“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. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18, ESV).

How much stress can your faith handle?

When Judah was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, many young Jewish men of noble birth were taken to the king’s palace and instructed in the literature and language of the Chaldeans. One of these young Jewish men, Daniel, interpreted a dream Nebuchadnezzar had and was promoted to prime minister over the province of Babylon. Daniel requested the king to appoint his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as cabinet ministers over the affairs of the province.

Later, Nebuchadnezzar built a ninety-foot image of gold and ordered all nations under his rule to worship the golden image. He made it a capital offense to refuse or neglect to worship the image. When Daniel’s friends refused to worship the image, they knew it meant a death sentence–and an agonizing one at that.

Nebuchadnezzar ordered the three young men to be bound and thrown into a fiery furnace heated to seven times its usual capacity. The fire in the furnace was so hot it killed the Chaldeans who took Daniel’s friends up to the furnace. When the three Israelites fell bound into the furnace, their bindings were apparently burnt off because they were seen by Nebucadnezzar and his advisors walking around in the fiery furnace with a fourth person (vs. 25).

The fourth person was either an angel or a preincarnate appearance of Christ (called a Christophany) sent to provide protection for the three young men from the intense heat of the furnace. They were so well protected from the fire that no hair on their head was singed, their clothing was not burned, and they didn’t even smell like smoke!

Nebuchadnezzar was so astonished that he offered praise to God and issued a new decree to make it a capital offense to speak against Almighty God!

And the king was so impressed by their faith that he gave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego a big promotion.

How determined is your faith in God? How much stress can your faith handle?

Resolute faith is having faith with conviction. It’s trusting God whether or not He delivers you out of your adversity.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV)

Related articles

• The Fiery Furnace in Babylon: Another place where we can see Jesus, “the Son of God”! (bereansearching.wordpress.com)
• No Compromise (eryouth.wordpress.com)
• The Fiery Furnace – Daniel 3 (hillsbiblechurch.org)
• With Jesus in the Furnace (kelund.wordpress.com)