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Daniel 3

The fiery furnace

Three young men refuse to bow to a golden statue and are thrown into a furnace. Their answer to the king is the most honest sentence about faith in the Bible.

The story

King Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue of gold, nearly thirty metres tall, on a plain outside Babylon, and summons every official in the empire to its unveiling. The instructions are simple. When the music plays, horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, the whole orchestra, everyone bows to the statue. Anyone who doesn't goes into a burning furnace that same hour. The music plays. Everyone bows.

Almost everyone. Some Babylonian officials go to the king with a tip-off, and you can hear the resentment in it. There are certain Jews you promoted over the province, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and they've ignored you. They don't serve your gods and they didn't bow. The king, furious, has them brought in and gives them a second chance. When the music plays, bow, and it's fine. If not, the furnace. And who is the god who can get you out of my hands?

Their answer is short and it's the reason this chapter is famous. We don't need to defend ourselves to you. If it comes to it, the God we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace, and he'll rescue us from you. But even if he doesn't, know this, king: we won't serve your gods and we won't bow to your statue.

Nebuchadnezzar loses it. His face changes, the text says. He orders the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and has his strongest soldiers tie the three men up, fully clothed, and throw them in. The heat kills the soldiers who carry them to the door. The three fall in, bound.

Then the king jumps up. Didn't we throw in three men, tied? Yes. I see four, he says, walking around loose in the fire, unhurt, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. He goes to the mouth of the furnace himself and calls them out by name, servants of the Most High God. They walk out. The officials crowd round to look. No burns, no singed hair, their clothes fine, and they don't even smell of smoke.

Nebuchadnezzar makes a speech blessing their God, who sent an angel and rescued servants who trusted him, who defied the king's order and put their bodies on the line rather than worship anyone else. He issues a decree protecting their religion and promotes all three. The text doesn't say who the fourth figure was, and it's better not to be more certain than the text.

The verse to keep

Daniel 3:17–18WEB
17If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
Gen Zsame meaning, your words

If it comes to that, the God we serve can rescue us from the burning furnace, and he'll rescue us from you, king. But even if he doesn't, you should know this: we still won't serve your gods or bow to the gold statue you've put up.

‘But if not’ is the hinge. Faith that only works when the outcome is guaranteed isn't faith, it's a contract.

What it actually means

The whole chapter turns on ‘but if not’. They believe God can save them. They don't know if he will. And they've decided that it doesn't change the answer. That's a faith that isn't a deal. Most of the time when people say ‘I trust God’, they mean ‘I trust God to do the thing I want’. These three had already let go of the outcome before they walked into the fire.

For the first readers, Jews living under foreign empires, this was a story about what to do when the state demands what only God is owed. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were good officials. They'd served Babylon well. The line wasn't ‘we won't serve a pagan king’. It was ‘we won't worship him’. There's a difference, and they'd worked out where it was before the music started.

What it doesn't say: that God always sends the fourth man. Plenty of people since have gone into the fire and not come out, and the text knows this; it's why the ‘but if not’ is there. What it does say is that the fire wasn't the end of them, and that the king who ordered the fire ended up praising the God he'd mocked. If you're facing something that feels like a furnace, the honest promise here isn't ‘you won't burn’. It's closer to ‘you won't be alone in it’.

Worth arguing about

  1. 1‘But if not.’ Have you ever trusted God without a guaranteed outcome, or has it always been a deal?
  2. 2They served a pagan king well for years and drew one line. Where would your line be?
  3. 3The king went from ‘who is the god who can save you’ to blessing that God in one afternoon. What changed him, the rescue or the refusal?

Read it yourself: Daniel 3

World English Bible. 30 verses.

1Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3Then the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4Then the herald cried aloud, “To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages, 5that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6Whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace the same hour.” 7Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 8Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and brought accusation against the Jews. 9They answered Nebuchadnezzar the king, “O king, live for ever! 10You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image; 11and whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. 12There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not respected you. They don’t serve your gods, and don’t worship the golden image which you have set up.” 13Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. Then these men were brought before the king. 14Nebuchadnezzar answered them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and you don’t worship the golden image which I have set up? 15Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god who will deliver you out of my hands?” 16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.” 19Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. 22Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. 24Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his counselors, “Didn’t we cast three men bound into the middle of the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” 25He answered, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” 26Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the middle of the fire. 27The local governors, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies. The hair of their head wasn’t singed. Their pants weren’t changed. The smell of fire wasn’t even on them. 28Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God. 29Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything evil against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.” 30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

Whole book: Daniel

Keep going

🩁 Daniel in the lions' denđŸŽČ EstherđŸœïž Jesus in the wilderness🩁 Bible verses for courageđŸŒ± Bible verses about faith🌑 Bible verses for fearđŸȘž Bible verses about identityđŸŒ«ïž Bible verses about doubt