Daniel 3:22, commentary and pictures

Because the king's command was urgent and the furnace was exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew the men who took up and carried Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, while the three captives fell bound into the furnace and were preserved alive. In limitless wrath at being defied by representatives of a despised captive race, the king had ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated, so furious that it burned to death those who threw the Hebrews in. God did not forsake the three in the flames, but Christ Himself walked with them in the fire as the form of the Fourth and kept them from all harm, so that they came forth without even the smell of fire upon their garments. That the carriers were killed while the captives lived shows their survival was God's protection and not proof the furnace was harmless. Their standing firm for truth under threat of extreme heat is the pattern for God's people now to purpose to be true to the close, and their deliverance vindicated their loyalty and turned the king's wrath to praise of the living God.

Furnace Setting and Meaning

Because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace was exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up and carried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to it, while the three captives were preserved alive inside the fire. In limitless wrath at being defied in the height of his power and glory by representatives of a despised and captive race, the king ordered the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated, and the flames were so furious they burned to death the men who threw the Hebrews in. The extreme heat did not cause Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to turn aside from allegiance to truth, for having purposed to be true to principle come what may they stood firm in the time of trial and were cast into the furnace.

The event took place on the plain of Dura, where a golden image representing the kingdom of Babylon and especially Nebuchadnezzar himself and his glory had been set up for worship. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were three faithful servants who cherished the knowledge of the true God and stayed loyal to the God of heaven, and would not bow the knee to that idolatrous image.

Such haste was made to get them in because the commandment was urgent that the exceeding hot fire burst forth and slew the men that took them up and put them in, while the three fell into the furnace still bound. The king and his courtiers then looked in and saw four men instead of three, with the fourth like unto the Son of God, whom the king could recognize because Daniel and these men had talked to him of God and of Christ the representative of God.

It happened in the same year Daniel and his companions entered the service of the king of Babylon, as part of events that severely tested the integrity of these youthful Hebrews and proved before an idolatrous nation the power and faithfulness of the God of Israel.

Divine Presence and Deliverance

God did not forsake the three in the flames, but Christ Himself, seen as the form of the Fourth, walked with them in the fire and preserved them from all harm. He so manifests Himself to those who love Him and keep His commandments. They had been cast in for remaining true to God, yet a fourth figure was seen with them and they were kept alive where the king's urgent command had made the heat seven times hotter than was wont. Their stand is the pattern for God's people now to purpose to be true to principle to the close.

They came forth from the furnace unharmed, without even the smell or trace of fire upon their garments. No trace of fire was left upon their clothing, though they had stood firm in the time of trial in flames heated seven times hotter than usual. The deadly fire killing the carriers while the captives lived shows their survival was God's protection, not proof the furnace was harmless. The haste of the king and the exceeding heat slew the men who took them up and carried them to it, while the three faithful youths remained alive inside, and this illustrates the contrast between obedience to God and disobedience.

The verse shows the Lord's power to preserve the life of faithful servants in deadly heat, as He preserved the three Hebrews alive when they were cast in to be destroyed. Because the Son of God was with them they were not consumed, so that the righteous can pass unharmed through fire. In the day of the Lord smoke and flame likewise cannot harm those united with the Lord and prepared to meet their Saviour, for the Lord did not forget His own in trial. The same God who preserved the three worthies preserves His fearless witness for truth when powerful enemies seek his life, as shown when He preserved John cast into boiling oil. Trust in that preserving God removes care for self and ease and gives readiness to die rather than let enemies triumph over the truth.

The same preserving God gave Luther confidence that God could preserve him amid threats, sickness, and very probable violence when called to stand for the gospel at Worms. The God who preserved the three young men still lives and reigns and is able to save His servant called of God before the emperor. If God would not save him, his life was of little consequence beside preventing scorn to the gospel, being ready to shed blood rather than flee or retract and leaving whether life or death would most serve salvation in God's hands. Believers are not promised exemption from fiery trials for Christ's sake, but Jesus is by their side in them giving strength as days require and grace sufficient in weakness. Unjust condemnation does not mean God has stopped reigning, and a person facing severe opposition need not fear abandonment, so that sharing Christ's humiliation and reproach becomes sweet and a reason to rejoice.

Witness to King and Nation

The attempt to crush truth by persecution brought God's servants face to face with kings and rulers so that rulers and their people might receive light, and time after time the greatest monarchs were led to proclaim the supremacy of the God worshiped by their Hebrew captives. The refusal of the three Hebrews to worship the golden image and their rescue from the furnace brought the knowledge of the true God before Babylon's princes and leading men, so that the attempt to enforce idolatry became the means of revealing God. Through their steadfastness in that later test, when loyalty to God forced open disregard of the king's requirements in the very face of death, the knowledge of the true God was spread abroad throughout the length and breadth of the empire of Babylon.

The deliverance displayed God's power and faithfulness and vindicated the loyalty of the captives before Babylon. The golden image on the plain of Dura represented the kingdom of Babylon and the king himself and his glory, which three faithful servants would not worship by bowing the knee, and Christ Himself walked with them in the furnace to deliver and preserve them from all harm. The king and his courtiers looked in and saw four men instead of three, with the fourth like the Son of God, whom the king could recognize because he had been told of God and of Christ, and God was thus magnified in their deliverance. That wonderful miracle wrought upon Nebuchadnezzar's heart so that he believed in God and His superior power over every other kingdom and earthly king, was convinced the God of the Hebrews was the living God, acknowledged God, and turned his wrath to praise and thanksgiving.

Their faithfulness in refusing to compromise honored God and accomplished the very purpose for which their captivity in that heathen land had been permitted. They cherished the knowledge of the true God and stayed loyal to the God of heaven at the cost of being cast into the burning fiery furnace for loyalty to Him. Yet although the king acknowledged the wonderful miracle, he did not continue to walk in the light and therefore lost the holy impression made upon his mind.

Prophecy of Final Crisis

The overheated furnace stands as one of the continual sharp contests in the controversy between good and evil that will last to its soon close. It means pressure made most urgent and severe to force unfaithfulness to truth. The exceeding heat did not turn the three from allegiance to truth, for having purposed to be true to principle come what may they stood firm in the time of trial and were cast into the furnace. They were not forsaken there, but the form of the Fourth was seen walking with them in the flames, and they came forth without even the smell or trace of fire upon their garments.

The experience on the plain of Dura gives important lessons for this day. It shows that God's servants may be innocent of wrongdoing yet be given over to suffer humiliation and abuse at the hands of those inspired by Satan and filled with envy and religious bigotry.

It especially foreshadows how the wrath of man will be aroused against those who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, until at last a universal decree denounces them as deserving of death. A like period is coming in the Southern States to do as the three worthies did who refused to bow to the image, when the demand to bow will force a decision for or against the commandments of God. Until that time believers and teachers of the truth among the colored people must not act in a haphazard or presumptuous way and must not close their own way.

The later test forced open disregard of the king's requirements in the very face of death. It teaches that God's people remain loyal to His commandments when civil authority demands disobedience to God, and their loyalty becomes especially clear when God's law is opposed. God vindicated His servants for refusing to compromise, and through their steadfastness the knowledge of the true God was spread abroad throughout the length and breadth of the empire, honoring God and accomplishing the very purpose for which their captivity in that heathen land had been permitted. Principle is never to be sacrificed even in the slightest particular, because it is better to incur the displeasure of men than to surrender loyalty to God.

Call to Faithful Obedience

The furnace heated seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated was pressure made most urgent and severe to force unfaithfulness to truth, one of the continual sharp contests in the controversy between good and evil that will last to its soon close. The exceeding heat did not cause Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to turn aside from allegiance to truth, for having purposed to be true to principle come what may they stood firm in the time of sharp trial and were cast into the furnace and were not forsaken of God. Their stand is the pattern for God's people now to purpose to be true to principle to the close.

Utterly helpless in themselves, by trusting God's word they withstood the king and the threat of the furnace and the power of the whole world against human power and policy in support of evil. They belong to the world's true nobility and its royal line, in which the youth of today are called to take their places. Their example shows that firm religious principle can withstand even the threat of death rather than be untrue to God. Loyalty to God forced open disregard of the king's requirements in the very face of death, teaching never to sacrifice principle even in the slightest particular, because it is better to incur the displeasure of men than to surrender loyalty to God.

Those with divine principles inwrought in the heart cannot be intimidated to deny and betray the truth for any amount of favor, worldly honors, exalted position, or human reputation, which is to them as nothingness. For them to live is to obey the word of Christ and to die for the truth's sake is gain, the spirit of all who serve under Christ, for serving God is better than serving people, and one facing severe opposition for faithfulness need not fear being abandoned because strength is sufficient. Their self-denial and self-sacrifice in remaining faithful to God despite circumstances means not being enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habits or tendencies. It means ruling the animal passions rather than being held in bondage of habit, and making all circumstances, appetites and passions servants to the God-fearing man rather than rulers over him, by an inwrought principle learned of Christ and having the attributes of Christ, so that excuses from circumstances are valueless.

The men who sought to destroy the three by carrying out the cruel decree to cast them into the furnace were themselves slain by the flame, while those they sought to destroy were spared. Those who make cruel enactments to force God's people to bow to false worship and to destroy them are destroyed by the recoil of their own actions. Cruel laws made to destroy God's people can thus recoil on those who enact or carry them out.