Daniel 3
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar was a great king. In the dream God gave him, he was the head of gold. However, he was a heathen king. He reigned over the kingdoms of the world from Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar had both a good and a bad side. When Daniel interpreted his dream, he honoured Daniel and his three friends, and praised God, saying that there was no god like unto Daniel’s God. But almost in the same breath, shortly afterwards, he commanded that a huge image of gold be made, and that everyone should bow down and worship it. Daniel’s three friends, whom he had just honoured because of their God, refused to bow down to his idol, because they worship only the true God. This incensed Nebuchadnezzar and he acted very strangely, as if he had a split personality, like some Christians who accept the Lord and are on fire for Him, but shortly afterwards cool down and nothing of their initial zeal remains.
First Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that there’s no God like unto Daniel’s God, and the next thing he makes an image and forces everyone to worship it!
Afterwards, when God delivered them out of his hand, he praises them for braking his command. They yielded up their bodies to serve the only true God. We read in Rom 12:1-2 that we must yield our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Have you done that? If we Christians live like this, the Gospel will spread like fire throughout Africa; those who are afraid of man will end in hell with their fear of man.
Those that looked on saw the Son of God walking with them in the furnace. You must live such a life that others will the the Son of God in your life too, even midst your trials.