Sign Guestbook

View Guestbook

Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008
All Rights Reserved.

Campbell Chapel
Free Will Baptist Church
1709 Campbell Drive
Ironton, Ohio 45638

Contact Webmaster

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Under Pressure

 May 27, 2007

Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

Daniel 1:1-7

 

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.

2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

3 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;

4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.

6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.

 

 

If we would talk to Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, he probably would have blamed all the problems of the children of Israel on everybody except them. 

 

That is common to us many times.  When trials, problems and things happen that are not pleasant, then we want to blame it all on somebody else. 

 

Some of the prophets even accused God of not being fair and equal, and so forth.

 

We do that a lot.  We do make those kinds of statements sometimes.  Why is God doing this and why is God doing that?

 

God was not to blame here for what was taking place and what was about to take place.  God had sent prophet after prophet.  He sent Jeremiah.  He sent Hosea.  We can read in different places where God sent prophets to these folks telling them that they need to repent.  If they did not repent, God was going to send judgment. 

 

I do not know why it is so hard for human nature to believe God.  Why is it so hard for us to believe God and take God for His Word? 

 

Jehoiakim did not do that.  I do not know what he thought, but I might be able to summarize what he thought.  I do not think that he thought that Nebuchadnezzar would come.  He never thought that the city would be torn down.  He never thought the city would be burned up. 

 

Many times in our life, we think that we can get by with sin.  We think that sin is something that we can do or not do, that we can participate in and God is going to overlook it.  It does not work that way. 

 

As we look at the story, Nebuchadnezzar is the king of an awesome army.  He is ruler in Babylon.  The Babylonians are in world domination at this time.  They are the ones that are in control of the known world at that time. 

 

I want you to notice something in verse two.

 

2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand...

 

It does not say that Nebuchadnezzar comes of his own free will with great power and might.  The reason Nebuchadnezzar is coming is that God is allowing, demanding, and directing Nebuchadnezzar to come and to take His own people into a land of captivity. 

 

I want to show you how much God hates sin.  God hates sin in the lives of His people so much that He allowed them to be carried into a heathen land.  He would not allow them to sin in their own land anymore.  That is how much God hates sin.  He hates sin.

 

I have been thinking about religious people, religious leaders as a whole.  When we look at dominations and all people, I see how that we are failing.  How the religious leaders are failing to tell people that this is what God is saying.  Because we are doing that, people are being led astray.  Because we are saying, “…anything goes, that was a thousand or two thousand years ago, that was the old days and we don't need to live like that now…” we can live like this today.  We are responsible for some of the messes that our family gets into. 

 

Jehoiakim is the king of Judah.  When you look at him and the rulers in Jerusalem and in Israel in the tribe of Judah, and what they were doing, then you can understand why God was going to do what He was going to do.  God hates sin.

 

 

He loves people.  He loves humanity.  However, God hates sin.  God says enough is enough.  He sent His people.  He sent His men.  He warned them.  Now the time of repentance is over and they are going to be judged.  He speaks unto the gentiles, who know nothing about the God of heaven, and He brings Nebuchadnezzar along with his armies to Jerusalem to besiege it.

 

A smart man said one time, “We will either allow God to rule, or God will overrule.”  We will either allow God to rule in our lives, our churches, to lead us, guide us, or direct us, or God will overrule and bring things about.  God's Will on planet earth is going to be done whether you agree with it, or whether you participate in it or not.  The Will of God will be done.  It is the Will of God for you to be saved.  You can accept that, be saved, and be a part of the family of God, enjoying the blessings of God.  OR  You can reject the will of God.  However, that does not change the family of God, that does not change the love that God has for you.  It does exclude you and put you on the outside. 

 

Jehoiakim was an individual and God loved him.  God loves everybody.  Yet there came a time when he had sinned, when the nation had sinned, when they had rejected the call of Almighty God for the last time and God delivers this nation unto the hands of Jehoiakim. 

 

The Bible says:

 

...with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

 

Nebuchadnezzar comes.  When he gets here, he does not come in and overrun the place immediately.  He gets there in 606 BC.  Nebuchadnezzar could have easily, in a matter of a few days, destroyed the place as he did later on.  However, he did not do that.  God was in His grace and, no doubt, there were some other reasons for that, but it took twenty years, finally in 586, we know that Nebuchadnezzar completely destroyed the place and burnt it with fire. 

 

He besieged the city and he took some of the vessels.  If you look at the vessels that he took, these vessels were pure gold, worth millions and millions of dollars the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar is taking from the house of God. As you read the book of Daniel, we are going to see him again, a little further on through here. 

 

I wonder sometimes, because of our disobedience, how much of the wealth of God, that He wants us to have, that we allow to be taken from us.  I know sometimes that we think that Christians has to be paupers, but that is not true at all. 

 

There are millions of dollars, which is going to be carried away because of sin. 

 

3 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;

4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

 

Nebuchadnezzar comes to the fellow that is over his servants and says, "I want to take some of the royal seed, some of the princes.  I want you to go through the area that we have conquered and get those young men, those that are handsome, those that are intelligent, those that have the ability to be able to be taught, those can stand in the king's presence or in the king's court; bring them here unto the land of Babylon." 

 

Where they were going to be leaving was probably an 800 to 900 mile trip.  They were going to a country that they had never been before.  They were going to a place where everything is foreign to them.  They were going to a place where they knew nothing about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  They were going to a place where they worshiped frogs, the moon, and all kinds of deities.  It was so different that it was like daylight and dark in difference between Jerusalem and the city of Babylon.  That is where they were going to go. 

 

In whom there was no blemish.  None had any problems, or any handicaps.  Those that were well learned and had the ability to be taught; those were the ones that Nebuchadnezzar wanted.  He did not want to put them to work.  He did not want to take these Jews and give them jobs.  He wanted these young men to train them in his ways then placed in his service, and in his court where they can serve and worship him. 

 

Do you know what Nebuchadnezzar was trying to do here? 

 

He was going to try to change the way that these young men thought.  He was going to try to change the way that they looked at things.  We know that they were going to change what they ate.  We know that they were going to change and they did change their names.  He was trying to change everything about them so that their past could just be gone. 

 

Do you know what the enemy is trying to do to you and me today? 

 

He is trying to make us to conform unto this world.  The word conform means to be shaped by pressure.  The world wants to put pressure upon you and me.  satan wants to put pressure upon God's children to shape us, form us, and to make us conform unto what they want done.

 

These particular young men were not going to do that. 

 

We are going to look at some fellows that he gets.  He gets Daniel, and the other three young men, that we know as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  However, that was not their real names.  He gets these four young men.  When you read the story, and read the life of Daniel, we can know for a surety that Daniel and his three friends, about thirteen to fifteen years old—they are not old people.  Daniel is going to spend the majority of his life in Babylon.  He is going to be there when he is an old man. 

Remember this because as we look at this story in the weeks to come it is going to be important to remember what got these young men there. 

 

What got them 800 or 900 miles away from home? 

 

It was not Daniel's sin.  The other three boys' sin did not get them there. 

 

The sins of their parents got them there. 

 

I talk to people probably every week or two and they tell me the shape they are in, how bad things are, how things are just falling apart and collapsing.  Moreover, they want to blame all this on God.  God got them here and God is doing this or that, but as you talk to them for a few minutes, it does not take long to figure out that God did not put them there.  Rather, the sin that they committed put them there. 

 

I wish that we would just get real.  When we mess up, we need to say, “Lord, I'm sorry.  Please forgive me, Lord.  I took a wrong a turn way back down the road.  I went the wrong direction.  Now, I am down here by myself and I am in a mess, Lord.  Please forgive me.”  We need to do that sometimes.  If we would all do that then our children would not be suffering as they suffer. 

 

Here, Daniel and his three friends are.  They want young men that have intelligence.  They want young men that are skilled.  They want young men that are handsome and pretty to look at because they are going to be standing in the king's court.  They are going to be working for the king.  They are to be the king's ambassadors.  Therefore, they want good-looking people that are intelligent. 

 

It is quite amazing what God is going to do with Daniel and his three friends, as we look at this story.  Although, their sin did not get them there, God is going to take care of these fellows.  They were not transformed, but they became transformers.

 

Not only are they going to be taught new things, not only are they going to learn the language of the Chaldeans.  Not only are they going to be taught many things that they have never saw, or heard before about the wisdom of Babylon, and all the learning there, as this was a very smart place because of things that they did, but also, Nebuchadnezzar is going to appoint them what they are going to eat. 

 

Their diet was going to be changed, because he wanted them to be nourished.  He wanted them to get all the nutrients and nourishment that they needed, because he did not want them sick.  He wanted to teach them about their ways, their wisdom and their learning but not only that, he wanted them to be healthy.  He wanted them to be strong.  We know that he appointed them wine and meat.  He appointed them the same thing that the king ate every day, that is what these fellows are going to get to eat everyday. 

 

These young men are 800 or 900 miles away from home.  They are in a land where they worship everything in the world there.  Yet, they did not allow themselves to be caught-up in all the hoop-la. 

 

These are teenagers.  They are going to a new place.  They are going to a place where they do not know anybody except those carried off with them.  They are going to a place where nobody knows them.  Even though these men are young, it tells me something about how mom and dad had taught them, or grandma and grandpa.  It tells me that somebody taught these young men something somewhere along the way because it was important to them that they did not defile themselves before Almighty God. 

 

They wanted to change their diet, and also, their names. 

 

They changed Daniel's name.  They gave Daniel the name of Belteshazzar which means Baal protects his life.  Daniel's name in the Hebrew meant God is my judge, but they gave him a name that had to do with the worship of their own gods. 

 

We know that Baal was one of the gods that the Babylonians worshiped. 

 

Not only that, but Hananiah meant Jehova is gracious while Shadrach, the name that they gave to him, means a command of one of their moon gods. 

 

What they are doing as you look down through here, not only are they wanting to change their diet, but also, they are going to change their names and what they are being taught.  They are trying to take these young men and completely transform them into individuals that he could use in his own kingdom. 

 

Do not ever allow the world to do you that way.  Do not ever allow the world to form you, mold you, shape you and pressure you into something in which God would not be well pleased. 

 

Many times we see people that when they are not at home, they do things that they never do otherwise. 

 

I have worked with many men and women over the years.  We traveled all the time and it was like letting a bird out of a cage when they got away from home.  They just went crazy. 

 

If it is wrong for me to do it at my house, then it is wrong for me to a thousand miles away from here.   If it is wrong for me to do it in church then it is wrong for me to do it anywhere else. 

 

We think that God does not know.  We think that people do not know.  I have seen many things in life.  I was thinking about an incident shortly ago, where there was about this (only inches) much room between me and some other folks.  They had no idea I was anywhere near them.  It is amazing how God can show you some things and enlightens you about some things sometimes when people think that they have things hid, slipping around doing things that they are getting by with. 

 

You do not really get by with anything.  You may have me fooled for a while and you may have others fooled for a while, but you never fool God. 

 

Not only did they change Daniel's name, and Hananiah’s name, but also, they changed Mishael’s name, which meant in the Hebrew, who is like God, they changed his name to Meshach which means, who is like auk, one of the gods that they worshiped.  Also, Azariah who's Hebrew name means, Jehovah is my helper, to Abednego which was another servant of one of the gods that they were serving. 

 

They are trying to steal their identity and get them to participate in things, indulge in things, and take things into this body that they should never have done.  They were trying to change the way that they think and what they are going to be taught. 

 

The great thing about all that is that even though these young men are thirteen to fifteen years old, and there was tremendous pressure put upon them, they decided that they are not going to allow this king, and his company, get them to a place where they are going to be defiled, or soiled before their own God. 

 

I wish we could get that way today.  I believe most of us are. 

 

There are times that we cave in, or give in.  There are times that we just say, "What's the use."  If we start down that path of caving in, then it is going to be a long road for you because the enemy is going to be on your trail, every day, telling you that it is not worth it and that you are not worth it, you can't do it.  We need to understand that we do not have to give in.  We do not have to cave in.  

 

Some of us here today maybe suffering some things that may be is because of what your parents did.  I know some folks like that.  I know folks that are suffering because of some things that their parents have done, or some things that their parents are doing.  There are things like that.

 

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that.  They knew they were in captivity.  They knew they were in Babylon.  They knew that they were a long way away from home.  However, they knew that they had not sinned against Almighty God. 

 

When we are in places like that, not of our doing, but by the doings of others, we can still yet stand and tell the world I am not going to allow you, or the pressure that you bring, I am not going to participate in those things.  I do not want to make my life filthy before the God of heaven.

 

Daniel is going to spend the next sixty-seven years, and these boys, in this land.  God is here early in the beginning when they made a decision that they were not going to cave in and be defiled before God.  They made a decision early, and that carried through the rest of their lives.  God blessed Daniel and did some great things for these other fellows simply because they decided that they were not going to defile themselves with the things of this world. 

 

If you are saved, are you allowing this world to put pressure upon you? 

 

Are you allowing this world to trick and trap you with all kinds of pretty things?  If you are, you need to get rid of it.  You do not need to allow the pressures of this world to mold you into somebody where you cannot work for God. 

 

It is a horrible thing to live in sin.  It is a horrible thing separated from God. 

 

You may be in this shape, not of your own doing.  Your parents may have done something.  Whatever may have brought this thing about, just as it did for these young men, remember, that Jesus Christ loves you and will take care of you.

 Back • Up • Next

|  Home |  Pastor  |  Sermons  |  Testimony |  Salvation  |  Sunday School  |  Youth  |  Men  |
|  Ladies  |  Classes  |  Photos  |  Choir  |  History  |  Contacts  |
|  Sign Guestbook  |   View Guestbook   |

EXIT to CalvinEvans.org