The Fiery Furnace

Horns blare. Harps and pipes join in. Across a vast plain, thousands of people drop to the ground like a field of wheat in the wind. All except three. Three young men, standing straight, while everyone around them bows.

King Nebuchadnezzar has built an enormous statue of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. That's around ninety feet tall. He sets it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon, and summons every official in his empire to its dedication: governors, judges, treasurers, advisers. They gather in front of the gleaming image. Then a herald cries out. “People of every nation and language! When you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, harp and every kind of music, fall down and worship the golden image. Whoever does not will be thrown immediately into a burning fiery furnace.”

The music plays, and the whole crowd bows. But some of the king's advisers have noticed something. They come to the king. “O king, live for ever. There are certain Jews you have put in charge of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They pay no attention to you. They don't serve your gods, and they don't worship the golden image.” Nebuchadnezzar is filled with rage. He has the three brought before him. “Is it true? Now, if you are ready, when you hear the music, fall down and worship. But if you don't, you'll be thrown into the furnace. And who is the god who will rescue you from my hands?”

Their answer is calm. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves to you in this matter. If it be so, our God 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 even if he does not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, or worship the golden image you have set up.” Listen to that again. Even if he does not. Their faithfulness doesn't depend on being rescued. They trust God enough to obey him either way.

Nebuchadnezzar's face twists with fury. He orders the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. Strong soldiers tie up the three men, still in their cloaks and turbans, and throw them in. The heat is so fierce that the soldiers who carry them to the opening are struck down by the flames. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fall, bound, into the middle of the fire. The king watches. And then he leaps to his feet. “Didn't we throw three men, tied up, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king.” “But look! I see four men, loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they aren't hurt. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

The king goes near the furnace door. “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” And they step out of the fire. The officials crowd around. The fire has had no power over their bodies. Not a hair on their heads is singed. Their cloaks are unharmed. They don't even smell of smoke. Nebuchadnezzar says, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him.” Who was the fourth figure in the fire? The king calls him an angel. Many Christians have seen in him a glimpse of the Son of God himself. The story simply says that God was with them in the flames.

Listen to the band that plays at the statue's dedication. The book of Daniel names its instruments four times, and some of those names are not Aramaic at all. Words for the lyre, the harp and the instrument often translated bagpipe or symphony are borrowed from Greek. Scholars debate what this says about when the book took its final form, but the list paints a picture of a grand, cosmopolitan court orchestra, gathered from many lands.

The fiery furnace. You'll find it in Daniel chapter 3. Three young men refused to bow, not knowing whether they would be rescued. And they found that God was with them in the fire. So here's the question to carry with you. Is your trust in God strong enough to say, even if he does not, I will still be faithful?