Wednesday of Lent 2
Who is the God Who Will Deliver You? Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. Nebuchadnezzar said to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready… to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands? Dear Christian friends: Idolatry is hardwired into our fallen, sinful nature. Because there is something in us that remains hostile to God—even after God has given us the precious gift of faith—idolatry remains for us as easy as falling off a log. We should not allow ourselves to be fooled by this silly golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. This was more than a gold statue that the people were required by law to worship. Nebuchadnezzar’s idolatry was · the culturally acceptable thing to do: “*All the peoples, nations, and languages feel down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up*.” Does your culture offer you any similar opportunities to depart from the faith given to you by the One True God? · the hope of protection and security against hardship and suffering: “*Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace*.” What compromises have you contemplated in trade for the sensation of feeling secure? · facilitated by music in the ear: “*At the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, and every kind of music, all the people… fell down and worshipped*.” We need not spell out all the messages that are continually pumped into our ears by the music we hear. We need only to wonder whether we might feel inclined to take the messages to heart. · labeled God’s people as lawbreakers, rebels, and enemies of the state. “*Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up*.” How do our neighbors feel when we do not march to their drum? Idolatry will always seem safe and expedient. The consequences for holding the Christian faith will always seem severe. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego demonstrate to us the certainty of the faith, even when under the threat of death. Perhaps we can learn from these men courage for our own faith, that we, like them, would “*not fear those who kill the body yet cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who can destroy both sol and body in hell*” (Matthew 10:28). The Babylonian king wanted to know, “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Take a look in the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar! There you will see the God Who Delivers. Did we not cast three men into the fire? But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Take another look, O king! It is not “*a son of the gods*” who stands in the furnace. It is the one eternal Son of the One True God. He is the Fourth Man, who has taken His place among His people. The Fourth Man has gathered into Himself His peoples’ form, their identity, their weaknesses, and their suffering. The Fourth Man “*delivered His servants who trusted in Him*.” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego escaped the furnace unharmed, but things did not need to end that way. What if they had died? We would not think God had failed them. We would understand their deaths to indicate that God had something far better for them; that God wished for His servants to be with Him in eternity. Either way, these men allow us to think that we may face our temptations toward idolatry with a hope equal to theirs.
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