"Standing Out in the Crowd" (Daniel 3)

What would you like to be known for?

What about Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego? What were they known for?

Last week we studied Daniel’s test. When he was commanded not to worship any other than King Darius, he carried on nonetheless to pray with his windows open, in praise and intercession, three times a day (Daniel 6:10). This ultimately led, under the miracle-working hand of God, to an escape from the lions, and a complete change in the attitude of King Darius. Daniel chose allegiance to God over allegiance to the king, to great effect. Daniel expressed his primary citizenship in God’s Kingdom.

This week, under the previous king Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel’s friends, also exiled Jews, also high-ranking public servants, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, are commanded to directly worship a “golden statue” … an idol of the King’s own creation … ridiculously large and completely self-indulgent – this also under threat of death if they did not (refer verse 12). The king was seeking to exercise maximum power over people. [in chapter 6, King Darius had to be tricked into this sort of behaviour, but with King Nebuchadnezzar, he already had a hugely inflated ego.]

For Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, this was totally opposed to what they had come to appreciate in their lives. They worshipped their real and living God – a gracious God who offered people an opportunity to worship Him, not through compulsion and threat, but through their free choice. What would it have meant if they actually worshipped this statue and meekly come under this king’s power?? Would it have mattered?? Others, either apathetically or fearfully, succumbed!

It certainly would have suggested that all Gods/gods were equally deserving of worship; and you could switch allegiance depending on circumstance and self-interest. It wouldn’t have said much about the capabilities and faithfulness of the real and living God, if these ‘boys’ had succumbed to the pressure! Having said that, this was serious pressure.

There are various ways we can be derailed!

There are various interests competing for our loyalty!!

And there can be pressure brought to bear.

It is sometimes very subtle.

There are various challenges to our focus or commitment!

There are various alluring temptations!!

There are various responsibilities that we need to prioritise!

How do we decide these matters?

Where is our measuring stick??

Are we leaders or followers? If a leader, who do we follow? If a follower, who leads us??

What activities aid our progress, or conversely … what activities inhibit our growth?

The threat that Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego faced, seemed even more severe than Daniel’s, because this came right out of the ego and ambition of King Nebuchadnezzar himself (he didn’t need to be manipulated). Just simply worship as I say, and avoid the fiery furnace! Fail to worship as I say, and the “furnace of blazing fire” awaits. Nebuchadnezzar clearly had the expectation that these three would buckle.

There is this staggering statement by the king (verse 15b), “… who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands”. King Nebuchadnezzar is saying that there can be no greater force or higher authority than him. No one can overrule his decisions. He, the king, is the ultimate judge. He defies any other being or ‘god’ to overrule him. There is such arrogance in this statement. There is here the cultural assumption that there is no greater power or authority to be concerned with. Is that not also prevalent today … an unawareness of any greater authority through which to assess/examine/evaluate our moral and ethical behaviour. So, says the king, give in, join the mob, just worship what I say to; like everyone else is doing!

How did these three guys respond?? A basic ‘No’!

Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego (with Daniel) had been tempted by this same King Nebuchadnezzar previously (in chapter 1). There was an attempt to get them to buy into the whole extravagant and elevated palace lifestyle. In their minds this would have clearly dented their primary relationship with God. They wanted to stand out in their faith, not be absorbed into something else. It’s interesting how temptations keep returning in different guises, but each tend towards depleting our relationship with God and our possibility of growth.

It was ‘no’ then, and it is ‘No’ now!!

Verse 16 has the statement of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, that “we have no need [O king] to present a defence to you in this matter”. Their lives stood as their own testimony. No point debating – words are unlikely to help in this instance. They would just be … who they are … in God! This would need to be enough. This is why we have to let God do a deep work within us, so our life would be enough witness, without the need for words. Sometimes people are deaf to words, but open to the example of a lifestyle. Of course they wouldn’t worship a false god when they knew the real God! These ‘boys’ knew they were smack bang in the middle of God’s will for them, and that’s where they would stay.

Sometimes our bad decision-making puts us in danger. Ironically, it was good decision-making that put these ‘guys’ at risk.

Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego do not doubt the power of their God to rescue them from the king’s furnace, but they have no right to presume that he will do so. If God happens not to rescue them (in a physical sense), they are ready to take the consequences of rejecting the king’s wishes, rather than compromise. Yet they also knew that God will be with them in all circumstances and situations, including any sufferings, that lie ahead. They act from the depths of their belief system (irrespective of the consequences). The continual application of faith builds courage! And it is courage (and the encouragement of others), that takes us beyond our comfort zones into the places where God would have us be!!

As you might imagine, this stirred up an arrogant man to even greater anger and the severest of reaction. Such was the king’s state of mind, that he would not have thought it possible that anyone could have stood against him. He didn’t really want to destroy these men (for they were good workers) – he just wanted to control them. But the penalty was applied with extreme prejudice (v.19-22).

Yet to Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishment, while expecting to witness the end of these three, quite the opposite occurred. Three “bound” men had been thrown in to the raging furnace (where they were expected to last for only seconds), but four “unbound” men were visible (within the fire), untouched by the flames – with the “fourth” having the appearance of a [REAL?] god (refer verse 25).

This reminds me of words from the prophet Isaiah:

Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour (from Isaiah 43:1-3).

This also reminds me about another ‘test’ recorded in the Bible concerning worship. Right at the start of Jesus’ ministry, just after his baptism, he had that face off in the wilderness. We read in Matthew that Jesus was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). It’s like such temptations had to be soundly dealt with before Jesus could move on. It’s like sometimes we have to be tested before we can grow.

The third of Jesus’ temptations went this way:

Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to [Jesus], “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (4:8-9).

Now it’s irrelevant whether the devil could actually make good on a promise like this, the issue is the possibility of such a temptation. This is the human desire to want it all, to rise above others, to rule and exercise power … whether on the big stage of government or business, or on the small stage of family or community. But what idols or false ‘gods’ would we have to embrace to get there? [Likely these wouldn’t even be the right goals for us anyway!] What would be the outcomes of such behaviours unrestrained?? Broken and strained relationships! Unrealised expectations leading to all sorts of negative health outcomes! Not to mention the complete deadening of our spirit!!

Jesus, of course, handles this perfectly:

                                “Away with you, Satan, for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him’.”

                That dealt with that!! And what happened then??

                                                Then the devil left [Jesus], and suddenly angels came and waited on him (4:10-11).

Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego got it right. Short-term gain could not override long-term loss. We put aside the false ‘gods’ of this world, and humbly worship the One True God that brings freedom and salvation. It was in the midst of faith and fire, that we see Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego “unbound” (verse 25) in the company of God.

What are the false ‘gods’ (or pervasive norms) of our time?? Materialism; personal fulfilment to the exclusion of others (individualism); power and control; bitterness, defensiveness and revenge; fame and success; comfort and ease; apathy; to be one’s own ‘god’ (without the threat of contradiction or change); unhindered living without accountability!?! Only you can decipher what alternative ‘gods’ you are tempted with, and make the needed determinations.

Here’s the key question:

What is it that would tend to stop you worshipping God? And if this is in the area of faith for you (where there might be fear or doubt), what might lie behind this in the past. If you need help with this, I strongly encourage you to seek help. Any sense of defeat, if nipped in the bud, can turn to victory very quickly. Though … negative feelings unchallenged, can be very problematical.

All our ambitions should be centred in God. Ambition outside of God’s will for our lives will only lead to anxiety. Contrary to worldly ambition, our leader Jesus denied himself to the point of sacrificial death with the ambition of opening a new path to God for all of us. True ambition is seen through the lens of loving God and serving others, not promoting self and stepping on others.

So we can be ambitious to become the best … fill in the occupation here … via seeking to please God and build-up others. This is very different to how worldly ambition often plays out. You can refer to a great short article on “ambition” by Greg Clarke (Bible Society Aust. CEO) in the February Eternity magazine.

For those who have abided in God, God has abided with them! Alas, those who have stood up for God don’t always survive in this life, but they always have this abiding presence in their suffering. The dichotomy between the consequences of a fallen world and the activity of a loving God is not always easy to work out. But this we know, Jesus promised to be with us always. Faith is again connected to God’s provision – there was a “fourth” person in that furnace!

That this “fourth” entity had made an impression on the king, we know from his next words, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD, come out” (v.26)! It seems that the radical turnaround of both kings, Darius and Nebuchadnezzar, based on the strong testimony and committed actions of Daniel and the three friends, was immediate. Verse 28 reflects an amazing turnaround indeed. Yet, verse 29 shows that he, like Darius, had a long way to go before understanding fully the God that had been revealed to him.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood out in the crowd. But it was all about their own character, together with God’s faithfulness. They didn’t point the finger at others or judge others; just made sure they were on the right track themselves, and relied on the integrity of their faith in God. They didn’t stand aside from the community, indeed they embraced their civic responsibilities. They just made a difference where they stood, and lived lives that counted. They stood clearly for what they believed in, without erecting barriers between them and others.

It is only the true Jesus-followers who can change what we all bemoan, and restore people and communities to the way they should be.

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood out in the crowd, God was standing with them!!

Daniel 6 - "New Citizenship"

Introduction

Sometimes, within the complexity of life, we find ourselves betwixt and between, or confused. We waver, and we worry about gaining approval, being accepted by people, even about being popular. Daniel gives us an example of being well-grounded, properly focussed, and thereby really effective within the community he lived. Daniel embraced the concept of being a citizen of heaven active on earth. In his life, Daniel had a strong sense of identity as one of God’s people.

Daniel has gained a good reputation in the Babylonian kingdom. Daniel was an exile from Judah, taken there when his nation had again been vanquished by the power to the north. But Daniel had been able to gain respect for his abilities in Babylon. Daniel was one who had heeded the words of Jeremiah some time earlier – to seek the welfare of the city in which he was living despite being in exile. Successive kings had come to value Daniel, and trusted him with positions of influence. Daniel had used his power well, and brought his God into a good light. We find him here (at chapter six) in the top-rung of government. Yet not everyone was happy about that! Some may not have liked that he was a foreigner. Some may not have liked that Daniel had demonstrated his faith in a God they did not know. Some may have just been outright jealous. So a plot was hatched!

For Daniel, this would be a challenge; a test of how real and deep his faith and commitment really was. How would Daniel react? Would he give in to this threat to his life? Would fear get the better of him? Whose approval would he ultimately seek? What sort of witness to the true God would he be? Would Daniel try to find some wriggle room? In Daniel chapter 1, he resisted the temptation to accept all the trimmings of distinguished life, preferring to stand somewhat apart, pointing towards a different primary allegiance. Daniel was not going to get caught up in the excesses of royal life, and be absorbed in the that self-serving culture. The palace was where Daniel worked, but not where he gave his ultimate loyalty. So the reader is already primed to expect that Daniel will succeed in staying true to himself. But we wouldn’t want to underestimate the threat of being torn apart by a pack of hungry lions.

The Plot against Daniel

Daniel had gained the respect of King Darius – he had “distinguished himself” in service, and was seen as having an “excellent spirit” (v.3). Even the plotters, no matter how hard they looked, could not find one thing that he could be accused of – “no negligence or corruption could be found in him” (v.4b). But for Daniel to become the number one man, over everybody and under only the king, that was too much for many. Self-interest, jealously, and reckless human ambition was going to be unleashed on the best government official Babylon (or Persia) could possibly have! And this involved a bizarre, yet dangerous, plan to manipulate King Darius into an awkward position. This was politics at its worst; as we see insincerity and personal agendas at play.

First you stroke the king’s ego … as if you’re his best friends and tightest supporters – “O King Darius, live forever” (v.6b)! Then come up with a suggestion that would make the king more powerful and revered: ‘Why don’t we make it illegal to worship anyone else but you’. ‘No prayers shall be offered unless they are to you’. This was something unusual in the usually tolerant Persian empire of the time. Yet offering the powerful even more potential power is often too alluring to resist. And then, you attach a death penalty to anyone who doesn’t take heed of this law! And then, you help set this law in concrete so there is no way out for anyone – a law so permanent even the king can’t change it afterwards. All this without ever letting on who your target is!!

King Darius was completely blindsided, as he would have had no idea that it was Daniel they were after. The king had been tricked, even though his ego had made it easy for the plotters against Daniel. Such was the reliable and public nature of Daniel’s faith in his God, these plotters knew they were potentially on to a ‘winner’! Daniel’s exposed form was such that there was no way he could not pray to his God for one day let alone thirty days!! The very real threat to Daniel, was not just the loss of his job and his place of influence, but the loss of his very life. What would he do? Try and see out thirty days without any obvious adherence to God? Pray in secret maybe? Run? Try to catch a plane to South America? No! Look at verse 10.

Daniel’s Response

In full knowledge of the possible repercussions, Daniel prayed for all to see … on his knees (with the windows of his house wide open) three times a day! What is most impressive about this is that this seems to be so instinctual, so natural; Daniel just continued to do exactly what he had been doing previously. This praying included “praise”, suggesting what? That God’s faithfulness to Daniel in the past would undoubtedly be experienced again. It’s as if he didn’t blink … had no second thoughts … but, any human would have to be affected by the level of this threat hanging over his actions. Yet, if we know what we are doing is right, and exactly what God would have us be doing, then in a way the threat becomes irrelevant. At least this is how Daniel seemed to think and act.

How could this be??

While Daniel lived, worked and served in Persia under King Darius, he was a citizen of a different kingdom. Through the ‘new testament’ we come to know this kingdom as the Kingdom of God. This is the Kingdom that we become a citizen of after we are born anew through accepting what Jesus has done for us. Yet, even in ‘old testament’ times we see individuals who were wholly and utterly God’s people – and Daniel is a primary example of such a one! God came first, and everything else had to fall in behind this primary allegiance. For me, verse 10 is the crescendo and highpoint of this story. Everything that follows is just the natural outflow of Daniel’s commitment.

What else did Daniel pray about??

Fair enough (as we read in verse 11) that Daniel was actively praying for God’s mercy (likely to be applying this to his own current situation). But from what we know about Daniel, it is likely that he was also praying for the bigger picture: for the nation, for the king, for his enemies, for changed hearts, that things could turn around to the good. Through this Daniel would have been open to new insight and Divine encouragement. Daniel would also know that if he was to be thrown into the lion’s den, then God would be there with him.

We note that the windows of Daniel’s house were “open toward Jerusalem”!! For this is the place where his unshakable trust in God had begun. Sometimes when things in life get tricky, or we feel under attack, or we are in a flat spot, we need to open the window to our past assurances of God’s faithfulness. We need to lift the blinds in our rooms and seek the light to enter our darkness. We constantly need to draw on our experience of our ‘first’ love, and all those times when we just know that God is with us blessing us and teaching us and renewing us!

The Outcome

The plotters dob Daniel in, and demand the full force of the law, much to the king’s distress. King Darius, has discovered he has been manipulated and tricked, and wants to save Daniel, and obviously applies some delaying tactics. However, the king is put under extreme pressure, and feels locked into applying capital punishment. Yet still, King Darius, in full regret, hopes that Daniel can in some way survive (refer verse 16b); proposing that Daniel’s God may be able to perform this miracle. In a way, the king, with his hands tied behind his back, was trusting Daniel into God’s hands. Daniel’s life had truly touched the life of King Darius; for this king fasted and laid awake all night in concern for Daniel’s fate, and then rushed to the lion’s den first thing in the morning.

While Daniel may have been a pain to those other misguided officials, he was impressive to the king! And this may have alerted the king to the reality and truth of Daniel’s God. In the morning, King Darius calls out to Daniel with some level of hope and expectation (verse 20). Imagine, for a moment, the guilt this king would be carrying! And what further understanding has this king gained from his night of concerted reflection, when he refers to Daniel as the “servant of the living God”?! A new possibility has been raised in the king’s mind. When Daniel does survive, once again vindicating the rightness of his faith and the truth of his God, the king dispenses with the architects of this evil plot. The righteous one is vindicated, while Daniel’s enemies are defeated.

What King Darius then did to all those who plotted against Daniel, and not just them, but innocent family members as well, is extreme. This king still needed to learn a lot about measured justice. But the point being made here is that God delivered Daniel from a threat that was absolutely real! We also might notice that the law, once seen as irrevocable, that sent Daniel to the lions, was now set aside, under the greater authority of God. The king was liberated from his political straight jacket, and is able to act according to common sense. Daniel was to be released and re-established in his leadership; for surely God had deemed him innocent.

We might want to consider why Daniel survived. According to Daniel’s own words (in verse 22), this was because he was found to be, quote, “blameless” before both God and the king. And then the storyteller tells us (in verse 23) that Daniel was completely uninjured, “because he had trusted in his God”. God honours faith and commitment, and the contribution that Daniel can make … as a citizen of the Kingdom of God – bringing heaven to earth. “Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This is not how it always turns out for the righteous, but it surely is exciting when it does. In this particular case what a testimony could be told, and it was none other than the king of Persia who told it (refer verses 25-27).

Conclusion

How did all this happen? Daniel’s safety, King Darius’ enlightenment, the vindication of God? Despite being under extreme pressure NOT to do so, Daniel took up his place of prayer, and showed all those around him, friends and detractors alike, that he was God’s person, and that his ultimate citizenship lay with the Kingdom of God. This gives great inspiration and hope to the modern-day followers of Jesus, that nailing our colours to the Jesus-mast, despite the cost, will have the most effective of outcomes.