Deliverance

Deliverance

Daniel 3:4-6 Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

Bow or Burn. 

King Nebuchadnezzar the world’s greatest ruler calls for worship. The worship of the image that he himself has set up in defiance of the true God, who had revealed to him in a dream (Daniel 2), the succession of worldly kingdoms and nations until the end of time. That dream, shown to Nebuchadnezzar, was an image of different metals, with his   own kingdom being represented by a head of gold.The different metals in the image represented the succeeding kingdoms following the overthrow of Babylon itself.

No!! No!!! 

Nebuchadzezzar would not agree to God’s plan and in total defiance he set up an image of complete shimmering gold and calls for worship. 

Three godly young men,Shadrach, Meshach and Abdenego who hold positions of influence and leadership within the realm of Babylon, men who are ministers of the most High God, now choose to disobey the King’s command. They refuse to bow to the golden image.

Will they burn in the fiery furnace? 

The wrath of the kingdom of satan is stirred up against these men who refuse to disobey God. 

Jealousy is stirred...anger and bitterness surface among their Babylonian peers. The Chaldeans quickly seek out the King. They had been watching and waiting to destroy the ministry of these three young men. Now is their opportunity or so they think.

vs 8 “Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews” The word accused here means "to devour pieces of them." These Babylonians didn’t just report the three your men’s lack of worship to the King. They verbally tore them apart. Their hearts with filled with revenge, jealousy, hatred and bitterness. They wanted to see God’s men destroyed.

These three young men, though holding positions of trust in the Kingdom of Babylon were representatives of God and ministers for Him.They remind me that God has called and chosen me to be a minister for him. He called me to the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:18 “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” 

vs 12 “There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.” These men were known to be worshipers of the true God. 

The King is filled with  rage and fury, and like satan seeking to devour God’s people, he sneers at God and taunts Him with the power he, the King himself has.

vs 15“But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

“I sought the LORD & He heard me & delivered me from all my fears” Psa 34:4

Surrender. Complete surrender to God’s will. These young men knew the Bible promise of deliverance and they knew how to apply this promise to their lives. They didn’t *name it and claim it*. They didn’t demand from God to keep them  from the fiery furnace. They surrendered totally and completely to how God would deliver and when He would deliver. They surrendered to His timing and how God would fulfill the promise in their lives. They didn’t instruct God as to how He should fulfill the promise.

God doesn’t always promise to deliver us before the fiery furnace. Sometimes He chooses to deliver us in the midst of the fiery furnace. How often I want God’s deliverance to be according to my heart’s desires and to not be fully surrendered to Him.

Isa 43:2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”

Ps 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Dan 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, 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.”

They have submitted their lives and their wills to God. They fully trust in Him. 

So often in life I find myself in the midst of fiery trials. Life’s circumstances, other people’s choices that leave me hurt and reeling, consequences of my own choices and the results of sin. I could cry out, “Why God??? Why???.” I could claim the promises of deliverance and feel God never pulled through for me. Why didn’t He deliver me before I was thrown into it all? 

In all things God has a purpose. Rom 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

I Peter 4: 12,13 “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

Before the three godly men were thrown into the fiery furnace they were bound. 

Daniel 3:20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

So many things in life have me bound.I am bound by lies.I am bound by fears. My thoughts, my feelings, my circumstances, my past trained responses, my faulty view of God’s character. They are all lies and fears that hold me in bondage and keep me from experiencing freedom.

God promises to bread those chains...to unbind me when I am bound.

Ps 107:14 “And he brought them out from darkness and the shadow of death, shattering their chains.”

I may be bound up and I may find myself in the fiery furnace but God promises to be with me in the furnace of affliction and he promises ultimate deliverance in His time and in His way. How often God uses the fiery furnace to actually burn off the cords that bind me. There is a purpose in the affliction.

Isa 48:10 "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

He promises to be with me in that fiery furnace Dan 3: 25“I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

Isa 43:2 When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you

The fiery furnace burnt off the cords that bound them and held them captive. Christ was with them in the furnace. They were not alone. 

Full deliverance...not just partial ... they received full deliverance. As they stepped out of the fiery furnace not only were their cords burnt off but they stepped out with out even the smell of smoke on them. It was complete victory. Nothing burnt or singed. Total deliverance.

Dan 3:27 “And they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.”

The result? Total glory to God.

Daniel 3:28 “Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angeland 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!”

I may find myself bound by lies, bound by fears, bound by life’s circumstances but God has a way of burning off those cords that hold me so tight. He allows me to experience the fiery furnace. Why? To bring complete deliverance to my life. He doesn’t always prevent me from experiencing the fiery furnace. He wants to use the furnace to burn away the cords that bind me tightly. He wants me to walk around freely in that furnace with Him. He wants me to step out totally healed and delivered without even the smell of the smoke of my experience hovering over me or with not even a hair on my head singed. He wants full and complete glory of who He really is, a God of goodness and other centred love, to be seen by all as a result of my experience. 

When satan brings those into my life who wish to devour me to pieces and through their words and influence seek to destroy the ministry of reconciliation God has called me to and thus I find myself cast into a fiery furnace. I can know for sure that only glory to God will be the result. I can know for sure that the ministry of reconciliation will only be enlarged as a result. God calls me to trust Him during the times of fiery afflictions. For He alone will bring deliverance in His way and in His time. 

Rom 12:12  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”