(15–20 minutes, easy set-up)
Provide a copy of the Learner Worksheet and a pen for each learner. Provide a dry erase board and markers.
Ask: When are you willing to compromise? When are you not? What helps you determine when compromising is an option? Say: Sometimes the strength of beliefs is tested through the opportunity to compromise.
1. God has called His followers to worship only Him (Dan. 3:1–12).
Read Daniel 3:1–7. Ask: What did Nebuchadnezzar require the people in his kingdom to do? (worship the golden image he dedicated to his god) Did he have the wrong priority or the wrong god? Why? (Wanting people to worship the same god as he would not be wrong if he had worshiped the right god.) Continue: What actions did the king require of his officials? Is it possible to truly worship something under threat? Why? (No, true worship is voluntary.) Read verse 7 again. Point out that the people acted out worship, but that Scripture does not record how they demonstrated worship through their attitudes or words.
Read Daniel 3:8-12. Divide learners into two groups. Instruct the first group to determine why the astrologers took the actions they took. Instruct the second group to determine why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose the actions they chose. Invite the first group to share their conclusions about the actions of the astrologers. Emphasize that while the passage does not specifically answer this question, the astrologers must have seemed threatened by the three Jews. Call on the second group to share their conclusions about the actions of the Jews. Stress that the young men were unwilling to compromise their relationships with God by bowing in worship to someone else. Encourage learners to write worship on the first line of their worksheets.
2. Others will question why believers won’t compromise their worship of God (Dan. 3:13–18).
Read Daniel 3:13–18. Ask: Why do you think Nebuchadnezzar got so angry about the report he received from the astrologers? As learners share their conclusions about the king’s anger, point out that since the word of the king was law, people did not have the right to disobey him. Ask: What does the king’s threat about throwing people into the furnace suggest? (The king was willing to kill anyone who disobeyed him.) Ask: Which of the king’s statements might lead us to realize the spiritual nature of this confrontation between the king and the three Jewish men? (The king verified that the Jews refused to serve his gods or worship the golden image he set up. The king wanted to know which god could possibly protect or deliver the Jews from the punishment he pronounced.) Ask: Why do you think Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to put their lives in God’s hands instead of the king’s hands? After discussion, emphasize that the king and his leaders could not understand why these three men would refuse to compromise in their worship of God. Encourage learners to write compromise on the second line of their worksheets.
3. When believers refuse to compromise their worship, God is glorified (Dan. 3:19–30).
Call on a volunteer to read verses 19–23. Instruct learners to call out the actions Nebuchadnezzar required to fulfill the punishment of the three young men. List responses (which should include raising the temperature in the furnace, dressing the men from head to toe, and binding their hands) on the board. Ask: What do these acts suggest about Nebuchadnezzar’s intentions? (Although no one could have survived the heat and fire of the furnace, the king had taken extra steps to make sure the men were punished to the greatest extent possible.)
Point out that the king’s expectations did not include the three men surviving or their receiving help from God. Read verses 24–25. Explain that the furnace had no door, which allowed the king to watch his punishment carried out. Say: For the King, the unthinkable had happened: the men survived and were now accompanied by someone who had obviously come from God.
Instruct each group to read verses 24–30 to determine how these verses demonstrate that Nebuchadnezzar recognized The Future is in God's Hands. After a few minutes, call for responses. Emphasize that Nebuchadnezzar understood that how the young men survived gave testimony to God’s glory and power as well as His ability to intercede on behalf of those who call on Him.
Read verses 28–29 again. Ask: What do these verses communicate about Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding of God? Stress that this was the second time that God had revealed His glory to King Nebuchadnezzar, who responded to both times by offering his praises to God. Encourage learners to complete the third statement with glorified.