i do not know if i was allowed to do this. i kinda stole pastor tuck's sermon notes for a sermon for February 13, 2005. but i thought it was good, and i wanted to share it.
This story is about three men of faith. Daniel Chapter 1 describes them as being "young men"; they were probably between 15 and 20 years of age. They were intelligent lads who came from stable, noble Jewish homes.
Their names? We know them as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Actually, their true names were Hannaniah which means "the Lords shows grace", Mishael, meaning "Who is like God" and Azariah, "The Lord helps".
They, along with many other fine, Jewish children, were kidnapped by the conquering Babylonians, renamed with pagan names (names reflecting pagan gods), and taken to Babylon to conquer a nation was to assimilate it, to remove its identity through its children. However, what the Babylonians did not count on was a faith that was able to permeat cultural differences, yet still remain strong and intact. Hanniah, Mishael and Azariah were taken from their homes at very young ages, isolated from their people and trained in the ways of an entirely different world-- but they remained faithful to the One and True God.
The King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, in his prime, was the most powerful man on earth. However, he was extremely superstitious and very temperamental. To pay homage to his personal god of choice, we are told that Nebuchadnezzar erected a ninety foot statue (that's as tall as an eight story building). He then pronounced an edict that when his musicians played, everyone would be summoned to worship this idol. To "motivate" people into obedience, the stimpulation was added that anyone refusing to bow before the colossal icon would be incinerated in the furnaces.
Now, think about it... three powerless youths, trapped in a hostile, foreign territory were being confronted and threatened with a horrible, fiery death unless they performed the simple act of bowing to a statue. What would you have done? These three boys could have rationalized it all, by saying "We know this is just a pile of rock and metal it isn't a real god, so how is bowing to it to be such a bad thing?" they could have reasoned, "We'll do this to save our lives;l after all, what good are we to God's cause if we are dead?"
But that's not what they did. Instead, after repeated warnings and threates, they decided NOT to bend the knee to false gods. They decided to take a stand.
WHAT FAITH!!! WHAT SPIRITUAL FORTITUDE!!!! WHAT....GUTS!!!!
How did these young men find the faith to take such a stand? I want us to consider three things that helped their faith to remain strong. These three things will help us today to have a strength that stands up in times of chaos, crisis and confusion.