Saved from the fiery furnace

[MOC]

This story is from the book of Daniel. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, condemns three Jewish men to be burned alive by throwing them into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar had ordered a golden statue to be constructed and that the people were to "fall down and worship the golden image." The three men who refused the king's commands were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It is not understood as the motive for establishing the image. It may have been an attempt to unify the kingdom by promoting the king's authority. Whatever the reason may have been, when Nebuchadnezzar heard of the men refusing to obey his commands, he sent for them demanding an explanation. In Daniel 3:18 the men answered and said, "we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." The king then makes arrangements for the men to be thrown into a fiery furnace. The Bible records Nebuchadnezzar being so angry that he ordered the furnace to be heated 7 times more than usual.

The golden image
How big was this construction? The Bible says, "height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits." A cubit is measured from the elbow to the hand. It's about 18 inches, so 90.......60 cubits would be 90 feet high. A telephone pole is about 60 feet tall, so this statue was built higher than that. It was also 9 feet wide! Nebuchadnezzar "set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon." A modern-day French archaeologist was digging around the southeast of Babylon and came across an absolutely huge brick foundation that may have held this image described in Daniel 3:1.

Daniel 3:8
The Chaldeans accused Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego of disobeying the king's ordinance. Since Daniel had requested that these three men be "set over the affairs of the province of Babylon", the Chaldeans resented them because they felt the men had been elevated to a higher class than them.

Daniel 3:25-30
Nebuchadnezzar said, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the son of God." It is largely interpreted as the fourth figure to be Jesus Christ, how this unfaithful king saw Him and understood it to be our Savior, is not very clear. Since the king was not a faithful king, he was probably meaning a Divine being was protecting the men from any harm. The king's administrators and officials "gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them." There was no mistake about the miracle that had occurred. The Bible records that the flames from the furnace "slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego", which were Nebuchadnezzar's officials.

One lesson Christians can take away from the story of the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel is this: As Christians, we should not compromise our belief in our Holy Father for fear of severe persecutions or trials and challenges that come after. These three brave men chose the path of obeying God......at all cost.

 

[2ndTimothyGroup]

This story is from the book of Daniel. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, condemns three Jewish men to be burned alive by throwing them into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar had ordered a golden statue to be constructed and that the people were to "fall down and worship the golden image." The three men who refused the king's commands were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It is not understood as the motive for establishing the image. It may have been an attempt to unify the kingdom by promoting the king's authority. Whatever the reason may have been, when Nebuchadnezzar heard of the men refusing to obey his commands, he sent for them demanding an explanation. In Daniel 3:18 the men answered and said, "we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." The king then makes arrangements for the men to be thrown into a fiery furnace. The Bible records Nebuchadnezzar being so angry that he ordered the furnace to be heated 7 times more than usual.

The golden image
How big was this construction? The Bible says, "height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits." A cubit is measured from the elbow to the hand. It's about 18 inches, so 90.......60 cubits would be 90 feet high. A telephone pole is about 60 feet tall, so this statue was built higher than that. It was also 9 feet wide! Nebuchadnezzar "set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon." A modern-day French archaeologist was digging around the southeast of Babylon and came across an absolutely huge brick foundation that may have held this image described in Daniel 3:1.

Daniel 3:8
The Chaldeans accused Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego of disobeying the king's ordinance. Since Daniel had requested that these three men be "set over the affairs of the province of Babylon", the Chaldeans resented them because they felt the men had been elevated to a higher class than them.

Daniel 3:25-30
Nebuchadnezzar said, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the son of God." It is largely interpreted as the fourth figure to be Jesus Christ, how this unfaithful king saw Him and understood it to be our Savior, is not very clear. Since the king was not a faithful king, he was probably meaning a Divine being was protecting the men from any harm. The king's administrators and officials "gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them." There was no mistake about the miracle that had occurred. The Bible records that the flames from the furnace "slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego", which were Nebuchadnezzar's officials.

One lesson Christians can take away from the story of the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel is this: As Christians, we should not compromise our belief in our Holy Father for fear of severe persecutions or trials and challenges that come after. These three brave men chose the path of obeying God......at all cost.

This is a highly enjoyable "read," and I recommend to all that it be read. Thank you!

To add to the foundation that you have already made plain and incredibly clear, perhaps the passages below might offer some ideas of how and why these men "chose" to do what they did, which was Trust the Lord in this matter, whether they lived or died.

Daniel 1:9 NKJV - "Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs."

Daniel 1:17 NKJV - "As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams."

Daniel 2:21 NLT - "He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars."

This is the environment and knowledge base that occupied the lives and minds of these men thrown into a scorching hot furnace that didn't cause their clothing to singe, or even smell like smoke. All of them had pre-existing and incredible relationships with the Lord via personal experiences and experiences perhaps on deep Spiritual levels. Their Understanding, Knowledge, and Wisdom of the Lord were so strong and so intact, they knew that even if they were to die burnt alive, it is better to do such a thing rather than to stay here in Satan's world. They longed for the completed and final Promise of the Lord, which is to enter His Holy Peace. No one can enter that Peace until they have died and escaped the trap of this human tent, this human vessel, this human body. We will know that we Truly understand what these men understood, which is possessing a solid grasp of what awaits us on the other side of this physical plane. We should all know and understand this story of these four incredibly brave men.