Immanuel in the Fire
Even if you were not raised in the Church, you have heard this story. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are kidnapped and forced into a very unique kind of slavery under King Nebuchadnezzar. When they refuse to bow to the golden idol of “any-god-can-be-anyones-god” they are thrown to certain death in a fiery furnace.
But if you haven’t imagined this story in your mind, you could be missing the entire point.
Walk with me up the mountain to the opening of this furnace. The Hebrew word for furnace gives no pictorial clarity other than it was a fire – evidently, one that could be stoked to varying degrees as the King’s rage demanded it be 7 times hotter than usual to be worthy of these three Jewish rebels. Are you looking at the flames? Can you feel the heat? Does your brow sweat? You must visualize their plight because empathy will be required if your own heart will wrestle with the crux of the issue.
Put yourself in the story. All logic and reason say you’re about to die one of the worst kinds of death. As the warmth begins to blow around you Daniel warns you might not even make it to the flames. The soldiers charged with enraging the fire lose their lives just by standing near it. So you’re going to feel the heat long before you feel the burn. And the psychological warfare is this: you can see it coming. You can smell it coming. You can hear it coming. The furnace seems to scream with the question every victim of every trial must endure:
will I be rescued?
For centuries pastors and Sunday School teachers bid their pupils celebrate the miraculous deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from burning to death in that Babylonian furnace. “They were rescued” we sing, and pray in renewed faith for our own bodies to be preserved from torment in whatever sulfuric hell we cannot imagine facing. To come out unsinged is our definition of salvation. To be rescued is to avoid the flames. So, when our tunic smells of smoke and our shoes are covered with ash, or maybe our skin will forever wrinkle with the scars of 3rd degree burns, we rail against the God of Daniel for allowing us to suffer.
Where were you? we cry out.
How could you let me endure such tragedy? You are.....you are....
Immanuel.
You must picture Him. If you don’t you won’t understand the story. He was there...walking the hill and standing before the blazing fodder. Staring at His three sons as they tremble with fear but speak with confidence.
Immanuel.
Look at His face. What you see in your minds-eye exposes your belief of the God you serve. Does He seem ambivalent? Or maybe He appears as if He has no power to change anything. Does His face reveal the Truth of His heart? Is He afraid? Is He angry?
Immanuel.
He had to be there, even when the world saw just three men. He was there because
He is Immanuel.
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8
And because He is Immanuel, they were...you are...I am...rescued
– while in the fire.
For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego salvation was in the presence of God – not the absence of hell. Whether standing on a beach, in a prison, or in the furnace their Peace is tethered to the God Who Is With Us. Coming out of the fire unscathed was not the rescue; it was their commissioning, to testify to the Peace that passes all understanding when we rest in the presence of Immanuel.
Perhaps that all sounds super spiritual; easy to say, impossible to live. The problem is, my friend, that is the offer of the Gospel. Contrary to popular preachers who presume faith in Jesus secures some sort of flame-retardant lifestyle, the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego tells quite another story. Even when we are faithful – at times, because we are faithful – the world demands we die. To Prestige. To Power. To Wealth. To Safety. To Health. To Life. Whatever we carry to the mouth of the furnace will turn to ash. And it will ignite our Peace like an oil-soaked wick if we do not find solace in Immanuel.
The God we serve is able to deliver us – but even if He doesn’t... (Daniel 3:17-18)
...He will be with me. And that is my rescue story.
In the last 25 years modern brain science has stumbled upon an ancient, Biblical Truth: the sole purpose of the human brain is not a primal need to merely survive. The brain exists to seek out attachment. That is, an indestructible relational bond. In fact, Dr. Allen Schore, a leading researcher in the integration of neuroscience and psychology and the world’s leading mind in attachment theory, says the deepest form of trauma any human can endure is the belief that they are alone in a moment of pain.
Which begs the question: can the opposite be true? Can a human soul endure any form of suffering if they are acutely aware they are NOT alone?
The definition of trauma healing is Immanuel: the ability to see myself as God originally intended – whole – because He rescued me while I was in the fire.
There is no hell like separation from the One True God. And there is no heaven without Immanuel. If that Truth doesn’t satisfy my soul, I don’t fully know the glory of Immanuel.
Not yet anyway.