Dan 3
A couple of thoughts come to mind.... Where is Daniel during all this hoopla? He seems to be missing, or he's bowing down, but I don't think that is as legitimate. And why did the king think to build a golden statue? Was it really a statue that was supposed to look like the one in his dreams, just this one was all gold? I semi buy that and think that is probably tru, but I also think it could be a giant golden statue of the god that they were serving (Marduk, and Dagon, but I think Dagon was Darius, so probably Marduk). Why did the king spend all that time and money getting those leaders together just to have them bow to this image. It seems like he wouldn't have wasted everyones time like that. Another question I have is why didn't the guards stop heating it? Like they literally heated it until they died! That is stupid in my book, because I would stop as soon as I couldn't handle the heat anymore. Anyway, I just think they are stupid. Final question is do you think the king is actually referring to his limited knowledge of Jesus when he says that there was the image of the son of man in the fire with Shad, Mesh, and Abed?
I think Jesus can reveal Himself to whoever He wants, and however He made Himself recognizable to Nebuchadnezzar, it worked. Kind of like how you hear stories about dreams and prophecies in tribes that are far removed from civilization but when the Gospel comes to them, everything fits together, and it is obvious God has already been revealing Himself so they would recognize the Gospel.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego tell the king that they know there God is powerful enough to deliver them, but even if He WASN'T, they won't bow down to the king's image. That is some extreme faith--that even if God doesn't deliver, even if some people think it is because He isn't strong enough to deliver, you are willing to choose Him anyway, just to prove a point that He IS strong enough to give you that kind of faith.
Something else I thought about was how these three had their closest encounter with God during the biggest trial of their lives. If they hadn't stepped in that fire, they wouldn't have met Jesus first-hand (making some assumptions that it was indeed Jesus). Of course, that might be true in our lives...if we always take the easy way out, we will miss out on His presence. But the times when the heat turns up to its highest, He's closest.