James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
Daniel 3:23
A FURNACE AND MEN IN IT
‘These three men … I see four men.’
(A sermon to children)
This very interesting subject is very easily divided.
I. The three in the furnace.—Why were there three? Was it because they did not serve God, or had fallen into some sin? Oh, no. Doing the right, then, sometimes brings God’s children into the furnace. Job’s friends told him that his sufferings were judgments and proofs that he was a great sinner. The Jerusalemites thought that the people crushed under the tower of Siloam were notorious sinners. The barbarous people at Malta thought Paul a reprobate because the viper fastened on his hand. Much truth is mingled with this false and popular theology; for it shall be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. But God does not settle with us on the cash-payment principle. We must leave room for Probation, Trial, Chastisement, and the bringing of better things through the furnace than we could have had without it. Hence these three unblamed ones in the furnace, as were Christ, Paul, and the noble army of the confessors and martyrs. A child’s theology is apt to overlook this truth, and it is a huge service to teach him it early.
God’s special love may permit the furnace for you, and when in it you should say, ‘I must bear this affliction somehow, and I shall try to bear it nobly.’
II. The four in the furnace.—To us at least the Fourth is Christ. His radiancy of glory beyond compare convinced the heathen king that He was more than man. Thy furnace destroyed their foes and their own bonds only. The use of sanctified affliction is to elevate the fettered Christian into a free man, and that without singeing the hair or spoiling the garments. A book has been written by Dr. Preserved Smith. His father took that name after a remarkable deliverance. Every one of us might take that name. ‘Providence’ is the name given to a district of the U.S.A. by one of the Pilgrim Fathers who reached it after many dangers. That name might justly be given to every county, village, and cottage. Christ is most real and near to His people when they are in the furnace. The dying Stephen saw Him, not sitting, but standing, and as if approaching to receive him.
III. The three out of the furnace.—(1) They were more than conquerors. If you are on God’s side, you are in the majority, and you must win, though you should be seemingly only one against all Babylon. (2) They were splendid missionaries. What a sermon theirs, and what good it did! It made a huge impression upon the king and his whole kingdom, and it is helping us at this very hour. You can never tell how far the influence of one good deed may spread.
The sum of the lesson is this— Trust in Christ, and be true to Christ. You are surely not going to do anything else but trust in Christ? Are you? Will you miss all the good He offers you? Dare you face life and death without it? These three trusted Jehovah early, for they were young when they came to Babylon, and their early and consistent faith made them perfect heroes before the king and his fiery furnace. And you should pray for grace to be true to Christ. That makes the Christian hero. These three knew the secret of a round, rousing ‘No,’ of a ‘No’ without phrases.
Illustrations
(1) ‘Theirs is the spirit in which Job said: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” It is the spirit in which Casabianca said: “Whatever happens, I will do as my father bade me.” It is the spirit in which we may still say, I will obey my conscience, my Bible, and my Saviour.’
(2) ‘ “Seven times hotter”—a phrase not of strict numerical import, but meaning the utmost intensity possible. This was not in itself an unwelcome circumstance to the victims. Our martyr, Ridley, slowly consuming at the stake, earnestly entreated, “Give me more fire—more fire!” ’
(3) ‘John Foster says that the furnace was to these three a place of richer delight than Paradise to Adam; for there angels walked with man in a scene where man was naturally at home, whereas here men walked with an angel in the place where only the angel was naturally at home.’