TEXT: Daniel 3

SUBJECT: Christ in the Old Testament #31: Fiery Furnace

Today, with the Lord’s blessing, we’ll continue our study of Christ in the Old Testament. The story is one of the best known in the Bible and also one of the most exciting. People who’ve never read the Bible know the story. And I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t gripped by its drama.

On one side, we have an unstable king with immense power. On the other, we have three young men who stood up to him—when no one else would. From the king, we should learn the danger and folly of pride. From the young men, the need for courage and faith.

But the story isn’t about Nebuchadnezzar. It’s also not about Shadrach, Meshach, or Abed-nego. No, the story’s about The Other Man.

Who is He? We’ll get to that later. First the story.

The story takes place in Babylon about 600 B.C. The king is Nebuchadnezzar who has just built a great Empire and brought the best men from every nation into his service. Three of them were from Judah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

The king set up a huge idol. It was ninety feet tall, nine feet wide, and overlaid were pure gold. He wanted everyone to pay respects to his god. He’d call them to worship with all kinds of music. When the first note was hit, everyone must bow before the Image. If he didn’t, he’d be put to death.

The music started one day, and the whole city began worshiping the king’s god. The whole city, that is, except for three men.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego defied the king’s order. They were quickly arrested and brought to the king. At first, he was enraged, but then he remembered that they were smart men and must have made a mistake. Maybe they had been out of town when the order was given; or maybe they were tone deaf and didn’t recognize the pagan hymn. In any event, no one in his right mind would stand up to the king whose every wish was law.

So he gave them a second chance. The next time they hear the music, they must bow down. If they don’t, they’ll be thrown into a fiery furnace—and no god can save them from that! So, what will it be? Submission to the king? Or fiery death?

The men don’t have to huddle on this one. They give the answer without delay or subtlety,

Kings are not used to be spoken to this way! Nebuchadnezzar is furious at their impudence, and orders the fiery furnace to be heated up seven times hotter than normal.

The men are quickly tied up and pushed into the oven. A few minutes later, the king peeks in to see them cooking. But the fire hasn’t affected them in the least! Their bodies aren’t burned; their hair isn’t singed, not even their clothes smell like smoke.

Shocked at what he saw, the king turns to his servants and inquires,

But if that’s true, he wondered why

Who was the Fourth Man? He was the Lord Jesus Christ. Years before, He had promised to be with His people in the fire, Isaiah 43:2,

If you study the history of Christian martyrs, you’ll see the promise kept figuratively over and over again. Men, women, and children died at the stake praising the Lord for His Special Presence. But here, it’s kept quite literally. If Nebuchadnezzar throws three good men into the fire, the Lord Jesus Christ goes with them.

The men are called out of the fire. The proud king humbles himself before their God. From now on, no one in Babylon can say a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, for no god can deliver men as their God can.

Who is our God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the story.

Now what does it mean?

In the first place, it means The Lord does not always prevent bad things from happening to us.

A fiery furnace is a bad thing! Being thrown into one is even worse. The Lord did not keep His servants from suffering at the hands of an evil king. Daniel was another good man in Babylon. He was thrown to the lions.

People sometimes think that becoming a Christian makes all your problems go away. That, once you believe in Christ, you never get sick or have a fight with your wife or worry about your kids or lose a job or not get into the school you were hoping for.

Many books teach this. But the Bible isn’t one of them. Believers share in all the troubles of life. We’re not immune from disease. Our family and friends disappoint us. We lose jobs; we have money problems. And, of course, we grow old and die. Or, even die without growing old!

The Bible nowhere promises a trouble-free life if only you’re good enough. The Book of Job powerfully illustrates this. No one was holier than he, yet there he is—grieving the death of his children, covered with boils, broke, his friends making things worse, and his wife counseling suicide. Our Lord made the same point,

If you think otherwise, one of two results must follow. Either you’ll lack assurance or you’ll be mad at God all the time! If I’m a saved man, how can my wife leave me? If I’m pleasing the Lord, why am I so sick?

Bad things happen to good people. If the Perfect Man goes to the cross, who are we to expect a pain-free life? Isaac Watts had it right,

We have to learn this lesson. And accept it.

In the second place, the Lord is with us in our problems. He could have kept the men out of the fiery furnace. That would have been really great. But He didn’t do that. He did something better. He joined them there.

Jesus Christ is never closer to us than when we’re in trouble. It is then that He draws nearest. Martin Luther said three things make for a good preacher, "Study, prayer, and temptation". In the first two, we learn the objective meaning of God’s promise. In the third, the promise becomes real to our souls.

Good times have a way of fogging up the mind. But bad times give clarity. They show us what is important—and what isn’t. They prove the faithfulness of God in ways no book or sermon ever could.

Moses taught Israel that the Lord was faithful. But it was in the Wilderness that they learned He was. They never had too much to eat or plenty to drink. But food and water came when it was needed. Do you know why He put them on the strict diet? So that they’d learn something,

Long ago, the Lord Jesus Christ experienced all your problems—and a whole lot more. He knew poverty, family woes, the loss of loved ones, weakness, fear, rejection. "In all our afflictions He was afflicted".

Knowing what it means to suffer as a man, He knows how much we need Him when we suffer. Thus, He draws nearest when we hurt the most.

That means, you can trust the Lord Jesus Christ. You can pray when words fail you. You can