The God Who Comes Into the Flames
Good Morning Friends,
A theophany is a visible manifestation of the invisible God, a moment when the God who cannot be contained by creation makes His presence perceptible within creation. God appears to Abraham. God speaks from the burning bush. God descends upon Sinai. God leads Israel in cloud and fire. And now, in Babylon, someone walks in the flames. Christian interpreters have differed over exactly how we should identify this fourth figure. Most Rabbis and people of the Islamic faith do not believe in theophany. So sad. Some people understand the fourth in the fire as an angel sent by God, language Daniel 3:28 itself uses and no, no wings. Others have seen here a Christophany, a pre-incarnate manifestation that anticipates Jesus Christ. But whether Theophany or Christophany, the theological truth is breathtaking: God does not abandon His people in the fire. Still we ask, Who is the fourth in the fire?
Scripture Summaries:
Daniel 3:19–28: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, remaining faithful to God even when threatened with death. They are thrown into a blazing furnace, but God miraculously preserves them. The king sees a mysterious fourth figure walking with them in the fire, and the three emerge unharmed. Nebuchadnezzar responds by praising the God who rescued His faithful servants.
Matthew 28:19–20: The risen Jesus commissions His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. He concludes with a remarkable promise: He will be with them always, to the very end of the age.
Message: Nebuchadnezzar knew how many men had been thrown into the furnace. Three. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were bound and condemned. Cast into a fire so fierce that it killed the soldiers who approached it. But when the king looked again, he saw something impossible. There were four. And the fourth did not appear to be another prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar cried out: “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? … But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire.” And then comes the mysterious phrase:“The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Who is the fourth in the fire? That question takes us into one of the great mysteries running through Scripture. Notice what God does not do. He does not prevent the three men from being thrown into the furnace. That is often what we want God to do. Lord, keep me out of the fire. Protect me from sickness. Protect me from grief. Protect me from rejection. Protect me from disappointment. Protect me from suffering. Sometimes He does. But Daniel 3 reveals something deeper. Sometimes God does not keep us from the furnace. He meets us in it.The king expected to see three men dying.Instead, he saw four men walking. And there is an exquisite detail in the story: the fire that could not destroy the servants of God did destroy their bonds. They went into the fire bound.They walked in the fire free. What Nebuchadnezzar intended as destruction became, in God’s hands, liberation. That does not mean suffering is automatically good. It means suffering does not have the final word when God is present.
We should be careful not to claim that Daniel explicitly identifies the fourth figure as the pre-incarnate Christ. But let us consider the possibility of the fourth man as Jesus as we ponder the final words of Matthew’s Gospel and the reality that Jesus removes what binds us in forgiving our sins.
The risen Jesus sends His disciples into a world that will not always welcome them: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” That calling will take them into opposition, uncertainty, persecution, and eventually, for some, martyrdom. And what promise does Jesus give them? Not: “Nothing difficult will happen to you.” Not: “You will never suffer.” But:“ And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” There is the heartbeat of Daniel’s furnace again. I am with you.
The God who was mysteriously present in Babylon is revealed fully in Jesus Christ. The Word becomes flesh. The God who once appeared in fire does something even more astonishing: He enters our humanity. And at the cross, Jesus enters the deepest furnace of human suffering, sin, judgment, evil, and death. The gospel is not merely that God watches us suffering from heaven. God comes into the fire. This gives Matthew 28 a dimension we sometimes miss. Jesus does not simply say: “Go.” He says, in effect: “Go, because I am going with you.” That changes everything. We are not sent into the nations carrying information about an absent Christ. We go bearing witness to a living and present Lord. Perhaps that is why Jesus can ask ordinary disciples to attempt something so extraordinary: make disciples of all nations. The task exceeds their ability. But the mission was never dependent upon their ability alone. The Fourth Man is still walking with His people.
And So perhaps the deepest question of Daniel 3 is not: “How can I avoid the fire?” It is: “Who is with me in the fire?” When your health changes… When someone you love dies… When the future you imagined disappears… When faithfulness becomes costly… When God calls you somewhere beyond your comfort…Look again. There may be something happening in the furnace that cannot be seen from outside it. The flames may be real. The suffering may be real. But so is the Presence. And the promise of the risen Christ still stands: “I am with you always.” So where is the “fire” in your life right now? Are you asking only for God to remove it, or are you also looking for God’s presence within it? And is there somewhere Jesus is asking you to go, trusting that the One who sends you will also accompany you? Perhaps discipleship begins with this confidence: Knowing you never enter the furnace alone. The God who walked with His servants through Babylon’s fire is the Lord who sends His disciples into the world with the promise. The great promise of Scripture is not that God’s people will never enter the fire. It is that when they do, they will discover they are not alone.
Pray Lord Jesus, that when we find ourselves in the fire, that you give us eyes to look for You. Pray that when we cannot understand why You have not removed the flames, that You help us to trust Your presence within them. Pray that when fear binds us that You use even the fire to loosen what keeps us from following You. Pray that when You say, “Go,” You give us courage to obey, because Your command comes with Your promise: “I am with you always.” Pray that we live, serve, suffer, worship, and make disciples with the quiet confidence that the Fourth in the fire has never abandoned His people. Amen.
Blessings,
John Lawson
