Ambassador for God

The following commentary, written by Dorothee Cole, is part of the ongoing study from the SDA Bible Study Guides - this week's topic being Daniel 9. What exactly was cleansed in 1844 and how important is this information?  Read on to see why this weighty topic is relevant to today's Christian and non-Christian...

Qualities of an Ambassador for God

Daniel’s beautiful prayer, which is recounted in chapter 9, reflects the ideal thoughts and desires of a mature spokesperson of God on earth. We should study carefully the elements that made Daniel trustworthy and capable of receiving the prophecies that are so important for us, living 2,500 years later. Daniel reveals all the essential characteristics of a representative of God on earth: an intimate knowledge of God, as with a Friend; a primary concern for God’s reputation; and finally, a longing for the restoration of the original plan where God lives with and within his people.

Knowledge of God’s character

You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you…” (Dan 9:3)

“You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves.” (Dan 9:7) “You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.” (Dan 9:9

The basic pre-requisite of being a spokesperson for God is that we know him. “Knowing God” does not simply mean knowing what he’s like. For example, Satan has witnessed demonstration after demonstration of God’s true character, yet he despises that God is this way. A true knowledge of God implies an intimate friendship between God and the individual. This relationship is based on trust which stems from knowing the truth about God’s character and admiring that He is that way. When Jesus declared his mission – “I have spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me” (John 17:6, The Message) – he revealed that the internalization of this true knowledge of God is so powerful that it is the very foundation to eternal life. “Eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.” (John 17:3) Conversely, a lack of this intimate knowing relationship will lead to self destruction. “My people are destroyed because they don’t know me.” (Hosea 4:6, NLT) Jesus warned that those who are offended by his kindness, gentleness, humility, and self-sacrificing love and never give in to his offer of friendship and intimacy will hear the words, “Go away, I never knew you.” (Matt 7:23) They never loved and admired God’s character and principles and thus would be miserable in a world where other-focused love is the highest governing principle.

Primary Concern about God’s reputation

One of Daniel’s chief concerns was God’s reputation before the world. He was distressed that the rebellion of his people had given God such a bad name among the surrounding nations: “All the people in the neighboring countries look down on Jerusalem and on your people because of our sins and the evil our ancestors did. Oh God, hear my prayer and pleading. Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God”. (Dan 9:17) “Lord, listen to us, and act! In order that everyone will know that you are God, do not delay!” (Dan 9:19)

God’s true spokesmen and women have always been concerned with the reputation of God’s character before the world. Jesus himself began his prayer with the statement “Our Father in heaven: May your holy name [character] be honored;” (Matt 6:9) God’s name – his character – is the crucial point of contention in the great controversy between Christ and Satan. God needs mature people like Job who know him intimately and who speak the truth about God. (Job 42:8) Likewise, Moses - who spoke “face to face” with God (Deut 34:10) – showed great concern for God’s reputation. When God threatened to destroy the entire Jewish nation, it was for the purpose of revealing before the entire on-looking universe the great ideal of selfless love and concern for God’s reputation that was in the heart of his friend Moses who responded: “Why should the Egyptians be able to say that you led your people out of Egypt, planning to kill them in the mountains and destroy them completely?” (Ex 32:12). In fact, in his concern for God’s reputation and the love for his people, he showed that a “face to face” connection with God will cause even a sinful human to develop the very character traits of God himself – unsolicited forgiveness and selfless love: “Please forgive their sin; but if you won’t, then remove my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.” (Ex 32:32)

In the same way, Elijah defended God’s reputation at Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal. He clearly revealed God’s kind and forgiving character attributes before the people. “Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people will know that you, the Lord, are God and that you are bringing them back to yourself.” (1. Kings 18:37)

God’s friends are more concerned about God’s name than their own. They are the salt of the earth by preserving the knowledge of God’s goodness. God himself finds them trustworthy and he chose not angels, but two humans – Moses and Elijah - to strengthen and encourage him on the Mount of Transfiguration just prior to his death. (Mark 9:4) Throughout the history of humanity, there have been only scattered individuals whom God could call his trusting friends. But at the end of time, there will be a group of people of whom God can say - as he said about Job: They have said of me what is right. (Job 42:7)

Primary Concern for the restoration of God’s true temple

The earthly temple was a symbol of God’s presence among the people. For Daniel, the restoration of the temple symbolized the long-awaited fulfillment of the covenant: “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah…I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31,33) With the promise of the restoration of the temple after 2300 days recorded in Daniel 8:14 in mind, Daniel’s chief concern in his prayer was the very restoration of the temple – the symbol of God’s presence among his people. But God provided Daniel with a much greater promise. He described the restoration of the heavenly temple, symbolizing the restoration of God’s temple on earth - his people. The symbolic act of Jesus stepping into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly temple discovered after 1844, explains what is to happen in the last days on earth. Sin is not a commodity that exists apart from intelligent beings, and thus it cannot be literally transferred in between rooms. Rather, sin infects the human mind by destroying the image of the Creator. But Christ CAN enter the Most Holy temple of our minds and his character and principles can guide our thoughts, desires, and actions toward each other. This is only accomplished when the lies about God that lurk in the recesses of our minds are cleansed by the truth revealed about God in the life and death of Jesus. As a church, our primary concern is not about a physical building in heaven, but we should rather attempt to understand the meaning for its existence and what it would mean for this temple to be restored. What needs to be restored? God’s reputation has not yet been vindicated in this world and we should put all of our efforts and prayer into this mission, for Christ cannot be fully revealed through his church until his church has fully experienced the cleansing truth about the character of God.

Conclusion

The very mission of Christ was to spread the true knowledge about God’s character. This then should also be the mission of God’s friends on earth. It is the intimate knowledge of God’s character that brings eternal life. “We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we know the true God…This is the true God, and this is eternal life.” (1. John 5:20) This knowledge is the seal of God which protects God’s friends from Satan’s deceptions. “Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads – it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved – just as soon as God’s people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come.” (E.G.White, Maranatha, 200) In this way, THE mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church should be to spread the knowledge of God’s character throughout the world – by our word and action – and thereby to prepare and build up his people on earth as a temple for God to inhabit.