Daniel 3:26-30
Daniel 3:26-30
New King James Version (NKJV)
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon
My Thoughts:
The first thing I noticed was that Nebuchadnezzar went to the mouth of the furnace. In itself that statement may not mean much but if we go back to (v. 22) we see that the men that tossed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace were killed by the heat. So for the king to come that close to the furnace and live, they must have been in there for some time.
So why did they not just step out of the fire? They waited for the king to call them out, they could have just walked out as soon as their bindings were gone but it was the king that put them there and it was the king’s place to call them out.
The king was right in when he proclaimed that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was the only true God. But he had no right to proclaim that everyone must worship Him. God does not force anyone to worship Him.
So what about the golden statue? After that day the statue must have been a reminder to everyone that God has the power to save those who believe in Him.
Ellen White Statements:
“By the deliverance of His faithful servants, the Lord declared that He takes His stand with the oppressed, and rebukes all earthly powers that rebel against the authority of Heaven. The three Hebrews declared to the whole nation of Babylon their faith in Him whom they worshiped. They relied on God. In the hour of their trial they remembered the promise, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Isaiah 43:2. And in a marvelous manner their faith in the living Word had been honored in the sight of all. The tidings of their wonderful deliverance were carried to many countries by the representatives of the different nations that had been invited by Nebuchadnezzar to the dedication. Through the faithfulness of His children, God was glorified in all the earth.” {PK 511}
Last thoughts:
So what are the lessons learned for Daniel 3?
1) God is a jealous God. (ex. 20:5)
2) If we stand strong God will stand with us. (Heb. 11:33-34)
3) No man has the authority to force any man to worship even the one true God.
4) God’s will always wins out.
5) We all should know God and have the faith of these men.
About bobh6
40 Days of study 
When we get to heaven, these three are going to be so interesting to talk to. I can’t wait tohear this story from them and to hear all the praise that they will give the Lord. I know from Ellen Whites writings that they won’t think on the bad things but their praises will ever ring.
I love hearing other peoples stories and how their faith has grown stronger because of it. I agree that I look forward to hearing theirs.
I added another post, asking a question, to yesterday’s blog that if I had waited to read this one first I would of found it appropriate here. My question was do you think God would show His presence in a literial way to us during our last trail and tribulation at the end times? It would make sense that He would. In a way it would be a repeat to the exodus experience leaving the populated areas (cities) and heading to the promised land. Just like God lead and encouraged them in His presence and provided for them; I would think he would do similar again. Thinking of those verses that say He would never forsake us leave us alone, He would be with us to the ends of the earth. Just like these three had Joseph and Isaiah’s words for comfort and hope, we have the book of Daniel.
The fire not even singging their clothes or hair or the smell of smoke even on their clothes shows of the extent of power of God and how effectively He could save us. In reading A Trip into the Supernatural (a bk given to my husband by our Pastor Bob) it says that Satan saw and studied that and thought it would benefit him to know how to conquere fire, knowing the punishment promised was hells fire. Funny how we see those cartoons and even hear some chrisitians teaching that Satan will live among the fire, we could see where that idea came from; the bk states that since then Satan has been fascinated by mastering fire, example walking on fire etc. We know that he would not be able to master God’s fire and not definetly not in a worldwide flood of it. He will burn and be no more but ash under our feet.The last victory, over Satan, for our God. He will then be finally victorios over sin, death and his lies put to rest . I’m sure then we will sing out praises of the greatness of our God.
Satan is very skilled at fighting on the spiritual plan, he knows what we most desire and tells us that we can have everything and to top it off we can be like God. The fire that we see is this separation from God. After the fall Satan lost his connection with the Father and I can only imagine how that must feel. I live my life with the passion for spreading the message Christ has given us and if I were to lose this connection I have, it would be as if I, I cannot even tell you how painful it would be for me.
God has given me the greatest gift of all, His love. And without it I would be nothing but tasteless salt.