From Splendor to Shadow

God in the Furnace

But as the Lord's witnesses were cast into the furnace, the Saviour revealed Himself to them in person, and together they walked in the midst of the fire. In the presence of the Lord of heat and cold, the flames lost their power to consume. SS 264.2

From his royal seat the king looked on, expecting to see the men who had defied him utterly destroyed. But his face grew pale as he started from the throne and looked intently into the glowing flames. In alarm he asked, “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; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” SS 264.3

How did that heathen king know what the Son of God was like? The Hebrew captives in Babylon had in character represented before him the truth. When asked for a reason of their faith, they had given it without hesitation, teaching those around them of the God whom they worshiped. They had told of Christ, the Redeemer to come; and in the form of the fourth in the midst of the fire the king recognized the Son of God. SS 264.4

His greatness and dignity forgotten, Nebuchadnezzar cried out, “Ye servants of the most high God, come forth.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth before the vast multitude, showing themselves unhurt. The presence of their Saviour had guarded them from harm, and only their fetters had been burned. SS 264.5

Forgotten was the great image, set up with such pomp. “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” the humbled king acknowledged, “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.” “There is no other god that can deliver after this sort.” SS 265.1

The king of Babylon endeavored to spread before all the peoples of earth his conviction that the God of the Hebrews was worthy of supreme adoration. And God was pleased with the effort of the king to make the royal confession as widespread as was the Babylonian realm. SS 265.2

By the deliverance of His faithful servants, the Lord declared that He takes His stand with the oppressed and rebukes all earthly powers that rebel against the authority of Heaven. SS 265.3

In the hour of their trial the three Hebrews remembered the promise, “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. The tidings of their wonderful deliverance were carried to many countries by representatives of the nations that had been invited by Nebuchadnezzar to the dedication. SS 265.4