“In the last days perilous times shall come …”

That’s what the Scriptures tell us. Daniel chapter three and the story of the three Jewish men who refused to commit idolatry is an enduring witness to encourage all end-times saints. The above New Testament scripture goes on to say...” for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy …” 2 Tim. 3:2

Here are rewards promised for those who stand firm in the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ and do not deny His name. In the letter to believers in Philadelphia, Christ promises this: “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” Rev. 3:8 The day is coming when these dark times will pass and the daystar shall appear and we who have suffered for the Gospel will be completely vindicated. Daniel’s story of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego is about the kind of faith required of “Today’s Philadelphians”. [See discussion at end of article]

Those of the Philly faith will stand firm.

World politics and religion does not see it this way. To the Babylonian people, King Nebuchadnezzar’s decree that all men should worship the huge golden image which he had set up in the plains just outside the magnificent capital city did not seem to be an unreasonable demand. A veritable grab-bag of gods was available as objects of worship for all subjects of the kingdom. There were gods of the sun and moon, gods of the birds and animals, gods for fertility and – well, gods for just about anything a man could think of, and then some. Worshipping an image that the king had designed should not be anything out of the ordinary or very difficult. The thing most uncommon about the whole affair was not even the image’s size and presence, but the general decree that anyone who did not fall down and worship it upon command would be summarily executed.

Experience of these three men parallel the End-Times experience
In his wisdom Nebuchadnezzar started by singling out the leaders and governors of the empire and making them worship the image first. If the leaders bowed down to it then the king could be sure they would make their underlings do likewise. The king, the Bible says, had called the “princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image” which he had set up. The government must show approval and support of all religious and political measures taken in any antichrist formation. In the end-times Satan’s strategy and the plan of the Antichrist is exactly the same. Convert the leaders and the people will be forced to follow. As Jesus said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” Matt. 16:6/ Mark 8:15/ Luke 12:1

In other words, do not follow blindly the example and teachings of your leaders. Make sure they are not corrupting your faith and leading you into idolatry, sin, or a false notion of who and what brings true salvation. For example, the image of gold set up in the vast plains, made accessible to all, was more than likely a facsimile all in gold (as the head which represented Babylon was gold) of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had seen previously in his providential dream.

One thing is certain. Daniel’s revelatory knowledge and interpretation was a sign for Nebuchadnezzar to begin worshipping God without reservation. It was impossible for him to miss the fact that Daniel’s God was the all-mighty God. He had openly admitted this when he noted, your God is a “God of gods and a Lord of kings”. Yet he missed the point entirely because he worshipped Daniel instead of God. We are informed of this preposterous truth in chapter two verse 46; “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.”

As if testifying to this belligerent stubbornness of the antichrist spirit, Nebuchadnezzar became more adamant about idol worship than ever before. God had told him in a dream that his and subsequent empires were transient and sure to be destroyed in the end by the kingdom of the true God, but he persisted anyway. The idol was only an extension of self and all his accomplishments. His idolatry was, like all idolatries, centered around and about, self. He even extended his idolatry to further crimes when he determined to murder anyone who refused to concede to his demand, and again further compounded the insult by setting the whole national idolatry in motion to the tune of music, for it was by the music of royal orchestras that persons throughout all the provinces of the empire were to prostrate themselves and worship toward the golden image. This all portends the Antichrist necessity for worship of the world. Worship or die, as with the Mark of the Beast and Image of the Beast.

Who Gets Burned Anyway?
Satan moved Nebuchadnezzar to decree that those who did not worship the image of gold would be burned to death. But Christians know the opposite is in fact true. If you are an idolater you will suffer the second death which is to be thrown into the lake of fire where there is only eternal suffering and flames (Rev. 21:8). But if you are true to Jesus’ name you will not burn or die, you will drink freely from the waters of eternal life. Satan’s intent here was to drive home a spiritual lesson for an entire people. Commit idolatry and live. Refuse idolatry and die. God’s Word to the end-times saint is still the same as it was back in Babylon 2,500 years ago. Worship God and Him only and you will live forever.

Do Not Expect That Satan Will Be Fair
There is nothing fair or honest about Satan. He is a bully, a liar, a deceiver, and a betrayer. He betrayed his Maker and his God. He will betray all creation. The three men he had condemned to such a terrible death were men who had been honored and promoted in the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar. The king had given them power, riches and authority because he knew they were connected to the God of Daniel, the same God who had shown him the meaning of the troubling dream of world history. (See Ch. 2 of Daniel) Satan will try to jerk end-times saints around whenever possible. He will try to shower honors and flatteries on us and then make us look like fools or strip us of our dignity. End-times saints will not be treated fairly, just as these three men were rudely treated. Respect and accolades once bestowed, will be quickly forgotten as soon as we are forced to challenge the Devil’s blasphemous lies. But, just as the three Jews prevailed, end time saints will also prevail by holding onto and not denying the name of Jesus.

We Should Not Be Tricked
Do not be fooled into thinking that what or who we worship is just a matter of preference. God has declared He is a jealous God. Our worship is fundamentally important. Why else would God have made it one of the Ten Commandments, that we worship only Him? Why else would Satan have made such a big deal out of it by trying to get everybody to forsake God and worship an image? Satan wants to rip-off God by getting us to worship the creation rather than the Creator. Rom. 1 & 2 Only Jesus Christ is due our worship and no other; not Mary, not saints, not Mohammed, not Confucius, not our ancestors and not the works of our own hands. We should not allow ourselves to worship a Jesus of our own making, a pitfall of Christian theology and religiosity. We may form our own ideas about God, mold him into something we desire him to be and not the God he actually is. When this is done, even by the most pious of religions or reasonable evangelical doctrines it amounts to an idolatry of ignorance, but idolatry none the less. We must guard ourselves and worship God for who and what He is – The great I Am, that I Am. For God is who he is regardless of who or what we would like to think he is. God cannot deny himself. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is more to what is meant when the Book of 1 John closes, “Little children keep yourselves from idols” than not worshipping figurines or statues. Don’t worship or ascribe powers of God to anything, regardless of what you call it, even if you call it Jesus or things of Christ, unless you want to suffer the judgment of idolaters. Serve only the true God. This is why it is imperative that we know Him, to know who He really is. We must worship the True Triune God-only.

Whether We Live or Die: We are the Lord’s
For their determination to keep themselves from idols the three heroes were condemned. They told the king that they would not try to fast talk their way out of it. To quote exactly, they said, “we are not careful to answer thee on this matter.” They went on, “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.” End-times saints will know in their hour of testing that whether they live or die they are the Lord’s and that their worship is due Him only. (Romans 14:7-9)

Symbolically They Were Fully Clothed

The three men were finally dragged away and bound in their clothes to be thrown into the furnace. The three were “bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats and their other garments and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” They did not suffer the humiliation of being naked. They were taken, fully bound in their garments. An odd thing to do to men you are about to roast. But the spiritual symbolism is apparent. We are given a picture book lesson to be aware of our spiritual garments. What have you clothed your spiritual countenance in, brothers and sisters? These men were clothed from head to foot. They had a hat (of salvation); hosen (to cover their legs and feet for the preparation of the gospel of peace); coats (of praise) and other garments (fine white linen which is the righteousness of the saints and the rest of the armor of God).

Anyone connected to the people of faith, who are without faith and not wearing the right garments, will perish in the fire just as those unfortunate men were incinerated who had thrown Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego into the fire. End-time saints will be man handled by men who seem mighty, but because they don’t have the right covering they will be the ones burned instead of the saint. Remember what actually happened, those who threw them into the fire were themselves burned instead of the saints. Saints may even have apparent friends around them who, because they do not have faith and protection, will desert them when they feel the heat. Don’t despair though. If these people are not clothed properly, bound in the garments of Christ as the three Jews, they might perish if they stuck around. Through the faith and trial of these three men God was greatly glorified. They had been accused, ridiculed, condemned, betrayed and cast into a burning fire. But because of that Nebuchadnezzar saw Jesus. That’s right. “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.” Dan. 3:26 Nebuchadnezzar approached but did not die because he was looking upon Jesus, the Son of God. Even though he saw Jesus, however, that does not mean he wised-up and decided to worship and reverence the Lord, The Most High, God only. We shall see in the next chapter the ongoing stubbornness of powerful men and the devastating judgment that fell on Nebuchadnezzar.

Because these saints had yielded their bodies for God’s use, as Romans 12 suggests as “our reasonable service”, God was glorified and a whole empire saw God’s love and power in action through a mysterious Savior. “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath 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.” Dan. 3:28 Their refusal to bow down in idolatry, their loyalty to God only, had changed the word of the king of this world and made it of no effect. If we will maintain our faith, the word of the world and that antichrist will have no power over us in the end.  In the end the three heroes of faith were vindicated. Their insistence that worshipping God could not be compromised became evident for all to see. For the end-times saint this is the equivalent of the promise made to the Philadelphia Church in Revelation: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.” Rev. 3:9 Remember how the Book of I John ends: “Little children keep yourselves from idols.” Keep your faith pure and your worship of God exclusive. You will be vindicated in the end. It is a promise.

Meshach – meaning: (Ram); The animal which is symbolic of the sacrifice for redemption by way of dying to sin.
Shadrach – meaning: (Circuit of the Sun); Running throughout the course of a redeemed person’s life.
Abednego – meaning: (God of Wisdom); The wisdom needed for living.

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The composite of names given to the three men in the fire add up to the following statement on salvation: The ultimate of godly wisdom is in the sum of the course of a person’s life in finding eternal life won by God’s redemption process of sacrificing the flesh in the fires of dying to sin.

Discussion
THE PHILADELPHIANS

Strength in Weakness
Paul’s words to the Corinthians will be understood by those of the Philadelphia faith. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Cor: 12:9-10 KJV

This church will not be found on any street corner, or at a bible college, it will not have a membership roll – at least not one written on this earth. This church is invisible and weak in worldly terms, a church persecuted from within the church itself and a church with no social influence. She is a church in constant peril of temptation, but in a wonderful and complete way, she is the strongest and greatest, because she is immersed in God’s Word and ways. This church has had “membership” down through the church age (as the other six), but particularly now, with revival of all things for the end time, this church is coming into its fullness.

Strangers in a Strange Land
To hear the calling of this church demands a love for the life of faith. To respond to the call one must be delivered from fear of the unknown. The kind of faith required in this pew less church is so foreign to the faith of man, and so much God’s kind of faith, that it passes all knowledge of this world. The life of the Philadelphian is not only unattainable for man by means of the flesh, but entirely incomprehensible and can only be experienced by complete trust in God’s power and love. The aspiring Philadelphian learns that he must let God lead him blindfolded along never before trodden paths. As pioneers without knowledge of where to go or what to do, they must trust the Holy Ghost as their unfailing scout and protector. So is the nature of the faith God requires here. It is Abraham going to a strange land, Moses confronting the Pharaoh, David meeting Goliath on the battlefield and John the Baptist preaching repentance in the wilderness. Here by the light of the candlestick of Philadelphia a simple believer living a nondescript life can be producing the pearls of faith that please God wholly. Abiding in this place of brotherly love a person of “unimportance”, doing no traditionally accepted churchy good works can be exalting God in the highest and preparing for Christ a testimony of love that will live into eternity forever. The person in this assembly of faith will have a single eye fixed on Jesus, the hope of a new world to come, and the promises of eternity with God. Here is what the letter to Philadelphia reveals.

Church of the Open Door
The church of Philadelphia is a special church because she has the promise of the open door. The door of faith is continually open here; literally the sky’s the limit. Here faith gives one the boldness to enter the heavenly throne room of God to make requests in the name of Jesus. The door of prophecy is open; and the pathway home is clearly marked. At the end of the path is that “Big” open door, that door that will open at a twinkling of an eye to gather the faithful sojourners into the mansions Jesus has prepared for them. The open door has endless applications to the Philadelphian; it’s all around significance is mercy with a capital ‘M’: the ultimate expression of open-door mercy will be the Rapture.

Her Pastor Is Holy and True
Jesus pastors this church with the title “he that is holy, he that is true” Rev 3:7. Accordingly, Christ will feed his flock here with truth and holiness. To have fellowship in the spirit of Philadelphia one must accept Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life – not just the Way and the Life. The one whom Christ has sent must be listened to daily. One will not be permitted to say outwardly, “Yes, God’s ways are not man’s ways”, and then callously live as if God should fit into the prefab mold man has built for Him. The pursuit of money, power and worldly glory will give off a spiritual stench, as rotting flesh. In this church the walls are not of wood, or stucco, or brick; its light is not filtered by stained glass windows. The walls here are of the truth of God’s Word, the windows are the clarity of the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Words from a forked tongue or a self-righteous hypocrite make a deafening noise when they echo off these walls. Workers of such things, we can have faith; will be driven out by the Spirit.

Taken from “The Redemption Play ”   by T M Smith