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Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
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From his royal seat the king looked on, expecting to see the men
who had defied him completely destroyed. But his face grew pale as
he jumped up from the throne and looked intently into the glowing
flames. In alarm he asked, “Did we not cast three men bound into
the midst of the fire? ... Look! ... I see four men loose, walking in
the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth
is like the Son of God.”
How did that heathen king know what the Son of God was like?
The Hebrew captives in Babylon had represented the truth before
him in their life and character. When asked for a reason for their
faith, they had given it without hesitation, teaching those around
them of the God whom they worshiped. They had told of Christ, the
Redeemer to come; and in the form of the fourth in the midst of the
fire the king recognized the Son of God.
Forgetting his greatness and dignity, Nebuchadnezzar cried out,
“Servants of the Most High God, come out.” Then Shadrach, Me-
shach, and Abed-Nego came out before the vast multitude, showing
themselves unhurt. The presence of their Savior had guarded them
from harm, and only the ropes that bound them had been burned.
The great image, set up with such pomp, was forgotten. “Blessed
be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego,” the humbled
king acknowledged, “who sent His Angel and delivered His servants
who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and
yielded their bodies, that they should not serve or worship any god
except their own God!” “There is no other god who can deliver like
this.”
The king of Babylon set about to spread before all the peoples
of earth his conviction that the God of the Hebrews was worthy of
supreme adoration. And God was pleased with the effort of the king
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to make the royal confession as widespread as was the Babylonian
realm.
By delivering His faithful servants, the Lord declared that He
takes His stand with the oppressed and rebukes all earthly powers
that rebel against the authority of Heaven.
In the hour of their great test the three Hebrews remembered
the promise, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with
you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you
walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame