0118. The Three Hebrew Children, God's Missionaries to the Babylonians
The Three Hebrew Children, God’s Missionaries to the Babylonians
"Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dung-hill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort" (Dan_3:29).
Babylon was a great world-kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar was her greatest king. There are many marks of God’s movements to make Himself known to the king and people of this empire. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, with Daniel’s interpretation, was a case in point. Also, Nebuchadnezzar’s dethronement and demented condition, until he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdoms of men, was a case in point. In this latter instance, the great king, when he was restored to the glory of his kingdom, and to his honor and brightness, said: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment".
The verse of our lesson, however, is the culminating scene of the fiery furnace episode. When Nebuchadnezzar built his image of gold and demanded that all should fall down and worship it, and when the three Hebrew Children refused to bow, little did they know how God was preparing to magnify His holy and righteous Name.
The fiery furnace slew the men who cast in the faithful servants of God, but the three servants were untouched by the fierceness of the flames. By their side stood the Lord, Himself, and Nebuchadnezzar cried and said, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? * * Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt". All of this happened, not only that God might preserve those who put their faith in Him, and who feared not the commandment of the king, but, it happened that through it all, God might call the greatest nation of earth, a world-empire, unto Himself.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR