Daniel 3:28-29

God protects those who place their trust in Him alone! He is able to do all that we cannot.

Blessed be His holy name.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5 NKJV). Isn’t it easy to see why? Humility is happy to do what pride will not. The humble heart is quick to acknowledge the need for God, eager to confess sin, willing to kneel before heaven’s mighty hand. Max Lucado

Daniel 3:28-29

28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” The New King James Version

In addition to elevating the God of the Jews above the Babylonian gods, the king pronounces a blessing upon Him. 

Nebuchadnezzar describes the fourth man in the furnace as an angel. Those who trust in Yahweh and do not conform to the religious standards of pagan kings will be delivered. In addition to being meaningful to those in the Babylonian exile, the Jews to whom the prophecies in the latter half of the book apply—those suffering at the hands of Antiochus—would also find great comfort in this truth.

The king praises the youths for disobeying his command. They yielded to death—the ultimate sacrifice. Their noncompliance, initially the reason for their capital punishment, is now elevated as virtue. 

Rulers often issued decrees that protected various religious groups within their jurisdiction. Still, it is astonishing that Nebuchadnezzar made such a proclamation. His actions demonstrate that he was greatly affected by the experience. Nebuchadnezzar commands that his subjects revere and respect the God of their captives. The Babylonians believed the Jews to be in exile because of their God’s powerlessness, but now they honor Him. Faithlife Study Bible

The God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego saved them completely, so that there was not the slightest evidence that they had ever been in danger. The salvation offered by the Lord is so effective and complete that nothing of the lost condition remains.

Pagan cultures did not deny the existence of other gods, even those of other peoples. Nebuchadnezzar declared only that the God of the Jews was a god who is able to deliver; the king forbade others to despise Him.

Theophanies: When King Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed that the fourth man walking about in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego was “like the Son of God”, it may be an overstatement to say that he recognized Jesus. Yet even though he worshiped other gods, Nebuchadnezzar somehow knew that this mysterious fourth figure was divine. 

Although the doctrine of the Triune God was not fully revealed until Jesus’ time, we find clues that God was preparing humanity for this truth. In the Old Testament, such foreshadowings of God or the preincarnate Christ in a visible form are called theophanies, meaning “appearances of God.” These theophanies include the Angel who comforted Hagar, the visitor who revealed to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, the Lord’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush, the pillars of cloud and fire that led the Israelites from Egypt, and Moses’ glimpse of God on Sinai. 

Some people would also include as a theophany the appearance of Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem, who gave wine and bread to Abram. The Old Testament contains nearly 80 references to the Spirit of God and anticipates the arrival of God’s Son, the Messiah, who would deliver His people. Daniel also calls Christ the Son of Man. These theophanies were temporary, however. They were hints of the incarnation of Christ, fully human and fully divine, who would live among and redeem His people. The NKJV Study Bible

What God did for these his servants, would help to keep the Jews to their religion while in captivity, and to cure them of idolatry. The miracle brought deep convictions on Nebuchadnezzar. But no abiding change then took place in his conduct. 

He who preserved these pious Jews in the fiery furnace, is able to uphold us in the hour of temptation, and to keep us from falling into sin.  Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary 

Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.