The Sovereign God Who Delivers

 

I’ve kept this closely tied to the sermon’s central theme: God alone is sovereign, and a true confession of His sovereignty must lead to obedience regardless of the cost. The article follows the sermon’s contrast between Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance and the faithfulness of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

One of the most striking questions in the Bible comes from the mouth of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3. He looked at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and demanded that they bow before the golden image he had erected. If they refused, they would be cast into a burning fiery furnace.

Then he asked the question:

“And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

That is a remarkable question. It is arrogant. It is blasphemous. But it also reveals something important about the heart of sinful man, especially when man possesses power and authority.

Nebuchadnezzar was not the only ruler in Scripture to speak this way.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, boasted that none of the gods of the nations had been able to deliver their lands from his armies. His reasoning was simple: I have defeated everybody else, so why should the Lord be able to deliver Jerusalem from me?

Pharaoh spoke with the same spirit when Moses commanded him to let Israel go. Pharaoh answered, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.”

Nebuchadnezzar, Sennacherib, and Pharaoh had something in common. They displayed both ignorance and arrogance.

First, they were ignorant of the one true and living God.

Man by nature does not know God. He may be religious. He may believe in gods. He may have temples, rituals, priests, ceremonies, and philosophies, but none of those things mean that he knows the true God.

Paul encountered this at Athens. The people had altars to many gods, and they even had one dedicated “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” They were religious, but they were ignorant.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.”

God must reveal Himself to us.

No man comes to a true knowledge of God through human cleverness alone. Jesus said that no man knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals Him. When Peter confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our Lord did not congratulate Peter for figuring it out by his own intelligence. He told him, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

That is why Nebuchadnezzar could ask, “Who is that God?”

He did not know Him.

But his question also revealed arrogance.

Nebuchadnezzar did not merely fail to understand God. He thought of himself as supreme.

That attitude appears again and again in human government. Powerful rulers have often claimed authority that properly belongs only to God. Some openly claimed to be gods. Others may not have used the title, but they demanded the kind of unquestioning obedience that belongs only to God.

Ancient rulers often tied religion to the state. Their gods served their political purposes, and the ruler stood at the top of the system. Religion was useful so long as it strengthened the ruler’s authority.

Nebuchadnezzar was no different.

He had erected a golden image and commanded everyone to bow before it. Whether that image represented one of his gods or represented Nebuchadnezzar himself, the point was the same: submission to the image meant submission to the king.

Refusing to bow was therefore more than a private religious choice. It was a direct challenge to Nebuchadnezzar’s claim of supreme authority.

That is why he became so enraged.

We also need to understand why Nebuchadnezzar thought Israel’s God was helpless.

He had conquered Jerusalem. He had burned the temple. He had broken down the city. He had carried the people away captive.

From Nebuchadnezzar’s point of view, the matter was settled.

He had defeated Judah, therefore he must have defeated Judah’s God.

He could acknowledge that Daniel’s God was able to reveal mysteries. In Daniel chapter 2 he called Him “a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.” But Nebuchadnezzar still did not understand that the God of Israel was sovereign over everything.

The pagan world often thought in terms of localized gods. One god might rule the hills. Another might rule the valleys. One might control war. Another might control fertility. Another might control the sea.

We see that thinking clearly in 1 Kings 20. After Syria was defeated by Israel, the Syrians concluded that Israel’s gods must be gods of the hills. They reasoned that if they fought Israel in the plain, they would win.

God answered that challenge directly.

He said that because the Syrians had said, “The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys,” He would deliver their great multitude into Israel’s hands.

Why?

“That ye shall know that I am the LORD.”

God is not a localized deity.

He is not the God of one hill, one valley, one nation, or one area of life.

He is sovereign over all.

Nebuchadnezzar had failed to understand something else. His own military power had been given to him by God.

Habakkuk records God saying that He would raise up the Chaldeans. Babylon was an instrument in God’s hand to bring judgment upon Judah. Nebuchadnezzar thought his victories proved his own greatness, but the truth was that God had raised him up and used him according to His own purpose.

That is the danger of power.

God gives a man authority, and before long the man begins to believe the authority originated in himself.

God permits success, and the man begins to imagine that he achieved everything by his own strength.

God uses a ruler as an instrument, and the ruler begins to think he is sovereign.

That was Nebuchadnezzar’s mistake.

Then he met three men who would not bow.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought before him and given another opportunity. Nebuchadnezzar essentially told them, “When the music plays, bow down. If you do, everything will be fine. If you refuse, I will throw you into the furnace.”

Then came the challenge:

“Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

Their answer is one of the greatest statements of faith in Scripture.

They said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.”

In other words, they did not need time to think about it.

Their decision had already been made.

“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.”

They knew God could deliver them.

But then they said something even more important:

“But if not… we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

That is faith.

They did not say, “We will obey God if He promises to keep us safe.”

They did not say, “We will obey God if everything turns out well.”

They did not say, “We will obey God if there are no painful consequences.”

They said that God could deliver them, but even if He chose not to, they would still obey Him.

That is what recognizing God’s sovereignty really means.

It means I obey Him and leave the consequences in His hands.

It means His Word determines my conduct, not my circumstances.

It means I do not measure obedience by whether it is convenient, profitable, safe, or popular.

If God is sovereign, then He has the right to command me.

If He is Lord, then I am obligated to obey.

That principle is easy to confess in theory and much harder to live.

It is one thing to say, “I believe God is sovereign.”

It is another thing to yield my body, my family, my possessions, my reputation, my livelihood, and even my life to Him.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did exactly that.

Nebuchadnezzar became so furious that he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. His rage was not merely about disobedience. His supremacy had been challenged.

These men were saying, in effect, “You are not God.”

Their refusal struck directly at his pride.

Yet they yielded their bodies to the Lord.

Daniel 3:28 later records Nebuchadnezzar himself saying that they “trusted in him” and “yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.”

That is a tremendous testimony.

They were willing to die rather than give to a man the worship that belonged to God.

And God delivered them.

When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he saw four men walking loose in the fire, and they had no hurt. When the three Hebrews came out, the fire had no power over their bodies. Not one hair was singed. Their clothes were unchanged. They did not even smell of smoke.

Nebuchadnezzar had asked, “Who is that God?”

God answered him.

• He is the God who delivers.
• He is the God who rules over kings.
• He is the God of the hills and the valleys.
• He is the God who raises nations and brings them down.
• He is the God whose sovereignty does not depend upon human recognition.
• He is the eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God of heaven and earth.

By the end of the account Nebuchadnezzar had changed his language. He declared that there was no other God who could deliver after this sort.

The king who had challenged God had been forced to witness His power.

There are two lessons I want to take from this.

First, men in authority often resist the sovereignty of Christ because acknowledging His sovereignty requires them to submit to Him.

Psalm 2 says, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed.”

Why?

They do not want God’s bands upon them. They do not want His law above their law. They do not want His authority above their authority.

But denying God’s sovereignty does not eliminate sovereignty.

Someone must be ultimate.

Someone must have the final word.

If man rejects God as sovereign, he will eventually place that sovereignty somewhere else, often in himself or in the state.

Nebuchadnezzar did exactly that.

Second, if I truly believe that God is sovereign, then my life should demonstrate it.

I cannot merely confess His sovereignty with my mouth while refusing His authority in my conduct.

Jesus asked, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

If He is Lord, I must obey Him.

That applies to my family life, my moral life, my social life, my business life, my private life, and every other area of life.

There is no part of my life where God ceases to be sovereign.

My obedience must not depend upon circumstances.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not know whether they would walk out of the furnace alive. They knew only that God was able to deliver them and that He was worthy to be obeyed whether He delivered them or not.

That is the kind of faith I desire.

I want to be able to say, “My God is able.”

But I also want to be able to say, “But if not, I will still obey Him.”

God does not always deliver His people from the furnace.

Sometimes He delivers them through it.

Sometimes He removes the danger.

Sometimes He gives grace to endure it.

The manner of deliverance belongs to Him.

My responsibility is obedience.

So when the world asks, “Who is that God?” I know the answer.

He is the one true and living God.

He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.

He is sovereign over kings, nations, governments, armies, circumstances, life, and death.

He alone deserves worship.

And because He is sovereign, I must trust Him, obey Him, and leave the consequences in His hands.

He is still the God who delivers.