Look Who's Here

Bible Book: Daniel 3 : 1-30

Subject: Faith; Faithfulness; Commitment; God, Presence of

Introduction

Look who’s here! This is “an expression drawing attention to someone present or who just arrived at a place.”1 Daniel 3:24-25 reads, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’” Essentially, King Nebuchadnezzar said, “Look who’s here!”

Price Harris recounts, “I was with Dr. [Vance] Havner [1901-1986] in two or three revivals. One was at the great Fairview Baptist Church in Columbus, MS. This was in the days of the wired lapel microphone. Dr. Havner walked to the pulpit – laid the wire across the pulpit and said, ‘Oh, for the days before they put me on a leash.’ The message I remember from that meeting was an encouraging message entitled, ‘Look Who’s Here’. In this message he asked the three Hebrew children, ‘How can you stand the Heat?’. They replied, ‘Look who is in here with me!’. He asked several Bible characters the same question.”2

Dr. James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) recounts, “When I was a student at Harvard University, I worked as an engineer in the college radio station. One day we were recording some dramatic Bible readings, and the man being recorded was a Jewish drama student who later established a repertory company in Boston. We came to Daniel 3, which in his judgment was comedy and to be handled as such. He began to read from an older version of the Bible . . . as if this were one of the most humorous things in the world.

I was offended by this reading. So although it was not my job to interfere with what was being done in the studio, I interrupted to say that this was an injustice to one of the great stories of the world and that in addition it was disrespectful to the Word of God.

My interruptions shocked the drama student—largely, I suppose, because a Gentile was objecting to a reading of what he considered to be his book particularly. So although I expected a quick rebuff or insult, he actually listened as I explained the story of how these three brave Jewish men risked their lives for the sake of their loyalty to God. After that the man I was recording settled down and handled the story with much more respect, and from that time on (if not before) the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego became one of my favorite stories in the Bible.”3

Note the three movements in this account recorded in Daniel chapter 3.

I. First, there was trouble.

Dr. A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) warns, “To be right with God often means to be in trouble with men.”4

Note the king’s announcement.

Daniel 3:1-7 reads, “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud: ‘To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.’ So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

Note the king’s anger.

Daniel 3:8-15 reads, “Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.’ Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, ‘Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?’” Daniel 3:19-23 reads, “Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” Dr. O.S. Hawkins warns, “Remember, you and I will have what we tolerate. In a culture advocating tolerance at all costs, we must learn to live with the pressure it exerts. In the final analysis, what God says is still much more important than what we may think or what anyone else might say about what we do or don’t do.”5 Dr. Hawkins writes, “Ask our pluralistic American culture to identify the most intolerant group in our nation today, and in virtual unanimity the answer will be. . . evangelical Christians.”6 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego did not just go along to get along. They were willing to stand up for what they believed. Do you have convictions worth dying for? If not, they are not worth living for! Dr. John C. Maxwell explains, “Commitment starts with the little things in our lives. No one ever made a big commitment without first making little commitments. It's a lot like learning to walk; we gain new confidence with each step. When we see that God blesses our small commitments, we begin to trust Him with bigger ones. . . .

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego started out on the right foot by refusing to eat the king's food. If you can't stand up and say no to the king's food, you can't stand up and say no to the king's idol. You don't all of a sudden get that kind of courage; it starts with the little things. You realize that when you said no to the king's food, God blessed you, and you prospered. If God helped you on the food issue, He can help you on the idol issue. And step by step, we begin to build a foundation underneath us that gives us strong character for strong commitment.”7

We see a problematic gridlock over the proper expression of faith.

II. Second, there was trust.

Dr. A.W. Tozer explains, “True obedience is the refusal to compromise in any regard our relationship with God, regardless of the consequences.”8 Dr. John Cole Coghlan explains, “But, after all, the very best of their conceivable arguments would come to this. They must sum it up into this simple question, ‘Shall I do evil that good may come?’ They said ‘No.’ What was right they knew; what might be the result of doing it they did not know, and it was no concern of theirs. Obedience is our business. Its result, with all reverence I say it, is God’s business. Our next step He generally makes plain enough. This was their practical faith, and this must be ours, if we would have the form who walks with us in the midst of our fiery trials — whether seen or hidden — to be ‘the form of the Son of God.’”9

Note the king’s aggravation.

Daniel 3:16-18 reads, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.’” We can only imagine the thoughts going through the mind of King Nebuchadnezzar in this early case of civil disobedience. Dr. Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) shares, “There was an ancient Christian, whose name was Athanasius, and an emperor named Theodosius. Athanasius would not go along with the emperor, and the emperor was perturbed. He brought this Spirit-filled Christian, Athanasius, before him, and he said, ‘Athanasius, you don't understand; you just don't fit in. Athanasius, don't you know that the whole world is against you?’ Do you know what Athanasius said? He said, ‘Then, Athanasius is against the whole world.’”10

Note the king’s affirmation.

Daniel 3:28 reads, “Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!”

Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) writes, “As sure as ever God puts his children in the furnace, he will be in the furnace with them.”11 Spurgeon shares the following on “Jesus with us in the Hour of Trouble”: “Thou wilt not, Christian, have to pass through the river without thy Master. We remember an old tale of our boyhood, how poor Robinson Crusoe, wrecked on a foreign strand, rejoiced when he saw the print of a man’s foot. So it is with the Christian in his trouble; he shall not despair in a desolate land, because there is the foot-print of Christ Jesus on all our temptations, our troubles. Go on rejoicing, Christian; thou art in an inhabited country; thy Jesus is with thee in all thy afflictions, and in all thy woes. Thou shalt never have to tread the wine-press alone.”12

William C. Poole (1875-1949) penned the following words of testimony:

Just when I need Him, Jesus is near,

Just when I falter, just when I fear;

Ready to help me, ready to cheer,

Just when I need Him most.

We see a proving ground for the principle examination of faith.

III. Third, there was triumph.

Remember, the multitude fell down in a frenzy worshipping before a golden image (Daniel 3:7), refusing to do so, three men fell down in a furnace witnessing to a godless infidel (Daniel 3:23). Out of this vicious test came a victorious testimony. Likely, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are those “who through faith . . . quenched the violence of fire. . . ” (Hebrews 11:33a, 34a).

Note the king’s amazement.

Daniel 3:24-25 reads, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’” Essentially, King Nebuchadnezzar said, “Look who’s here!” Dr. Mervin E. Rosell (1913-2001) writes, “God could have kept Daniel out of the lions' den... he could have kept Paul and Silas out of jail... he could have kept the three Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace... but God has never promised to keep us out of hard places... what he has promised is to go with us through every hard place, and to bring us through victoriously.”13

Note the king’s assessment.

Daniel 3:26-30 reads, “Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.’ Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.’” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.” Psalm 75:6-7 reads, “For exaltation comes neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.” The word “exaltation” can be translated “promotion.” Sometimes promotion comes now and sometimes it comes later. Luke 16:10 reads, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.” 1 Corinthians 4:5 reads, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.”

Dr. John Cole Coghlan writes, “These men were promoted to place; why? Because they had shown themselves to be ‘a power.’ And ‘a power’ they would have been — in spite of Nebuchadnezzar and every other king who ever lived before or since, whether they got the places or not. Why? Because against royalty, against public opinion, and in the face of death, they acted according to their conscience, and trusted to that God whose candle within them they knew that conscience to be. The alternative presented to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego is essentially the same as that which presents itself often to everyone, high and low, young and old. We all have to face it, not once, but ten thousand times in life. And we do know that when that Book is opened, the dead — amongst whom you and I must one day be numbered — shall be judged, as we now judge Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ‘according to the things that are written in that Book.’”14

We see a promotion granted to praiseworthy exemplars of faith.

Conclusion

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) writes, “Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace.”15To stand true to our beliefs, we, like Daniel, might face a den of lions or like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, a burning fiery furnace, but it will be worth it when we hear our Lord’s “‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord’” (Matthew 25:23). The fiery furnace was part of the Lord’s plan for these three Hebrews. We must be willing to submit to God’s plan regardless.

In Playing Marbles with Diamonds, Dr. Vance Havner writes, “John the Baptist stood at the Jordan and said to his listeners, ‘There standeth One among you whom ye know not,’ and the next day he declared, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ Every Sunday morning there stands among the churchgoers One Whom many of them know not. It is the business of the preacher to present the Christ Who is always there when we meet in His Name and bid the congregation, ‘Look who's here!’”16 Dr. Havner comments, “One of these days, ‘it may be at morn when the day is awakened, it may be at midday, it may be at twilight, it may be per chance in the blackness of midnight’ - in one mighty shout around the world we will look up and cry ‘Hallelujah! He's back! LOOK WHO'S HERE!’”17

1McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., The Free Dictionary by Farlex “Look who’s here!” Accessed: 12/22/17 https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Look+who%27s+here! .

2Price Havner, “A Story About Vance Havner” Accessed: 12/22/17 http://vancehavner.com/stories-price-harris/ .

4A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1966), 87.

5O.S. Hawkins, The Daniel Code: Living Out Truth in a Culture That is Losing its Way (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 82.

6Hawkins, Daniel, 83.

8A.W. Tozer, The Crucified Life: How To Live Out the Deeper Christian Life, comp. & ed. James L. Snyder (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2011), 203.

9The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell, Daniel 3:30 (New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1905-1909), Accessed: 12/26/17 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/daniel-3.html .

10Adrian Rogers, “Facing the New Age” Sermon Notes (Daniel 3:1-6, 13-18; 1 John 2:21-22).

11Draper, Quotations, #151, 8.

12C. H. Spurgeon, “Jesus with us in the Hour of Trouble” (Daniel 3:25), Accessed: 12/23/17 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/daniel-3.html .

14The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell, Daniel 3:30 (New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1905-1909), Accessed: 12/26/17 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/daniel-3.html .

15Draper, Quotations, # 3662, 199.

16Vance Havner, Playing Marbles with Diamonds (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985), 45.

17Vance Havner, “Look Who’s Here” Sermon Notes (1 Kings 18).

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527

Author of Don’t Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah and

Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice [Both available on Amazon.com in hardcover, paperback and eBook]

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Miss-Revival-Spiritual-Awakening/dp/1462735428 & http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684 / fkirksey@bellsouth.net / (251) 626-6210