In fact, the fire in the furnace is so hot that the very strong men who throw the three friends into the furnace die themselves because of the tremendous heat. They get too close to the heat. If those very strong soldiers do not even survive, what then of the three who have now been thrown into the furnace, into the fire? No human being can possibly survive this!
We see from this horrific heat how the devil persecutes God’s people. He does not want to bully just a little bit, but instead he wants God’s people dead. God’s people must disappear from the earth. In Old Testament times, he also seeks to ensure through this that the Lord Jesus, as the Saviour of God’s people, will never come. The devil is truly life threatening. When we see the forces the devil employs against Christ’s church, we realize that we can never remain obedient children of God in our own strength. It is important to let Peter’s words sink in, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12–13). The fire we read about in 1 Peter 4 recalls the fire in the furnace into which the three friends are thrown. The word used here (pyrōsei) indicates temperatures in which gold or silver are smelted, separated from other substances. No human being can survive such temperatures. Temptations and persecutions can be so severe that we cannot endure under them in our own strength. We have to give in; it is just impossible to keep going. At this point it is only God who can help us.
22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.