SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2013 12:41 PM
My Worship Time Focus: True Faith
Confounds the Enemy
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
3:19-25
Message of the
verses: “19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was
filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven
times more than it was usually heated. 20 He commanded certain valiant warriors
who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast
them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 Then these men were tied up in their
trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into
the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 22 For this reason, because the
king’s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the
flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and
Abed-nego. 23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the
midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the
king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials,
"Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They
replied to the king, "Certainly, O king." 25 He said, "Look! I
see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm,
and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!’”
Just a reminder that we are looking at Daniel Chapter three
through the eyes of faith and how faith in God was what was used by the three
young men from Israel as they went through this fiery trial.
We saw how angry the king can get in the last SD, but now
he seems to be getting even angrier as proud men do not like to be disobeyed
and so the order is given to put these three men into a fiery furnace. I have always wondered what this furnace was
like and how hot it could get, and the reason that I wonder about this is
because I worked in a very large foundry for thirty-five years and was use to
being around molten cast iron all of those years. We melted cast iron in what is called a
Cupola and the temperatures could reach over three thousands degrees at
times. I don’t imagine that the furnace
that is talked about here would get that hot, and I don’t suppose that it
looked like what I was use to looking at, but we do know that the king could
look into it and that it would get very hot, hot enough to kill those who were
to deliver the three young men to it.
Dr. Wiersbe gives this description of the furnace: “The furnace was used for smelting ore. It had a large opening at the top through
which fuel and vessels full of ore could be placed into the fire, and there was
a door at the bottom through which the metal was taken out. An opening in a wall enabled the smelters to
check on the progress of their work, and through holes in the wall they could
use bellows to make the fire blaze even more.
The unit was large enough for at least four persons to walk around in
it. It was into this furnace that
Nebuchadnezzar cast the three faithful Jews, fully clothed and bound. It seemed like certain death for the men who
refused to obey the king.”
If the king would have been right and not affected by his
rage he would not have heated the furnace so hot for this would have brought
more punishment to the young men, but when your anger was hot like the furnace
you did do not think clearly. As the
king looked into the furnace he must have had a great surprise for he not only
saw these three men walking around, unhurt in the furnace, but he also saw a
fourth person in the furnace, and this person had a different look than the
three men. Some think that this was the
preincarnate Jesus Christ who is seen on the earth in OT times like when He
came to speak to Abraham before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed in Genesis
19. It is not known for certain that
this was Christ, but the main point is that God had sent someone to rescue
these three men who had a great deal of faith and courage. When we look at the fourth chapter of Daniel
next month we will see what some think is the salvation of Nebuchadnezzar, and
perhaps this was one of the steps that the Lord was using to draw him to
Himself. We know that the king had again
seen the work of the Lord in his life and he then told the people that it was
now against the law to speak out against the Lord, the God of these three young
men who were full of faith and courage.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can see the
sovereign hand of the Lord in this story as He chose to save these three men
from certain death and brought glory to His name in doing this, and also
another witness to the king.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the sovereign hand of the Lord in my
life to do things in my life that will bring glory to Himself.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Cor. 5:17-18
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation,
Answer to yesterday’s
SD: “To shepherds in the fields near
Bethlehem, by angels.” (Luke 2:8-20)
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who said “Thy God whom thou
servest continually, he will deliver you?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
5/10/2013 1:26 PM
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