07/13/2023
LOSING POWER OVER THE FURNACE
I believe the book of Daniel is one of the most relevant books today. It deals with the chosen people in bondage to a King, who had delusions of godhood and wanted to be worshipped. Here, a vicious attack is leveled on those who would not bow to the image that was created. The purpose of this image was to command that the worship of God’s people be directed to the king. A furnace was prepared to incinerate those who would not bow to this image. In fact, the furnace was heated seven times hotter, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the furnace.
In all of Babylon, in the midst of this haughty king and rebellious empire, God had a few who were taken and thrown into a furnace where several miracles happened. One of these miracles was that a fourth man showed up who had power over the furnace. When this fourth man stepped in, the king lost power over the furnace that he had commanded to be built. Having lost power over this furnace, his purposes for it were obviously annulled.
Daniel 3:26-30 states: “26Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 27And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. 28Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. 29Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. 30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.”
What a testimony from a furnace through a few. The mighty king had to recognize the Mightiest King. He said, “Ye servants of the MOST HIGH GOD.” Then he said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,” and that their God “changed the King’s WORD.” He then made a decree that if anyone said anything against the God of these men, they would be cut into pieces. He said that there is no other God like this. and the result was that these three were promoted in Babylon.
God wanted His men promoted in the midst of Babylon, in the midst of false worship, where a king with an anti-christ spirit ruled, in a place where an image was built to command worship. It was here, where the majority were bowing and surrendering, that a few stood. For a time, the entire country knew of the glorious God of these three young men, and the king had to realize the sovereignty, the supremacy, and the superiority of our GOD.