Series: Resilience
Message: Confidence
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 11.
Read: Daniel 3 & 4 - As you read in the NIV translation, note 1-3 insights that arise.
Reflect: Is it their faith that saved them? Is it the example that God needed to show Nebuchadnezzar? The prophet Isaiah promised redemption, including walking through fire with a prophetic voice (Isaiah 43:2). There is a large contrast between the Babylonian faith and Israel’s faith. Especially with the Aramaic expression hen la (if…not, otherwise). Israel’s faith is focused on the present and the future. Babylon’s faith is on the present only (Daniel 3:15,18). In the human-made religion of Babylon, the worshiper manipulates the idols to bless or cure immediately. In the God-created faith of Israel, we have a relationship that allows love to exist and the freedom to question. As Jacques B. Doukhan shares in his book Secrets of Daniel, p. 52:“That is why, even when this God does not save, even if He does not bless, the Jews can remind faithful in spite of….
Who is this “son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25)? The term “son” often aligns with an idea or community. Hence (Exodus 30:14) is 20 years old, (Jeremiah 49:18) means human nature, (Numbers 15:8) means bovine nature, (1 Samuel 2:31) means mortal nature. In other places, the “son of the gods” can be translated as the “Angel of God,” which can be God Himself or a representative (Genesis16:10-13; 21:17; 22:15,16; Hosea 12:4; Genesis 32:28). But this time, as Nebuchadnezzar thinks on it, he starts to connect his dream with this moment (Daniel 3:26 and Daniel 2:47). Yet, he resists and suggests that this is their God and not his (Daniel 3:28).
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for clarity in your life.
Research: Did they heat it up seven times hotter or was it a proverbial expression like in Proverbs 24:16; 26:16?