The Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3

In Daniel chapter 3, the story of three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego describes how they were sent to a fiery furnace because of their devotion to God. They were delivered by an angel from God sent to rescue them from this execution by King Nebuchadnezzar. During the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II, of Babylon, he had a nine storey statue made of gold set up in the plain of Dura. He then commanded everyone in Babylon to worship and bow down to the statue. The consequence for not bowing down to the golden image was execution by a blazing fiery furnace. During this period, some officers noticed that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had refused to bow down to the image with the claim that they only bow down to only one person which is God. Thus King Nebuchadnezzar was notified and he was enraged. He ordered the three of them to come into the palace immediately. Nebuchadnezzar gave them a second chance to prove their loyalty to him but they refused saying “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Nebuchadnezzar demanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual and the three of them be thrown into the furnace. Upon approaching the furnace, the soldiers who bound Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego perished (Burned to death) and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the furnace. When King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his