INTO THE FIERY FURNACE

Infuriated, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that his servants heat up the furnace seven times hotter than usual.  Then he ordered "certain able-bodied men of vital energy" to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the "burning fiery furnace."  They followed the king's orders, casting the three Hebrews into the fire, bound and fully clothed-perhaps so that  they would be consumed all the more quickly.  However, Nebuchadnezzar's henchmen themselves were the ones who were killed by the flames. -Daniel 3:19-22. 

But something extraordinary was happening.  Although Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the midst of the fiery furnace, the flames were not consuming them.  Imagine Nebuchadnezzar's  astonishment!  They had been thrown into a blazing fire, securely bound, but they were still alive.  Why, they were walking about freely in the fire!  But Nebuchadnezzar noticed something else.  "Was it not three able-bodied men that we threw bound into the midst of the fire?"  He asked his high royal officials.  "Yes, O king," they answered. "Look!" Nebuchadnezzar cried out, "I am beholding four able-bodied men waling about free in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt to them, and the appearance of the fourth one is resembling a son of the gods." -Daniel 3:23-25. 

Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the fiery furnace.  "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the most high God," he called out, "step out and come here!" The three Hebrews  walked out of the midst of the fire.  No doubt all who were eyewitnesses of this miracle-including the satraps, prefects, governors, and high officials-were stunned.  Why, it was as if these three young men had not come onto them, and not a hair of their heads had been singed. -Daniel 3:26, 27. 

Now King Nebuchadnezzar was forced to acknowledge that Jehovah is the Most High God.  "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego," he declared, "who sent his angel and rescued his servants that trusted in him and that changed the very word of the king and gave over their bodies, because they would not serve and would not worship any god at all except their own God." Then, the king added this stern warning: "From me an order is being put through, that any people, national group or language that says anything wrong against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should be dismembered, and its house should be turned into a public privy; forasmuch as there does not exist another god that is able to deliver like this one." At that, the three Hebrew s were restored to royal favor in the jurisdictional district of Babylon.' - Daniel 3:28-30. 

Next time: FAITH AND THE CRUCIBLE TODAY

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999