Discover how a miraculous escape from danger shaped a lifetime commitment to faith in this riveting episode. Hear the personal reflections of host Alan J. Huth, as he intertwines his own spiritual journey with the inspiring biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. As he recounts his near-death experience, you’ll understand the profound impact of these stories on modern life and the timeless power of conviction and divine presence.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today we are in Daniel chapter 3. We’ll listen to our guest reader Brad Lidge read the 30 verses of Daniel chapter 3. Brad was the closer for the Philadelphia Phillies when they won the World Series in 2008. He struck out the last guy in the ninth inning to win the World Series. That would be like a hitter wanting to hit a home run to win the World Series. He got to strike out the last guy and they piled on him on the mound as they won the World Series. Let’s listen to Brad Lidge as he reads the 30 verses of Daniel chapter 3.
SPEAKER 02 :
Daniel chapter 3. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth 6 cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples had heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king and said, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this 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 hands, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. He answered and said, But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not any power over the bodies of those men. The hair on their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own god. Therefore I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins. For there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the province of Babylon.
SPEAKER 03 :
In 1988, at 33 years old, when I read Daniel chapter 3, I wrote, What a testimony! PTL, I wrote. Praise the Lord! In 2005, I read this chapter, and I was 50 years old, and I wrote Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Our God is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. These guys took a hard stand for their beliefs. defying the king. It’s obedience to God above obedience to men of authority. God delivered them, but they would have gone anyway. In 2012, when I was 57 years old, when I read Daniel chapter 3, I wrote, “…the king’s declaration doesn’t last very long as he builds a statue.” And I was referring to the end of chapter 2 there, when in verse 47, “…the king answered and said to Daniel, Truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings.” That’s the declaration I said didn’t last very long. As here in chapter 3, he builds a golden image. So let me go on with my journal from 2012. I continue to write, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego understand clearly that God could deliver them from death. but if not though god is able he may not do it they understand that too they still held to their convictions and they were bound and thrown into a fiery furnace god did not spare them from that christians suffer too But there is a fourth person with us too, like a son of the gods, Jesus himself, or an angel. His presence can be with us to deliver us. The fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. Praise God! Oh, to trust in him! What are you facing today? Are people trying to set you up for failure in your Christianity? There’s probably no doubt that these people came to set up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for absolute failure so that they could be destroyed because they were competing for positions of leadership within Babylon. Do people try to set you up for failure too, so that your Christian testimony could be tainted? This chapter should give you great encouragement to stand firm on your foundation of Christianity. Does it mean that God will deliver you? Not necessarily. It means He can, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said. 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. But if not, that’s the key, but if not. So certainly the story in Daniel chapter 3 ends well. Yours may or may not. The question you need to face is, how strong are your convictions and how willing are you to stand for them? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego risked it all. Are you willing to do the same? Father, we pray to you. We thank you that you included the story in Daniel chapter 3 in your written record of your relationship between yourself and your people. It’s there for a reason. It’s there to encourage us to stand firm in our faith toward you, even when the circumstances become very difficult. Thank you for the testimony. of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that gives us strength to stand on our convictions today. And just like you or an angel appeared in their moment of stress, you can do the same for us, and we give you thanks for that. In this chapter, your word says the fire had no power over the bodies of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. and the fire of hell has no power over our bodies either. May we walk in that kind of faith, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did. Strengthen us, we ask. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You might wonder how I became a daily Bible reader. When I was 15 years old, a buddy and me stole his father’s car. We could steal his father’s car because his father was in Vietnam, serving in the war. So he was never home. So we took the car that day. Neither one of us with a driver’s license, and we took off out east of Colorado Springs on a dirt road. We were flying down this dirt road at 60 miles an hour, and he lost control of the car. We began to spin, and we were going down the road, fishtailing, and he spun the wheel of the car, 60 miles an hour. The car tumbled, crushed the top, tucked the wheels under, totaled the car. I was on a dirt road. I don’t know if I was thrown out of the car or crawled out of the car, but I looked at that car, and I thought, am I even alive? Am I broken? Am I bleeding everywhere? And I began to pat myself down, and I felt like I was okay. So I stood up, and I was uninjured, amazingly. The sheriff came to draw up the accident. He said, it’s a miracle you guys are alive. I got home that night, went down into my bedroom. My mother came to me and said, you ought to thank God you’re alive. I was laying on my bed, and I was thinking about the day’s activities. And I just thought, wow, I could have been dead today. I wasn’t the driver. I was the passenger. I wasn’t in control. But God was. At that moment, I figured out at 15 years old, God could take my life any time. He could have that day. So as I laid there, I thought, okay, you could take my life any day. So you saved my life today for a reason. For whatever reason that is, I’m going to live for you and that reason. As I said that, I heard a voice say to me, there’s a Bible on your bookshelf. Get it down and read it. I must have heard something, because I got up, I went over to the bookshelf, and I pulled down a Bible. I opened it to the first page, just like I would any other book, and I began to read God’s Word. I read Genesis chapter 1. The next day I read Genesis chapter 2. The next day I read Genesis chapter 3. And a chapter a day, I began to read God’s Word at 15 years old. If you do that, by the way, it’ll take you about three and a half years to finish reading the Bible a chapter a day. And that’s a good plan. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. And when I finished going through the Bible the first time, at 18 years or so, I just started over because I thought that’s what Christians did, was read their Bibles every day. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. We love the truth of God’s Word, but finding truth in our world today is much more challenging. In the movie A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson screamed at Tom Cruise, You can’t handle the truth. That’s not our problem today. It’s not that you can’t handle the truth. It’s that you can’t find the truth. If you want to find the truth, I encourage you to watch our video message simply called Truth. You will find it at EzraProject.net. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
