Series: Dog Daze
Daniel 3:28-30 ESV
Daniel 1:1-3 ESV
I have seen a miraculous turn about in my lifetime in people I did not think would ever happen.
Even when I had prayed for them with group prayer backing I could not see any sign that would indicate they had any desire to turn to God.
I think that could have been the case with the King who was overseer to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Seriously, how could the three men from Judah believe God would show up in such a miraculous way when they were thrown into the fiery furnace.
It’s a more likely scenario that they believed they would see God in heaven and sit before the throne worshipping God. If I would have been them I probably would have been thinking, “I’ll see you in a few God.”
However after the three men came out in Daniel 3:28-30 we are told, “Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.”
The unexpected blessing of the fourth ONE who came to rescue them brought blessing after blessing after blessing!
The recognition of the trust the three men gave to God exhibited great faith. While the text does not indicate they had a premonition or any indication whatsoever telling them they would be saved, they knew beyond any shadow of doubt that they would see God.
In a sense they did see God, just not in the way they expected. The fourth ONE was in the furnace WITH them.
In my mind it seems unlikely that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have heard of God showing up in this manner for anyone else. While Hebrew boys were educated in Hebrew scripture we have to remember that the brightest and best men and boys of Israel had been removed from the homeland of Israel. While they were living in a foreign land that didn’t have a Hebrew Temple. They weren’t studying in the Hebrew Temple everyday while they were in exile.
What we DO know is what we read in Daniel 1:1-3, “ln the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.”
There was no mention of the Hebrew boys receiving any training in the ways of Yahweh God.
They were instead trained in the ways of the Chaldeans. So, who or what were the Chaldeans? The term could be specific however, “there are many instances where the word Chaldean is used to refer to Babylonians (Isaiah 13:19; 47:1, 5; 48:14, 20)” (https://www.compellingtruth.org/Chaldeans.html).
So they were trained the way King Nebuchadnezzar II wanted them to be trained.
The decree mentioned in Daniel 3:28-30 referred to anyone and everyone under King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. The decree was a declaration that anyone who speaks against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Yahweh God) will be torn from limb to limb and their houses will be destroyed because according to the mighty King there clearly are NO other gods. In other words, there IS only one God and that is Yahweh God.
Then as if that wasn’t incredible enough, in Daniel 3:30 the mighty King went on to promote Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Suffice it to say, the day that started out looking like it would be a horrible day (and maybe their last day alive on earth) turned out to be a wonderful glorious day for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Spiritual Practice: Bad to Worse to Wonderful
Have you had a day that went from Bad to Worse to Wonderful because God was IN IT? How did that change you?
In God, Deborah
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