Analysis of Nebuchadnezzar's Reaction (Part 3)

Verse 19. Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury. So much that the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I mean, that vein in the forehead was really popping out. Okay, his face is changing. He's so livid. Therefore, he spake. He probably screamed or shrieked or spit it out. He commanded they should heat the furnace 17 times more than it was. Want to be heated? We're going to crank this up. Crank up your consequences. You thought it was just the Panopticon people looking at you. We'll light the so everyone can see. He commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning and fiery furnace. Talk about stacking the deck against the if it be so. In some ways, this is the reverse of what actually, it's a parallel of what Elijah did up on Mount Carmel when he's having his competition with the priests of baal. He stacked the deck against himself, against the God of Israel as he dumped on more and more water, making it all the more hard for God to do what he needed to do. Well, this is the opposite. Let's make it all the hotter on Baal's side, or in this case, Babylon's side. Let's stoke the flames to the point that God cannot put them out. There's no hope for you here. So verse 22 and 23. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, no wasting time here. And the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, that backfired, it consumed the mightiest men of his army. Interesting talk about digging a pit for your enemies but falling into it yourself. Talk about Babylon scorched by its own flames. That's what happened here. But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they fell down, bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. But falling down isn't the same as going up in flame. In fact, verse 24 and 25, Nebuchadnezzar, the king was astonished, rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, wait, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king. True, O king. And he answered and said, lord,