192
Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
physical strength and beauty, in mental vigor and literary attainments,
and in spiritual power and insight they stood unrivaled. “In all matters
of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found
them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were
in all his realm.”
Daniel 1:20
. While faithful to his duties in the king’s
court, Daniel so faithfully maintained his loyalty to God that God could
honor him as His messenger to the Babylonian monarch. Through
him the mysteries of the future were unfolded, and Nebuchadnezzar
himself was constrained to acknowledge the God of Daniel “as a God
of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.”
Daniel 2:47
.
So the institutions established by God’s people today are to glorify
His name. The only way in which we can fulfill His expectation is by
being representatives of the truth for this time. God is to be recognized
in the institutions established by Seventh-day Adventists. By them the
truth for this time is to be represented before the world with convincing
power.
[221]
We are called to represent to the world the character of God as it
was revealed to Moses. In answer to the prayer of Moses, “Show me
Thy glory,” the Lord promised, “I will make all My goodness pass
before thee.” “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed,
The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, for-
giving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
Exodus 33:18, 19
;
34:6,
7
. This is the fruit that God desires from His people. In the purity
of their characters, in the holiness of their lives, in their mercy and
loving-kindness and compassion, they are to demonstrate that the “law
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
Psalm 19:7
.
God’s purpose for His institutions today may also be read in the
purpose which He sought to accomplish through the Jewish nation.
Through Israel it was His design to impart rich blessings to all peoples.
Through them the way was to be prepared for the diffusion of His
light to the whole world. The nations of the world, through following
corrupt practices, had lost a knowledge of God. Yet in His mercy
God did not blot them out of existence. He purposed to give them
opportunity for becoming acquainted with Him through His church.
He designed that the principles revealed through His people should be
the means of restoring in man the moral image of God.