R. L. Stevenson has written a story concerning an old sea rover.
A youth came rushing to him from the scene of a tragedy, which
seemed about to doom his city. He shouted that the temple was
burning and that their god Thor was being destroyed in the fire.
"Hurry! Hurry! If you would escape," he cried. The old rover
hesitated a moment, and then he took his battle axe off his shoulder
and rubbed his thumb along the edge. He then headed for the city.
"Where are you going?" cried the frightened youth. He shouted
back, "I'm going back to die with God." There is much amazing loyalty
to false gods in this world.
Many are even willing to die for their powerless deities and helpless idols.
The unique and exclusive nature of biblical religion does not consist
in faith and loyalty, for those devoted to error can match this
devotion. It consists in the object in which the believer puts his faith,
and specifically the almighty God who is objectively able to deliver.
On the level of the subjective there are pagans who have
experiences of a spiritual nature that surpass those of the average
Christian. The LSD user has subjective visions and feelings we
cannot match. We are deceived if we think the believer is always
more secure and happy on the subjective level than the unbeliever.
This is false, for at any one point in time there are some pagans more
content and happy than Christians. And there are pagans being
more loyal and faithful to their superstitions than some Christians
are to Christ. The believer who puts his trust and hope in subjective
feelings will be tossed about by the facts and circumstances of life.
A faith that will endure and conquer all the storms must be a
faith based on objective reality. Our assurance is never to be in how
we feel. It must be in the objective reality of an omnipotent God who
loves us and who will deliver us from evil eternally, even if not from
all temporal evil. If you look at this scene of the three Jews defying
the king, you see the loyalty of men to the true God facing the loyalty
of a man to a false god. It appears to be a draw, and neither of them
are going to give an inch. The king was just as loyal to his idol as
they were to Jehovah. He refused to compromise and let them get by
with refusing to respect his god. If it is only determination and
loyalty that we are going to admire, the king is as much an example
as the three Jews.
The point we want to make here is that the whole issue revolves
around the objective reality of God, and not the subjective faith of
men. Like all passages of Scripture where you can exalt the greatness
of men in their loyalty to God, this one makes it clear that
all such loyalty would be futile apart from God's objective reality
and omnipotence. In other words, here, as everywhere, all the glory
belongs to God. The faith of these three Jews was only superior to
that of the king because the God in whom they put their faith was
real and able to deliver. The value of being aware of this is that it
keeps us from denying the reality of other men's faith and loyalty.
We have no reason to say that other people are not as faithful and
loyal as we are. We ought not to reject the possibility of unbelievers
having a great devotion to some idol, or other value they consider
ultimate.
The Bible does not say that men cannot have faith in other gods.
It stresses the truth that there is only one God we must have faith in,
for He alone can deliver us from sin and all of its consequences, for
He alone has objective omnipotence. We are not to compare and
match our subjective experiences with others, but we are to match
our God with theirs. Our only hope rests in the objective reality of
God, and not in our subjective faith or feelings. These change, but
God does not change. This alone can keep us optimistic regardless of
circumstances. When we are a persecuted minority like these three
Jews in a pagan land, and when we are forced into the flames by the
tyranny of intolerance, as they were, our help and hope will not be in
our feelings, but in the reality of God's ability to deliver.
These three Jews demonstrate their faith in the objective reality
of an omnipotent God by saying that if He does not deliver us we will
still not bow to another God and desert Him. They knew that death
could not separate them from God, and so they were prepared to die.
In verse 19 we see the fury of the tyrant at not being able by threats
to control the loyalty of men. His anger, like most anger, led to no
good. He foolishly ordered the furnace to be heated 7 times hotter
that usual, and by so doing he killed some of his own men. There is
no logic in his anger. The hotter fire could not make their death more
miserable, but rather more merciful. A slow burning would
have been torment, but instant death would be a blessing in
comparison.
His men might have thought of that, but they were not about to
risk giving him any advice at this point. Those who through them
into the furnace did not have a chance, for had they refused, they
would have been thrown in anyway. There is no way to win against
a tyrant in anger unless God intervenes, and this is what we see in
verses 24-25. God gave a promise to Israel in Isa. 43:2: "When you
pass through the waters I will be with you...When you walk through
fire you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you."
This was certainly the case here, for the flames were so hot they
killed the men who threw them in, but they survived without being
scorched. All the flame did was burn away the material that bound
them, for they were free and were walking around in the fire.
The king was shocked to see 4 rather than just 3, and he even
asked his counselors if there were 3 to be sure. There is much debate
as to what he saw, and who it was that he saw. He said that the
appearance of the 4th was like a son of the gods. The KJV would
suggest by its capital on Son and God that this was Jesus Christ.
Many commentators going back to Augustine have felt that this was
a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ. There is nothing impossible
about this interpretation, and a study of the Angel of the Lord makes
it even likely. Modern versions convey the mind of the king, and he
knew nothing of Jesus, and neither did the three Jews. To them the
4th person would be an angel of God, and the king says in verse 28
that it was an angel that God sent to deliver His servants. This fits
the knowledge of both the king and the three Jews, and the ministry
of angels. It could have been any angel, but it also could have been
the Angel of the Lord, who was a pre-incarnate Christ.
The appearance of the 4th man was to make it clear to the king that
the deliverance was of God and not by any trick of man. He got
the point, and now was ready to concede the victory to their God. He
says, "Blessed be the God of Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego who
set at naught the kings command." He said they would die, but God
said they would live. God overruled him, and he was ready to admit
it and call their God the Most High God. He said that there is none
other who is able to deliver in that way. The king is persuaded to
acknowledge Jehovah to be the highest God. He did not yet reject all
others, but he put Jehovah first, and decreed that no one dare speak
against Him. This would give the Jews a greater status in society
because their God would be honored.
The king was more positive in his relationship to the three Jews
than to God, for he gave them a promotion. What a revolting
development this was for the men who informed on them in hope of
getting them to be destroyed. Now they are given greater positions
and power. They also gained religious liberty, for they would not be
expected ever again to have to prove their loyalty by bowing to an
idol. Not all stories of defiance of authority have such a happy
ending, but regardless of the temporal consequences a believer in an
objective omnipotent God must be loyal to Him whatever the cost.
