Christ in the Fiery Furnace: Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind

“Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They replied to the King, “Truly, O King.” Then the king said, “Behold, I see four men…the fourth is like the Son of God.” ~Daniel 3:91b-92

Are aliens real? The government may or may not want you to believe so, but the bigger question that’s been asked is whether God is real. Around 600 years before Christ was born, He appeared in the flesh…but how and why?

Christ in the Fiery Furnace

The fourth figure the king saw is Christ in the fiery furnace, with His people long before Bethlehem.

One of the more vivid and memorable Old Testament stories is colloquially known as “The Fiery Furnace.” Daniel’s friends (whose names changed depending on who you asked) most remembered as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a massive furnace for refusing to commit idolatry on orders of King Nebuchadnezzar. Instead of taking their lives, the fire took the lives of the guilty (48) and spared the innocent. The King’s wrath is turned to repentance once he sees a fourth man standing in the fire with them. This story extolls Christ’s Lordship over Life and Victory over Death in three important ways.

Firstly, the appearance of the fourth man, who even the King describes as ‘the Son of God’ (a common descriptor of Jesus) is considered a theophany – a Greek word meaning the appearance or manifestation of God. There are numerous theophanies of Christ throughout the Old Testament – this being a major one.

Second, the fire touched by Christ is no ordinary fire, it is a Holy Flame that devours the bonds of the innocent, causes the King to repent and “Bless the Lord, the God of gods” (90a), and punish the wicked with death. According to St. Jerome, this is a type of Christ’s descent into Hades, where the souls of the dead were imprisoned, that he might deliver the righteous faithful by breaking the chain of death. To Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the fire felt like “a dew-laden breeze” (50b).

His Victory Was, Is, and Ever Shall Be

Finally, and possibly, most importantly, St. Hippolytus writes that the king’s recognition of the fourth man in the furnace was a sign that the Gentiles would recognize the Incarnate Word when he came. “The three youths he thus called by name, but he found no name by which to call the fourth. For He was not yet that Jesus born of the Virgin.”

Christ’s victory was, is, and ever shall be – it is an immutable fact of Creation that the Creator is Lord of all. The brilliant theophany of Jesus in the fiery furnace should empower us to know He has always been with us and always will be leading us to victory no matter the circumstances we face.

“Bless the Lord, O servants of the Lord,

And sing a hymn to Him,

And exalt him beyond measure unto the ages.”

-Hymn of the Three Young Men

Always improve the present moment.

*Quotes and Scripture verses are taken from the Septuagint and Orthodox Study Bible