Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego

             Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18

But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63)

Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!"  (Acts 5:29)

If you don’t know the story, King Nebuchadnezzar had built a statue of himself, and issued an irrevocable command that anyone who didn’t bow down to it on command was to be thrown in a fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused, and when they were brought before the king, the passage above was their response. When the trio said they didn’t need to defend themselves before the king, I don’t think they were saying, “You don’t have authority over us. We don’t have to answer to you!”

Instead, I suspect they were saying, “King, you’ve known us or known about us from the time we got here. Our conduct over the past __ years have shown that we are loyal to you, but that we are more loyal to the God we serve. You may throw us into the fiery furnace if you choose, but we won’t bow down to the image you’ve set up.”

They were willing to violate man’s law in order to obey God’s law, but in doing so, they accepted the fact that the man might kill them. This is the model that I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. followed with his protests – until Malcolm X and some others took over and set up the model of violence being used today. Of course, the only reason they could use this statement is because the king knew them. I couldn’t stand before any government official at any level and make the same claim. The closest I could come would be to say to look at my record.

Jesus’ technique when facing the high priest and the governor of Judea was to remain silent rather than to defend Himself, but He didn’t have the relationship with them that the trio had with the king and I think He was not willing to give them any basis on which to not sentence Him to death. In the Acts 5 passage, the apostles told the Sanhedrin that they must obey God rather than men. They are the most confrontational of the three but again, they offered no physical resistance and did nothing that was actually hateful or outside of the Law. Instead, they went on to make it clear that the Sanhedrin was the guilty party.

Yes, there are instances in the New Testament of stronger behavior. In Acts 23:3, Paul says something less than kind to the high priest. He apologizes, but it’s interesting to note that while the “insult” is mentioned, the stronger statement (about God striking him) seems to be ignored. And, of course, Jesus flipped tables and made a scourge with which He cleared the temple. And, there doesn’t seem to be any legal action taken against Him for that action. But while some people leap at the chance to claim their actions are in line with these incidents, the question must be asked whether they are responding to the events according to Scriptural principles, or are using the events as an excuse to do what they want to do.

To put it simply, when you’re using the world’s techniques and “fighting fire with fire,” you need to be very careful. You’re playing with fire, and if you’re not very careful, you or someone unintended is likely to get burned. Better that you follow Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego’s example. That way, God gets the glory, not you.