“He (Nebuchadnezzar) answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose” (Daniel 3:25)
There is no record of King Nebuchadnezzar having an ophthalmic problem. If any thing, he was suffering from a condition that can best be described as egotistic grandiose megalomaniac narcissism.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
I say, “you fools, you are talking to the King, a headstrong one at that. A little respect won’t harm your case please”.
17 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.
18 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.
I hope you know what you are doing fellows. Sounds like downright rebellion to me. You are in big trouble.
19 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.
21 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.
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.
Interesting people, these counsellors……abject “yes” men! Just like today’s ministers, camp followers and fan club members!! Merely parroting their political masters or cinematic heroes!!
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.
Let’s note something here. When the threesome were cast into the furnace, the strong men who threw them therein were consumed because of the intense heat. But now, Nebuchadnezzar comes near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and nothing happens to him. Clearly, God seems to be at work here.
27 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.
Amazing, what! We cannot but attribute all of this to the mysterious presence of the fourth man whose form is like the Son of God.
Didn’t God say “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned” Isaiah 43:2
Is He not on record as having promised that “I will neve leave you nor forsake you” Deu. 31:8
Didn’t the angel remind Joseph in a dream that it is written, “ the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)
Yes, God is with us.
Adam and Eve were pretty much the only people on earth, in the creation narrative. But they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Gen.3:8
Enoch, in the same account, was a family man but he walked with God three hundred years. Genesis 5:22
Whether you are a husband man or whether you are living in splendid isolation in the garden of Eden, God is with you.