The Jews Confess Their Faith
3: 16-18
The Jews confess their faith DIG: What were the three Hebrews concerned with? How did they challenge king Nebuchadnezzar? Why are believers who fast and pray not healed? As we get closer to the Second Coming of Messiah, what kinds of compromises do you think we will face as a people of faith?
REFLECT: Is your faith fireproof? How do you think it would feel to make a choice of faith that you knew could very easily result in your own death? How would you define the kind of faith that gives you the strength not to conform? When has ADONAI carried you through tough times because of your obedience?
True faith doesn’t look for loopholes; it simply obeys God.
After being threatened with death by the Babylonian king (to see link click Bn – Dani’el’s Friends Questioned) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter (3:16). There was nothing the three could say in their own defense. They were technically guilty, but they had also been misrepresented. They could make excuses, but true faith doesn’t look for loopholes; it simply obeys God and knows that He will do what is best. Faith rests on commands and promises, not arguments and explanations. Times of adversity are usually times of opportunity, especially when ADONAI’s people are being persecuted for their faith. Yeshua says: You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are My followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about Me (Mark 13:9 NLT). The three courageous Jews weren’t concerned about themselves, nor were they afraid of the fury of the king. Their only concern was obeying YHVH and giving a faithful witness to all who were watching and listening. Their attitude was respectful and their words were few and carefully chosen.133
Then the Jews responded with a challenge of their own, saying: 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. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not presume to predict what the outcome would be in their case. If God were our servant, our assistant, He would be predictable: He would always do our bidding. However, those young men understood that since God is Sovereign, it was His choice whether He opted to be glorified in their deaths or through their dramatic deliverance. Either way, they would not compromise their commitment to the LORD. Live or die, they would be faithful to their God.134
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had witnessed ADONAI’s power over the false gods of Babylon in that matter of the king’s dream (see Aw – The King’s Dream), and they had studied the TaNaKh. This included the accounts of the great wonders YHVH had performed for Isra’el, miracles that those young men would have heard and believed. There was no question in their minds that the God who divided the Sea of Reeds and performed the other miracles in delivering Isra’el from Egypt, could do the same for them . . . if that was His will. This explains the confidence they exhibited when they declared: But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the statue of gold you have set up (3:17-18). Even if they had to suffer a horrible, painful death in a burning oven, they refused to abandon their God and worship idols.
This is an important lesson for believers today. The Lord may allow trials to come into our lives to build character or for a number of other reasons (Romans 5). The purpose for our trials may not be understood, by God simply asks that we trust/believe/have faith in Him – even when it’s not easy. As Job, who endured incredible suffering, exclaimed: Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him (Job 13:15a). Although God does not guarantee us that we will never suffer or experience death, He does promise always to be with us. In times of trial our attitude should be that of these young men. As Messiah told His apostles: Do not be afraid of the One who can destroy both but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both the soul and the body in hell (Matthew 10:28). This explains the confidence exhibited by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they declared: But even if he does not save us, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up (3:17-18). Similar words have been uttered countless times throughout the centuries as believers have suffered martyrdom for the Lord. Certainly, those Hebrews were convinced that even if they perished in the flames, there was a better life beyond with father Abraham and the righteous of the TaNaKh.135
This was the finest hour of these three confessors. Their faith did not hold fast simply by accident or by the decision of the moment. It had grown strong because in previous tests they had grown strong in faith as they had given glory to God (Romans 4:20). As they looked back on the crisis of the fiery trial, they must have seen the previous tests in a new light. Their significance was to prepare them for this monumental crisis so that through their faithfulness to ADONAI would echo down throughout the ages.136
Hebrews 11 lists the names and deeds of great men and women of faith, including these three Jewish men (Hebrews 11:34a), but in Hebrews 11:36, the writer says: “And others,” and then lists people who seem to be failures in spite of their faith (see the commentary on Hebrews Cv – Faith Through Trials). The Greek word for “others” means others of a different kind. That is, others who had faith but didn’t see Ha’Shem do the miracles He did for those listed in Hebrews 11:1-35. The LORD always rewards faith, but He doesn’t always step in and perform special miracles. Not everyone who prays is healed, but God always gives strength to bear the pain and the grace to face death without fear. The three young men believed that God could deliver them, but they would trust Him even if He didn’t. That is how faith is supposed to operate in our lives.137
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in ADONAI! I will be joyful in God my Savior. ELOHIM Adonai is my strength; He makes my feet swift and sure-footed as a dear, He enables me to stand on high places (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
Dear heavenly Father, praise You for Your great and painful sacrifice that You willingly paid to redeem me (Hebrews 12:2, Second Corinthians 5:21). How blessed I am that Your love does not stop at redeeming me, but You continue to work in mt life to mold and purify me to be more like Messiah. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Yeshua Messiah (First Peter 1:6-7). Thank You for turning painful trials on their head, and for using them to help me to grow more like You, ADONAI, in my character. It is so wonderful that Your wisdom and love work together to make something beautiful out of trials by shaping my inner being to produce endurance, character and hope. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:2b-5). In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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