Keep Them From the Evil One

I read a scripture in one of the sermons I gave at the feast this year from John 17 and verse 15 that I want to work off of in John 17 and verse 15.

Christ, in this prayer, this was the sermon that I gave, this whole chapter I based a sermon on at the feast this year.

And in verse 15, as Jesus was praying to the Father about His disciples, He made a statement here, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.

So, God has not taken us out of the world. We go to the feast in a sense to come out of the world in type and in a little bit of a reality when we keep the feast each year, but we have to go back into our world and the reality of everyday life. And this prayer does have an application for us because Christ prayed that His disciples would be kept from the evil one. We're not removed from the poles of this world.

There's a story from the book of Daniel, and I was afraid when he turned to the book of Daniel, he might be turning to my story, but he didn't. So we'll turn to another story in the book of Daniel that I think can give us some pointers to help us get our mind focused on how to be kept from the influence of Satan, his world, the society that is ever present around us.

We'll turn back to Daniel chapter 3, a well-known story to each one of us. In Daniel chapter 3 is that of the three young men in Babylon, the friends of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Or we could just as well call them Tom, Dick, and Harry. Those names get a little bit long. Their actual Hebrew names were Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah, but by the time we get to chapter 3, they have taken on different names because they've gone through a little bit of a training period, as you know the story, and the kingdom of Babylon at the court of Nebuchadnezzar.

And because of their faithfulness and their obedience to God, their steadfast loyalty, they had passed a test regarding food and loyalty and had been favored by God and given unique positions. But in the third chapter of Daniel, as the story of these individuals goes along here in Daniel, we find that Nebuchadnezzar throws another test in front of these young men. And it's a test that is, though something you and I have not been tested by in a specific sense like this, when we understand what was at stake, then we'll realize that all of us have been tested in the same way, but perhaps not as dramatically with the circumstance of what these three had to deal with as they were challenged to bow down to an idol that was erected by Nebuchadnezzar.

Let's just go into the story here, and we'll touch the highlights of chapter 3 in Daniel here to learn a few lessons and to help us understand what it is that is a key, I think, to navigating back into our world, navigating that world, and staying loyal to God, and being able to maintain the sense of stability that is important, that all of us, I think, probably gained some additional focus on through the sermons and the fellowship and the experience of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

In chapter 3 of Daniel, verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar, the great almighty king of Babylon, after having had an experience with Daniel in chapter 2, where he had a dream, you'll remember, he couldn't find the interpretation of that dream, and in that dream there was an image. Remember, this is Daniel chapter 2.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about an image, and Daniel was the only one who could give the interpretation. He came in and he told him what that interpretation was. Now, remember that the image of Daniel 2 that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed had as the head of gold Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom of Babylon. That was the head of gold that was the top part of the image. The remainder of that image talked about successive empires, the Persian, the Greek, and the Roman empires that were to come.

And you have to wonder the mind of a megalomaniac gentile ruler like Nebuchadnezzar was to begin to understand what he did here in chapter 3. And, you know, some months later, perhaps, in the story, we are told in verse 1 that he made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its width 6 cubits, so about 90 feet high.

And I don't think the image was solid gold. It was no doubt overlaid with gold. But even 90 feet high, that's a lot of gold. That's a lot of rings, necklaces, ingots, bars, coins, Kruger rands, American gold, eagles, whatever form of gold takes in us today.

This is a lot of gold, a 90-foot high image that he set up in the plain of Durin, the province of Babylon. Now, you see here that this is an image of gold, completely gold. There's no iron. There's no silver, like the other image of Daniel 2 was. There's no iron mixed with miry clay in the feet. It's gold from head to bottom.

Now, if you'd been told, let's say six months earlier, by this seer named Daniel, Wise Man, that the dream you had with an image of the head of gold, and you were that head, what would you do?

What would you be thinking if you were going to create an image like this? Let's say six months later, you commissioned a statue made like this. What do you think Nebuchadnezzar was thinking when he did that? Think about that for a minute. If you were the head of gold, and you want the whole statue to be made out of gold, and you'd been told that the other parts of that statue that you had in your dream were other kingdoms that were going to come after you.

Well, I think the logical conclusion would be Nebuchadnezzar thought that he could, by creating this image of solid gold, he could outwit God. He could outwit Daniel, and perhaps he even thought that Daniel didn't really have some direct connection to God, and it was just his idea.

So by creating this image of gold, solid gold from head to toe, he could make a statement of reality that his kingdom would endure forever. There would be no other kingdom to come beyond him.

That's, I think, one logical conclusion we could come from this to understand what was being done. That he wanted to make a statement that his kingdom in Babylon would last forever. Regardless of what was in his mind, even by making this image and proclaiming what he did, you realize that Nebuchadnezzar didn't get it. He didn't understand God. In fact, one of the interesting things about Daniel as you kind of trace it through in the story, at least with Nebuchadnezzar, is that Nebuchadnezzar had a hard time finally getting through to him that God was God. And God did work with that man in a unique way, but at this particular point in the story, he doesn't get it. So he makes this image, and then he gathers together in verse 2, everyone in the kingdom, all the mayors and the governors and the councilmen and the administrators and the magistrates from all of the provinces to come into Dura to the dedication of this image.

And so this was a lot of planning had been going into it. And verse 3 tells us that they all came together as they were told. They were a dutiful group, and the word went out. They all made their pilgrimage into this image that had been set up, and they stood before the image at the end of verse 3 that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And so you can imagine some big stadium-like setup that out in this plain with some type of stone bleachers or whatever would have been there that would, I could well imagine it with some of the setups that we've seen in history of the masses of people before all of this. And the ceremony goes begins in a herald cries aloud in verse 4, to you it is commanded, it says, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, and all the instruments, and the music strikes up with this symphony, that you will fall down to worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And if you don't fall down, you'll be cast into a midst of a fiery furnace immediately. So given that choice, at the time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn and all the symphony strikes up, I'm not going to go through all the listening of music every time, that they did fall down and worship the golden image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So they thought, whatever, you know, this is the gentile mind was used to this. This was just one more image, one more piece of idolatry, one more idea and twist in a religious scenario that didn't mean that much to them probably. You have to realize human nature is the same whether it's Jewish, Christian, Muslim, gentile in one sense, kind of some of the raw basics of human nature. I doubt that it really mattered to these people what this was. It was a matter of just going along and survival. They didn't look to this image necessarily for any spiritual power. It was a political need and necessity that was this. They would go through it and then get back to their own lives and not really have anything change.

But there were three individuals that knew that this was something different and that didn't look at it that way. They had a different worldview. And that was the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who did not take part in the ceremony because they were ratted out in verse 8. Somebody tattled on them. Some certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews.

Okay, so here's the story. You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the music will fall down and worship the gold image. And whoever does not fall down and worship according to the instruction would be cast into the midst of a fiery burning furnace.

Well, verse 12, there are certain Jews whom you have set up over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 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.

You realize that this was well known to these men and to all the high officials of Babylon about what had happened with Daniel and these three individuals and the fact that these four Jewish men had risen almost like lightning to the top of the Babylonian hierarchy and been given high responsibility as aliens, as strangers, in this land. That was unique, so they were well known.

And you can well imagine that somebody, jealous of that, was just waiting for the first slip-up.

And the opportunity to get them. And this is where it happened. This is where it seems to be.

And Nebuchadnezzar, his vanity is raked over the proverbial coals here.

And in rage and in fury, he's not in control. Someone has dared to disobey the instruction that went out. He gave a command to bring them in, in verse 13. So they brought these men in.

And they were brought before the king. And he spoke to them, and he said, Is this true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now, if you're ready at the time, so he's going to give them a second chance. So he brings them in. They must be nearby. And he brings them in.

And in essence, they are given a second chance to bow down to this image. You know, this image was probably meant to unify all peoples under Nebuchadnezzar. That could be another way to understand exactly why he did this, to bring in all of these peoples and again, all of the rulers from his kingdom. That this was somehow meant to unify everyone and to create a sense of unity under the authority of Babylon. And anyone who dared disobey that was a threat to the political strategic goals that Nebuchadnezzar had within his kingdom to accomplish a sense of unity and dynastic longevity that he did not want to see go. And again, that built into the rage and the fury, as well as the vanity that was here and as part of these men. But the reality was that they would not bow down. These three men had a very quiet determination in the face of pressure to not compromise on this point of idolatry. They would not do it. They had determined that they were going to serve God regardless of what was before them. They were determined to follow God wherever that decision led. They were not going to bow down to idolatry. Now, there's no point for us to appreciate about this image and Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. Remember that Babylon was an empire, was a city, but in the Bible Babylon is also a forerunner of a system that arches from the book of Genesis all the way to that of Revelation as a system that is a human system set up in defiance of God. From the Tower of Babel and early in the book of Genesis all the way to the end of the book of Revelation, Babylon is not only a direct empire and a city, but it is also a system that we read about that is in direct defiance of the will of God. Whether they're building a tower to the heavens and God has to come down and scatter the languages, scatter them through confusing their languages, or a system that we read about in Revelation 17 and 18 of a spiritual system to arise at the time of the end that is called Babylon, that is a political religious combine that takes over the governments of the world for a very brief time under the ages of individuals called the beast and the false prophet. And if we understand the beast as we do to be a political system, then we are looking when you look at Nebuchadnezzar and the story in Daniel, you're looking at the forerunner of the beast and revelation that is described and right here in the personified in Nebuchadnezzar is the beast. In his image, a direct object of idolatry is something that is challenging the people of God, the Jews, and in particular Daniel and these three men.

And part of the reason for us to even understand and appreciate the book of Daniel is to, again, learn a lesson about idolatry today as well as in the future. It's interesting, you hold your place here in Daniel 3 and turn back to Revelation 14, we find that in a description of this Babylon at this time, there is a comment made about idolatry that helps us to understand these three men and helps us to understand something about us today.

In Revelation 14, we are talking here about Babylon. At the beginning in verse 8, there is an angel that flies in the midst of the heaven. There's actually messages from three angels at this particular point. In verse 8, another angel followed saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

And that's referring to the spiritual end-time Babylon, this combine of political and religious system that arises at that time. And is fallen, is fallen, is talking about the fact that Babylon fell once in the ancient world and it's going to fall again at the time of the close of the age.

And so it's talking here about the beast in verse 9. If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which has poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. So here's a warning to not drink to worship the beast or his image to receive that mark into one's hand or on his head.

And to do so is going to also drink of the wine of the wrath of God that will be poured out from the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. So there's a direct warning not to engage in the idolatry of this system and the time of the end. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. Embedded in verse 11 here is a spiritual principle.

Forget trying to figure out right now what this mark of the beast is and all of this stuff. We'll deal with that at another time. That's another message. It is talking again about taking part in this system, idolatry. But you know, bring forward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They decided they would not bow down and that bowing down to them was a compromise of their heart and their mind that they'd already determined they would not be a part of Babylon with, in a sense of worshiping, that system and defiling their conscience before God, they would remain true to it, even though they had to live within the system and even work within the system, which is very instructive as well. And so what we read here then where it says in verse 11 of Revelation 14 that if those who take part in the worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark, we're going to also take part in the torment and the indignation that is poured out.

But verse 11 tells us that those who do have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image. No rest. What is that talking about? No rest. Well, it's talking about exactly what it's talking about. Peace of mind. Calm. There's no rest.

There's no satisfaction. That those who even submit to and bow down to and take part in this system, receive that mark in their hand and in their head and all of that that means, does not even then forgive them peace of mind and rest. The type of rest that the Bible talks about that comes from obedience to God. Remember, if you remember, I do because I commented on this verse, read through it in Revelation or in Hebrews 7. No, I'm sorry, Hebrews 4, my last great day sermon. And talking about the Sabbath, Hebrews 4 says that there remains a rest for the people of God. Hebrews 4, 11. There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God.

The rest of the Sabbath, the rest of a comfort and a security, an eternal security that comes in a relationship with God, knowing that our eternity is secured by that relationship, by the forgiveness of our sins, by our knowledge of the truth, by understanding of life and its purpose, creates a rest. What would cause you to compromise and to back off from that, to rob you and your conscience of that rest? See, this is what it's getting to. This is why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down even one time to this image, to save their skins, because it would violate their conscience and take away the rest, the comfort, the security, the peace of mind that they had in their worship of the true God. Because we read here again in Revelation 14, 11, that even those who take part in it, they have no rest day or night. It doesn't satisfy. Being a part of that system in the end is not going to solve all of their problems.

There will still be mental torment and anguish. That's what he's saying.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not willing to do that. Idolatry, putting something, someone, something before the true God brings no rest. If we violate God's law on any point, from the Sabbath to stealing, to lying, it begins a life of compromise and it starts in our mind. That first lie isn't worth it. That first lie that we might be tempted to tell to cover up, to excuse, to justify. That first little bit that we might steal that seems just or only a one-time matter does not satisfy. It is that first step in a different direction away from the rest that we have secure in relationship with God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that by taking that first compromise, in this case where they could easily have justified it, would have destroyed their conscience, their relationship with God, and in their own mind at least, got them to make them thinking that there was no coming back from that, that it would have perhaps shattered their whole life. That's putting aside forgiveness, mercy upon repentance and all, but it's setting up in their mind and telling us that in their mind they weren't willing to take that first step. And so they were ready to do whatever, in this case, would go wherever it led. And wherever it led was going to be into, in this case, a fiery furnace.

That is a great lesson here for us to think about as we go back to verse 12 of Daniel chapter 3.

And actually down in verse 15, he says, if you're ready, if you're ready, when you hear the band strike up, if you're ready, then you fall down and worship the image that I've made. Good, he says. But if you don't, you'll be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

So if you're ready, you get a second chance.

You want to think this one over again, guys? Are you ready? Set.

And the band strikes up again. And they said to the king, no, we don't have a need to answer you in this matter. They kind of stopped it right there.

We don't have a need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve as is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O King. Notice there's a distinction it seems here in verse 17. They knew that He was able. Perhaps they also realized that He might not do it. But they knew He was able.

They knew who they worshiped. But they did know that even if He was not, if He chose not to take them out of the fiery furnace, God will deliver us from your hand. And I guess you would have to conclude that they even looked at death in this manner as deliverance. But bowing down, was a deliverance that was not the option. It reminds you of what is said in Hebrews 11 about those who chose death, not accepting deliverance. Whatever the deliverance may have been in their life, rather than compromise and disobey God. Verse 18 it says, 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.

The Life Application Bible, commenting on this section here, offers some eight excuses that they could have come up with. Eight excuses. Let me read what the Life Application Bible says that they could have had to save their life. Number one, we will bow down but not actually worship the idol.

Okay, we'll go through the motions, but it doesn't mean anything. Number two, we won't become idol worshipers, but we'll do this this one time.

But it won't create a lifestyle. We won't get caught up in this.

Number three, the king has absolute power and we must obey him. God will understand.

God will understand. Number four, the king appointed us. We owe this to him.

Number five, this is a foreign land, so God will excuse us for following the customs of the land.

Number six, our ancestors set up idols in God's temple. This isn't half as bad.

At least we're not throwing children onto fiery molten laptops or laps, not computers.

Unless they get real hot.

Number seven, we're not hurting anybody.

We're not hurting anybody. Ever heard that one? They were used that one.

That's not hurting anybody. It's my life. You know, live and do whatever I want. We're not hurting anybody. Number eight, if we get ourselves killed and some heathens take our high positions, they won't help our people in exile. Eight excuses, eight options they could have wrangled through in their mind and thought through in order to justify bowing down this one time.

This is a pretty good example of human nature and what it would have meant.

But these three men recognized that they were at a crossroads and they had to make a decision and they knew where that decision was going to take them.

They recognized that they were on a journey. They knew that they were going to remain obedient to God. In essence, they recognized that they'd already lost their homeland. They'd been removed to an alien land. They had seen God already work in their lives, but they had not forgotten the lesson that they were pilgrims and sojourners. And their lives were in God's hands. They had not lost that sight of that fact. And they recognized that their decision, they were going to live with it. Which is the same as yours and mine, but times in our lives when we have to make decisions to obey God and to resist the temptation to do something that is going to violate a law of God, violate our conscience and our relationship with God because of something that comes up on our job, comes up in our life, that could send us off in a different direction.

Down in verse 16, they said again, 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. This is really a pretty straightforward answer. And you should kind of mark that one, if you will, or just note it somehow if you highlight your Bibles or bring that out and just look at the simplicity of the answer. We don't have to answer you. We've already made up our mind.

In this case, we're going to serve God. It was a simple, straight, direct answer of obedience, no compromise. And you know something? That pretty well sums up the simplicity of our lives as Christians. The Christian life is not really a complicated life.

It's not complicated. We complicate the complications that come from our life come because of sin. Sometimes our own, sometimes someone else's, sometimes the sin of a society that works things in our life. But it comes, the complications are there when you boil it all down because of sin. And when we have the choice in our hands, we have to make the right choice.

The Christian life is not complicated. At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon gives really the whole basis of man. He says, what is man's duty? Fear God and keep the commandments.

That is the whole duty of man. That's not complicated. That's why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to come quickly to this conclusion and not be swayed otherwise.

And so the story goes on that he was full of fury in verse 19. The expression on his face changed toward the three. He commanded that the heat of the furnace be turned up seven times, and they were bound and cast into the furnace. And those that were told who bound them up were burned as a result of that. And all of the hot flame that came out killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were thrown down into the midst of the burning fiery furnace in verse 23. And the king 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, they 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. And so he looked into it.

He saw four. Was it the pre-incarnate word who became Jesus Christ? Was it another angel?

The sense of the Scripture here lends us to think that it was God Himself, the one who became the Son of God, walking in the midst of that is the inspiration of God's Spirit here. But they were all alive, and that in itself was quite a statement and quite a miracle.

You know, he goes on in verse 26. Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the furnace, and he said to the three Shadrach, Meshach, and the bed-to-go servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. They came up out of the midst of the fire and walked right on out.

And all of the administrators and governors and counselors gathered together. They saw that the fire had had no power on them. The hair of their head was not singed, nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. These three had withstood this particular trial.

And Nebuchadnezzar spoke to them, saying, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and a bed-to-go, who sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and they have frustrated the king's word, and yielded their bodies, but that they should not serve nor worship any God, except their own God. And even notice how it is put here in verse 28 that they were not going to worship any God, little g, meaning any of the gentile gods. They were only going to worship their own God. But Nebuchadnezzar had said that, verse 28 at the beginning, that Blessed be the God of these three. He had not fully accepted this God and come to grips with him. He just referred to them as the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and a bed-to-go. And he made a decree that anyone who would speak amiss about the God of these three would be cut in pieces, and their house is torn down and made in ashy because there is no other God who can deliver like this. But probably in his thinking there were other gods who could deliver, but not in this particular fashion, according to what had taken place here. And so again, they received a promotion in the province of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar didn't come around to fully understanding and accepting God in this way. He still had lessons to learn, but he recognized the God of these three as a pretty powerful God among the gods. It is probably the best way to understand it. He didn't just worship this one God, and it didn't change his life or that of the Babylonian court.

These three men teach us a very valuable lesson in faith and not bowing down and standing fast. They also teach us a lesson in choosing good friends, choosing friends who are going to encourage and to build us up, to stand with those friends and to stand for those friends and to stand for the convictions that tie people together like that. That type of friendship is a very real strength. It provides a strength for us individually and provides a strength for the church of God. When you consider these three just from the idea of friendship, then you recognize that God really is the basis of a real friendship when it comes to people of converted minds. You've got to have the true God at the center of your life, and when you do, you can have a unique relationship with a mate, with another individual of the faith that can really be something special.

There's no question about that, and that type of relationship strengthens one's faith, builds one's faith, rather than gnawing at it, tearing at it, causing doubt and frustration. So this chapter or this story teaches us another of the principles of how we are kept from the evil one, how we resist this world and how we maintain that spirit of obedience and, if you will, the spirit of the feast, the attitude that we gain from attending God's feast of tabernacles. That is, again, keeping God at the center of our life and at the center of our relationships. Recognize that there is a power that is working, that is strong, and it is the same power that worked here. It is the same power that worked to resurrect Jesus Christ, and that power works within us. In Ephesians, chapter 1, we read about that power. Ephesians, the first chapter. Beginning in verse 18.

Ephesians 1, verse 18, Paul writes about a power that is the power that resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the same power that protected these three young men from the fiery furnace. It is the same power that works in us. If we tap it, if we use it, if we remain close to it, it works in us as it worked in these three and as it worked in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a powerful story. There are a large number of lessons for us to learn, ultimately, not to compromise. Choose our friends wisely, and above all, keep God at the center of our life and keep our eyes on God. And in that way, God will keep us from the evil one, keep us strong. We can keep the attitude and spirit of the Feast of Tabernacles moving and working in our life and in the church in the coming months.