Someone’s in the Fire
Daniel 3: 19 – 25 & 29
Verse #25 – King James Version: He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Verse #25 - New Living Translation: Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire. They aren’t even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a divine being
Verse #25 – New International Version: He said, Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of god.
No doubt we have all heard the story about the 3 Hebrew boys. From the time we were little Sunday school children up to this present day we have heard how they were thrown in the fire yet God delivered them out of it. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of himself of gold, it was 12 ½ feet wide 125 feet high. He also made a decree that whenever the sound of the music was heard that everybody had to bow down and worship this monstrosity that image of him or else in the same hour they would be cast into the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar represents the devil here, for he was caught up in pride. He thought himself something when in fact he is nothing.
Well you know the story the music began to play and people began to bow down and worship this idol that Nebuchadnezzar had built in fear of loosing their lives. However, there were (3) three young men by the name of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men represent the church of today. Remember the number three means fullness. These three men refused to bow down to the idol that Nebuchadnezzar had built.
Nebuchadnezzar said if ye worship not ye shall be cast into the midst of the fiery furnace. Then in his pride and self boasting he said who is that God that shall be able to deliver you out of my hands. You see that is what the devil does; he tries to convince you that there is no hope. He tries to make you feel that unless I do this or do that I will not be excepted by society, I will be pushed aside and if I want to achieve in life I must yield to this. But the three Hebrew boys said in verse 17 (the #17 means victory also 1+7=8 8 means new beginning) “If it be so, if we are thrown into the fire our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, they knew Eph.3:20 eventhough it had not even been written yet. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.” We don’t have to fear him who can destroy this body, they new they had a mansion not made by mans hands waiting for them on the other side. But even if he does not be it known unto you that we will not bow down, in other words they had FAITH like Job, they had made up in there mind that they were going to Job it out and said thou he slay us yet will we trust Him.” They were steadfast and unmovable.
This made Nebuchadnezzar upset, just like the devil, when he knows that he can’t cause you to fall gets upset. Nebuchadnezzar became full of fury and demanded that the furnace be made hotter then it normally was, not one, not two, not five times, but seven times hotter than it ought to be. Here we go with the numbers, the number seven (7) is God’s number, and it means perfection and spiritual completeness.
No doubt Nebuchadnezzar had in his mind that the raising of the temperature seven times hotter than normal would not cause a more devastating death, but rather a more rapid annihilation of the three Hebrew boys. It is just like in today, we find that the devil is turning up the heat of sin trying to cause a rapid annihilation of the church. We have homosexuals being made bishops over churches, we have same sex marriages trying to become lawful, we have the standards that this country was built upon being one nation under God, now being called an atrocity and classified as being offensive. Wrong is being called right, right is being called wrong, there are wars and rumors of wars. Children are growing up in a society that has pushed them aside, cast them off, and rejected them as normal, acceptable, and viable members of the social order, they have even classified them as being called “Generation X” the unknown. They are becoming adults that have no direction in their lives, wondering aimlessly, bound, confused, and perplexed. Some have been mentally, physically, and sexually abused. Feeling rejected, dejected, and alone, they are hopelessly waiting to die, imagining that everything will be over if what they have experienced to be life would just cease from being.
Many people in society are being incarcerated mentally, physically, and spiritually. Although free from the human judicial system, are regretfully imprisoned in a far more cruel and ultimately eternal prison. They are sentenced with a life sentence of emotional emasculation, depression, anxiety, low/no self esteem, and phobia’s; some are on the habitual death row of deadly narcotics, alcohol, careless, unsafe, and uninhibited sexual activity. Others have been placed in a solitary confinement of physical pain, discomfort, and disease. They are being held captive behind these seemingly impenetrable bars and inescapable walls, being made to believe that this is all there is to life. Mentally messed up, emotionally emasculated, and spiritually lost, they are aimlessly wandering through life busted, disgusted, they are in the fire.
WHY, because the devil is turning up the heat of sin, he has made a decree trying to cause you and I to die.
But I’m so glad that what the devil means for bad God turns it around and makes it for our good. The turning up of the fiery furnace to seven times hotter than normal made the miraculous deliverance of the three Hebrew boys even more glorious. Just like when a sinner is brought out of sin or when the fiery trials of our lives are quenched and we walk out victoriously, truly it is a glorious experience.
King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that the most mighty of his army grab hold and bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Baby don’t you know that the devil has sent his strongest demons after you to bind you so that you will be cast into the fiery furnace. But what a mighty God we serve. When the men went to throw the 3 Hebrew boys into the fiery furnace, the flames came out and consumed those that were going to throw them in; it consumed the most mighty men of his army. It is said that the flames which consumed these men shot up in the air some 49 cubits high or 27 feet, 2 + 7 = 9 the #9 means divine completeness of the Father.
The 3 Hebrew boys fell into the furnace bound in their clothes. They didn’t just fall down in front of the fire, but they fell into the midst of the fire. The devil meant it for bad, but God had to send them into the fire, because something was going to happen in the fire, they were going to meet Jesus in the fire, they were going to be made free in the fire, God was going to change their situation around, but they had to go into the fire. Brothers and Sisters sometimes we have to go into the fire. We may not like it, but there is something and someone in the fire with us.
Nebuchadnezzar was amazed ran to the mouth of the furnace look in and found not 3 but 4 men loosed walking around in the midst of the fire. Nebuchadnezzar had to stop and say wait a minute didn’t we throw in 3 men that were bound up; the people said yes we did. Nebuchadnezzar said but I see 4 men, no longer bound and the 4th one looks like the Son of God. In other words somebody’s in the fire.
Brothers and Sisters you may be in a fiery situation in your life right now. Someone may have lost a job. Someone’s marriage may be all broken up. Bereavement may have struck your family and you may feel like there is fire deep down in your soul, but remember someone’s in the fire and he looks like the Son of God. You are not alone. It may appear that this is the end, you may even feel the heat of pressure and disappoint, but don’t be afraid something is going to happen in the midst of your fire and God is going to turn your life around.
There’s something that I need you to understand about the three Hebrew boys. When Nebuchadnezzar looked in the furnace he saw the men were no longer bound. That mess that he had placed on them was no longer confining them, they were not limited to the lack of motion any more, but their hands were free. They were able to lift up holy hand in the midst of the fire. Their feet were no longer bound so they could walk around in the fire. I like to believe that they were singing the song I got the devil under my feet; no longer can he hold me I got the devil under my feet.
They were walking around in the fire and they were not alone. Remember whatever fire you may be in right now understand that you are not alone, someone is in the fire with you and His name is above every other name, He is the Son of God, Jesus is His name, you are not alone.
They were walking around in the fire; they were not trying to get out. They were not beating on the walls of the furnace, but in the midst of the furnace they were communicating with the Son of God. Baby in the midst of your troubles never stop communicating with God.
Many times people try to come out of the fire before it is time. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn’t try to come out before their time, but the stayed in the fire, while they were in the fire God broke the bands off of their hands, he loosed the bands from around their feet, the smell of smoke didn’t even stick to their clothes all of this was done while they were in the fire.
My mind goes over to the book of Malachi 3 : 3 “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: A refiner of silver or gold is called a silversmith or goldsmith and the process of refining the gold or silver is a process that when looked at spiritually you see and understand the mighty hand-work of God.
To refine silver or gold is to hold a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. In refining silver or gold, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. God is holding us in the middle of the hot spots in life. The whole time the silver or gold is in the fire the refiner has to sit in front of the fire the whole time the silver or gold is being refined. The refiner, he not only has to sit there holding the silver, but he has to keep his eyes on the silver or gold the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver or gold were left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. No matter how long it seems you have been in the fire, God knows and will not leave you in there to long. He is refining you. The question is, "How do you know when the silver or gold is fully refined?" The answer is when I see my image in it." God will send us through the fiery furnace and refining fires until he is able to see His image in us.
Somebody might be in the fire and you are ready to come out, but stay a little while longer, God is doing a great work in you. The trials, tribulations, storms, and hard-times in your life are just part of the fire.
God is trying to develop your character. Character is: one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual, it is a feature used to separate distinguishable things into categories; a group or kind so separated, the detectable expression of the action of a gene or group of genes, the aggregate of distinctive qualities. 1st Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
We are to be Christ like that is the meaning of the word Christian. The Divine purpose for us is not just a mere external imitation of Christ but an internal transformation. Because you can look Holy on the outside and be pure hell on the inside, but an internal transformation is Holy on the inside and causes the outside to be Holy also. All of this must take place in the fire.
In verse 26 Nebuchadnezzar went over to the mouth of the furnace and called for the 3 Hebrew boys when they came out of the fire everyone looked on them in amazement, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The 3 Hebrew boys were still alive, their clothes didn’t smell of smoke their bands were loosed, nothing was the matter with them.
Nebuchadnezzar had a change of heart. Eventhough he meant it for their bad God made him, the one that had become their enemy now was their footstool, but they had to stay in the fire. When they came out Nebuchadnezzar made another decree He said in verse 29 That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut into pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill, (a pile of mess) because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Sometimes in this walk there may comes times when we find our selves in the fire, but we must not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s suffering that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Someone’s in the fire and his name is Jesus. He is right there with you.
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
