YOUR WERE THERE ALL THE TIME
Daniel 3:25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
There are many times in the Bible when God chose to reveal himself in very interesting ways like when Jesus told Peter to go fish, and the first fish he would catch would have a four drachma coin in it’s mouth to pay the temple tax for he and Peter. Of course it happened just as Jesus said it would. The reason it happened was Jesus made it so. He could have just as easy made one in Peter’s pocket, but Peter and everyone else would have just thought it had been there all along. It is not so unusual to keep money in our pocket, but Jesus wanted to show Peter and us that he is the Son of God. Now as we see here with Nebuchadnezzar, God want’s to show his son again.
As was the custom with the Pharaohs of Egypt and other leaders of mighty empires, they would make statues of themselves to impress those alive and those who would follow them. Nebuchadnezzar was no exception. Because his empire was one of the larges of that time, he had made a statue of himself of gold. Maybe it was because of the dream that God had given him that we read about in chapter two. In that dream his head of gold was on the huge statue. For whatever the reason was at the day of dedication everyone was supposed to bow down to it and worship it.
Showing Nebuchadnezzar respect probably wasn’t the problem since Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego already had positions of leadership given them by Daniel. The problem for them was to worship the statue as a person would an idol. Idol worship was what got Israel sent into exile to begin with. Now by making a stand for the Lord by sooner being thrown into the fire than to worship the statue was not just making a statement against Nebuchadnezzar, but was more a statement for their God.
We can tell that Nebuchadnezzar didn’t want to kill the men or he wouldn’t have given them a second chance to avoid the fire. What made it worse for Nebuchadnezzar was that this was the second time the three men had shown disobedience and probably disrespect of Nebuchadnezzar in front of witnesses.
Now Nebuchadnezzar needed to do something to make a statement regarding his authority and how others would be dealt with for any disobedience and disrespect. Making the point even more so Nebuchadnezzar made it seven times hotter than necessary. It was meant to be intimidating as well as deadly. The thing was the greater the flames and intimidation, the greater the Lord would become as he came to their rescue. To the surprise and shock of everyone Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had their ropes burned off and and as they began to walk in the flames with no effect on them. Then the Son of God appeared and walked with them. God even gave Nebuchadnezzar the insight to know it was the Son of God. Of course he didn’t know it was Jesus, and infact he just said it looked like a son the the gods. Once again God had made himself known to Nebuchadnezzar. For some reason and it could have been Nebuchadnezzar’s heart towards him as we see in several verse like 3:29,30 and 4:34-37, that God cared so much for him as well as the three Hebrews.
How has God made himself known to you? I know he has, because he has for everyone at one time or another. Often people will call it a lucky break or a coincidence. Sometimes it will be life changing for some people, and other times people will go on as if it was no big deal. The thing is God wants to reveal himself to us, and often it is in everyday experiences. The thing is most often we need to be looking for God to intervene in our lives to see and appreciate it. Just like the four drachma coin in the fish’s mouth.
Some may say those fish like to carry rocks and the like in their mouth, and it had just happened to scoop up a coin t just the right time. For them it was just a lucky coincidence. But for Peter, the other apostles and myself it was another sign that God was in it. Sometimes people will call it a God thing, but it is much more than that! God was showing himself to us.
I hope you take time and let the Holy Spirit bring to your remembrance some of the times that he was in the fire or flood with you just as Isaiah had prophesied in 43:2 where is says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;”
Why do I ask you to do this? So you will know just like the poem of “Footprints in the Sand,” God has not only been there with you, but many times just like he has for me, he carried us! God is real and he loves you!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for all the times you have been there to help us and make yourself real to us. You are so good to us, and we love you so much!
