Forged by Fire
God uses fiery trials in our lives to fashion us. While seeking to encourage exiled believers in the Babylon of their day, the Apostle Peter wrote: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
As exiles in a world that is not our final home, we should not think it strange when we are ridiculed for our Christian values or experience hardship. Rather, we can take heart knowing that because God is sovereign over all things, the fiery trials that we go through are superintended by Him to test us. The fiery trials prove what we are made of. They not only refine our faith, but they reveal our hope in Christ before a watching world.
Fiery Trials Reveal Our Worship
In the book of Daniel we read: “And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace” (Daniel 3:1-6).
Do you know that we were made to worship the one true God who created us in His image and likeness? But when we don’t worship Him in Spirit and in truth, we will seek counterfeit gods to worship in order to fill the void. We will worship ourselves, we will create a god after our own image or imagination, or we will make idols out of material things. And when anything or anyone occupies the place in our hearts that only God can fill—when we worship the creature more than the Creator, there is no limit to the depth of depravity man can fall into (Romans 1:18-32). The worship of self or other counterfeit gods will lead to rebellion against God’s creative order, which results in confusion and chaos.
Now in contrast to the self-worship of Nebuchadnezzar, three Hebrew youth, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, worshiped their Creator. And they didn’t just give lip service to God; they proved under the threat of being cast into a fiery furnace that only the God they served was worthy of their worship. And because they would not worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar set up with the rest of the crowd when prompted by the music, they stood out from the crowd (v.7). The crowd of thousands were bowing, but they were still standing. As a result, some in the crowd took notice of the young men and accused them before the King.
“Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.” Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:13-15).
Although in our American society, we are unlikely to face imprisonment or death for not going along with the crowd, we still have to deal with pressures to conform or compromise our convictions. Moreover, we will face pressure to put God in second place in order to go after the gods of money and materialism.
While facing the wrath of the Babylonian king for not bowing with the crowd to the golden image that he set up, we read beginning in verse 16: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:1-18).
These youth believed with all their hearts that the God whom they served was able to deliver them from the burning fiery furnace. In fact, not only did they declare to the king their faith in God’s ability to deliver them, but they had confidence that he would deliver them. But these young men didn’t just trust in God’s ability, they trusted God’s character, God’s wisdom, and God’s sovereignty. Therefore, they added to their declaration of faith in God’s power to deliver them these profound words: “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:18).
Note that their faith in God was demonstrated not just in believing that God was able to deliver them, but in that even if He didn’t, they would maintain their devotion to God even if it cost them their lives. When your faith is put to the test, what does it reveal about what you truly believe? When their faith was put to the test, it revealed that they served God not only for what He could do for them, but for who He is.
Fiery Trials Refine Our Walk
After declaring their faith in God under the threat of being thrown into the fiery furnace, we continue: “Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:19-25).
Notice that after casting the 3-bound youth into the furnace, moments later Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. When he looked into the furnace he couldn’t believe his eyes. Not only were they still alive and walking around in the furnace unbound, but he could see a fourth person whose appearance, he said, was like a son of the gods. Who was that fourth person?
Although I lean towards the fourth man being a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus, we can’t say for certain. But what we can say is that the fourth person is a demonstration of God’s presence with His children in their time of testing and trials. As one commentator noted: “God did not simply rescue his servants from the fire, he sent his personal emissary to pass through the fire with them, a presence that takes richer dimensions in the New Testaments, when God the son comes to dwell physically with us as Immanuel.” (Iain Duguid).
And because God the son took on flesh to ultimately give His life as a ransom for many, all who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior become a temple of the Holy Spirit. As we walk through the trials of this life, we can trust, as servants of the Most High God, that His presence within will not only enable us to endure hardship, but that God will use fiery trials to refine our faith and transform us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. God is not only able to deliver us from the fire, but He delivers us through the fire.
They went into the fire bound, but came out of the fire unbound. When we trust God’s sovereignty to deliver us through the fire and not just from the fire, we can emerge with greater faith in God and with greater likeness to Jesus. God never promised believers the absence of problems, but He did promise that His presence will be with us in our fiery trials. And when we lean hard on Jesus and the eternal hope that we have in Christ in our trials, people around us will see another person, Jesus in the fire with us, and glorify His name, like Nebuchadnezzar did.
Fiery Trials Reinforce Our Witness
After observing the 3 Hebrew youth walking around in the fiery furnace unbound and unharmed with a fourth person that he recognized as a divine being, we read beginning in verse 26: “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire… Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.” (Daniel 3:26-29)
In verse 28 we learn that not even a hair on their heads was singed by the fire and that they didn’t even smell like smoke. But what impressed Nebuchadnezzar even more, was their devotion to God (v.29). The worth and value of God was seen in the lives of these youth not only in their deliverance from the fire, but in their willingness to go in the fire to stay true to their God. What about us? Is our devotion to God making a notable difference in our lives before a watching world—before people in our lives who don’t know the God that we serve? Do we only serve God when it’s convenient or are we willing to be inconvenienced or even suffer ridicule or loss to maintain our devotion to God, to serve His people and spread the good news of Jesus in the world?
Where do we find this hope that enables us to remain faithful under fire? It’s found when we look to Jesus who in His incarnation was under fire for us, who entered into the furnace of judgement for our sin so that we can have hope in this life and in the end emerge safely from our time in the furnace of Babylon. And this hope is seen in us not only when we trust God’s ability to deliver us from the fire, but even more so when we stay faithful to God when our faith is under fire—when our faith is put to the test. (1 Peter 3:15)
Because on the cross Jesus absorbed the fire of judgement on our behalf, and three days later walked out of a borrowed tomb, as believers, we can trust that His silence doesn’t mean His absence. He’s with us in the fire. The cross and resurrection of Jesus tells me that I can trust God to deliver me when my back is up against a wall. When I was diagnosed with terminal cancer a second time, a dear sister sent me a card that said, “God gave you this mountain to show you that He can move it,” and He did.
As servants of the most High God, we can trust Him to move mountains. But even if He doesn’t, we can still trust that He knows what He’s doing—that He’s working all things for good. When we can’t understand His hand, the cross tells us that we can trust His heart. Even when we can’t see the way forward, we can declare as Job did, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:8-10). We will emerge from the furnace safe and secure when it’s all said and done.
In your service,
Pastor Marco
As exiles in a world that is not our final home, we should not think it strange when we are ridiculed for our Christian values or experience hardship. Rather, we can take heart knowing that because God is sovereign over all things, the fiery trials that we go through are superintended by Him to test us. The fiery trials prove what we are made of. They not only refine our faith, but they reveal our hope in Christ before a watching world.
Fiery Trials Reveal Our Worship
In the book of Daniel we read: “And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace” (Daniel 3:1-6).
Do you know that we were made to worship the one true God who created us in His image and likeness? But when we don’t worship Him in Spirit and in truth, we will seek counterfeit gods to worship in order to fill the void. We will worship ourselves, we will create a god after our own image or imagination, or we will make idols out of material things. And when anything or anyone occupies the place in our hearts that only God can fill—when we worship the creature more than the Creator, there is no limit to the depth of depravity man can fall into (Romans 1:18-32). The worship of self or other counterfeit gods will lead to rebellion against God’s creative order, which results in confusion and chaos.
Now in contrast to the self-worship of Nebuchadnezzar, three Hebrew youth, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, worshiped their Creator. And they didn’t just give lip service to God; they proved under the threat of being cast into a fiery furnace that only the God they served was worthy of their worship. And because they would not worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar set up with the rest of the crowd when prompted by the music, they stood out from the crowd (v.7). The crowd of thousands were bowing, but they were still standing. As a result, some in the crowd took notice of the young men and accused them before the King.
“Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.” Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:13-15).
Although in our American society, we are unlikely to face imprisonment or death for not going along with the crowd, we still have to deal with pressures to conform or compromise our convictions. Moreover, we will face pressure to put God in second place in order to go after the gods of money and materialism.
While facing the wrath of the Babylonian king for not bowing with the crowd to the golden image that he set up, we read beginning in verse 16: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:1-18).
These youth believed with all their hearts that the God whom they served was able to deliver them from the burning fiery furnace. In fact, not only did they declare to the king their faith in God’s ability to deliver them, but they had confidence that he would deliver them. But these young men didn’t just trust in God’s ability, they trusted God’s character, God’s wisdom, and God’s sovereignty. Therefore, they added to their declaration of faith in God’s power to deliver them these profound words: “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:18).
Note that their faith in God was demonstrated not just in believing that God was able to deliver them, but in that even if He didn’t, they would maintain their devotion to God even if it cost them their lives. When your faith is put to the test, what does it reveal about what you truly believe? When their faith was put to the test, it revealed that they served God not only for what He could do for them, but for who He is.
Fiery Trials Refine Our Walk
After declaring their faith in God under the threat of being thrown into the fiery furnace, we continue: “Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:19-25).
Notice that after casting the 3-bound youth into the furnace, moments later Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. When he looked into the furnace he couldn’t believe his eyes. Not only were they still alive and walking around in the furnace unbound, but he could see a fourth person whose appearance, he said, was like a son of the gods. Who was that fourth person?
Although I lean towards the fourth man being a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus, we can’t say for certain. But what we can say is that the fourth person is a demonstration of God’s presence with His children in their time of testing and trials. As one commentator noted: “God did not simply rescue his servants from the fire, he sent his personal emissary to pass through the fire with them, a presence that takes richer dimensions in the New Testaments, when God the son comes to dwell physically with us as Immanuel.” (Iain Duguid).
And because God the son took on flesh to ultimately give His life as a ransom for many, all who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior become a temple of the Holy Spirit. As we walk through the trials of this life, we can trust, as servants of the Most High God, that His presence within will not only enable us to endure hardship, but that God will use fiery trials to refine our faith and transform us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. God is not only able to deliver us from the fire, but He delivers us through the fire.
They went into the fire bound, but came out of the fire unbound. When we trust God’s sovereignty to deliver us through the fire and not just from the fire, we can emerge with greater faith in God and with greater likeness to Jesus. God never promised believers the absence of problems, but He did promise that His presence will be with us in our fiery trials. And when we lean hard on Jesus and the eternal hope that we have in Christ in our trials, people around us will see another person, Jesus in the fire with us, and glorify His name, like Nebuchadnezzar did.
Fiery Trials Reinforce Our Witness
After observing the 3 Hebrew youth walking around in the fiery furnace unbound and unharmed with a fourth person that he recognized as a divine being, we read beginning in verse 26: “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire… Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.” (Daniel 3:26-29)
In verse 28 we learn that not even a hair on their heads was singed by the fire and that they didn’t even smell like smoke. But what impressed Nebuchadnezzar even more, was their devotion to God (v.29). The worth and value of God was seen in the lives of these youth not only in their deliverance from the fire, but in their willingness to go in the fire to stay true to their God. What about us? Is our devotion to God making a notable difference in our lives before a watching world—before people in our lives who don’t know the God that we serve? Do we only serve God when it’s convenient or are we willing to be inconvenienced or even suffer ridicule or loss to maintain our devotion to God, to serve His people and spread the good news of Jesus in the world?
Where do we find this hope that enables us to remain faithful under fire? It’s found when we look to Jesus who in His incarnation was under fire for us, who entered into the furnace of judgement for our sin so that we can have hope in this life and in the end emerge safely from our time in the furnace of Babylon. And this hope is seen in us not only when we trust God’s ability to deliver us from the fire, but even more so when we stay faithful to God when our faith is under fire—when our faith is put to the test. (1 Peter 3:15)
Because on the cross Jesus absorbed the fire of judgement on our behalf, and three days later walked out of a borrowed tomb, as believers, we can trust that His silence doesn’t mean His absence. He’s with us in the fire. The cross and resurrection of Jesus tells me that I can trust God to deliver me when my back is up against a wall. When I was diagnosed with terminal cancer a second time, a dear sister sent me a card that said, “God gave you this mountain to show you that He can move it,” and He did.
As servants of the most High God, we can trust Him to move mountains. But even if He doesn’t, we can still trust that He knows what He’s doing—that He’s working all things for good. When we can’t understand His hand, the cross tells us that we can trust His heart. Even when we can’t see the way forward, we can declare as Job did, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:8-10). We will emerge from the furnace safe and secure when it’s all said and done.
In your service,
Pastor Marco