# Shadrach; Meshach; Abednego



## StriperAddict (Feb 17, 2012)

Some of life's 'fires' were meant to be walked thru, not snuffed out.  Shadrach; Meshach; Abednego... talk about 3 wise guys! 
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      In the Book of Daniel, we learn of three committed believers who refused to bow down before Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Jews who, even in captivity in a foreign land, sought to keep God’s commandments. When ordered to bow down before the image, they did not hesitate to respond:
      O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3:16-17)

All three were then bound and then thrown into the fiery furnace.

Look into the Furnace
      When King Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fiery furnace he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking around free, the cords that bound them burned away. With them was a fourth man, like the Son of God. The Lord was with them in the midst of the fire. His presence and His power freed them. The fire had no power over their bodies and their hair was not singed. Their clothing was untouched and they did not even smell like smoke. They were not delivered from the fire; they were delivered in the fire. The cords of their bondage were the only things destroyed. 

      The Lord’s passion for us is that we be conformed to the image of his Son. This requires refinement and testing, and even tribulation. Sometimes in the midst of our troubles and tests, we find ourselves in deep waters, where the floods overflow us. (Psalms 69:2) We are tied up, and barely afloat. 

During those times we can know this:
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: 
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.             Isaiah 43:2


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## Artfuldodger (Feb 17, 2012)

There are Christians getting killed in places like India who didn't get a chance to walk out of the fire. It would make me question my faith looking down the barrel of a gun. I would like to think I wouldn't denounce Christianity but I don't know what i'd do until put in that situation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/19/orissa-violence-india-christianity-hinduism


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## The Original Rooster (Feb 17, 2012)

Artfuldodger said:


> There are Christians getting killed in places like India who didn't get a chance to walk out of the fire. It would make me question my faith looking down the barrel of a gun. I would like to think I wouldn't denounce Christianity but I don't know what i'd do until put in that situation.
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/19/orissa-violence-india-christianity-hinduism



Christ forgave Peter, I'm sure he'd forgive us too. Besides, a forced confession at gunpoint is no confession at all really.


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## Artfuldodger (Feb 17, 2012)

I would hope so, I wouldn't make a very good matyr. I think it's funny when people say what they would do in a very stressful situation.


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## hobbs27 (Jun 21, 2012)

Artfuldodger said:


> There are Christians getting killed in places like India who didn't get a chance to walk out of the fire. It would make me question my faith looking down the barrel of a gun. I would like to think I wouldn't denounce Christianity but I don't know what i'd do until put in that situation.
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/19/orissa-violence-india-christianity-hinduism



I admire those Christians that are dying in the faith.I also thank God that He has blessed us that are born into a society that we don't have to....yet.

The story of these three Jewish boys is a good spiritual representation of salvation in the New Testament. Through their faith they were Baptized in the Fire and recieved Jesus.


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## Ronnie T (Jun 21, 2012)

You all might just be surprised what you'd do if confronted with terrible consequence for claiming Jesus as Savior.

I believe many who feel weak now would stand strong even with the threat of death.  The hard choices often seem the easiest to make.  The little choices tend to trip folks up the most.


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## jmharris23 (Jun 21, 2012)

My favorite part about the story of these three is when they say, " We believe that our God can deliver us from the furnace, we believe He will deliver us from the furnace, but if He doesn't we still will not worship you or the images you have set up.


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## mtnwoman (Jun 21, 2012)

jmharris23 said:


> My favorite part about the story of these three is when they say, " We believe that our God can deliver us from the furnace, we believe He will deliver us from the furnace, but if He doesn't we still will not worship you or the images you have set up.



Amen!!

They are delivered and they know it!!


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## gordon 2 (Jun 22, 2012)

jmharris23 said:


> My favorite part about the story of these three is when they say, " We believe that our God can deliver us from the furnace, we believe He will deliver us from the furnace, but if He doesn't we still will not worship you or the images you have set up.



Same with me.... The "furnace" in the story has always interested me.  I sometimes read it as this ie:

"Even if we become babylonians, even if our children become Babylonians, though we believe that our God Yaweh will free us from captivity in Babylon and we will never be babylonians nor cleave to their Gods or worship you!----We and our children will never bow to babylonians Gods or idols-- and even if we become babylonians we will not worship babylonian images!"

Those captives that returned to their homeland from Babylon were indeed purified in their captivity ( perhaps some of their former  co-prisoners and those brought into slavery stayed and considered themselves babylonians and cleaved to babylon's spiritual images.)  But those who came back to "their homeland" how else but for Yaweh, did they know which directions to take when released?

I have read this  many times as the liberation and purification of a people and not so much an individual purification--although the element is certainly there. Impurity had gained them* ( *hebrews) bondage and purification was going to get them out and re-established to their former homeland. It is the reoccuring motif of  fall and salvation in scripture.

It is also my observation that  some people who are forced to leave their  homeland and to turn from their language, culture and religion-- that some become more rooted in who they are and will ever see themselves as seperate. The case of cajuns in america is a prime example.  Some canjuns to his day are able to say "the americans" which does not mean themselves but a seperate people from themselves and of course they are able to say "american(s)" which includes themselves.

The cases of native americans who want to recapture their native languages and cultures and spiritual traditions are other examples. To this day many native american when they lobby and petition governments they are still representatives of a seperate people, even when they are not leaders as the mass culture sees it. Being american was never a choice for them. They were deported from it, by it and dispersed in it and they continue to this day to see themselves apart---just as the hebrew taken into captivity to Babylon--Babylon the furnace.


Psalm 137:1
"By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. "

For some still today this verse is a current reality which they live. It is not only an event in Hebrew history-- or of the past. For some it is an individual thing and for others it forms part of the reality of their people and which in turn forms who they are. Intimate with injustice, their's and other's, they cannot turn away from truth. The cries and prayers for justice are intimate and as fresh for them as the birds singing to each other after a summer rain in the early morning.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were primed to be called when the call came.


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