Daniel 3 records the refusal of three righteous men to worship a golden image and their deliverance from a fiery furnace. The central revelation is in verse 25, where a fourth figure appears whose form is “like the Son of God.” This is a direct Old Testament manifestation of the Son of God (Jesus Christ) before His incarnation—present with His people in the midst of the fire.

Verses 1–7
Nebuchadnezzar makes an image of gold (height sixty cubits, breadth six cubits) and sets it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He gathers all the rulers and commands that at the sound of the music every people, nation, and language must fall down and worship the image or be cast into a burning fiery furnace. All the people obey.
The setting is Babylon (modern-day Iraq). A forced universal worship is imposed. The righteous will soon be tested, and the Son of God will be revealed in that test.

Verses 8–12
Certain Chaldeans accuse Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They report that these Jews whom the king set over the affairs of the province of Babylon do not serve the king’s gods nor worship the golden image. Faithful men living under an unbelieving system are singled out for their refusal to worship what God has forbidden.

Verses 13–15
Nebuchadnezzar, in rage, brings the three men before him. He gives them another chance: worship the image or be cast the same hour into the furnace. He asks, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” The wicked challenge the power of the true God. The coming answer will be the personal presence of the Son of God.

Verses 16–18
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answer: they are not careful to answer the king in this matter. Their God is able to deliver them from the furnace and out of the king’s hand. “But if not,” they will not serve the king’s gods nor worship the golden image. They trust the God who can deliver, yet they will not compromise even if He does not. This is the posture that prepares for the appearance of the Son of God.

Verses 19–23
Nebuchadnezzar is full of fury. He commands the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. The most mighty men bind the three and cast them in. The flame slays the men who threw them in. The three fall bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. The fire is intensified. Human deliverance is impossible. The stage is set for divine presence.

Verses 24–25 – The Reveal of the Son of God
Nebuchadnezzar is astonished and rises in haste. He asks his counsellors, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answer, “True, O king.” He says, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

The king sees four men walking unbound and unharmed. The form of the fourth is like the Son of God. In the Bible this is the explicit title used. This is the Old Testament reveal of the Son of God—Jesus Christ in pre-incarnate appearance—walking in the midst of the fire with His people. He is not an ordinary angel; the king’s own words identify the form as that of the Son of God. The three are loose; the bonds are gone. The fire has no power over them because the Son of God is present.

Verses 26–27
Nebuchadnezzar comes near and calls them servants of the most high God, commanding them to come forth. They come out. The princes, governors, captains, and counsellors see that the fire had no power on their bodies, not a hair of their head was singed, their coats were not changed, and the smell of fire had not passed on them. They exit unharmed. The presence of the Son of God preserved them completely.

Verses 28–30
Nebuchadnezzar blesses the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego “who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him.” He notes that they yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. He decrees that any who speak against this God shall be cut in pieces, because no other God can deliver after this sort. The king promotes the three in the province of Babylon. The king later calls the fourth figure “his angel,” yet the text has already recorded his direct observation that the form was like the Son of God. The deliverance is attributed to the God who sent Him. The righteous are elevated after the revelation.

Daniel 3:25 is the clear Old Testament statement that the form of the fourth man in the fire is like the Son of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is present with His people in the midst of the fiery trial. He looses them, walks with them, and keeps the fire from having any power over them.

The three trusted God, refused idolatry, and were joined by the Son of God Himself. This is the same Son of God later revealed in the New Testament who is with His own always, even unto the end of the world, and who is able to deliver those who yield their bodies rather than worship any other. The revelation occurs in Babylon under a wicked king, demonstrating that the Son of God appears where His people refuse to bow.