5 8 03

9:36a

Daniel 3

Well, this is a story I haven�t read about in a while. This is Daniel�s accounting of the tale of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three young men refused to bow down to the golden image King Nebuchadnezzar made. The men were summoned to the king and queried about whether or not they would bow to the image. They said no and then the king decided that simply burning them wasn�t enough, he chose, instead, to have the furnace heated seven times over and then throw the boys in. Ya know, cause it�s better to kill a body seven times over or something. *chuckles*

Anyway, the point that sticks in my craw, so to speak, is that when the king was interviewing the boys, telling them that they would bow down to the image, they may have been somewhat disrespectful in reply. This is why I think this�

Verse 16 has the three boys saying to the king, �we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.�

Imagine that, if you will.

Let�s put it in modern US standards� You�re in court. You�re watching this hard-nose judge deal with three punks. The three punks are accused of breaking the law � a law which stipulates that whenever the alarm of a certain bell is heard one must stop wherever they are and immediately bow down and pray to the Statue of Liberty � and the judge looks over the bench, staring down the three punks. Now, because they�re punks, he figures they�re just stupid and maybe they didn�t really care much, so he�s going to give them a second chance.

This hard-nose judge says to the punks, �I heard, boys, that you won�t worship and pray to the Statue of Liberty. I know that can�t possibly be true. You�re good boys, you pay attention to what your mamma�s tell you. Maybe you just didn�t understand the instructions the first time around.�

Then the judge, politely enough, would explain that when they heard that specific alarm, they were required to bow down and pray to the Statue of Liberty, after all, they appreciated freedom, didn�t they? And after all, if they would just worship the Statue of Liberty, everything would be fine, but if they didn�t, then the judge would have to sentence them to death.

What did the punks say? �We don�t have to tell you nuthin�. If you wanna kill us, you go ahead and try. Our God can protect us from the likes of you, and even if He doesn�t, we ain�t bowin down to no green, French statue.�

That, of course, is just what every hard-nose judge wants to hear from three punk-ass kids in a standard worship-abuse case. So, in a steel-cold voice, the judge glares down from his bench.

�All right, you punks, I told you you were gonna die, and Now I�m gonna make it hurt. We�re not just gonna kill ya, but we�re gonna kill ya painfully.�

Then, the court officials would cuff the punks, load them up on a plane and fly them out to Hawaii. Once in Hawaii, they�d be shuffled out to one of those always-erupting volcanoes, or maybe the lava floe. Watching this lava floe, you gotta know that these three punks are wondering if it�s too late to change their minds. As they�re being walked out onto the floe, the guards� boots are melting from the inside out, guards start screaming in pain because their clothing has burst into flame due to the heat. Everyone�s perspiring like a faucet and these three punks finally trip, roll and bounce into the magma, the river of molten rock.

Now, I�m sure that some of you have actually watched that �natural disasters� kind of show on TV that talks about those lava floes in Hawaii (and other places, I think), but man, don�t they look hot? I mean, extremely hot? Hell, I get heat stroke if the temp reaches 80, I can�t imagine actually being inside the fire.

Anyway, So these punks are swimming in the magma, with a fourth, an angel or the son of God, it isn�t clear, suffice it to say, it�s a fourth. The judge is amazed, his mouth agape, shocked to speechlessness. He can�t even get close enough to the lava floe to see if what he�s seeing is true. His eye sight isn�t what it used to be, you know, maybe it�s a rock splashing around in the red/orange magma�

Then, of course, he knows he can�t play the game anymore. He can�t deny the fact that these three boys are, at the very least, still alive and might just be accompanied by an angel. So, he calls out to the boys, telling them to come out of the magma, to join him once again in the safe zone.

When the three boys were face to face with the judge once more, he looked them over. You know he examined their clothes, examined every ounce of their body and gear. Shoes were intact, clothing in perfect condition, hats in perfect condition, jeans completely untouched. Not only that, they didn�t even SMELL like fire. It was impossible. There is no possible way these kids could still be alive. But they were.

Then the judge would simply fall to the ground right there, in his amazement, shouting praises to the god of these kids. Then, the piece de resistance� �You kids are right. Your God is great. And, in fact, there will be a new rule in the land� anyone who puts down your God will be evicted from their home and have their home destroyed.�

Then the judge hired the boys to perform various jobs and so on and life goes on and yadda yadda. Still, I wonder how severe the punishment would have been if Shadrach Meshach and Abednego had used a different tone of voice in dealing with the king.

I mean, what if they�d said something like, �I mean no disrespect to you, King, but the God I serve won�t allow me to worship anything else.�

*shrugs* I don�t know. But I�m thinking they could have avoided a bit of pain by being more polite.

Thus endeth the sermon