Burn Us Up

I'm not sure if I've shared this with you guys before but it's about my favorite story in the bible.

It's found in Daniel Chapter 3.

Daniel chapter 3 is about three Judahites that did not bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar, and were then thrown in the fire furnace.

The chapter begins with King Nebuchadnezzar making a “ninety feet high and nine feet wide golden image” of himself.
Talk about vanity.
He then made a decree to all the people and nations stating “as soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the image of gold that I have set up”. He also went on to state that if anyone does not bow down to him, he will place them in a fiery furnace.

Rewind for just one second: Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me”.

As the music began to play, all the people of all the nations bowed down to the king…except three.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. (Say that three times fast)

Once the king heard that these three were not bowing down he demanded to know why. With a simple answer, they replied
“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”.

So if you’re not following…these three men just stood up to the king and told him basically “yea, it aint gunna happen”.

THE KING! The man who just told them that if they didn’t follow this they would end up in a furnace. Imagine your oven…on like 800. Pretty hot.

So obviously Nebuchadnezzar gets pretty upset about this and orders them to the furnace. And not just to the furnace, but he ordered it to be heated SEVEN times hotter than normal…and to throw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in.

The following part of the chapter is why this is my favorite, and as much as I’d like to summarize it for you, I can’t to do it justice:
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

THEY CAME OUT OF THE FIRE AND DIDN’T EVEN SMELL LIKE A BURNT MARSHMELLOW!
Also, note that there were four men walking around. Although the bible doesn’t say who that fourth man was, like many, I believe that it was Jesus. Like many other times in the Old Testament, this is a prophecy to the Son of God. He came in and protected the three of them, because they stood up for God. And not only did they stand up for God, but they were willing to die for God.

Would you bow down to Nebuchadnezzar, or go dancing around in a furnace?

God gives us these kinds of encounters every day. They may not have these types of ramifications at the end, but He gives us situations where we need to stand up for Him.
God is worth fighting for…He’s worth your life.
If He’s the one who created you, and gave you life, how do you repay Him. How do you say thank you?

Read and reread this chapter. Glorify God today in everything you do. Thank Him that you don’t have to go into a furnace, but ask Him to give you the strength you would need to stand in that furnace. And think about who that fourth figure was.

If you had to bow down or go dance in a furnace, what would you do?

Also, please listen to Shane & Shanes Burn Us Up.

Your sister in Christ,
Meg