John Calvin Commentary Daniel 3:24-25

"Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spake and said unto his counsellors, 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." — Daniel 3:24-25 (ASV)

Here Daniel relates how God’s power was revealed to the profane—to both the king and his courtiers, who had conspired for the death of these holy men. He says, then, the king trembled at that miracle, since God often compels the impious to acknowledge his power; and when they stupefy themselves and harden all their senses, they are compelled to feel God’s power, willingly or unwillingly.

Daniel shows how this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. He trembled, he says, and rose up quickly, and said to his companions, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? When they say, It is so, Nebuchadnezzar was doubtless impelled by Divine impulse, and a secret instinct, to inquire of his companions to extract this confession from them.

For Nebuchadnezzar might easily have approached the furnace, but God wished to extract this confession from his enemies, so that both they and the king might acknowledge that the rescue of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego proceeded from no earthly means, but from the admirable and extraordinary power of God. We may remark here how the impious are witnesses to God’s power, not willingly, but because God placed this question in the king’s mouth, and also because he did not permit them to escape or turn aside from the confession of the truth.

But Nebuchadnezzar says, four men walked in the fire, and the face of the fourth is like the son of a god. No doubt God here sent one of his angels to support by his presence the minds of his saints, lest they should faint. It was indeed a formidable spectacle to see the furnace so hot and to be cast into it.

By this consolation God wished to allay their anxiety and to soften their grief by adding an angel as their companion. We know how many angels have been sent to one man, as we read of Elisha (2 Kings 6:15). And there is this general rule: He has given his angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways; and also, The camps of angels are about those who fear God (Psalms 91:11 and Psalm 34:7).

This, indeed, is especially fulfilled in Christ; but it is extended to the whole body and to each member of the Church, for God has his own hosts at hand to serve him. But we read again how an angel was often sent to a whole nation.

God indeed does not need his angels, although he uses their assistance in condescension to our infirmities. And when we do not regard his power as highly as we ought, he interposes his angels to remove our doubts, as we have previously said. A single angel was sent to these three men; Nebuchadnezzar calls him a son of God; not because he thought him to be Christ, but according to the common opinion among all people that angels are sons of God, since a certain divinity is resplendent in them; and hence they generally call angels sons of God.

According to this usual custom, Nebuchadnezzar says, the fourth man is like a son of a god. For he could not recognize the only-begotten Son of God, since, as we have previously seen, he was blinded by so many depraved errors.

And if anyone should say it was enthusiasm, this would be forced and frigid. This simplicity, then, will be sufficient for us, since Nebuchadnezzar spoke in the usual manner, as one of the angels was sent to those three men—since, as I have said, it was then customary to call angels sons of God.

Scripture speaks this way (Psalms 89:6 and elsewhere), but God never allowed truth to become so buried in the world that he did not leave some seed of sound doctrine, at least as a testimony to the profane and to render them more inexcusable—as we will discuss more fully in the next lecture.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since our life is only for a moment, indeed, is only vanity and smoke, that we may learn to cast all our care upon you, and so to depend upon you as not to doubt time as our deliverer from all urgent perils, whenever it is to our advantage. Grant us also to learn to neglect and despise our lives, especially for the testimony of your glory; and may we be prepared to depart as soon as you call us from this world. May the hope of eternal life be so fixed in our hearts that we may willingly leave this world and aspire with all our mind towards that blessed eternity which you have testified to be laid up for us in heaven through the gospel, and which your only-begotten Son has procured for us through his blood.—Amen.