3 Hebrew Children & Fiery Furnace

1st Angle

2nd Angle

What you need:

• 4ea hand sponges from dollar store (roughly 3.5” x 5.5”) – 3 of the sponges the same color such as green and 1 different such as blue
• OPTIONAL – 3 more sponges for guards (same size) – preferably a different color than the others such as red
• 50% alcohol in a small Tupperware container. NOTE: the 50% alcohol is very important.  If you use higher concentrations of alcohol such as 70% you will need to add water or the sponges will burn.  Play with the mixture ahead of time to see what works best.
• Lighter
• Fire resistant surface to work on such as a metal tray
• Spray bottle with water

Prep:

• Cut the sponges into rough human shapes.
• Bend a metal coat hanger or other wire to make a structure to prop them into standing positions.
• Just before doing the lesson, discretely dip the 4 sponge figures representing the three Hebrew children and Jesus into the 50% alcohol.   Make sure that you completely dip the sponges in the alcohol.  If you only dip them in partway, the un-dipped part will likely burn.

Lesson:

TIP: This lesson is best done outside as the smoke and alcohol smell can make a closed room rather difficult to occupy for long.

Tell the story of the 3 Hebrew children.  Tell about the statue that was built and how everyone were supposed to bow down and worship it.

TELL THE STORY DRAMATICALLY!

Set all of the sponges on a fire resistant surface making sure that there is nothing flammable above the sponges.

When the 3 Hebrew children refused, the king was so mad that he threw them into the FIERY FURNACE HEATED UP 7 TIMES HOTTER THAN NORMAL!

Light the sponges on fire and you will see that though the alcohol burns and the flames are quite high that the sponges themselves are not damaged.

While the guards were killed by the flames, the protection of God was upon the 3 Hebrew children and though they walked around in the fire, they were not hurt by the flames.

The fire was so hot that it killed the guards before they could get away!

IF you are going to be doing the optional guards part, do NOT dip them into the alcohol.  You can either just make sure they are very dry and flammable or you can dip them in lighter fluid (be very careful).

You can either allow the sponges to burn out or spray them with a water bottle to put them out.  In just a short time you should be able to pick them up.

Show that the 3 Hebrew children were unharmed though they were in the fire while the guards are now destroyed.

With God on our side, NOTHING is impossible!  He WILL take care of us if we trust and believe in Him and obey His commandments.

As always, whenever you use fire be very careful to not hurt yourself or others. Keep the children a safe distance away the entire time this is taking place.