Daniel 1-3, Psalm 119:25-48

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:24-25)

The story told in the Bible's book of Daniel, chapter 3, is well-known. The Babylonian king sets up a golden idol and orders all of his subjects to worship it on command under penalty of death. Three Jewish protagonists refuse, claiming both that God is able to save them and that whether they are rescued or not, they will not worship an idol. The king orders their execution by fire.

Then a miracle takes place. The men carrying out the execution are burned alive, while the three Jewish resisters are not, PLUS (See the two verses of scripture above.) the king sees a fourth figure together with the others walking around in the fire!

What does that mean?

Some Christians are quick to identify the fourth figure amidst the flames as the Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, especially since the king says he looks like a "son of the gods." Perhaps the fourth man is an angel of protection, sent by the LORD. Clearly the figure represents the presence of someone who is able to preserve the lives of the three Jewish wise men, as they are imperiled by fire.

That the three Jewish men are miraculously defended is not what I admire most in this story, rather it is their resolve never to worship any idol, even if they should be put to death, because of their conviction.