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STORY TIME
with Aunt Jo!

The Three Hebrew Children

Today's interesting story comes from the book Daniel, Chapter Three. It is about three young men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We usually call them the three Hebrew children, even though they were not little children. They were young men who knew about the true God. They had been taken captive and brought to Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar was the king. That is where they were given their strange names These three young men were being trained to become leaders over their own people, under King Nebuchadnezzar.

King Nebuchadnezzar wanted all religions in his kingdom to unite and become one. He ordered a golden image or statute to be made and overlaid with gold. It was 90 feet tall, and 9 feet wide. He called a special day for all the people to come together and worship the idol. He gave a command that whenever the music was played, everyone must bow down to the golden image. He promised that anyone who would not bow down to the golden image would be cast into a furnace of fire.

Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego were sad when they saw the golden image built. They were even sadder when they heard the commandment of the king. They knew that God had commanded them, "Thou shalt worship no other God, for the Lord is a jealous God" (Exodus 34:14). When the music was played and people bowed down to worship the golden image, they stood straight and tall. This matter was quickly reported to the king.

The king had them brought before him and repeated the command, thinking that perhaps they did not understand, and then the king said, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" They answered the king, "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 hands, O king. But if not, be it known unto you that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image that you have set up!"

The king was so angry that he ordered the furnace to be made seven times hotter than it was. Then he commanded his mightiest men to cast Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego into the fire. When they did so, the fire was so hot, these mighty men died.

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Meanwhile, when the king went to rejoice over the three young men he expected to see them burning. Instead, only the clothes that had been used to bind them were burned--and the king saw an extra person in the fire!

He asked, "Did not we cast three men bound into the fire? Now I see four men loosed and walking, and the fourth man is like the son of a god." The Son of God had not yet been born, and the king knew nothing about the true God. He only knew that somebody supernatural was in that fire with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. He commanded them to come forth from the fire. When they did, he made a proclamation:

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him." Then the king promoted the, giving them a better job than they had before.

Many times in life we must make the choice between right and wrong. It may seem that we will be punished if we do the right thing sometimes, but if we stand up for what is right, God will be with us and bless us, and some day we will be promoted to live with him in heaven forever! Amen!

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