Daniel 3:28 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Daniel 3:28

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The effect on the king is so dramatic; he is overwhelmed. He cannot help but praise God who has done such wonders. But notice how quickly the convictions of the unsaved can change and modify. He has referred to them as ‘the servants of the most high God’ – he is monotheistic in the heat of the moment. But how long will that last? Without a work of grace in the heart, he will soon turn back to his Babylonian gods, as he has already done once after the dream of chapter 2 which impressed him so deeply. Even in the terms with which he praises God here, he betrays his lack of understanding. God is merely the God of the Hebrews. He has not come to personal faith in the one true God, but he decrees that the God of the Hebrews must be honoured as much as any other god.Nevertheless he is impressed by their loyalty, faith. He has been very impressed by their trusting in their God at the cost of their lives, and at their loyalty and readiness to defy the king. I was angry, he in effect says, but I realise you were not so much defying me, as being loyal to your God. You were ready to lose your lives, and I have been impressed at your tenacity at not having any other God. But that is all he acknowledges: that they have got a God who has great power, but he is not the only one, and he is not going to give up his Babylonian gods, nor his own ways. He is not so impressed that he will turn to their God himself. We see the qualified limited extent of his response. Even though he shocked and stunned, he is enough in control to reveal is heart. People will be impressed by you as a Christian, for not giving way when under pressure. They may despise you, think you are a fool, yet it will impress them deep down. But if you are worldly in your behaviour, that won’t impress anybody. Alas there is no change of heart in Nebuchadnezzar. ‘Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should be cut in pieces, and their houses should be made a dunghill, because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.’ No Babylonian God has ever done this, nor could, so far as he thinks. So all must acknowledge the Jewish God, and they must have peace from us. The miracle has caused a complete reversal of policy. It is not just a miracle of preservation of three men – it includes that, of course – it is a miracle for the preservation of the people of God, and the plan of salvation. No emperor, however mighty can defy God in the plan of salvation, can obstruct his purposes.

Application

How gentle God is to Nebuchadnezzar. He is letting him out on licence for a little longer. Bodily he is unhurt. He has suffered a humiliation; he has had to find a neat way round it, but his policy has been completely changed. What a contrast! World empires work by violence; God sets it all back so that his policy is not obstructed in the gentlest imaginable manner. What a sophistication is here in the Book of Daniel.

‘Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.’ They were brought as governors; they were sent back as governors, but this time with the king’s approval: untouchable, unharmable, unlike before. Now that is not a promise to us, but the promise is that God is with us no matter what. World power is coming to an end. Babylon would fall, even at the height of Nebuchadnezzar's power; God just raises a finger and his genocide policy is brought to an end. God can intervene, and he is telling us this: world powers are just on licence; they will all come to an end. Communism – we saw it suffer a great fall at the end of the twentieth century. Islam, where it holds sway seems to be immovable and so powerful; but no, it is like any world empire. The scientific humanism of the Western world, and its anti-Christian morality are gaining power all the time. We see it in our own land; we see it in Europe; we see it in the United States. Taking control, making illegal righteousness, and legalising unrighteousness. Sanctions are coming in. If the world goes on some may live to see some awful sanctions against the practice of the faith. We pray for the preservation of the Christian faith. But the dominion of the world won't last. Whether Christ ends it by his coming, or before, he throws down empires. He gives them just so long, and then he humbles them, and that's what we are seeing here. In this particular chapter we seeing the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar in his plan to destroy the people of God. He had a vicious intention – don't be naïve, as you read the chapter. But whether we suffer persecution, setbacks, or distress, the power of God ultimately is with us as God's people.

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Daniel 3:28 Commentary and Bible Study