Overview
In Christ your past has no power over you, leaves no mark on you and no lingering smell of smoke on you. Jason Patterson reads Daniel 3, where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walk out of the furnace with no power exercised over them, no singed hair or harmed cloaks, and no smell of fire, and he sets that miracle beside Colossians 2, where the record of debt that stood against us was cancelled and nailed to the cross. The mark Jesus kept was his own. Because the only past event that determines our present is the crucifixion, forgiveness is received by faith, never earned, and your calling is too important to let an unresolved past steal your present.
Transcript
When Your Calling Feels Displaced by Life’s Circumstances
Thank you. Please turn to Daniel chapter 3. This morning, living your God-given identity, your past affecting the present. Question for you. Do you feel like your calling of God has been displaced? Like your purpose in life has become unclear or sidelined? Because of life’s changing circumstances? Maybe you planned it one way and it went sideways. Completely different. Now you don’t even know where you’re at, where you’re going, or if that calling is still there. What happens when life gets in the way and you feel like the circumstances have caused your dreams and your calling to slip away and you go down an uncertain path?
Maybe you had an exceptionally difficult past and now you’re dealing with the aftermath of feeling that you deserve the pain, the heartache. You feel like it’s too late, like this one’s going to leave a mark.
605 BC: Four Young Men Whose Lives Were Derailed
Well, in 605 BC, there was four individuals whose lives were completely derailed. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Jerusalem. He destroyed Solomon’s temple. He removed the things of God, had them burned, all to destroy their faith and identity and who they were. The king took the brightest young men into his court and he stripped them of their Hebrew names that were all related to Yahweh and instead he gave them names that were tied to Babylonian gods.As you may have guessed by now, I’m talking about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Imagine being 14 to 18 years old and stripped away from your home forced into a new culture that was designed to erase your faith and your identity. You know, they were exiled from their promised land. With it, their dreams and their future were suddenly altered. Many of us know and have experienced that feeling. Where plans fall apart, life takes a detour and the path ahead feels incredibly uncertain.
Exile Doesn’t Always Look Physical
Let me tell you this. Exile doesn’t always look physical.Sometimes we accept labels from culture that are rooted in shame, failure of our past. Even lifelong Christians can drift when their identity becomes about what they’ve done instead of who they are in Christ. What happens is that we feel like exile happens all over again and it doesn’t resurface just as a memory but as a pattern or a blow or a serious impression like old fears, insecurities, anger or even old survival strategies when you’re dealing with that difficult person in your life.
How many here have that difficult person that you’re dealing with in your life right now?Don’t look at them if they’re in this room. And if you didn’t raise your hand, you probably guessed it by now, but you are that difficult person. Alright, just kidding.
So in all seriousness, when these experiences resurface, it can feel like we’ve been exiled all over again and you feel like your true identity has been lost. Feelings of inadequacy could very easily define, it could shape our lot in life. We could easily begin to use our past experiences to define what is even possible in our present. This is why it’s so important not to rely on your past experiences to define truth but to allow truth to define your experience.
Daniel 3: Bow to the Golden Image or Burn
Let’s pick up the record in Daniel and here in chapter 3. This may have been some 10 to 20 years later after their exile and the king has made an image of gold and demanded all to worship it. If not, you’ll be cast into the burning fiery furnace. Well, word spread quickly that three of them did not bow. He brought them before him to give them one last chance. He held their lives in his hands and he made the offer clear. Bow and you’ll be spared. Refuse and you’ll burn.
Here in the latter part of Daniel 3 and verse 15 that we read.But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into the burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God in whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
Verse 22, because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace was overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell bound into the fire. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and he rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O King, he answered and said, 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.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace and he declared Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed. Their cloaks were not harmed and no smell of smoke had come upon them.
Three Things the King’s Counselors Saw: No Power, No Mark, No Smell
First, there are three things that the king’s counselors and rulers saw. The fire had no power over them. For many, this is a familiar word in Greek, it’s exousia. The fire had no exercise power over these individuals. Second, the hair of their heads was not singed nor their cloaks harmed. There is no physical mark. Here in the Greek, this word is tupos. And its meaning is that there is no impression or physical mark that there was even a fire.
Thirdly, there is no smell of the fire that had come upon them, literally no smell.There was no trace, no evidence whatsoever that there was even a fire. This word is also used in Old Testament sacrificial imagery. And isn’t it interesting that here this is a complete reversal of what normal sacrificial imagery would be? No smell. It’s probably because they didn’t burn.
Okay, let’s be clear. This was a miracle. There was a fire. It appeared as though that fire was going to consume. But what should have consumed was suspended. The fire failed to do what the fire by nature does. It was stripped of its natural power.
In Christ, Your Past Has No Power Over You
These are in the Colossians chapter two. The fire had no power over them. It didn’t even leave a mark. There was no smell on them as if they were even in a fire. Let me tell you this. In Christ, our past has no power over us. Just as the fire had no power over Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, our past has no power over us.
Sometimes our past consumes our present. We feel overwhelmed. Like the circumstances do not look favorable for this one. And we might say, this tends to happen to me.Or I deserve this. Maybe we subtly begin reasoning why this is happening to us. The narrative that the world pushes on people is it’s karma, right? You get what you deserve.
Let me tell you this. If you can be convinced that you deserve the pain, the hurt, the guilt, the shame, then you can also be convinced that you don’t deserve to be forgiven. Let’s take this one step farther. On the flip side, if you can be convinced that you deserve the heartache, then you can likely be convinced that you can earn forgiveness.The quiet danger on both sides still leaves forgiveness out of reach. Whether it’s I don’t deserve it or I can earn it. Often this feeling emerges when we focus on ourselves and not on Christ.
Colossians 2: The Record of Debt Nailed to the Cross
In Colossians one, we read that our past has been removed, that we are no longer bound or under the exercised authority of darkness. But here in Colossians chapter two, in verse 13, we read, And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities, the exercised power. And he put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
Jesus disarmed the exercised power that would have otherwise consumed us. Though we were dead in our sins, the mistakes of our past have been forgiven. The weight of our past was nailed to the cross of Christ. And we are made alive together with him. How did he disarm the rulers and authorities?One of the ways that the enemy endeavors to have control over a subject is to try to pin them for what they have done. They’re past, but this has been canceled for you and me. It was nailed to the cross.
So it’s like this. There was a fire. It appeared as though our past would overpower us and consume us. But what should have consumed us was suspended. It was nailed to the cross of Christ. We’ve been forgiven. Our past fails to do what the past by nature does. Burn and defeat.It’s stripped of its natural power. In Christ, there is no visible mark. There’s no visible sign that there has been any hurt.
John 20: Why Thomas Asked to See the Marks of the Nails
Please turn to John chapter 20. Just as the fire left no mark on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, so our past has no impact on our present. You know, it was through the physical pain and torture that was endured by our Lord Jesus Christ that has completely taken care of our past. We often tell ourselves, it’s too late. This has gone on too long. I’ve always been behind. There’s no coming back from this.
That’s exactly how Jesus’ followers felt at the time of the crucifixion. Even though he told them that he was going to rise again on the third day, to his followers watching him die left a mark like something was final, irreversible. When they crucified him, they drove nails into the palm of his hands and that’s why Thomas and the others asked to see those marks, to prove it was really him.
Here in John 20, it says in verse 25, so the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, but he, Thomas, said to them, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.
Here the mark is the same word used to describe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There was no harm. Tupos is used not in reference to the physical nailing of Jesus to the cross, but the mark, the blow, the imprint, the effects.
What’s remarkable is that Jesus still in his resurrected body had these physical marks on his hands. Though visibly wounded, he became sin for us that our past would no longer define us. His scars proved his identity. And it was visible for all to see like Thomas and the others and it’s still visible for us to understand this one simple truth.You have been forgiven of your past. There is no longer any effects of your past on the present. The enemy can no longer have authority over you.
Galatians 6: The Marks Paul Carried Were the Marks of Jesus
In Galatians 6 in verse 17, the apostle Paul speaks of his own physical scars. Yet he declared that it was the marks that he carried were the marks of Jesus. What once wounded him, no longer defined him. And I mean, as we’ve heard, Paul was beaten. He was bruised. He went through it. And yet these past physical marks could be seen on his body.They were just marks, the impact of those hurts. They were gone. They were removed with the marks of Jesus.
The only past event that determines our present is the crucifixion. The marks on his hands are proof of who we are, redeemed, forgiven, and free.
So it’s like this. There was a fire. It appeared as though our past would leave a mark. But what should have left a mark was nailed to the cross of Christ. It was suspended. In Christ our past fails to do what the past by nature does. There is no mark.There’s no sign of our past on our present. We have been forgiven.
No Smell of Smoke: Condemnation and the Old Testament Sacrifices
So not only does our past have no power over us, our past has no mark on us. There is no smell of smoke. There are no lingering effects on our past, from our past in Christ.
You may have told yourself, I can’t believe I did that. Or I should have known better. Those thoughts often turn inward, such as if they really knew what I’ve done, the damage, the hurt, it would change everything. That’s condemnation, that self-judgment, and it carries with it the lingering smell of shame and embarrassment that’s associated with what you have done.And beneath it all is the belief that what you have done defines you and now you’re unqualified, unworthy.
In the Old Testament, sacrifices were made in order to receive forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9 states that without bloodshed, there was no forgiveness of sins. And Hebrews 10 lays out that sacrifices were done year after year. But they can no longer take care of the sins of the people on a permanent basis. This had to be done repeatedly. The High Priest would go yearly into the Holiest of Holies to sacrifice blood that was not of their own for the forgiveness of sins on behalf of the people.
Well, this all changed with Christ. Only the sinless person, the only one without spot and without blemish with his own blood, he removed our sins once and for all.
Christ the Fragrant Offering, and We the Aroma of Christ
Please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And while you’re turning there I’d like to read the latter part of Hebrews 9:26. It says, But as it is, as he appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, he put away sin by his sacrifice. So what if the smell of the past did not cling to you?In Christ, any smell of judgment before God has been removed. Ephesians 5:2 says, And walk in love as Christ loved us and he gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
This word, fragrant, is the same word as in Daniel 3 where no smell of the fire is on them. Jesus was the fragrant offering and sacrifice to God and in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 14 we’ll see that we bear that same scent. But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
Christ was the final sacrifice. Let me tell you this, you no longer smell of smoke like there’s no trace of it, no evidence that it was even there. The crucifixion has completely handled your past. It doesn’t even smell like there’s been a fire.
So often we mess up and what do we do? We sacrifice ourselves. I should have done this. I can’t believe I did that. I’m unqualified. I’m unworthy. But in Christ we aren’t the burnt offering. We’re the fragrant aroma. It’s like this, there was a fire. It appeared as though our past would cling to us but what should have clung to us was suspended.The fire failed to do what the fire by nature does. The fire was stripped of its natural tendency to smell like smoke. In Christ we are the fragrant aroma.
Why Accepting Forgiveness Takes Faith
So if the power of the past, the mark of the past and even the smell of the past are gone, you may be asking, why do I still struggle with carrying my mistakes into the present? The simple answer is accepting forgiveness takes faith. Knowing your sins are washed away as a work of God and believing what He has said. Have you ever noticed that you can be forgiven but not feel forgiven?You can still be forgiven and beat yourself up. Trying to earn it, work harder.
At the root is pride. Instead of receiving grace, we give ourselves reasons why we shouldn’t be forgiven. I don’t deserve it. It’s too late. I’m unqualified. I still smell like smoke. When God is left out of the picture, we rely on ourselves to develop strategies to overcome the past. When the answer is simply to accept His forgiveness by faith.
You see, we often try to perform our way into feeling forgiven, turning grace into a process. But if forgiveness could be earned, it would no longer be by grace.It would be pride. Pride works both ways. Look, I did this myself. And it also works on the flip side. I can’t be forgiven for what I’ve done. Often, we begin with grace, yet over time we’re tempted to perfect ourselves in our own strength. And one sign of this is when we are forgiven, but we don’t feel forgiven. Our emotions and our intellect lead instead of the Spirit of God. Without being led by the Spirit of God, we’ll be carrying the weight of the past in our present and living with its impacts as though it still defines us.
Grace Cannot Be Earned or Revoked by Your Performance
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Maybe you’ve made some mistakes, gone through a hard season, or grown discouraged and slowly started believing that God is no longer on your side, like his favor was removed because of what you did. Hear this, God’s grace and favor are not revoked by your performance. If you could earn the good, you could also earn the bad, and that wouldn’t be grace. Grace cannot be earned. That would be working to achieve your forgiveness. When we believe that we have to earn it, we will often feel distant from God.But forgiveness flows from grace and not effort.
Ephesians 1:7 says, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
Here in 1 Corinthians 15, let’s look at verse 8. This is the apostle Paul. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he, Jesus Christ, appeared to me also, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.On the contrary, I’ve worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me.
Philippians 3: Forgetting What Lies Behind
Please turn to Philippians 3. It was God’s grace, not Paul’s effort, that did the work. Paul could have easily believed that his past disqualified him. I mean, years of persecuting the church, families torn apart, guilt, shame stacked high enough to be overwhelming. I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. It’s too late. I’m not worthy. I’m unqualified. But grace overpowered his past and empowered his calling.
Here in Philippians 3, we read in verse 13.Brothers, I do not consider that I’ve made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul said one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. He didn’t overcome the past by striving harder, but by receiving God’s forgiveness and walking in grace. Honestly, letting go of his past was essential to pursue his calling of God. Your calling is too important to let an unresolved past steal your present.If you carry yesterday into today, it’ll quietly disconnect you from what God has called you to do.
Isaiah 43: When You Walk Through the Fire You Shall Not Be Burned
Let’s close in Isaiah chapter 43 where we’ll see this section of Scripture capturing the exile of Judeans at the time of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. This book of Isaiah was written about a century before the Babylonian exile. God, by way of the prophet Isaiah, had these words recorded around 100 years prior to the need for an exile from Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have likely known these words. I wonder if they realized that these words were written for them.
To overcome your past and identify with Christ, we must realize first in Christ our past has no power over us. When the enemy is saying that there is still a fire, that you deserve the heartache, the pain, the shame, the embarrassment, remember that in Christ our past has no power over us.
Isaiah 43 verse 2, and when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you.
You may be walking through a fire right now, but you can be walking in the fire unbound where the flame has no effect on your life. It doesn’t consume.
Secondly, in Christ the impact of your past has no effect on the present. When the enemy is saying that the impact of your past will take you down, and we’re tempted to think it’s too late, this one’s going to leave a mark. Remember that God is currently at work in your life. Your story is not over.
In verse 13 of Isaiah 43 we read, this is God speaking, and henceforth I am he.There is none who can deliver from my hand. I work and who can turn it back. This hearkens back to the words of King Nebuchadnezzar and who is the God who will deliver you out of my hand? And then echoes the response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the God in whom we serve will deliver us out of your hand. Let me tell you this, you’ve been delivered from your past. Who is able to take that out of God’s hands and turn it back?
Verse 14, thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sake I send to Babylon, and I bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans and the ships in which they rejoice.Here God promises that the Babylonians who conquered the Jewish people would themselves be conquered and exiled. This must have been comforting to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Though exiled, this was a season where God was still at work.
Behold, I Am Doing a New Thing: You Are a New Creation
Thirdly, in Christ there are no lingering effects of your past. There’s no smell of smoke. You are a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, all has come new.
And Isaiah 43 verse 18, we read, remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.Why? Verse 19, God says, behold, I am doing a what? I’m doing a new thing. I’m doing a new thing, guys. Now it springs forth. You do not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people.
This chapter’s present tense verbs portray the great exodus as an ongoing pattern of God’s action. And it also implies that the great exodus, the escape from the fire, was representative of what God does and is currently doing. The Judeans are not urged to dwell on the past but to trust in God to bring them back from Babylon through another exodus, away in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
Where no path exists, God makes one. Behold, I am doing a new thing. If you feel like the world is trying to redefine your identity, remember in Christ the power of the past is broken. The mark of the past is no longer visible. Nor is there any smell of smoke. There are no lingering effects of your past. There’s no evidence, not even a trace. Remember that God redirected your path at the crucifixion. The Creator has defined the creation and its identity is Christ. Old things are passed away. Behold, all have become new. God bless you.Daniel 3; John 20; Galatians 6; Hebrews 9; Hebrews 10; Ephesians 5; 1 Corinthians 15; Ephesians 1; Philippians 3; Isaiah 43; Corinthians 5
Key Takeaways
- The king’s counselors saw three things in Daniel 3: the fire had no power over the men, left no mark on them, and left no smell of smoke.
- Colossians 2 says the record of debt with its legal demands was cancelled and nailed to the cross, and the rulers and authorities were disarmed.
- Both I don’t deserve forgiveness and I can earn forgiveness leave forgiveness out of reach, and at the root of each is pride.
- The same Greek word for mark used of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is used of the nail marks Thomas asked to see, and Jesus kept those marks in his resurrected body.
- Under the old covenant sacrifices were repeated year after year, but Christ appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
- Isaiah 43 was recorded around 100 years before the Babylonian exile: remember not the former things, behold, I am doing a new thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean that our past has no power over us in Christ?
In Daniel 3 the fire was stripped of its natural power: it should have consumed the three men, but what should have consumed them was suspended. Colossians 2 says the record of debt that stood against us was cancelled and nailed to the cross, and that Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities. Our past fails to do what the past by nature does, which is burn and defeat.
Why do I still feel guilty about my past even though I am forgiven?
Because accepting forgiveness takes faith, and you can be forgiven without feeling forgiven. At the root is pride, and it works both ways: I did this myself, or I can’t be forgiven for what I’ve done. If you can be convinced that you deserve the pain, you can be convinced that you don’t deserve to be forgiven, and if forgiveness could be earned it would no longer be by grace.
Why did Jesus keep the marks of the nails in his resurrected body?
Thomas asked to see in his hands the mark of the nails, and the Greek word for that mark is the same word used of the men who came out of the furnace unmarked. Though visibly wounded, Jesus became sin for us so that our past would no longer define us. His scars proved his identity, and the marks on his hands are proof of who we are: redeemed, forgiven and free.
Scripture References
Daniel 3:15; Daniel 3:22-27; Colossians 1:13; Colossians 2:13-15; John 20:25; Galatians 6:17; Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 10:1-4; Hebrews 9:26; Ephesians 5:2; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:8-10; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 3:13-14; Isaiah 43:2; Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 43:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Isaiah 43:18-19
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
