The Garden of Eden. Mount Horeb. Babylon.
All of these are places we’ve visited so far in our Summer Vacation sermon series. But there’s another thing that holds each of these locations together: they are places where deliverance is promised.
In the Garden of Eden, just a few verses after Adam and Eve commit the first sin, God shows up and promises that one day an offspring of the woman would be born to crush the head of the enemy (Genesis 3:15), delivering his people from the penalty of sin.
At Mount Horeb God announced to Moses that, through his leadership, God would deliver his people from oppression and slavery in Egypt (Exodus 3:7-8).
At the height of their sin, rebellion, and hardness of heart, God’s people find themselves in Babylonian captivity, where God promises that he will ultimately deliver them once again (Jeremiah 29:10-14).
It should come as no surprise that the theme of deliverance is once again on full display in Daniel 3. Confronted with a fiery furnace as a result of their defiance of Nebuchadnezzar’s orders, the three Jewish friends find themselves taunted by the king: “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15)
Well, the same God that delivered his people from Egyptian oppression. The same God that has delivered his people time and time again from the hands of their enemies. The same God that promises to deliver his people from exile. The same God that delivers us from sin and death and hell and the grave.
Their response: “We have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:16-17)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago opted to put their trust in the God who delivers. After all, deliverance is kind of his thing.
And so he does it—once again, God flexes and delivers his people, this time from a fiery furnace. Not a hair was singed. Not a garment was damaged. They don’t even smell like smoke.
So where do you need to trust God for deliverance today? From the regret of former foolishness? From the pain of past mistakes? From the penalty of your sin? Place your trust in the God who delivers, “for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way” (Daniel 3:29).
VC Devotionals 