We have the unhappy privilege of living in deeply divided times. Where neighbors used to disagree about sports, politics, and even religion, they maintained friendships and remained neighborly. Now thanks to the accelerant known as the internet, and its igniter, Social Media, differences become grounds for lifetime bans — and worse — for holding an unpopular point of view.
News flash: water is wet
If you spend time on any of the leading social nets (with the possible exception of Instagram) you have probably noticed the digital incarnation of Orwell’s Two Minutes Hate where, in the novel, the population was instructed to vent their frustration at poor Emmanuel Goldstein. And lately there seems to be an exponential increase in the number of Emmanuel Goldsteins.
Thought crime
And what offenses have the objects of this hatred committed? Usually, it’s commenting in the negative on some topic dear to the dominant group. Sometimes, though rarely, it’s an act of defiance. Other times it’s merely having the wrong facial expression. The most important aspect is that the miscreant is bucking the system. But I want to illustrate that this is nothing new.
Imagine a group of young men in a strange city — a seat of government and power. And for daring to affirm their beliefs they paid a terrible price.
If you think I’m talking about Washington, DC, in 2019, read on.
Was it something I said?
In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we read the story about three Hebrew young men named Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah who had been taken captive and carried to Babylon where they received training to become wise men, sages, and seers. Although their captors gave them the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these three, along with their companion Daniel, did their best to live in a way to please their God. As you’ll see, this desire made them different. As the Japanese proverb says, “The nail that sticks up gets beaten down.”
Sic semper tyrannis
The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, was the fulfillment of Lord Acton’s famous saying that power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. King Nebuchadnezzar set up a 90-foot-tall golden statue for the people to worship. He called all the important people in his government together and told them that whenever they heard music, they had to drop what they were doing and worship the statue. Talk about a power trip!
But it’s worse, because like most tyrants, Nebuchadnezzar added the threat of violence. Anybody who resisted the king’s order to worship would be burned alive in a furnace.
Command performance
The text doesn’t tell us what kind of meeting (if any) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego held to decide their response, but it is clear they chose not to obey the king’s order. Let’s join the story already in progress:
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
-Daniel 3: 8-15 (ESV)
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Turning up the heat
Our friends are in for it now — they’ve been ratted out by their rivals and confronted directly by an angry king. By the way, it’s always a bad idea to make your leader look bad in front of his followers, but in this case, the three young men knew that they were subjects of a higher king. Look at how they answered the enraged ruler:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 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.18 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: 16 – 18 (ESV)
And a surprise ending
The king, royally angry, commanded the heat of the furnace be turned up seven times hotter than usual and he had Shadrach, Meshach, and Adednego tied up and thrown into the furnace. The writer tells us that some of the executioners were killed by the heat as they threw the three men into the fire. An important detail given what happens next.
Nebuchadnezzar and his followers looked with fiendish satisfaction into the death chamber and were astonished to see the three men walking around in the fire, untied, and not being consumed at all. And even more surprising, there was a fourth man walking around in the fire with them. The Babylonians described his appearance as “like a son of the gods.”
The king called to the three men and asked them to come out of the fire. When they did, their clothes didn’t even smell like smoke. The God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saved them.
What can we learn from their example?
Don’t go looking for trouble
Let’s start with knowing what you believe and why. I’ve written on many occasions about the need for cultivating a biblical worldview. The clash with an increasingly hostile culture makes this more important than ever. When you are grounded and established in your frame of reference, you don’t need a guru to tell you whether a policy or a law is moral or immoral, and you will also have the tools to understand when these terms are being used by others to try to control you.
The text doesn’t say, but I don’t think the three Hebrew lads had to discuss their response to the king’s command to idol-worship. Notice also that they didn’t taunt the king to call attention to their disobedience. They simply refused to comply.
But don’t run from it
When you’re among a people who prize going along with the crowd, you can bet someone will notice if you aren’t going along. And when the go-along gang rats you out to the authorities, the correct example is that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their answer was clear and direct, with no finger-pointing of blame shifting. And, I would add, no whining about the consequences.
Speak the truth in love – and don’t forget the love
In this story, the king seems to understand that what is at stake is his personal supremacy versus that of the God of his Hebrew captives. I marvel at the brazen challenge offered by Nebuchadnezzar: “And who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?” But I’m more amazed by the calm firmness of the answer — our God is able to deliver us from anything, but if he chooses not to, we will still serve him.
Again, notice the lack of trash talk, the lack of anger. Given the positions of authority the three men held, they likely earned their jobs based on faithful performance over time. They probably enjoyed a good relationship with the king as his trusted advisers. Perhaps they even loved him.
In this context, their refusal to worship the statue must have seemed to the king like a betrayal. In response, he threatened their lives and they responded with grace and truth.
Trust God
When the fertilizer contacts the rotating blades, trusting God is all that is left, and all that matters. If you’re His, you can be certain He holds you in His hands. God rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the furnace, and He can rescue you from whatever version this age devises to punish dissidents. But — and this is important — God is not obligated to rescue you, me, or anyone from pain or suffering in this world.
I know this may sound unfair, but the people who tell you God only wants His servants to be healthy, wealthy, and wise — flying only in first-class, and owning the priciest sports cars — are selling something. If you want to know the score, look at Jesus’ personal inner circle from his earthly ministry, the twelve apostles, and at the outcomes of their lives, and you’ll understand that this life is not principally about our comfort.
If you’re sure you’re right, you don’t have to yell
If you believe what Jesus said — that we will know the Truth and the Truth will set us free — then you have all the volume you need. It isn’t necessary to pound the table or shout the other side down. You may receive the gift of supernatural deliverance. You may persuade people around you through your dignified words and demeanor. And you may lose everything this world counts as precious. But take heart — this world does not get the last word, God does.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic. Bring your best manners, please.