Week 25 · about 45 minutes
Three Friends and a Fourth in the Fire
Daniel 3 · Memory verse Isaiah 43:2
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Four in the Fire), the matching word search and answer key (Friends in the Fire), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: orange and yellow paper streamers
Hold up orange and yellow paper streamers. In about five minutes, tell the class this: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse a golden statue and meet God in the furnace. Show the prop and ask, “What does this have to do with Three Friends and a Fourth in the Fire?” Let two children answer. Then read Isaiah 43:2 together: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.” Close by asking one child to say the lesson back in their own words, using the prop.
Story script
King Nebuchadnezzar built a huge golden statue and ordered everyone to bow when the music played. Three of Daniel’s friends — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — stayed on their feet. They would not worship a statue, even a shiny one with a band.
The king was furious. He threatened a blazing furnace. They answered with astonishing calm: “The God we serve is able to deliver us. But even if he does not, we will not serve your gods or bow to the image.” Their faith was not a bargain. They trusted God if he rescued them and if the road stayed hot.
They were thrown in. The king leaped up. “Didn’t we throw three men in? I see four, walking around unbound, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” He called them out. Not a hair was singed, and they did not even smell like smoke.
Sometimes God rescues in ways everyone can see. Sometimes the miracle is that he walks with you inside the hard thing. Either way, you do not bow to whatever the crowd is worshiping. There is a fourth presence for God’s people: the Lord himself.
Group game
Three friends refuse to bow to a toy statue. They stand in the streamer fire and a fourth friend joins them. Count to four together.
Craft
Draw four people in a furnace that does not win. Write God walks with us.
Memory verse
Isaiah 43:2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.”
Take-home prayer
Lord, help me stand when others bow to the wrong things. Walk with me in every fire, and keep my heart yours. Amen.