Bold Faith

The sounds of the band began to ring out as thousands of people got on their hands and knees to worship the 90-foot-tall, solid gold statue that the king had just installed in the center of the city. As the music grew louder and louder, pounding against the chests of three young friends who had a decision to make. They could either conform to their new culture or resist and be killed. They chose death over compromise.

Refusing to bend the knee and remain standing in a sea of face down worshippers makes you stand out really quick. Word traveled fast and soon the king had these three friends standing in front of him. Angrily, he demanded an explanation. These weren’t ordinary people, they were his city managers who were refusing to follow his commands. He gave them another shot to bow down, but they remained standing for their beliefs and told the king, we don’t need to explain ourselves to you. In fact, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” In other words, BURN. US. UP.

Enraged, the king had them heat up a furnace to its maximum temperature, hog-tie these three friends, and throw them into the fire. As he sat back down on his throne, he noticed that he wasn’t hearing any screams or cries for help. Then he saw something remarkable…they were still alive! He saw them walking around in the furnace. Jumping to his feet to investigate this more, he noticed that there weren’t just three in there any more, four men were walking around in the fire! The flames must have been playing a trick on him so he got closer and the heat of the fire burned at his eyes, he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and a fourth person that looked “like a son of the gods.” King Nebuchadnezzar yelled into the flames, come out of there and come here!

The three friends obeyed his command this time and climbed out of the fire, completely set free from the ropes that bound them and totally unhurt from the flames! They didn’t even smell like smoke! Amazed at what he had just witnessed the king, who had just tried to murder them for being religious radicals who refused to conform to their new society, began to bless the God that they served and said:

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. - Daniel 3:28-30 niv

That is a crazy story about how the bold faith of three friends influenced a king, a city, and an entire culture some 2,500 year ago in a city called Babylon, which is now modern-day Baghdad. You might be familiar with this story in some way and I think why most of us are is because it shows us that even when we face tremendous difficulties and pressures in our lives, it pays to have an uncompromising, bold faith. 

Over the next couple of days, we are going to dive deeper into this story and discover at least three reasons why we can have a bold faith in God, just like these three friends had, which will help us all thrive in our today.