What follows is a bedtime story of a different kind—a bedtime story for grownups.  It is a true story, though the events occurred long ago.

Background: history records that ten of the Hebrews’ twelve tribes had split into a northern kingdom, which called itself Israel.  The remaining two tribes comprised the southern kingdom of Judah, after the patriarch of the same name.  Judah’s homeland was called Judea and his descendants were known as “Jews.”  The great city of Jerusalem, in which stood the fabulous temple of Solomon, was located in Judah.  Jerusalem was the seat of government and, along with the temple, was the beating heart of the religion of “Judaism.”

During this period according to the Bible, God was using Nebuchadnezzar, King of the mighty Babylonian empire, as His instrument to punish the rebellious people of Judah.  God’s judgment was progressive, starting out in 605 B.C. with a small deportation of Jews, which included (among others) a youth named Daniel, and his three best friends.  When the people refused to submit to God’s discipline, there was a second, larger deportation, which included the Prophet Ezekiel.  Finally, because of the continued obstinacy of the people, catastrophe occurred in 586 B.C.—Jerusalem was left in ruins, the grand and glorious temple of Solomon was completely destroyed and all but a handful of remaining Jews were carried off into exile.

What caused this series of increasingly greater disasters?  Nothing much…just the breaking of God’s covenant, decades of violation of the Sabbath law concerning the land and, oh yes— idolatry.  God was transparent about His use of Babylon as a method of discipline, a discipline to which the proud inhabitants of Judah were supposed to submit to show that they acknowledged their sin and were truly repentant.  But they refused and tried to throw off Babylon’s yoke through treaties, alliances and armed resistance.  God had repeatedly warned them against taking that path, but they wouldn’t listen.  In trying to get out from under God’s discipline, they were not just rebelling against foreign rule, but against the rule of God, Himself.

So it was that six centuries before the birth of Christ, Daniel and his three close companions were among the Jews taken captive by the Babylonians.  How terrifying and tragic to have been taken prisoner by the fierce and cruel superpower of Babylon and marched off in chains to its distant homeland (modern-day Iraq).  But this was only the beginning.  Things were about to get worse for these kids…much, much worse.

As the exiles are processed by their captors (Daniel 1:1-7), Daniel and his friends are found to meet selection criteria for grooming as royal courtiers.  They are immediately forced to learn the language and customs of their conquerors, and to study their “literature,” which included the black arts. In addition to subjects like science and mathematics, the teens were expected to master the occult.  As part of their thorough and relentless indoctrination, they were ordered to break kosher, and offered food dedicated to idols, instead.  To complete the brainwashing regimen, the lads were assigned the names of foreign gods, in place of the names their parents gave them:

• Daniel (“God is [my] Judge”)—>Belteshazzar (“Bel [another name for Marduk] protect his life”)
• Hananiah (“The Lord shows grace”)—>Shadrach (“Command of Aku,” a Summerian moon god)
• Mishael (“Who is what God is?”)—>Meshach (“Who is what Aku is?”)
• Azariah (“The Lord helps”)—>Abed-nego (“Servant of Nego,” for the Babylonian god Nabu)

As our story begins, Nebuchadnezzar, narcissistic ruler of the Babylonian Empire, has directed the creation and raising of a massive golden statue which, including the pedestal on which it rested, reached a height of ninety feet.  A statue that high would have been gold-plated, not solid gold.  But it would still have represented a huge investment, at once a unique artwork, an engineering feat and a source of great pride. It is logical to assume that, given the tremendous cost of the statue, there were numerous large donors, whose financial support would have been very important to the king.

The image was an outstanding public work, attesting to the power, wealth and achievement of the empire and emblematic of the greatness and prestige of the king, himself.  As a symbol of Babylon’s gods, it also served as an object of worship.  Obeisance to the statue was intended to have a unifying effect on the government and society—the many peoples, cultures and belief systems that made up the new empire (Daniel 3:2).  Worship of the image was a loyalty oath to the king and a sign of allegiance to the state. Public refusal to worship would have been considered both unpatriotic and treasonous.

Nebuchadnezzar was a legendary builder of expensive taste and prodigious appetite.  His capital, Babylon, was an engineering marvel and boasted one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world; it was a magnificent city, which he no doubt felt deserved the patronage of a deity worthy of its splendor.

The statue’s creation was the king’s pet project (Daniel 3:1) and he was very proud of it.  This becomes obvious from its enormous size, cost and dazzling appearance; its chosen location (towering above a plain, visible from a great distance); its dedication ceremony for the high-ranking officials of his administration and the elite among Babylonian society; the herald announcing the program; the full orchestra; and the association with his own name (“the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up”). Small wonder that his imperial decree was so arrogant: “To you it is commanded…that at what time you hear…ye fall down and worship.”  Failure to comply meant an automatic death sentence and summary execution: “[you] shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace” (Daniel 3:4-6).

The stakes cannot be higher and the ambitious cannot go lower.  “Certain Chaldeans” inform on Daniel’s three friends directly to the king (which means they had to have access and, like their targets, must have been fellow royal courtiers).  The attack was fueled by envy and was based on the race, religion and national origin of Daniel’s friends (Daniel 3:8, 12).  The reminder of their birthplace identified them with a rebellious and troublesome province and was intended to cast them as proud and stubborn rebels against the king’s authority.

Despite their public defiance of the royal edict, the king does not at once carry out the punishment for disobedience that he, himself had emphatically decreed.  Why?

• These three Jewish exiles were exceptional public servants and personal advisors to the king (Daniel 1:17).
• They (along with Daniel) were among his favorites at court (Daniel 1:19, 20).
• They held key positions of enormous trust, to which they’d been appointed by the king at Daniel’s behest, as regent of the capitol Province of Babylon (Daniel 2:48-49).
• They were devoted to Daniel’s God, Whom the king had decided was both real and a force to be reckoned with (Daniel 2:47).
• They were loyal and likeable—Nebuchadnezzar is so sure of their loyalty that, even though his authority has been publicly challenged and his vanity wounded, and despite the fact that this enrages him (Daniel 3:13), he can’t quite bring himself to believe the report of his own officials.  So, he decides to check the facts personally, fully expecting that there has been some misunderstanding.

But, the king, angry as he is, is prepared to go beyond this.  He makes what for him, given his absolute power and his temperament, must have been a very rare offer indeed—even if the accusations are true, Nebuchadnezzar is willing to offer Daniel’s friends, these rebels, these turncoats, these ingrates, these traitors, a second chance (Daniel 3:14, 15).

The king may even be attempting to shield these three young men who hold high positions in his administration, by giving them two critical reminders before they answer him: ‘Number one, don’t forget that the sentence for failing to worship and serve my gods is death.’  Number two, don’t forget that the gods in which other nations trusted had no power to protect them from Babylon.  We crushed their armies, their civilizations and their religions.  I urge you to consider where real power comes from.’

Then, having made the expectations and consequences perfectly clear, the king assumes that these men, who have everything to lose and nothing to gain by refusal, will offer no further resistance.  He says, “Now, if ye be ready [to stop this nonsense and submit]…” (Daniel 3:15).  But to his amazement, the king’s faithful servants are NOT ready to bow down to any god but the true God.  Their response to the king is short and sharp.  Despite the drama and the life or death stakes, it is infuriatingly calm and composed:

‘Your Majesty, this is a no-brainer.  To answer your question, our God IS able to deliver us out of your hand and will, in fact, deliver us, should he choose to do so.  “But if not…” (if he does not choose to spare us from physical death), we want you to be clear on the fact [“be it known unto thee”] that we will NOT serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’  (paraphrase based on Daniel 3:16-18)

There was no disrespect in this reply.  These young believers were simply saying, ‘since you are going out of your way to be clear with us, oh king, we want to be equally clear with you.  This was no misunderstanding or rash act.  It was not a publicity stunt.  It’s our official position and it will not change no matter what you do to us.  We understand the threat you’re making and we have understood it all along.  We know that you have the power to act on it.  We have seen you exercise that power countless times (based on Daniel 5: 18,19).  But your power is not the highest power. It’s derived from our God, Who gave it to you and can overrule you, if it pleases Him.’

The king was not expecting this answer nor the shocking manner in which it was delivered.  The utter lack of fear of the king is especially galling.  He becomes “full of fury” (Daniel 3:19), which signifies two things—1) he has no room left inside him for anything but his own fierce anger and 2) he has now moved from judge and jury to executioner.  In this furious state of mind, he orders the furnace heated as hot as human beings are capable of making it—he is preparing a special kind of damnation for these three infidels.

So hot was the furnace, in fact, that the king has to call on soldiers in his army who had a reputation for extraordinary courage. Babylon’s armies were known for being cruel, ruthless, pitiless.  These warriors weren’t afraid of much, but the king had to call on the very bravest to go near the furnace that day.  And their fear was justified.  Just coming close enough to the opening to toss the condemned men into the fire, cost them their lives (Daniel 3:20-22).  Was this the result of the heat or did God reach out to them in judgment?  The text says that “the flame of the fire slew them,” an interesting way of putting it, since they themselves were not in the furnace.

The description of the clothes the three men were wearing (Daniel 3:21) is there to underscore the “urgency of the king’s command” mentioned in verse 22.  Nebuchadnezzar had made it crystal clear that their execution was to be immediate.

The detail that the prisoners fell down into the fire “bound” is to make it obvious that the men did not somehow untie one another. The ropes, being only ropes and not under God’s protection, were instantly incinerated from His servants’ bodies, freeing them to walk around inside the furnace (Daniel 3:25), which is what they were doing when an astonished Nebuchadnezzar next saw them.

The fibers in their clothing were only fibers. But the command of God discriminated. God had ordered a distinction between the fibers that the blaze was permitted to destroy and those which it was not.  God ordered His laws of physics to differentiate.  The fire was authorized to freely annihilate anything flammable which was in its presence, but was ordered to exempt his servants’ garments—there was to be no burning, no singeing, no discoloration, no smell of smoke.

In the same way, the bodies of the Lord’s servants were exempted not only from the fire, but also from the intense heat. The inferno was prohibited from consuming the oxygen that the Lord’s servants needed to breathe, its toxic fumes were ordered not to penetrate their noses or mouths, where they could be inhaled into their lungs.

Fire does not usually behave this way.  But at God’s command, it did.  Men do not usually behave this way.  But at God’s command they did.  Daniel’s three friends put themselves at the disposal of the Lord’s will.  And the Lord put the flames at the disposal of His will.

Their testimony was not that God had promised them a paradise on earth; that as children of the King of Kings, they were privileged and exempt from suffering and death, that God’s will for their earthly lives is that they be healthy, wealthy and wise.  Their testimony was, “but if not.”

You ask what god is able to deliver us, Mr. Tyrant, from your hands?  Our God is able.  He is also sovereign.  He makes the choices, the decisions.  If he chooses to deliver us, He will. And nothing you can say or do will stop Him.

We, on the other hand, have no choice.  Our God commands us to be loyal—to be true to Him, to be faithful, to follow Him, to worship Him and Him alone.  It is never right in His sight to worship anyone or anything else.  We do not have to think this over.  We love the Lord and it is Him we must obey.  We trust Him completely.  If you kill us, we will only live again, but in the presence of a real King, an all-powerful King, a noble and good and just and merciful king who truly loves us and can grant us real life that can’t ever be taken away again by the likes of you…

Though our God, the only God, can save us, He is under no obligation to do so.  We can’t twist His words and manipulate Him into doing our will.  We are well aware that it may serve some higher purpose (which He has not revealed to us and which we therefore cannot now understand) that we suffer death at your hands.  If that is what He has in mind, that’s just what we’ll do.  We have always considered our lives as forfeit for His sake.  If today is the day He has chosen, we are ready and we are not afraid.  [“…and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)].

How far did God allow this threat to develop against His chosen and faithful ones?  Past the plot to trap them…past their arrest and bondage…past their trial before the king…past the superheating of the furnace…past the selection of the soldiers who would hurl them into the furnace…all the way into the flames…but God had not abandoned them to their fate.  On the contrary, the Son of Man joined them in that moment.  He was seen by King Nebuchadnezzar and He was feared.

Happy ending: “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.  Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.  And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.  Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3:24-30).

‘There is no other God that can deliver like this.’  Jesus is the One who stands with us in all of our trials and ensures that the fire of hell has no power over us.  Salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12). He died for your sins and rose again so that you can have eternal life with Him, in an indestructible body like His. Do you know Him? Do you belong to Him?  If you do, then you know peace and look to the future with hope and anticipation.  If you do not, you know anxiety, uncertainty and fear.  You will dread the future and ultimately, despair.  Jesus Christ does not want that for you.  He loves you and longs to save you.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you. Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams and character).

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”  (Luke 9:23-25)