Title: Those Who Overcame God (13)
Contents
2010, 3, 7 weeks. Those Who Overcame God (13)
The faith challenge of three people who risked their lives
(Daniel 3:8-27)
The 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, gave a memorable speech the night before he was assassinated. His speech is important, but he remains in the memory of many people because he passed away the next day. He said this in his speech.
We live in an age of reform.
You have to live your life as a pioneer. We are all pioneers.
And finally, he added:
There will be times when everyone will stand before the courts of history.
You will be asked questions on the spot.
Then, four questions were asked in turn.
First, were you brave?
I'm asking about the times that have passed. Have you really lived courageously?
Or did you live a cowardly life?
I'm asking if you've ever sold your conscience for a trivial gain.
Second, did you make a wise decision?
I'm asking if there were any regrets.
I'm asking if there's anything I shouldn't have done.
How many things have you done wrong for your immediate benefit?
Were you truly happy with the benefits of your judgment?
Third, were you sincere in your work?
I'm not asking about success or failure, but whether I did my best with no regrets.
Fourth, are you completely dedicated to what you do?
You will be asked questions before the courts of history on the last day.
Are you fully committed? You must answer this question.
I want to receive grace together with those who have overcome God at this time (13).
1, the vanity of King Nebuchadnezzar
Verse 1 says that King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura, in the city of Babylon.
If we calculate the gold statue in modern terms, it is a huge statue of about 30m in height and 3m in width. King Nebuchadnezzar made this huge golden statue for himself.
According to biblical scholars, it was built around 586 B.C.E., shortly after the fall of Jerusalem. It is the idea of revealing one's glory to the world.
Everyone struggles to make themselves a god when they have great power in their hands. It is said that North Korea's Kim Il-sung also erects a 30-million-dollar statue of himself and invites visitors to worship.
So did Emperor Nero.
When Hitler was in power, the lyrics of a song popular in the German boy band called Jungpolk were as follows:
Adolf Hitler is our savior,
the noblest person in the world,
We live for Hitler
We die for Hitler.
Our Hitler is our Lord,
He rules the brave new world.
When the angel who served God wanted to be exalted like God, after being disciplined and expelled, many people try to become God themselves. Such an act is an arrogant act that cannot escape God's judgment.
Verse 2, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and attended the ceremony of the inauguration of the image that his king Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and the princes, the chieftains, the governors, the judges, the counselors, the jurists, and all the officials of each province.
3:5 When you hear the sound of the trumpets, flutes, harps, cymbals, cymbals, live humps, and all musical instruments, fall down and worship the golden image of King Nebuchadnezzar Anyone who does not bow down and worship will be immediately thrown into the blazing furnace.” And when all the peoples, nations, and tongues heard the sound of the trumpets, flutes, harps, harps, cymbals, and all musical instruments, the gold spirit set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. and bowed down to the statue.
To bow down is a command to worship yourself as a god.
However, as the king ordered, all the servants bowed down without exception.
In this age, Satan commands us.
To bow before money, before power, or before popularity.
How would you behave?
When we bow down to an object, he unwittingly becomes an idolater. We must be those who bow down to only one, Jesus Christ.
2, three men who rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar's vanity
3:12 Now, some of the men of Judah Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom the king has appointed to rule over the city of Babylon, O kings of all times, these men do not exalt the king, nor serve the king's gods, nor bow down to the image of the golden god that the king has set up. one
3:12 Now, some of the men of Judah Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom the king has appointed to rule over the city of Babylon, O kings of all times, these men do not exalt the king, nor serve the king's gods, nor bow down to the image of the golden god that the king has set up. one
These are the king's favor. They were brought into captivity because they gained the king's trust and were ruling the way of Babylon. This is great. It is difficult to challenge the king's work head-on while receiving such great favor from the king.
3:8 Then some Chaldeans came and accused the men of Judah.
3:10-12 O king, when the king gives a decree, and every man hears the sound of the trumpets, flutes, harps, cymbals, cymbals, live humps, and all musical instruments, let them fall down and worship the golden image. Didn't he say that whoever does not bow down and worship will be thrown into the blazing furnace?
Now, some of the men of Judah Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom you have appointed to rule over the city of Babylon, O king of all times, these men do not exalt you, nor serve your gods, nor bow down to the image of the golden god you have set up.
There are many people in this world who accuse the saints.
The first is Satan, and the second is those who have been tempted by Satan.
3:13-14 King Nebuchadnezzar was furious and angry, and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought, and at last they were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar asked them, saying, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, have you been fooling yourself, since you do not serve my god, or worship the image that I have set up?
It is unacceptable that the three men who received great favor, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, disobeyed his command, and the fact that they could become great people in his rule made the king very angry.
14-15 Nebuchadnezzar asked them, saying, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, have you been doing this, since you do not serve my god, or worship the image I have set up?
Even now, if you have prepared yourselves, and whenever you hear the sound of trumpets, flutes, harps, cymbals, cymbals, live hummingbirds, and all other musical instruments, you may bow down before the image I have made and worship you. I will throw you in, and what kind of god can deliver you out of my hand?
The fact that the king conciliated them directly suggests how great the king's trust in them was. If he had always seemed hated, he would have ordered him to be thrown into the furnace right away.
If you were like a normal person, the king didn't do it directly to them, and you probably made this mistake because you didn't know it well, or because you couldn't discern the sound of the instrument well. I will give you one more chance.
So this time, make sure you do it without mistakes.
Giving these three preferential treatment could cause complaints from the many natives around them. But if you don't do it this time, I'll throw you into the blazing furnace. What kind of god can deliver you out of my hand? you choose
At that moment, the three of them answered at once as if they were singing a choir.
3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, saying, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to answer you in this matter.
3:17 If it be so, then, O king, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the raging furnace, and even from your hand.
3:18 Know, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor will we bow down to your golden image!
It is an amazing confession of faith that touches our hearts so much.
It is a firm confession of faith that God alone is the object we serve, and that no other gods can serve us.
There are many people in Christian history who answered clearly like these three men.
In 1938, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Jesus was held in Pyongyang.
There were Japanese detectives all around.
When the president declared that shrine worship is a national rite rather than worshiping idols, there were people who boldly shouted no.
Because of that cry, they suffered great persecution, but because of them, Christianity was able to maintain its vitality.
Sometimes we have to risk our lives to keep our faith. Religion is difficult to keep in a free state.
3, Nebuchadnezzar realized God because of them
I ordered it to be seven times hotter than usual.
When people are rejected, they come out so cruel.
Rejection does not mean rejecting an opinion, but because it considers the person itself not to be accepted.
The furnace fire was so hot that those who tried to hold the three men and put them into the furnace were burned to death. The faith of the three men who were determined to die for their faith, it is truly a noble faith.
We must be able to imitate this belief.
3:24 At that time King Nebuchadnezzar got up in haste, and asked his counselors, "Were there not three men we bound and threw into the fire?" They answered the king, "It is right, O king. 3:25 And the king spoke again, saying, I saw four men, unbound, walking through the midst of the fire, unharmed, and the fourth was like a son of gods.
The king was astonished.
It's so hot it should have died as soon as you threw it into the furnace.
It wasn't. The three of them worked rather leisurely in the scorching furnace. They say that they were walking about in the fire, and the fourth man looked like a son of the gods. So who was this fourth person?
He is the Lord of the New Testament.
It is the Lord who came to the furnace to save the three men who risked their lives to keep their faith and went into the furnace.
When the king saw this, he was astonished.
And when I told them to come out quickly, I saw that their hair was not scorched and their clothes were intact. Realizing that God had protected them, the king praised God.
It is said that God sent the messenger to save them. That's right.
The God we serve now is the God that King Nebuchadnezzar praised.
We must trust this God to be God.
Analyzing with our shallow reason, we must not trust God, but trust God with complete faith.
Such faith can glorify God.
Just like the three people who risked their lives to trust God, I pray in the name of the Lord that we too will serve God with this kind of faith.