THURSDAY, APRIL 19
Daniel 3:24-25
Matthew 28:20

“… lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world ...”

LIKE THE SON OF GOD

“Lo,” said the great king of Babylon, “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” (Dan 3:25).

Nebuchadnezzar could not have known this, of course, but the fourth person was probably the pre-incarnate second Person of the Triune God. In view of the fact that the Son of God had previously appeared in a burning bush (Exod 3), and had ascended in a flame of fire (Judg 13), there is no biblical reason why He could not have been the one who appeared in the furnace with the three friends of Daniel.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb 13:8). Therefore, in any situation of life, no matter how terrifying or apparently destructive, He is with those who put their trust in Him. He walks with us in the midst of the flames of temptation and of persecution. God had announced to Israel long before Daniel’s day: “… when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isa 43:2). It is doubtful that Daniel’s friends expected their God to fulfil these words literally in their case, but we may be sure that they thought about this promise from a new perspective ever afterwards!

During the Church Age in which we now live, this same infi¬nite Christ has promised us: “… lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world …” (Matt 28:20). No circumstance of life can become too deep for Him to reach us, lift us, and then walk with us along the pathways of life. In Revelation 2:1-2, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands says, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience ...” That is sufficient for God’s children, even in our day.

THOUGHT: To ask God to use me means I must expect to pay a price.
PRAYER: My God, the Invisible One, help me to see Thy presence!