These Are Hard Times

A sermon on Daniel 3

by Nate Van Denend, co-editor in chief

These are hard times. My friend, who works at a local manufacturing company, had to walk three of his workers down the hall. "Get your things together," he told them. "We don’t have work for you anymore."

A man in Gaza watched from his home as his wife and his two daughters lifted white flags above their heads and stood by the door during one of the humanitarian breaks, waiting to catch the attention of the Israeli soldiers nearby. The soldiers lifted their rifles and fired. Now this man’s wife is wounded, one of his daughters is wounded, the other daughter is dead. What will keep this man from hate? Meanwhile, Hamas is rounding up and harassing residents whom they think cooperated with the Israelis. One more barrier in a nearly impossible road to peace.

Back at home, on inauguration day, Rev. Joseph Lowery prayed in his benediction, "And while we have sown the seeds of greed – the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness...." The lure of quick riches has ensnared our economy and brought it almost to a halt.

Everyone seems to be waiting ... watching and waiting. Is anyone in control here?

A note in a Boston-area restaurant may capture the mood of our times better than any other: "Due to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel is being turned off."

It seemed to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that the light at the end of the tunnel had indeed been turned off. They were plucked from their Jerusalem homes and taken into exile in Babylon. Jerusalem sacked. The Temple looted. Parents separated from children. Hopes and dreams dashed. Blood flowed in the streets. The words of that wild-eyed Jeremiah had come true. His thunder echoing in the ears of the exiles, "Therefore the LORD Almighty says this, ‘Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations.’"

King Nebuchadnezzar, my servant is a murderous, unstable man and prone to fits of rage. Filled with pride, he equates himself to God. He sets up a golden image. He demands that all his subjugated peoples bow down before the image. Like an adolescent boy flexing his newly formed muscles in front of a mirror, King Nebuchadnezzar wants to show the world and himself just how big and strong he is. He tells his people, "As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego hear these words with trepidation. They stay up late into the night. They feel like dead men, but they haven’t died. They have survived the exile from Jerusalem; but they know they cannot survive an exile from their faith. Late into the night while the smoke from the furnace drifts into their nostrils, they talk and pray together. They know that night that they cannot bow down. They hear that night the words of the LORD saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." They see with a God-given clarity the gravity of their situation.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego must face the lie of their time. King Nebuchadnezzar is no God, and his image is nothing more than a lump of gold.

The day comes and the trumpet blasts. Nebuchadnezzar strolls out to see all the people bowing down in front of his image. Clearly everyone is as impressed with Nebuchadnezzar as he is of himself. Everyone, that is, except the Israelite delegation. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are standing there with their backs to the image, defying the king’s orders. He becomes furious with rage. "Get over here!" he screams. "Do you not know the rules? Let me make this really simple: Music plays, you bow down, very good. Music plays, you do not bow down, I throw you into the fiery furnace. And then what god will be able to save you from my hand? Look at me Shadrach, Look at me Meshach, Look at me Abednego! I am godder than god. I am going to out god your God. I am going to stick you in a place where your God cannot touch you!"

King Nebuchadnezzar has fallen for the oldest temptation in the book. A long time ago a serpent said to a woman, "You will be like God." Pride. King Nebuchadnezzar’s coveting of the worship of Shadrach, King Nebuchadnezzar’s rage against Meshach, King Nebuchadnezzar’s murderous intent toward Abednego – they all come from this: What god will be able to rescue you from my hand? I am more of a god than your God. I am godder than God! Pride. A pride that could destroy even Nebuchadnezzar himself.

It is almost humorous in hindsight, once you know the outcome of the story. Thousands of people prostrate on the field of Dura. All of them obeying the king’s command. And here is the king, thrown into a rage over the three who do not. Why does he care? If Nebuchadnezzar was a god and all, couldn’t he tolerate a little dissent from the Israelite delegation? Wouldn’t Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego figure out his godness soon enough?

No. Think about it. In order for a lie to be persuasive everyone has to believe it. Think of the childhood story of the emperor’s new clothes. As long as no one confessed to the truth, he was able to march around with glorious clothes that even he couldn’t see. He has lied to himself that he is a god and now he needs everyone to believe it too. Truth doesn’t work that way. Truth stays true even when people don’t believe it. People committed to the truth can handle a little dissent because the truth doesn’t depend on everyone’s agreeing to it. Lies cannot handle dissent; they depend on everyone’s agreement.

And now Nebuchadnezzar’s lie is put to the test. He thinks he can put Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in a place where no god – I mean no god at all – can touch them – the fiery furnace. This is the one thing that will restore his pride. He must suppress those who testify to the truth.

Pride drives the coveting, pride drives the rage and now pride drives the murder.

And it seems that God is letting this happen unchecked. Jeremiah called King Nebuchadnezzar "my servant," but Nebuchadnezzar is about ready to demonstrate to all the people that the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is actually Nebuchadnezzar’s servant.

We don’t have to look too far to see people who think that God is actually their servant and not the other way around. There are plenty of dictators, rulers and authorities who share this pride of Nebuchadnezzar and demonstrate it by attacking Christians. Christians are persecuted in Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan, Burma, Eritrea and North Korea, just to name a few of the many, many places where Christians are not free to practice their religion. In many parts of the world Christians are faced with the same stark choice that faced Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Deny one’s faith and live or stand as a servant of the one true God in the face of pride and lies, knowing full well that such people will stop at nothing even murder, to suppress the truth.

But we don’t have to look too far to see this happen on a much smaller scale. A friend of mine is teaching a class. He asked his students why more citizens did not protest in Nazi-occupied Europe. No one seemed to know the answer. Then he asked, "How many of you are opposed to abortion on demand? How many of you feel like you cannot speak your views on this issue? How many of you find it difficult to stand up for your view in a room of pro-choice people? I think many of us have felt this pressure."

I heard a story from a man who went to a party in Hollywood. Hundreds of the Hollywood elite were there. A rumor began to circulate in the crowd that this man was a preacher. The man was faced with questions almost as soon as he walked in. "So you really believe that some guy who died 2000 years ago actually has something to say to us today?" "You really believe that this guy rose from the dead?" "Really?"

To stand up for convictions can be disorienting. Challenging. Frightening. We feel these emotions even when the threat is only imagined and the penalties involved are mere social exclusion. How much greater the challenge? How much greater the fear? How much greater the disorientation when life – your own life, my own life – is on the line for the truth in the face of the lie?

Where do we turn for the strength to face these fears? Where do we turn for the courage to stand up for our convictions? Where do we find solid ground to stand and truth to hold onto? Where do we turn for hope and truth in a world of disorientation and lies?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have an answer. They think to themselves that frightful night before the trumpet blast, "Maybe there is hope the words of the wild-eyed prophet Jeremiah. Maybe this king is a servant, subservient even to the LORD." They remember their Hebrew names. Shadrach is Hananiah which means "the Lord is gracious." Meshach is Mishael, "Who is what God is?" And Abednego is Azariah, "the Lord has helped." They remember the LORD and his promises. They trust in the LORD. They know that the time has come for them to prove their faithfulness. They know the command of the king and feel the cunning of the evil one. Surely, when the King said those frightful words "What god can save you from my hand?" they remembered this same king had destroyed Jerusalem. They remembered that this same king had taken all the vessels from the temple and even burned it to the ground. Your city is plundered and the temple of your God is burned down. What God can save you from my hand?

But they stand defiant before the king because the LORD gives them strength. We do not need to defend ourselves in this matter. The Aramaic literally is we do not "need to return a word to you." Here they stand with Jesus Christ himself who also did not need to return a word to his accusers. His actions of faithfulness to God and defiance of false gods and false religion needs no defense. It needs no return word. The action is the point. The standing there in the truth is the point.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego do explain their position, however. If you throw us in our God will save us. Even if he does not we will not serve the image you have set up. Clear, crisp and clean. God has given these men wisdom and insight. Now is not the time to condemn the King’s pride. Now is not the time to invoke the second commandment. Now is not the time to explain all the reasons. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego make it really simple. No matter what you do King Nebuchadnezzar, you will lose. Even if we die, you still lose. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have accepted their fate. They testify that their God is not bound to temples or to cites but is over all nations and people. And now they testify that their God is also over life and death. They believe that somehow even if God does not save them, even that fact would not separate them from their faith in God. What surrender to God! What trust in God’s sovereignty! This is the ultimate, Not my will, but thine be done!

Not unexpectedly, this response invokes a flood of rage. Literally in the Aramaic, the text says that he was filled with rage and the appearance of his face was altered. His face is purple with rage! He orders the furnace heated up seven times and throws Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fire.

But instead of burning up his resistance, Nebuchadnezzar ends up smoking God out. "Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" Nebuchadnezzar excitedly says to his ministers. "Yes," they say in response. "But, I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

This is what happens when the faithful are thrown in to the fire. God shows up. God keeps his promises. God does not abandon to the grave. God does not let the faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be in vain.

But who notices the one "who looks like a son of the gods" in the fire? Perhaps, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego notice him. But they may not. I gotta tell you, church, sometimes when people are walking around in the fire they can’t see what God is doing. Sometimes when faithful people are thrown into the fire, God’s working is hidden from them. Maybe Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego don’t see. Maybe the smoke and the heat and the surprise of it all blind them to God’s presence. But that does not mean that God is not working. That does not mean that God will not reveal himself to those he has come to save.

In the diaries of Mother Theresa she confesses that most of the time she was not able to experience God for herself. But everyone else saw God working there in Calcutta. Everyone else saw the hands of Jesus touch the untouchables, kiss the unkissables and wash the unwashables. And here everyone else saw God show up. Do not be discouraged in your sufferings and in your fires. God uses the measure of faithfulness he has given you for his glory. You can count on that.

But who sees? Nebuchadnezzar sees. King Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, sees His Master. The one who challenged God sees God. The one who thought he was godder than God, just got out – godded by God. The one who thought no God could save Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is forced to call God "the most High God." "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!" The prideful Nebuchadnezzar is humbled in front of all his people. And God continues to humble his servant Nebuchadnezzar. We find at the end of Chapter 4 the final words of King Nebuchadnezzar, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the king of heaven, for all his deeds are right and his ways are just and he is able to humble the prideful."

But what about those who walk in pride in our world today? It’s a nice story, preacher man, but we got prideful people all around us. They are being impeached in Illinois, prosecuted for fraud in New York, breeding cycles of hatred and violence in thousands of dark corners of the world. What is God doing about them? And what’s God doing about me? I’ve got my own pride to recon with, and I haven’t really been that faithful either over the years. In fact, there have been times when I have given in to fear and intimidation and not stood up for the truth. There have been times when my own pride led me to believe that God is my servant rather than the other way around.

Let me tell you what God is doing about them, and let me tell you what God is doing about us. A few generations after Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, a teenage girl lived under the rule of a foreign king who also claimed to be a god. And quietly, in this dark corner of the world, she spoke the words of faith that resound the world over. Mary said to the angel, "May it be to me as you have said." With these words of faith, God himself comes down to heal the pride in this world. God shows us what it really means to be like God. It means to humble oneself. Paul writes in Philippians, "Jesus Christ, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness.... He humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place." While we try to build ourselves up and inflate our egos and claim to be like God, God comes down and becomes one of us. The way to exaltation is through self-emptying. The way to be like God is to be humble. We don’t take away the pride in this world. God does. We don’t take away the sins of this world. God does. We can’t get rid of our own pride. God does. On our own we lack courage to stand for the truth, but God gives us strength. We sometimes can’t help our faithlessness, but God can. We look around at our embattled and broken world and we feel helpless. But God is our ever present help in times of trouble. We look at irreconcilable differences on grand intergenerational scales. Who can bring peace to such a situation?

Let me put it this way, when God steps into the fire of trouble, God doesn’t take sides. He rescues both King Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, and Shadrach, my servant. Prosecutor and perpetrator. Martyr and murderer. Victim and victimizer. Offender and offended. Criminal and criminalized. Jew and Jesus lover. Sinner and sinner.

That is who God comes to save when he steps into the fire. Both are humbled by God’s appearance, both are rescued, both can be redeemed through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And when God steps in to our current crises we can expect the same. Dr. Victor Makari, an Egyptian and the Middle Eastern liaison for the Presbyterian Church USA spoke at the January series about the 2000 year witness of Christians in the Middle East. When a baby is baptized in Lebanon, he said, is a 2000 year old baby! Then he continued, Christians inspire hope... In Gaza a Christian hospital offers help to the wounded and the sick. In Egypt a YMCA offers job training to a mostly Moslem lower class. On a formal level, Christians organize places for Moslem Christian and even Jewish dialogue, al in the midst of the fighting.

You see God does not take sides. God knows that the evil in Nebuchadnezzar is the same evil that lurks in every heart. And God sent his Son Jesus to heal that evil, to bring about reconciliation, to bring about peace. Jesus appears to save sinners on both sides of the furnace. Through dying and rising Jesus Christ proves that God’s sovereignty extends over all situations, economic, political – even life and death. This is the God of heaven. This is the God who saves us. Thanks be to God.

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