“If this be so, 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).

Daniel 2 tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon having a troubling dream that none of his wise men could explain. He demanded they not only interpret his dream but also describe the dream itself–otherwise they would be executed! Daniel, a Hebrew exile to Babylon, prayed to God who revealed to Daniel both the dream and its meaning. Daniel then explained the dream and its interpretation to King Nebuchadnezzar and prevented the execution of the Babylonian wise men including himself and his three fellow exiles.

At the end of Chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed: “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery” (vs. 47). Nevertheless, by the beginning of Daniel 3, some eight years later, Nebuchadnezzar’s acclaim for the sovereignty of Israel’s God seemed to have dissipated. In Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar made a 90-foot high golden image, presumably of himself, for all the Babylonians to worship!

Though not explicitly stated, there seems to be a literary connection between the stories in Daniel 2 and 3. In Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue with a head of gold, which represented Nebuchadnezzar’s empire: “You are the head of gold” (Daniel 2:38, ESV). The body of the statue was made of several substances representing the rise and fall of multiple historical empires after the Babylonian empire. But, in Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar made an entire image of gold.

Although Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that only God’s kingdom will stand forever (Daniel 2:44), the symbolism of an image constructed completely of gold presumed the permanence and supremacy of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule. The creation of the image was an act of religious defiance and self-exaltation. The story’s symbolism also recalls the events of Exodus 32 when the Israelites fashioned a golden calf at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Law from God. Like Nebuchadnezzar, the Israelites were substituting human invention (idolatry) for divine revelation (God’s covenant) when God had miraculously demonstrated otherwise to both.

While the statue may not have been a straightforward image of Nebuchadnezzar, it likely represented his authority, his kingdom, and the allegiance he demanded. What it almost certainly was not, was Nebuchadnezzar’s attempt to honor or depict the God of Israel as he understood Him. So, the ulterior motives of Nebuchadnezzar became the context for the well-known account of the fatal faith demonstrated by Daniel’s three friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

King Nebuchadnezzar decreed that all people (of the Babylonian empire) should fall down and worship the giant golden statue he had constructed with the penalty of execution by being burned alive for those who didn’t comply. Nebuchadnezzar’s advisors informed him that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were promoted to official positions in the province of Babylon after the dream interpretation episode (see Daniel 2:49), refused to bow down to the statue. Their faith in God prevented them from worshiping an idol and it was a fatal faith because it could result in their deaths. Their refusal to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol could cause them to suffer a violent and excruciating death by being burned alive (makes you wonder why this story is so popular in children’s Sunday School lessons).

Nebuchadnezzar was furious and had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego brought in for questioning. When asked directly by King Nebuchadnezzar if they were going to worship the golden image with the threat of being thrown into a fiery furnace and burned alive if they did not, they responded with a definitive no-way! They declared that God could deliver them from being incinerated in the fiery furnace, but if He didn’t they still would never worship the golden idol!

Ancient Babylon was famous for massive brick construction and large furnaces were not uncommon. The furnace was likely a large industrial kiln used for smelting metals, firing bricks, and/or producing ceramics with an opening on the top or side large enough to cast people in and an opening to see inside. Furious at their resistance Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated much hotter than usual and had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, bound and thrown into the burning furnace. The furnace was so hot that its temperature was lethal at close range and the soldiers who threw them into the fire were killed by the heat.

After the men were thrown into the furnace Nebuchadnezzar looked in and was astonished because their bonds were burned off and they walked around freely accompanied by a mysterious fourth figure. Nebuchadnezzar identified the fourth figure as a son of God (or “the gods” – Daniel 3:25, ESV) and it is presumed to be either an angel or a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. While the figure’s exact identity is open to interpretation, what’s we do know is that to Nebuchadnezzar it revealed the powerful presence of God Himself as His divine protection and deliverance of His people in the midst of impossible circumstances (again, recalling the Exodus story).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to die for their faith in God because they knew something else. They knew the end from the beginning! They knew that fatal faith is faith that you can die for because it is also faith that you can live (forever) for.

The writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament refers to the fatal faith of these Hebrew exiles and others with faith like them in ancient times: “For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight (Hebrews 11:32-34, ESV).

And, the reason for their faith, the Hebrews writer explained, was that fatal faith was forward-looking faith, future-oriented faith. It was faith expressed as living in this world in expectation of living eternally in a heavenly home: “For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland… they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:14-16, ESV).

So, how much heat can your faith in God take?