Three? Four? What??

 “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?”

They answered the king, “True, O king.”

He replied, “But I see four men unbound, 

walking in the middle of the fire and they are not hurt, 

and the fourth has the appearance of a god.”

Daniel 3:24-25

Shad, Abe and Shach’s brave answer to the king did nothing except make him angrier than he always was.  He commanded the fire in the furnace to be made seven times hotter, and then told his elite guard to throw the three men in.  What was now literally a blast furnace was so hot, the guards who shoved the three friends in were incinerated instantly. 

A moment later, Nebuchadnezzar got up and sauntered as close as he could safely get to view the destruction of his enemies.  Instead, he saw Shad, Abe and Shach strolling around inside the furnace, talking in earnest with a fourth man who was walking with them.  The Bible states that the king was astonished.  I’m sure he was also terrified.  A few moments before, he had insolently asked, “Who is that god who can deliver you from my power?”  Now he is looking upon the face of the Creator of the universe – the Holy One of Israel, the Most High God.

The king immediately called to the men—servants of the Most High God—to come out of the furnace.  Three men walked back out – without burn, or singe, or even the smell of fire upon them. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the power and might of the fourth being – the God of heaven, for “there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.” 

Great is Thy faithfulness!  Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Morning by morning, new mercies I see.

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.