In the Furnace

In the Furnace August 18, 2015

Daniel 3 tells the famous story of the three men in the fiery furnace. It’s an image of Israel’s experience in exile. They are sent into the furnace of Babylon, but they survive the fire – more than  survive, they come out unsinged and are elevated to higher positions than ever.

It’s a sacrificial process. As Pastor Rich Lusk pointed out in a recent sermon on the passage, the whole set-up is liturgical. Nebuchadnezzar makes a giant gold image, calls on people to worship it, plays music to accompany the worship, and stokes up a great altar fire in front of the image. The Babylonians who throw the men into the fire are in effect sacrificing them to the god of Babylon. Because they are faithful witnesses, though, their sacrifice isn’t to the gods of Babylon but to Yahweh, and like every sacrifice to Yahweh, they are transfigured and glorified by the fire. Sacrificed animals were transformed into smoke to ascend to Yahweh. So too, the three men pass through the fire, but still wear their official clothing; in fact, because they pass through the fire, the king raises them up to govern in the province of Babylon. Not worshiping the Babylonian image made them living sacrifices to Yahweh.

Interestingly, when they are challenged for not falling to worship the image, their response is a refusal to respond: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this” (v. 16). Instead of defending themselves, they entrust themselves to Yahweh to defend them. Their place is only to refuse worship. God will do the persuading. And He does, by carrying them through the fire.

He carries them through the fire as one “like a son of the gods” (v. 25). Common in the New Testament, the phrase “son of God” is very rare in the Old. The “sons of God” intermarry with the daughters of men (Genesis 6), and angelic sons of God assemble to report to God in Job 1-2. It’s fitting that Daniel 3 would allude back to Genesis 6. The sin of the sons of God in Genesis is a sin in the world, a failure of witness and a sin of intermarriage. Within Genesis, Joseph proves to be the true son of God, bearing faithful witness in Egypt, despite suffering. The three men in the furnace are like Joseph, and are suitably joined in their sacrifice by the ultimate Son of God, the true and faithful Witness.


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