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They were indeed defiant and unconsciously playing to the gallery of their enemies, who without a doubt, wanted them dead.
Note, Defiance had consequences at this times.
The consequences of their defiance was death, horrible death, the slow kind of painful death, yet,
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they defied the most powerful king on earth.
This brazen act of bravado though, extraordinary, was nonetheless, unacceptable. No one defies the kings decree, least of all, Jews.
The king was duly updated by some "Tatafos" & under Persian law, decrees, once pronounced by the
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king and sealed with the royal seal, could not be reversed.
They were subsequently arraigned before the king and with what I call the guts of a meniac, they looked the king in the eye, and told him point blank, that on this issue of bowing to your man made god, we are not
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going to bow down. This was no longer a joke.
Daniel 3:16 KJV
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
[17] If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning
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fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
[18] But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
WOW
Do we still have this level of boldness in today's world?
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Daniel 3:19,29 KJV
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
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Still, these boys wld not back down. They knew something. They were confident.
The king and everyone present anticipated d end for these boys. Their expectation was that, in just a few minutes, d 3 Hebrew boys would eat their words & only their charred remains wld be left..
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For sure, the 3 Hebrew boys had sworn enemies around, but, these overzealous enemies rejoiced too quickly.
What happened was unexpected.
It was unprecedented.
"This is not happening", they whispered to one another.
Their maths wasn't adding up.
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3 men were thrown into the fiery furnace, how the number grew to 4 became a mystery to all.
God showed up, and whenever He does, mere men are left with mouth agape...in a state of astonishment.
[24] Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste,
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and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. [25] He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form
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of the fourth is like the Son of God.
[26] Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,
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came forth of the midst of the fire.
Daniel 3:27 MSG
All the important people, the government leaders and king's counselors, gathered around to examine them and discovered that the fire hadn't so much as touched the three men - not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their
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clothes, not even the smell of fire on them!
God was going to get Himself Glory from all these.
He was going to put His Glory on display like He did with Pharaoh in
Exodus 14:4 MSG
Then I'll make Pharaoh's heart stubborn again and he'll chase after them. And I'll use
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Pharaoh and his army to put my Glory on display. Then the Egyptians will realize that I am God." And that's what happened.
To cut the "long story" short, God put His Glory on display. The 3 boys came out smelling like roses.
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[28] Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any
