26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing fiery furnace and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!”

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.

28 Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Alex Chen

This is the victory of God’s people in a foreign land. Nebuchadnezzar finally acknowledges that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego serve the one true God. In light of God’s miraculous rescue, Nebuchadnezzar praises God. God’s people are praised for worshipping only the one God at the risk of their lives. Blessings fall upon these servants. God’s deliverance is a great testimony to Nebuchadnezzar.

Even the proud are humbled. The highest human power is shown God’s power and recognises it here. God’s saving power, and his exclusivity are on show here. Time and time again, he rescues his people. We see this ultimately done at the cross through Jesus, as God rescues his people from sin and death. Even in light of powerful human rulers – the God of the Bible is the only God to be known and praised.

We can rejoice that the all-powerful God knows us. Even anyone we think that is “beyond saving” – can be known and saved by God. But we are saved to a life of knowing God rightly and living lives for him. Jesus is both Saviour and Lord. We must be willing to let go of what is most valuable to us in an earthly way for the sake of following Jesus. Our whole lives are living sacrifices to God. The things which impede us knowing Jesus better – we must consider giving them up. The materialism of our society, chasing novelty in the latest fad or fun experience. We particularly live now in a society that is rejecting Christian values – how will we not get sucked into them? Is our time on social media or our phones replacing our time in our Bibles? Pursue God and the blessing of knowing him rightly. We know God’s deliverance already – we should live in light of the end, proclaiming God’s graciousness with as much of our lives as we can.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex is one of our Student Ministers.