How were Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego saved in the fiery furnace?
Saved in Fiery Trial
Daniel 3:19-25
"Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?"
They answered and said to the king, "True, O king."
"Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
Daniel 3:25-27
"Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here."
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them."
Just before Daniel's companions were thrown into the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar was furious because they (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego) would not worship his golden image. He was so angry that he ordered that the fires be increased seven-fold. He wanted them burned down to nothing. The three men were bound with ropes before they were thrown into the furnace.
Those ropes quickly burned off and they started walking around in the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was shocked at the sight of the three men walking around completely unharmed, but he even more astounded was when he saw four men in the furnace. The king asked his closest counselors how many men were thrown into the furnace and they said three. He then commented that there was a fourth man who looked like a "son of the gods."
The fourth man was Jesus. This was one of the many Christophanies (appearances of Jesus) in the Old Testament. He supernaturally kept them from being burned and consumed by the fire. This was one of the numerous miracles that Jesus performed during the Old Testament dispensation.
The miraculous incident of the three Hebrew men caused Nebuchadnezzar to be humbled and he praised the true God. The appearance of Jesus had to have been very different from the three servants because Nebuchadnezzar said that He looked like a "son of the gods." His body shined with glory as it did on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2).
Nebuchadnezzar Praises the True God
Daniel 3:28-30
"Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!
Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this." Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon"
