The Writing on the Wall
King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”
Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.
The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “O king, live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king, I say—appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”
So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”
Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
“O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes.
“But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
“This is the inscription that was written:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN
“This is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.
Synopsis
King Nebuchadnezzar, the father of King Belshazzar, had previously besieged Jerusalem. He took the gold and silver goblets from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and he placed them in his own treasury. He was a great and strong king. His dominion extended to distant parts of the earth. One day he received a dream that only Daniel could interpret, because Daniel received the interpretation from God Almighty. The dream contained a decree against King Neb. He would be driven away from people and would live with wild animals. He would eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times (or years) would pass before the king would acknowledge that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.
Yet, there was a promise in this decree, as well. Once the king acknowledged that Heaven rules, his kingdom would be restored to him. Daniel, thus, advised the king to renounce his sins, and his prosperity might continue. Yet, King Neb did not repent. A year later he gave the credit and glory to himself, and to his own power and strength, for the kingdom he had built. So, the dream was thus fulfilled. He was banished and lived like an animal. Yet, at the end of the seven times, he was restored to the throne, because he raised his eyes toward heaven, and he praised the Most High. He honored and glorified God, the King of heaven, who lives forever. And, he recognized that those who walk in pride, God is able to humble.
Yet, his son, King Belshazzar, did not humble himself, even though he knew all that had happened to his father. Instead he set himself up against God. He had the goblets from the Lord’s temple brought to him, and he, his family members and his invited guests drank wine from them. While they did this, they praised the gods of silver and gold, etc., which cannot hear or understand. And, King B did not honor the God who holds in his hand the king’s life and all his ways. Therefore, God sent the human hand with the message for the king. The message said that God had numbered the days of his reign and had brought it to an end. He had been weighed on the scales and found wanting. His kingdom would now be divided and given over to the Medes and Persians. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.
The Fourth Kingdom
As recorded in Daniel 2, King Neb had a dream. Daniel was to tell the dream to the king and then interpret it, so he called on his friends to pray to God concerning this mystery. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. And, Daniel praised God for revealing the mystery to him, and for sparing his life and those of his friends. In his prayer to God, he acknowledged that God is the one who sets up kings and deposes them.
The interpretation of the dream had to do with four kingdoms that would arise on the earth, King Neb’s being the first of the four. The fourth kingdom, and final worldly kingdom of men, will be the one from which will rise the antichrist, who will rule the world for a period of time before God will depose him and send him to the lake of eternal fire. This final kingdom (the fourth kingdom) will crush and break all the others. Yet, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. It will crush all those kingdoms and will bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is God’s eternal kingdom.
There is a kingdom of men in our day and time that fits this description of this fourth kingdom. And, it is presently going throughout the world crushing and breaking all the other kingdoms of the earth. It is a global kingdom of which the USA is a huge part, and in fact, there is much historical evidence pointing to the fact that the USA was formed to be a global kingdom which would consume all the other kingdoms of the world, yet the USA is not alone in this. They work with their NATO allies and the United Nations to bring about this global rule and the demise and demolishment of all kingdoms of the world, including the government of the USA. Yet, God allowed the USA to arise as a kingdom, and God can depose this kingdom, too, for its pride and arrogance, and its crimes against humanity.
An Allegory
When I woke up this morning, I woke from a very brief, yet profound dream. In the dream I was holding the hands of a person (adult) from up above the person, while the person hung over some type of chasm. The individual’s hands then slipped down a notch. I was very much aware now of the increased weight of the person’s body as he hung from my hands, and as his weight appeared to be causing him to slip out of my hands. He was suspended there for a very brief moment, and then all of a sudden the weight of his body caused his hands to slip out from mine, and I watched as he fell to his death in what appeared to be a bottomless pit. I know that I felt awful about this as I watched him descend into this pit. End
I really did not connect the dream to the passage of scripture until I got to verse 23 where Daniel said this to King Belshazzar: “But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.” I realized then that the Lord was allowing me to represent him in this dream so that I could see this from his perspective. I was holding a person’s life in my hands in this dream, as I was holding on to him while he hung over a chasm. I could have let go of him at any time, and he could have immediately fallen to his death. Yet, even as his hands began to slip, my hands remained firm in holding on to him. Yet, it was his own weight alone that caused him to slip out of my hands to his death. And, that brings me to the second verse related to this dream, found in verse 27: “Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”
What I believe God is showing me here is that the person’s weight symbolizes the weight of sin. And, it was the weight of his own sin that caused him to slip out of God’s hands and to his death.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV): “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
And, King B was no exception, nor was his father. His father was given the chance to repent of his ways, but he did not. He was even given a year to renounce his wickedness, but he did not. So, he was given another seven years to humble him, and then he turned and acknowledged and praised God for who he is. His son was given the same opportunity. He had the example of his father’s pride, the way in which he was humbled, and then he witnessed the change in his father’s heart. Yet, he did not learn from that example, and he chose to walk in his own ways. So, when God told him that he had been weighed and found wanting, these were not scales like we know. These were two-sided scales. On the side of righteousness (true faith in God), he was found wanting, yet on the side of wickedness (no faith), he was weighed down with sin, and it was his own sin that sent him to his death.
Romans 3:22-24 (NIV ’84): “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
We know from our own personal experience the weight of our own sin – the guilt, shame, disgrace, sorrow and emotional burden that it brings into our lives, and how much it hinders us in our walk with the Lord Jesus if we hold on to unrepentant sin. We cannot run the race marked out for us if we are weighed down with sin. It will only drag us down. We are under grace now, but that grace does not give us a free license to continue in sin. In fact, the Bible says that if we continue in willful sin after we say we have received Christ, then we are liars, and we don’t truly know Jesus Christ.
I can’t say with great certainty who this person who fell to his death in my dream represents, yet the story is about a proud king, and can certainly be applied to any kingdom of men, including the kingdom of the USA, that sets itself up as a god and lords itself over the people of the world. Yet, clearly he represents someone who is weighed down with sin, who does not have genuine faith in Jesus Christ, and it is his own sin and lack of faith, and the weight of it, that ultimately sends him to hell. God held on, but the person’s weight pulled him away from God and to eternity without God. And God was not joyful at this person’s demise, but felt great pain and anguish of heart that this person chose to allow himself to continue in willful sin to the point to where he ultimately fell to his death.
The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to die on the cross for our sins. The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. This man went into eternity without God because he chose to continue in unbelief. We serve a loving, compassionate and forgiving God, but he lets us make our own choices. Make sure today that you have turned from your life of sin, and that you have chosen to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ, so that you don’t fall to your death, too.
You are Loving and Forgiving / An Original Work / February 19, 2012
Based off Psalm 86
You are loving and forgiving,
Jesus, Savior, King of kings.
You provided our redemption.
By Your blood You set us free.
You are gracious; full of mercy.
No deeds can compare with Yours.
Great are You; there is none like You.
Glory be to Your name.
Teach me Your way, and I’ll walk in it.
O Lord, I will walk in Your truth.
May I not have a heart divided,
That Your name I give honor to.
I will praise You, O Lord, my Savior,
For great is Your love toward me.
You have delivered me from my sins.
Your grace has pardoned me.
You, O Lord, are full of compassion,
Slow to anger, bounteous in love;
Faithful to fulfill all You promise;
Glory be to Your name above.
Hear, O Lord, and answer Your servant.
You are my God. I trust in You.
Turn to me and grant Your strength to me.
You are my comforter.
http://youtu.be/MfJbAwhiVkU
http://www.godcares.tv/video/1373/You-are-Loving-and-Forgiving
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