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In the Midst of the Fire, December 18
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
also before my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 10:32
.
A confession of Christ means something more than bearing testimony
in social [prayer] meeting.
We have a different confession to make from that which we have made;
and we shall have to make it under different circumstances. The three
Hebrews were called upon to confess Christ in the face of the burning
fiery furnace. They had been commanded by the king to fall down and
worship the golden image which he had set up, and threatened that if
they would not, they should be cast alive into the fiery furnace, but they
answered, “We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 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 thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden
image which thou hast set up.”
Daniel 3:16-18
. It cost them something to
confess Christ, for their lives were at stake.
Then the king commanded that the furnace be heated seven times
hotter than it was wont to be heated, and the faithful children of God were
cast into the furnace. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and
rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast
three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto
the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose,
walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of
the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Verses 24, 25
.... Then Nebuchadnezzar
called forth the servants of God, and they had not so much as the smell
of fire upon them. If you are called to go through the fiery furnace for
Christ’s sake, Jesus will be at your side. “When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
Isaiah 43:2
.
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