Many prosperous men owe their present position to the fact that they were faithful when they were in humble employments. These three Hebrew men must have known they would be discovered, yet they obeyed God rather than man. Let all who trust in the merit of Messiah’s death be joyful at every remembrance of him, and let their holy gratitude lead them to the fullest consecration to his cause. We have erred: let us, therefore, seek the spirit of penitence. Oh, for men of principle, who know no loss but loss of faith, and desire no gain except the glory of God! Woe! Be not guided by the will-o’-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority. If it be not true that you renounce the world's idols, do not profess that it is so. "And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them. This would mean many things which we also implore for the church of God: (2) Ministers in their places, faithful in their service. If we want to be able to call God ours and commit ourselves to His care when trial or peril comes—we must not only believe in Him—but must obey His will. Solomon, in his advanced human wisdom, great power and influence, but eventual drift from God, illustrates characteristics shared by the Antichrist of the end. All things are possible to thee, ’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue; "The majority of men have thought of women as sublime separately but horrible as a herd," noted the wise G. K. Chesterton. See if he doth not even in this life prove his word that “Godliness, with contentment, is great gain,” and that they who “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, shall have all these things added unto them.” Should it happen that, in the providence of God, you are a loser by conscience, you shall find that if the Lord pays you not back in the silver of earthly prosperity, he will discharge his promise in the gold of spiritual joy. If it be so - That is if they are thrown into the blazing fire. Now we will see which weighs the most. How unfit was he to rule reasonable men who could not himself be ruled by reason! Without it, you might discover your true condition and seek the Lord as a penitent sinner. God's thoughts are above your thoughts. For our children; salvation. Throughout history, music and song have played an important role in strengthening nationalism, motivating conquest, and inspiring people to act. And God gave him Scotland, in spite of Mary and her Cardinal Beatoun; a land and a church of noble loyalty to Christ and his crown. It is the work of the Church of God to evangelize the world. So therefore God will put you in a situation where you won’t have the opportunity to have another more mature believer around to consult, cry on their shoulder or do something else.”274. The challenge may come as an invitation to gratify the lusts of the flesh, or as a series of disheartening circumstances. When you take your stand for Christ, Then joyfully accept the trial which comes with it. They might have said, "It is only for once, and not for very long. (Cp Ps 23:4-note, Ps 23:5-note, Is 43:1, 2, 3, Mt 28:20). And of course the most horrendous crime motivated by envy was the betrayal and crucifixion of our Lord, Matthew recording…, For he (Pilate) knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. Or why was it the Lord’s will to allow John to live a long life while Peter’s life would be “prematurely terminated (John 21:21-22)? This is the deeper prophetic teaching of the fiery furnace episode… In spite of Pharaoh’s attempt to drown Israel … in spite of Haman’s gallows, Caesar’s guillotine, Mussolini’s hatred, Stalin’s wholesale butchering and Hitler’s ovens, Israel lives on, moves on, and will … fulfill God’s ultimate aim for them.”273 SeePreservation of Israel. 10:19). Reality transcends fiction, and the very `incompleteness' of this account testifies to its fidelity." The English poet William Congreave wrote that “music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” but music also has power to release the savage in the breast. Features distorted. Spurgeon was also familiar with this work and stated, "This has been esteemed by many in its day, but we do not recommend its purchase," (Spurgeon, Lectures: Commenting and Commentaries, 4:127). I shall receive no hurt from sorrow if I shall walk in the midst of the fire. Prayer is the power, which brings God’s blessing down upon all our work. They may have justified bowing by reasoning that they were being forced against their will to bow and for that reason God would forgive. This is the podcast. When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight (2Co 5:7). Some commentators feel that Nebuchadnezzar was deifying himself by making this image. To be wise is a noble thing in itself: in this place it refers to a divine wisdom which only the Lord Himself can bestow. Even yet, the world's promotion is obtainable ofttimes - only at the price of a trampled conscience! Self-mastery is Christlike. Daniel said, "thou hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven.". 2) predictions that we are to decode and … Continue reading "Commentary on Daniel 3:1-30" Leon Wood, A Commentary of Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973), p. 80. These 3 lads had established the principle that they would not compromise in the "small things" (king's food), which prepared them to remain uncompromising when the "big test" came. Why asked why he retorted "I'm not even sure if I believe in God, but in case their is one, I want Him on my side!". 18But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up.(. ), his image like the one in Revelation 13, the fiery furnace like the Great Tribulation, the 3 Hebrews like the believing Jewish remnant who come through the Great Tribulation, the executioners like those kings who align with Antichrist but are destroyed when Christ returns and the mysterious absence of Daniel as a picture of the absence of the church during the Tribulation. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name." Jesus ready stands to save you, Do you ask, “Who are they?” I answer, “The Lord knoweth them that are his.” They are a people redeemed from among men by a special and peculiar purchase of our Lord;-a people quickened with one life, in whom there is but one living and incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever;-a people in mystical, real, spiritual, indissoluble union with their great covenant Head, the Lord Jesus Christ;-a people who are, some of them, very poor and quite unknown. (Copyright AGES Software. Ten minutes, just for the king. It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. How Firm a Foundation Quickly the king was informed by anxious spies, that certain Jews did not worship the golden image he had set up. No man is rendered wise or thoughtful by the wine-cup. Have you seemed to yourself the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all saints? Their faith "quenched the power of fire." Proud men are still ready to say, as Pharaoh, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? We are delivered from God’s eternal wrath because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered for us, in our place. At present, men sit down and reckon what it will cost them to do right, weighing their conduct as a matter of profit and loss. This great monarch once struck his gardener, who then died in a few days. The temple that Solomon built was also the result of great cost. King sent word to Assemble - All the leaders in Babylon were required to be present and by some estimates the number was in the thousands (or even much higher). What he knew of his father's career increased his terror. Daniel 3:23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. We do not have enough nowadays of the virtue nicknamed imprudence. Guzik points out that the 3 Hebrew lads do not make any excuses in the face of this extreme test…. The three Hebrew men believed the commandment of God, so they disobeyed. (2 Co 6:17). That's manliness. They could burn - but they could not turn! Loud to the praise of love divine, Our God is able to deliver us from, in or through the fire. It was the one place, under the old dispensation of types, now done away with, where God dwelt in visible manifestation amongst his ancient people. Dear young fellow, you may be fired from your situation, but the Lord will turn the curse into a blessing. from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. He would punish anyone who did not obey (Daniel 3:29). Let us do nothing to grieve the Lord; for all depends upon his smile. Shall all my chosen live. Where there is abundance of grace, and great strength of mind in the service of God, there is sure to be a spirit of unselfishness. Bible Commentaries Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible ... Daniel 1:3-4. The Septuagint is interesting in that it reads the king "heard them singing praises". To be really brave is to lay oneself open to charges of hypocrisy, of being "in denial," or out of touch with one's feelings. But whenever they persecute you in this city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you shall not finish going through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man comes. Let me no longer be ‘found wanting,’ when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, lest I be found wanting in the scales of judgment.” “Judge yourselves that ye be not judged.” (Morning and Evening). The little finger would be missed if it were cut off, and there is not a tiny valve near the heart., nor a minute vessel anywhere in the human system, which could be’ taken away without inflicting an injury upon the whole body. (Ibid). Daniel 3:17 "If it be so, our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 2:10-note). The important thing is that we learn the lesson He wants to teach us and that we bring glory to Him alone.) —J. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19). How angels thus keep us we cannot tell. They seem to be so taken up with the future that they do nothing in the present; they are so fully occupied in looking up to the sky, with their mouths wide open, waiting for the coming of the Lord, that they forget that the very best way to wait for the coming of the Master is to be found doing his will. (Ibid), Pritchard - So many Christians want to make deals with God. “Nothing is plainer than that the Holy Ghost never acknowledges the Christian in any way except as separate from the world,—the object of its animosity and persecution, cast out, despised, unknown, by the world. (Job 23:10-note) is the answer: “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come come forth as gold” (NKJV). Oh, for men of principle, who know no loss but loss of faith, and desire no gain except the glory of God! There were never two temples at one time. King Solomon built it; and of the church we may say, "a greater than Solomon is here.". It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances, we are developed because of them. Their commitment came from their confidence in God… They knew He could deliver from… He will deliver us from your hand." can become the vestibule of faith! The fire had no effect on the bodies - This could be the event referred to by the writer of Hebrews who records that men of old "quenched the power of fire" (Heb 11:34-note), and they did so not by might nor by power but by His Spirit and by faith (Heb 11:33-note) in God's faithfulness and His faithful Word of deliverance either in or through the fire. The king had already learned that the God of Israel is able to reveal mysteries (Da 2:47) to His servants, but he doubted God's ability to save the three dissenters. What hope, what fight, what knowledge of truth, what salvation can come to a perishing world of sinners except through a living Church? DANIEL FACING THE LIONS’ DEN. No! Israel is God’scovenant nation, and will finally be miraculously delivered and exalted among the nations. You cannot say of any part, or of the whole of what is called the visible church, that it is the sanctuary of God; it is a sort of shell in which the real Church of God is encased, and which it helps, perhaps, to preserve, but which it also certainly disfigures. If you are a believer, you can be sure that the pagan world is watching your actions to see whether or not your actions validate your affirmation of faith in Christ. Jesus told us not to fear those who can kill only the body, but rather to fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell--in other words, fear God and fear nothing else. The God of Daniel will give a worthy portion to all who dare to, be decided for truth and holiness as Daniel was. — Austin Phelps, 'TEKEL'-- you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. It is enough for me to know that it will be all right some day. Though Nebuchadnezzar did not know of the Son of God, he did recognize that the Person appearing with the three looked supernatural. Well, first, we shall consider the state of the Church. How can we hope for a thing if we do not know of its existence? The young man hesitated, looked around the gathered crowd, and saw some he had brought to faith in Christ. Make sure you are disobeying for God's sake, not for your own publicity. The protection here promised is exceeding broad as to place, for it refers to all our ways, and what do we wish for more? 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