Saturday after the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 4, 2023 by under
Scripture: Daniel 3:19-30 (NKJV)
3:19 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. 20 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. 21 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. 22 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. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24 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.”
25 “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.”
26 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. 27 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.
28 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! 29 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.”
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.
Devotion
The king speaks rightly: “there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Flames so hot they kill the executioners; His children do not even smell of fire! We have sinned and lived with sinners, yet we are not consumed. We appear as Jesus depicts us in St. Matthew 25: perfect sheep to whom all manner of good works can be attributed, and no sin at all!
Such deliverance is, of course, by grace alone, by the Christ coming into fallen creation personally to rescue us. The flames of the furnace—the sin of this world and the tempting of Satan—were not our true problem, but the evil that comes from within us (St. Matt. 15:17–20). Thus, into the furnace our Deliverer comes: God the Son becomes one of us to overcome that damning defect, to recreate us in His image by His Word (2 Cor. 3:15–18, Eph. 4:23–24, Col. 3:10). Since we have not been left to face those flames alone, but our dear Lord has suffered all the wrath of God and the punishment for sin Himself on the cross, those flames are turned away from us. Protected by His righteousness that is given us in Holy Baptism and that covers us like a robe (Is. 61:10, Gal. 3:27), there is no sin or stain to be seen, nor even the smell of the flames our sins deserved!
Prayer: Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy household, the Church, in continual godliness; that through Thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve Thee in good works, to the glory of Thy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
