One night, King Nebuchadnezzar had a strange dream. It bothered him so much that he could not sleep. He called his magicians in and said to them: ‘Explain my dream to me.’ They said: ‘Tell us what you dreamed, O king.’ But Nebuchadnezzar told them: ‘No! You tell me what I dreamed, or I will kill you.’ Again they said to him: ‘Tell us what you dreamed, and then we will explain it.’ He said: ‘All of you are trying to trick me. Tell me what I dreamed!’ They told the king: ‘There is no man alive who can do that. What you ask is impossible.’

Nebuchadnezzar was so angry that he ordered that all the wise men in the land be killed. That included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel asked the king for some time. Then he and his friends prayed to Jehovah and asked him to help them. What did Jehovah do?

In a vision, Jehovah showed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel and gave him its meaning. The next day, Daniel went to the king’s servant and said: ‘Don’t kill any of the wise men. I can explain the king’s dream.’ The servant took Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel told the king: ‘God has revealed the future to you. This is your dream: You saw a huge statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of copper, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. Then a stone was cut from a mountain, and it struck the feet of the statue. The statue was crushed into powder and blew away in the wind. The stone became a large mountain, and it filled the earth.’

Daniel then said: ‘This is what your dream means: Your kingdom is the head of gold. The silver is a kingdom that will come after you. Then there will be one like copper, which will rule over the whole earth. The next kingdom will be strong like iron. Finally, there will be a divided kingdom with some parts strong like iron and some parts weak like clay. The stone that becomes a mountain is God’s Kingdom. It will crush all these kingdoms and will last forever.’

Nebuchadnezzar fell down in front of Daniel with his face to the ground. He said: ‘Your God revealed this dream to you. There is no God like him.’ Instead of killing Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar made him head of all the wise men and ruler over the province of Babylon. Can you see how Jehovah answered Daniel’s prayer?

Sometime after King Nebuchadnezzar had the dream about the statue, he made a huge image out of gold. He set it up on the plain of Dura and called the most important people in the land, including Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to gather in front of it. The king commanded: ‘As soon as you hear the sound of trumpets, harps, and bagpipes, bow down to the statue! Anyone who will not bow down will be thrown into a burning furnace.’ Would the three Hebrews bow down to the statue, or would they worship only Jehovah?

Then the king commanded that the music be played. Everyone fell down and worshipped the statue except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Some of the men noticed this and told the king: ‘Those three Hebrews refused to worship your statue.’ Nebuchadnezzar sent for them and said: ‘I’m going to give you another chance to worship the statue. If you do not, I will throw you into the furnace. There is no god who will be able to save you from me.’ They answered: ‘We do not need another chance. Our God can save us. But even if he does not, O king, we will not worship the statue.’

Nebuchadnezzar got very angry. He told his men: ‘Make the fire in the furnace seven times hotter than usual!’ Then he commanded his soldiers: ‘Tie up these men, and throw them in!’ The furnace was so hot that when the soldiers got close to it, they died instantly. The three Hebrews fell into the fire. But when Nebuchadnezzar looked inside, he saw that there were four men walking around in the furnace instead of three. He became frightened and asked his officials: ‘Didn’t we throw three men into the fire? I see four, and one of them looks like an angel!’

Nebuchadnezzar went closer to the furnace and called out: ‘Come out, you servants of the Most High God!’ Everyone was amazed to see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walk out of the fire unharmed. Their skin, their hair, and their clothing had not been burned, and they did not even smell of fire.

Nebuchadnezzar said: ‘The God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is great. He sent his angel and saved them. There is no god like theirs.’

Like the three Hebrews, are you determined to be loyal to Jehovah no matter what happens?