The Saturday after the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 26, 2024 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
Nebuchadnezzar unleashed the full power of his wrath against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He had decreed that all who refused to worship his golden image would burn in a fiery furnace. But because these three men boldly confessed their faith in the one true God, Nebuchadnezzar intensified the punishment. He heated the furnace seven times hotter than it was usually heated. Nevertheless, even a furnace at ‘level 7’ was not able to harm these men. Nebuchadnezzar’s fury could destroy the strongest men in his army, but it could not hurt the faithful servants of the Most High God.
In the Epistle lesson for last Sunday, St. Paul wrote about the power and fury of the devil. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Eph. 6:12). Like Nebuchadnezzar, the devil has unleashed the power of his wrath against the servants of God. He has increased his temptations to a ‘level 7’ in order to separate men from the love of God. But just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were delivered from this fury by the might of God, so we are delivered by His might. The Son of God comes and stands with us, shielding us from the fiery darts of the devil. Even in the midst of the devil’s furnace, we can walk about freely and unharmed, since our sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ.
Collect: 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.
