In Daniel 3 things were heating up for the three Hebrew children, they had defied the godless laws of the land and chosen to follow and be obedient to the laws of God instead and in verse 16-25 we read:
“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O 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 save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, 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, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like the son of god.” ”
And when we follow God we can reach the point when we find ourselves in conflict with political and spiritual forces. We become a target for opposition. There can be opposition and persecution when we decide to obey God. And Jesus said “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:13)
These humble little Hebrew children were opposed and confronted by the greatest power of the day. King Nebuchadnezzar was ruler of the known world and he had set-up this image for everyone to worship. And behind the scenes of this political confrontation, in the spiritual realm, there was a confrontation between God and powers of darkness gripping the land.
And in this world today evil continues to grip the land and grow in influence. Gay marriage, abortion, prostitution, drug abuse are things which God abhors, and yet global political powers are legislating things which the bible tells us are detestable to God. And many of us will have a decision to obey God or obey man, and in some countries people who stand for righteousness are facing the threat of being in prison for speaking the truth of God’s word. In communist countries many believers have faced this decision for decades. They have had to make a decision to obey God or obey the laws of a godless political system.
And the enemy will throw everything at you, all kinds of bondage and he will try and make it worse for you, the King used his strongest men, mighty men of valor, the Kings’ finest to bind them, to shut them down and snuff them out. And the King got upset when they refused to bow the knee to the god the King had set up, they refused to disobey the commandment of God:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” (Exodus 20:3-5)
And he was so upset he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter. And the men threw them in but it was too hot for them, they died. Everyone deserted Jesus when it came to his time of trial, sometimes there is suffering in the will of God. Jesus had to walk to the cross alone. Sometimes we need to have that determination, if no one else goes with me I will continue to follow God. Even if it looks crazy.
And no one understood what Jesus was doing, He had to explain to His disciples after the fact, what is was He had accomplished. And what Jesus did changed everything, it may have seemed obscure, but it changed the course of human history! He redeemed humanity! What you are doing for God may not make much sense, but you need to hang in there. God is up to something!
And these children were in the fiery furnace, it was so hot, too hot, they were bound, they were cast down, they were lying on the floor of the furnace. Things couldn’t get any worse. But they were determined to follow God no matter how hard it got. They said even if God doesn’t deliver us we will not bow down and worship your golden image.
Everyone else in the land had bowed down and they were the only ones who stood and oh my goodness, the pressure, the opposition, and everyone else seemed to have it so easy! And then a miracle happened! Jesus showed up – the living Word, the son of God, the walking Miracle! In an instant He came, faster than a speeding bullet, forget superman, this was superGod!
And the King was astonished, He was shocked! When God does a miracle everyone gets shocked! And God’s ways are higher than our ways, why did things have to get so bad before God showed up? Why did things have to get to that point? And in an instant things went from looking aweful deathly terrible and hopeless, bound, cast down to walking around free and in victory, when they got out there wasn’t even the smell of smoke on them!
Who was this forth man, this miracle worker? In the gospels we see, at a wedding when they had run out of wine He was standing there, giving instructions to the servants, turning water into wine. When they had been ministering to thousands and had no food for them, He was standing there, saying ‘give me what you have and I will do the rest.’ When a man in John 5 had been lying beside the Bethesda pool for 38 years crippled, He was standing there asking him “do you want to be made well?’
All who came to Him in faith received the miracle they needed. Jesus is a miracle worker and as we walk deeper into the fire we will find this to be true more and more. Sometimes you have to be willing to take it to the wire and walk into the fire before God shows up. As you get deeper into the fire you get closer to Jesus and closer to your miracle. Even when things look worse and worse, keep going, keep being obedient to God, a miracle is about to happen!
Friend, Jesus is standing there in the midst of the fire daring you to believe He will take care of you, daring you to believe He will deliver you, but you need to be willing to go wherever He leads, you need to be willing to follow God and as you do – Jesus will meet you – you will run smack into the middle of Almighty God and He will do miracles for you like you wouldn’t believe. I encourage you to hang in there today your miracle is on the way!
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