Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden image… Dan. 3:1-30.
“What these friends meant for each other, never allowed their friendship to usurp God’s place in their lives-not even in the face of death. It was a friendship that stood the test of hardship, success, wealth, and possible death. Unwilling to compromise their convictions even in the face of death, and it survived the fiery furnace. They were wise enough to see that compromise would have poisoned the very conviction that bound them so closely-each had a higher allegiance to God. God can be trusted even when we can’t predict the outcome.” Life App. Stud. Bible.
- Dan. 3:23”These three men… fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.”
a. We should always remember that we had been processed into the suffering of Christ on the cross, in hell and death-the end of all our suffering. Lev. 2:1-2, 7-9, 13, Ps. 88:3-15, Lam. 3:6-7, 9.
b. We are therefore called to suffer with Christ in our walk with him. Heb. 1125, Jas. 5:10, Rom. 8:17, 2Tim. 2:12, 1Pet. 5:10, Heb. 13:1k-M. - Dan. 324-25. “…the king was astonished and rose in haste, and spare, and said unto his counsellors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? The answered…True, O king.”
a. “The king was astonished and rose in haste” The invisible hand of God in your life shall astonish even rulers and principalities. Act. 5:17-24, Eph. 3:9-10, Is. 45:1, Dan.
55-6 Act. 4:14,16
b. …Lo I see four men loose, walking in the midst of fire and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the son of God.”
i. Four men loose…and they have no hurt. No human can bound us if God set us free. Judg. 15:9-15; 16:7-14, Jn. 8:32, 36, Act. 16:23-27; 12:6-11.
ii. Walking in … midst of … fire—“in the midst of trouble” Eze. 28:4, Ps 138:7; Ps 23:3, 4- waiting for God’s time to bring them out, just as Jesus waited in the tomb as God’s prisoner, till God should let Him out Ac 2:26,27. So Paul 2 Co 12:8, 9. So Noah waited in the ark till God brought him forth Gen 8:12-18. JFB
III. The fourth like the son of God. It is dear that this is divine presence either
pre-incarnate Christ or an Angel y. 28. Is. 432, Heb. 11:34, Zech. 2;10, Ex.
33:14, Gen. 28:15, Matt. 28:20.
