View Site Map

Listen to the Music from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

In Daniel chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar built a statue of gold 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. It was immense, possibly like the one he had seen in his dream in Daniel chapter 2, which said that he was the head of gold. Perhaps it was a statue of himself because he made the whole image out of gold.

After the statue was completed, King Nebuchadnezzar called all of the important leaders in the province together. Anyone who was anybody was invited to the dedication ceremony of his new statue. 

(Daniel 3:4–6 NKJV)  Then a herald cried aloud: "To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace."

A huge band equipped with all the musical instruments of Babylon began to play, and everyone—every race, color, and creed - fell to their knees before the gold statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Here is a summary of what has happened so far: King Nebuchadnezzar set up a towering statue made of gold and commanded everyone to bow down to it when the music played. The rest of the time, they could completely ignore it and go about their lives like it had never happened. But when they heard the music play, they had to stop what they were doing and bow down to this statue once again. 

It was a trigger. When you hear the music, you must do this. They could be at work, or in the market, or at their computer - but when they heard the music, they had to obey their master's wishes. 

There were three Hebrew exiles in the crowd whom Nebuchadnezzar had captured when he had conquered Jerusalem in 597 B.C. along with Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego worshipped Yahweh, the God of their forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As Jews, they had been taught the scriptures since childhood, and they knew Exodus chapter 20 well:

(Exodus 20:3–5 NKJV)  "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them."

While everyone else followed Nebuchadnezzar's command to bow down to his image, for the Hebrews, it became a terrible dilemma. To follow the king's command would be to disobey the word of God, but to obey God would mean to disobey the king and be set on fire. What to do, what to do… They were between the Rock and a Hot Spot. 

They were in trouble, and this was not the "The TV in my bedroom is broken" kind of trouble. It was a choice between life and death. Looking at everyone else around them bowing to the statue, it would been easy for them to come up with excuses: "Everyone else is doing it. It isn't that bad. Seems harmless enough. The Lord knows my heart..." Yet, instead of making excuses, they stood their ground and didn't bow down to his statue of gold. 

Word quickly got back to the king, and he summoned them before him for questioning. He gave them a second chance to bow down to the statue he had made, thinking maybe they didn't fully understand him, but they refused again. They told King Nebuchadnezzar this:

(Daniel 3:16–18 NKJV)  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."

I love that... Even if the Lord does not deliver us, we won't serve your god. King Nebuchadnezzar became furious and ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than normal. Then, he had the three Hebrew traitors bound with ropes and cast into the furnace of fire. The king was so angry, and the soldiers were in such a hurry that when they went to throw the Hebrews in, the soldiers were burned to death, and they all fell into the furnace together. 

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the flaming furnace securely tied with ropes, but then God met them in the fire. 

(Daniel 3:24–25 NKJV)  Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Either an Angel or Jesus Christ Himself met them in the furnace and divinely protected them. When King Nebuchadnezzar brought them out of the fire, their hair was not singed. Their clothes were not hurt and didn't even smell like smoke. Only the ropes that had bound them were burned away in the fire. The king gave them a promotion and made a decree that no one should ever say anything bad about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

When the music played, the three Hebrews resisted the temptation to compromise. They ignored the music and chose to pass through the fire of suffering, so the things that bound them were burned away, and they were promoted to the next level. 

The Lord speaks to us in ways we can understand. In my life, He often speaks to me using computer language and terms. So, in programming logic, Daniel chapter 3 looks something like this:

 LOOP {

// Kingdom Promotion Test

   WHILE (Music playing == true) {

     IF (Compromise == false) THEN {

          - Set them free from the things that bind them.

          - Promote them to the next level.

          - PROMOTED = TRUE; 

          - EXIT;

     } ELSE {

         //  They are not ready. Make another pass.

  - PROMOTED = FALSE;  

         - PAUSE 30;

     }

  }

}

You can be stuck in that loop forever. I am convinced that before you are promoted in the kingdom of God, you will undergo such testing. Jesus Christ was tested in the wilderness for forty days before He began His ministry. He was about to be raised up, but first, Jesus had to pass through the trial of temptation. When He passed all the tests, He came out of the desert in the "Power of the Spirit." 

(Hebrews 4:15 NKJV)  "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."

The devil is only a tool, and God uses him to test His people. To sift them like wheat and see what is really underneath our whitewashed exterior. There is always a way out of temptation, and when we resist, it will leave. The Apostle Paul wrote:

(1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)  No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

 James tells us: 

(James 4:7 NKJV)  "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."

How often have we missed divine opportunities and fresh anointing because we chose to do the wrong thing at the right time? Too many times, we give into temptation right before our breakthrough comes. It would be painful to know the things we missed. The devil's deals are never as good as they sound, for he cannot be trusted. He is a liar. Like when Adam and Eve thought they were getting something good, but instead, they got something bad. 

Make no mistake about it: our choices affect our progress in life. When you feel pressure to do things that you know in your heart are wrong, the music is playing. Will you compromise? It took the people of Israel forty years to complete an eleven-day journey because they wouldn't obey the voice of the Lord.

(Joshua 5:6 NKJV)  "For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD..."

If you fight through the temptation, the things that bind you will be burned away, and you will be promoted to the next level. But if you give in to temptation, then you will take another lap around the mountain. You know where that road goes, for you have already been there. Jesus told us:

 (Luke 11:24–26 NKJV)  "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

Things that you have been delivered from in the past still have a desire for you, and they miss the time you once shared together. When the music plays, if given a chance, the bad things in your life will return with a vengeance. The man in the parable needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for having no evil spirits living there was not enough to keep him free.

Some will say that when you become a Christian, you are instantly delivered from all bad things, that a Christian can no longer have evil desires living in them. That is what we would call in the South: "Hogwash."

A drug addict who goes to the altar and is saved will continue to be a drug addict until they are delivered from it. They simply become a Christian drug addict. God doesn't separate us from our friends, and the bad things we love to do, we can choose to keep doing them as Christians. However, in doing so, we will continue to take laps around that mountain, listening to the music, waiting for our promised land to come, and wondering why it's taking so long.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray that You have mercy on me, a sinner. Please wash me, Lord, and deliver me so I can be free. Forgive me of my sins and the things that I have done wrong, for I turn to You today. Help me recognize the music playing and discern who it is from. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!