“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego replied to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’”-Daniel 3:16-18
I’ve served in full-time Christian ministry for more than ten years now. During that time I’ve been faced with situations that caused me to decide whether to fear God or to fear man. I wish that I could say that I was always 100% perfect, but that would be a lie. Even so, I am blessed to share that we’ve faced difficult challenges and stood strong for the cause of Christ. One of the passages of Scripture that always encourages me during difficult times is found in Daniel 3.
The Fiery Furnace
About 600 years before the birth of Christ, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and took a large group of Jews into captivity. Among these Jews were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. These men were renamed as part of the process of indoctrination away from Judaism into the pagan ways of the Chaldeans. At some point during the captivity, these men were appointed to serve as administrators over the province of Babylon and they were required by King Nebuchadnezzar to attend the dedication of a 90-foot tall statue which he had built on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. When the music was played at the dedication, all those attending had to bow down and worship the statue or else they would be killed. All of those in attendance did so with the exception of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
Human nature being what it is, certain Chaldeans brought charges against the men with the hope that the king would execute them. Therefore, the king ordered the men to be brought to him and when they were present he told them to either bow down and worship the statue or die in a fiery furnace. The men told the king that they would not bow down and worship the statue. In response the king’s face contorted with rage and his wrath poured out with the order to heat the furnace seven times hotter than normal.
God Protected Them
The heat was so intense that the strongest men in the king’s army died while taking the prisoners to the furnace. However, something amazing happened. The three men who had been tied up, began to walk around in the fire and a fourth person with the appearance of the son of the gods appeared in the flames with them. Therefore, the king called to the men to come out of the flames and when they did the king saw that the men’s hair had not been singed, their clothing had not been burned, and they didn’t even smell of smoke at all. So, the king walked closer to the furnace and yelled, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!” Moments later the king issued a decree that “any people, nation, or tongue that speaks anything offensive against their God shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”
We see from this passage in Daniel 3 that these men feared God more than they feared man. Furthermore, the men did not require some kind of assurance that God would save them before they acted. Instead, they acted in faith that God alone was worthy of worship and, regardless of the consequences, they would not bow down and worship any other. God chose to use the faithfulness of the men to serve as a witness to the king and his leaders by protecting the men from the king’s own hand. As a result, the king and his leaders saw that the God of Israel was more powerful than any other and that He must be honored as such. As a result of the faithfulness of the three Jews, the God of the universe received the glory due only to Him.
Facing Persecution Today
In this day and age, Christians are also called to stand up for truth in the face of opposition. There is a map that hangs on the wall in our home school room from The Voice of the Martyrs, which designates those nations where Christians are persecuted even unto death for their faith. The nations that severely persecute Christians in this way are almost exclusively Muslim, atheistic, or Hindu.
Anyone who calls Islam a religion of peace needs only to observe how Christians are treated when Muslims comprise the majority in any nation. “Islam or the sword?” was the motto of this religion at its inception and it appears to remain the truest form of it. You can call Islam many things, but peaceful is not one of them.
In the United States, many people profess to be Christian, but most of these lack a biblical worldview, spiritual fruit, good works, and obedience to God, which are evidences of saving faith. Even so, there are Biblical Christians in America and they are persecuted for their faith, but it is usually not to the extremes faced by our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world.
In America we are persecuted because:
- We reject religious pluralism.
- We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.
- We believe that all people are accountable to God.
- We believe that all who die apart from Christ will spend eternity apart from God.
- We believe the Bible is God’s Word and that its truths apply to everyone.
- We believe that God ordained the family as the foundational jurisdiction for civilization.
- We believe that men and women are equal and were made by God to serve different roles.
- We use the Bible as the source of morality and ethics.
- We believe that God-ordained marriage is between one man and one woman.
- We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being (preborn or born) because they are image bearers of God.
- We believe that the special revelation given to men thousands of years ago trumps the humanism of mankind in the 21st Century.
- and so forth…
The simple truth is that all Christians who seek to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted because we are called to obey God’s Word and His Word is offensive to this depraved world. Therefore, when we are faced with persecution we must always stand strong and fear God rather than man because the things of this world will pass away, but the things of God last forever. To God be the glory!
