mythology spoke.

But the great lesson to be gathered from this miracle of deliverance is
simply that men who sacrifice themselves for God find in the sacrifice
abundant blessing. They may, or may not, be delivered from the external
danger. Peter was brought out of prison the night before his intended
martyrdom; James, the brother of John, was slain with the sword, but God
was equally near to both, and both were equally delivered from 'Herod
and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.' The disposal of
the outward event is in His hands, and is a comparatively small matter.
But no furnace into which a man goes because he will be true to God, and
will not yield up his conscience, is a tenth part so hot as it seems,
and it will do no real harm. The fire burns bonds, but not Christ's
servants, consuming many things that entangled, and setting them free.
'I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts'--even if we have to
walk in the furnace. No trials faced in obedience to God will be borne
alone. 'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; ...
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.'

The form which Nebuchadnezzar saw amid the flame, as invested with more
than human majesty, may have been but one of the ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to the martyrs--the embodiment of the divine
power which kept the flames from kindling upon them. But we have Jesus
for our Companion in all trials, and His presence makes it possible for
us to pass over hot ploughshares with unblistered feet; to bathe our
hands in fire and not feel the pain; to accept the sorest consequences
of fidelity to Him, and count them as 'not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed,' and is made more glorious through
these light afflictions. A present Christ will never fail His servants,
and will make the furnace cool even when its fire is fiercest.