God in the Furnace

The book of Daniel is one of the those books in the Old Testament that is rich with dramatic images and story lines.  Some of our favorite lessons for preschoolers and grade-schoolers comes out of these visuals.  From this one book we get giant statues, fiery furnaces, hands writing on walls and lions dens.  These are images that are imprinted indelibly on the hearts and minds of any kid whose grown up going to Sunday School.

But more than just great kids stories- the book of Daniel provides post modern believers with enduring principles to live by.

For instance, this week we are focused on the story of the three sons of Israel who were thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing to Nebuchadnezzars statue.  Here are some principles I see that are helpful to twenty first century believers:

1.  To have biblical faith means to be uncompromising in what we know to be true in a way that demonstrates love and respect.  I think a remarkable side issue to the Daniel 3 story is the quiet steadfast faith of the three sons of Israel.   They were set up, accused and brought before Nebuchadnezzar and threatened with a terrifying sentence, and yet through it all they showed poise and respect without ever backing down from their core belief.   When the Bible says to be prepared to defend your faith with gentleness and respect we should understand that those are not two disconnected ideas.  The reason a person is gentle and respectful while talking about what they believe is precisely because they are confident in that belief and can talk about it intelligently and logically.

The word "intelligence" in fact comes from two root words, "inter" which means "between" and "legere" which means "choose".    The intelligent person is one who knows both sides of an argument and makes an informed choice.  Christian discernment is the result of thinking through beliefs and giving all sides of an argument equal footing before coming to a conclusion.  The Christian operates under the assumption that all truth is God's truth and therefore seeking truth is God's work.  The three sons of Israel showed this kind of discernment when they faced the king when they gave their explanation for their position:

¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”   (Daniel 3:17-18)

Their answer shows a solid theology.  It demonstrates that they grasp both the goodness and greatness of God.  God CAN deliver them if He chooses.  But for reasons they may not yet know, God might not choose to deliver them.  But regardless of what might happen they trust the character and sovereignty of God and can therefore confidently embrace their future.

2.   A second principle here is that to have biblical faith means we know that even tragedy has a purpose.   The world we live in is sometimes very painful and often horribly unjust.  As a pastor for over 25 years I have seen and experienced great tragedy with people.  Sometimes bad things happen to very good people.  Life is often very difficult and unfair.

What are we to make of the problem of pain and suffering in our world?  There is only one answer that makes any sense to me.   I am convinced that it is only in Christianity that one finds purpose in suffering and that is because the central theme of Christianity is that the most tragic event of human history was also the greatest event of human history.

Jesus Christ was brutally and unjustly murdered as an atoning and redemptive sacrifice for our sins.  My sin was so bad God had to die but God's love was so great He was willing to die.  It is the one grand theme of scripture to which all other stories point.   In the dramatic story in Daniel 3 the sons of Israel are thrown into the furnace and yet they are not overcome.  The key to understanding the meaning of this story is that there is a fourth person in the furnace with them.  Most scholars agree that this mysterious figure is the pre-incarnate second person of the trinity- it is Jesus Christ Himself.   What an incredibly poignant foreshadowing picture this is for us.

The story points us to THE story.  It says to us that He is in every furnace and that He is walking with us through all of life injustices.  In Christianity we know that God is not just an uninterested creator- but instead He loves us with a God-like love that caused Him to get into the furnace with us.  Suffering would make no sense without this knowledge.  To paraphrase Romans 5:8:

"God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were still sinners, God got into the furnace with us and paid the price for us."

That is the overarching principle that drives our lives and the one overwhelming truth that overcomes all other truth.