Three simple, God-loving men, we are told in the Scriptures, refused to compromise with certain orders of the king of the land. At the sound of much noise and music the princes, governors, counselors, judges, and all the people were commanded to fall down and worship an image of gold—to pay homage to materialism. Not so did these three stalwart worshipers of God. In surrender and obedience to God, they remained spiritually superior to the mesmerism of the occasion.
Aroused to fury against their unyielding position, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the three men to be thrown into a fiery furnace, where they fell down bound. So hot were the flames that those who cast them into the furnace perished, and they were "the most mighty men that were in his army." But later, when the king drew near and looked into the furnace, a marvelous sight greeted him. "Lo," he exclaimed, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Then, respectfully addressing the three men as "servants of the most high God," he called to them, "Come forth, and come hither."
In the holy radiance of that vision in the furnace, behold the triumph of spirituality over materiality! The anger and fury of animal magnetism melted before the truth, as steel melts before white heat. Every phase of error was reversed. Annulled was the belief of material law. Counteracted were the decrees and threats of mortal mind that had seemed so absolute and final. The very one who shortly before had ordered the three men to be cast into the furnace, now ordered them to come out. And all the people who had been commanded to pay homage to an image of gold were now commanded to speak nothing amiss against God. Humbly, the king exclaimed, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego."
