Basic HTML Version
How God Sees Greatness, December 9
Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom
by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
Daniel 4:30
.
The strength of nations and of individuals is not found in the opportunities
and facilities that appear to make them invincible; it is not found in their
boasted greatness. That which alone can make them great or strong is the
power and purpose of God. They themselves, by their attitude toward His
purpose, decide their own destiny.
Human histories relate man’s achievements, his victories in battle, his
success in climbing to worldly greatness. God’s history describes man as
heaven views him. In the divine records all his merit is seen to consist in his
obedience to God’s requirements. His disobedience is faithfully chronicled as
meriting the punishment he will surely receive. In the light of eternity it will
be seen that God deals with men in accordance with the momentous question
of obedience or disobedience.
Hundreds of years before a people has come upon the stage of action, the
prophetic pen, under the dictation of the Holy Spirit, has traced its history....
The voice of God, heard in past ages, is sounding down along the line
from century to century, through generations that have come on the stage of
action and passed away. Shall God speak, and His voice not be respected?
What power mapped out all this history, that nations, one after another, should
fill in their predicted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of
which they themselves knew not the meaning? ...
To every man, God has assigned a place in His great plan. By truth or
falsehood, by folly or wisdom, each is fulfilling a purpose, bringing about
certain results....
In the eyes of the world, those who serve God may appear weak. They
may be apparently sinking beneath the billows, but with the next billow they
are seen rising nearer to their haven. “I give unto them eternal life,” saith our
Lord; “...neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (
John 10:28
).
Though kings shall be cast down, and nations removed, the souls that through
faith link themselves with God’s purposes shall abide forever. “They that be
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many
to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (
Daniel 12:3
).—
Manuscript
36, December 9, 1896
, “Obedience the Condition of Success.”
[353]
364