Daniel 3:24

"Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and he rose up in hast: he spake and said to the counselors, 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 aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire. And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their breeches changed, nor had the smell of fire passed upon them."

GOD PRESERVED THEM IN THE FIERY FURNACE

This was indeed a miracle fulfilling exactly the Divine promise of Isaiah 43:2. It ranks on a parity with the great plagues by which God accomplished the delivery of Israel from bondage in Egypt.

REGARDING MIRACLES

A miracle is not merely an astounding wonder. It is a supernatural occurrence designed as a witness of God's redemptive purpose for mankind. Such wonders occurred only when they were necessary; and a time when such a sign from heaven was any more necessary than at this juncture of Israel's history would be hard to imagine. Miracles attest the truth of the Word of God and confirm the fact of God's sovereignty in his creation. This mighty, supernatural deliverance of the three "was designed to show the sovereignty of the true God over the nation that had taken Israel captive."[29] It also had the utility of legitimizing the Jewish religion throughout the period, of their captivity. Otherwise, Israel itself (along with the promise of the Messiah) might have perished.

The great thing in the passage, over and beyond the amazing deliverance itself, is the appearance of that Fourth Person in the fire walking with the three. Who was he? Nebuchadnezzar's explanation was that "The Most High God had sent his angel, who delivered his servants who trusted in him" (Daniel 3:28). We are shocked that commentators prefer Nebuchadnezzar's opinion in such a matter and make it the basis of denying that here indeed is a genuine Christophany of the Old Testament.

"Here we have to do with a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son of God."[30] We also wish to protest the rendition in our version of Nebuchadnezzar's remark concerning that Fourth Person, namely, that, "He is one like to a son of the gods" (Daniel 3:25). This is an egregious error. This passage should be rendered, "The fourth is like the Son of God," exactly as it is in the KJV. Why? "The language here is simply: "Like to a son of God ([~'Elohiym])."[31] The translators get their perverted "son of the gods," by mistranslating [~'Elohiym], the famous Old Testament plural title of Almighty God as used throughout the Old Testament. If [~'Elohiym] here means "gods" in the sense of pagan gods, then the pagan gods may be said to have created the world! We protest this perversion of God's Word.

Of course, the critics spill lots of ink trying to make their perversion stand up. They say that, "Of course, Nebuchadnezzar could not have known the True God. How do they know what Nebuchadnezzar did or did not know? This very passage reveals that Nebuchadnezzar referred to the Hebrew three as "Servants of the Most High God" (Daniel 3:26); and "Everywhere this word is used in the Holy Bible, it is an appellation of the True God, and of no one else."[32] In that light, how should we evaluate a statement by Barnes that we should not allow the translation of the words "son of God" as they most certainly stand in the text, on the grounds that, "It is clear that no such conception entered into the mind of the king of Babylon."[33] It is admitted that Nebuchadnezzar probably did not know the full meaning of the words he used there; but so what? Caiaphas did not know the meaning of his prophecy of the death of Christ (John 11:59); but God put true words into the mouth of that unbeliever, just like he did here in the case of Nebuchadnezzar. Here is an instance of the vast superiority of the old King James Version above everything since then. The Septuagint (LXX) also rendered this place, "One like to the Son of God." That is what the words mean.

This tampering with Daniel is only an instance of a whole science adopted by the critical fraternity, the sole purpose of which is to edit out of the Word of God every prophetic reference to the Son of God in the entire Bible.