One of the most remarkable stories of God’s care for and deliverance of His children can be found in Daniel chapter three.  Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had made an image of enormous height, and had set it in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.  When the image was dedicated, a host of dignitaries from across the country were invited to attend.  At that dedication Nebuchadnezzar commanded that at what time they heard the sound of certain musical instruments, they were to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had made.    If anyone refused to bow before the image he would receive swift and sure punishment.  Among the Hebrew captives living in Babylon were three men, better known to us by their Chaldean names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  When the command was given to bow before the image, these three faithful Jews stood their ground and refused to bow before that idol.  They were brought before the king.  “Bow or burn!”  As if the threat were not enough, the king added ridicule to his rage: “And who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?” 

 These young Hebrews, captives in a foreign land, threatened with certain death, could easily have escaped a most horrible death by simply bowing before a “god” that really was no god at all.  But truth was at stake; God’s honor was being threatened; God’s power was being questioned.  No!  They would not bow.  “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”  What courage!  The king was so angry that his very countenance was changed! “Heat the furnace seven times more than normally heated!”    The three Hebrew children were bound and cast into the furnace.  The fire was so hot that even those soldiers who cast these men into the furnace were themselves consumed by the heat of the fire.    As if to assure himself, king Nebuchadnezzar peered into the flame to see what he might see.  In the midst of the flames walked  (no longer bound, we might add), these three faithful Jews, suffering no hurt from the flames of the king’s retribution.  But they were not by themselves, for in the midst of the flames, and walking by their side was One like unto the Son of God.    “Come forth,” cried the king!  And when these three Hebrews stepped from the flames, that fire had no power upon their bodies, their hair was not singed, their garments were unscathed, and they did not even have the smell of smoke upon them.  

 Here are three important lessons to learn:  (1) It is never right to compromise!  These three Hebrews may have reasoned that they were in a strange land; who would know whether they bowed before some stupid, powerless, insignificant idol?  God would know! And those about them would know!   (2) Courage arises from deep conviction and personal regard for principle.    Who was it that said heroes die but once, but cowards die many deaths?  Even if God Almighty chose not to deliver these three men from death in the fiery furnace, truth was at stake!  They would not bow before that idol. They could face death with a courageous confidence that they were right in their choice.  It is reported that when Polycarp was about to be burned at the stake that he calmly said to the man about to light the flame, “See how my hands are steady while yours tremble!”   (3) Life’s fiery furnaces are unavoidable!  “Yea, all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).  Given enough time, you will face the choice of either bowing before the “king’s image” or maintaining loyalty to the King of kings.   How you respond to the “king’s edict” will determine whether or not the King confesses you before the Father in heaven.