Obedience Unto Death

Isaac, who is a pastor in Uganda, has worked with my husband and I to train church leaders and their wives. In the 70's Isaac was shot and left for dead by President Idi Amin Dada during his military coup because Isaac would not deny that he was a follower of Christ. He was thrown on a pile of dead bodies to wake up and realize the Lord had spared him. He fled to Kenya where he spent two years trying to contact his wife and children in Uganda to let them know he was alive. They were reunited.

Isaac was willing to die rather than deny his faith in the living God. The Lord spared Isaac and he speaks freely about this experience. He gives glory to God and believes the Lord spared him for the purpose of continuing his ministry and starting a home for orphaned children where he and his wife now take care of about 80 children.

Daniel 3 tells us of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego who were threatened to die in a fiery furnace because they would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's image of gold. They knew their God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace and the hand of the king but they made it abundantly clear that even if He chose not to save them from this fiery furnace they would not bow down to this gold image (Daniel 3: 17, 18).

These three men were willing to die in the fiery furnace rather than denounce their faith in the living God. They were tossed into a fiery furnace that was made seven times hotter and not only lived through it but came out not having the hair of their head singed, their garments affected and did not even smell of fire (Daniel 3:19, 27). The king was so impressed by their obedience to God that he praises God and then causes Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon.

When I am made aware of people like Isaac and these three Jewish men I stand in awe of their obedience and faith unto death. I would only pray you and I would be willing to die because our faith and trust in the living God is worth more to us than our lives. The good news is...to die for Christ is to be taken into His eternal presence where we will live forever with Him! Isaac, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego knew this truth.