Only the chains were gone

In the book of Daniel, we have the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. To summarize it, King Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bow down to a gold statue he had built, but the three of them would not bow down. Because they would only worship the one true God, the king gave orders for them to be thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. God performed a miracle that day by saving them from the fire, (and that is amazing in itself!), but there is something in this story that I had not known until recently.

Look at these words in Daniel chapter 3:

Verse 20: “and he commanded some of the best soldiers in his army to TIE UP Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.”

Verse 21: “So these men, in their trousers, robes, head coverings, and other clothes, were TIED UP and thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.”

Verse 23: “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell, BOUND, into the furnace of blazing fire.”

Verse 24 states that King Nebuchadnezzar said “Didn’t we throw three men, BOUND, into the fire?”

Four times it mentions that the men were tied up or bound. But then look at verse 25. King Nebuchadnezzar says “Look! I see four men, NOT TIED, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

King Nebuchadnezzar called for them to come out of the furnace, and they did.

It is astonishing to read about how God saved them from the fire that day! They came out of the fire as if nothing had happened! That is amazing in itself! But look at this detail God gives us (don’t you just love how God is always in the details ☺️) Verse 27 tells us that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair on their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. But it never mentions the rope, cords, chains or whatever the men were tied with. It talks about their hair, their bodies, their robes…..BUT the chains were gone!!! That was the only thing affected and the only thing missing when they came out of the fire! How cool is that!?! And how cool is it that it relates to us today? When we are saved, the sin that once held us, no longer has a hold on us. We are no longer bound by it & headed toward the fire of hell. We are set free, from the moment of salvation!

I think sometimes Christianity is viewed as a list of do’s & don’ts. But it’s actually the opposite! We are not trying to follow a bunch of rules, and God is definitely not waiting for us to mess up. He wants to FREE US from sin so that we can have a relationship with Him 🤍

I think it is also interesting to note that in John 18:12 it says that when Jesus was arrested, He was TIED UP. He was about to take on the sin of the whole world 😔 He lived a perfect life and never sinned but willingly took on all of our sin, to take the punishment we deserved.

Because Jesus paid the price for our sins with His sacrifice on the cross, our sins can be forever washed away, and we will get to live eternally in heaven with Him. I am so thankful that we can be set free from our sin because of what He did on the cross for us.

Like the words in the praise & worship song say: 🎶 My Chains Are Gone…I’ve Been Set Free 🎶 Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! 🙌