#14
THREE HEBREW CHILDREN
Exodus 23:24
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#14 |
THREE HEBREW CHILDREN
Exodus 23:24 |
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It would have been better to have been Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego than it would to have been the king on the throne or any of the princes of the kingdom. The king had made a golden image, and then he had sent forth the decree that everyone would have to bow to this image of gold, the image that he, the king, had set up. The hour drew near for the great event. Finally all of the players of the different instruments began to "toot their tooters" and the people knew what that meant. It meant that they would either have to bow to the image which the king had set up or else be cast into the fiery furnace. Most of them thought it was warm enough that day, so they had no fancy for the hot furnace. Therefore when the sound of all the music was heard everybody fell down before the image of gold - yes, EVERYBODY EXCEPT THREE MEN, namely, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They would not bow. In that moment they had suddenly contracted a terrible case of rheumatism in their knees and it would not permit them to bow. No, it was not the fact that they had rheumatism in their knees, but the fact that they had a love in their hearts - not a love for the image of gold which the king had set up, but a love for the reality of a living God who had permitted the setting up of the king. They not only had this love in their hearts, but they had courage enough to stand up for the One whom they loved. The three men were brought before the king. He was so mad that before he would have them cast into the fiery furnace he would have the furnace heated "one seven times" hotter than it had been before. Those three men did not know that God would deliver them from the fiery furnace, but they did know one thing: they knew that they were not going to bow down to the golden image. What a wonderful love and conviction they had for their Lord! They were willing to die before they were willing to bow. Therefore they were cast into the fire. The men who cast them in were burned to death immediately by the flames that leaped forth from the furnace that was raging with heat. The only thing the fire burned about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was the cords by which they were bound. The same God in whom they trusted certainly proved to be faithful. He was right by their side. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." The Lord is a "very present help in time of trouble." "Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence; He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust." It is much safer to be under the wings of the Lord than to be under the protection of a king. The king's men were destroyed - the Lord's men were saved. Because of the testimony and witness of those Hebrew children, the king made another decree that no one should speak against their God, because no god could deliver like their God. |
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