Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.”
He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Daniel 3:24-25

We all love the story of three of Daniel’s friends in the flaming furnace and how God miraculously rescued them. But God was also doing something greater. Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace and saw not three but four people walking through the flames.

Four people.

And even King Nebuchadnezzar got it right, “the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Probably the fourth person walking in the fiery flames is what theologians call the “pre-incarnate Christ.” He was revealing Himself (thousands of years before walking the Earth) to a modern day ruler.

But I think there’s a greater point here. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego literally put their lives on the line for God. They would not bow to the King’s 90-foot idol. Now they were facing the consequences of that disobedience. They are tossed into the furnace and the heat was turned up seven times hotter than it normally was. They began to walk and the pre-incarnate Christ is seen walking by them, with them…together. They were not alone! (Imagine the stories they would tell their children and grandchildren when it was all over!)

Most of the things we face in life are minor in comparison to what the Three in the furnace faced. Rest assured, when you are risking it all for the sake of Christ, He is right there with you! And even in what seems like a fiery furnace, He is right there with you.

(And imagine the stories you’ll tell your children and grandchildren when it’s all over!)