#abednego

[bojackson54]

Victory Isn't Necessarily the Only Thing That Makes You Victorious

Perhaps Daniel is best known for being thrown into the lion’s den, but his book contains much more than that. This amazing account in Daniel reminds us that temporal outcomes are not everything. It’s one of those made-for-VBS stories that resonates with the courage and faith of Israelites who had been taken prisoner and carried off when Babylon conquered Israel in 586 BC. While they were captive…

Victory Isn't Necessarily the Only Thing That Makes You Victorious

[kdmiller55]

Conviction Over Compromise

1 For three years Syria and Israel continued without war. 2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” 4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And…

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[thetrusouldj]

[articlesforchristians]

THE STORY OF THE FIERY FURNACE

THE STORY OF THE FIERY FURNACE There was in the land of Judah a wicked king-named Jehoiakim, son of the good Josiah. While Jehoiakim was ruling over the land of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, a great conqueror of the nations, came from Babylon with his army of Chaldean soldiers. He took the city of Jerusalem, and made Jehoiakim promise to submit to him as his master. And when he went back to his own…

THE STORY OF THE FIERY FURNACE

[bojackson54]

Victory May Not Be the Only Thing That Makes You Victorious

This amazing story in Daniel illustrates vividly that temporal outcomes are not everything. It’s one of those made-for-VBS stories that resonates with the courage and faith of Israelites who had been taken prisoner and carried off when Babylon conquered Israel in 586 BC. While they were captive in Babylon, three of Daniel’s friends were condemned to death. The King pronounced their sentence, and…

Victory May Not Be the Only Thing That Makes You Victorious

[artandthebible]

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

Artist: Simeon Solomon (British, 1840-1905)

Date: 1863

Medium: Watercolour heightened with white and gum arabic

Collection: Private Collection

Who Were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

The first time we read about these young men, we meet King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who besieged Jerusalem. He immediately started to take notice of the people living in his new territory: “Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace” (Daniel 1:3–4). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, along with Daniel, were selected as meeting that criteria.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were eventually appointed “administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court” (Daniel 2:49). It didn’t take long for these young men to be tested. King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden idol and commanded everyone to bow down to it (Daniel 3:1–5). The dire consequences of not obeying this command were that the violator would “immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace” (Daniel 3:6). The time had come for these three young men to choose whom they were going to obey: King Nebuchadnezzar or the One True God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the golden image. When questioned as to why they had failed to comply with the king’s order, they replied, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:16–18). The die had been cast. A furious Nebuchadnezzar immediately ordered the three young men to be thrown into the fiery furnace and, as an added measure of wrath, for it to be heated “seven times hotter than usual” (Daniel 3:20). The king wanted to make a public example of how disobedience would be dealt with under his reign.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the furnace, the king expected to see a quick and painful death for these young men. But he was stunned to see them walking around in the furnace, unharmed—and someone else was in the furnace with them: “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). The king, although antagonistic toward the God of Israel, immediately recognized the supernatural nature of miracle before him. Nebuchadnezzar called the three Hebrew men out of the furnace, praised their God, and honored them, declaring, “No other god can save in this way” (Daniel 3:29).

[kdmiller55]

God Doesn’t Need Man’s Help

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their…

[kdmiller55]

Who Is the God Who Will Deliver You?

8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be…

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