Category Archives: faithfulness

Fatal Faith – Daniel 3

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 “If this be so, 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” (Daniel 3:17-18, ESV).

Daniel 2 tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon having a troubling dream that none of his wise men could explain. He demanded they not only interpret his dream but also describe the dream itself–otherwise they would be executed! Daniel, a Hebrew exile to Babylon, prayed to God who revealed to Daniel both the dream and its meaning. Daniel then explained the dream and its interpretation to King Nebuchadnezzar and prevented the execution of the Babylonian wise men including himself and his three fellow exiles.

At the end of Chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed: “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery” (vs. 47). Nevertheless, by the beginning of Daniel 3, some eight years later, Nebuchadnezzar’s acclaim for the sovereignty of Israel’s God seemed to have dissipated. In Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar made a 90-foot high golden image, presumably of himself, for all the Babylonians to worship!

Though not explicitly stated, there seems to be a literary connection between the stories in Daniel 2 and 3. In Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue with a head of gold, which represented Nebuchadnezzar’s empire: “You are the head of gold” (Daniel 2:38, ESV). The body of the statue was made of several substances representing the rise and fall of multiple historical empires after the Babylonian empire. But, in Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar made an entire image of gold.

Although Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that only God’s kingdom will stand forever (Daniel 2:44), the symbolism of an image constructed completely of gold presumed the permanence and supremacy of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule. The creation of the image was an act of religious defiance and self-exaltation. The story’s symbolism also recalls the events of Exodus 32 when the Israelites fashioned a golden calf at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Law from God. Like Nebuchadnezzar, the Israelites were substituting human invention (idolatry) for divine revelation (God’s covenant) when God had miraculously demonstrated otherwise to both.

While the statue may not have been a straightforward image of Nebuchadnezzar, it likely represented his authority, his kingdom, and the allegiance he demanded. What it almost certainly was not, was Nebuchadnezzar’s attempt to honor or depict the God of Israel as he understood Him. So, the ulterior motives of Nebuchadnezzar became the context for the well-known account of the fatal faith demonstrated by Daniel’s three friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

King Nebuchadnezzar decreed that all people (of the Babylonian empire) should fall down and worship the giant golden statue he had constructed with the penalty of execution by being burned alive for those who didn’t comply. Nebuchadnezzar’s advisors informed him that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were promoted to official positions in the province of Babylon after the dream interpretation episode (see Daniel 2:49), refused to bow down to the statue. Their faith in God prevented them from worshiping an idol and it was a fatal faith because it could result in their deaths. Their refusal to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol could cause them to suffer a violent and excruciating death by being burned alive (makes you wonder why this story is so popular in children’s Sunday School lessons).

Nebuchadnezzar was furious and had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego brought in for questioning. When asked directly by King Nebuchadnezzar if they were going to worship the golden image with the threat of being thrown into a fiery furnace and burned alive if they did not, they responded with a definitive no-way! They declared that God could deliver them from being incinerated in the fiery furnace, but if He didn’t they still would never worship the golden idol!

Ancient Babylon was famous for massive brick construction and large furnaces were not uncommon. The furnace was likely a large industrial kiln used for smelting metals, firing bricks, and/or producing ceramics with an opening on the top or side large enough to cast people in and an opening to see inside. Furious at their resistance Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated much hotter than usual and had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, bound and thrown into the burning furnace. The furnace was so hot that its temperature was lethal at close range and the soldiers who threw them into the fire were killed by the heat.

After the men were thrown into the furnace Nebuchadnezzar looked in and was astonished because their bonds were burned off and they walked around freely accompanied by a mysterious fourth figure. Nebuchadnezzar identified the fourth figure as a son of God (or “the gods” – Daniel 3:25, ESV) and it is presumed to be either an angel or a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. While the figure’s exact identity is open to interpretation, what’s we do know is that to Nebuchadnezzar it revealed the powerful presence of God Himself as His divine protection and deliverance of His people in the midst of impossible circumstances (again, recalling the Exodus story).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to die for their faith in God because they knew something else. They knew the end from the beginning! They knew that fatal faith is faith that you can die for because it is also faith that you can live (forever) for.

The writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament refers to the fatal faith of these Hebrew exiles and others with faith like them in ancient times: “For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight (Hebrews 11:32-34, ESV).

And, the reason for their faith, the Hebrews writer explained, was that fatal faith was forward-looking faith, future-oriented faith. It was faith expressed as living in this world in expectation of living eternally in a heavenly home: “For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland… they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:14-16, ESV).

So, how much heat can your faith in God take?

For the Sake of Others – Daniel 1

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“But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, ‘I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age. So you would endanger my head with the king.’ Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ‘Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink……’ At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the kings food” (Daniel 1:8-15, ESV).

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem in 605 BC and among the Jewish nobility and royal family deported to Babylon were Daniel and his three friends. They were to be trained in the Babylonian language and literature and assimilated into Babylonian culture. (vs. 1-4).

To protect themselves from being entangled in the temptations of the idolatrous Babylonian culture, Daniel and his friends used their distinctive kosher diet as a way of avoiding complete assimilation and retaining their distinctive identity as Jewish exiles in Babylon. This restrictive diet continually reminded them that they were the chosen people of God in a foreign land.

So, Daniel asked the chief of the eunuchs, who was in charge of training the youths, if they could only eat vegetables and drink water. The chief of the eunuchs was hesitant at first, believing that such a diet would diminish their health, but agreed to try it for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they were noticeably in better health than all the other youths who ate the king’s food!

Not only were they healthier, but God blessed them with learning and skill in all literature and wisdom and Daniel had understanding of dreams and visions (vs. 17).

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How To Be a Christian Without Being Religious – Matthew 12:1-14

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At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “…. If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice,you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:1-8, CSB).

In the early 1970’s Fritz Ridenour published a book, How To Be a Christian Without Being Religious. Presenting a practical commentary on the New Testament book of Romans, the book distinguishes between genuine faith and religious hypocrisy as it explores how “religion” as a practice can become empty when it is severed from authentic faith based on a personal relationship with Christ.

In Matthew 12 Jesus gives us a workshop on religion vs. relationship.

At the beginning of Matthew 12 Jesus and His disciples are walking through a grain field on the Sabbath. As they passed through the field they picked and ate some of the heads of grain. Some Pharisees saw the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath and complained to Jesus that it was unlawful. For modern disciples, the greater offense appears to be stealing another man’s grain. But, under the Mosaic law handpicking grain from a neighbor’s field was not considered stealing (see Deuteronomy 23:25).

First century rabbis divided work prohibitions into dozens of categories with each having many subcategories. Three prohibited categories were picking, threshing and winnowing; thus, by picking the grain and rubbing it between their hands to remove the husks the disciples were guilty on all three counts!

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Live Like You Are Saved! – Hebrews 10:19-39

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“But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved” (Hebrews 10:39, CSB).

The Hebrews writer made an elegant theological argument in the previous chapters and concluding in Chapter 10 that the Old Testament law and sacrificial system have been replaced through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The former required continual sacrifices, the latter was once and for all time.

The Hebrews writer reasoned that when there is absolute atonement for sin, there is no longer a need for continual sacrifice (vs. 18).

So, sin has to go before righteousness can prevail! The cross of Christ removes sin in your life and starts you down a new path, a “new and living way” (vs. 20) of living for God in righteousness and holiness.

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Avoiding Spiritual Laziness: The Key to Faithfulness – Hebrews 6:1-12

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“Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance” (Hebrews 6:11-12, CSB).

As we’ve mentioned previously in these posts from the Book of Hebrews, one of the primary themes of the Hebrew writer is faithfulness–the perseverance of one’s faith to the end of their life on earth.

Continuing this theme in Chapter 6, the Hebrews writer admonished the Hebrew Christians to become mature in their faith. While they may have experienced aspects of the Christian life, even belief in Christ and the fellowship of the Christian community and the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst, unless they became grounded in the teachings of Christ they were vulnerable to apostasy–to the abandoning of their faith.

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Qualified – Hebrews 5:1-10

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“After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him….” (Hebrews 5:9, CSB).

The Hebrews writer gives us yet another Old Testament perspective of how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s plan for human redemption. This verse is the conclusion of a broader argument about Jesus’ role as the everlasting High Priest to emphasize His unique qualifications as the both fully human and fully divine Savior.

The Hebrews writer explains that a High Priest was chosen from the Israelite people to make sacrifices for their sins. Because he was human, he had to offer sacrifices for his own sin as well as the sins of the people. In Leviticus 16 God implemented a Day of Atonement in which the High Priest performed a sacrifice for the atonement of the sin for the Israelites. The ceremony, which was conducted annually, began with a sacrifice for the atonement of the sins for the High Priest.

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The Rest of the Story – Hebrews 4

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“If Joshua gave the Israelites rest, God wouldn’t have spoken about another day later on. So you see that a sabbath rest is left open for God’s people. The one who entered God’s rest also rested from his works, just as God rested from his own. Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience, because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. No creature is hidden from it, but rather everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we have to give an answer” (Hebrews 4:8-13, CSB).

The Hebrews writer gives us yet another Old Testament perspective of the Christian life. As we concluded in the previous post, our salvation in Christ and hope for eternal life is a reality that we should live out each day of our lives on earth.

In Hebrews 4 the Hebrews writer tells us that there is a “Rest” for God’s people to enter into. It has always been God’s plan since the Creation and still is today for His people to join Him in the restfulness of eternal life where God Himself abides (see vs. 1-4).

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How to Fight Injustice: Part 2 – Habakkuk 3

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“Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18, NKJV)

Habakkuk was concerned about the prevalence of injustice in his nation, the kingdom of Judah–God’s chosen people. Habakkuk wondered why God allowed injustice to proliferate among His people: “Therefore the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds” (vs. 1:4).

God responded that He was, in fact, planning to do something about the injustice in the land by sending the Babylonians to invade Judah and take its people into captivity.

Habakkuk probably had something less calamitous in mind than the downfall of his country when he addressed God about injustice in Judah. So, Habakkuk asked God why He would use the wicked (Babylonians) to punish the righteous (Judahites)? “Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” (vs. 1:13).

God replied: “The just shall live by his faith!” (vs. 2:4). In other words, there was no entitlement for being God’s people. Nobody had an inherent claim to God’s name. God’s chosen people were those whom He justified–those who chose to believe in Him and His Mercy and live accordingly!

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Good Intentions, Not So Good Advice – Job 1-42

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“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place…. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (Job 2:11-13, ESV).

The past few weeks have been, it seems, a series of personal tragedies among some of my friends and colleagues. Terminal illness and death of young people runs counter-intuitive to our existence in this world. It’s just not how life is meant to be.

And, in the midst of great tragedy we are left wondering–why did this happen?

Then, we wonder what to say to our friends who are grieving and struggling with overwhelming loss. How can we explain “Why”?

For those who read and study the Bible, the Book of Job in the Old Testament is often the Bible story we fall back on for comfort and understanding in confronting adversity and tragedy. After all, Job’s ten children and who knows how many grandchildren died when a tornado caused the house where they were all eating together to fall in on them.

Besides his children Job lost all of his considerable wealth and his health and then even Job’s wife scorned him in his affliction.

And, all this happened as a result of some seemingly diabolical wager that Satan made with God.

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An Inconvenient Truth: Part 1 – Deuteronomy 17:1

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“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 17:1, ESV).

This verse may at first seem like an Old Testament commandment that has little relevance for Christians today. I would submit, however, that it is a commandment of God that has much relevance for God’s people of all generations.

Let’s start by asking why God would require the Israelites to sacrifice only oxen or sheep without any physical defects when they made a sacrifice to God. What difference did it make to God since the animal was going to be killed and cooked or burned up anyway?

While there are several theological principles you could derive from this Old Testament commandment, here’s the one I want to address:

The fidelity of the sacrifice indicates the fidelity of the sacrificer.

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