i don't remember where or when i heard this story exactly, but i find it to be a true testimony of faith and strength to follow God even when it is uncouth or in the face of danger. the story of shadrach, meshach and abednego takes place in the book of daniel, chapters 1-3. but the most fascinating part of the story is in daniel 3.
in short, the king of the time, nebuchadnezzar, had built a 90' tall statue for all the land to worship. he called for everybody to worship this statue at set times and if anybody did not worship this statue, they would be thrown into a furnace. as they were told, people worshiped the statue, except for shadrach, meshach and abednego. word got back to nebuchadnezzar that these three men were not worshiping the statue as they had been ordered to. so nebuchadnezzar sent for them. nebuchadnezzar asked them if it was true if they had not worshiped the statue as they had been ordered. their answer was one of wisdom, faith and strength.
they said, "nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves to you. if you throw us into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from the furnace...but even if God does not save us...we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."
WOW! can you imagine standing up to somebody of nebuchadnezzar's status and telling him, "nope, you're wrong. i don't care if you kill me, you're wrong."
anyways, back to the story...nebuchadnezzar was so infuriated by this statement, that he ordered the furnace to be fired to 7 times hotter than normal, and that shadrach, meshach and abednego be tied up to ensure they couldn't escape. the soldiers went to throw the three men into the furnace, but it was so hot, that they died and the three men fell into the furnace. at this moment, nebuchadnezzar jumped to his feet because there were 4 men walking around in the furnace! shadrach, meshach and abednego were walking in the furnace unharmed, no burns, not on fire...and the fourth man in the furnace? that was God.
upon seeing this, nebuchadnezzar called for shadrach, meshach and abednego to come to him. they were completely unharmed. nebuchadnezzar then made a new statement, that anybody who brings harm to these three men would be "torn apart and their house made a pile of stones" because they did not turn their back on God.
i think that this is a testament for how we should live our lives. so often some of us back down because christianity isn't cool...we don't want to be shunned from our society because we believe in a God who is above all things. and yet, shadrach, meshach and abednego were willing to die to prove their loyalty to God. what amazing story!
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