SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18
Scripture: Daniel 3:19-25

Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury. The expression on his face changed and he had the furnace heated seven times hotter. Verse 22 says, “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.” But once they were bound and thrown in they said in verses 16-18, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Verse 24-25 says, “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.’ ‘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.’” They put their life on the line and God entered the fire with them and brought them safely through. By faith they walked in the midst of the fire and were not hurt. They quenched the violence of fire by faith.