Chapter 3 - A Miraculous Escape

I was not part of the next big challenge that involved interaction between my people and the Babylonian king. It just so happens that I was assigned to gather some information from citizens from the city when the following events took place. It was upon my arrival back at the capital that my three best friends told me what happened to them.

All provincials officials were summoned to the plain of Dura where the king had been building a very large statue. All officials present were ordered to bow down and worship the statue at the sound of music! This obviously goes against God's command in the Law of Moses that says "You shall have no other gods before me." Clearly this statue would take the place of God were my friends to bow down to it. The punishment for anyone who didn't obey the kings command was being thrown into the flaming furnace in the palace!

I have to be honest when I say that I don't envy my friends and the position they were in. How difficult it would be to choose between my life and honoring God! But my friends are strong, and they chose to honor God by not bowing down. This made the king furious, but once again sent a message to the rest of our people in the land of Babylon that my friends still believed God was in control. My friends made the right decision.

I can't imagine how afraid I would have been just before the king had me thrown into the furnace. The flames were so hot that the guard who threw my friends in burned up! But when the king looked into the furnace, he realized that the same thing had not happened to the three who stood up for God! And what is more, a fourth was present in the furnace with them! I don't know if the fourth was God Himself or just one of His angels, but it was evidence that we as Hebrews should never compromise our faith in God, even if it means certain death.

When the three came out of the furnace -- I imagine an amazing sight -- no part of their bodies or clothes had been burned. God had completely protected them. Once again the king gave honor to our God, and he ordered everyone in the kingdom to do the same. What is more, he elevated the three to even higher positions in the Babylonian government.

I was not a player of this story, but I surely took away a lesson from it: we should not compromise our faith, even in the face of death. We may not be rewarded with the protection of our lives as my three friends were, but it nonetheless is a testimony to our faith in the sovereignty of our God. And without our faith in this wretched land, we have nothing.