Hello
Friends!
Welcome
back
to our Encouraging Concepts Bible
study series focused on the powerfully PROPHETIC picture portrayed in the Old Testament book
of Daniel painted as a panoramic
landscape of World History in FIVE successions “written” in
ardent ADVANCE some 2,600 years ago…
“The Book of Daniel: Prophecy PAST, PRESENT
& FUTURE!”
The Book of Daniel: Prophecy PAST,
PRESENT & FUTURE (Chapter 5: Verses 17-31)
17 Then
Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give
thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make
known to him the interpretation. 18 O thou king, the most high
God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and
honour: 19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people,
nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew;
and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would
he put down. 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind
hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his
glory from him: 21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and
his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses:
they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven;
till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he
appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 22 And thou his son, O
Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 23 But
hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the
vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy
concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver,
and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know:
and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou
not glorified: 24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him;
and this writing was written. 25 And this is the writing that
was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel,
Upharsin. 26 This is the interpretation of the
thing: Mene; God hath
numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27 Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances,
and art found wanting. 28 Peres;
Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29 Then
commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of
gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be
the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 In that night was Belshazzar
the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31 And Darius the Median took
the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old – Daniel
5:17-31
OPENING POINTS TO PONDER: The godly man “Daniel” was much MORE than an intriguing “interpreter” of the “writing” in which was found “written” upon the “wall” of this WANTING woeful wasteland. He was
also “God's” purposed PROPHET and mindful MESSENGER as this Sovereign section of “scripture” clearly shows. This POWERFUL
passage also rightly “reveals” the blatantly BLASPHEMOUS and callous CHARACTER of which boldly brings
about the eventual END of this belligerent “Babylonian” monarchy. And as a RIGHTEOUS resolve, “Daniel” rankly REFUSED the gaudy “gifts” granted by the cantankerous “king”
himself. WHY? Because he KNEW that before too
long, this UNREPENTANT bemoaned BLASPHEMER along with his CONDEMNED kinky “kingdom” would soon be found – NO More!
This
valiant man “Daniel”
stood ALONE when he was a teenager among
the “children of the captivity of Judah”
and he stood ALONE as a mature man of whom was “brought out of Jewry” in kind. And now
here AGAIN all these long YEARS later, he is as an octogenarian
in his mid to late 80’s
faithfully FULL of lasting “light
and understanding” and elated “excellent
wisdom” as he rightly “remains”
standing absolutely ALONE
to notedly – NEVER Compromise!
As
we ponder this poignant “passage”
in ALL its perplexities,
notice here that “Daniel” does
NOT begin with the trite “Long live
the king” appeal to the evil EGO of this manic monarch. WHY? Because as “we”
will soon “learn” here, this
corrupt “king” is definitely NOT going
to “live” much longer
as such…
Then Daniel answered and said
before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another;
yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the
interpretation – Daniel 5:17
This
magnificent man of “God”
aptly “answered” this relentless
ruler CONCERNING the “worldly”
rank “rewards” and granted “gifts” that were pragmatically PROMISED to
him. In other words, “Daniel”
declares: “KEEP your silly stuff and GIVE it to someone ELSE!”
However, he rightly replies “I will read the writing unto the king” and thus fully “make known to him the interpretation” as
requested. This is the choice CHARACTER and constant COURAGE exhibited by this lamenting LEADER at large. Incidentally, “Daniel” could NOT have cared
any LESS about this obnoxious offer of
oblation. WHY? Because he was FILLED with
holy ZEAL and had absolutely NO inherent INTEREST
in such gifts nor rewards and thus
could NOT be boldly bought
off as a result. Therefore, “Daniel”
indeed held unto an internal INTEGRITY greatly
“given” to him by his – Great GIVING God!
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND: However, “Daniel”
begins his righteous response to the beguiled “Belshazzar” by noting first
of all “O thou king” there is
a helpful HISTORICAL narrative of the “hardened”
sort concerning your beloved “Babylonian” founding “father” for you to seriously consider
before we practically PROCEED any further…
O thou king, the most high God
gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages,
trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he
kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But
when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed
from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven
from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling
was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was
wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the
kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will – Daniel
5:18-21
That
maniacal man named “Nebuchadnezzar”
needed to “know” exactly WHO really
“ruled” over absolutely ALL things
and it was surely NOT him! Therefore, the magnificent “most high God” had harshly HUMBLED him
wholly. The “King Nebuchadnezzar”
had USED his earthly authority
of which was “given” unto him
by “God” to purposely pervert
justice and to keenly KILL
at his own will. He became pragmatically PROUD in heart, thus “God” Sovereignly STRUCK him down “making” him into an animalistic
human being who actually THOUGHT
he was a “beast” as he adamantly
“ate grass” that was “fed” to him along WITH the
“wild asses” and “oxen” by the hands of
the “sons of men” for a full “seven years” of his looming
life. And this just JUDGMENT lasted “until”
the “” fully “knew” that the “Most High God” of Whom righteously RULES in
the “kingdom of men” aptly “appointeth” absolutely ALL of it
to “whomsoever” that – HE Will!
THEOLOGICAL THOUGHTS: Next “Daniel”
begins to INDICT this
belligerent “Belshazzar” on
these THREE guilty counts:
ONE: The SIN against
keen KNOWLEDGE of
absolutely “all this” truth
that was available to him:
And thou his son, O Belshazzar,
hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this – Daniel
5:22
“And” as the distant “son” of “Nebuchadnezzar”
himself, “O Belshazzar” your FIRST serious
SIN is definitely NOT one of ignorance ingrained.
Rather, he “knewest” full well
of what had happened to the mighty “Nebuchadnezzar” his fickle “father” as he eventually
ascribed ALL things ultimately to the “God of heaven” above. He “knew” that “God”
had HUMBLED him and was demanding to be “worshipped” as such. Therefore, “Daniel” proclaimed unto the “king” that with of “all this” considered he SINNED with frightfully – Keen KNOWLEDGE!
TWO: The SIN of
blatant BLASPHEMY anchored
“against” the “Lord of heaven” as an act
of his will:
But hast lifted up thyself
against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house
before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk
wine in them… – Daniel 5:23a
“But” because “Belshazzar” had lethargically “lifted up” himself in PRIDE and
belligerently “brought” in the
Holy “vessels” valiantly PRESENTED to
his lame “lords” and wicked “wives” alongside the corrupt “concubines” for a drunken “wine” binge of – Blatant BLASPHEMY!
THREE: The SIN instituting
insolent IDOLATRY of heart
that “praised” the gaudy “gods” of his own
making:
…and thou hast praised the gods
of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear,
nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways,
hast thou not glorified – Daniel 5:23b
These
man-made “gods” could NOT at
all “see” or “hear” or “know”
absolutely anything at all! Not to mention, he royally REFUSED to
greatly “glorify” the ONLY true
“God in whose hand” his very “breath” and “ways” originate – Insolent
IDOLATRY!
Daniel’s DOOMING Declaration!
Then
SUDDENLY the High “hand”
of Almighty “God in heaven”
was strictly “sent” by the Sovereign heralding
“hand” to woefully WRITE out
a dire dictation of declared DOOM demanded:
Then was the part of the hand
sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was
written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
– Daniel 5:24-25
When
the belligerent “Belshazzar” along
with his pathetic posse personally PURPOSED in their “hearts” to seriously SIN adamantly
“against” the glorious “God” of absolutely ALL things,
these INFINATE Fingers finalized this woeful “writing” as the FATAL fall
with its intentional “interpretation”
indicated – Damning DOOM Declared!
Next
“Daniel” solemnly SOLVES this
majestic MYSTERY of the “thing”
that was “written” in the Aramaic language
“Mene, Mene, Tekel,
Upharsin” upon the pious “plaster”
pallet of this pagan procession for absolutely ALL in
session to plainly ponder…
This is the interpretation of the
thing: Mene; God hath
numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel;
Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given
to the Medes and Persians – Daniel 5:26-28
This
is the intended intense “interpretation”
inscribed PROMISE provided:
ONE: The word “Mene” means to be NUMBERED in
full measure. The great “God”
of Whom has “numbered thy kingdom”
has thus finally “finished” it
in full form. Therefore, He has “written” this poignant point twice for practically PROPHETIC purposes. In other words – Your NUMBER is UP!
TWO: The word “Tekel” means to be
WEIGHED and been “found”
to be too light. The bewildered “Belshazzar“ has been woefully “weighed” on the PERFECT scale
of righteous standards. Therefore, when perfectly PLACED upon “God’s” binding “balances” this caustic “king” was willfully “wanting” as he was mightily measured
as such. In other words – You’re a LIGHT
Weight!
THREE: The word “Upharsin” means to
be DIVIDED one from another. The plural
and singular forms “Upharsin” & “Peres” are of the SAME root
word. Therefore, the “Babylonian”
besieged “kingdom” is thus “divided” into TWO elements
gladly “given” over to the “Medes and Persians” in full. In other
words – Your Digs are DIVIDED!
Finally,
this sordid situation is solidified by the “Belshazzar” as he coyly “commanded” his henchmen to HONOR their
solemn superior “Daniel”
through a proper “proclamation”
of righteous ROYAL
arraignment as “third ruler”
reigning:
Then commanded Belshazzar, and
they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and
made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the
kingdom – Daniel 5:29
Here
the DIVINELY directed “Daniel”
is choicely “clothed” in
sanctioned “scarlet” with a “chain of gold about his neck” to soundly SIGNIFY his
sound Sovereign placement in the
“Babylonian” chain of
commerce. Perhaps this FINAL act of “proclamation”
was simply a DRUNKEN directive made in jest by this
belligerent “Belshazzar” of
which he may NOT have considered
otherwise. And remember, as the now exiled King
Nabonidus
was himself the FIRST noble in command with his
paternal son “Belshazzar”
being co-regent as the SECOND in chided command as such.
Therefore, “Daniel” would
briefly stand alongside them both as the – THIRD in
Command!
In that night was Belshazzar the
king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being
about threescore and two years old – Daniel
5:30-31
Thus,
“Daniel” powerfully provided
this intense “interpretation”
and subsequent turmoil told – Horrendous HISTORY!
HISTORICAL HINTS: The historian Herodotus provides
HISTORICAL context of that frightful evening.
The “Medes and the Persians”
were encamped OUTSIDE the chided “city”
of boisterous “Babylon” the
very “night” in which “Belshazzar” hosted his fickle “feast” on the day of October 29th
on Tishrei,
539 B.C. as a dooming DAM was boldly built on the adjacent Euphrates river
as it flowed UNDER the waning “wall”
of the mighty fortress. The water was DIVERTED except
for a shallow portion of the riverbed and as it began to SUBSIDE to
the waist and knees of the soldiers, they simply marched UNDERNEATH the
exposed wall. They then KILLED
the unsuspecting guards, threw open the great “gates” and roughly ransacked
the “city” and systematically EXECUTED its
exposed populous as the Medo-Persian
army under the covert COMMAND
of their sixty-two “year old”
military tactician “Darius the Median”
as he decisively DESCENDED upon the now co-opted concourse
– CAPTURED
Corruption!
PROPHETIC PROMISE: The ancient “Jewish” Prophets have PROPHESIED that “Babylon” must be TOTALLY destroyed and NEVER to be
rebuilt in full:
Isaiah – Chapters 13 & 14
Jeremiah – Chapters 50 & 51
Revelation – Chapters 16 & 18
And it was 75 years AFTER the
fearful FALL of the “Babylonian” epic Empire the purposed prophet “Ezra”
along with “some of the children
of Israel” had lived in “Babylon” proper:
This Ezra went
up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God
of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the
hand of the Lord his
God upon him. And
there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the
Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem,
in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the
fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day
of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the
fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon
him – Ezra 7:6
& 9
Even secular HISTORY tells us that Alexander the Great ruled the then known “world”
from his held-up headquarters in “Babylon” some 200 years AFTER the “Babylonian” befallen brigade. In fact, the “Apostle
Peter” started an “elect” faithful “fellowship” of brave “believers” in the bastion of “Babylon” some 500 years AFETR the fitful FALL of
that enemy ensuing Empire:
The church that
is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my
son – 1 Peter 5:13
This PROPHETIC passage in “Daniel” is definitely describing
the fatal FALL of the “Babylonian” amassed Empire but does NOT seem
to mention that the “Babylonian” caustic City itself has ever (yet)
been COMPLETELY destroyed. However,
Bible PROPHECY does powerfully proclaim this
WILL indeed happen in the “last days” of the “times of the Gentiles” be finally – FULFILLED…
And after these things I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies…
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great
city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the
merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their
merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones,
and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all
thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most
precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours,
and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat,
and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all
things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find
them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by
her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And
saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple,
and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one
hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the
company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And
cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto
this great city! – Revelation 18:1-3 & 10-18
Therefore, “one day” in the FUTURE yet to come that “great city Babylon” will indeed be – FINALLY Destroyed!
Blatantly BLASPHEMOUS besetting and rank REJECTION of our great “God's”
telling TRUTH are eagerly encamped about us
TODAY on absolutely ALL sides.
And there is a miserable message of a "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin " justified JUDGMENT awaiting the appalling APOSTATE charter within piously PROFESSING crass Christendom in proper PREPARATION for that fearful FINAL phase of geo-political “Babylon” as rightly “revealed” in the final “end times” narrative ENSUING under the coming
global “Anti-christ” dictator as described in
dire DETAIL within the PROPHETIC book of – Revelation!
Beloved, may “we” also FIND a godly “man”
likened unto “Daniel” within
our OWN society TODAY with the “proclamation”
of absolute INTEGRITY in the midst of “all
this” mayhem of whom can NOT be belligerently bought as such
– That IS Daniel!
More to
follow… STAY tuned!
In
closing:
REAL REFLECTIONS: The twelve chapters of “Daniel” are powerfully PROMISED prophecies depicting the unfolding
of the HISTORIC events of which will take place leading up to
the literal “time” of the SECOND awaited
physical “coming” of our loving “Lord Jesus Christ” back to the earth:
And in the days
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever – Daniel 2:44
And
our SERIOUS study of these PROPHECIES will
rightly REVEAL to each student of God's wonderful “Word” that the events FORETOLD
some 2,600 years ago could
possibly be FULFILLED in the seemingly near future…
We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><
Encouraging Concepts
Truth for Today
"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"
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