08/28/2026
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego trusted in the Lord and refused to bow down to the statue King Nebuchadnezzar made. As a result, the king had them thrown into a blazing furnace. It is important to remember the context for this event. The Babylonian exile was not the first time that God’s people had been captives in a foreign country. They had been slaves in Egypt, and God miraculously brought them out. Deuteronomy 4:20 describes the exodus in this way: “But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.” God had rescued his people from a powerful empire and a fiery furnace before, and in Daniel 3 he did it again, which is exactly what these three Hebrews trusted God could do. Amazingly, when the three men were thrown into the furnace, the king saw four men instead of three, and the additional man looked like “a son of the gods.” Some believe this fourth figure was an angel, and others believe it was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. Regardless of the exact nature of this person, the words of the prophet Isaiah ring true: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you . . . When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isa 43:2).
After seeing the men walk out of the furnace unharmed, King Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed that no other god is able to save like this, and that was a true statement. There is no other god who walks through the fire with his people. God, through Jesus Christ, took on the suffering and death of his people at the cross to rescue them, ultimately, from suffering and death. Like these three Hebrews, Jesus was held captive under a pagan world empire, Rome. He was handed over to die, and then he emerged from death three days later.
When Jesus emerged from his death, he commissioned his disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth because his blood was spilled to redeem people for God from every tribe, language, people and nation (Rev 5:9; 7:9). In Daniel 3, the pagan king praised the Hebrews’ God and prohibited the people of any nation or language from speaking against him. God’s deliverance and his message of salvation are always meant to be declared among all nations.
