Daniel 3:1-30

Daniel 3

I. We have here a specimen of religious intolerance.

II. We see here how religious intolerance is to be met. These three young men simply refused to do what Nebuchadnezzar commanded, or, in modern phrase, they met his injunctions with "passive resistance."

III. We have here an illustration of the support which Jesus gives to His followers when they are called to suffer for His sake.

IV. We see here that in the matter of religious intolerance, as well as in some other things, the opposite of wrong is not always right. Nebuchadnezzar had no more right to cut men in pieces for speaking evil of Jehovah than he had to put Shadrach and his companions into the flames for not worshipping his image.

W. M. Taylor, Daniel the Beloved,p. 58.

References: 3 Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 338; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. v., p. 517; J. G. Murphy, The Book of Daniel,p. 99; J. Foster, Lectures,2nd series, p. 191.Daniel 4:2; Daniel 4:3. Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxx., p. 21.Daniel 4:13; Daniel 4:14. Homiletic Magazine,vol. viii., p. 7. Daniel 4:19. Ibid.,vol. x., p. 27.