Let us look at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The king tests the fidelity of these men, as to whether they will give up the worship of the true God and bow down to the great image that Nebuchadnezzar set up. It reminds us of a passage in Philippians, where the Apostle speaks of Christ being magnified in his body “whether ... by life or by death” (Phil. 1:2020According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. (Philippians 1:20)). The bodies of men had been the platform on which Satan displayed his power, but God now says that He is going to take up that same vessel and make it the platform on which He will display the power of Christ. The Apostle, in his sufferings for the Philippians, knew that it would be for their blessing. That is the meaning of the words, “My earnest expectation and my hope” (vs. 20). It is a wonderful thing to have fellowship with the purposes of God concerning Christ. Here, in Daniel, are people who had this same thought before them, according to what was then known, and hence we find that the king is obliged to own (Dan. 3:2828Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. (Daniel 3:28)) that they have “yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.”
These men were bound hand and foot, the emblem of weakness, and then thrown into a furnace hotter than it was usually heated, that is, the perfection of malignant power to destroy them. Was not God magnified in their bodies? And what is the result? They come up out of the furnace with not even the smell of fire on them. More than that, there was companionship. “I see four men ... walking ... and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
They were cast down bound into the midst of this furnace, and there is not a word of complaint. They could say, “We are not careful to answer thee in this matter.” They yielded themselves entirely into the hands of God, in patient meekness. They were prepared to suffer at any cost. God was their stay and strength, and God intervened for them. They are the exhibition, under the circumstances in which they were, of that blessed power of God by which He can magnify Himself in bodies like yours and mine.
How little is Christ magnified in our bodies! Alas! there is a great deal of the magnifying of the world in our bodies, and of self and of the flesh, but how little there is of the magnifying of Christ! It is humbling to think of it. If you look around and see the bodies of God’s people and look at what they are, what are they an exhibition of? All too often it is the power of the flesh and the power of the world and the power of nature, but very little of the power of Christ. That “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether ... by life or by death” was Paul’s desire. Oh, may it be ours likewise!
I believe those principles that come out of these first three chapters of Daniel, namely, separation to God at every cost, thorough dependence upon Him in difficulties, and patience in suffering for His name, are three great principles that ought to mark the people of God today.
W. T. Turpin, adapted