Daniel 3-4, Job 19, John 12:37-50, 2 John 1-13 

Daniel 3-4:

Two famous stories. First, the fiery furnace. The king makes an image of gold and commands everyone to worship it or else be thrown into a fiery furnace (3:1-7). The Jews are accused for failing to engage in such idol worship (3:8-12), and so they are thrown into the furnace (3:13-23)—but amazingly they are preserved (3:24-27). And even more so: “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (3:25). And recognizing this as God’s extraordinary miraculous intervention (3:28), the king recognizes God’s unique power: “there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way” (3:29). The king even says, “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation” (4:3). 

Now comes the king’s second dream, this time one less favorable than the first (4:4). The king is growing arrogant and so “shall be made to eat grass like an ox” (4:32), until “I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me” (4:34). And therefore “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (4:37). 

The lesson, of course, is that God is sovereign. And that even a fiery furnace, or an arrogant individual empowered by his own wealth, cannot long gainsay the sovereign power of God. And we should therefore also “praise and extol” the Lord God.