I’ve been reading through the book of Daniel with my children lately. Interestingly enough, one of the most popular stories in Daniel doesn’t actually include him whatsoever. This is a story of 3 plus 1, but Daniel isn’t counted as either.
In chapter 3 (and the first part of 4), 3 Jewish men’s names were changed by King Nebuchadnezzar in an attempt to strip them of all of their identity. Among those in captivity, Hannaniah, Mishael and Azariah were assigned new Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego (1:7). The King was foolish and proud. He did not know that when one is a child of the One True God, identity can never be taken. These men grew in knowledge and intelligence. ‘Something’ about these men stood out, and they were promoted into the kings personal service as “administrators of the province of Babylon” (2:49).
As time goes on, King Nebuchadnezzar’s pride grows and he builds “an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits” (3:1). That’s almost 27.5 meters high and almost 3 meters wide. That’s big! It matches the king’s magnified self-importance well. Nebuchadnezzar sets rule that “at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image” (3:5)
Enter the tattletales; the ones who notice that there are 3 men who refuse to bow down and worship. The tattletales are quick to remind the king about the penalty for not doing so: “Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire” (3:11). The king summons the naughty 3, and in a rage, he questions, “Is it true?” (because how dare anyone be opposed to the king?!) (3:14). He gives the three men opportunity to obey once more, and reminds them of their fate if they choose not to. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are solid. They stand in the confidence of their God and declare God’s capability to deliver them out of the king’s hands, and yet they are humble enough to recognize their position in relation to God- that they don’t wield Him like a good luck charm- and that “EVEN IF He does not [deliver them], let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up (3:18).
This is where it gets good.
Mr. Proud Pants is “filled with wrath” (3:19). He orders the furnace be turned up seven times hotter than it is usually heated. He commands “certain valiant warriors” (3:20) to tie the 3 men up. Moreover, these men are “tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes” (3:21). The king intended to make them as flammable as he possibly could!!! The men were ordered to be cast into the blazing fire, but as the ‘certain valiant warriors’ approached the furnace, “the flame of the fire slew those men” (3:22). Those ‘certain valiant warriors’ were toast! Burnt toast! In the ruckus of all of this, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego fall in, still tied up.
[Now, let’s pause here for a second. As one of my children inquired absurdly, “What kind of furnace is so big that 3 people can fit in it?!!?”. The footnotes in my bible explain that the furnace was not a little cook stove. It would have been a huge industrial furnace used to make bricks or smelting metals. *Light Bulb* Out of the mouth of my youngest at the ripe new age of 7, so matter of factly I might add, “Yeah, it was probably the furnace the king used to make his gold statue in.” Wow. Okay, un-pause. I’ll come back to that.]
Then, Nebuchadnezzar notices something unusual, to say the least, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” (3:25). Recognizing the 3 men who were walking about in the wildfire as “servants of the Most High God” (3:26), the king calls them out of the fire. Out of the furnace with the heat turned up 7 times hotter, out of the furnace with flames so hungry that the ‘certain valiant warriors’ don’t even get to the mouth of the furnace without getting eaten alive, come trotting 3 out of those 4 figures the king counted in the fire. Gathering around, the king’s posse frisk and reconnoiter the men and discover that “the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men NOR was the hair on their head singed, NOR were their trousers damaged, NOR had the smell of fire even come upon them. (3:27).
When’s the last time you’ve been around a campfire? The smell of that fire permeates everything, even when you choose to sit comfortably back a few feet on your lawn chair. These men were IN the fire, and came out not even with a whiff of fire upon them! Have you ever quickly opened your oven to reclaim the yumminess in there, only to have the heat blast your face suprisingly and melt your mascara’d eyelashes together? These men were IN the fire, and not even a hair was singed on their bodies! Further, the only thing that WAS burned were their bindings! How does a blazing furnace accepting 3 especially-made-flammable men burn only the ropes tying them up and leave the rest of their bodies unharmed?!
The witnesses are shocked. Heavens! It’s shocking for me to read this account thousands of years later! I can’t even imagine! In response to this astounding display of God’s power, the king makes a proclamation that “any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way” (3:29). The king gathers the attention of all and pronounces, “It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done or me. How great are His signs. And how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation” (4:2).
God means to use the fiery furnaces of our life to make known his glory among the nations.
Are you going through something in your life right now that feels like the heat is being turned up to a shockingly high temperature? Do you feel like the Enemy has been doing his best to make you as flammable as you possibly can be so that he can watch you burn and die? Well, there’s good news for you, then. If your identity is in Christ, if you have not made excuses about why you can’t follow God, if you have been steadfast in proclaiming that He is God and the sole God deserving of worship in your life, even when everyone else around you is going in the opposite direction, you are in a good position. If you feel like everyone is looking at you as you press in to God and wondering why ‘bad things happen to good people’ or are questioning the goodness of God to those He calls His own, you are not alone. If you are choosing to be true to God no matter the punishment or pressure around you, God is on your side. You are ripe for God to make demonstration of His glory and power to those around you.
[If you can’t honestly say these things are true of you, you can repent right now, and still know the assurance of His presence with you. You can ask forgiveness. You can humbly admit that you have missed the mark and are a sinner, and that you are in need of Jesus. You can ask the Holy Spirit to visit with you and stay, and enjoy a peace with the God who made you and loves you. God isn’t looking to slap your fingers with his holy ruler on the desk of your life, with a stern look on His face, at all of your shortcomings and sin. He is a perfect Heavenly Father, with kindness toward you, and good things in store for you as you choose to make him the Master of your heart and life. No more guilt and condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ!]
God wants you to know that you are not in the fiery furnace because you have done something wrong. Quite the opposite: it is because you have followed Him obediently. He wants you to know that the fiery furnace is the place where He wants to burn off all of the things that hold you in bondage. He wants you to move about freely, even in the middle of the fire, because He is the 4th Person right down in the nitty gritty heat with you. The furnace in this story may very well have been the the same furnace that Nebuchadnezzar’s gold was melted and fashioned into an image, but this furnace is also the place where 3 precious men made in God’s image were tested and were purged from the flames well and whole. [See, told you I’d come back to that.]
I want to encourage you: Don’t lose heart! Just because there is opposition in your life does not mean that you are left vulnerable and unprotected. Let it be known to all who know you, just like the 3 men in this story, that God is with you. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t just call God, God. He called Him the “The God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego”. Isn’t that powerful and affirming? It is wonderful for our allegiances to be associated with the God who saves. It is wonderful for our names to be counted with God Almighty’s. What a witness for eye-witnesses to see that we choose to worship our God, no matter what, and that He gives us a freedom in the middle of the pressures and stresses of life to walk about and meander freely in that which would strangle them in flames! People need to see that God is in the fire with us, and that He is the one who makes the difference between surviving and going up in flames. Not so that we can be exalted, but so that God can SHOW THE WORLD Who He is! People are watching you, Christian. People are noticing how you live your life, where your devotion lies, how far you are willing to be serious with your faith, and how you deal with the blows of life. Remember Whose you are, speak with confidence in the God who is able, and when you find yourself in the fiery furnace, BREATHE! God will not let you die. He will not leave you on your own. He will be with you, doing the work that only He can do, so that others will see their need for a God like *that!
