The Days of the King
My Word from the Holy Spirit
I woke from sleep at my recently typical time of the morning – 3am. Usually, when I am awoken from sleep in the early morning I talk with the Holy Spirit about who I can intercede in prayer for at that moment while I try to get back to sleeping. I had the same conversation this morning with Holy Spirit but then He brought to my mind Daniel 3, specifically verses 3:8 and 3:23. I wrote the verses down in my phone with the hope of reading it in the morning with a clear mind. When I opened to Daniel 3 I realized the Lord had led me to the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. For those of you who don’t know the story, these three men were warrior rebels. Talk about rebelling against the system today, it is nothing in comparison to what they did. There was a King named Nebuchadnezzar who wanted all the glory, honor, and praise. He built a humongous, golden image of himself and commanded everyone in his kingdom to bow down to this statue. The King’s command was that whoever refused to bow down to this giant statue would be thrown into the “burning, fiery furnace”. Well that scared everyone into compliance… EXCEPT Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men refused to bow at the sound of the horns. The King, obviously furious, commanded that the 3 men be brought to him. He gave them a second chance to denounce their rebellion against his image and of course, they stood strong in their faith in the true King. They even told Nebuchadnezzar that even if they were thrown in the furnace, they had faith that their God would rescue them. Talk about radical faith! This made the King so angry; he ordered the furnace to be lit SEVEN TIMES hotter than what he normally heated it to. Then he bound up the three warrior rebels and they were thrown into the furnace. The furnace was so hot that the soldiers who took the men up there were burned in action. As soon as the men were thrown in, Nebuchadnezzar started to freak out. There was a fourth man in the fire. This is amazing because if you think about fires today, you do not often see people up and walking around after being burned alive. Especially if the fire is 7 times as hot, I would imagine you would burn the moment the flames touched your skin, just like the soldier that took these three men up to the furnace did. But nevertheless, there was not one, not two, not three, but FOUR men standing in the furnace. The King was so shocked he called the men out and they literally walked out of the flames to stand before Nebuchadnezzar. There was not a burnt piece of clothing on these guys. They did not even smell like smoke! King Nebuchadnezzar was so shocked that he renounced his false gods to praise the living God that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego worshipped. The King was so changed that he even made a decree to all the people of his nation that if anyone speaks against the God of these three men, they would be killed. The final good news is that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were promoted in the Kingdom. Wow! What a great story. Any story with God in it always ends this well. I cannot count the times my troubles ended in promotions, literal and figurative promotions.
In reading this, the Holy Spirit revealed to me a few things about the day we are living in. Believers today fall under the category of warrior rebels like the three men we just talked about. Not just “Christians” but believers, those who hold the belief in truth higher than anything else. The Lord specifically called out verses 8 and 23 to me. Verse 8 says, “Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are Jews. Verse 23 says, “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.” These two verses show the beginning and the middle of the story of the warrior rebels. We have already seen and lived through the beginning of our current event. There has been much malicious accusation going on, regardless of truth. We are now in the middle of the event, where so many are being burned for their stances and beliefs. Not literally being burned, well actually, some cities are literally burning, but many are being “burned” by the words and accusations of people around them. If you do not choose the common belief you are being fed through the screen, you are burned. Your job is burned. Your position in life, burned. Your morals are being burned. Your relationships, burned. YOUR truths, burned. If you do not bow down to the golden statue of the times, you will be burned.
I believe the king of today is the media. We are being asked to bow down to certain beliefs or people. We are being asked to worship a new idea… to “be woke” into the new revolution. Much like King Nebuchadnezzar, we are being told it is either “their” way or the highway. The furnace of today is conflict, loss, and separation. If you decide to stand rather than to bow, you are thrown into the conflict and stripped of your morals. If you choose to rebel, you are bound by guilt and condemnation. Be woke or be put to sleep. The middle of the story of today feels scary. If you speak out against the media, if you choose to believe differently or to see things differently, you can expect to be burned. What a world we are living in!?
Nevertheless, there is always hope in Christ. We may be in the furnace right now, but what many are not aware of is the other person in the furnace with us with “an appearance like a son of the gods” (v.25). You cannot mistake the presence of the Lord, no matter how fiery the furnace of your life is. Not many people can tell you the end to their story, but we can. We know how our story ends and it is not in death and despair. When I refer to the ending, I am not talking about heaven. I am talking about a very near future. I believe, just like the warrior rebels, we will be walked out of the furnace by the true King. We will come out unburned, unscathed, and without the hint of smoke on us. Then the very power that threw us into the furnace will declare the power and authority of our God. We do not have to wait until heaven to see every knee bow and tongue confess the goodness of God. I believe in my heart that we are on the brink of a true wake up call, on Earth. Stand firm in your furnace, friends. Stand firm in your truth. We can only be uplifted and promoted from here. Have radical faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You will be brought out unharmed. Before you know it, the nations will be confessing the power of our Almighty Father.
The Days of the King are here. The One, True King, the Almighty God, and the one we call Abba.
