Verses 1-3

Dead religion comes about when true religion degenerates. True religion is the vital and genuine relationship of man with God; dead religion is the degeneration of that relationship. The degeneration of man's relationship with God first came about in the Garden of Eden, when Eve took some fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate it. Genesis Chapter 3 verse 6 says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." It was our progenitor's unwillingness to subordinate to God the appetite for food, the lust of the eye and the desire for wisdom that led to the degeneration of man's relationship with God. When they had eaten the fruit, their eyes were opened and they realized that they were naked. They were ashamed of being naked before one another, so they sowed fig leaves together to cover themselves - their perspective of one another and of themselves had immediately become corrupted. In the same way they no longer wanted to come before God the way they were, so when God came looking for them, they hid from him - their perspective of God had become corrupted too. So the moment they had gained wisdom from eating the fruit, they failed to handle it properly. Consequently their relationship with God suffered a deadly blow, hence the emergence of dead religion. Dead religion is the degeneration of the vital and genuine relationship of man with God. It first had to do with the appetite for food, the lust of the eye and the desire for wisdom in the Garden of Eden.

Daniel was able to subordinate to God the appetite for food very early on during the Babylonian captivity, but was unable to do so with the lust of the eye and the desire for wisdom. Like Adam and Eve he failed to handle it properly the moment God gave him the wisdom he desired. He saw the glory and power of Babylon and he chased after them; he saw the king of Babylon falling prostrate before him and he could not resist it - Daniel had succumbed to the lust of his eye for the glory and power of Babylon. Daniel's subordinating to God his appetite for food in Chapter 1 demonstrated his vital and genuine relationship with God. His spiritual perspective in that chapter showed that he understood God's sovereignty in dealing with man. But going into Chapter 2 we saw its perversion - the sovereign God was reduced to a crystal ball at the service of a pagan king. We further saw in that chapter Daniel's competing with God for glory and honor when he received Nebuchadnezzar's worship without qualm. Like our progenitor Daniel's relationship with God suffered a deadly blow the moment he was given the wisdom he desired.

By embracing the glory and power of Babylon Daniel downgraded God's supremacy in his life and introduced idols into his worship. Downgrading God's supremacy and introducing idols into the worship is characteristic of dead religion. That was exactly what Nebuchadnezzar demanded from Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in this chapter. True religion cannot turn into dead religion without its having become corrupt from within. Daniel would not have embraced the glory and power of Babylon if he had not craved them. He was tempted by the glory and power of Babylon when, by his own evil desire, he was dragged away and enticed. Then after desire had conceived, it gave birth to sin; and sin, when it was full grown, gave birth to dead religion. Had he successfully resisted the temptation, Daniel would not have given dead religion the inroad. He could have resisted the temptation by holding on to the supremacy of God in his life. As we shall see true religion can resist the encroachment of dead religion only by insisting upon the supremacy of God in its worship. We are going to see that in Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah refusing to worship the glory and power of Babylon at the risk of their lives. They were the defenders of true religion against the encroachment of dead religion. Though on the surface it appeared to be the conflict between Nebuchadnezzar on the one hand, and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah on the other, it all boiled down to the conflict between Daniel and his three friends. It was the conflict between dead religion and true religion, between the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God.

Like cancer dead religion has a tenacious tendency to spread. Nebuchadnezzar was the first one to acquire Daniel's dead religion with its attending theology and worship. Nebuchadnezzar never had a genuine relationship with God; he was only an unfortunate victim of Daniel's dead religion. We must evaluate 'God of gods' and 'Lord of kings' in verse 47 of Chapter 2 in the context of Nebuchadnezzar's juxtaposition of 'a revealer of mysteries' in the same sentence. The consideration of God being a revealer of mysteries qualified and undergirded his calling God the 'God of gods' and the 'Lord of kings'. Being a revealer of mysteries rendered God a crystal ball at Nechudnezzar's service just like other gods. Consequently he thought of God having significance only in relation to the gods (God of gods) and kings (Lord of kings). God was essentially of the same stock as the gods and kings in his estimation. This is totally different from references of 'Lord of lords' and 'King of kings' elsewhere in the bible, where a similar downgrading qualification of God is absent. This was the theology that Nebuchadnezzar had inherited from Daniel. In this chapter we shall see Nebuchadnezzar spreading Daniel's worship - the worship of the glory and power of Babylon - far and wide throughout his kingdom.

Coming into this chapter Nebuchadnezzar had two issues left unanswered. On the one hand he was not told that God was the God of salvation; on the other he was confused about the roles in worship. He put the worship of man (worshipping Daniel) at the center while relegating God to be nothing more than a crystal ball. In this chapter we are going to see a further corruption of his idea of the object of worship. This made for fertile ground for fomenting religion - the inventing of idols. As we shall see, Nebuchadnezzar came up with his own invention of the 'what', 'how', 'where' and 'when' of worship. It was in this context that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah provided answers to Nebuchadnezzar's unanswered issues. Nebuchadnezzar would be shown that God is the God of salvation, and that he is supreme and the only one worthy of worship, and that at all cost. He would be shown that submitting to the sovereign will of God at all cost is the way to worship the Most High God.

You might say that Nebuchadnezzar was fomenting false religion because he was demanding worship of the image of gold. Well, the image of gold was symbolic of the glory and power of Babylon. It was much taller than it was wide - it must be put on a pedestal. Nebuchadnezzar put the image on a pedestal just as he had put Daniel on a pedestal. It is customary for people who practice dead religion to put their objects of worship on a pedestal. We worship the image of gold too when we put Daniel on a pedestal for the glory and power he received in Babylon. Don't we also worship money, status, prestige and so many other worldly things, and put them on a pedestal while claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ? Do we say that we practice false religion because of our love for the world? No, we are like Nebuchadnezzar who knew the one true God but refused to submit to him. What's more, we reduce God to servitude to us just as Nebuchadnezzar did God to himself. We and Nebuchadnezzar say the same religious rhetoric that we don't mean deep down within. We have dead religion in us the same way Nebuchadnezzar had in him.

The image of gold was intended to be but not a complete replica of the enormous statute Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream in Chapter 2. The statute in Chapter 2 symbolized the four successive kingdoms of man - Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. The different materials the statute was made of indicated the nature of each kingdom. By making the image in this chapter using the same material Babylon was portrayed to be in his dream, Nebuchadnezzar was defiantly resisting what God had instituted for the kingdoms of man. Babylon was to be the head of the enromous statute that had more glory than the other three kingdoms after it. But Nebuchadnezzar was not content with being the head of gold and wanted to monopolize the entire statute for himself - he had made the image out of his pride. Just like Daniel who usurped God's glory and misappropriated for himself wisdom and power that belonged to God, Nebuchadnezzar usurped the glory of the other three earthly kingdoms and misappropriated for himself sovereign power that belonged to other kings.

The Pharisees put on an image of piety for people to see. The rich man who asked Jesus what he must do in order to inherit eternal life put on an image of goodness for people to see. Ananias and Sapphira put on an image of generosity for people to see. People at the church in Sardis put on an image of being alive for people to see. Daniel put on an image of perfection for people to see. In the same way Nebuchadnezzar put on an image of gold for people to see. All these people put on an image that was more than what they really were in order to receive adoration and worship from men. By making the image entirely of gold Nebuchadnezzar was portraying himself to be more than what he really was. He had thereby entered the rank of dead religion as the likes of the Pharisees, the rich man, Ananias and Sapphira, people at the church in Sardis, and Daniel.

Daniel s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar s dream culminated in the kingdom of God that crushes to pieces all the kingdoms of man. But Nebuchadnezzar chose to ignore that again out of his pride; instead he focused on the glory and power of Babylon symbolized by the head of gold. He took the prophetic word of God, twisted it and came up with an idol of his own making for others to worship. Without failing dead religion is fixated on temporal earthly glory and power. It purposely ignores the focus of God s prophetic word, which is the kingdom of God in this case. It is self-aggrandizing. It is like the Pharisees praying about himself in the temple: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get (LUKE 18:11-12)." Prayer is supposed to be focused on God, but it is made to focus on self. The prophetic word of God is centered around God and the eternal kingdom of God, but dead religion interprets it to center around man and the temporal kingdom of man. It is twisted in order to justify idol worship to the exclusion of the worship of God - dead religion usurps God s glory, stealing God s thunder from under his nose.

Please note that the image of gold was not intended to be a god or a religious symbol. The astrologers said in verse 12: "They (Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah) neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you (Nebuchadnezzar) have set up." Thus the image of gold was not counted among Nebuchadnezzar's gods. At its dedication religious personnel were not invited to the ceremony; only provincial officials in Babylon were. It was politicians and bureaucrats responsible for perpetuating the glory and power of Babylon that attended the ceremony. So the dedication of the image of gold was a political assembly for the purpose of showing off the organization and power base of the kingdom of Babylon. The repeated elaboration on the rank and file of politicians and bureaucrats served to demonstrate the political organization. Please note that Daniel was at the top of the political hierarchy in the province of Babylon; all the attendees at the ceremony were essentially his underlings. They had been summoned to the ceremony to pledge their allegiance to Babylon. Among the attendees were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah since they were administrators over the province. The peer pressure for them to conform was great, especially when all the provincial officials were gathered together and they were put on the spot. Thus dead religion uses peer pressure in a broad setting to coerce conformity.

Nebuchadnezzar did not have any relationship with God to begin with because, like Daniel, he did not submit to God, nor did he know that he needed to. He was not told nor shown with real-life example about the necessity of that. Nebuchadnezzar was religious and spiritually inclined, and desired to participate in spirituality. Inevitably he had to take the impersonal approach to God and came up with his misguided spirituality that was based on God's revelation given him about the statute in his dream. You can see the same with people who create their own misguided spirituality by arguing over things that come from God's revelation. They argue over premillenialism and postmillenialism, the cessation of the gifts of the Spirit or otherwise, the length of the days of creation, while the issue of relating to God and submitting to God is sidelined. We actually have many Nebuchadnezzar's running around in the present days. And they could be as brutal and atrocious as the despot himself because some in the process have attempted to tear down the kingdom of God. People in this category take an impersonal and doctrinal approach to God and likely know nothing about relating to God and submitting to God. We should take the same approach to resisting these people that Hanaiah, Mishael and Azariah took to resist Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., by not participating in their misguided spirituality.

Verses 4-7

At the dedication ceremony peoples and nations and men of every language were commanded to pledge their allegiance to Babylon. Dead religion seeks after a large following crowd. People tend to gravitate toward crowds and organization because nobody wants to be singled out; everybody wants to be part of the crowd to be safe. We want to stick with the crowd and go with the crowd. By nature we have a crowd mentality and dead religion appeals to that. Dead religion makes threats of punishment for those who refuse to conform; it uses intimidation to enforce conformity. The pressure kept building up when the herald announced that anyone who did not fall down and worship the image of gold would immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. The urgency with which the execution would be carried out was intended to step up the pressure for people to conform. Its purpose is to draw a bigger crowd. The bigger the crowd it draws, the more powerful and intimidating it gets. Thus dead religion uses peer pressure and punishment to coerce conformity.

Music was used as the call to worship. As soon as the music was played, everyone was to fall down and worship the image of gold. Without music there would be no worship at all because if the people did not hear the music, they would not fall down and worship. Without the playing of horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and pipes there would be no worship either - dead religion is very specific about music. Thus dead religion has made music and worship synonymous. The music itself became the sound of terror for the peoples. The prevailing emotion of the peoples was fear when they worshipped, not so much of the image, but of the music, because they would be afraid that they might not hear the music when it was played. They would be afraid that they might be engaged otherwise when the music was played, and hence would not be able to quickly respond to the call for worship. Or they would simply be afraid that wrongful accusations might be brought against them. Thus dead religion uses fear, suspicion and ill will to coerce conformity.

As soon as you hear the music you must drop everything else and fall down and worship; everything would have to play second fiddle to the call for worship. Thus dead religion would have worshippers believe that the appointed time of worship was to be the most important time. The present-day equivalent would be the one or two hours on Sunday morning being construed as the most important time of the whole week. But make no mistake that going to church is not a test from God when we assemble together under the protection of freedom of religion. We do not need to worry about arrest, torture, fine and imprisonment, nor the loss of property and livelihood, when we come together for worship. If worship is showing how much God is worth to us, the one or two hours on Sunday morning would be a poor indicator for us who enjoy freedom of religion. Besides, someone who throughout the rest of the week lives a life in willful disobedience to God can come to sit in the pews with you who live in absolute obedience. That would indeed make the one or two hours on Sunday morning a very poor indicator of worship.

Dead religion mandates the time to worship, the way to worship, whom to worship and the consequence of non-compliance. The time to worship is mandated because dead religion emphasizes organized and glorious simultaneous worship. Dead religion is ritualistic - it mandates the form of worship while completely ignores its essence. It puts on a certain kind of outward display in worship but knows nothing about worshipping in spirit, which is submitting to the sovereign will of God. Dead religion is looking for the 'right' things to do as the way of worship. But there is no true worship without submitting to God. Any kind of worship, if it lacks submission to God, is not acceptable to God. Submission to God is not assuming some postures of submission or putting on an image of piety at a church service - that is nothing more than form. Indeed submitting to God has very little to do with how we conduct ourselves during that weekly time of church service.

By setting up the image of gold and mandating compulsory worship of the image, Nebuchadnezzar was not taking away religious freedom in the land. His subjects could still worship their own gods as long as they pledged their allegiance to Babylon when it was demanded of them. Dead religion does not condemn or forbid the practice of true religion. In fact it honors what it deems to be true religion. Nebuchadnezzar honoring Daniel in the last chapter and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in this chapter would be an example. Dead religion only prescribes extra elements of worship, in this case, the worship of the glory and power of Babylon. As long as Babylon was duly worshipped, everybody could also worship and serve his own gods. Thus dead religion does not seek to eliminate true religion. Rather it encroaches on true religion; it dilutes and compromises the supremacy of God in a worshipper's life.

The herald loudly proclaimed the rituals of the worship and the punishment for those who refuse to follow the rituals. He was similar to the messenger from heaven in Nebuchadnezzar s second dream in Chapter 4. The messenger called out in a loud voice pronouncing judgment on the king just as the herald loudly proclaimed judgment on non-conformers. The great tree symbolizing Nebuchadnezzar in the second dream had enormous height. It was just like the image of gold that symbolized Babylon and had disproportionate height. What Nebuchadnezzar imposed on his non-conforming subjects, God in turn imposed on him who was defiant of God.

Verses 8-12

Verse 8 says, "At this time astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews." Daniel was referring to the denouncing of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah as denouncing the Jews. So Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah appeared to represent the Jews at large. Everywhere in the book they were mentioned, they were always as one body and never mentioned separately. The only occasion where they spoke in verses 16-18, they spoke as one voice; we do not see distinct individual personality for anyone of them at all. In becoming administrators for the province of Babylon, they entered into the secular workforce and came under public scrutiny. The astrologers had found them an enemy perhaps because they were considered to be Daniel's power base and his lieutenants. And their accusation against Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah was purely politically motivated. This confrontation in the secular world formed the backdrop against which God's litmus test for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah was administered. It was the same with God's makeup test for Daniel in Chapter 6.

Astrologers were practitioners of religion, and history has shown that people who practice religion are behind much of the evil in the world. They had crossed from their religious domain into the political arena to bring calamity upon others. Nebuchadnezzar only demanded worship of the image of gold, the symbol of the glory and power of Babylon, but they accused Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah of not serving Nebuchadnezzar's gods. In this circumstance religion was nothing more than an excuse for evil. Daniel had deprived the astrologers of their leadership position among the wise men. They were now striking back at Daniel. But since Daniel was leader of all the wise men, including the astrologers, and was protected by Nebuchadnezzar himself, they decided to go after Daniel's Jewish underlings and lieutenants.

The astrologers brought up before Nebuchadnezzar that he had issued a decree concerning the worship of the image of gold. Its content was essentially what the herald proclaimed in verses 4-6. For a third time the combination of horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and pipes was mentioned. The astrologers were an example of nay-sayer in that their negative remarks to the king in Chapter 2 had prompted the king to issue a decree to have all the wise men of Babylon executed. In this chapter their negative remarks against Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were intended to cause them to be thrown into the blazing furnace. By their nature people like these are in the habit of bringing calamity upon others with their remarks - their remarks are like boat-sinking torpedoes. In addition the astrologers attempted to make the three's refusal to worship the image of gold an act of personal affront to the king by saying that the three paid no attention to him. It was intended to stir up the king's anger.

Verses 13-15

Just as their remarks in Chapter 2 made him very angry and furious, the astrologers' remarks again made Nebuchadnezzar furious with rage. So Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were summoned before the king. Though he was a man readily disposed to rage and anger, Nebuchadnezzar was not without reason in dealing with them. He questioned them and sought to find out the credibility of the accusation lodged against them. He gave them an ultimatum and demanded that they abide by the appointed time of worship, the mandated form of worship and the official object of worship. Otherwise they would immediately be thrown into the blazing furnace.

For a fourth time the combination of horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and pipes was cited as the call to worship. Importance is ascribed to whatever is mentioned with repetition - it is music in this case. The herald announced that the mandated music would be the call to worship. All the peoples responded to the mandated music by falling down to worship the image of gold. The astrologers reiterated the king's decree that the mandated music would be the call to worship. Here Nebuchadnezzar demanded that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah respond to the call to worship when they heard the mandated music. For the worshippers music had become nothing more than a reflex response, a programmed response. Though they fell down to worship the image of gold upon hearing it, the music did not bring out the best from them because they were only performing a ritual. A worshipper brings his best and devotes his best to God as an act of worship. Music in itself has no way of bringing out the best from a worshipper.

Thus music could not fulfill the function as the call to worship. The call to worship is issued by none other than the one who is to be worshipped. Did Abraham not bring out his best and offer his best on Mount Moriah in response to God's call to worship? Did Abraham not tell his servants to wait for him while he and his best went over to worship? And offering our best to God is not supposed to be a public act, just as Abraham took his best and offered his best out of the sight of his servants. It is supposed to be done in private, just between you and God, God and you. Keep in mind that the rich man, the Pharisees, Annanias and Sapphira, the people at the church of Sardis and Daniel all put on a public show of their merits and were rejected by God. It is not very different from what happens on Sunday morning at church services. If we think that our singing on Sunday morning is bringing our best and offering our best to God, it is just not true for most of us. In reality, if most of us don't have something better than that to offer God in private during the week, we have failed to respond to God's call to worship, to offer him our best. Pope John Paul II has just passed away. He has been credited as calling the Catholic Church out into the world to serve the world. Perhaps Protestants can learn something from him.

Much of the chapter is hinged on Nebuchadnezzar's rhetorical question in verse 15: "Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" The reality was that God had already rescued the four young men from Judah and the other wise men in Babylon from his hand. Unfortunately he did not know because Daniel had failed to tell him in Chapter 2. So in this chapter God used Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to introduce him to the God of salvation. In Nebuchadnezzar's mind the God of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had failed to deliver them from his hand when they were carried into exile. He thought that this time their God could not deliver them from his hand either if they did not comply with his demand. But then before the close of this chapter Nebuchadnezzar would learn a very important lesson about the sovereignty of God - God could choose not to deliver the Jerusalem Jews from his hand but choose to deliver the three from the blazing furnace. He was going to learn that God had a mind of his own and could not be dealt with in the same way he dealt with an idol.

Nebuchadnezzar did not demand that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah serve his gods, only that they worship the image of gold he had set up. The encroachment of dead religion upon true religion is in the matter of worship. If they would include the image of gold in their worship in the prescribed manner, the king of Babylon would have nothing against them. That was the litmus test for them. The litmus test for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah was different than that for Daniel, yet in the meantime the same. They were different in the way they were administered - one had to do with persecution and the other temptation. They were the same by nature in that both were about worshipping the glory and power of Babylon. The test came in the form of persecution for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah such that they had to deal with the pressure for them to conform. The pressure got to the most unbearable when the king of Babylon himself demanded their compliance. Any refusal to comply would bring nothing but immediate death. The persecution was intended to get them out of their comfort zone where they had always stayed, when Daniel had handled every difficult situation on their behalf. This time, however, Daniel had been completely taken out of the picture, and they had to deal with the situation entirely on their own. They had to decide for themselves whether to include the image of gold in their worship and hence compromise the supremacy of God in their lives, or to reject it and be thrown into the blazing furnace.

Verses 16-18

Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had just escaped physical destruction in Chapter 2. But then an even greater peril awaited them their spiritual destruction. If they agreed to introduce idols into their worship and hence downgraded God's supremacy in their lives, they allowed themselves to get entangled with dead religion. Worshipping God is showing God how much he is worth to us. There are various ways of worshipping God. Submitting to God's sovereign will is one of them. Voluntary submission to God's sovereign will in particular is devotion. Devotion to God is not our taking the initiative to do something or to give up something for God. Rather it is a response to God's call to worship. This particular circumstance in the lives of these three young men from Judah was God's call for them to worship. It was God's litmus test for them to demonstrate their devotion or the lack thereof. God's sovereign will was for them to be thrown into the blazing furnace. Their voluntary submission constituted their devotion to God. Devotion is characteristic of true religion and the means of true religion to resist the encroachment of dead religion. As we shall see the encroachment of dead religion was held in check by these three young men's devotion to God.

It was mentioned in the study on Chapter 1 that Daniel held the view that there was a definitive causal relationship between events because God always maintained such a relationship. It was as though God were bound by such a law instead of having the sovereign will to decide what was going to happen in each situation. That view would actually ascribe less sovereignty to God because God would be compelled to act certain ways as what happens in idol worship. If you do such and such for an idol in a prescribed manner, you will be blessed by the idol. It is a rigid and shortsighted conception about God also in that it is concerned primarily with immediate outcome. This view of God has its origin in a rigid and shortsighted interpretation of the law. It would appear that the law by itself is a rigid rendition of God's nature and sovereignty. It would also appear that Jesus showed a greater sovereignty of God in his being abandoned by God on the cross even though he was completely obedient. Jesus' experience would appear to fall outside of the domain of the law that stipulates that God would bless you if you obey God and curse you if you don't. In reality it does not because the law itself needs to be interpreted on a more eternal perspective. That God abandoning Jesus even though Jesus had been completely obedient does not in any way contradict the law because it was followed by God raising Jesus from the dead. Job learned to view God on a more eternal perspective because God ultimately restored him and gave him more than what he had before his trouble started. And the three young men being thrown into the blazing furnace was followed by God walking with them in the furnace and protecting them from the fire. It is ultimately true that God will eventually right all wrongs and punish evil-doers with eternal punishment. All these show that a more eternal perspective of the law would yield a more realistic conception about God.

The discrepancy that we sometimes notice between reality and what the law of God says is due to our taking a rather temporal view of things. We need to develop a more biblical perspective - an eternal perspective - to be able to interpret the law of God properly. God himself and nobody else has the final say and so God's sovereignty can be better understood from a more eternal perspective. The mentality of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah reflected such an understanding. The three did not think that their refusing to worship the image of gold would force God's hand in delivering them. Even what happened to them did not go far enough in showing the complete picture of God's sovereignty because many persecuted believers die without being delivered in this life. These persecuted believers demonstrate an even more eternal perspective of God's sovereignty in accepting their lot in this life. They believe God not because God would always bless them and keep them safe. Rather they trust in the goodness of God whatever befalls them in this life. And they look forward to the life to come as their eternal reward. People who have a rigid view about God have a more temporal perspective of things while people who have a less rigid view about God have a more eternal perspective. Daniel and Job's three friends fell in the former category while Job and Daniel's three friends in the latter. It is the matter of eternal perspective that either causes a person to pass or fail God's litmus test for him. That would explain why Daniel embraced the temporary glory and power of Babylon while the three rejected it.

Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had faith in the power of God yet was tempered by God s sovereignty in delivering them. They knew that God was able to save them from Nebuchadnezzar's hand because God had already done so in Chapter 2. On the other hand they also knew that God had chosen to abandon them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar in allowing them to be carried into exile. They surmised that God could choose not to deliver them this time. They had learned their lessons and were able to apply them in the current situation. The learning process was full of pain and distress. They were devastated when they were carried into exile against their will. They came under great distress when they were about to be executed by the order of Nebuchadnezzar's decree. All these were prelude to their being given the ultimatum by the king of Babylon to worship the glory and power of Babylon. They were intended by God to equip them for passing the litmus test for them.

We need to understand that the three were carried into exile involuntarily and against their will. When they submitted to God's sovereign will in this matter, they submitted to God's sovereign will involuntarily. But when they gave up their lives in resisting the worship of the glory and power of Babylon, they did so voluntarily. So this particular submission to God's sovereign will was a voluntary submission, which was similar to Jesus' submission to God on the cross. Jesus said, "No one takes it (his life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father (JOHN 10:18)." The three had progressed in their spiritual maturity from involuntary submission to voluntary submission to God's sovereign will. Voluntary submission to God's sovereign will is devotion. (This was in contrast to Daniel who was not even willing to involuntarily submit to God's sovereign will for his being carried into exile.) God did not get any glory in their being involuntarily carried into exile, but God duly received glory when they voluntarily gave up their own lives in order not to downgrade God's supremacy in their lives. Consequently they were able to translate their theological belief about God's sovereignty into real-life action that glorified God.

The difference between Daniel and his three friends was not so much in theology, but in submission to the God in their theology. The three had faith that translated their theological belief about God into real-life action that glorified God. Daniel did not have the same kind of faith. During his time on earth Jesus looked for faith in him, not theology about him. He was looking for faith that translated theological belief about him into real-life action that glorified him. Jesus answered harshly to those who claimed to know much about but had no faith in him. Jesus rejected the servant who said to him in Luke 19:20-21, "Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow." Jesus rejected him because he did not have faith that translated his belief about God into real-life actions that glorified God. The belief was dead.

Understanding God's sovereignty is also about being obedient in suffering, not just about God's power in deliverance. Jesus himself had to learn obedience from what he suffered. Then by his mighty power God raised Jesus from the dead. It demonstrated the fact that God's abandonment and subsequent deliverance play complementary roles in our understanding God's sovereignty over our lives. In fact God's sovereignty is not just about God's mighty power in overruling all who oppose him. It was also God's sovereignty at work in handing his own Son over to sinners to be mistreated and crucified. That is the biblical perspective of God's sovereignty. It is theological and religious talk when we speak of God's sovereignty in overruling the kingdoms of men. It is following Jesus when we are obedient in suffering. That was the difference between Daniel on the one hand, and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah on the other. Nebuchadnezzar got a monolithic one-dimensional lecture from Daniel and saw a full-featured 3-D demo from Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The words that the three uttered were simple yet full of conviction. They did not put on an image of sophistication or used fluffy words. Unlike Daniel they had no historically important things to tell. They stated a theology simply and just submitted to the God they knew in their theology. Sophisticated theology is usually of no more than academic importance because it is not intended to be lived out, only to be talked about and written about. Any claim of God's sovereignty is only as good as the extent to which one is willing to submit to it. In other words talk is cheap.

We can see Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah making steady progress in attaining spiritual maturity through their painful experience. We too should be able to show progress in attaining spiritual maturity if we are able to learn the lessons God has intended for us to learn. We too should put aside any image of sophistication and fluffy words and learn to be skilled technicians in attaining spiritual maturity. We too should be able to translate our theological beliefs about God into real-life actions that glorify him. The conclusion we should draw from these three young men's devotion is that God chooses people who are devoted to him to glorify himself. And God would use painful circumstances to help us learn the lessons of devotion that we might bring glory to him. The Apostle Paul is such an example. God could use Paul to advance the gospel whether Paul was persecuting the church or building up the church. God used Paul to scatter the Jerusalem believers so that the gospel would spread beyond Jerusalem and Judea. God also used Paul to spread the gospel throughout the Roman world. The reason for that was simple: Paul was a man of devotion, and God used painful circumstances for Paul to learn devotion that he might bring glory to God.

So God does not deliver us from all our troubles all the time just as he did not the three. If he does, God would only be an all-powerful idol who does our bidding. Instead God chooses some occasions where he delivers us, and others where he deliberately abandons us to our own devices. That is how we learn to submit to the sovereign will of God for us. Right before he raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said in JOHN 11:42, "I knew that you (God) always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." So up to that point God had always heard Jesus and answered his requests. Later while hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me (MATTHEW 27:46)?" God answered every request Jesus made for others, but he did not answer the question Jesus raised for himself while hanging on the cross. That was essential for Jesus to learn obedience from what he suffered. Learning to voluntarily submit to God's sovereign will would require that we be abandoned to our own devices and not be delivered on certain occasions. That is indispensable for learning devotion.

Just as Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had to learn obedience from what they suffered. Just as Jesus had to endure the cross, they had to endure the blazing furnace. Jesus was made perfect from what he suffered and that was the endpoint of his earthly journey. In the same way Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were no longer mentioned after Chapter 3 because they had voluntarily submitted to God's sovereign will for them to reject idol worship at the cost of their lives. God's purpose had been accomplished in their lives because the book of Daniel was about the repentance of the Jews from idol worship while in the Babylonian captivity. After the Babylonian captivity the Jews rejected idol worship and worshipped God and God alone.

We can see God at work in the way Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah learned to submit to God's sovereign will for them. Prior to facing the blazing furnace they were miraculously delivered from Nebuchadnezzar's imposed death sentence in Chapter 2. Prior to that miraculous deliverance they were carried as slaves to Babylon in Chapter 1. The event of the captivity was debilitating for them. But when they were miraculously delivered from Nebuchadnezzar's imposed death sentence, they were overjoyed. It was in that spirit that they were confronted with the blazing furnace. The proper ordering of these prior events had prepared their state of mind for the confrontation. The miraculous deliverance prior to the blazing furnace gave them the conviction not to compromise God's supremacy in their lives. The ordering of their experience was such that they came into God's litmus test for them fully assured of God's sovereignty over their lives. Had they come into the litmus test having just been carried into exile without God having delivered them from Nebuchadnezzar's death grip, they might not have the conviction to insist on God's supremacy in their lives.

True religion is manifest in its walking with God by submission in the blazing furnace. True religion will walk with God no matter what, whether by life or by death. It declares the supremacy of God, not just that God is a revealer of mysteries as Daniel did. All in all submission to God puts God at the center and makes everything else subordinate to him. Therefore submission enables worship of God. Where there is submission to God, there is worship of God. Where there is no submission, God is off center and there is no worship of God. Worship does not take any form, nor any music, nor anywhere, nor any time - submission to God transcends it all.

Jesus is the Lord and the way to relate to God is by submitting to the Lord Jesus. Quite so often we like to harbor a chummy attitude toward Jesus without any thought of submitting to the Lord. True religion takes the relational approach to God; it is about submitting to God. That is why God is called 'The Lord'. Submission to God validates the essence of its doctrine. On the other hand dead religion is impersonal and doctrinal in its approach to God. It keeps God at an arm's length and rejects the notion of submitting to God. Insubordination invalidates the doctrine it espouses and betrays the discrepancy between its claims about God and its attitude toward God.

True religion is a genuine vital relationship with God marked by devotion as that seen in Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Commitment is a generic term and by itself does not convey any level of intensity or scope of reference. You can have very little commitment or lots of commitment. You can have short-term commitment or long-term commitment. You can have commitment to getting a job done or commitment to a person in relationship. The term commitment by itself does not carry with it any contextual meaning at all. Devotion is different. Devotion is a level of commitment. It is commitment for a lifetime and the maximal level of commitment. When you have devotion, you live and breathe what you are devoted to - you become one with your object of devotion. Every decision you make and everything you do in your life is within the context of your devotion and for the sake of your devotion. You don't take leave of your devotion as you do your commitment when your term of commitment has expired - devotion lasts a lifetime. It is the maximal level of commitment; it is the fatal dosage of commitment if you will. If you drink 50 cups of coffee in a day, you will die. 50 cups is the fatal dosage of coffee. Devotion is the fatal dosage of commitment; you will die from it. We see that level of commitment to God in Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Theirs was the fatal dosage of commitment.

In the same light we can see Jesus' devotion to you and me. He put heaven on hold for you and me when he became a man. He spent nine months in Mary's womb waiting to be born just for you and me. He spent thirty years in preparation for ministry for you and me. He was an itinerant preacher for more than three years for you and me. Every decision he made and everything he did on earth was for you and me. He lived and breathed what he was devoted to - you and me. Ultimately he died from his devotion to you and me - you and I are the fatal dosage of commitment for Jesus. When God raised him from the dead, God commanded everyone who names Jesus as savior to be devoted to him since we call him Lord. It is our turn to live our lives in devotion to him just as he had lived his life in devotion to us. Our relationship with Jesus is to be a relationship marked by our devotion to him since he is devoted to us. Even now he never ceases speaking before God on our behalf. So God's command is only fair - it simply makes our relationship with Jesus a reciprocal one. If we don't want to be devoted to Jesus as Lord, we have not kept up our end of the bargain.

People who practice dead religion can tell that God is at work and praise God for his miracles as Nebuchadnezzar did. However, they keep God at arm's length and refuse to enter into a proper relationship with God because if they do, they would have to be devoted to God. They want to have the freedom to choose whom and what to worship, where, when and how to worship. By choice every follower of Jesus Christ has dead religion in him because the chosen level of commitment falls short of devotion. We are to worship God through our devotion to his Son Jesus Christ. We are to worship God in the stage of our lives, not just within the four walls of a church on Sunday mornings. We are to worship God moment by moment, by life or by death, whether eating or drinking or whatever we do - we are to worship God through our devotion to him.

The spiritual health of a church can be gauged by its devotion to Jesus or the lack thereof. When people are more comfortable talking about commitment than devotion, devotion is lacking. Devotion is not something that only Jesus is capable of. There are biblical characters that are prime examples of devotion. John the Baptist is a good example. Few people want to talk about John even though Jesus said of John in Matthew 11:11, "Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist." John's devotion to God mimics Jesus' in an earthly sense. By going into the desert John subordinated to God every single desire he had in his life. His life was seemingly wasted while he was sitting in the desert. We all need to have a sense of occupation in order to have a sense of fulfillment. We become impatient because we don't want to be wasted and we want to be instantaneously fulfilled. But John completely put his life on hold for God without the slightest sense of fulfillment by doing so. Or was it really without any fulfillment by so doing? Perhaps John was the person who knew fulfillment to a greater extent than any human being who has ever lived. It is the freest to have subordinated all your desires to God. Without being encumbered with all the desires that kept nudging him toward sin, he experienced greater freedom from sin than others who are in bondage to their own desires - glory, power, fame, wealth, sex and a seemingly endless list.

The less we are encumbered with sin, the more we are fulfilled in God's purpose for us. Going into the desert and subordinating our desires to God is how we deny ourselves the pleasures of sin, which is the essence of repentance. Jesus is not capable of repentance because he is without sin. So he enlisted John's help and had him go ahead of him to open the way for him. When Jesus came in person, he found the nation of Israel in a repentant spirit and ready to accept the forgiveness of sin. John was worthy to go ahead of Jesus to open the way for him because he was similarly devoted to God. John put his life on hold when he went into the desert just as Jesus put heaven on hold when he came down from heaven to become a man. If there was a common thread between Jesus and John, it was their single-minded devotion to God.

It was appropriate for Daniel to have been tested before Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah since as a leader, Daniel should set an example for his followers. But in the whole chapter we do not see them following Daniel's example. Instead they completely rejected what Daniel had embraced - the glory and power of Babylon. We could therefore come to the conclusion that they were conscientious and not blind followers. Before this chapter we saw them following Daniel wholeheartedly in rejecting food offered to idols, in following Daniel's plea for them to plead with God for mercy, and in taking their secular jobs from Daniel. They were followers in every sense. As followers they didn t like confrontations. They loved the average day; they loved it when it was nice and easy. An easy day would be a good day for them; they enjoyed being in the comfort zone. Whenever there was a problem, they would push their leader to the front and let him deal with it on their behalf. For this reason God sent them away from their leader and confronted them with the blazing furnace, a furnace that was heated seven times hotter than usual. That was to ensure that their comfort zone would be completely wiped out; it was intended to hit them at their soft spot. Like nothing else the blazing furnace woke them up from their deepest spiritual slumber and cured them of their spiritual lethargy. It burned up the dross and left behind what was more precious than much pure gold.

God's test was hard and it was fair. Daniel had such a personality that he would worship no one. But Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had always been followers and they would naturally avoid confrontation. If their tests had been reversed, both parties would readily pass their test. Daniel would have refused to worship the image of gold rather naturally; that would have been in line with his personality. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah would have objected to their being worshipped as idols; that would have been in line with their personality too. But God made Nebuchadnezzar worship Daniel - that was hard for Daniel to resist. God made Nebuchadnezzar give Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah the ultimatum to worship the image of gold or be thrown into the blazing furnace - that was hard for them to resist. Therefore God s test for each party was different, but it was fair because it tested each party s shortcomings. The outcome of God's litmus test indicated that Daniel was the chaff and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were the wheat. It was not obvious to the human eyes since all four had rejected food offered to idols. Only a further test from God - the litmus test - could reveal the reality.

Daniel had the gift of leadership. This was obvious from the relationship between him and his three friends. He knew to delegate responsibilities when he requested that his three friends be appointed administrators over the province of Babylon. Daniel had the gift of politics. He struck a deal with the guard for giving them only vegetables and water. Daniel had the gift of speech. He spoke with Arioch with wisdom and tact and asked for time before Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel had the gift of prophecy. This went without saying. Daniel had the gift of salesmanship. He knew how to sell himself before the king of Babylon. Daniel had the gift of administration. He so distinguished himself among his peers that Darius planned to set him over the entire kingdom. Compared to Daniel, his three friends only had knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. Other than that they were anything but spectacular. They were merely followers of the great leader Daniel. Yes, from the human way of looking at things, they are not the type of personality that we would want our children to take after. But God looks at them differently. While we look at people from the outside, God looks at people s heart. And God gives people tests to find out what is in their hearts. And what matters more to God in a man s heart than a man's submission to him? After all, Daniel s three friends had this one thing that God cherishes - submission to God. What men cherish so much about a man - all the gifts that Daniel possessed - were nothing in God s eye compared to submission to him. And Daniel, having been given so many gifts, lacked this one thing that was so abundantly present in his three friends.

God brought about the circumstance for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to part with their leader and to be tested separately from their leader. Whether they stood or fell, they were from then on responsible for their own actions. Unlike their leader they did not have much of their own they could rely on to handle the crisis they found themselves in. What was lacking in them in terms of gifts and wisdom of the world turned out to be a blessing in the economy of God. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had no other personal qualities than their humble act of following to qualify them for leadership. Daniel set out to be the leader; he ended up following in their steps years later by being thrown into the lion's den. People who know how to follow will inevitably become leaders. Just look at Jesus who knows how to obey the Father and the leading of the Spirit. He was thereby made Lord of all. You have no business leading if you don't know how to follow. You lead by following, not by leading; you lead by being devoted followers of Jesus Christ. People want to acquire leadership qualities because they want to be successful leaders. The motivation is about leading, not about following. It is about being a successful leader, not about being a devoted follower. When Jesus told Peter to feed his sheep in Chapter 21 of the gospel of John, Jesus told him how in verse 19: "Follow me." This is the biblical pattern of leadership - you lead by your humble act of following, not by your phenomenal act of leading. We need to follow in Jesus' steps - that is how leaders should lead. People like Peter who are poor followers would inevitably get distracted because of their insecurity by others like John who quietly follow. People who quietly follow Jesus are secure in Jesus' love for them and don't need to be considered leaders to feel secure. Please keep in mind that John referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. To his insecure followers Jesus would say as he again said to Peter in verse 22: "You must follow me." That is to say, stop paying attention to your fellow followers and start paying attention to the one to follow.

The Book of Daniel shows very clearly that one is not necessarily devoted to God when one is a wise man - a religious personnel. In fact one does not need to be a religious personnel to be devoted to God. When Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah transitioned from being wise men to working in the secular world, their faith was put to the test in the secular world. It was the same for Daniel. When Daniel began to work in the secular world in Chapter 6, his faith too was put to the test. The secular world is the ultimate testing ground of faith. While he remained a wise man at the royal court, Daniel was protected from persecution. For these four men from Judah, remaining wise men could not reveal their faith in God. So God put them in the secular world in order to reveal what was in their hearts.

Verses 19-23

Here it is said that Nebuchadnezzar's attitude toward Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah changed. Nebuchadnezzar could have ordered them to be thrown into the blazing furnace the moment he heard of their defiance, since his decree stipulated that anyone who disobeyed would immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Instead he gave them an ultimatum for them to comply, hoping that they would change their mind and obey his order. Apparently they were important people in the province of Babylon so that the astrologers would report on them to the king of Babylon himself. And the king himself confronted them for their defiance. But when they refused to obey his order to comply, Nebuchadnezzar became furious with them and his attitude toward them changed. He was so furious that he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie them up and throw them into the blazing furnace.

These soldiers were workers of dead religion. They were instruments of dead religion to enforce compliance. They got killed just by getting close to the blazing furnace. This is God s judgment on those who compel others to participate in dead religion: if they compel others to be hypocrites, they themselves will receive the punishment for hypocrites. Nothing about dead religion and no one practicing dead religion could survive the blazing furnace. By God's design the blazing furnace is where dead religion would be completely wiped out; it is where true religion remains and is purified. As we shall see, the ropes that bound Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were all burned up but they remained unharmed. Dead religion does not destroy, but we destroy ourselves when we participate in dead religion. The devil did not destroy Adam and Eve, but Adam and Eve destroyed themselves when they bought into the devil s deception. If we participate in dead religion, we will be destroyed, just as the soldiers were. Refusing to participate is the way to deal with dead religion.

It was God s will for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to be thrown into the blazing furnace; it was God's intent for their religion to be purified in the blazing furnace. Faith in God will always land us in the most desperate of situation. It is so because God then can work his miracle by overruling human authority and completely turning things around. If there is no desperate situation, there is no need for miracles in our lives.

Verses 24-27

Nebuchadnezzar came into contact with Daniel's dead religion and was infected by it. Daniel was the root cause of the dead religion Nebuchadnezzar got entangled with because Nebuchadnezzar had never known true religion. He never had a relationship with God that degenerated as a result of insubordination - he was only an unfortunate victim. God took that into account and gave him an opportunity in this chapter to see firsthand what true religion was. That would make up for his lost opportunity in Chapter 2. Daniel was completely taken out of the way in this chapter where true religion had a field day. At the end of this chapter Nebuchadnezzar came to know the God of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to be the God of salvation. He was duly shown by these three young men from Judah what it meant to submit to the sovereignty of God. He saw with his very eyes the kingdom of God coming among men. Nebuchadnezzar's exaltation of the kingdom of Babylon was met with the miraculous manifestation of the indestructible kingdom of God.

In Chapter 2 it was said that the kingdom of God will never be destroyed and that it will endure forever. One of the chief characteristics of the kingdom of God is its indestructibility. By virtue of that the kingdom of God is most manifest in the blazing furnace, the furnace of affliction, where everything is supposed to be burned to ashes and destroyed. It is in the furnace of affliction that the kingdom of God manifests its indestructibility. Though the kingdom of man seeks its destruction, the kingdom of God endures and ultimately triumphs. We have seen it among persecuted believers that the more they are persecuted, the more the church grows. The kingdom of God always flourishes in the furnace of affliction. The furnace of affliction is to the kingdom of God like fertilizer is to a plant. Rather than destroying it the furnace of affliction has purified and strengthened it. Indestructibility is indeed a chief characteristic of the kingdom of God both in scriptures and in practical experience.

In verse 24 Nebuchadnezzar asked his advisor, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" In Chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar challenged and confronted the wise men for their false religion. Now that he was seeing true religion before his eyes, he began to question what he had done. He said in verse 25, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." Hanaiah, Mishael and Azariah were not harmed inside the furnace even though those who threw them into the fire were themselves killed by the flames of the fire outside the furnace. When they were thrown into the blazing furnace, the ropes that bound them - the entanglement of dead religion - were burned up. Without the entanglement of dead religion they walked in freedom in the refining fire. They were totally bound up outside the furnace. But once they fell into the furnace, they became totally free. Not only that, they were seen walking with an angel in the furnace (It was an angel because Nebuchadnezzar said in verse 28 that God had sent his angel to rescue them). Angelic activities are a sign of authentic spirituality. In the furnace of affliction God s presence is apparent. If God seems hidden in our everyday experience, God s presence is apparent in the furnace of affliction. In fact, it is so apparent that even dead religion notices it and is compelled to acknowledge it. The furnace of affliction opens up a new realm of spiritual reality for those who have been refined by it. That is what the furnace of affliction does for a believer because God can turn what is intended for evil into something good. Therefore it was God's sovereign will for these three men to be thrown into the blazing furnace.

We can learn a lesson form the blazing furnace and apply it to our own struggles with sin. We fail in our struggles because we have not devoted ourselves to God. The thing is that godliness comes from God. We do not become godly because we shun evil or do good works. But when we devote ourselves to God, God will be responsible for cleansing us and will see to it that we become godly. If you are in bondage to things you cannot break away from, you can devote yourselves to God just the way you are, no matter how greatly you think that you have sinned. Because of your devotion God will break the bondage just as the ropes that tied up Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were burned up in the blazing furnace. Please note that they could be freed only when they were thrown into the blazing furnace. In the same way your bondage to sin can be broken only by the refining fire. So things will heat up for you and you would find yourself going through struggles. But God will protect you and walk with you through your struggles just as he protected the three and walked with them in the blazing furnace - this is God's promise for those who devote themselves to him.

But you must be honest with yourself in devoting yourself to God. It is not a one-time thing such as walking down the isle to the altar or raising your hand to indicate your commitment. Keep in mind that devotion is the fatal dosage of commitment, the maximal level of commitment, the lifelong commitment. You must be resolute and put God first and foremost in every circumstance in your life. Such devotion cannot be attained overnight; it would require a lifelong consistent pattern of following Jesus. In the process God will do the cleansing and pruning and cutting to make you holy and pure and pleasing to him. Devoting ourselves to God is our responsibility; purifying us is God's. When we are devoted to God, God will schedule circumstances into our lives to heat things up for us. We don't need to worry about cleaning ourselves up in one area of our lives in 2005, and another area in 2006, and yet another area in 2007. God knows best and would arrange for our discipline according to his way and his timing. The Christian life is a joyous one because we can be free from worry and concern. God himself is more concerned about our spiritual maturity than we are and will superintend our development. We only need to sit back and submit to God's sovereign will in every circumstance; we can relax and let God fill in the blank. In the process we will notice that areas in our lives have been cleaned up; we can tell the periods of time when God was dealing with specific areas. And it has not been the outcome of our own effort and planning! On the other hand, if we have not experienced any deliverance from bondage to sin, it is because we have not fulfilled our responsibility of devoting ourselves to God. Devoting ourselves to God and God purifying us is a reciprocal arrangement. If we do our part, God will do his, i.e., take care of the rest. We only need to devote ourselves to him. If you do not believe that God will take care of the rest when we devote ourselves to God, you lack faith.

Nebuchadnezzar approached the opening of the blazing furnace even though its flames had killed his soldiers. He shouted for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to come out. People who practice dead religion are sensitive to spiritual reality. They can see God at work and they are drawn to it. On the other hand they are drawn to spiritual reality not because they delight in other people's devotion to God, but because they delight in seeing miracles. It was the same with the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers. They crowded around Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah after they had come of the blazing furnace. The crowd marveled at the miracle that had taken place, not at the three's devotion to God.

Nebuchadnezzar named the relationship of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah with God. He called them servants of the Most High God. They had said in verse 17, "If 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." Now that God had indeed saved them from the blazing furnace, Nebuchadnezzar wholeheartedly believed what the three had said about themselves - servants of God. It is easy to claim to serve God, but it takes other people to confirm it when they see God at work to validate that claim. On the other hand Nebuchadnezzar could not make anything of Daniel's relationship with God in Chapter 2 even though Daniel used the pronoun 'we' to refer to himself and God. In fact it was only decades later that Darius said to Daniel in Chapter 6 verse 6, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you." There Darius named Daniel's relationship with God and called him God's servant. So eventually Daniel made progress in his relationship with God that could be confirmed by a third party.

What Daniel believed about God, Nebuchadnezzar also believed. So Nebuchadnezzar called God a revealer of mysteries because that was what Daniel called God. Furthermore Nebuchadnezzar believed that God had significance only in relation to the gods and kings. Here Nebuchadnezzar had a turnaround in his belief about God as a result of the conviction of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah about God's supremacy in their lives and God's subsequent deliverance. God is the Most High God who needs nothing else to derive his significance. He is trustworthy and worthy of worship at all cost. He is the supreme being and deserves our utmost devotion, even to the point of death. And he had supremacy in the lives of the three over the glory and power of Babylon. How they represented God became an opportunity for Nebuchadnezzar to get to know God because he saw God work a miracle through them.

Nebuchadnezzar had ordered that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah be thrown into the blazing furnace. Now he was personally telling them to come out of the furnace and reversing his order. In Chapter 2 we saw that Nebuchadnezzar's decree for killing all the wise men of Babylon was prevented from being carried out because God intervened. In this Chapter we see that God allowed Nebuchadnezzar's order to be carried out but saved Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah from destruction. On both occasions God saved them and was sovereign in the way he chose to do so. Sometimes God chooses to save us in the midst of our affliction rather than to save us from the affliction. And the difference in the consequence in both is obvious. In Chapter 2 God chose to save these four young men from Judah before affliction got to them. Partly because of that Daniel failed his test. Daniel was very sure of his own ability because what he told Nebuchadnezzar saved all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel naturally had developed a sense of confidence in himself, not so much in God. In this chapter God chose to save Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in the midst of their affliction. They naturally had developed a sense of confidence in God's sovereignty in deliverance and not in themselves. Daniel had yet to learn the lesson they had learned. That was why in Chapter 6 God chose to save Daniel in the midst of affliction. God chose to save Daniel, not by saving him from being thrown into the lion's den, but by saving him from the lions prowling around him. While in the lion's den Daniel could no longer have any confidence in his own ability to save himself; any deliverance could only have come from God.

On the other hand Daniel must be commended for not speaking to Darius for help even though he knew that the king was determined to save him. By not doing that Daniel had submitted himself to the sovereign will of God. Daniel was quick to learn according to the qualification for enrolling in Nebuchadnezzar s wise men training program. But it had taken Daniel a lifetime to learn to submit to the sovereign will of God. Intellectual capacity is therefore not a good indicator of attaining spiritual maturity quickly. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, on the other hand, had taken a relatively short time even though they did not have Daniel's earthly qualification.

Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were representative of true religion. Please note that no one man can claim that he represents true religion. Out of his self-righteousness Elijah complained to God in 1King 19:4 about being all alone in combating the prophets of Baal. We know what God s answer was. Elijah was unaware that seven thousand men and women were praying fervently for him as he confronted those false prophets. Perhaps he thought that because of his own godliness God had helped him. What a self-righteous man Elijah was, thinking that he alone was representative of true religion. As it is, one man can never be representative of true religion. In fact, three is the number that represents a community. So Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah as a community of believers were representative of true religion. When God was walking with them in the blazing furnace, the entire community was being purified - it had nothing to do with the godliness of one person. In fact, it was the entire community that compelled Nebuchadnezzar to come to the conclusion that God was walking with them. Out of that came Nebuchadnezzar's proclamation at the end of this chapter that no God could save the way their God did. It was not the godliness of one person that resulted in God being glorified; rather it was the faith of a valiant congregation. Therefore true religion is about the faith of a community of believers, not about the faith of one person - there is no one-man show in true religion. On the hand dead religion would put one man on the pedestal - Daniel - in this case.

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Every believer is a branch off of Jesus. And every branch gives forth branches of its own. There is some dead religion in every believer because there are dead branches off of every branch; some have more than others. Dead religion is vicious and deadly as Nebuchadnezzar. Its dead branches are like cancer cells. Either your body destroys them or they will eventually destroy you. It is a deadly struggle; it is either one or the other. Either you resist the encroachment of dead religion or dead religion will corrupt you. Daniel was corrupted by dead religion but Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah resisted it. When dead branches prevail, dead religion prevails. When dead religion has taken root, it will be supplanted by false religion. We shall see that in Chapter 5. And we are seeing a fulfillment of that in Europe. Right at this moment America is fast becoming a land of dead religion. If that trend remains unabated, America would eventually become a land of false religion too.

Verses 28-30

Nebuchadnezzar mocked Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah that their God would not be able to rescue them from his hand, but ended up praising their God for rescuing them. He condemned them to death for not worshipping the image of gold but ended up commending them for their defiance. He commanded his soldiers to tie them up yet the blazing furnace had freed them from the entanglement. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual only to kill his soldiers, not the three. He intended for them to be burned to ashes but they were totally unharmed. He had the three thrown into the blazing furnace but shouted to them for them to come out. The astrologers intended to get rid of the three from their administrator posts yet they ended up being promoted in the province of Babylon. Because of their devotion to God, God had completely turned things around for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. We need to have this one biblical truth burned into our mind: When we have devoted ourselves to God, God will take care of the rest.

Nebuchadnezzar gave praise to the God of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah for their devotion to God and God's miraculous deliverance. When Daniel had told Nebuchadnezzar about his dream, Nebuchadnezzar did not honor God in any way; instead he worshipped Daniel. But here God duly received the praise because Nebuchadnezzar came to the understanding that God was the God of salvation. He had sent his angel to save the three from the king's hand. This was an important step toward submitting to the sovereignty of God on Nebuchadnezzar's part. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah not only proclaimed before Nebuchadnezzar the sovereignty of God, but they also demonstrated what it meant to submit to the sovereignty of God. It is what we commonly call 'walking the talk'. Proclaiming that God is sovereign means nothing until you are willing to submit to it. It is walking the talk that makes theology come alive and that transforms lives. In Daniel, however, we can only hear the talk, but not see the walk. The Book of Daniel is about learning to submit to God s sovereignty in different context; it is not just about God s sovereignty over the kingdom of man. In the next chapter we shall see Nebuchadnezzar submit to the sovereignty of after seven years of discipline from God. Daniel himself ultimately learned to submit to the sovereignty of God in being thrown into the lion's den.

Perhaps no one in Babylon who had defied Nebuchadnezzar's decree could live with the exception of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. More than that Nebuchadnezzar commended them for having defied his command. By so doing Nebuchadnezzar placed allegiance to God more highly than allegiance to Babylon. So he was not a totally unreasonable despot who put to death everyone who defied him. It was a redeemable quality for someone who got furious at the slightest hint of anyone going against his will. Furthermore, when he was convinced that God was at work, Nebuchadnezzar would praise God for it even though God was at work against him. On the other hand he had fallen short of faith in God because faith demanded humble submission to God s sovereignty. Nebuchadnezzar was not ready to make such a commitment to God because of his pride. His pride drove him to set up the image of gold and to oppose the kingdom of God that threatened to crush his kingdom. Though his attempt to exalt the kingdom of Babylon had been thwarted, the issue of pride remained entrenched in Nebuchadnezzar s attitude. Until his pride had been dealt with, Nebuchadnezzar could have no faith in God - pride seems to be a major problem for those who love spirituality but lack faith.

We could see the limit of Nebuchadnezzar s spiritual progress through this encounter with God. He saw the submission of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to God's sovereign will but resisted doing likewise. He simply took a somewhat neutral stand in his attitude toward God. His decree implied that people would do well simply leaving their God alone. But if they said anything against the God of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, they would be punished. It was more telling people to stay away from their God than to have anything to do with him, since there was nothing to be gained. And the brutal language he used in the decree - cutting people to pieces and turning their houses into piles of rubble - remained the same (Chaldeans were not be excepted because it applied to the people of any nation or language). The reality is that people who practice dead religion cannot be transformed by miracles that are not personal. In the next chapter God worked a miracle that was personal to Nebuchadnezzar. It was only then that Nebuchadnezzar was transformed. Nonetheless Nebuchadnezzar had made spiritual progress, now that he acknowledged the kingdom of God and did not make any further attempt to oppose it. Now he knew that the kingdom of God is indestructible, so he simply left the kingdom of God alone but had no desire to become a part of it. To see how stubborn dead religion was, just compare Nebuchadnezzar with Darius. Darius was saved in Chapter 6 when he saw Daniel s witness in the lion's den. But Nebuchadnezzar remained aloof from God when he saw the witness of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in the blazing furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar was keenly interested in spiritual matters. He recruited wise men, trained them and put them in his service. He dreamed about spiritual matters. And he never failed to consult the wise men about them. He had seen the devotion of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to God and God's miraculous deliverance for them. He acknowledged their God to be God Most High yet had no faith in him. He even decreed that anyone who spoke against their God would be cut to pieces. But he would not submit to God. This is so characteristic of the dead religion in us. We know who God is. We know what he has done for us on the cross. We would urge other people to worship him. But we have no faith that translates our belief into real life actions that glorify Jesus; we bear no fruit for Jesus. We have a form of godliness but deny its power. Ours is a hypocritical religion. We are the hypocrites that Jesus so colorfully and fiercely condemned.

This chapter marked the spiritual renewal of Jewish exiles in the Babylonian captivity who were followers. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, as their representatives, had been found willing to give up their own lives rather than to worship other gods except their own God. Their leader Daniel, however, had been found to worship the glory and power of Babylon. Until the leader of the Jewish people had repented of the sin of idolatry, the Jewish people could not return from the Babylonian captivity. It turned out that the repentance of the leader would take a total of seventy years. Perhaps this is consistent with what Jesus said in Matthew 20:16, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." The last are presumably those who know to follow the most, and the first are presumably those who know to follow the least. Unlike the deliverance from the Egyptian bondage which was accomplished by Moses, the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity was not accomplished by a leader, but rather, by a community of devoted followers.

Now that God had dealt with true religion, he was going to deal with dead religion in the next chapter, and false religion and the secular world in subsequent ones.