the good times and the difficult you control the hard times and the the good times our response i'm a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll worship god that's the response we have said this over and over it's precisely in these moments that we see the power of God in surprising ways I think maybe for too long we've been comfortable in Babylon and forgotten that we're going to Jerusalem so the Lord turns the times and seasons to showcase his kingdom and power to draw his people back to him in faith to have us to be a trusting people so that we will rest in him and to shine forth his gospel in a way that we would not expect in the times of darkness. The Lord has promised He will provide. He always has. He promises to care and to go with us wherever we go. But thank the Lord and praise Him today that He is sovereign over all these things. Our calling is to be without fear and to remember why we are here and to remember to advance his witness his truth and to be encouraged that no matter what they attempt to do with us the lord is with us we belong to him we live for his praise and glory and that means that whatever happens in our times look to the lord make him in the midst of babylon the object of your worship. That's how you'll stand out. Don't muddy it up with idolatry. Worship God. Worship His King. That's the calling. And may God give us the grace and strength to do that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us through this very fascinating passage and give us wisdom in these times to be able to see clearly and may you oh lord demonstrate and show your wisdom and the timing that you decide since all times and seasons and kings and kingdoms are in your hand and thank you for installing in zion a kingdom with a king who can never be shaken or overthrown give us joy and confidence as we worship the king in jesus name we pray amen We'll see you next time.