We come to Daniel 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which every kid that ever attended Sunday School knows. (Although few would be able to tell you the historical context or whether the event was before or after, say, Samson or David and Goliath.)

Anyway, we’re here in the exile, Daniel and his three friends are captives, subjects of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to whom God had given a vision. Apparently Nebuchadnezzar missed the part about “the God of Heaven” and heard only:

You are the head of gold (Daniel 2.38, ESV)

So chapter three opens:

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3.1, ESV)

90 feet tall! And the command went out:

And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (Daniel 3.4, 5, ESV)

And you all know what happened next. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to play:

“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 3.12, ESV)

…

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 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. 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)

This, of course, is the most important paragraph in this story. The deliverance from the fiery furnace is nice and the presence of the fourth man “like a son of the gods” is encouraging, but what if there’s not miraculous deliverance? “…if not, we will not…worship the golden image…”

This is the choice that faced Alexei Navalany in Russia who was murdered for exactly the same crime. Refusing to bow to the king. And his testimony was clear:

Faith makes life simpler… are you a disciple… of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others…? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left to worry about? – quoted by Joseph Nangle, October 26, 2024

There have been many…

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised… (Hebrews 11.35 – 39, ESV)