About four weeks ago, a friend asked if I would like to do lunch some day? Would I? Does it rain in the NorthWest?? Flash forward through many interruptions and reschedulings - and voila! Today was the day!
Scarcely had our blessing been said and our food exclaimed over and we were off! We recounted the details that make our lives so full, and beautifully the Holy Spirit steered us to spiritual topics. Far better than our food was satisfaction from having a sister-in-Christ with which to heartily discuss the things of God in the middle of a work day. And right towards the end of our time together, my friend Mary-Anne laid this on me: How close was Nebuchadnezzar to the furnace when he called out to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? And then she just glowed and glowed.
Immediately my head exploded*. What about you?! OK - let's do this in SLOW MOTION!!
Daniel 3:22-26 (KJV)
22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, 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.
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.
26 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.
We're going to do a word search on the word 'near' in verse 26. But - someday, I'll share the results of a word search on the word 'flames' in verse 22 which is equally exciting. Back to our point..
We have our own understanding of the word 'near'. H7127 qereb. However, the law of first occurrence gives us even clearer context:
Genesis 19:9
And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
Genesis 27:27
And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
We can see from the verses above, that the idea of 'near' is, in fact VERY CLOSE. Close enough to be intimate. And this brings us to the next amazing thing: This very distance destroyed men in verse 22.
There is just SO much application we can draw from this. What comes to your mind? To me - this speaks of the tenderness of Jesus in reaching out to a heathen monarch who, to a very great degree, had sold himself out the devil. Let us not forget that old Nebby had been raised in a culture to believe he himself WAS a god. He lived surrounded by magicians, astrologers and an entire culture of spiritualism. And deep into this stronghold of the evil one, Jesus reached out with loving tenderness to reach the heart of a despot engaged in persecuting His faithful ones. What a kaleidoscope of blessing resulted!
Thank You Jesus that Your ways are not our ways!
Wow! This is my ultimate Sabbath blessing. Thank you Jesus for your Love and mercy that knows no bound! Thank you Aunty for sharing!
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