Daniel 3:17-18 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… Examples of the victory of faith over the terrors of the world are useful to believers in their militant state. The victory of faith related in our text will appear brilliant when we call to mind the number of the combatants, the situation in which they stood, the manner in which they were assailed, and the strength and terror of the opposition with which they contended. I. WE WILL GIVE A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS MEN, WHOSE NAMES ARE IN THE TEXT, and their praise in the church. With respect to number, they were only three; a small number to appear for the Lord God of Israel in opposition to the idolatry of the king, and the court, and the empire of Babylon. By nation and profession they were Israelites, who had been carried to Babylon in the captivity of their country. They were of the tribe of Judah, and are commonly believed to have been of the king's seed, or royal family. They were in places of power and trust in Babylon. II. "WE SHALL GIVE SOME ACCOUNT OF THE TESTIMONY WHICH THESE IT ILLUSTROUS MEN HELD, AND THROUGH WHICH THEY OVERCAME. It was not a testimony of their own framing. The Lord God of Israel framed and wrote it, and commanded it to be observed. "He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children." That branch of the testimony for which these princely witnesses appeared, had not only been written on tables of stone by the finger of God; but, according to His promise, was written in their hearts. It had been put into the ark of His testimony which was now lost; but it was also put into their minds by His Holy Spirit, out of which it could not be erased. "Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, and my servants whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me." "Fear ye not, neither be afraid — ye are even my witnesses. Is there a god beside me? yea there is no god, I know not any." "I am the First, and I am the Last, and beside Me there is no God." The reason inserted in the law satisfied the conscience of every pious Israelite: "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." Encouraged and awed with the sovereign reason in it, the princely witnesses entered the plain in the boldness of faith, stood before a haughty monarch without meditating terror, and spake with the dignity of men who feared Him that would not give His glory to another, nor His praise to an image of gold in the plain of Dura. With the Psalms of David and the prophecies of Isaiah they were doubtless acquainted. In the Psalms of David are these passages: "The Lord is great and greatly to be praised, he is to be feared above all gods: For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." "Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols." "Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." In the prophecies of Isaiah, we find these and several other passages of the same import. "They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save." "They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove; yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this and shew yourselves men, bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no god beside Me." Under that dispensation, in Babylon, as in Jerusalem, believers lived by the word. III. We shall attempt TO GIVE SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR MANNER OF MAINTAINING THE ESTABLISHED TESTIMONY, which they received, believed, and held fast. The witnesses, in maintaining their testimony for the honour of the God of Israel, conducted themselves: 1. With discretion. Nebuchadnezzar, in his haughtiness and bigotry, added rudeness and insolence to idolatry, and impiously challenged the might of the God of Israel — "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" The witnesses, however, neither call him tyrant, nor idolater, nor oppressor, though, in fact, he was all three. On the contrary, they express themselves discreetly and mildly: "O Nebuchadnezzar!" "O king!" In their language they give no occasion to irritation, nor to any court, or to accuse them of despising dominion. 2. With composure and presence of mind. Neither anger nor fear disturbed them. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, ruled in their hearts. The cause in which they appeared needed not the wrath of man to support it; and the fear of God, which is a sedate and composed principle, fortified their minds against the fear of man. 3. With confidence in the living Cool, as God and their God. Far from being ashamed of Him, and the testimony which He had established in Israel, they acknowledge His propriety in them, and their interest in Him, before a numerous and splendid convocation of His enemies. If their acknowledgment be boasting, it is boasting in the Lord, which is an exercise of faith. 4. With steadfastness. This was standing fast in the faith, and quitting themselves like men. 5. With uprightness. Nothing crooked, nor perverse, nor deceitful, appears in their conduct. Had they consulted flesh and blood, reasons might have been suggested to palliate some deviation from integrity. But flesh and blood were not consulted. The witnesses were Israelites indeed, in whose conduct there was no guile.Lessons: 1. The mean and unkindly behaviour of the mighty potentate, who projected and authorised the criminal solemnities of that memorable day. Vengeance sparkled in his eyes, with a fierceness resembling the dame of his furnace. This was unmanly, unwise, unkingly, ungodly — "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils." 2. Observe the violence of superstition armed with power. Nothing will satisfy it but either the consciences or the lives of upright and holy men. One would have thought that the king and court of Babylon might have been satisfied with the obeisance of that great assembly, without prosecuting three dissenters of a different nation, and a different religion. 3. Observe the distressing alternatives to which faithful witnesses for God have been reduced. 4. Observe the goodness of God in supporting His witnesses in such extremities. What were these three witnesses? In themselves they were weak and timorous as other men. How were they preserved from fainting, and from dishonouring, by unworthy compliances, the testimony for which they appeared? The Lord stood by them, and said, "Fear ye not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God: I will strengthen you, yea I will help you, yea I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness." "Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, by His Spirit in the inner man," they stood firm, repelled the wrath of the king and the terror of his furnace, and obtained a glorious victory, "The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits." 5. Observe the wisdom of counting, before temptations and trials assail our faith, the expense of holding fast our profession unto the end. 6. Observe the nature and efficacy of faith in God:(1) The nature of faith in God, which is receiving and resting on the grant which He makes of Himself to us as the Lord our God. (2) The efficacy of faith in God. The efficacy of this principle is mighty. Through it, men weak and timid have resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (A. Shanks.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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 thine hand, O king. |
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