(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now beginning in verse 1 the Bible reads, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three score cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Now let me start by telling you how big a cubit is. A cubit is basically the distance between a man's finger to his elbow. So it's about a foot and a half approximately. So if it says here that this image, this giant idol that he set up, was three score cubits, that's sixty cubits or ninety feet. So that's pretty tall isn't it? Ninety feet high and then it says that it was six cubits broad or nine cubits or nine feet wide. So it's basically nine feet by ninety feet. So it's a gigantic molten image. It's idolatry is what it is. Now there's so many things, whenever we read the Bible, there's always the surface meaning and then there are a lot of underlying meanings. And it's important when you read the Bible to always get the surface meaning first. You know, the most important meaning is what's right there on the surface. And sometimes people try to look so deep, they miss what the story is actually teaching. Just the basic, right there on the surface teaching. But then besides that, the Bible is an infinitely deep book that you could read this story over and over and over again and you're always going to learn something new. You're always going to see new things. There's all kinds of symbolism going on here. We're going to get into some of that tonight. We want to start by just getting the primary meaning here. We want to start always with the primary meaning of what God's saying before we get into any kind of symbolism and other applications. But here, Nebuchadnezzar the king has made this gigantic image. It's an idol. It's a molten image. Now first of all, turn to Deuteronomy chapter number four. The fifth book in the Bible, Deuteronomy chapter four. And I want to show you first of all that all molten images or graven images of human beings or animals or whatever creature are all sinful from start to finish. So let me show you that. In Deuteronomy chapter four, that's one place that we could look. But Deuteronomy chapter four is very clear on this. It says in verse number 15 of chapter four of Deuteronomy, Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. A similitude is an image or a representation of something. And it says you didn't see any image, you didn't see any similitude when I spoke to you out of the mount that was burning with fire. Verse 16, Lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image. Now a graven image is something that is graven out of either wood or stone. It's engraved. It's basically carved is what we would use today. But he said a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. So God here says do not make any engraven image of an animal, of a person, of a man, of a woman, of a fish, of a bird, of an animal. Very clear here. This is actually one of the Ten Commandments. The second commandment is thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Now the Catholics actually changed the Ten Commandments because of this commandment that says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Well guess what? They make all kinds of graven images. So here's what they do. They combine, they basically take the first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me, and they basically tag on the second commandment that it's just part of that, as long as it's not a different god. And then what they do, because they don't want to have nine commandments, that's going to be a little obvious, so what they do is they divide up the last commandment into being thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife and thou shalt not covet anything that's thy neighbor's, like it's two different things, when really Jesus quoted it as just thou shalt not covet. And so it's clear that this is one of the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is thou shalt not have no other gods before me. The second of the Ten Commandments is thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. And then he also says not to bow down and worship them, but here he just says don't even make them. He didn't say don't worship them, he just said don't make them. And then the next thing he says in verse number 19, And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. And so turn back to Daniel if you would, he said don't even make these images because then you'll be tempted to worship something other than God, but the clear teaching here is just don't even make it. Now here's what I think is funny about this. If you look at the two symbols today that people will make a molten or graven image of, again, graven is wood or stone, molten is metal, melted down. What are the two images that someone would put on the back of their car, for example, to represent the fact that they're a Christian, they actually pick the two animals that are specifically listed in the Bible here don't make an image of any fowl of the air or any fish of the sea or any creature. And you think about the little molten fish on the back of the car or the molten dove. I mean those are the two they pick. He only lists two animals. He says any animal but especially not a bird or a fish. And then they put, you know, they got a bird on this side and a fish on this side. You know, Jesus saves. You know what I mean? You can't just sit there and look at what the Bible says and just, well, that's not really what he meant. That is what he meant. And I don't think we should make statues to human beings either. You know, and, you know, in front of Miles Anderson College, they have a statue. I think Dr. Jack Riles was a great man, you know, but they've got a molten image of him on their front lawn of their college. Now that is not right, you know, because it's too worshipful of a man to put that out there. And by the way, he didn't even want that out there. He said no to them and that's why they put it up after he died. And so, you know, he shouldn't be making a molten image of a man or of an animal or anything like that. It's just one of the things that God says no in the Bible. And so this is what happened. He made this great image and he's commanding that every person in his empire, and if you look at who's there, look at verse 2, it says, He sent to gather together a specific group of people. Okay, this isn't every single person necessarily. It's basically the princes, the governors and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. So this isn't every person in his empire that's there, okay? This is basically just all the leaders, all the sheriffs, all the rulers, all the counselors, all the government people, because a lot of people said, well, where was Daniel during this? Daniel obviously, whatever his function was, did not fall into that category because if you look at verse 49 of chapter 2, well, let's look at verse 48 back in chapter 2. Then the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king and he sent Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. So Daniel had a different role, the last word is up, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. So he had a different function than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were made a certain type of ruler. For whatever reason, he didn't have to be at this company meeting or this organizational meeting of all of his government officials. So he's not there. He's not mentioned in the story. We know he wasn't on his face bowing down. I mean, the whole book, he's standing up to everybody all the time and refusing to do anything like that. So basically, they're commanded, you must bow down and worship this molten image, this idolatry. Well, most of these nations, they don't care because they're worshiping all kinds of other false gods and false idols, but it's these Hebrews that would not bow down, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, these men were probably the only Hebrews we don't know because it says these certain Hebrews, but most of the Hebrews were probably not holding a high position in this Chaldean empire. It was pretty much just because they had excelled in chapter two. And so the music begins to play, and when the music plays, that's the signal everybody's supposed to fall down and worship this idol. Isn't it amazing how false religion always makes an emphasis of music? Music is a religious thing. I mean, we have music in all of our services. We sing the hymns, don't we? God uses music for His praise, for His glory, but guess what? The devil uses music too. And a lot of false religion heavily leans upon and relies upon music. You know, you think of the charismatic movement. I mean, you go to some of these church services and literally it's like an hour and a half of music, maybe five minutes from the Bible. I mean, I've been to a service like that. I mean, it's just music. The music, the music. But I'll tell you this, sometimes I feel like a rock concert is literally worshipping man because if you look at what a rock concert is, you got some guys on stage, you got the music playing, and literally the way that people act at a rock concert is sometimes bizarre, and I think you could call it worship. I mean, when people are just... I mean, they got their hands out, they're reaching out and crying, and then they get backstage and they're just having a breakdown and shaking and everything. I mean, who's ever seen people react that way at some kind of rock concert backstage? You know, it's worship. You know, when you've got the poster on the wall and you go to bed at night staring at the poster that's on the ceiling, that's not right. I mean, that's weird. You're worshipping man. You shouldn't get so worked up and lift people up on that high of a pedestal no matter who they are to where you're screaming and chanting their name, literally. That's going too far. And I was talking to a Roman Catholic today, and I was trying to give this Roman Catholic lady the gospel, and I was trying to tell her, I said, look, you know, she's trying to tell me how Catholicism is the only true church because it all goes back to Peter, you know, and then this and that, and he was the first pope, and she's telling me. I said, well, did you know that Peter was married? And she's like, well, he had a mother-in-law, you know. I'm like, well, is there another way to have a mother-in-law besides being married? And not only that, it actually said that he had a wife in one of Paul's epistles. I forget which chapter, but it says, you know, Cephas has a wife. Barnabas, you know, me and Barnabas are the only guys that are single, and he's listing off how all the other apostles all have wives. And yet the pope is supposedly celibate, you know, and he's a homo, but, you know, he's supposedly celibate and he can't get married. And I showed her the verse that said, you know, the bishop's supposed to be the husband of one wife. I showed her the verse that said, call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. And I told her this, I said if the pope landed at Sky Harbor Airport, people would be there and they would get on their knees before him, they would get on their face before him, they would bow down to him and worship him. And so we're not to worship anything but God. Remember in the book of Esther, the stand that Mordecai made, when everybody else, you know, they didn't have to, quote, worship him, but they just had to get on their knees and bow down to him every time he even walked by. And Mordecai refused to bow down to anyone except God. He refused to get on his knees before man. And so do I, by the way. I will not get on my knees before any man and worship man. I'm going to worship God. And I'm not going to get on my knees in front of a statue or a graven image or a picture or anything or any similitude. I'm going to worship God only. And that was the stand here. They're not going to worship anything. Well, the music comes on. The emotional driven music, whatever it was, and when the music starts, everybody falls down on their faces and worships the golden image except for three men are just conspicuously standing up. I mean, you can imagine, if everybody's down on their face, it's going to be pretty easy to see the three guys who are standing up refusing to do it. Okay. So, of course, these little tattletales come that basically are just so mad, you know, they have to do it. Isn't it funny how whenever one person has to be a slave, they want everybody else to be a slave with them? Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like, well, that's not fair, you know, that these people don't pay taxes. It's like, well, it's not fair that any of us pay all this tax. You know what I mean? It's just like, you know, oh, man, you know, these guys didn't have, how come they didn't have to do it? How come they didn't have to bow down and worship this thing if I'm worshipping this stupid thing, you know? So then they go and tell the king and they say, well, these guys don't worship your God. There was probably jealousy involved, too, just trying to get them to do it. Just trying to get themself a little higher by taking down some other politicians, some other leaders, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So they come and tell on them, it says in verse 12, there are certain Jews whom thou hast said over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. And of course he goes through it with them and says, look, is it true that you're not worshipping my gods? Is it true that you won't bow down? He says, look, if the music comes on, I'm going to give you another chance, I like you guys. He says if the music comes on and you bow down, great. But if not, this and that. Well, I love what they answer. It says in verse number 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Now notice, they were not careful to answer him in this matter. You know, there are certain times when you should be careful what you say, and there are other times when you don't need to be careful what you say. You see, there are a lot of times when, like in Daniel chapter 1, they were being asked to do something that was not as clear cut in the minds of the people who were asking them to do it. I mean, in their mind, they knew it was wrong to eat that meat that was sacrificed unto idols. They knew it was wrong to drink the wine that the king drank. But the people who were giving it to him did not understand that. So they basically meekly went to them and humbly entreated them. But this is just someone blatantly saying, you will bow down and worship a false god right now. They didn't have to think of, oh man, let me be careful in how I phrase this. Let me stop and think how I'm going to answer it. You know, when it comes to certain issues, sometimes you just need to stand up and just make it clear where you stand on certain things. You know, you shouldn't beat around the bush. You know, are you a Christian? Well, yeah. Right, oh yeah. So are you one of these Bible-believing, like Bible, you know, everything Christians, fundamentalists? Well, not really. I mean, you know, I do kind of read the Bible, and I like it. It should just be a non-careful answer, which is basically just a knee-jerk reaction. Just tell the truth. Yeah, of course I do. Oh yeah, I love the Bible. Yes, I'm a Christian. Yes, I'm saved. So, you know, do you want to do this? Do you want to come to this Catholic service with me? No. I'm not going to. You know, and basically, there are certain things where you want to try not to offend, but here's a situation where they said, you know, we're not careful to answer thee. You know, we need to learn to take a stand on certain things and not be so worried all the time who it's going to offend here. These guys are standing before the most powerful man in the world, and they were not afraid of offending him. They said, look, King, we will not worship another God. We're just telling you that right now. We're not careful to answer you. It's not going to change. Play the stupid music as many times as you want. I will not bow down to this thing. Now, that made the king really mad. He's very angry because they stood up to him like that, and so it says that his visage was changed toward them. It says in verse number 19, then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage, visage means face, was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So basically, he goes from looking kind of like a nice guy to just getting, or, you know, getting madder and madder while talking. His face is changing. Therefore, he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was want to be heated. Now, than it was want to be heated is basically talking about what it was designed for. You know, you think of in your house, you have an oven. It maybe goes up to 500 degrees, okay, and you can't really turn the knob any further than that. Well, basically, he's saying, you know, oh, it's set up for 500. You know, crank it up to 2,000. You know, but it was seven times. I don't know how hot it was originally supposed to be, but he put in seven times the fuel or seven times whatever to make it hotter. He gave this command. He said, I want it seven times hotter than what it would usually be. So they cranked this fiery furnace up. It says in verse 21, then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen. Hosen is an old word for pants. Today in Germany, they still say die Hose. That's how you say, the German class starts early today, but hosen is a new name, and it says, and their hats and their other garments, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, one time when I was a teenager, there was something on the History Channel called Mysteries of the Bible, and this show, my dad would always yell about this show how bad it was, but basically, what they would do on this show was try to explain why the miracles of the Bible happened naturally without God doing it. And they explained. They literally. I'm sitting with my dad on the couch. I don't know why we were watching it if it was so bad, but we were watching it. It was on the History Channel, and I threw out my TV nine years ago. I haven't seen any TV since, but that's when I was a teenager, and they had a diagram of the furnace, and they were showing how there could be a cold spot in this furnace, literally. They said, you know, it's possible that if they were in this one spot, and I mean, they had this elaborate computer-generated diagram how they could have done it. So it's like, wow, they solved the mystery. You know, same thing with the Red Sea. They were explaining how the Red Sea crossing happened without God doing it, and it's called Mysteries of the Bible, and every week, it was like it was just a different miracle. They would just take it apart how, well, it happened, it was all explained by science. But the problem with that is that the guys who threw them in died. It was so hot that even getting close to this thing burned them up and killed them, and then the other thing is that when they came out of the firing furnace, it says that they didn't even smell like smoke, and that the fire had burned the ropes off their hands, you know, and they didn't get into that on this show, but they have all these theologians on there, you know, with all these books and globes and stuff behind them. Well, you know, the ancient Chaldean ovens were built in such a way. They're just explaining all this garbage of how it happened. But that's why the Bible explains here, look, the ropes were burned off their hands, and they didn't even smell like smoke, and yet they were in this fiery furnace. Now, look what it says in verse 25, or look at verse 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, that's an old word for astonished, and rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. And of course, then he calls them out of the furnace and so forth. Now, here's what's interesting about this. You know, you probably knew I was going to give you the New World translation, the Jehovah's Witness Bible. Okay, Scott, how about the Living Bible? I think that's the one you read, right? And then we've got the New King James, new and improved, all right? And then we've got right here the New International Version, the NIV, okay? And then we'll give you the New American Standard, okay? So, you want this one? There you go, all right. So, Daniel 3, look up Daniel 3.25 and all these other versions, okay? You know, because these other versions are going to make it a little easier for us to understand tonight, because, you know, the King James belongs in a museum. It's so hard to read. So, who's got it? Who's there? Put up your hand. What do you got, Derek? I've got the New World translation, and it says, he was answering and saying, look, I am beholding four able-bodied men walking about, three in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt to them, and the appearance of the fourth one is resembling a son of the gods. Okay, so that is the New World translation, and it says, he was answering and saying, look, I am beholding four able-bodied men walking about, and there is no hurt to them. Okay, so that, so in the King James Bible here it said, he looks in, it says, the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Who's the Son of God? Jesus Christ. The Jehovah's Witness Bible says, a son of the gods. Now, is that, that's a little different, isn't it? Now, don't read the whole verse. Just what's the last phrase? Read us the last phrase, Scott. And the fourth looks like a god. So the Living Bible got a little creative and just cut out the sun all together, and just said, the fourth looks like a god. Okay? What do you got? This one didn't change it, actually. This one didn't change it? What do we got here? I got the new here, it says, like a son of the gods. A son of the gods? A son of the gods. A son of the gods. Brian? Wait, which chapter? Never mind. Next time, Brian. Get that thing out of his hand, he's polluting his mind with it, he's in some other chapter. Anyway, I'm going to read the last verse. I'm going to read the last verse. I'm going to read Anyway, you know, people just try to say, oh yeah, it doesn't really make a big difference. You know, a little change here, a little change. That's a pretty big change. The son of god or a son of the gods? Real big change. And I didn't know that the gods had sons in the first place. So that kind of ruins the whole meaning there. But he basically finishes off here in verse 28, and says, Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who had 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. Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language would speak anything amiss against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dung hill because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the provinces of Babylon. So that's the story right there. Now we're going to go into some other meanings here. The bottom line of just the surface meaning is three guys are asked to bow down and worship a false god. They refuse to do it. They're threatened with the death penalty for not doing it. They stand tall and say, we're not even careful. We're not even worried about it. We will not do it. God is able to deliver us, but they said, you know what? Even if he doesn't deliver us, we'd rather burn than bow. We'll just tell you right now, we will not serve your god even if we have to die in that fiery furnace. We will not do it. And of course, God protects them. God keeps them safe, and they end up coming out alive. That's the story. But look at verse 30. Let's get into some other applications here. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Now the Bible says, Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. You know, we should do unto others as we have them do unto us. And when you see here, people trying to criticize their fellow worker, basically, because they're all kind of on the same level. All these guys that are bowing down, they're all bureaucrats working for King Nebuchadnezzar. They're all counselors, sheriffs, and they're basically trying to tear down these guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and guess who ends up with Shadrach and Abednego? You know, what goes around comes around. You reap what you sow. And when you're on the job, if you're the one who always wants to criticize and tear down everybody else and go tell the boss all their mistakes, you know, that's going to come back around to get you. What you ought to be doing in business is if you see someone do a good job, you should report that to the boss. And you say, oh, well, maybe they'll get the raise. Maybe they'll end up getting the better promotion. But you know what? The Bible says, Promotion cometh neither from the east, but it comes from God. God, it can lift up one and put down another. And when you have an attitude of trying to help other people succeed, then God will help you succeed. That will come back around. These guys were being maligned by people who wanted the promotion. You know, they wanted to take these guys down a notch and they ended up getting the promotion. But there's a symbolism in this chapter. You see, turn if you would, keep your finger here, turn to Revelation 13. Because the first symbolism that I want to show you, and there's several different things that I want to show you that I'm going to hurry up and try to get to as many of them as I can. The Bible's so deep, it's hard to hit everything in one chapter in one night. So we try to do the best we can. But in Revelation 13, we have a lot of talk about the Antichrist. And you see, Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3 is actually a foreshadowing of the Antichrist. Here's a man who has a worldwide empire who is basically demanding them to worship an image. And presumably, it doesn't tell us for sure, but presumably, the image was of him. Because if you think of a 90 foot tall image, 90 feet wide, you know, that's basically similar to the proportions of a man. And it was some kind of an image of either a man or an animal. It doesn't say anything about it being an animal. It was probably an image of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Because later on, we see in chapter 4, he is filled with pride and everything. And so, he also, if you remember, had just been told by Daniel in chapter 2 about how he was the head of gold, and he basically was the king of all the kings of the earth at that time. And so, I think what he did was he took that and said, okay, well, I'm going to make a golden image of myself and have people bow down and worship me. We don't know for sure what the image was, but we do know that the antichrist who will also have a worldwide kingdom, who will also demand people to worship him and claim to be God, will have an image made of him. Let's look at that in Revelation 13. It says in Revelation chapter 13, we'll just start just for sake of time, in verse number 14. This is basically talking about the false prophet who's going to come on the scene. It says, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, the beast and the antichrist, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no man might by ourself save he that hath the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is six under threescore and six. So here in Revelation 13, we see the false prophet, his false religious leader, is going to be pointing people to the antichrist, commanding them to worship the antichrist, and he's going to tell them that they need to build an image to the antichrist and that everyone has to worship that image and if you don't worship it, you'll be killed. And then he also says that in order to buy or sell, you have to receive the mark of the beast in your right hand or in your forehead or else you will not be able to buy or sell and also if you're caught, you'll be killed for not worshiping the image that they set up. Now, the devil is always a counterfeiter. Okay, keep your finger in Revelation 13, go back to chapter 7. In chapter number 7, it says in verse 3, saying, Heard not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed and they were sealed by the 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. He goes on to list the individual tribes, 12,000 apiece. Look at Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter number 9. This is talking about the plague of the fifth trumpet when these locusts come out of the bottomless pit and they're attacking the men that have worshiped the beast and have the mark of the beast. And it says in chapter 9, let me find my place here, it says in verse 4, and it was commanded then that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. This concept is also found in Ezekiel chapter 10. We're not going to turn there for the sake of time. But you see here that there will be a special group in the end times. This is after the tribulation, after the rapture. Basically, while God's pouring out his wrath, there will be these 144,000 saints that are upon the earth that are Jewish, that are of these different 12 tribes, and basically, these guys will be upon the earth while God is pouring out his wrath, even after we're already gone. And these guys will basically be immune from being attacked by all these hellish creatures that God is unleashing upon the earth. Well, they have a special mark in their foreheads. But you see, the devil is a counterfeiter. When the devil comes in the form of the antichrist, because the devil is the one who empowers the antichrist, even though the antichrist is a human being, when the antichrist comes and he has been given his power by Satan, he's going to claim to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. He's going to say, I'm God. I'm Jesus Christ. That's why he's called the antichrist. And when that man, he's a false Christ, he's going to come on the scene and people are going to believe unsaved people will be deluded and think, this is really him. This is Jesus Christ, come back the second time. And basically, how he's going to lie to people to receive this mark is he's going to use these passages, I believe, that talk about God's mark being in people's foreheads. Because it says in Revelation 22 that all of us throughout eternity will have his name written in our foreheads. In Revelation 22, it says, they shall see his face, verse 3, and his name shall be written in their foreheads. So basically, you can see how the devil's always listening. And basically, Nebuchadnezzar here pictures the Antichrist demanding people to worship him or die. So we will face a Nebuchadnezzar. It could even be in our lifetime. Maybe it'll be, you know, after we've been dead and gone. We don't know when exactly the events in Revelation will begin to unfold. We can see from a lot of things that are happening that we could be getting close to them. But this Nebuchadnezzar-like man, the Antichrist, will come, and that's what Nebuchadnezzar pictures in the Old Testament. But also, what does the furnace of fire make you think of? Hell. Because the Bible actually says in the book of Matthew about unbelievers. Jesus Christ said to the unbelievers, he said he shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So basically, the furnace of fire represents hell. And basically, the Antichrist is a substitute, Jesus Christ. Nebuchadnezzar basically was a leader that thinks he's God. People have to worship him, and if you don't worship him, you'll go into his furnace of fire. You see how the devil is a counterfeit or everything? He counterfeits the Bible with all his false Bible versions. He counterfeits Christianity with all the false versions of Christianity and a workspace religion. He counterfeits everything that's right and holy and Yahweh, and he twists it and perverts it and changes it. He will counterfeit the second coming of Christ. But go back, if you would, to Daniel 3. The other interesting thing about this is that all these false Bibles are you still turning in the living Bible? Anyway, all these false Bibles also, they change instead of the mark being in your hand, change it to on your hand. Whereas the real Bible says the mark of the beast will be in your forehead or in your hand. You know, I don't know what that is, but that could be some kind of an implantable microchip or, you know, we don't know what it is. Obviously, it'll probably become apparent as it gets closer. But that's another change in these modern versions. But back in Daniel, here's another interesting thing here. Jesus Christ was the one that was the fourth man in the fire, wasn't he? The son of God. I mean, he appeared in the midst of the fire. Now that's significant for many different reasons. Because of the fact that Jesus Christ went into the furnace of fire, which in effect saved them from the furnace of fire, didn't it? He went in there, and because he was there, the other three had no hurt, no harm, their bands were loosed, and they were basically, they walked out unharmed, and didn't even have the smell of smoke. The picture that God is giving us with that is a picture of salvation. You know, we basically have committed sin, we've broken the law, and even though this was a bad law, they had broken the law, hadn't they? They had broken, you know, that's why we should never break the law. But it says here that the law was that they had to worship this thing, and they refused to do it. So they had broken the law, they were guilty, they had to be thrown into the fiery furnace, and what saved them from that punishment? Jesus Christ. Because you see, Jesus Christ, in the soul, descended into the fiery furnace for us. Acts 2.31, you don't have to turn there, you can turn there if you like, but I'll read you just a few scriptures. Acts 2.31 says this, He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in Hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. So the Bible tells us about the resurrection of Christ in Acts 2.31, is the fact that his soul was not left in Hell, and that his flesh did not see corruption, because his flesh was in the grave, his body was in the grave. His soul was in Hell for three days and three nights. That's why he said in Matthew 12.40, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now if you were to take, for example, any kind of a, let's take an artichoke. You know, where is the heart of the artichoke? It's the middle. Okay, obviously the heart of the earth is not talking about being in a tomb on the surface of the earth. That's not the heart of the earth. But if you look at the earth as a sphere as it is, the heart of the earth would be right and so that's why it says that his soul was not left in Hell. A few verses up in Acts chapter 2, it says in verse number, let me find my place here quickly. It says in verse 27, because thou will not leave my soul in Hell being of Jesus Christ, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. And then if you'd like, you can also turn to Ephesians chapter 4 where it speaks of this also. It says in verse 7, but unto every one that every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Verse 8, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. So the Bible says there that before Jesus Christ ascended up to heaven, he descended first into the lower parts of the earth. You could read Ezekiel 30 and 31 talk a lot about the nether parts of the earth, the lower parts of the earth being where Hell is located. So basically, Jesus Christ faced the fiery furnace for us so that we would not have to face the fiery furnace. We are never even going to so much as smell of the smoke of Hell. We will never even be singed whatsoever. And also there's the imagery of being bound. And the Bible teaches that before we're saved, we're in bondage. We're basically in bondage to sin. We're in bondage, the Bible says, that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. But when you get saved, that bondage is removed. He said, you'll be free. You should know the truth. If you continue in my word, then my disciples indeed, you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And so the bondage is removed there. The captive is set free there in the fiery furnace, and they're totally unharmed. Now, look at Revelation 2, if you would. Revelation chapter number 2. Gotta hurry up here because I wanted to give another imagery here. But one of the imageries of the fiery furnace is obviously it's an image of Hell. Jesus Christ being there, the Savior, delivering them from Hell. Their bounds are loose and so forth. But it's interesting, the wording in Revelation 2, when he's speaking to the church at Smyrna, is almost identical to the wording in Daniel 3. Look what it says in verse number 11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. You got that? He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Now you say, what does it mean to overcome? Well, it says this, just write a few pages earlier in your Bible. It says this, For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world. Did you get that? Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. So that's right there in 1 John 5, 3, 4, and 5. He lays it out that what it means to overcome, and the only place in the Bible that the term overcome is ever used is in 1 John 5 where he explains that, that basically, who, listen carefully, who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? He's saying, there is no one else who is overcome but those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so then we get in the context here of Revelation 2 and 3. That's what he means when he says, him that overcometh because that's the only places in the whole Bible that overcome or use during 1 John and Revelation. And you can also get this definition of overcoming at the end of Revelation. I believe it's in chapter 21 verse 7. And I want to show you something about the second death there anyway, so look at that if you would. Revelation 21, 7 says, he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremockers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. Now, isn't it saying here that the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone is the second death? So the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone is the second death. Back in Revelation 2, he said, he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Isn't that what it said in Revelation 21, 7 and 8? He that overcometh shall inherit all things. I'll be to him a father and he shall be to me one of these other people are going to the lake of fire which is the second death. Isn't that exactly what it said back in Daniel 3 when he said, Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt. And the four men of the fourth is like the son of God. They have no hurt. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. So this is a picture here in the Old Testament of salvation through a son of the gods. No, it's a picture of salvation through the son of God. It's a picture of salvation through Jesus Christ. Isn't that a powerful picture there when you see it in that way? But there's another image that's here. Because remember, we always want to get the primary application before we get off on these other symbolic things. But there is so much symbolic teaching in the Bible. But the problem is when people get carried away on symbolism and they miss the clear teachings of the Bible. The Bible is so clear how to be saved. The Bible is so clear. And then they'll try to take some story and try to, you know. It's got to jive with what the Bible clearly says, okay. And that illustration that I just gave you, boy, it does jive with what the Bible says. But here's another illustration here. The fiery furnace here was the punishment for these people who basically would not worship the golden image, right? They're thrown in. Now, do you remember from Daniel 1, what did Nebuchadnezzar think about these three guys? Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. He thought they were great guys, didn't he? And he even said this. He said to them, he said to these three exact guys, you guys are 10 times better than any of my other, you know, workers here. Now, you can see why people are telling on them, you know, as soon as they find something wrong with them. He said they're 10 times better than all these other guys. But hold on a second. Did being 10 times better than the people around them save them from being thrown into that fiery furnace? Is that what saved them from going into the fiery furnace? No. So there's another imagery here of, hey, it doesn't matter how good you are. That's not going to save you. You see what I mean? Like, you can be 10 times better than everybody else. That's not going to deliver you. You know, the king here could also represent God because God is the one who will actually cast people into the real fiery furnace. Of course, he was a counterfeit fake version of hell. It wasn't really hell. It was just a fiery furnace. But it could represent hell and, look, God will cast those into hell who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter how good they are. Good, bad, or whatever. Not that there's anyone who's good because, of course, the Bible says there's only one that's good and that's God. Remember they said to Jesus, good master, what good things shall I do that I might inherit eternal life? And he said, why callest thou me good? There's none good but one and that's God. And I always show that to Jehovah's Witnesses and other people who don't believe Jesus is God because I say, well, is Jesus good? Oh, yeah. Well, then he's God. Oh, oh. Oh, so you're saying Jesus isn't good. No, no, no. Well, then he's God because when somebody called him good, he said, well, why are you calling me good? There's only one that's good and that's God. You know, I mean, that's pretty clear. Either he's bad or he's God. And by the way, no one else is good but God. The Bible says there's none good but one and that's God. It says there's none that do with good. As it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. But you might be ten times better than somebody else. I mean, I guarantee you that you could find somebody that's ten times worse than you are. No matter how bad you are. You know what I mean? You say, well, I'm not as bad as someone so. But you know what? It's never going to be good enough for all of sin and come short of the glory of God. And the thing is, you might come short by a little or a lot and I'm not saying everybody's the same. I'm not saying that there aren't people that are worse than others. Of course there are. People say, no, no, no, everybody's equal. Then why did God take away the kingdom from Saul and say, I'm going to give it to another guy who's better than thou? That's what God told King Saul. I'm giving it to your neighbor that's better than you. So yeah, you know, your neighbor might be better than you or worse than you but that's not the point. I said, what if Michael Jordan, you know, were trying to jump up and maybe he had to jump over the Empire State Building. Okay? And I have to jump over the Empire State Building. You know, who's going to get closer to the top? Me or Michael Jordan? Jordan. What do you mean? Yeah, Jordan. But guess what? Both of us are so far from achieving the goal that it's ridiculous to even think about it and that's the way it really is spiritually. I mean, I might be able to jump or I might be way better than ten times better than so and so but you know what? That's not going to save me. That's not going to give me to heaven. Jesus said, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. But that's why Paul said, not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. He said, it's not my own righteousness. He said in Romans 10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. To everyone that believeth the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is imputed unto them but your own righteousness, be it ten times better than someone else, is not going to save you from that fiery furnace. The Son of God will save you from that fiery furnace. That's the only way to be saved from. It doesn't matter how much your righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness that's enough to get you into heaven. I think of the verse in Romans 4, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose niquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And so here we see that these guys had a great record. I mean, they were ten times better. Wasn't good enough. They still went into the furnace. And so we'll close with that for the sake of time. Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, please help us to be like these three great men in the Bible, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Help us to have the backbone to stand up and proclaim what we believe unashamedly, without carefulness, just to clearly and distinctly tell people where we stand, to stand up for the truth, to never back down, even, as the Bible says in Revelation 2-10, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Help us to be able to have the courage to be faithful unto death if need be. And Father, please just help us also to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to every creature and to explain to them salvation, that hell is real. Hell is a real place in that they can only be saved through believing on the name of the Son of God. And in Jesus' name we ask these things. Amen. Amen. Amen.