VI. THE YOUNG OVERCOMERS FALLING
INTO THE BLAZING FURNACE OF FIRE BOUND UP
The mighty men were slain by the flame of the fire, and the three young overcomers fell into the blazing furnace of fire bound up (vv. 22-23).
VII. NEBUCHADNEZZAR BEING ASTONISHED
AND SPEAKING TO HIS COUNSELORS
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and said to his counselors, "Did we not throw three men into the midst of the fire bound up?...Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not harmed. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods" (vv. 24-25). This fourth one was Christ. Christ had come to be with His three suffering, persecuted overcomers and to make the fire a pleasant place in which to walk about.
Our natural thought is that we need to leave the fire of our circumstances. We may think that if we have a troublesome husband or a bothersome wife, we should pray and ask God to deliver us out of such a situation. But the Lord would say, "I do not like to deliver you from this situation in your married life. Instead, I will keep you there, and I will come and make your environment a pleasant place."
When the enemy throws us into the furnace, we should realize that we do not need to ask the Lord to deliver us. He will come to be with us and take care of us in our suffering, making our place of suffering a pleasant situation. I can testify of this from my experience of imprisonment under the Japanese invading army in China. During that time of suffering, the Lord was with me. One day, as I was talking to the Lord, I had the deep sense that He was there in prison with me. I wept before Him, saying, "Lord, You know why I am here." Instead of delivering me from prison immediately, the Lord, by His presence, made that prison a pleasant place. As the Lord was with those suffering overcomers in Babylon, so He will be with us in our suffering today.
VIII. THE YOUNG OVERCOMERS
COMING OUT OF THE FIRE
Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the blazing furnace of fire and said to the young overcomers, "Servants of the Most High God, come out and come here" (v. 26). Then the young overcomers came out of the fire, and all the high officials and the king’s counselors saw concerning these young overcomers that the fire had no effect on their bodies and that the hair of their heads was not singed, nor had their clothes been affected, nor had the smell of fire come upon them (v. 27).
(Life-Study of Daniel, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
