Daniel 3 Needed Afflictions

“He answered and said, 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.” (v. 25)

In Daniel three, we have one of the more interesting Bible stories in the entire Bible. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, they had a unique experience; they had the privilege of walking with Jesus! Had they not went through the fire, they never would have had the experience of meeting Christ face to face. What a wonderful Truth for us to consider. I have found that, until I entered the fire, I too did not really get to know Christ. We need these fiery afflictions in our lives. These three went into the fire as three Jewish servants, and came out as true men of renown, mighty in the faith. That’s the difference the fire made. It turns the mediocre into the outstanding, and the normal into the spectacular.

Another interesting fact that we must not overlook is that, though there were four men, loose and walking around, only three came back out! Christ is still there, in the fire, ready to meet us when we enter its midst. Are you going through a fiery trail in your life? If so, prepare to meet the Lord there! He’s there, waiting for you, but first you need to enter in, or you will not see Him, as these three didn’t until they entered the fire. Yes, there is fear involved, that is expected, because we are flesh, but oh the joy of knowing that Christ is there with us, and we shall walk together, unharmed. How hardly we enter into the kingdom of God without suffering some sort of affliction or persecution, and how weak and beggarly we are without it.

Some have questioned whether Nebuchednezzar would know who Jesus was, as the Son of God, but Christ is able to reveal Himself to whosoever He will, even as angels are invisible to us, but at times are made visible. All other (and inferior) versions of the Bible re-word this statement, and say "a son of the gods". That, my friends is blasphemy! The translators of those so-called versions carry the weight of the matter on their shoulders, for how would they know if this was referring to deity or not? They are the men who decided that it means the son of a false god, not the King James men! There are a few other places where Christ revealed Himself as the Son of God to those who otherwise would not have known who He was, but this one seems to get the most attention. The fourth Person in that fire was none other than Christ Himself, and to change the text is to deny the truth of it.