The Three Amigos

I am in the book of Daniel this week. This is a very interesting book. There are so many truths that can be learned. One of the most famous stories in the book of Daniel is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego facing the fiery furnace. I am not sure why I never picked up on this but Daniel was not thrown into the furnace. I guess I had assumed that he was one of the three but he was not. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were Daniel's friends. Daniel aka Belteshazzar is not one of the three. Anyway, that is not the point of this Blog. On with my thoughts:

We find the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3. King Nebuchadnezzar builds a golden idol that is ninety feet high and nine feet wide and he tells everyone to bow down and worship it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to do so. Again, I am assuming that Daniel refuses to do so as well but he is not involved in this for some reason. Anyway, the king finds out that these three men are refusing to do what he has commanded and he is furious. He brings these three guys in and questions them to see if what he heard about them is true. It almost seems as though King Nebuchadnezzar has never had anyone disobey one of his commands. Take a look at the verses:

Daniel 3: 13 - 15 13 Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, 14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"

A couple of observations from this. First, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were probably under a lot of pressure to worship the idol from their peers. If you read between the lines you will notice that no one else is brought in for this violation. No one in all the kingdom. The entire kingdom is bowing down, it is the way things are, it is the culture of the times. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego just need to roll with it, don't fight the man, don't stir the pot, don't rock the boat baby just go with the flow and all will be ok. Second, they are facing certain death if they refuse to bow down. My guess is that they were not far from the furnace. As these three were being questioned by the king they probably heard the roar of the furnace in the background. Maybe one of the kings men ran up to him and said "Sir we have the furnace ready, it is white hot inside, we tested it with an ox and he was incinerated within a few seconds!" Maybe King Nebuchadnezzar looks back at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego with an evil grin on his face before he says "Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" However, (however is one of my favorite words in these types of stories) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego completely blindside the king with what they say:

Daniel 3: 16 - 18 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 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. 18 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."

The thought that came to mind as I read this was based on part of verse 17 "the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king". I do not think these guys knew how this was going to turn out. I see no evidence of a vision from God or a visit from an angel telling them that they would be rescued. They probably figured one of two things would happen. Either A: God would miraculously protect and deliver them, like he protected Joseph when he was sold into slavery and later became one of the most powerful men in Egypt or like he protected their ancestors as they escaped from the Egyptians, as he has done over and over. Or B: They would be incinerated! They would no longer be persecuted by the king. They would be carried into Abraham's bosom (Luke 16: 22) - ushered into paradise where the Messiah would one day come and take them to heaven - Luke 23: 43.

I think the attitude of the three amigos should be our attitude. God is able to rescue us from any and all situations. Sometimes he does it in a miraculous way like he did in this story and sometimes he takes people out of this world. He allows someone to be consumed by the flames, he allows them to perish. Regardless of the outcome or as the three so eloquently stated "But even if he does not" God is still God!