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THE POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS DELIVERS FROM DEATH

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 30.

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THE POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS DELIVERS FROM DEATH.

By William Warren Prescott

WHEN the three Hebrews were delivered in the burning fiery furnace by the presence of the Fourth with them, the mighty men who cast them into the flame were destroyed by the intense heat, thus showing to all that the deliverance was a genuine one. In a similar manner is testimony borne in this case that the escape of Daniel from death was not due to the gentle disposition of the lions.
“And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.”
How true it is that “the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.” “He dug a hole and scooped it out, and fell into the pit he made. His mischief shall return on his own head, on his own scalp shall his violence descend.” “Such, under the rule of the All-righteous, is the final issue of impenitent wickedness. Evil is made to recoil with ruinous force on the head of him who put it in motion. So it was with Absalom and Ahithophel. So it had been with Pharaoh. Must we not ascend higher yet? So it shall be with the arch-enemy. The heel which he wounds shall wound his head. His temporary triumph over man shall issue in his own utter and final discomfiture.” Since the kingdom of God was within Daniel, and the presence of the King of heaven was with him, he had the mastery over the lions, thus showing the place which God intended that man as his servant should occupy with reference to all the animal creation; but when his accusers were cast in among the same wild beasts, knowing no kingdom but the outward and the fleshly, and believing only in themselves, “the lions had the mastery of them.” Where Daniel lived, they perished. So “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” those who have known God and believed in him will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” That “breath of his mouth” which is death to the wicked, is the breath of life to the righteous.
“Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
When Nebuchadnezzar was on the throne of the world, the King of heaven made known to him, through Daniel’s interpretation of his dream, that the kingdom of God was the only one which would “stand forever;” and now that “another kingdom” had succeeded Babylon, in harmony with that sameinterpretation the same truth was made known through Daniel’s experience. It was the power of the kingdom of God within which delivered and rescued Daniel. It was the power of the principles of this kingdom which kept him so that he did “no hurt,” and so the same power could be revealed in his behalf to deliver him “from the power of the lions,” so that “no manner of hurt was found upon him.” This was the convincing evidence to King Darius that the God whom Daniel worshiped was “steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,” or hurt: as the word here translated “destroyed” is simply another form of the word translated “hurt” in the other verses. The power of the kingdom working in Daniel kept him from being “hurt,” and gave him the mastery over the wild beasts. The same power of the kingdom will keep every one who believes in his God so that “nothing shall by any means hurt” him, and he “shall not be hurt of the second death.” The same power will cause the kingdom to “stand forever,” changing the nature even of the beasts so that “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” This is the everlasting gospel.
The gospel is the gospel of deliverance. “He hath sent me . . . to preach deliverance to the captives.” And so in the great gospel object lesson the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, . . . and I am come down to deliver them.” So Nebuchadnezzar learned to know God as the One who “delivered his servants that trusted in him.” The same gospel of deliverance was preached in the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, and King Darius bore testimony to “the God of Daniel” that “he delivereth and rescueth; . . . who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” So we pray, “Deliver us from the evil one,” and should give thanks unto the Father, “who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. . . . Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”
In the first chapter it was stated that “Daniel continued,” and now it is added that “Daniel prospered.” He continued and prospered because he served God continually, and sought first the prosperity of the everlasting kingdom. And as “the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; . . . and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand,” so it was with Daniel; but both these men met the test of maintaining their integrity under false accusations, and when they were captives in a strange land. Because they submitted to an undeserved punishment rather than “sin against God,” and thus sever their close union with him, the prosperity of the kingdom which was within them was soon revealed in their experience among men, and they were then recognized by the world as prosperous men. But Joseph in the prison and Daniel in the den of lions were prosperous men in the eyes of the Lord, because they had steadfastly maintained the principles of the kingdom of heaven, the law of their God. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
W. W. P.