And if Not…
We are now well into our “Church on Fire” series and have listening to the different images of fire throughout the Scriptures.
This week, we will be looking at the familiar story of the three young men as they were cast into the fiery furnace. We will be speaking of the way that this fire had a way of revealing many things. It highlighted the faith of the three young men. It showed the foolishness of the king and his statue of gold. But it also revealed the miraculous presence of a living God in the middle of the furnace, the fourth man who walked with them in the fire.
Fiery trials have a way of revealing who we are, who others are, and who God is.
This is keenly demonstrated in a story told by the late Charles Colson in his book “The Body”. There, he speaks of the British soldiers on the beach at Dunkirk in the early years of World War II. Many remember the story. The British were fighting the Germans and had been routed. They retreated to the French beach “Dunkirk”, where they were in a seemingly hopeless situation. Expecting imminent capture or death with the coming of German forces upon them, British soldiers broadcast a simple three word message in Morse Code across the English Channel: “And if not…”
Most would not recognize the phrase today, but the people of 1940 were more Biblically literate. They knew it to be a quote from the story of the three boys as they approached the fiery furnace. They had been sentence to die in the furnace but before they were thrown in, they spoke:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King. (And if not), we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up…” (Daniel 3:17-18)
The three words were from an older translation, but they were still familiar to the population. The soldiers at Dunkirk were going to stay faithful and true, even if they were never rescued.
And most know the rest of the story. The fiery trials revealed the character of those soldiers on the beach. But it also revealed the character of the British people on the other side of the message. The result was boats, lots of small boats that sailed across the Channel, rescued the soldiers, and brought them home. Lots of soldiers found a fourth man in the fire but it took the fire to reveal him.
This weekend, we are going to speak to those trials of life and how the fire has a way of revealing who we are. If we were at the edge of the furnace, the beach of Dunkirk, or at any of our contemporary trials, could we too say, “And if not…?” Let’s talk about this some more. See you in worship!
No comments:
Post a Comment