INTRODUCTION
Stand out from the crowd. That’s what you need to do. Whether you’re applying to university, or applying for a job, one thing’s clear. You must stand out from the crowd. The annual London Marathon often attracts more than forty-eight thousand runners. Up to 370,000 spectators have attended. What catches my attention is not the elite athletes. Rather, it’s the ordinary folk, slowly jogging, who stand out from the crowd. Runners dressed as Donald Duck, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or Buckingham Palace. And the huge crowd goes wild as these eccentric runners jog past.
I. AN EXPRESSION OF POWER
Witness another enormous crowd. It assembled in obedience to King Nebuchadnezzar, before his golden image, outside the city walls of Babylon. Read: Dan 3:1–2. We’ve already met an impressive image in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a huge metal image. It represented the kingdoms of this world but was crushed by the stone of the kingdom of God. Now the massed throng of the empire’s elite stand before another image. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image had a head of gold, representing Babylon. But Nebuchadnezzar now erects an image that is all gold. This is a thoroughly Babylonian idol. We see that in its statistics: sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. The base of Babylonian mathematics was sixty, unlike our decimal base of ten. That’s why it measures sixty by six. That’s also why the number of the Babylonian beast in the book of Revelation is 666 (Rev 13:18). When God’s stone destroyed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image, it demonstrated God’s judgment on human ambition and pride. And now Nebuchadnezzar is at it again. And what is he proud about? Two things: size and power. Size: this idol is massive. At sixty cubits high, or about thirty meters, only the monumental Colossus of Rhodes, a wonder of the ancient world, stood higher on sixty-cubit pedestals. And power: the consequences of disobeying Nebuchadnezzar. Read: Dan 3:5–6.
II. AN ULTIMATUM
Nebuchadnezzar’s obsession with size and power demands that all must obey. Those who refuse will die in his furnace. He must have absolute conformity. And that is hammered home by what he says and how the story tells it. Notice who are invited to worship, service. Read: Dan. 3:2. And who accepts the invitation? Read: Dan 3:3. And what are they commanded? Read: Dan 3:4–5. And how do they respond? Read: Dan 3:7. The king demands conformity. That is what the king commands is exactly what he must get. And that’s exactly what he does get from almost all these officials. When Nebuchadnezzar’s orchestra strikes up, immediately they all fall down. Three people stand out from the crowd: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They quite literally stand out from the crowd. The king is immediately informed. Read: Dan 3:11–12. “Certain Jews.” In that crowd there would have been many Jews, exiles from Judah. But only “certain Jews,” God’s faithful remnant, stood out from the crowd.
The king gives the friends an ultimatum: Read: Dan 3:14–15. As before, what the king demands is exactly what must happen. But not this time. Read: Dan 3:16–18. Those are the only words the three friends speak in this story. The king can repeat his demands as often as he likes. But he does not control them. The king’s speech is long and repetitive. The friends’ speech is short and to the point. The king’s speech sets out the principles of size, power, and control. The friends’ speech makes clear that faith can confront the world. That’s why they chose to stand out from the crowd. Simply because it was the right thing to do. Whether they live, whether they die. For peace or no furnace.
But there is a furnace. So, Nebuchadnezzar’s servants throw the friends into the flames. This wouldn’t be the first time in the Bible that people died in fire. Remember the fate of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1–2). And half-forgotten characters such as Zelophehad and Abah. Jer 29:22. Here fire meant death. But fire suggests another possibility. Remember, Moses was in the wilderness when he encountered a bush. It was on fire but was not consumed. And from within the fire, God spoke to him. A pillar of divine fire also led Israel through the wilderness. Ezekiel had a vision of God, and fire surrounded His throne. And don’t forget: Read: Dan 7:9–10. Here, fire surrounds the presence of God. So, who are the three friends meet inside the fiery furnace? Death? Or God Himself?
III. GOD RESPONDS
The King peers into the flames. And sees God Himself in the fire. Read: Dan 3:25. God Himself in the fire. The three friends meet God in the flames. And just like the burning bush, they are not consumed. Nebuchadnezzar thought fire would kill them. Actually, it frees them. What actually happens is that God meets them in the fire. That’s what happened when they stood out from the crowd.
And something else that happens. The friends reveal their character in this crisis. Character isn’t formed in a crisis. It’s revealed in a crisis. It’s the long obedience that forms character. In a crisis we can only reveal the character we’ve formed in the humdrum activities of everyday life.
IV. LIVING IN MODERN BABYLON
Let’s reflect on that crisis. Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t care what gods the three friends worship in private. His interest is their public conduct. Just as in our world being an Adventist is acceptable as long as it remains simply a personal and private conviction. Just don’t stand out from the crowd. Don’t challenge the values of modern society—especially the Babylonian principles of size, power, and conformity. But that’s the very thing this story asks us to do. It defies the principles of Babylon.
We know Babylonian principles are alive in the world. But if they seduce us, they will turn up in our lives as well. If they do, the devil will be well pleased.
Another temptation is the Babylonian principle of power. This story, however, highlights that the power of God, as true as that is, is less important than the morality of God. The three friends do not choose to stand out from the crowd because they are sure God will save them. In fact, they don’t know whether He will or not. Read: Dan 3:18. They chose to stand out from the crowd because they are not committed to the principles of Babylon, but to the principles of the Kingdom of God—to the principles of justice, righteousness, and truth.
And there is the ultimate Babylonian principle of conformity. By contrast, the friends refuse to conform to the will of God. So, they challenge Babylonian conformity. They challenge it because “We know God whom we serve.” And our God whom we serve doesn’t reveal Himself in the overwhelming size of the crowd. Nor in the massive idol. Nor in the power of the king’s rhetoric. Our God whom we serve reveals Himself in the fire of the furnace. There within the minority who have the conviction to stand out from the crowd, for no other reason than that it is faithful thing to do.
CONCLUSION
And that is the ultimate mission of the church. Not to live lives by the principles of the Gospel rather than the principles of Babylon. More than anything else, to be true to it. To live lives that oppose the Babylonian principles that prevail in our world—size, power, and conformity. And for the sake of “our God whom we serve,” to stand out from the crowd.
Laurence A. Turner, PhD, is a principal lecturer emeritus in Old Testament at Newbold College of Higher Education, Bracknell, UK, and adjunct external higher degree research supervisor at Avondale University, Cooranbong, NSW, Australia.
