One of my favorite songs to play is Hillsong United’s “Another in the Fire.”  It takes me back to a Bible story I first heard as a child, but I missed the ultimate significance and the main miracle until just recently. 

So, here’s the “Parksified” synopsis of what the song is based on – Daniel Chapter 3.   King Nebuchadnezzar(of whom I’ll refer to as King Neb from this point forward), like a lot of kings, started thinking pretty highly of himself and he built a big, ol’, gold idol and decreed everyone should bow down and worship it.  

There were these three children of Israel – with really odd names – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who said, “Nope. Not going to do it.   We worship only God. “   

This greatly hacked off King Neb to the point he told the three, “Fine.  I’ll show you.  I’ll throw you into a fiery furnace and I’ll crank it up so it is super-hot.”   

The three replied basically, “Go for it.   Whether we live or die, we worship only the one true God. “   

So, King Neb went for it, and he cast them into the furnace.   That’s when the first miracle happened that we often focus on – they were walking around in the furnace like they were on vacation.   No burns.   Not even a hair on their heads was scorched.   This flipped King Neb out, and rightly so, but what flipped him out even more was the next, bigger miracle.   

As the king was looking into the furnace, he asked his servants, “Remind me, how many men did we throw in there?”  The servants confirmed only three.  Then King Neb was like, “Uh why do I see four???!“   From Daniel 3:25:  “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.” 

Notice Jesus didn’t keep them from going through the fire, but He was right there with them.   This miracle caused King Neb to soften his heart toward God.  We will have fiery trials and Jesus may not prevent them from coming.   But rest assured, He will be with you, protecting you, fighting for you, all the way through them.   And you never know who will see it and have their life changed by what they see.