From Splendor to Shadow

Man's Way Contrasted With God's Way

The way of the world is to begin with pomp and boasting. God's way is to make the day of small things the beginning of the glorious triumph of truth. Sometimes He trains His workers by disappointment and apparent failure. It is His purpose that they shall learn to master difficulties. SS 307.1

Often men are tempted to falter before perplexities and obstacles. But if they will hold their confidence steadfast, God will make the way clear. Success will come. Mountains of difficulty will become a plain; and he whose hands have laid the foundation, even “his hands shall also finish it.” Zechariah 4:9. SS 307.2

Human power did not establish the church of God. Not on the rock of human strength, but on Christ Jesus, the Rock of Ages, was the church founded, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18. God's glorious work will never come to nought. It will go on “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6. SS 307.3

The promise to Zerubbabel was literally fulfilled. See Verse 9. “The elders of the Jews builded, ... and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar.” Ezra 6:14, 15. SS 307.4

The second temple did not equal the first in magnificence, nor was it hallowed by those visible tokens of the divine presence which pertained to the first temple. No supernatural power marked its dedication—no cloud of glory filled the newly erected sanctuary, no fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice on its altar. The Shekinah no longer abode in the most holy place. The ark, the mercy seat, and the tables of testimony were not found there. SS 308.1