Shownotes
King Nebuchadnezzar thinks that he's super powerful. He thinks that if he wants to punish you, no-one can save you. Not even your God! When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to obey him and worship a statue, the king gets really fired up. Perhaps, though, he's not as powerful as he thinks. Join Dave as he explores Daniel 3.
STORIES OF A FAITHFULGOD KIDS CLUB - Start your FREE 7 day trial at Patreon here.
Find out more about the Dave and the show at faithfulgod.net.
Show your thanks and support for Dave and help other people hear Stories of a Faithful God by signing up for the monthly prayer letter and by becoming a regular financial supporter here.
To ask a question, make a comment, give encouragement or invite Dave to speak, you can make contact here.
If you're a teen or adult, be sure to check out Dave's other podcast, Stories of a Faithful God, to take a deeper dive into these same passages.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Transcripts
G'day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.
Speaker:Dave here.
Speaker:Can I tell you something pretty cool?
Speaker:One of my sons is a lifeguard.
Speaker:He hangs around at the pool waiting to save
Speaker:people's lives if they get in trouble.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:He has saved people's lives.
Speaker:If he hadn't been there, they would have drowned and then there'd be nothing he could
Speaker:do to save them.
Speaker:There are lots of people who like to think that they're pretty strong and powerful, but
Speaker:even then there's heaps of things they just can't do.
Speaker:Sometimes people say that about our God, that he's not very strong or not very good.
Speaker:He can't help his people or save his people.
Speaker:Sometimes they even laugh at him and laugh at us for trusting him.
Speaker:We've been looking at the Book of Daniel.
Speaker:The things in Daniel happened in a huge kingdom with a really powerful king, King
Speaker:Nebuchadnezzar.
Speaker:He thought no one was more powerful than him.
Speaker:He was about to learn a very big lesson.
Speaker:Get ready for our next episode of stories of a Faithful God for Kids.
Speaker:At the end of our last episode, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was really happy.
Speaker:He was happy because God had revealed what his dream meant.
Speaker:He was so happy that he gave Daniel, who God used to tell him the dream, a very important
Speaker:job.
Speaker:He also gave Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, very important jobs.
Speaker:The dream had shown him a statue made of a few different things, including a gold head.
Speaker:Nebuchadnezzar was that gold head.
Speaker:He was one of the kingdoms shown in the dream,
Speaker:but he was only one of the kingdoms.
Speaker:And eventually all those kingdoms would be
Speaker:destroyed.
Speaker:In their place, God would make a new kingdom that would last forever.
Speaker:Nebuchadnezzar doesn't really want to think about that.
Speaker:What he wants to think about is how great he is.
Speaker:He wants everyone else to think about how great he is.
Speaker:And so he comes up with a plan.
Speaker:He makes a huge statue.
Speaker:It's as tall as a nine storey building.
Speaker:It's made of gold, not just a golden head like in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
Speaker:It's all gold.
Speaker:As if he's saying no other kingdom matters,
Speaker:only I matter.
Speaker:The king invites all the important leaders in his kingdom.
Speaker:Verse 2 says he invites the governors, assistant governors, captains of the soldiers,
Speaker:people who advised the king, keepers of the treasury, judges, rulers, and all other
Speaker:officers in his kingdom.
Speaker:He wanted these men to come to the special service for the statue he'd set up.
Speaker:These are important people.
Speaker:They're from all the areas of the Babylonian
Speaker:empire, all the kingdoms and countries and peoples and languages that Babylon has
Speaker:swallowed up.
Speaker:And even though they're important, the king wants them to know who the most important is.
Speaker:Who's the one who's really in charge?
Speaker:Who must they all listen to?
Speaker:So they all come, they all gather together, and they stand in front of the statue that the
Speaker:king set up.
Speaker:Then we're told this in verse four.
Speaker:Then the man who made announcements for the king spoke in a loud voice.
Speaker:He said, peoples, nations and men of every language.
Speaker:This is what you are commanded to do.
Speaker:You will hear the sound of the horns, flutes, lyres, zithers, harps, pipes, and all the
Speaker:other musical instruments.
Speaker:When this happens, you must bow down and
Speaker:worship the gold statue.
Speaker:This is the one that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
Speaker:Everyone must bow down and worship this gold statue.
Speaker:Anyone who doesn't will be quickly thrown into a blazing furnace.
Speaker:Thrown into a blazing furnace.
Speaker:A super duper, mega hot fire for not
Speaker:worshipping a statue.
Speaker:For most of the people there, they won't mind.
Speaker:They're used to worshipping statues as though
Speaker:the statues are gods.
Speaker:But if you know the one true God, you must never, ever treat a statue like it's God.
Speaker:That's horrible.
Speaker:A statue can't speak, it can't make anything
Speaker:it can't save.
Speaker:A statue never makes God look great.
Speaker:It makes God look weak and useless.
Speaker:So God said, never worship statues.
Speaker:But Nebuchadnezzar says, if you don't worship this statue, you'll be thrown into a blazing
Speaker:furnace.
Speaker:Well, people from every language group are there.
Speaker:And the music starts.
Speaker:The horns, flutes, lyres, zithers, pipes, and
Speaker:all the other musical instruments.
Speaker:And all these people bow down in front of the
Speaker:statue that King Nebuchadnezzar set up all, actually, not quite all people.
Speaker:Some Babylonians run up to the king.
Speaker:They're acting very shocked, although secretly
Speaker:they're quite excited.
Speaker:They say to the king in verse nine, our king,
Speaker:live forever.
Speaker:Our king, you gave a command.
Speaker:You said that everyone would hear the horns, lyres, zithers, harps, pipes, and all the
Speaker:other musical instruments.
Speaker:Then they would have to bow down and worship
Speaker:the gold statue.
Speaker:Anyone who wouldn't do this was to be thrown
Speaker:into a blazing furnace.
Speaker:Our king, there are some men of Judah who did not pay attention to your order.
Speaker:You made them important officers in the area of Babylon.
Speaker:Their names are Shadrach.
Speaker:Meshach and Abednego, they do not serve your
Speaker:gods, and they do not worship the gold statue you have set up?
Speaker:Nebuchadnezzar is so angry.
Speaker:He's not really angry about the statue.
Speaker:He's angry that these men won't obey him.
Speaker:After all, he thinks he's the greatest king in the world.
Speaker:How dare people not obey him.
Speaker:That's what the Babylonians are trying to get him angry about.
Speaker:It's why they tell him that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego don't serve your God's king.
Speaker:They don't worship the statue you set up.
Speaker:And so he summons Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Speaker:He says to them in verse 14, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you do
Speaker:not serve my gods? And is it true that you do not worship the
Speaker:gold statue I have set up?
Speaker:Now you will hear the sound of the horns, flutes, lyres, zithers, harps, pipes, and all
Speaker:the other musical instruments.
Speaker:And you must be ready to bow down and worship
Speaker:the statue I made.
Speaker:That will be good.
Speaker:But if you do not worship it, you will be
Speaker:thrown quickly into the blazing furnace.
Speaker:And here's the most important bit.
Speaker:Here's where you find out just how powerful
Speaker:King Nebuchadnezzar thinks he is.
Speaker:He says to them, then no God will be able to save you from my power.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:The king thinks he's so powerful.
Speaker:There isn't any God the Jews could possibly
Speaker:worship who can save them from his power.
Speaker:He's just too strong.
Speaker:Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego disagree.
Speaker:You see, they worship the God who saved his people from Egypt.
Speaker:They worship the God who sent fire on Mount Carmel.
Speaker:They worship the God who powerfully made the world.
Speaker:So they say to the king in verse 16, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend
Speaker:ourselves to you.
Speaker:You can throw us into the blazing furnace.
Speaker:The God we serve is able to save us from the furnace and your power.
Speaker:If he does this, it is good.
Speaker:But even if God does not save us, we want you,
Speaker:O king, to know this.
Speaker:We will not serve your gods.
Speaker:We will not worship the gold statue you have set up.
Speaker:Notice that they don't just assume that God will save them.
Speaker:He hasn't promised to.
Speaker:Sometimes we say, of course God will do
Speaker:something for me.
Speaker:But if he hasn't promised to do it, we mustn't do that.
Speaker:We can't tell God what he should and shouldn't do.
Speaker:But What Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego do know is that God can save them.
Speaker:They know that they should only worship the one true God and not some silly statue.
Speaker:And so, even though they obey the king on lots of other things, they refuse to obey him.
Speaker:In this, King Nebuchadnezzar is furious.
Speaker:He's super mad.
Speaker:How dare these men disobey him.
Speaker:He's so mad, he commands his people to heat up the furnace seven times hotter than ever.
Speaker:Then he commands some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach,
Speaker:Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.
Speaker:Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are still wearing all their clothes, their robes,
Speaker:trousers, turbans and other clothes as they're tied up by these super strong soldiers and
Speaker:dragged to the edge of the furnace.
Speaker:The king had ordered the furnace to be so hot, and his command had been so urgent that it
Speaker:sounds like the servants have just thrown in everything they possibly can to make it as hot
Speaker:as possible.
Speaker:The flames are flying everywhere, so much so that they catch the super strong soldiers who
Speaker:are dragging Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to the fire.
Speaker:And the soldiers are killed.
Speaker:And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, tied up as tightly as these soldiers have been able to
Speaker:pull, the knots, fall into the blazing furnace.
Speaker:King Nebuchadnezzar is watching all this and suddenly he jumps to his feet.
Speaker:He almost can't believe his eyes.
Speaker:He says to the men around him, didn't we tie
Speaker:up only three men? Didn't we throw them into the fire?
Speaker:That's a bit of an embarrassing question.
Speaker:Like, has the king really forgotten how many
Speaker:people they threw in? And so they're like, umm, yes, Lord, we did
Speaker:only throw in three men.
Speaker:Then we discover why the king's so confused.
Speaker:As he looks into the blazing furnace, he sees
Speaker:something remarkable.
Speaker:In verse 25, he says, Look, I see four men.
Speaker:They are walking around in the fire.
Speaker:They're not tied up and they are not burned.
Speaker:The fourth man looks like a son of the gods.
Speaker:This is astounding.
Speaker:How can they possibly be happily walking around in the fire?
Speaker:The fire that's so hot it killed the soldiers who came near the edge of it.
Speaker:And who's the fourth person walking around with them?
Speaker:The one who looks like a son of the gods for the king.
Speaker:Something finally clicks.
Speaker:He realises the answer to the question he'd
Speaker:asked before.
Speaker:He'd asked, which God can save you from my
Speaker:power?
Speaker:And the Answers come back pretty clearly.
Speaker:The Most High God who Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego serve the faithful God who they
Speaker:trusted, even if it meant being thrown into a blazing furnace.
Speaker:The king goes to the edge of the furnace and shouts in verse 26, Shadrach, Meshach and
Speaker:Abednego come out.
Speaker:Servants of the Most High God, come here.
Speaker:So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego miraculously come out of the fire.
Speaker:Everyone crowds around them to see this amazing thing.
Speaker:Verse 27 says, when they came out, the princes, assistant governors, governors and
Speaker:royal advisors crowded around them.
Speaker:They saw that the fire had not harmed their
Speaker:bodies.
Speaker:Their hair was not burned, their robes were not burned, and they didn't even smell like
Speaker:smoke.
Speaker:Before this, the king had been super angry that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had
Speaker:refused to obey him.
Speaker:Now he realises that they were right.
Speaker:They were right to obey their God instead of
Speaker:him, because there's no other God who can do what their God can do.
Speaker:And so, remarkably, he starts praising their God.
Speaker:He says in verse 28, Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Speaker:Their God has sent his angel and saved his servants from the fire.
Speaker:These three men trusted their God.
Speaker:They refused to obey my command and they were
Speaker:willing to die rather than serve or worship any God other than their own.
Speaker:And then he makes a law that no one can speak badly about their God.
Speaker:He says.
Speaker:So I now make this.
Speaker:The people of any nation or language must not say anything against the God of Shadrach,
Speaker:Meshach and Abednego.
Speaker:Anyone who does will be torn apart and his house will be turned into a pile of stones no
Speaker:other God can save like this.
Speaker:Notice that the king isn't thinking about himself anymore.
Speaker:He's not telling everyone how powerful he is.
Speaker:He's talking about God's mighty power.
Speaker:God's amazing power to save.
Speaker:There's no one else like him.
Speaker:Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had known that God can save like this.
Speaker:They didn't know if he would.
Speaker:They didn't know if they'd live or die, but
Speaker:they knew that he could.
Speaker:We know even more.
Speaker:We know that God will save his people even if we die.
Speaker:Just think about Jesus.
Speaker:He absolutely trusted that God would save him.
Speaker:Not before death, but after it.
Speaker:In fact, he told his disciples that they were
Speaker:going to Jerusalem, that he'd be arrested, he'd be killed, and after that he'd be raised
Speaker:to life.
Speaker:And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker:Jesus was right to trust his faithful Father in heaven.
Speaker:We can know.
Speaker:No matter what people say to us, no matter
Speaker:what people do to us, no matter how badly they treat us, Jesus will save us.
Speaker:Even when we die, Jesus will raise us to life.
Speaker:There's no other God who can save like him back in Babylon.
Speaker:Nebuchadnezzar sounds like he's learned his lesson.
Speaker:He sounds like he finally understands how great and important God is.
Speaker:Unfortunately, he still doesn't get it.
Speaker:God's going to teach him, though.
Speaker:But that's a story for next time.
Speaker:Hey, I want to do a big shout out to Tabitha and Toby and Kelly and Dave.
Speaker:G'day guys.
Speaker:They've been listening to the show over
Speaker:breakfast time.
Speaker:Great idea.
Speaker:Tabitha says, thanks so much for this podcast.
Speaker:It's real fun to listen to.
Speaker:Toby says thanks for the dramatic music in the
Speaker:podcast and guys, you're very welcome.
Speaker:I want to have fun learning about God and I
Speaker:really like dramatic music, so I'm glad some other people do as well.
Speaker:You may have noticed that I've recently changed the music at the start.
Speaker:Just for fun and a bit of variety.
Speaker:Why not tell me what you think?
Speaker:Do you like it?
Speaker:Do you prefer the old music? Would you prefer something different?
Speaker:Just click the contact link in the show notes to send me a message.
Speaker:Or even on Spotify you can leave a comment there.
Speaker:Something Tabitha and Toby and Kelly and Dave have just done is they've signed up for their
Speaker:free trial of the club.
Speaker:They can see all the kids video episodes,
Speaker:including the last one where I had to put a cream pie in my face.
Speaker:I asked people to vote on what they wanted to see and that's what they voted for.
Speaker:But we also learn great things about living for Jesus.
Speaker:In the last episode, we learned about how being a follower of Jesus is a team sport.
Speaker:So why don't you join them in the club? Click the link in the show notes.
Speaker:Do the free trial, parents.
Speaker:There's stuff there for you too.
Speaker:Everyone keep trusting Jesus.
Speaker:Bye for now.
