Most everyone has heard the story of the three Hebrew children who were thrown into the fire. They were seen walking in the furnace with another one who looked like “the son of the gods.”
I read this passage recently and saw something I had always missed.
The king was so furious at their refusal to bow down before the idol that he commanded the furnace to be made seven times hotter. The three were bound and thrown into the furnace.
But here is where it gets very interesting. The furnace was so hot, that the flames killed the soldiers that were ordered to throw them into the furnace!
My question is, who tossed those bound Hebrews into the furnace?
Could it have been the fourth one, the one who looked like the son of the gods?
The Lord was with them in the fire in such a powerful way that they came out totally unscathed by the fire, not even smelling of smoke!
It was certainly the intent of the enemy to destroy those three, BUT it was God’s plan to not only deliver them but to cause Nebuchadnezzar to say “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego who has sent his angel and rescued his servants.”
How can we apply this to our lives?
We will go through times in our lives of great testing, times where we feel like we are in the furnace. God did not put us there, but He will be with us there. The enemy seeks to kill, steal and destroy, to keep us fearful of the fiery furnace. But Jesus wants to walk through the fire with us, triumphing with us. Jesus is Lord, even of the fire.
Susan Kewin
~Christ Fellowship