The Three Wise Guys
I shared a story about my brother Kenneth Beck who called the Three Wise Men, the Three Wise Guys from his Sunday school lesson with the Evangelist Thomas Engle. The amusing thing was that he entitled the Sunday school lesson this morning. His three wise men weren’t the Magi who visited Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus the Messiah. He taught a lesson from Daniel and the three men who refused to bow down to the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar erected in his likeness and tried to compel all of his subjects to worship his image as if it was a god.
Many of the subjects in Babylon at that time were captives from surrounding countries. He took only the educated elite to improve his subjects. He made every attempt to sever the roots of these foreigners from their home country, traditions, and their religion. Cause confusion. Separate them from the familiar and cause them to cling to the imposed ideas and laws.
Three of the captive Jews Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego early in their captivity resolved not to worship the Babylonian gods, but now the King commanded that all his subjects were to bow down and worship the image that he’d erected. This crossed the line. They were being commanded to worship a god and not God. They had to decide to take a stand or to go with the crowd even though they knew it was wrong, against God’s commands.
They had faith in the Jehovah the one true God and refused to bow down to an idol of the King Nebuchadnezzar. When King Nebuchadnezzar told them to bow down or he would cast them into a burning furnace to die for their insolence. The faith in God did not waiver.
King Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and commanded the furnace to be stoked to seven times the normal heat. He commanded the mightiest men in his army to bind and cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the flames. The furnace was so hot the heat killed the men who threw them into the fire.
The king watched in amazement when he saw four men walking unbound and unharmed inside of the furnace. They had no hurt. He called to them come out saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God.”
It sets a standard for people of God. When the government crosses the line and tries to force anything that goes against the Word of God, it is necessary for Christians to take a stand or follow other sheep. We must do right with the right attitude. Be resolved that when decisions need made, we will stand firm. Nonviolent resistance and non-compliance may be our first choice.