Title Even If You Don't
Even if you do not do so (Daniel 3:13-18)
Daniel and his three friends left Jerusalem as captives and were living in the Babylonian Empire. Like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were all sincere and competent, and they were favored by King Nebuchadnezzar and became high officials of Babylon, so they were envied and jealous of the people of the Babylonian mainland. Then King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue of 60 cubits (27 m) and set it up on the plain of Dura. Often, ancient wars are also wars between nations, but since it is a war between the gods and the gods that the country serves, conquering a country destroys the idols of the other country and raises the victorious images of their own country. Finally, on the day of the inauguration ceremony, all of them bowed in unison to the sound of the trumpet (3:5). Despite the fact that those who do not bow will be thrown into the furnace, the three friends were accused of refusing the king's command (verse 12), and the king We loved them so much that we begged them to bow down to the golden image (verse 15), but the three friends replied that we could not do it, even if God did not save us (verses 17-18).
How did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come to have the faith, though not so? In Dan 1, Daniel and his three friends refused to eat the seafood and wine of the royal palace and only ate vegetarian, but by the grace of God, their faces became better than the other boys, and the overseer had the experience to keep them eating only vegetarian food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; David's words to King Saul before he fought Goliath, that is, God helped him by killing lions and bears to save the sheep, and Goliath, who insulted God's army, would become like one of the beasts (1 Samuel 17:34- 36) also comes from experiential belief. Don't we also have experiential faith? With that experience, let's become a believer even if you don't!
In the end, the three friends are thrown into the furnace fire. However, there were four people who could be seen in the bellows anxiety. When King Nebuchadnezzar looked closely, he said, "The form of the fourth is like a son of gods." In the blazing furnace fire, Jesus was with them and kept a hair on their head from being damaged. The king, seeing this amazing sight, unknowingly praised God. (verses 26-30) The faith of the three friends changed King Nebuchadnezzar and the people around him, and revealed the glory of God to the whole world. Have any of you faced great tribulation and crises like Daniel's three friends? I hope that you too, like the three friends, will be victorious with your faith even if you don't.