Memory verse: “The king answered unto Daniel, and said, of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.” Daniel 2:47.

1. After Daniel had revealed the king's dream to him, what did the king do for Daniel? Daniel 2:48 says: “Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ______________ ______________ the _________________ _______________ of _____________, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.”

2. What does Nebuchadnezzar do next? Daniel 3:1 says: “Nebuchadnezzar the king _________ an ___________ of ____________ …” He made an image like that which was in his dream. However this proud king didn’t make it with the arms of silver, or the belly and thighs of brass, or the legs of iron, with the feet part of iron and part of clay. The image he made was gold from head to foot. It was erected in defiance of the divine forecast that there would be other nations to follow Babylon. What Nebuchadnezzar was saying through this image of gold was that Babylon would not be destroyed, that it would last forever. History tells us that God was right. Babylon has long been gone. You will want to read the whole chapter of Daniel 3, which goes with this lesson. The “cubit” that is used in this chapter is a measurement that varied from country to country. In Rome, it was the length of the arm to the elbow. In Israel, it was eighteen inches. In Egypt, it was twenty and a half inches. In Babylon, it was a little longer than in Egypt.

3. How high was the image built by Nebuchadnezzar? What was its breadth? Daniel 3:1 says: “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was ________________ _____________, and the breadth thereof __________ _____________: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.” Since it was built in Babylon, the cubit used would have been twenty and a half inches long. Since a “score” is twenty. This would have made it _______ feet by ______ feet. That would have been a very tall and large image of gold! In Daniel 2:47 Nebuchadnezzar had acknowledge the God of heaven, whom Daniel worshiped, as the God of all gods and the Lord of kings. But now we see that his thinking had changed.

4. What did the king call everyone—rulers and all—to come to? Daniel 3:2, 3. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the ___________ of the ___________ which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were __________ together unto the _____________ of the ______________ that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

5. Nebuchadnezzar insisted that all recognize the supremacy of this Babylonian god above the living God. In this kingdom there were then many captive Hebrews who worshiped the God of heaven. The king commanded all to worship the image. Daniel 3:4 says: “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O ___________, ____________, and _____________.”

6. In verse 5, we see that all kinds of music were playing as the king gave his command. What did he command them to do? Daniel 3:5 says: “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the _____________ ___________ that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up.” The Hebrews knew that they were to worship only the true God of heaven. They could not serve other gods and be true to the God of heaven. The king knew that this was what the Hebrew captives believed.

7. Was the king ready to deal with those who would not obey his order and get down on their knees to worship the image? Daniel 3:6 says: “And ___________ __________ ____________ ____________ and ____________ shall the same hour be ___________ into the midst of a burning ___________ _____________.”

8. We see worship given to Nebuchadnezzar as well. Daniel 3:9 says: “They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, _________ ______ __________.” This worship belongs to the God of heaven only. Only the God of heaven lives forever!

9. Were there some who did not bow to the great golden image? Who were they? Daniel 3:12 says: “There are certain Jews whom thou has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, _______________, _____________, and _______________; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” In Daniel 1:12, they had been proved to have more wisdom and understanding than the king’s magicians and astrologers. In Daniel 2:49, Daniel had requested that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be put over the affairs of the province of Babylon.

10. Very angry (Daniel 3:13), the king gave these three Hebrews one more chance. He had the three Hebrews brought up to the front where the king was, and he asked them (Daniel 3:14), “Is it true … do not ye serve my gods the golden image which I have set up? In Daniel 3:15 Nebuchadnezzar says: “Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of __________, ye _________ _________ and ___________ the ___________ which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be ___________the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery _______________;” and then he issues a challenge to the God of the Hebrews, defying Him to intervene: “and who is that God that ___________ ______________ ______ out of ___________ ___________?”

11. What was the faith of the three Hebrews? How did they answer the king? Read Daniel 3:17: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to _________ us from the burning ___________ ______________, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” What faith in God!

12. What did the king tell them to do to the furnace? Daniel 3:19. “Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should __________ the furnace one _____________ ___________ _____________ than it was wont to be heated.”

13. After the furnace was heated seven times hotter, what happened? Daniel 3:20: “And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind _____________, ______________, and ______________, and to ______________ them into the burning fiery ____________.” Verse 21 says they were bound with all their clothes on and cast into the fire.

14. What happened to the men that threw them in? Daniel 3:22 says: “Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the ___________ of the ________ ________ those _______ that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” It was so hot that the men that cast them in were killed, and the three Hebrew young men fell down bound in the midst of the fire. (See verse 23.)

15. What does the king see, when he looked into the furnace? In Daniel 3:24, he asks the men, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” Then, in Daniel 3:25, “He answered and said, Lo, I see _________ _______ loose, walking in the ___________ __________ the _____________, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

16. The king went to the mouth of the furnace and spoke to them. What did he call them? See Daniel 3:26: “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, [and] spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye _______________ of the ________ ________ ______, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.” He now must acknowledge their God as the most high God who is above every god.

17. How badly were they and their clothes burned? Daniel 3:27 says: “And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, ______ the __________ of ________ had passed ____ ______.”

18. What does Nebuchadnezzar say next about the God of heaven? Daniel 3:28 “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and _______________ his _____________ that ______________ in ______, and have _____________ the __________ _________, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.”

19. Did the three Hebrews lose their job? No! Daniel 3:30 says: “Then the king _____________ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.” It always pays to serve God!