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THE MAJESTY OF GOD

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 29, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 33, No. 1.

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THE MAJESTY OF GOD.

By E. B. Saunders

I NEVER read the ninth and tenth verses of the seventh chapter of Daniel, without a feeling of awe at the sublimity of the scene there so briefly described. “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the Judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
No language can paint the sublimity of the scene. The description of the prophet cannot be surpassed, yet how few ever think of the greatness of the event or sublimity of the scene.
Passing by the terrible personal appearance of the Deity, the countless numbers that minister unto him, and the vast throng that stand before him, will fill the mind of poor, feeble man with amazement. These are not men, but angels. Some have read these verses, and supposed that the thousands mentioned are mortals standing before their Judge; but this is not so; they are angels that wait before him, “hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
Micah said, “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” Not men, but the “host of Heaven,” or angels. And the beloved John says, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousands, and thousands of thousands.”
Now these angels are not children with wings, such as appear in the caricatures of the day; but each one of them a terrible being, so majestic and glorious in appearance as to cause the stoutest hearts to quake with fear. Manoah and his wife saw an angel and expressed themselves as having seen the face of God, and feared that they would die because of it.
So glorious was the appearance of the angel which appeared to John that he fell down at his feet to worship him, though commanded not to do it, yet he was so overpowered with a sense of the glory that he fell down to worship the second time, while the angel said that he was only a servant also, and told him to worship God. And generally when angels have appeared to men their first work is to quiet the fear excited by their presence. Said the angel to Mary, “Fear not;” to the holy women at the sepulchre of Jesus, “Fear not ye;” and to Daniel, “Fear not, Daniel.”
The angel that appeared at the tomb of Jesus, and caused the Roman guard to fall like dead men, were something more than winged cupids. Let us read the account, “And behold there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake and become as dead men.” Those proud men of war who dared to mock Jesus while before Pilate, felt their littleness in the presence of the holy angels, and fell as dead men to the ground.
In the third year of Cyrus an angel appeared to Daniel. He says, “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz; his body also was like the beryl, his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.”
Daniel was a noble personage in the kingdom, therefore accompanied by a retinue of servants, and of them he says, “A great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.” And of his own condition at the time he says, “There remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” When the angel assured him that he was greatly beloved, and stood him upon his feet, yet, he says, “I stood trembling.”
If one angel is so great and terrible that men feel as nothing, what must be the feeling to be in the presence of millions of such beings. Ten thousand times ten thousand, or an hundred millions are represented as standing before God to do his bidding. But the prophet feels his inability to express their numbers, even after stating the preceding great numbers, hence he adds, “and thousands of thousands.” What are the people of the earth before God when the weakest of his angels could cut them down by nations? Oh! how majestic is that Being whose throne is like the fiery flame, and the wheels of his chariot like burning fire; before whose presence flows a fiery stream, while countless millions wait before him, millions of angels that excel in strength, whose faces are like the lightning. Oh! why should I hesitate to trust him, love him, worship him, and humble my proud heart before him? It would exalt me to humble myself before such a God. And how very merciful for such a God to notice a poor frail worm like myself; to offer to accept of me and raise me up to be like the angels. In view of such things I feel that when I give all to him it is a great condescension on his part to notice me, and I can only say, “Here Lord, I give myself away, ’tis all that I can do.”
E. B. SAUNDERS.