God and the King: Recognizing God’s power

In my last post, we took a look at Daniel 2 where Nebuchadnezzar met God for the first time through Daniel’s ability to interpret a dream. The king acknowledged God was real, wise, and involved in the lives of His people.

In Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar encountered God for the second time, this time through Daniel’s friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar had a giant statue built, then required everyone to bow down and worship it when they heard music. Anyone who disobeyed would be thrown into a fiery furnace.

This caused a problem for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because in Exodus 20:2-6, God had commanded His followers to bow to no other gods, especially ones created by human hands. They could obey God and evoke the wrath of the king who would have them put to death, or they could obey the king and evoke God’s wrath instead. They chose to obey God.

When the king heard that three of his advisers (appointed in Daniel 2) refused to bow, he was outraged. He couldn’t fathom the idea of anyone disobeying him, especially when he had the power to end their lives. In fact, we find in verse 15 that he was so angry that not only did he personally command them to bow, but he also challenged God directly; “who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

This wasn’t a question of if their God was real — as we saw in Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that God existed and was even the wisest of gods. But to the polytheist king, God was just like the rest of the Babylonian gods he knew — limited to specific abilities. In his mind, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s only available salvation was to obey him.

However, the three Israelites knew better. They knew that God wasn’t just limited to being all wise, but that He was all powerful as well. And in verses 17-18, they responded to the king’s threat. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

If Nebuchadnezzar was angry before, then he was absolutely livid now. He commanded his guards to heat the furnace to seven times greater than normal and to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into it with the excessive heat killing the guards in the process.

But God responded to the faith of His people, answering Nebuchadnezzar’s challenge in the process. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he couldn’t believe his eyes — he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking around in the middle of the flames. What’s more, they had no singed hairs, no burns, and not even a smell of smoke. And even that wasn’t the most astonishing thing the king saw. Inside the furnace, there were not three, but four men — the fourth of whose appearance looked "like the Son of God!" (v. 25).

In verse 28, the king called Daniel’s friends out of the furnace and exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” And in verse 29, he recognized God’s power above all other divine powers he knew; “there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

Even after nonbelievers are introduced to God and His wisdom, they may still be afraid. Culture pressures them to believe that God is for the ignorant and immature. Or they may be surrounded by a world of sorrow and pain, feeling like nobody can help them; that they screwed up too much or are stuck too deep in their situation. But as God showed Nebuchadnezzar, no pressure, situation, or fire is too great for Him to bring His people through.

Recognizing God’s power is the second step on the path to Salvation. Nonbelievers need to learn that not only is God real, wise, and involved but also has the power to take care of those who trust Him.

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