Nor the Smell of Fire

“And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had 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.” Dan. 3:27.

Why this minuteness of reference to the bodies, hair, and coats of these men? Why this closing remark—that even the smell of fire was not upon them? Why, in addition, the obvious fact that, while they and their garments were absolutely intact, the cords which had bound them when thrown into the furnace were burned up—and what is more, the very men who threw them in were themselves burned to death?

The Smell of Fire

Let us suppose for a moment that the three men had come out with the marks of fire partially upon them, or even with the smell of it; that here and there the fire had singed either body or raiment—what would have been the attitude of the Babylonian fire-worshippers Something like this: “Ah, well, it is true. Iz-bar has not been able to destroy them, but he has at least left his mark upon them. They will wear these clothes no more. Their friends will scarcely recognise them as the men they once were. The smell of the furnace will not soon leave them. They have not come out scatheless. Our Iz-bar is still a god to be reckoned with. They will not be so ready to disobey the king’s mandate another time. They will not come out of the furnace, it may be, a second time as easily as they have done this first time.”

And so the whole moral effect of the protest of these three Hebrews would have been discounted.

But in this case evasion was impossible. Not one loophole of escape was left them. They had to admit that Jehovah had conquered.

From this story many valuable lessons can be learned, but we deal with only one: There are furnaces which are heated only for God’s children.

The awful forty days in the wilderness; the deepening, hellish malignity of the Jewish rulers; Gethsemane and Calvary—were reserved for our Lord alone. The fires of these furnaces would never have been kindled if He had never been. They were meant only for Him. Indeed, in a sense they were compelled by Him, just as Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace was compelled by the challenge of the three Hebrews. Hell brooks no challenge. Its fires are always ready for those who defy its power. And since God’s children must always defy its power, they get their furnace. God did not prevent the furnace for His three servants. He allowed it to be heated even “seven times more than it would normally to be heated.” He did not lessen the forty days; nor the hate of the Jews; nor the awful anguish of Gethsemane and Calvary, for our Lord. It was a “burning, fiery furnace,” raging, devouring, greedy, fierce, with nothing to restrain its mad and hissing leap upon the helpless Victim.

Christ’s Fierce Furnace

But how did He come out of the furnace—the furnace prepared by hell specially for Him?Without so much as “the smell of fire” upon Him. Hell’s defeat was final and disastrous. So triumphant was His exit from the furnace that He had no complaint, no reproach, no reminiscences, no calls for vengeance, no gloom, no sadness, no protest to the world against injustice, no garrulous pouring into other ears of the story of His suffering. Without “the smell of fire!”

How differently the world would have judged Him if He had come out of the furnace with even “the smell” upon Him! How eager they would have been to show that the fire had not left Him unscathed after all.

And it is just here that many of God’s children need to be warned. They have had their furnace. It has not been anybody’s furnace but their own. The reality and loyalty of their Christian life has made the furnace a necessity. Hesitated to enter it. They have not been careful to answer the enemy in this matter. Furnace or no furnace, they meant to obey and follow Christ. And to their wonder and delight they found “One like the Son of Man” nearer to them than ever before, so that the furnace was a promenade of light, and its flames the ministering angels of God.

And yet, how have they come out of it? Alas! so often with “the smell of fire” upon them. They go back themselves, and they take their friends with them to the furnace door, and say: “There! That is the awful place. How would you like to have been there? And see, here are some of the ropes left over after we were bound. And yonder are the houses of the men who accused us to the king, and they are holding their heads as high as ever . . .”

They call for sympathy. They clamour for judgment upon their enemies. They forget the completeness of their deliverance; and all who meet them know that “the smell of fire” is upon them.

“He opened not His mouth.”

How different it is with others! They, too, have gone into their furnace without hesitation, without anxiety, with silent looking to God, and with no complaint against men. For them also the furnace has been more of heaven than any place they ever knew. Oh, how blessed it all was! They could have wished to remain there if only the Son of God had remained with them! But that could not be. The world must see the miracle. It must learn through them that God is stronger than Satan. It must see what a perfect deliverance God gives to His children. And He brings them out as calm—yes even calmer—than they went in: A new joy irradiating their faces. A new peace keeping their hearts. A new savour permeates their walk and conversation. A new meekness proceeds from their lips upon the young and the old. A new testimony to the presence and power of their Lord in the day of need. A new love and pity for the very men who were the instruments in the devil’s hands of all their troubles So silent about themselves, so eloquent about their Lord, so thankful for the past, so hopeful and sure about the future—they win men with gentleness and Christlikeness. Their triumph is one of the greatest that earth knows. The Church and the world alike realise that sorrow has not soured them, the furnace has not scorched them but that they have come out without so much as the “smell” of fire upon them.