The last time I was here, we were looking at the whole armour of God. We left off at Ephesians 6:15. I will read from Ephesians 6:10-18:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
We will pick this up in Ephesians 6:15, which I will read again:
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Here the Lord is talking about our feet and also that our feet have something on them. We wear our shoes on our feet. Horses have horseshoes, and we have shoes on our feet.
So the way that the Lord uses this word “shod” is to mean to “bind on.” God is talking about the Gospel, so we need to “bind on” the Gospel to our feet. Our feet go wherever we go, and wherever we go the Gospel goes, if we have it bound onto our feet.
So let us take a look at how the Lord uses this word “shod,” as in “your feet shod,” and then we will get back to the feet. Let us turn to Mark 6:7-9, where we read:
And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: but be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
As the Lord sent them out, so He sends us out. They were sent out with the Gospel, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Gospel. He came to be the Gospel.
Let us take a look at another way that this word is used. In Acts 9, this word is not translated as “shod,” but we are going to see how God uses it. This word is found in three of the verses that are in this one chapter in Acts. We will start reading from the beginning. We read in Acts 9:1-2:
[Note, the word “shod” that is found in Ephesians 6:15 is hupodeo:G5265, and it is only found three times: Mark 6:9, Acts 12:8, and here in Ephesians 6:15. The word for “bound” in Acts 9:2 is deo:G1210 and it is found 44 times. The “hupodeo” that is found in Ephesians 6:15 is a combination of two words, “hupo:G5259” and “deo:G1210.”]
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
This word “bound” is the same [note: actually a related] word as “bind on” or “shod” that God uses in Mark 6 and in Ephesians 6. So the connection is what we read in Acts 9:2:
And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way…
What is the “way” that Paul is talking about? The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” So this is the “way” of Christ. If Paul found anyone who was in this particular “way,” then he would:
…bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Paul was under orders from the chief priests. They gave him the authority to do these things. This was before the Apostle Paul was saved. His name was still “Saul” while he doing this. Paul was a devout Pharisee. He thought that he was doing the right thing, but in actuality, as we will find later on, he was doing the wrong thing.
So let us take another look at another word in this same situation. It is found in verse 14. We read in Acts 9:13-16:
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind…
Here is that word “bind.”
…to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
Acts 9:14 said:
And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
The ones who call on His Name, I would have to say that they were Christians. They were called Christians, so these are people who are following the Lord. I would have to say that they were probably saved individuals, but we do not know exactly. We do know that they are the ones who call on His Name.
Do you call on His Name? Do you carry His Name with you? If you are a Christian, then you carry His Name with you. If you carry His Name with you, guess what? What will happen is that you will be persecuted. Remember the Lord Jesus said, “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” So we are connected to His Name. We are connected to Him by His Name, if we name His Name.
Sometimes you might have a conversation with someone where you do not mention the Lord Jesus’ Name. Let us say that this is early in your Christian life. When you first started reading the Bible and knowing more and more about Christ, maybe you were just a little timid about mentioning the Lord’s Name. Maybe you were very timid about mentioning the Name of the Lord, and then after the conversation was over, maybe someone had been listening and said, “You know what? I am a Christian, too.” Then it hits you, “Wow! I should be a little bolder in saying things about the Lord Jesus.”
We need to be conscious of the fact that there are opportunities to do this, and the Lord will create these opportunities for us. He will give us the boldness to step forward. You do not have to be a Bible scholar or anything like that; just tell others what the Lord has done for you.
So let us keep going. There is one more place in this account of Acts 9. It is in verse 21. We read in Acts 9:20-21:
And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound…
This is the word again.
…that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?
At this time, his name was Saul, and I would have to say that Paul was such a sinner. I would have to say it like this because he said himself that he was the chief sinner, due to what he did to the people of God.
Now, how about us? How about me? How about you? We can look back on our lives and we can say, “How can it be that the Lord use me? And why is it that, all of a sudden, I desire to be doing something else?” And your friends who were with you when you were doing the “something else,” they see you and they say, “What happened to you? How is it that now you are talking about Christ? Before, you were not doing this?”
This is just like the thief on the Cross. He was railing against the Lord, and then the Lord saved him. Afterward, he said to the other thief, out of the clear blue, “Dost not thou fear God?”
So God can save an individual, if you are a chosen vessel. You may not be able to expound from the Bible and things of that nature, but there are many different things that can happen. Those that proclaim the Bible are just common folk. For example, Amos was a sheepherder.
Now let us move on and look at this word for “feet.” We will turn to the book of Nahum. It is right after Micah and just before you get to Habakkuk. It is right in-between there, and it is only three chapters; a very tiny book, but just as powerful as any other book in the Bible.
In Nahum 1:15, we read:
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
The way that this word “feet” is being used here is in the context of bringing “good tidings.” This is talking about the Gospel. We bring the Gospel. We bring the Gospel to our friends. We bring the Gospel to someone who we may meet. We bring the Gospel to our family.
So it says here in Nahum 1:15:
…the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!
In Ephesians 6:15, the Lord uses the word “Gospel” in connection with “peace”:
…the gospel of peace…
Why would He use the word “Gospel” in connection with the word “peace”? Why would He not just say, “the Gospel”?
God would use it in this manner because before we were saved, we were at war with God. Remember, this is a warfare; it is set up like a warfare. When we looked at this before, I said that it is like being drafted into the army. If you are saved, you got drafted. You were those dead bones in the desert. You were dust, but the Lord drafted you into His army. We were at war with God; but now, we are at peace with God.
You see, the Bible condemned us. The Bible was our enemy. It condemned us, “For the wages of sin is death.” Ah, but once we become saved, the Bible is our friend. We love it! We do not care what we read in it or where we read in it. If it is about hellfire, if it is about anything that is drastic at all, it does not matter. We just love to hear it because we know that it is God’s Word.
So now, we have a different perspective. Now, we have a peace. We have this peace. If you are saved, if God has truly saved you, you have a peace now “which passeth all understanding.”
People can not understand this. They say, “How come you do not worry about this? Why do you not worry about that?” That is because, like we heard earlier, our affections are not down here. They are not down here; they are in Heaven. We are thinking about those things!
So let us take a look at another verse. Let us look at Isaiah 52 in the Old Testament. This is basically a quote from what we just read in Nahum. We read in Isaiah 52:7:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
You see, it is all in the Bible. God is saying the same thing. This is a quote from Nahum:
How beautiful upon the mountains…
He is talking about the “tidings” that we bring. It is peace. But this is a two-sided coin. It is not just peace. When you give someone the Gospel, you must tell them about the judgment of God. You must tell them about God’s judgment; otherwise, your witness is not good for anything, “the salt have lost his savour.” Unless you tell them about the “salt,” the judgment of God, then your witness is “good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
We will look at another verse. In Romans 10:15-17, where we read:
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Let us take a look at this phrase in Romans 10:16:
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
This is a quote from Isaiah 53, so let us turn there. In Isaiah 53:1, it says:
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Well, this is the “report” of the Lord, His Word. This is His “report.” Do you believe it? If you do believe it, then the Lord has stretched His arm out and caused you to believe it.
Isaiah 53 is such a beautiful chapter. It talks about the Gospel in a few verses, and I would like to read them. We read in Isaiah 53:1-12:
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Here is the Gospel. Here is the “report.” God wants to know, “Who hath believed our report?” If you have believed His “report,” which is the whole Bible because this is just a portion of the “report,” then God has revealed Himself to you.
This just brings to mind when the Lord asked, “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?” And the disciples answered Him, “some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.” Then He said to them, “But whom say ye that I am?” At this point, this was a personal question, “Whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered Him and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And the Lord Jesus said to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
So if you know who the Lord Jesus is, it is the Father which is in Heaven who has revealed Him to you. This is only because your name was “written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
Let us now go back to Ephesians 6:15:
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Let us take a look at this word “preparation.” This word is only found one time and that is right here in this verse. It is related to another word which means “prepare,” “prepared” and “make ready.” So let us just take a look at a couple of these. We will start in Matthew 3:1-3:
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
This word “prepare,” is the same word that God used as “preparation.” [Note, they are not exactly the same Greek word, but rather, different versions of the same root word. Ephesians 6:15 is preparation- hetoimasia:G2091 and Matthew 3:3 and 1 Corinthians 2:9 and John 14:1-2 are prepare/prepared- hetoimazo:G2090.]
Now let us look at 1 Corinthians 2. I will start reading in verse 9, and we are looking for this word “prepared.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-12:
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
So we find the word “prepared” here and we get a sense of how this word is used. It is the “preparation” of the Gospel. God has “prepared” Himself for the Gospel. How is it that I am putting the Lord Jesus with this? Let us take a look at John 14:1-2, where it is translated as “make ready” [Note – actually it is translated as “prepare”]:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
The Lord Jesus was on His way to the Cross. In order for us to be where He is, He had to “prepare a place.” Because He had to “prepare a place,” He had to go to the Cross. He had to go to the Cross to “prepare a place for you” in Heaven, because that is where He is. He is in Heaven. Therefore, He was on His way to “prepare a place,” He was on His way to the Cross. By Him going to the Cross, if you are saved and if you belong to the Lord, He was preparing “a place for you” and for me.
Let us go back to Ephesians 6:16 to take a look at this verse:
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
“The shield of faith.” This word “shield” is only translated here as shield. I think that you will be surprised to find how this word is translated differently.
Let us go to John 10 where we will find this same word for “shield.” [Note - the word “shield” in Ephesians 6:16 is thureos:G2375 from root G2374 thura. In John 10:1-2 and in John 10:9, “door” is the related word thura:G2374.] A shield is what protects you. Who is it that protects us? Who is our shield? In these verses, it is not translated as “shield,” it is translated as “door.” He says in John 10:1-2:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Then further down, we read in John 10:9:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
So the Lord Jesus, He is our shield. He is the Door; therefore, He is our shield. The shield is what protects us from the “fiery darts of the wicked.” You can see how in Ephesians 6:16, this “shield” points to the Lord Jesus.
Ephesians 6:16 also talks about faith:
Above all, taking the shield of faith…
Surely, this must be talking about my faith? This must be referring to something within me. I have strong faith/I have weak faith. We have heard these terms before, but let us see what the Bible has to say about whose faith this is.
Let us turn in the Old Testament to Habakkuk. Habakkuk is right after Nahum. In Nahum 2:4, God tells us:
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
“The just shall live by his faith.” We still do not really know whose faith this is. Could this be talking about your faith when it refers to “his faith”? No. Let us take a look at Galatians. I think it will make this a lot clearer. It will start to get clearer from here. We read in Galatians 2:16:
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Now we see whose faith this is. It is Christ’s faith. This is His faith.
We will look at one more. We will look at Philippians 3:9, where it says:
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Here it is again. The Lord is telling us that it is Christ’s faith. It is not our faith; it is Christ’s faith. So this “shield” is Christ because He is the Door, and it talks about the “shield of faith” and it is Christ’s faith. He is the One who is going to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” So now we see what this is. We do not manufacture these weapons. These things are given to us with salvation, because everything points to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us take a look at the “fiery darts of the wicked.” Let us take a look at this word “fiery.” It is only translated here as “fiery,” but let us take a look at 2 Peter 3. We read in 2 Peter 3:12:
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire…
This is the word that is translated as “fiery” in Ephesians 6. 2 Peter 3:12 continues:
…shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
This is talking about the Last Day. 2 Peter 3:12-13:
…wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Let us take another look to see how God is using this word “fiery.” Let us look at Revelation 3:18, where He says:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire…
This word has been translated as “tried” in this verse.
…tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Concerning “gold tried in the fire,” God speaks of the believers as “silver” and “gold.” We are “tried in the fire.” So what the Lord does is that He takes us through some things. We have trials and tribulations. Christ says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
So the Lord has already told us that we are going to have these things. We are going to have trials. We are going to have them, but they are designed to strengthen us. All the different trials that we have and the things that we go through, God has designed them to strengthen us and to make us strong, to cause us to trust Him more and more and more, that we might trust Him more and more and more.
Now let us turn back to the Old Testament and look at some of the occurrences of “fiery.” Let us go back to the book of Numbers. There is an account in Numbers 21. It is just a few verses. We read in Numbers 21:4-5:
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
This “light bread” was the manna that God had given them, but they did not want that. The manna was a type of the Gospel. Christ said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven,” but they did not want this. They did not want God’s Gospel. They wanted their own gospel. Because they did this, Numbers 21:6-9 goes on to say:
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
That is the Gospel right there. It is the Gospel because the serpent, the “fiery serpent,” depicts the Judge. He was judging the people because they were talking against Moses and the Lord. So God sent these “fiery serpents” to them, but Moses prayed for them. Here, Moses is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ who made intercession for us. He is telling them to make a serpent and put in on a pole. When the people were bitten, they knew that they were going to die because this was killing them before. So if they were to look to the serpent on the pole, they would live.
The Lord picks this up again in John 3 where He gives us a couple of verses. This is the same situation, and it picks up again in John 3. Look at the context in which He has set this account. We read in John 3:14-21:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
This is a beautiful, beautiful picture of the Gospel, and we got this from the Old Testament. From time-to-time, we may hear people say that the Gospel is not in the Old Testament. They will tell you this over and over again, but let us take a look at Hebrews 4. I will start reading right near the end of Hebrews 3. It says in Hebrews 3:16-4:2:
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
They had the Gospel. We just took at look at the Gospel in the Old Testament. In may not have been as clear as it is in the New Testament, but they did have the Gospel. So God has put the Gospel all in the Old Testament. The whole Bible is the Gospel and is written of the Lord Jesus.
Let us read one other account with this word “fiery.” It is located in the book of Daniel. I am sure that you have probably read this many, many times. We are going to read about three Hebrews boys: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We read in Daniel 3:1-28:
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Here is the word “fiery.” It continues:
Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 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. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, 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. 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 of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 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 god, except their own God.
This account that God has put here is a very, very interesting account, because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego represent the children of God. They represent the children of God, just like we are the children of God. We are going to be persecuted for standing up for what the Bible has to say.
But if you notice, when Nebuchadnezzar called out, first he said that he saw four in the fire. He called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out, but the Lord did not come out. There is no mention of Him coming out of the furnace. You see, He had to stay because he had to take the punishment that His children were supposed to take in the Judgment. This is why in the book of Revelation, we see Him described as the Lamb of God and it says, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire. And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.” So the Lord Jesus has taken the punishment that we should have taken, the punishment that we should have gotten.