Out Of The Fire Series

Out of The Fire

Daniel 3:23 – 28

Read Scripture.

How in the world did these 3 young men get in such a predicament?

Well Daniel had convinced King Nebuchadnezzar to give his friends good positions in his Kingdom they were administrators over Babylon while Daniel was in the king’s court.

One day old king Nebuchadnezzar had an image of gold built that was 90’ x 9’ and placed it in the province of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar sent word to the mayors, councils, governors, and all the other officials to be at the dedication of the image.

Then it was announced that the people were commanded, not compelled , but commanded to bow down and worship immediately when they heard the music start. The scripture tells us that men of all nations bowed down at the first sound of music, everyone was worshiping this idol.

Well almost everyone, some tattletaling Chaldeans showed up and said O great king, we know about the decree for everyone to bow down at the sound of music playing and worship the image.

We just want to tell you about some certain Jews that are appointed over Babylon, were can’t tell you there names but their initials are Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego!!

This made the king furious and he called them before him and offered them another chance to worship his gods and bow down as the music played, and told them if they didn’t that all three would immediately be thrown in the furnace.

Basically Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego told him; hey don’t waste your time. Heat that baby up cause we aint bowing to your god.

And our God will deliver us out of the blazing fire and from you. And even if he doesn’t we aren’t going to serve your gods or worship that golden image.

Nebuchadnezzar was made it says even his facial expression changed and he told his men heat that baby up get it hot , seven times hotter than normal. Even the guards that tried to put them into the furnace burned.

Then when the king looked in he had to second guessed himself, weren’t there three men that went in there. Yes king only three. Astounded he said Look I see four loosed and walking around and one is like a son of the gods.

Can you imagine Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego walking around in this hot furnace full of flames having a chat with an angel, or maybe Jesus himself? Nebuchadnezzar called to them and told them to come out and when they examined them they realize that only divine intervention saved these young men and he praised them for standing up and putting their trust in a God that delivers. He made a decree that no one speak against the God of Shadrack Meshach and Abednego and nebechanezzer helped them be prosperous in the land of Babylon.

These three young men were in a situation and really had done nothing wrong except defy the decree of the king and follow the law of God .And because of their faith they were delivered from the fire.

Things are no different today we can be delivered just the same we just have to trust God.

Sometimes I think if we would trust in God as much as we trust in our co-workers and friends we would be surprised at what God would do in our lives.

Look I know about trust and I know about fire, see this helmet here (Show burned and melted helmet) this happened at a close call one day. Every time we went into a burning building we put our lives in the hands of our battalion chief we trusted that if things started taking a turn for the worse he would see it and call us out and the day this happened he did. Me and my partner Slo-Mo were doing a search and an engine company was trying to gain access to the fire we had searched a bedroom, bathroom and were going down the hallway to another bedroom when we heard the chief give the order all hands out!!! I looked at slo- mo and said “Is he for real” because we were standing up looking at each other no smoke, no heat, no nothing. So I said o well lets go. As soon as we turned around we had to hit the floor immediately we couldn’t see our hands in front of our face and it was getting really hot. So we started moving fast we ran into the other crew just before we reached the door and as we exited the structure flames and smoke came out right behind us, the whole house immediately burst into flames as we were exiting the door and trying to help each other out. Trusting in each other helped us get out alive, trusting the chief judgment and following his orders helped us get out safely. Trusting in God is what allowed me to do what I did for 25 years. I always had faith and trust that God would see me safely through every shift.