Shadrach, Meshach, And Abed-nego

Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us . . . and He will deliver us. . . . But if not . . . we [will not] worship the gold image which you have set up.

Daniel 3:17–18

In 1555, in Oxford, England, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake for their biblical views that failed to conform to the ruling (Catholic) church. As the flames consumed them, Latimer called out, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out!”

God didn’t deliver Latimer and Ridley from the flames on earth, but He did deliver them from the flames of eternal judgment by their faith in Christ. These two martyrs were imitating the faith of three who came before them in the Old Testament—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. They were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship a golden image; but God delivered them, though they didn’t know that was His plan. Their faith had prepared them to die or be delivered—the choice was God’s, and they were fine with that. Has your faith prepared you to be fine with the choices God is making in your life today?

Faith sees no difference between kinds of deliverance, as long as the deliverance is from God.