Matthew Henry Commentary Daniel 3:19-27

"Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: [therefore] he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, [and] to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their [other] garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king`s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 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. 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 counsellors, 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 hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them." — Daniel 3:19-27 (ASV)

Let Nebuchadnezzar heat his furnace as hot as he can; a few minutes will finish the torment of those cast into it, but hellfire tortures and yet does not kill. Those who worshipped the beast and his image have no rest, no pause, no moment free from pain, Revelation 14:10–11. Now that great promise from Isaiah 43:2 was literally fulfilled: When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.

Leaving it to that God who preserved them in the fire, to bring them out, they walked up and down in their midst, supported and encouraged by the presence of the Son of God. Those who suffer for Christ have his presence in their sufferings, even in the fiery furnace and in the valley of the shadow of death. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges them as servants of the Most High God, a God able to deliver them out of his hand.

Our God alone is the consuming fire, Hebrews 12:29. If only we could see into the eternal world, we would behold the persecuted believer safe from the malice of his foes, while they are exposed to the wrath of God and tormented in unquenchable fires.