{"id":23631,"date":"2022-10-16T22:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/daniel-3_1-15-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-10-04T13:37:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T20:37:21","slug":"daniel-3_16-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/daniel-3_16-30\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is With You In The Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel\u00a0 3:16-30\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Daniel 3:16-30.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Daniel 3:16-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-18:\u00a0 Despite King Nebuchadnezzar threatening to throw them into blazing furnace, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow down to the image the king had set up.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When the commands of human leaders directly conflict with the command of God, we must courageously choose to obey God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, I love the faith of Daniel\u2019s friends.\u00a0 They were confident that God would rescue them from the king\u2019s hand, \u201cbut even if he does not\u201d (v18), they would still not bow down to the image the king had set up.\u00a0 In other words, Daniel\u2019s friends trusted that God was in control and that His ways are higher.\u00a0 Daniel\u2019s friends hoped and believed that God would rescue them from the furnace.\u00a0 But they also left open the possibility that if God did not rescue them and allowed them to perish in the fire, He would write a greater story with their lives.<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0when facing immensely difficult situations, believe that God is going to deliver you.\u00a0\u00a0 At the same time trust that even if He does not do as we ask, He is writing a greater story than we could imagine or write ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel 3:19-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-27:\u00a0 God miraculously rescues Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the blazing furnace.\u00a0 Notice He didn\u2019t keep them from being thrown into the fire, but He kept them from being harmed while in the fire.\u00a0 It reminds me of Isaiah 43:2 where it says:<\/p>\n

Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.<\/em><\/p>\n

God will not always keep us from the fire, but He is faithful to protect us while we\u2019re in the fire so that ultimately we will not be harmed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What was God\u2019s way of protecting and comforting Daniel\u2019s friends?\u00a0 By sending someone who \u201clooks like a son of the gods\u201d to be with them in the fire.\u00a0 Many Bible scholars believe that this fourth person was the angel of the Lord, God himself in the person of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 That is the message of the Gospel:\u00a0when we should have died in the fire of God\u2019s wrath, Jesus stepped into that fire and protected us from it<\/strong>.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a truth for us to cling to today:\u00a0When you go through fiery trials nowadays, know is Jesus is right there with you and will protect you.<\/strong>\u00a0 He says, \u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me\u201d (Matthew 28:18) and \u201cSurely I am with you always to the very end of the age\u201d (Matthew 28:20).<\/p>\n

Daniel 3:28-30 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-30:\u00a0 Having witnessed with his own eyes God delivering Daniel\u2019s friends from the fire, Nebuchadnezzar orders that anyone who speaks against the God of Daniel\u2019s friends must be destroyed.\u00a0 Notice that polytheistic Nebuchadnezzar has yet to personally recognize the God of Daniel\u2019s friends as the one true and only God.\u00a0 He has yet to believe in Yahweh as his own personal God.\u00a0 But he is getting closer.\u00a0 He recognizes that no one can save the way that this God had saved (v29).\u00a0 In the next chapter, Nebuchadnezzar will take his most personal step toward God yet.<\/p>\n

Once again, here we see that\u00a0coming to know and trust the Lord personally is a process that takes time and sometimes multiple encounters<\/strong>.\u00a0 But with each encounter, that person is being drawn closer to Jesus.\u00a0 So when you meet someone who is not a Christian,\u00a0don\u2019t be discouraged if they don\u2019t immediately become a fully devoted believer after meeting you.\u00a0 Instead, just do your best to represent Jesus to them in that moment and to lead them one step closer to Him<\/strong>.\u00a0 God is writing a greater story.\u00a0 One day hopefully, after a series of steps and encounters, they\u2019ll be ready to give their lives to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Father, Your love is better than life and Your commands are worth obeying above everything else.\u00a0 Thank You that in the fire You are with me and You are faithful to deliver me in Your way and time.\u00a0 I pray for my friend whom I want to know You personally.\u00a0 I pray that I would do a faithful job of representing You to them and trust You to do the rest.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Daniel 3:16-30.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Daniel 3:16-18 (NIV)
\n16\u00a0\u00a0Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”<\/p>\n

On verses 16-18:\u00a0 Despite King Nebuchadnezzar threatening to throw them into blazing furnace, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow down to the image the king had set up.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When the commands of human leaders directly conflict with the command of God, we must courageously choose to obey God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23631"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23634,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23631\/revisions\/23634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}