An appearance of the Angel of the Lord
The Fourth Man in the Fire
Three young Hebrews refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden image and are thrown bound into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. The king leaps up astonished, for he sees four men walking free in the flames, unbound and unharmed, and says the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. This is among the strongest felt cases.
“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.”Daniel 3:25
What happened
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are bound and cast into the burning fiery furnace, so hot that it kills the men who throw them in. Then King Nebuchadnezzar rises in alarm and asks whether they did not cast three men bound into the fire, for he now sees four walking loose in the midst of the flames, and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. He calls the three out, and they emerge without so much as the smell of smoke on them. The king blesses their God, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted him and yielded their bodies rather than serve any god but their own.
Why many see the pre-incarnate Christ
This is felt as one of the strongest cases, because a fourth figure appears in the fire when only three were thrown in, and the king says his form is like the Son of God, or a son of the gods. Later Nebuchadnezzar calls this figure God's angel. Many Christians read the fourth man as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, present with his people in the flame. We must state this honestly. The words come from a pagan king who has no doctrine of the Trinity, and his phrase may simply mean a divine or heavenly being. The text itself calls the deliverer an angel. It is a beloved and reasonable reading, but not a proof.
Is this the Son before Bethlehem?
Few images have comforted the suffering church like the fourth man in the fire. Whether or not he is the pre-incarnate Son, generations have rightly seen here the truth that Christ is with his people in their furnaces, that he does not always keep us from the fire but walks into it with us, and that the flames burn only our bonds. The three would not bow even if God did not deliver them, and into that fierce faith a companion came. Jesus is that companion still, present in every furnace, loosing what binds us, bringing his own out without the smell of smoke, and turning a tyrant's cruelty into a witness to the living God.
Questions people ask
Is the fourth man in the fiery furnace Jesus?
A fourth figure appears when only three were cast in, and the pagan king says his form is like the Son of God. Many Christians read this as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ with his people in the flame, one of the strongest felt cases. Yet the words come from Nebuchadnezzar and may mean a divine being, and the text calls the deliverer an angel. It is a cherished reading, not a proof.
What does like the Son of God mean in Daniel 3?
The phrase is Nebuchadnezzar's, and in his mouth it likely means a divine or heavenly being, sometimes rendered a son of the gods. Christians have long heard in it a glimpse of Christ present in the furnace, and the reading is reverent and reasonable. But since a pagan king spoke it, and the text elsewhere calls the figure an angel, the identification stays an interpretation rather than a settled fact.