The Truth about Angels

Chapter 12—Angels From the Captivity to John the Baptist Daniel and His Three Companions The love and fear of God was before Daniel, and he educated and trained all his powers to respond as far as possible to the loving care of the Great Teacher, conscious of his amenability to God. The four Hebrew children would not allow selfish motives and love of amusements to occupy the golden moments of this life. They worked with a willing heart and ready mind. This is no higher standard than every Christian may attain. God requires of every Christian scholar more than has been given him. Ye are “a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 230. {TA 139.1} Those who do as Daniel and his fellows did will have the cooperation of God and the angels.—Manuscript Releases 4:125. {TA 139.2} Nebuchadnezzar’s Fiery Furnace As in the days of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so in the closing period of earth’s history the Lord will work mightily in behalf of those who stand steadfastly for the right.

He who walked with the Hebrew worthies in the fiery furnace will be with His followers wherever they are. His abiding presence will comfort and sustain. In the midst of the time of trouble—trouble such as has not been since there was a nation—His chosen ones will stand unmoved. Satan with all the hosts of evil cannot destroy the weakest of God’s saints.

Angels that excel in strength will protect them, and in their behalf Jehovah will reveal Himself as a “God of gods,” able to save to the uttermost those who have put their trust in Him.—Prophets and Kings, 513. {TA 139.3} Belshazzar’s Feast While they were that night in the midst of idolatrous mirth, the king’s countenance suddenly pales, and he seems paralyzed with terror; for lo! a bloodless hand is tracing mystic characters on the wall over against him. The revelers discern the curious and, to them, unintelligible writing. The exciting merriment dies away, and a painful silence falls upon the throng. The king’s thoughts troubled him, “the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.” Trembling with alarm, he “cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed in scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” But these men are no more able to interpret the mystic characters traced by the hand of an angel of God than they were to interpret the dream of Nebuchadnezzar.—The Review and Herald, February 8, 1881. {TA 140.1} There was a witness ... in Belshazzar’s palace at that festival.... The angel on that occasion traced the characters over against the walls of the palace.—The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 517. {TA 141.1} Daniel in the Lions’ Den 68