We continue in challenging times, with Covid, lack of job security, isolation, and loneliness among other things. We look around for guidance, comfort, encouragement and strength, but to whom do we seek? “I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) No other God that can deliver us than our God.” (Daniel 3:29)
In the Old Testament Prophetic Book of Daniel, chapter 3, we learn about the Jews held in captivity in the providence Babylon. And there were certain Jews whom the King Nebuchadnezzar set over the affairs of the province. Their names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, affectionally referred in Orthodox Tradition as the Three Holy Youths.
The King made a statue of gold and it was big and brilliant, and he ordered all to fall down to worship it. “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at that time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up: 6 And whosoever does not fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
When it came time for the Three Holy Youths to fall down and worship the great gold statue, they refused. The enraged King Nebuchadnezzar gave them one chance to avoid the fiery furnace and asked them if they do not worship it, then who is that God that shall deliver them out of his hands, and out of the fire. The Three Holy Youth refused still, and answered, 7 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 your hand, O king.18 But if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
The furious King order the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual. He ordered his army to bind the Three Holy Youth and cast them in to the fire. The army did as commanded, but when they opened the furnace and the fire seven time hotter, the flames slew those men and the Three Holy Youths fell down bound into the burning fiery furnace.
The King was amazed at what he saw and said “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 of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Their faith in God of had saved them. It was in the midst of the fire that Son of God appeared to them, and endured the flames with them.
It’s in the flames of life that Christ is revealed, in the flames, and with our faithfulness. As society stokes the flames around us, and though we may be scared as to what will happen to us, how much more are we called to be faithful to God? We worry about our physical health and take proper precautions. But what about our mental health? Still, both are temporal. Most important is our spiritual health, the health and condition of our soul. How do we care for our soul during this time in the fire? We take proper precautions through repentance(confession), and worship and receiving the Eucharist. We find instruction and the rules for life in the fire, Life in Christ, when we read the scriptures and the lives of the saints.
In the midst of the fire, Christ will be with us and deliver us. And if He doesn’t deliver? We are still encouraged, all the more by the Three Holy Youths, to not serve any other gods, nor worship the golden image… whatever gods or images that is offered.
After the release of the Three Holy Youths, Nebuchadnessar, a pagan and despot, spoke and said “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has 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… because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.”
“Be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up...." "Because there is no other God that can deliver us than our God.”
Blessing of the Lord be to you,
Fr. Nicholas