Daniel 3:21, commentary and pictures

These men were bound in their full clothing and cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. They were cast in by the king's command for refusing to worship his golden image, into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, whose flames killed the men who threw them in. Christ Himself was with them in the fire as the fourth figure like the Son of God, the flames lost power to consume them so they came forth without even the smell of fire, and the miracle turned the king's wrath to praise of the living God. God has not promised exemption from trial and persecution, but He does not forsake His own in danger and keeps faithful witnesses alive under sentence of death when enemies seek to silence them. The stand on the plain of Dura is a lesson for the last days when human law shall demand worship of the Sunday idol and denounce Sabbathkeepers as deserving death, calling God's people to purpose now to be true to principle come what may.

Words and Historical Setting

The three — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — were bound in their full clothing, their coats, their hosen, and their hats, with their other garments upon them, and cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. They were bound in their own garments and thrown in clothed, not stripped, and then seen walking unharmed in the fire.

It was done by the king's command, carrying out his threat and his resort to force, because they refused to worship his golden image and would not bow the knee to it. Their refusal to worship brought the binding and the casting, as the penalty for defying the requirement to bow.

The furnace had been ordered heated seven times hotter than usual, far beyond its wonted heat, and in the haste the flames burst out so furiously that the men who carried them in were burned to death and consumed by the fire. The king himself witnessed that three bound men had been cast into the midst of the fire.

Nebuchadnezzar stood in the very height of his power and glory, and in renewed idolatry and proud spirit he could not endure defiance by representatives of a despised and captive race. He set up an exceedingly costly and magnificent golden image on the plain of Dura to represent Babylon and more particularly himself, to represent the glory of himself and his kingdom and to magnify himself as an object of worship.

He set it up after reading Daniel's interpretation of his dream in the light of his own idolatrous mind and human understanding, supposing that display of the excellence of Babylon was sufficient authority to convert all nations to worship it, thus perverting the light given. His advisers schemed to ensnare the three by leading him to proclaim that every knee should bow to the image, so that refusal to worship would bring them bound into the burning fiery furnace to destroy them.

The binding and casting occurred in the same year Daniel and his companions entered the service of the king of Babylon. It severely tested the integrity of these youthful Hebrews, proving before an idolatrous nation the power and faithfulness of the God of Israel. That testing included suffering persecution and risking life for refusing to disregard the Sabbath and to observe heathen festivals, with God bringing His servants face to face with kings and rulers so that they and their people might receive the light.

Divine Presence and Deliverance

Bound in their full clothing they were thrown into the blazing furnace, and the king himself witnessed that three bound men had been cast into the midst of the fire. Then he saw them walking unharmed in the flames with a fourth figure, the form of the Fourth, like the Son of God. Christ Himself was with His three faithful servants in the furnace, walking with them there after they were thrown in for refusing to bow to the golden image.

God did not forsake them in the furnace but preserved them from all harm, so that the fire lost its power to consume them. They came forth unharmed, without even the smell of fire upon their garments. Their obedience had put them at risk of death, but their deliverance showed that the God they worshiped could preserve them.

That wonderful miracle of deliverance wrought upon Nebuchadnezzar's heart so that he believed in God and was convinced the God of the three was the living God. He acknowledged His superior power over every other kingdom and over earthly kings, and his wrath was turned into praise and thanksgiving to Jehovah. The attempt to enforce idolatry brought the assembled leaders of Babylon knowledge of the true God, and through their steadfastness the knowledge of the true God was spread abroad throughout the length and breadth of the Babylonian empire, making known that heaven rules over earthly kings.

Though the king acknowledged the wonderful miracle, because he did not continue to walk in the light he lost the holy impression made upon his mind.

Doctrine and Scriptural Parallels

The binding and casting into the midst of the burning fiery furnace belongs to the history of the wonderful deliverance of the three Hebrew worthies, displaying the working out of the Lord's purpose for the children of obedience in contrast with the children of disobedience. Their earlier refusal to compromise principle in eating and drinking prepared them in later years to openly disobey the king's requirement even in the face of death, and God vindicated His servants in that trial. Through their steadfastness the knowledge of the true God was spread abroad throughout the length and breadth of the Babylonian empire, for their faithfulness honored God and accomplished the very purpose for which He had permitted them to be carried as captives to that heathen land. The lesson is never to sacrifice principle even in the slightest particular, and it is better to incur the displeasure of men than to surrender loyalty to God.

The verse means that God kept them alive under a death sentence for their faith when they were bound in their coats, hosen, hats and other garments and cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. The same preserving power that kept the three in the furnace kept the apostle John alive when cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, so their preservation from the fire is the comparison for John's preservation from the boiling oil. God thus keeps faithful witnesses when powerful enemies are determined to stop their mouths and take any measure to silence them and cry for their blood. That same preserving God can be trusted by a fearless advocate of truth in feeble health and mortal danger, so that anxiety is not for self or ease but that precious truth not be exposed to insult, with readiness to die rather than let enemies triumph.

The account shows that God preserved the three Israelites when bound and cast in, giving courage to face threatened violence while entrusting the outcome to Him. The God who did this still lives and reigns and is able to preserve His servants when violence is threatened against them for the gospel. Trust in Him gave Luther confidence to entrust his life to God while defending the gospel amid threats to his life, with courage to face rulers without flight or recantation. He was willing to shed blood and give life if He did not save, so the gospel would not be exposed to the scorn and triumph of the wicked.

As the Son of God was with the Hebrew men in the furnace, so at the Lord's coming those united with the Lord will pass through the flames unharmed and the righteous will be untouched by fire. The casting of the three faithful men in Babylon into the midst of the burning fiery furnace is the trials and persecution believers may be called to go through for Christ's sake. God has not promised exemption from such trials, but He has promised strength proportioned to the day and grace sufficient in weakness made perfect in weakness. Jesus will be by the side of those who suffer for Him just as He was with the three in Babylon, and love for the Redeemer makes suffering for His sake sweet, giving joy at every opportunity to share His humiliation and reproach. God does not forget His people in danger and Christ will not forsake those who belong to Him, and even imprisonment and threatened death cannot cut them off from His care, for He can bring them comfort and peace in their trials.

The three Hebrew captives were cast into the burning fiery furnace for loyalty to the God of heaven because they refused to worship the exceedingly costly and magnificent golden image set up in the plain of Dura to represent Babylon and magnify himself as an object of worship, showing that obedience to God may bring unjust persecution. The Lord Jesus was with them in the furnace and preserved them from all harm, so the flames could not harm them. He thus manifested Himself to them as He promises to manifest Himself to those who have His commandments and keep them, and their deliverance shows that God remains with and protects His faithful people even when persecuted for doing right. The king saw the form of the Fourth in the furnace and was convinced that the God of the three was the living God and acknowledged the wonderful miracle wrought, but because he did not continue to walk in the light he lost the holy impression made upon his mind.

Prophecy of Final Crisis

The experience on the plain of Dura is a lesson for the present day, when many of God's servants though innocent of wrongdoing will be given over to suffer humiliation and abuse at the hands of those inspired by Satan and filled with envy and religious bigotry. Especially wrath will be aroused against those who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. At last a universal decree will denounce them as deserving of death.

The same scheme of ensnaring by a universal command to bow will be worked today when human laws demand worship of the Sunday idol set up where God's holy Sabbath should be, striving to turn God's people from allegiance to Him. The loyalty of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who were cast bound into the burning fiery furnace rather than disobey God, shows the principle God's people will display when Sunday is upheld by law and keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is treated as disloyalty to civil law.

The men who carried them in to destroy them were themselves destroyed by the flames. Rulers and advisers who use coercion and make cruel enactments seeking to destroy God's people are destroyed by the recoil of their own actions. The same destruction of persecutors will follow in the final enforcement. Being bound in their own garments and thrown into the blazing furnace because they refused to worship the golden image illustrates how such coercion is employed to turn God's people from allegiance.

Their refusal also pictures a coming period in the Southern States in the work among the colored people when believers will have to refuse likewise, with decisions made for or against the commandments of God. Until that period comes believers and teachers of truth must not be presumptuous. They must never encourage the spirit of defiance and resistance even if placed in suffering like the chain gang, lest such counsel result in great evil and close the way to work fields not yet touched.

The furnace also represents a heated trial in which God does not abandon those in it. Those in it are to hold fast to truth despite opposition. They are to serve God rather than people and rely on His sufficient strength.

Pattern for Faithful Obedience

Their casting into the furnace is the pattern for purposing now to be true to principle come what may and not to turn aside from allegiance to truth, but to stand firm in the time of trial amid continual and sharp contests until the controversy between good and evil is ended. That controversy is soon to be ended, yet there will be a wonderful sharp contest up to its close, calling for the same steadfastness beforehand as purposed in the courts of Babylon. Though the furnace was heated seven times hotter than usual, hotter than it was wont to be heated, it did not turn these faithful servants aside from loyalty to God. They were not forsaken there, for the form of the Fourth was seen walking with them in the flames, and they came forth without even the smell of fire upon their garments.

Their earlier refusal to compromise principle in eating and drinking prepared them in later years to openly disobey the king's requirement even in the face of death in the burning fiery furnace. God vindicated His servants in that trial, and through their steadfastness the knowledge of the true God was spread abroad throughout the length and breadth of the Babylonian empire. Their faithfulness honored God and accomplished the very purpose for which He had permitted them to be carried as captives to that heathen land. The lesson is never to sacrifice principle even in the slightest particular, and that it is better to incur the displeasure of men than to surrender loyalty to God.

Their trial did not make them turn from truth or loyalty to God, but their willingness to face death rather than be untrue shows the steadfastness that firm religious principle gives. Though utterly helpless in themselves, they trusted the word of God and withstood Nebuchadnezzar on the throne and the power of the whole world. Their stand witnesses to the power of God's word against human power and policy in support of evil, marking them as part of the world's true nobility and royal line in which the youth of today are called to take their places. Their courage in the fire shows that people who trust God's Word can stand against even the mightiest human authority.

Their self-denial and faithfulness show that obedience to God is to prevail over circumstances and cultivated or hereditary tendencies. They were not enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habits or tendencies, but ruled the animal passions rather than being held in the bondage of habit. They were not servants of circumstances, but controlled circumstances and surroundings by an inwrought principle learned of the greatest Teacher the world ever knew. All appetites and passions were servants to them as God-fearing men, not rulers over them, and their example is to pass like a plowshare through hereditary and cultivated habits and through all circumstances and surroundings.

The fiery furnace is the proving and trying of God's people. Those who have the divine principles inwrought in the heart as if written by God will not be intimidated by the furnace to deny and betray the truth for any favor, worldly honors, exalted position, or reputation, which is nothingness to them. For them to live is to obey the word of Christ and to die for the truth's sake is gain, the spirit held by Paul and by all who serve under Christ.