#DanielChallenge – Day Three Chapter Three

Hello Beautiful People!

Its amazing to see so many of you on board with the #DanielChallenge! Even those that haven’t done the previous Bible Challenges ( #EstherChallenge , #RuthChallenge, #JamesChallenge and #LWChallenge.) we welcome you! For those that still don’t know what it is, don’t worry! The Daniel Challenge is a 12 day challenge, where we read the 12 chapters in the book of Daniel in the Bible! It is not just about reading, I would love for us to share our understanding of what we have read with each other, so as you read, feel free to hashtag #DanielChallenge if you have twitter. In addition, please email biblechallenge@outlook.com with your notes for each chapter, or a summary and I will put it up on this blog page! The book of Daniel really focuses on our character and identity, especially in the area of being CONSISTENT and LOYAL which I believe is so key in really getting the most out of our Christian walk and abiding in God’s will for us! Some points I haven’t touched on in my summary are covered in everyone else’s contributions, OR I have purposely left out to encourage you guys to touch on! 🙂

Day Three- Chapter Three

I’ve done a video for those who prefer audio/videothan reading a whole bunch of text! I summarised the chapter and spoke about the main points for me whilst simultaneously applying them to our everyday lives. Enjoy and Share! TODAY I AM LEAVING MOST OF THE WRITTEN NOTES FOR YOU TO SEND IN 🙂

Main People in this Chapter:

• King Nebuchadnezzar (aka King Nebu)
• Hananiah (aka Shadrach)
• Mishael (aka Meshach)
• Azariah (Abednego)

KEY POINTS FOR ME (elaborated a lot more in the video):

Idolatry

I read chapter 3 with a very confused face at the beginning. Here was a King who in Chapter 2, declared that the God of Daniel was the God of all gods, but now he created a golden statue for people to worship. Somebody say confused.com! But to be fair he didn’t explicitly denounce his gods…this is some of us today. Let’s Be honest.

It made me realised that a lot of us say, yes God almighty is the one true God, yet we serve many other gods. We put things before God. We may not have a physical statue in our homes or bow down to any carved image, but whatever we place before God, that thing is an idol. Move away from the lip service and let your actions be consistent with your declarations. PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A CLEAR EXPLANATION!

The latter part of verse 15 ‘what god will be able to save you from my power’? << imagine the cheek of king Nebuchadnezzar…challenging God almighty. Any ways, he met his match sha!

Respect for Authority & Loyalty

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” – Daniel 3:16-18

Verse 16 – 18 blew me away. It is a firm declaration of their faith, allegiance and loyalty to God! They trusted God regardless of the potential outcome of their disobedience to the kings order. I like that they still spoke to the king with respect, saying ‘our king’ and not being rude. It shows that they respect the higher authority on earth, but acknowledge the authority of God to supersede all authorities.

Verse 28, these three men trusted their God and was willing to die rather than serve or worship any other god << can we really say the same for ourselves? Their obedience to god, caused a new law to be created in their favour, to allow them to worship their God in peace, and to have no one speak against the almighty God. Again we see King Nebu declaring the almighty God as the true god because of what he saw. When people see you, do they see the glory of God in your life? Or are you just common? Like everyone else. Let us be set apart, shine for His glory. Command respect and attention through your Christ like conduct. Let unbelievers see the God in you!

King Nebu Needs Anger Management LOL…okay my real point is Servants of God are Protected

King Nebuchadnezzar needs some anger management and some treatment for his insomnia loool. The guy took it to the extremes by ordering the blazing furnace to be made 7 times hotter…to the extent that it killed the strong soldiers that bounded and threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fire.

The holes created for you to stumble and fall into…those that created it will fall into their own trap. No harm will come to those who serve God, and are loyal to Him. No harm came to these three fella’s. As Psalm 91 says ‘1000 shall fall at your side, 10000 at your right hand but it shall not come near you, only with your eyes will you see and behold the reward of the wicked’. God will cause your enemies to condemn themselves and fall into the traps that they set for you. God will cause you to gain favour and honour while under attack and then He will make your enemies self destruct, all while setting the table before you filled with blessings.

God is always with us

There was an extra person in the fire. Was it an angel or was it God…I don’t know, but all I know is that God was involved! Remember in Chapter 2 when the wise men said the ‘gods don’t dwell among humans’ (Daniel 2:11), well our God does, and He sends help when we need it the most. Through everything He is there. There is a beautiful poem called footprints in the sand, that depicts this wonderfully.

RESPONSES TO THE CHALLENGE I SET IN THE VIDEO:

I just done some research about where Daniel may have been when his friends where being questioned by the king. First I researched Daniels role that was given to him which would then give me an insight as to what tasks he would have been given. From my research I’ve seen that firstly the bible itself doesn’t say where Daniel was. Secondly it is believed that Daniel wasn’t in Babylon at the time but was on a diplomatic mission for king Nebu and if he was in Babylon he too would be involved in the fire.
There is however a flip side to this which I question but will share anyway. That Daniel was in fact in Babylon at the time and may have fallen into social pressure and bowed down to the statue. However this theory would just contradict Daniel and his character as Daniel didn’t conform in chapter 1/2. – Anu

What you all thought:

For me Daniel is one those books that causes you to really examine your faith and walk with God. It’s kinda like the book of Job where we see God place his servants into the hand of the enemy & things look impossible, but we know that nothing is impossible for God! The challenges that the boys faces were crazy! If we were faced with the same challenges today would we be so able to stand up for God and say ‘NO’ to the King Nebuchadnezzar’s of our day?

In this chapter we really see the Boys step up to he plate. They don’t buckle under pressure at all, but stay steadfast in their faith. They remained #MenOfStandard.

– King Nebuchadnezzar comes face to face with the awesomeness of God in this chapter and he is completely shook up by it!!

(Verse 1-7) King Nebu built this magnificent gold statue, it was 90 foot tall, & beautiful to look at. He thought “yeaaah, this is amazing!!” but he forgot that it was just a statue, this statue could not compare to God’s majesty! Sometimes we seem to forget that things/people are creations & cannot be likened unto God.

Now, Nebu was sooooo proud of this statue that he made that he decided that everyone had to worship it. King Nebu was a bit mad, and basically scared the people into worshiping this statue of gold. However, there were 3 young men he couldn’t scare.

Verse 8-18. I think it’s amazing how God works. God put the boys in such high ranks with the king that certain Chaldeans became jealous of them. Because of this jealousy they reported back to the king that Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego wouldn’t worship the idol. This is where it gets real.

King Nebuchadnezzar gives the boys one last chance to worship the statue but he did one really silly thing. He questioned God: “Who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?” King Nebuchadnezzar obviously suffers from memory loss as in chapter 2 he said that God was “God of gods..” but anyway, without hesitation the boys were able to reply to him (Verse 16-18). I love how the boys replied to him, they were so confident and sure of their God.

“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 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. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” – For me this is the epitome of faith. The boys weren’t bothered by the fact that they were possibly about to be consumed by fire, they understood that their God was greater than King Nebuchadnezzar and greater than death. When I read this I had to stop and question myself, would I be able to stand form like that? If faced with death or bowing before an idol what would you choose?

Verse 19-25. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS MAD. Kong Nebuchadnezzar got so mad that he ordered the furnace to be seven times hotter than usual. The fire was SO hot that the men that were tending to it and threw the boys in died! But, God is a miracle worker! When the boys went into the fire they were bound… King Nebu was obviously tryna gloat and watch the mandem burn, but when God is in control nutten nuh go suh!! To the king’s surprise there were four men in the fire. Nebu’s definition of the fourth man is priceless though: “the fourth is like the son of God (son of the gods in some versions)” (verse 25). This just goes to show that when God is in control of your life no man can touch you! He will send his angels to protect you.

Verse 26-30. God completely humbled King Nebuchadnezzar. Through this manifestation of God’s power Nebu was able to see the clear difference between the God of Israel and the idols he worshipped.

When King Nebuchadnezzar let them out of the furnace he said “…servants of the MOST HIGH GOD…” this is so significant because it shows that Nebu had finally understood the fact that the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego was like NO other God. No golden statue could compare to Jehovah!

– Sometimes we can be like King Nebu in a way. We can forget just how awesome God really is and so we begin to idolise things & become full of pride. This is why we need to ask Him for a chance to come face to face with His majesty, so we don’t forget His glory.

– God is truly amazing, he used the boys’ horrid circumstance to manifest His glory and turn hearts and minds on Him!! Who else but God ayy? King Nebuchadnezzar blessed the Lord & decreed that only the Most High God should be worshipped!
In verse 30 we see God’s favour in action yet again!! The boys were promoted in the province of Babylon! When you honour God, He will honour you!!

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego…” Verse 28.”…there is no God who can deliver like this.” Verse 29. God bless you. – @__wonderwomxn

1. SYMBOLISM: the way the events unfolded in chapter3 reminds me a lot of the recorded events of the latter days. This makes sense because in chapter 2, the interpretation of King Neb’s dreams were related to the latter days too. The same way Shed, Mesh, and Abednego were put in that position of choosing between worshipping that golden image and getting beheaded is the same way the Anti-christ will come and make living life extremely difficult- GET THE MARK OR DIE basically. As believers, we must be careful not ti be entices by the things that glitter. He made his statue in pure gold contrary to what Daniel interpreted back in ch.2 in order to avoid the consequences that followed according to his dream; his kingdom being destroyed.

2. KING NEB WAS SHOOK! We would all have noticed that after realising there were 4 figures in the fire, the king only called out the 3 he sent in (v 26) so already, personally i think he was already scared at the dire consequences that may follow if he even attempts to deal with the ‘4th figure’. At this point he already knew who was boss because he even called them servants of the ‘HIGH GOD’. He thought he threw them into a burning furnace but the whole time, Daniel’s friends must have felt like they were in some Fully Air conditioned first class cabin!

3. NOT DEATH BUT LIFE.
It was the compelling confidence they had in christ that made them not see death in that fire. They had immense faith which is why they chose to ‘suffer’ than to sin. They chose to ‘burn’ than to turn their backs from christ. They were well ‘assured’ that they would be delivered from this furnace.

I pray God helps us in this race to just maintain our stands.. No one will threaten to throw us into a furnace in this day and age, no one will make u bow down to a golden image. But what are those things that are posing as ‘gods’ in our lives.. Music, jobs, tv shows.. Whatever it is. Let us aim to put HIM first in everything because he put us First when he gave his only son.

Have a splendid day everyone
– @Tayo_oo

King nebu was able to acknowledge God in the first 2 chapters as he knew God was using Daniel but ones again as a human-being that didn’t stop him from doing what’s actually in his heart by making an imagine for everyone to bow. He does not allow free will to prevail in the presence of his people, he threatens then rather than let them do what they want as he decides to throw anyone who’s not bowing to the carved image into a burning fire.  God is too gracious for that, this is why his love for us is indescribable, he waits for us to choose him, he waits for us to invite him in, he does not force it by threatening our well being that’s how much he loves us. Shadrach and his men spoke confidently in the presence of the king! They were bold in Christ and they told him, if our God can deliver us from the burning fire, he will deliver us from your hands. They said it like God had already done it. They truly knew who they were serving. There was no sign or fear or doubt in their mind and actions. King Nebu’s counsellor spoke about the 4th man in the fire with shadrach and his men, personally for me this reminds me of pharaoh times when Jesus told Moses to tell pharaoh to let his people go, now this seems to be another direct message from God to nebu to let these men go. Through their obedience shadrach and his men were promoted through God’s glory, this chapter shows that no matter how much the devil tries, if we truly believe and have faith the power of the devil will always be subdued in our lives and children and followers of Christ. – @LionessGrace