Day 211 – Daniel’s Three Friends & the Fiery Furnace

• Today we read an astonishing story that you may have heard about before. Do you think Nebuchadnezzar’s decision to create an image of gold was affected by the events of yesterday’s passage?
• What did the king command that the people should to do in front of the statue? Why do you think the king commanded this?
• Did Daniel’s friends worship the idol? What were the reasons for their decision?
• You’ll notice that this chapter only mentions Daniel’s friends. Daniel is seemingly not involved with today’s story. That doesn’t mean that he bowed down to the idol, just that the “camera” of the bible is focused on the friends in this passage. It’s probably just helpful to use this as a reminder that a deep trust in God is not just for “special” people like Daniel, but everyone.
• Daniel 3:16 and Daniel 3:18 are very powerful I think. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar had seen an example of the power of Daniel’s God when his dreams were interpreted, but in verse 16 he’s clearly decided to ignore God (as you can see by his dismissive comments at the end). In comparison, verses 17-18 show the deep trust that the friends had in God – despite their tough lives to this point (exiled from their land, put in prison, and so forth). The friends were determined to trust in God, even if God didn’t save them from the furnace. Do you have trust like this? It shows no demand for God to save them, but a recognition that God will work as He knows best.
• When they were thrown into the furnace, what happened? Who did Nebuchadnezzar see in the flames alongside Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?
• The king described the fourth figure as being like “a son of the gods”. This general term could be a reference to Jesus, so this may be actually be a rare image of Jesus himself in the Old Testament. If not, it’s an angel, or some other heavenly being.
• The friends came out of the furnace without a sniff of harm. God’s protection was absolute. What did the king say about the “God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abadnego”? Why do you think that the king didn’t describe God as “his” god? Why is it important, nowadays, to have a personal relationship with Christ rather than just acknowledging him as a religious icon?

We will go “through the furnace” from time to time. There will be situations where we will be under intense pressure to abandon God, or to run away from difficult situations. Just like the three friends in the fire, we will have Christ with us during these times. What more do we need to stand firm than Him?

The verses that we read in 1 Peter will help to focus you during these hard moments. Trials and tough times can deepen and strengthen our faith, just like putting silver in fire can “refine” it and make it even more pure. This is what the verses in Isaiah refer to. There’s a song about that, which I’ve embedded below, which you might enjoy listening to.