Daniel 3 tells details the account of King Nebuchadnezzar and the three Jewish men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The men reported to the king for refusing to bow and worship the king’s idols as he had commanded.
They chose to remain faithful and trust God in the face of being thrown into the furnace that was heated seven times hotter than normal. The soldiers that brought the three to the raging furnace were immediately killed from the blast of heat when the furnace door was opened; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fire to be killed.
Rather than witness their death, King Nebuchadnezzar witnesses a fourth man standing in the fire with all four unbound and walking around in the flames! The three Jews had been thrown, falling to the ground inside the raging furnace. Yet the astonished king witnesses four men, standing up and walking around in the flames! They are not down on the ground being burnt by the flames. They are standing up and walking with the fourth man in the flames. The king recognizes the fourth man to be like “a son of the gods.”
After the three Jews are called to come out of the fire and found to be totally unharmed—even to the point of having no trace of smoke on them or their clothes—Nebuchanezzar recognizes their god to be the Most High God, whose son’s name is Immanuel, God with us.
And so Immanuel is with us, just as He promises. Even in the fire, He is always with us. The Daniel 3 account serves as a beautiful reminder of God’s faithfulness in whatever darkness or impossible situation we find ourselves. Truly there is no other name but the name that is Jesus: he who was and still is and will be through it all, the fiery King of Glory! Hallelujah!