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June 17, 2007
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Relationship
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Rack, Shack and Benny"
Daniel 3: 1-30
- About this time if you had been there with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, what would you have said? How would you have responded to this challenge from this king?
Their story is a brief glimpse into what life was like for some of those exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC. In fulfillment of the warnings God had given for many years, Jerusalem was conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar and 10,000 artisans, craftsmen and officers and all the fighting men were exiled. Nebuchadnezzar only left the poorest of the poor in the land.
Among these captives were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah four Hebrew youths from the familiy of Zedikiah, the king. These were taken into the palace to receive three years of special training and to serve the king. This would have meant they were made eunuchs along with having their names were changed to Babylonian names. This was done to demonstrate they were now in subjects of Babylon. Their new names exalted the gods Bel, Aku and Nebo of Babylon whereas their previous names uplifted the power of Yahweh of Israel. In this book Daniel demonstrates that he does not like his new name by referring to the fact it was changed six different times and using his proper name of Daniel 75 times throughout the book.
Daniel some time before this event had distinguished himself in the eyes of the king by correctly retelling and interpreting a dream, and at that time the King said: "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of Kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery" (2:47). In response Nebuchadnezzar had placed Daniel in a high position above all the province of Babylon and placed him over all the wise men of the land. And at Daniel's request the king also had appointed his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, whom I have called Rack, Shack and Benny after the VeggieTales' version of this story, as administrators over the province of Babylon.
It was then after this, the King apparently forgot about Daniel's God being the God of gods, for he made this huge 90 foot high image of Gold as an object of worship and commanded that whenever his people heard the sound of an instrument to bow before it and worship it. We are not told why he made this statue - but it may have been prompted by the dream he had had that Daniel had interpreted for him, in which he was the head of a golden statue that stood for his and future rulers of Babylon.
We are also not told why Daniel or any other Jews were not implicated in this plot against these three administrators in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, however at the king's command these three youth were dragged before him.
So, this has brought us to this place where the king has commanded that either they bow to his image or they die in the fire.
- NOW THESE THREE YOUTH KNEW SOMETHING THAT THE KING DID NOT KNOW. THEY KNEW THAT THEY HAD A GOD THAT KING NEZ WAS NOT AWARE OF. THEIR GOD WAS ABLE TO RESCUE THEM. AND HOW DID THEY KNOW THIS?
In the first chapters of the description of their time in Babylon there you find descriptions of how they knew. For although they had been carried away from their homeland to this foreign place, when they had arrived with their brother and friend Daniel, they had been allowed to eat the purest of foods and were healthier than the others kept in the palace. This was a little sign that their God was giving them favor.
When the King had a dream that disturbed him and could not find an advisor or magician who could tell him both WHAT he had dreamed and the INTERPRETATION, (imagine that!) he had decided to kill all his advisors. But Daniel had given the king a description both of the dream and of the interpretation and therefore his God had been declared to be unlike any other, and his three brothers had been elevated to positions of leadership in Babylon because of this.
They remembered this. They knew theirs was the LIVING GOD. He was not a dead idol, he was not a God just of the sea or the sun or the moon, as were the gods of Babylon, but rather, Theirs was the GOD of GODS the KING OF KINGS the LORD OR LORDS.
Indeed, Rack, Shack and Benny, as they famous children's Veggie Tale describes them, would have know the Psalter and would have read Psalm 115 where idols are described. Hear this from that psalm:
"Why do the nations say, 'Where is their God?'
Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him.
But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."
What does this say? Their gods are "no gods" at all. They are only statues!
So the psalmist continues, "O House of Israel, TRUST IN THE LORD HE is their help of shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD… You who fear Him, trust in the Lord…"
So when the King asks: 'What God will be able to rescue you from my hand?" they knew. Their God was able.
For their God was not an idol but was the living God. And they knew that although they were named for the gods of Babylon that they would never truly be servants of those gods, for they were only servants of their God, the most High God. Their God was invisible to see, but mighty to behold, mighty to save.
- SO they stood their ground. They demonstrated that when all is impossible, trust in the Lord. For this is the God to save.
King Nebuchadnezzar perhaps had set up such a statue because of the dream he had which Daniel with the help of God had interpreted. But clearly it was something he had set up, in fact the text repeats this about 11 times that the king had set this up. It was not something that had fallen from heaven. It was not something that had magically appeared, but had been made by people and set up at the king's command. It was a man-created focus of worship. It was an idol.
Now this is not something disconnected from our lives - but idols are all around us still. Our society asks us to bow to something in our lives instead of God. Whether idols that involve something we might choose to "do" or idols in something we might want to "have" and own still, there is a temptation that we must "bow" to them.
This week at Annual Conference there was this sign posted all over campus that said, "50 ways to leave your lover" advertising that we would learn those ways on Friday morning. When the day came, the "lover" was materialism - and our bend to acquire more and more things and the "ways to leave this lover" were then displayed around. But that is something our society easily bows to - and perhaps it is time we realized this is an idol, it is a turn from God and we need to rather bow to God.
The three Hebrew youths had no problem turning from the idol the king had set up. They remembered who God was and what God had done. They were certain theirs was the living God.
So they turned to the king and responded showing the utmost respect: "we do not need to defend ourselves in this matter." You hear no fear in their response. They are simply stating the fact that they won't try to prove there are right in their decision, rather they say:
"The God we serve is ABLE TO SAVE US FROM (the fiery furnace)" they said. "AND HE WILL RESCUE US FROM YOUR HAND, O KING."
- THEY SAY THAT OUR GOD IS ABLE TO RESCUE US FROM YOUR HAND, O KING. HE IS BIG ENOUGH TO CONQUER EVEN YOUR FIRE, EVEN DEATH.
Loud and clear we hear through them, when things look impossible, trust God. Trust. Believe that God is able to work the miracle and God is big enough to rescue and defend. Look to God from the darkness of the situation and know that God will see you through.
Here facing the fiery furnace this is what the three youth do. They look at the king and believe their God is still the God who is able to fight like they cannot fight.
Are you facing anything in your life that may not be quite as big but feels just as impossible? Are you encountering something that has you with no option but to trust?
I know of people that are hampered with job situations where the boss sometimes will say, "do what I say or you will lose your job" and they have had to do so, they have had to face this and do it.
I know of people facing huge illnesses, impossible amounts of debt, horrible relationship problems, who feel as if they are facing a fiery furnace, a place of no hope, of impossibility.
These people are remembering that when everything looks impossible, they have a God they can trust.
- SO OUR HEBREW HEROES STAND IN FAITH IN A TRIUMPHANT WAY TRUSTING IN THE GOD WHO IS ALIVE WHO IS LIVING WHO WILL SEE THEM THROUGH. THEY GO ON TO SAY:
BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT,
Isn't that a great line? Not, we will trust God if God answers our prayers they way we hope God will answer. Not, we will trust God to this point. But we will trust our God who can work the impossible even if to you it looks like God has failed to answer our prayers,
O KING!
Again, BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, WE WANT YOU TO KNOW, O KING, THAT WE WILL NOT SERVE YOUR GODS OR WORSHIP THE IMAGE OF GOLD YOU HAVE SET UP" (17-18).
Remember, they were supposed to "bow down" to those gods in Babylon because they had been "named for those gods".
They were supposed to serve the gods of Babylon, but they were refusing to serve the gods of culture in favor of being servants of the most high God.
I love this statement "EVEN IF HE DOES NOT" for they stand in such confident faith in the face of such a disaster and their confidence is in God not in what God may or may not do for them. Their confident trust is in God no matter the outcome of the situation.
When everything looks impossible in life, trust God!
- SOMETIMES I HAVE ENCOUNTERED PEOPLE WHO ARE BITTER WITH GOD FOR SOMETHING in their lives has not turned out as they hoped it would and they hold God responsible. They hold onto bitterness, a bitterness that ultimately will cripple them physically unless they learn to lay it down. They have tossed aside confident trust in God who remains God no matter what befalls us, and adopt instead the stance of "had I been God, this never would have happened."
This is not how our heroes respond in this story. They do not say, "God if you had been here this would not have happened," but they recognize that God is indeed with them, in death or in life, in deliverance or in being consumed by the flames. Indeed they recognize that God had been with them even when taken to captivity in Babylon which was a horrific circumstance. God has been with them there and God was still with them now, even if God did not rescue them.
Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure and privilege of going to see the dance recital for Banks Performing Arts, of course to see my own daughter dance in it, and she was exquisite, but also to just enjoy the whole show.
It was a terrific ending to my week. It was so full of joy and laughter! I loved all the laughter that I experienced especially with all the little kids and their wonderful ways of performing.
There was this one time that this group of little ballerinas were on stage and they were all dancing in their various ways when one of the little ones suddenly got concerned. I saw her little forehead wrinkle as the thought hit her, a thought that she suddenly stopped and spoke out loud: "Mommy, are you here?"
They peered into the darkness before her, for we sat in the dark and she was under the spotlights.
She was not certain, but now worried when back to her dance. This took away from her ability to dance for she was concerned, perhaps mom was not there, perhaps she was alone on that stage even with the other dancers, she was too alone for comfort. So she called out again: "Mommy, are you here?"
By this time, the dance had ended and the other ballerinas had exited leaving this one lone child wondering if mom were there. She called, "Mom? Are you there?"
"Emma, honey," came a voice from somewhere behind me, "Yes, I am here."
But Emma was too upset at this point to hear. She cried out again, "Momma? Momma? I want my momma!"
Louder from behind me I heard the mom affirm her daughter she was indeed there and I imagine was beginning to get up from her seat. But then someone from backstage came and assured her mom was there, and brought her backstage to prepare for the next dance.
She survived.
But aren't we like little Emma. We hit a place or time in life when we cannot see God, we do not know if God is there for us, with us, and wonder what we are to do, and are troubled about this and so cry out to be assured of God's presence, God's ability to save us in the midst of whatever storm. But all the time, of course God has not moved. All the time, God is with us, God has gone before us, God is coming behind us. All the time, God is there as the awesome God and is able to save, able to deliver able to sustain us.
Here is the message here that there is a God who is able to rescue and save, a God in whom we can trust, a God who can rescue us to the uttermost.
There is such a God.
This is the Living God, the Heavenly Father, the mighty God. This is the eternal One, the Holy, wonderful, wholly Good God. This God was able to rescue Rack, Shack and Benny and is able to rescue us too.
These three trusted and God met them in the flames and they were not injured nor was the smell of fire on their clothes. Yes, truly. They trusted and the king was convinced there was no god like their God. They trusted and God did see them through and brought glory to His Name.
When you hit impossible situations, trust. Trust and watch God work in you and in the situation as well. Yours is the living God!
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