It’s more important than ever for believers to stand on our convictions, even when there may be consequences for doing so. By “conviction,” I’m talking about a firmly held belief about God or his truth. I’m talking about taking a stand for God even if that stand is unpopular or brings pain.
At some point, your convictions will be tested. Your peers, your employer, your government, they will put pressure on you when your convictions run counter to theirs. If you’re not careful, once the pressure begins, you’ll begin to give in just a little, and that will continue until you cave in to pressure completely. You may be caving in to avoid pain, but by compromising, you bring worse pain on yourself and those around you.
Sometime around 600 BC, there was a king in Babylon named Nebuchadnezzar, and he was the most powerful man on earth. He had marched into Jerusalem, captured the city, and brought back to Babylon the best of the Jewish people. Three of these folks are young men named Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. You may know them better by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men were being trained in the ways of Babylon and placed in leadership positions in the kingdom.
One day King Nebuchadnezzar has an idea — he orders the building of a golden statue of himself. After all, he’s the greatest king in the world, and he deserves to be honored as such. The statue is huge, about 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. Then the king decides that a statue isn’t enough, so he gathers all of the leaders throughout his empire and brings them to the statue for a worship service. The people are instructed that when the band starts playing they are all to bow in worship to this golden statue of the king. Oh, and if someone decided not to bow down, they would be thrown into a fiery furnace as punishment.
So when the music started, everyone bowed before this great statue of Nebuchadnezzar. Everyone, that is, except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They knew in their hearts that to bow down in worship to an image was a clear violation of God’s commands. Long before these three young men had to make a decision at the foot of the statue, they had decided to follow and obey their God. So instead of caving in to the pressure, and I would say that the threat of a fiery furnace was a ton of pressure, they stood on their convictions. When everyone else bowed, they stood.
If Christians are going to make an impact on a world that is moving farther and farther away from God, we are going to have to stand on our convictions. Just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego based their convictions on God’s Word (see Exodus 20:3), we must also stand on the truths that God has given us in the Bible. What do you do? Do you regularly stand on what you know to be true, even when it makes no sense, or friends laugh at you, or employers send you to sensitivity training? Do you stand on God’s truth, or do you live in fear and fall in worship to every statue placed before you?
It would have been so easy for these guys to compromise a little, wouldn’t it? They could have easily thought, “We’ll bow down because that’s the law, but we won’t be worshiping in our hearts. God will know the difference.” Or they could have said, “God wants to use us to influence these Babylonians for him, or he wouldn’t have put us in leadership positions. And since God can’t keep using us if we’re dead, we’ll bow down to stay alive and remain useful.” They could have found multiple ways to justify the act of bowing. But they didn’t.
Eventually, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar says, “If you don’t bow and worship me as a god, I’m going to throw you into a fiery furnace.” Then in Daniel 3:15, he asks a simple question: “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
That’s a huge question. The answer that these three young men give to the king is one of the most profound statements of faith in the Bible.
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
“Our God is able, and if he wants to, he will.” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that God could save them from death in the furnace if he chose to do so. “But if not” — even if God, in his perfect wisdom, chose not to save them, they were willing to die a horrible death if that’s what it took to remain faithful to their Lord.
I want to have that kind of faith. I want every Christian to have that kind of faith. I want to trust my Father so much that I am willing to stand for him no matter the consequences. I want to follow God’s Word even when it’s difficult to do so.
King Nebuchadnezzar is angry at the response the three gave to him, so he orders that the furnace be heated up seven times hotter than normal. It was so hot that the soldiers who threw them into the furnace were killed by the flames. This is where the story gets fun.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:24-25)
Nebuchadnezzar sees another person in the furnace. He had thrown three people in, bound. But he sees four people walking around, unbound. I believe that the fourth man in the furnace that day was Jesus. I believe God the Son himself went into the furnace and protected those three men from harm.
I’m not sure why God chose to save them. Perhaps it was to show himself in a mighty way as the only true God to a man who thought he was worthy of worship. For whatever reason, on this day, God stepped into that furnace and brought Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out.
It’s important to know that God doesn’t promise that he will keep us out of every furnace. But he does promise that he’ll be in our furnace with us.
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. (1 Peter 3:13-14)
If you want to make a difference for Christ in this world, you must be willing to stand on your convictions. You must be willing to stand on God’s Word, even if the cost is great. It may mean the loss of friends. It may mean the loss of a job. It may mean that you don’t get into the college you prefer. At some point, you will arrive at the foot of the statue, and you will be expected to bow.
Stand.
God is able to save you from the cost of your decision. He may, but he may not. But even if not, even when it’s impossible to understand what God is doing or why, remain faithful to your Father. Have faith. Refuse to compromise. And stand on his Word. Even if you get thrown into a furnace, God promises to be in there with you.