Before the Humble Arrival (IV)
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse….you can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing non-sense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S Lewis[1]
Unfortunately, today there is a growing problem in the so-called church! According to LifeWay Research, 30% of evangelicals believe Jesus Christ was only a good teacher and not God. How sad! “All total, 52 percent of Americans say they believe Jesus was a ‘good teacher, but he was not God,’ according to the survey. Although the poll’s finding about the general population may not be shocking, Ligonier said it is surprising that nearly a third of evangelicals (30 percent) affirm the statement and believe Jesus was a good teacher and nothing more.”[2] This highlights the need to not only study Christology (the study of Jesus Christ) but also study the preincarnation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. These visits prove without a shadow of doubt that Jesus Christ is God! As stated last week, only Jesus could show His character through actions THEN BE BORN and make the statements of who He is. He does it in reverse to show His awesome power! No moral teacher, no religious zealot, no political leader, could pull this show of majesty and power as the Son of God could. Jesus Christ is who He said He is, “I am.”
Nevertheless, we want to today continue in part four of our seven-part series reviewing some of the preincarnate appearances of Jesus Christ before His humble arrival in Bethlehem. Today we review, one of the quickest but grandest demonstrations of Jesus Christ as the Son of God!
For this event let us to go to the book of Daniel chapter 3.
At the very start of the chapter we see Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon concocting a foolish idea, “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald loudly proclaimed; ‘To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire” Daniel 3:1-6. Nebuchadnezzar thought himself as God, he believed he was worthy of worship and the image that he had created was to be the focal point of the kingdoms worship. However, our three heroes in the story Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, refused to bend the knee and worship a false god.
As the story continues, we find out that charges are brought against the three who refused to obey the command to worship a false god, in doing so they declared their lives forfeit. They were more interested in following the true God, the living God, the ever-close God, Jesus Christ. “For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: ‘O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jew whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.’ Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, ‘Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” Daniel 3:8-15.
What a pompous statement made by Nebuchadnezzar! “and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” Nebuchadnezzar could do whatever he wanted and to throw three individuals into the fire would be no issue at all. However, as we find out, there is a God who could deliver them out of his hands. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego refuse to obey and declared their lives to the fire, Daniel 3:16-18. As expected, Nebuchadnezzar becomes enraged and has the furnace heated up seven times more than it was usually heated, “He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually. He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. For this reason, because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abedn-nego. But these three men, Shadrach, Meshack and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up” Daniel 3:19-23. These three who have refused to obey, have given over their lives, and have been thrown into the furnace. While they were being thrown in, the fire killed the ones that threw them into the flames. In almost any other case, we would say that this story was over, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were martyrs to their cause for only worshiping the true God. But God has other plans! These three are about to experience the preincarnated Jesus Christ! How do we know? Just like Abraham’s, and Jacob’s encounter, Nebuchadnezzar has this revealed to him. We are not given how the conclusion comes to this, but apparently it was obvious to Abraham, Jacob, and Nebuchadnezzar. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in hate; he said to his high officials. ‘Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?’ They replied to the king, ‘Certainly, O king.’ He said, ‘Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!’ Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!’ Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the kin’gs high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God,’” Daniel 3:24-28.
What we have here is an incredible story of God saving the lives of His followers. While at first glance it would appear that God is only in one small part of this larger story, you would be mistaken. This story actually portrays much more of Christ than when first read. Remember only Jesus Christ can do the actions prior to birth and then be born and make the statement. In this story we see the subtle hints of Jesus Christ.
To better understand, we need to take a pause and reflect on what statements Jesus Christ has said is coming. We know from Daniel chapter 9, that there is decreed a special amount of time specifically for the relationship of God with Israel. This relationship has seven years to play out. These seven years have been called many things from “Jacob’s Trouble” to “The Tribulation” but in the end, it is a focus of seven years with God dealing directly with the Jews. Unfortunately, we do not have the time today to discuss further but in future posts, Lord willing, we will see more of the seven years of Tribulation. But for now, we know that the Bible is clear that it is coming and has not happened yet. We know from Revelation chapter 13, that a mark of the beast will be established and people will be forced to take the mark of the beast. This could be a literal mark of 666, symbolizing the Antichrist’s name, or they will die. While the actual mark is still speculative, we know from Revelation 13:18 that this mark is coming and one day it will happen, in verses 11-17 of Revelation 13 we see that it will be forced.
Now at this point you might be wondering to yourself, where I am going with this but bear with me. How odd is it that the three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are given an ultimatum to worship the image which was 60 cubits high, 6 cubits wide, and with 6 listed instruments? How ironic that the number becomes 666! Furthermore, the furnace is heated to seven times its typical heat. Jacob’s trouble is for seven years! On top of all that, where is Daniel during this time? He is not even in the story, but why? Because he was not there! Historians and Biblical scholars believe that Daniel was either on an errand for the king and was out of country during this time, or the Chaldeans were afraid to mention his name due to Daniel’s high status. Either way, we know that he is not mentioned so he is missing from the story. When you look at all the scripture relating to the Tribulation, be it Old or New Testament, you will see no mention of the Church on earth during the Tribulation. Why? It is because we are gone. There are many who will claim we are here for the entire seven years, and/or we have to be here until God’s wrath comes. I would respectfully disagree and tell them to keep seeing the Word of God for what is says and not what man foolishly speculates.
So, we have a group of Jews who are refusing to bow down and worship an image that hints to 666 and are thrown into a furnace seven times hotter than normal. Nebuchadnezzar, not knowing Jesus, identifies Him with the best title he is able to give Jesus at that time, “Son of the gods.” Nebuchadnezzar is identifying this man as different, He had saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and their garments were not only protected but the three didn’t even smell like smoke. We see that this person has the power to control earthly elements. Now the power to control fire does not mean you are God, nor does it mean you are a good person. Revelation chapter 13 shows the False Prophet will be able to call down fire from Heaven in front of the first Beast. So how do we know this fourth person is God? First, we can tell because of the number four. In my book The Haggai Project, I show through research the number four has strong significance, “4: Is the number of the gospel. There are 4 sides to a cross and four books in the Bible specifically talking about Jesus’ life on earth. There are 4 major Prophets in the Old Testament, ‘Judah, the messianic tribe from which David and Jesus descended, is the 4th tribe of Israel. The first 4 of the 10 Commandments deal with our relationship to God (the last six deal with our relationship to fellow man, hardly a coincidence since 6 is the number of man). Jesus told his disciples to spread the Gospel in 4 places, in Acts 1:8.’ God on the fourth day of creation created the physical elements for light. Some of have argued that another clue as to why the Jews should have known Jesus was coming was because of the argument of the fourth day representing 4 thousand years of mankind and just like on the fourth day, in the fourth century the light arrived. How ironic that the gospel is there for anyone to see but will only be found by those who are seeking God. What seems trivial to some as just numbers will be seen by others as the significance of God’s Word.”[3]
We also know this is Jesus because Nebuchadnezzar is not stopped by any of the three Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego when he proclaims the amazing attributes of God in verses 28-30. Jesus is not done here though, this representation shows that Jesus not only loves the individual, as we saw with Abraham and Jacob, but also the national group which is being represented by Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in a future event. Jesus has the power to save anyone from anyone, thing, or cause. “ For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39. He still cares for Israel and will one day come back to them. How amazing is Jesus Christ who before His humble arrival has given us so many actions to back up His statements that He would make later.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming
JL
[1] Michael C. Bere, Bible Doctrines for Today, Pg. 140
[2] Michael Foust, Christian Headlines, Drifting Away from Scripture: 30 Percent of Evangelicals Say Jesus Was Not God, Poll Shows, August 27th 2020.
[3] Jon-Luke Thomasson, The Haggai Project, Pg. 96