DANIEL 3:20

[Daniel 3:20 ICB] — Then he commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The king told the soldiers to throw them into the blazing furnace.

[Daniel 3:20 NKJV] — And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

THE CHAINS OF THE CROSS

No one mentioned the part of binding those who shall be thrown into the fiery furnace of fire, just as the king did not also mention the furnace of fire would be made seven times hotter. So the king added to the penalty or condemnation he promised for those who shall not worship and serve his image. Not only was the furnace made seven times hotter against those three Christians, but also their freedom were taken out by the bonds that were employed to bind them when they were being cast into the fiery furnace of seven times degree.

In the top Bible verse above, the king commanded some of the best, strongest or mightiest soldiers of his army to bind up the servants of God and cast them into the furnace of fire. That was also how the king lost those soldiers of his army to the same fire that consumed them without consuming the servants of God. It's like how a king sent soldiers to arrest a man of God, but the man of God called down fire from heaven that consumed the soldiers without consuming the man of God. We will get to the part where sending these strongest or mightiest ranking soldiers of Babylon to do that king's command on the three Servants of God became both waste of their efforts and waste of such fine soldiers.

The Lord God and King of Heaven will not waste His Hosts even when He commands them to bind people and cast them fire: Eg.

[Matthew 22:13-14] — "Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."

[Matthew 13:30] - "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather you together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn."

You see the Lord Himself would issue such command to bind people before casting them into fire for being Tares or cast them into outer darkness for not being chosen though they were called.

However, the Lord would not be sending inefficient Soldiers or Servants who cannot bind nor cast people into fire without getting caught/killed by the fire, unlike the case with these of the strongest soldiers of Babylon that Nebuchadnezzar command to do such task here. For these soldiers became the ones who finally got burnt and killed by the furnace of fire of 7th degree, and not those it's meant to be condemned into the fire.



But why is the need to bind people before casting them into the fire, especially when the fire would eventually burn whatever was used in binding them or set them loose while burning them?

The chains or bonds would be spiritual, not just carnal: and they would be part of the punishment, slavery or bondage restrictions of the victim or the condemned. Though different people may be bound by what appears to be similar or same bonds/chains when getting cast into the darkness or into the lake of fire, each man's or each woman's chain shall be different from the other person's chain, and shall reflect the person's sins or punishment differently from the other person(s).

In this case, a man's chain is like the man's cross when he's cast or condemned into his death. The Cross was the Chain used to bind the Lord Jesus Christ together with the crown of thorns, and even though the Lord Jesus Christ was separated or set free from the cross in His death and before His burial, spiritual He still carried the sign (mark) of the cross in His Body both through death and in His Resurrection from the dead. The sign of the cross in the Lord's Body is not the "Plus Sign," not any of these signs " +♀️✝️➕ " which the Roman Catholics and some other churches use as symbol across their bodies or mount on top of their churches pinnacles —-No. You shall not find any of this sign on the Lord's Body as sign of the cross, even though the Lord Jesus was crucified on a tree or cross arranged in such sign. I tell you the true Sign of the Cross the Lord Jesus Christ still carries on His Body — "The Nail Holes on His Hands, the Pierced Side and the Stripes Wound marks on His Back" — These are the Signs (Marks) of the Cross still on the Lord's Body even after His resurrection. The true Sign of the cross is not the way the tree (cross) was wound or bound, but the way His Body was wound and bound on that tree - That is the sign of the cross, which is the sign of His Broken Body when chained, tied or nailed to the cross. Let not the sign of the cross you are using be the image/reflection of the wood (tree/Plus-sign) to which Jesus Christ was chained by nails, rather let the sign of the cross you are using as Christian be the image/reflection of the Brokenness of the Body of Jesus on it.

[Galatians 6:17] — "From now on let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."



So I put difference between "The Cross' and 'Sign of the Cross" telling you that the sign of the cross should not be showing you the cross but showing you the Broken Body of the One who was separated from the cross. We are not following or looking at the cross anymore since the Lord Jesus Christ was pulled out or separated from the cross: and yet we remember the cross without looking at the cross or its reflection, because we remember the cross by seeing the wounds on the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It like how you remembered the particular object that gave you the wound scar or mark on your body without seeing that object: That's the mark or sign of the object, but not image of the object.

Nebuchadnezzar made image of a man in golden statue of the one he saw in his dream/vision, but churches made image of a Cross (Tree or Plus) they saw the Lord hanged on, and Muslims made image of the Moon. Why do we feel Nebuchadnezzar did worse than what those churches and mosques did?



I was talking about the chains or bonds that bind those who are cast into the darkness or into the fire, and how those chains or bonds reflect their sins and therefore communicate the degrees of their punishment, which cannot be understood from a natural point of view. First the scriptures say:

The Lord sees everything you do. He watches where you go. An evil man will be caught in his evil ways. He will be tied up by his sins as if they were ropes. He will die because he does not control himself. He will be held captive by his own foolishness. — [Proverbs 5:21‭-‬23 ICB]

Actually, sins are chains or ropes that shall eventually bind the sinners in their conscience and in their souls. Your guilt and faults becomes your bonds or chains in the days to comes.

But in the top Bible verse above, you saw the king who ordered some of his strongest soldiers to bind innocent and righteous servants of God with chains/cords that were not for the righteous three. Infact, those cords were supposed to bind those soldiers and not bind those righteous men. Later you may see that as soon as the furnace of fire that had God's presence in it received those men they bound, the fire consumed the cords that bound them and as well consumed the soldiers that bound them, but set those who were bound free and gave them immunity from harm in fire.

Satan shall be bound by great chain before being cast into the bottomless pit, but it shall also come with seal that Satan should not deceive anyone for a thousand years. The fallen angels that had sex with women were bound in chains of darkness with seal not roam the earth to deceive anyone or teach anyone till the Judgment Day comes.

The Lord Jesus Christ breaks every chain and sets the captives free: But not every chain He breaks with His Blood, for some chains He must break with His Fire, even while setting the captives free (1 Corinthians 3:15); and there are sufferings some have to suffer to be free from sins. As it is written,

Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that Christ had (to suffer as Christ suffered); because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin. From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will and not by human desires. [1 Peter 4:1‭-‬2]