Preserving the Temple from Defilement

Notes

1. The only life in the universe is God's life. Ps. 36:9. "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Acts 17:25. Those who lay hold upon God's life through faith in God's gift of His Son (1 John 5:11, 12) become temples for this life (1 Cor. 3:16), and living stones in God's house (1 Peter 2:4, 5). When a believer in the gospel defiles his body he defiles the temple of God, and this means destruction. 1 Cor. 3:17.

2. Now it was because the people of Jerusalem had lost sight of the fact that they themselves should be the temple of God, and that this was the essence of true religion, and had fixed their minds upon a temple of stone as the Lord's temple, and had substituted mere ceremonialism for the true religion of the heart and life, that they had been deprived of their beautiful temple, the outward services were interrupted, and all the ceremonials of religion had ceased.

3. But during all this experience Daniel and his companions had been true to right principles, and, knowing their value, they clung to them in Babylon as to their life, for such they were. The test of loyalty to principle came to them over the question of their food. "Why did Daniel and his companions refuse to eat at the king's table? Why did they refuse his meats and wines?—Because they had been taught that this class of food would not keep the mind or the physical structure in the very best condition of health to do God's service. The four Hebrew captives were thereafter permitted to have the diet they had chosen. What effect did it have upon the mind and character? They had conscientiously refused the stimulus of flesh and wine. They obeyed God's will in self-denial, and He showed His approval."—Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers, No. 9, p. 60.

4. Note just what the record says was the result of the trial. The countenances of Daniel and his companions "appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat of the portions of the king's meat." Two things would contribute to this result: Daniel and his companions maintained, and doubtless improved, their former condition of health, while those who departed from principle degenerated in health and appearance. No doubt their loyalty to principle under severe trial brought to Daniel and his companions a fuller flow of life than was contained even in the food which they ate, and this fulness of life revealed itself in their physical appearance. On the other hand, those who denied their faith suffered a loss, which also showed itself in their appearance.