Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not offer a defence for refusing to worship the golden statue – their reason was obvious, God's first commandment. So the furnace was heated up to a bizmillion degrees, and the Judeans were tied up and thrown in. But it wasn't the ones targetted by rage who were killed in the fire, it was the ones delivering the rage. The fire was given no power over the Judeans, such that they didn't even smell like smoke afterwards. And the pre-incarnate Jesus appeared to them, to reassure them and vindicate them, and to make himself known to Nebuchadnezzar. As a result of this miracle, the king ALMOST gets it – he decrees: “there is no other God....who is able to deliver in this way.” So close!
Today, we enter the season of remembering the anxious waiting for the pre-incarnate Jesus to be born, and for the resurrected Jesus to return. We are reminded to let no other god steal our focus in this time. We are reminded that in Jesus, born in a manger, God reassures us of his great love for us. And we are reminded that in our baptism into his death on the cross and resurrection, Jesus vindicates our faith in him by making us his adopted brothers and sisters. Jesus delivers US from the power of fire – the fire that unfortunately, will burn forever.
Heavenly Father, you are our God...you alone. Help us in this season of Advent to prepare our hearts to meet you as if for the first time – open, listening, grateful, devoted. Grant us the blessing of excited anticipation, in Jesus' name, amen.