Daniel Chapter 3

THE FIERY FURNACE

(Daniel 3:1)
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

• How long has passed and he re-enters idolatry?
• If a cubit is 1.5 feet, this is 90 feet high, 9 feet wide, of gold!
• Man's human nature in the flesh is to praise God and one second later walk away to idolatry

(Daniel 3:2)
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

• All of the team is in the audience........this means this was a huge event to Nebuchadnezzar
• This is all for a dead piece of shiny metal that cannot save
• This has a value (08/16/2012) of 212, 585, 477, 913.6 dollars or 212.5 billion dollars!
• There are wastes of time and money and then there are COLOSSAL wastes of time and money!

(Daniel 3:3)
Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

• The phrase "the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up" is repeated twice, immediately in succession.  Why is this?

(Daniel 3:4-6)
Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:  And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

• What sort of idol of gold wants to be worshipped?
• What sort of person worships gold, a dead metal?
• This many instruments for a hunk of dead metal?
• What golden statue was worshipped in the Bible? (Exodus 32)
• What golden statue will be worshipped in the Bible? (Revelation 13)
• Does God ever force His people by threat of death to worship Him?
• Religion, especially organized religion, demands worship-or else!
• We have today "American Idol", for instance

What do we have as idols in our lives?  In our country?

• All people, nations, languages in the empire
• People of any language can bow and worship as a form of communication
• How hard for the anti-Christ to be worshipped by the world in the near future?
• Today we call these "rock concerts", like the Super Bowl 2012 halftime show with Madonna, etc.

(Daniel 3:8)
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.

• "Hey!  You are not worshipping the golden image!"

• There's that "O King! Live Forever!" again
• You set up the image, you made the decree, 

• This is done today with Muslims
• Often a convert to Christianity will have a tire around their neck, then get dowsed in gasoline, then lit on fire alive, North Africa

(Daniel 3:12)
There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

•  There is always a remnant of belivers, even in a pagan empire
• Not only that, but they are leaders over the people, meaning people will follow their lead

(Daniel 3:13)
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

• Nebuchadnezzar almost always seems to show himself a man with a short fuse and a lot of anger

• RAGE:  In Scripture, mostly wicked people raged against God or God Himself raged towards man
• Even when they raged against man, the Bible says the rage still reached up to God or was ultimately aimed towards Him-so rage is ungodly, anti-god
• In your anger do not sin...so in your rage, REALLY do not sin!
• FURY:   Esau had fury; God has fury
• The Book of Jeremiah has a lot of instances of God's fury in it
• Jeremiah was in and about the Babylonian captivity, where Daniel is and which Daniel reads later
• Nebuchadnezzar and the objects in his dreams had fury

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(Ephesians 4:26)
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

rage

1. angry fury; violent anger.
2. a fit of violent anger.
3. fury violence wind, waves, fire, disease, etc.
4. violence of feeling, desire, or appetite: the rage of thirst.
5. a violent desire or passion.

RAGE

(2 Kings 19:27)
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

(2 Kings 19:28)
Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

(2 Chronicles 16:10)
Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

(2 Chronicles 28:9)
But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.

(Job 40:11)
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.

(Psalms 7:6)
Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.

(Proverbs 6:34)
For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

(Proverbs 29:9)
If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

(Isaiah 37:28)
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

(Isaiah 37:29)
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

(Daniel 3:13)
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

(Hosea 7:16)
They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

(Nahum 2:4)
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.

fury
[fyoo r-ee]

1. unrestrained or violent anger, rage, passion, or the like:
   The gods unleashed their fury on the offending mortal.
2. violence; vehemence; fierceness: the fury of a hurricane; a fury of creative energy.
3. Furies, Classical Mythology. minor female divinities: the daughters of Gaea who punished crimes at the instigation of the victims: known to the Greeks as the Erinyes or Eumenides and to the Romans as the Furiae or Dirae. Originally there were an indefinite number, but were later restricted to Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.
4. a fierce and violent person, especially a woman: She became a fury when she felt she was unjustly accused.
5. Idioms
   Like fury, Informal. violently; intensely: It rained like fury.

FURY

(ESAU)

(Genesis 27:44)
And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;

(GOD)

(Job 20:23)
When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

(Isaiah 34:2)
For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

(Isaiah 42:25)
Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

(Isaiah 51:13)
And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

(Isaiah 51:20)
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.

(Isaiah 59:18)
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

(Jeremiah 4:4)
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

(Jeremiah 6:11)
Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

(Jeremiah 7:20)
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

(Jeremiah 10:25)
Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

(Jeremiah 21:12)
O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

(Jeremiah 25:15)
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

(Jeremiah 32:31)
For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

(Jeremiah 36:7)
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

(Jeremiah 42:18)
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

(Jeremiah 44:6)
Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

(Lamentations 2:4)
He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

(Ezekiel 5:13)
Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

(Ezekiel 5:15)
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

(Ezekiel 6:12)
He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

(Ezekiel 7:8)
Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.

(Ezekiel 9:8)
And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?

(Ezekiel 13:13)
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.

(Ezekiel 14:19)
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

(Ezekiel 16:38)
And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

(Ezekiel 16:42)
So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

(Ezekiel 20:8)
But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

(Ezekiel 20:13)
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

(Ezekiel 20:21)
Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

(Ezekiel 20:33)
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

(Ezekiel 20:34)
And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

(Ezekiel 21:17)
I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.

(Ezekiel 22:22)
As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

(Ezekiel 24:8)
That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.

(Ezekiel 24:13)
In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

(Ezekiel 30:15)
And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.

(Ezekiel 36:18)
Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:

(Ezekiel 38:18)
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.

(Daniel 3:13)
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.

(Daniel 8:6)
And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.

(Daniel 9:16)
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

(Daniel 11:44)
But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

(Micah 5:15)
And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

(Nahum 1:6)
Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

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(Daniel 3:14)
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

• We can be sure that he is not asking to find out, but to get a confession or get them to change their minds on this
• It is presumed that, with them being leaders and having rapport, he wanted their answer to be that it was untrue, but Nebuchadnezzar knows better than that
• These are men who he has exalted recently to positions of authority in his kingdom

(Daniel 3:15)
Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

• Cast that same hour-no trrial, no imprisonment, just tossed into the flames immediately-true rage and fury
• Translation:  "Do you have any idea what I can do to you?" 
• This is the arrogance of power

(Daniel 3:16)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

• Same question, same answer
• God has the Final say on what happens to us in persecution and no one can touch us without His say so-not even the enemy himself

(Daniel 3:17)
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

• When we face persecution and martyrdom, we need not fear it, for God is in control, and will even give us the words to speak, ass he did with Stephen at his stoning

(Luke 12:11)And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:(Luke 12:12)For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

(Daniel 3:18)
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

• No matter what.....God is to be worshipped............no matter what
• "be it known to thee"...."Just lettin' ya know"

• As if he was not filled enough already, he is now even more furious
• Perhaps he thought that, upon seeing how hot the furnace was, they would repent

• He literally meant "the same hour" in verse 15
• Do you have to bind people who are thrown into something so hot that they would burn in seconds to death anyways?  
• How would they run, to where would they run, being surrounded by guards?
• Jesus was put in a tomb with a stone rolled over-HE got out
• They will be thrown to a certain death-God will get THEM out

• Fully clothed, no need to strip them down, take their clothes
• Hitler at least stole the clothes and jewels before killing the Jews in the furnaces
• Nebuchadnezzar was rich and not in need ot clothing for a "war effort"; Hitler wasn't
• What was the purpose of this furnace, anyways? Was it for manufacturing? Or killing?
• Fact is, the ancients used fire to sacrifice people, infants in their pagan rituals, and still do today
• Sacrificing infants to Molech is one of the precise reasons for the Jews' captivity

• A "back" "draft" of the highest porportions
• Executioners are apparently also dispensible in Nebuchadnezzar's world-they did not get burned, they DIED!
• Notice who did not get burned in this throwing into the furnace?

• Remember  that they fell down because they were bound
• The furnace is sufficient enough in size to have a huge flame to destroy people getting too close
• The furnace is sufficient enough in sizeto hold FOUR men in it
• Since they were in the midst, perhaps the executioners died because they were trying to throw them far into the middle?

• Apparently this was a spectator sport for Nebuchadnezzar and his aides. He has to have experienced this sight many times before and become numb to watching it, almost like violent TV.
• He rose up, because he was sittting down and watching
• The use of the word "we" shows that this whole crime is a conspiracy, making everyone guilty, evne those who did not physically carry it out, like the king.  Hitler was guilty of killing 6,000,000 Jews, though it is doubtful he personally carried out any of it.

• The LORD is with them, has untied them (loosed the chains of sin) and they are unsinged, healthy!
• Who is the fourth, like the Son of God?
• Modern versions deny the pre-incarnate Christ here by using "a son of the gods"
• No matter if in our lives we go through the fiery furnace with something, Jesus goes into it with us

(Isaiah 43:2)
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

(John 8:36)
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

(Daniel 3:26)
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.

• At this point, it is impossible for Nebuchadnezzar to deny a miracle, since he lost three executioners  whose bodies would have blocked the entrance to the furnace, being on fire anyways, so these men being alive?  No human chance of it
• They simply walked right out, being in God's perfect will

•  This is complete and perfect salvation.....a picture of us in Heaven, perhaps?  Not even the SMELL of smoke?  Even on their clothing?
• Why did not the Son of God come out with them to show all who saved them?

•  Light bulb on here? At least he knows how they got out unharmed
• "His angel" never came out with the the boys to Nebuchadnezzar
• God overturned the verdict, according to Nebuchadnezzar

• God overturned the verdict and changed the edict, according to Nebuchadnezzar 
• However, his edicts about cutting people up and making their houses dunghills is still there in him, even now he knows who God is!

• After the persecution, a blessing from God
• This does not have to be, it just was because God let it be so.
• Today, often even more persecution comes, but people get saved

Question: Are we ready to go through this today?