John Chrysostom, on Dan 3:16

“Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago answered and said to king Nabuchodonosor: We have no occasion to answer thee concerning this matter.”

“Observe that they [the young men] by a special dispensation are ignorant of the future, for if they had foreknown, there would have been nothing wonderful in their doing what they did. For what marvel is it if, when they had a guarantee of safety, they defied all terrors? Then God indeed would have been glorified in that he was able to deliver them from the furnace, but they would not have been wondered at, inasmuch as they would not have cast themselves into dangers. For this reason, he caused them to be ignorant of the future that he might glorify them the more. And as they cautioned the king that he was not to condemn God of weakness though they might be burned, so God accomplished both purposes: manifesting his own power and making even more obvious the zeal of the children.… And so they entered into the fire; manifesting all courage and gentleness and doing nothing for reward or for compensation or return.… We also have already our compensation, for indeed we have it in that we have been given the full knowledge of him, being made members of Christ.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.