Good Morning! - Daniel 5:17-21 - Old Daniel Lays Out the History - 2009.10.23

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.

O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty,and glory, and honor: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom hewould 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 hisdwelling 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 5:17-21)

Recently I pointed out that:

The Book of Daniel is necessary to understanding the time line of human existence on Planet Earth. If God is in charge of Planet Earth then the evolutionists and the planners for a one-world government know about as much as the Babylonian wizards. The Book of Daniel is a square pill for the intelligentsia! Also, if you believe the book of Daniel, you are in the way of the clowns who want a productive and peaceful world full of love and cooperation—without God.

Daniel was not ugly or profane in addressing foolish king, Belshazzar. He just got to the point in giving him a brief rundown of the facts before he gave him the really bad news. There are still some people around today who are as committed as the prophet Daniel in knowing the truth and telling the truth where it may cost them everything. What people may never understand is the difficult place the man is in who stands for God.

A few times in my life I have heard a man preach like he really enjoyed telling people they were going to hell. That's not good. Not good at all. Sometimes I suppose a preacher may become so frustrated and fed up with the stubborn people he is forced to deal with that he likes to have the upper hand on "these rebels." Moses experienced that.

And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

(11) And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. (Numbers 20:9-12)

We know that Moses didn't lose his salvation, because he shows up with Elijah on the mountain where Jesus went to pray: And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31).

We must assume that God didn't get people out of hell to appear with Jesus and Elijah on this special occasion on the Mount of Transfiguration.

As for Elijah, you remember that he was not quite like your average parson. From some kind of holy motive he hacked up 450 of Queen Jezebel's Prophets of Baal and put them in the dry bed of the brook Kishon so their bodies would wash out to sea during the heavy rain that was about to come upon them. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there (1Kings 18:40).

Different time—different place.

Today we are instructed: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (2Timothy 2:24-25).

A few times I have wished some of the people I have dealt with would join the prophets of Baal in the Kishon brook to be washed out to sea. Terrible! And then I remember the above verse and remember that I was so evil that it took the blood and death of the Jewish Christ to cleanse my miserable soul, and then I can forget the striving and get back to being gentle and patient.

I believe the reason why God put this story in the Book of Daniel is so that it could be told all over the world for many centuries. The man who truly believes he has God's backing doesn't have to lose his temper. It is enough that God Almighty has spoken of what He is going to do when men spurn His love and offer of forgiveness. The book of Hebrews says It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

Truly, God knew what was about to happen to this arrogant rebel, Belshazzar, so there was no hope of his falling to the floor in a flood of tears and begging God's forgiveness. It wasn't going to happen. No, we are able to read what Old Daniel the Prophet said to him for the benefit of some who may not have tried God's patience that far and who have not used up all of the grace of God toward them in saving their soul.

There does come that last day when the Holy Spirit will never draw again. The last day. Time to die. … it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27).

If it is not your time, my time—to die today, you may talk to someone for whom this is the last day. I've done this several times and it is sobering. It's too bad when Christians are so selfish and self-centered that the only thing they want from others is to be well thought of. Because of this they never risk their peaceful relationship to mention that there's an eternity out there and that their friends are going to Heaven or to Hell.

Old Daniel laid it out for Belshazzar who was about to die and laid it out for anyone who hears or reads his words for this doomed monarch.

…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2Corinthians 6:2)

Memory Verse for this week:

(1Th 4:13)But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (1Th 4:13) (See 1Th 4:13-18).

Good Morning! - Daniel 5:13-16 - The Fame of Daniel - 2009.10.22

Good Morning!

Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spoke and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel,which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom isfound in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, thatthey should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not show the interpretation of the thing: And I have heard of thee, that thou canst makeinterpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thyneck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. (Dan 5:13-16)

Daniel's fame survived a lot of years. He is a genuine messenger of God as he walks into the smelly room of dignitaries who are struggling through their drunkenness to understand what is going on. He had been set aside and suppressed for 23 years but he is still Daniel, the man of God.

My grandmother named me after him. When I was about six, we received a Bible story book through the mail with Daniel on the cover. I felt like he was family from that time. His name means "God is my judge." Several names in the Bible end or begin with EL which means God. Samuel, Joel, Elijah. You can spot them as you read your Bible.

The Queen Mother walked into the room as the only ray of light they had. "She told the king and his lords enough about Daniel's gifts and ability, and told just enough of his past to inform Belshazzar of the honored place Daniel held in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. Here indeed is a display of sound judgment on the part of the queen mother" (Strauss).

Daniel was no longer a young man advising an old king, but an old man of 80-90 years advising a young king who had blown it big-time. Daniel was rich in spiritual experience and many years of observation of the affairs of the kingdom. In view of the miracles God performed through him and his three friends, it is unlikely that he was forgotten. It's just that he was a wet blanket on the lifestyle of Nabonidus and Belshazzar.

We don't want anyone telling us what to do, not even God—especially God! I mean, what is there in life but money, power, sex and booze? Well, there are also the status symbols and toys we pursue. He who has the most toys when he dies wins—but he does die and stands before a holy God to be judged. It's really a downer to think we are bad enough that it took the Son of God dying on a bloody cross to pay for our sins. Even in Paul's day, there was the "offense of the cross."

There is a law of physics called impenetrability….two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. There is another law, a spiritual law of imthronability….(I don't think there is such a word. I just made it up.) We and God cannot sit on the throne of our hearts at the same time. God will not share the throne of your heart with you. It's either God or yourself on that throne. That's why men will not be saved. In most cases it's not because they lack the knowledge of how to be saved, although there are many who do not know how. But when a man learns how to be saved, then he has to grapple with God being in charge of his life and with his new knowledge of salvation, he resists being saved.

Daniel must have been a striking figure when he walked in and stood before the king and that drunken crowd. His appearance was one of courage and confidence and dignity—and authority. The king spoke first and ascribed more to Daniel than he could to all of his official wizards put together. Belshazzar was not interested in Daniel's God. He had no intention of repenting of anything. He was beyond that.

And Daniel was not impressed with the things the king wanted to do for him. Belshazzar would be a dead man within 24 hours. But Daniel's God, who was everything to Daniel, would live forever and would be always on His throne. Daniel had decided as a teenager to go with God and it was a full and exciting journey. Dare to be a Daniel in these troubling, wicked days.

Memory Verse for this week:

(1Th 4:13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (1Th 4:13) (See 1Th 4:13-18).

Good Morning! - Daniel 5:10-12 - The Faithful Queen Mother - 2009.10.21

Good Morning!

(Brilliantly coloured glazed brick decoration, facade of the throne room, palace of Nebuchadrezzar II, Babylon, c. 600 BC. EB Inc. with permission of the Staatliche Museum zu Berlin)

 

Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came

 

into the banquet house: and the queen spoke and said, O king, live

 

forever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be

 

changed: There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the

 

holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and

 

wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king

 

Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of

 

the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and

 

knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and

 

dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now

 

let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation (Daniel 5:10-12).

 

Many scholars believe this was the Queen Mother, the widow of Nebuhadnezzar."  …it appears, by what she says afterwards, that she was well acquainted with affairs in his time; and, being an ancient woman, might be the reason why she was not among the ladies at the feast in the banqueting house; but came into it, without being sent for, on hearing the consternation and distress the king and his lords were in, and the moanful despairing words they expressed on this occasion: (Gill).

 

She is fascinating in that she has commanded the attention of so many commentators and I must confess that she stirs my own curiosity. She knew a lot about Nebuchadnezzar and must have been at least 90 years old when she came into the troubled banquet hall. She was not included in the early clatter of the wild party and was probably the ongoing connection between her young grandson king and the past of Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar could have sent word for her to come quickly or she could have heard through her private connections and could have come on her own. At least there did not seem to be any fear of being rebuffed for being pushy.

 

She would have been called in by the king and not by the king AND his lords. It did not take a whole committee to call in the queen mother. So it seems most likely that she was being informed all along and at some point, on her own, made her way to Belshazzar to try to be of help to him. She still had a sharp mind and was an aggressive type. This was what the king needed.

 

I believe she probably shared the faith of her late husband, Nebuchadnezzar, whom I believe we will see in Heaven. In the providence of God, not only was Daniel preserved, but this old queen had also been kept alive and positioned in a room not far away for this special hour. Think about it: waiting in the wings for many years to give a three-minute speech to her grandson in the presence of the ruling leaders of all the provinces of the kingdom of Babylon. That was her job.

 

Do you wonder sometimes if your life ever amounts to anything or have you done anything significant in the service of the Lord? Perhaps some have had a lot of birthdays and you wonder what you can do now. But be assured that God knows what He is doing and there may be an important three-minute testimony you will give somewhere that fits in perfectly with God's purpose for your life. Or perhaps you are an ongoing testimony by your words and by your faithful service right where you are. So……bloom where you are planted. And have a nice day!  Don't you just love this story about the Queen Mother?

 

Memory Verse for this week:

(1Th 4:13)But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (1Th 4:13) (See 1Th 4:13-18).

 

A cluster of six verses on the second coming of Christ will be presented as memory verses, one verse per week. I hope you will work faithfully on each verse, each week and master the six verses as a group. Begin a new verse on Sunday evening. Go over it and all the others you have memorized, five times a day. You will treasure them the rest of your life and be able to share them again and again. "May I say my verses to you?"

To be removed from this mailing list, please click here. In the subject line type "remove."  ●To subscribe to this and other Encourager mailings, click here. In the subject line, type "subscribe." Please give your name and email address. ●Please set your spam system (contact list) to accept encourager@biblewalking.com. and  dan@dancarr.org.   ●. Thank you for accepting our mail and passing it on.. ´ " Brilliantly coloured glazed brick decoration, facade of the throne room, palace of Nebuchadrezzar II, Babylon, c. 600 BC. EB Inc. with permission of the Staatliche Museum zu Berlin

Good Morning! Devotionals are posted without pictures at:   http://www.bibleliving.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

Good Morning! 2009.10.20 - Daniel 5:6-9 - The Fear of Belshazzar

Good Morning!

 

Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of

 

his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in

 

the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said to the wise

 

men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof,

 

shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third

 

ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation

 

thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly  troubled, and his countenance was changed in  him, and his lords were astonished. (Dan 5:6-9)

 

Belshazzar's cup of iniquity was full… he had no more time to humble his heart before God. When his official wizards could not interpret the writing on the wall, he went ballistic! His alcohol failed him. The party was over. Rebellion against God doesn't do well at sunset.

 

The Lord measures time and speaks of fullness of time.

 

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal 4:4-5). God sent His Son to be born on earth when it was time.

 

When God was showing Abraham all the land He was going to give him and his descendants, He said: And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (Gen 15:13-16). America's cup is filling up. America is going to be judged and punished as a nation like all the other nations and kingdoms that thumbed their noses at Him.

 

God had previously shown Nebuchadnezzar by Daniel the prophet that he and his kingdom was the head of gold but his kingdom would come to an end and be followed by an inferior kingdom of silver in the breast and arms of  the beast of his dream (Dan. 2:36-45).

 

The prophet Jeremiah had already given God's decree: I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. (Jer 27:5-7)

 

Jeremiah is very specific about how long Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom will last: through his lifetime, and through the tenure of his son (Nabonidus) and his grandson (Belshazzar).  After that time, the kingdom of Babylon and the head of gold would end. 

 

until the very time of his land come: "until the time of the destruction of his land come, also of himself;''

 

"…there was a time fixed for his life, and so long the nations were to serve, and did serve, him personally; and there was a time fixed for the continuance of his monarchy, in his son, and son's son; when it was to end, as it did, in Belshazzar's reign; and when the seventy years' captivity of the Jews was up:" (Gill)

 

and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him; and his kingdom; subdue it, and make it tributary to them. This was accomplished by the Medes and Persians, with Darius and Cyrus at the head of them, and other nations and kings, allies and auxiliaries to them, and associates with them; see Jer_25:14" (Gill).

 

"We have further evidence of Belshazzar from a prayer of Nabonidus to the moon god for his son which was discovered on a clay cylinder: 'My son, the offspring of my heart, might honor his godhead and not give himself to sin.' Herodotus, the Greek historian, also mentions this and confirms it" McGee). While this day of infamy and doom is going on, Belshazzar's father, Nabonidus, was away from the palace in a battle.

 

So, why didn't Belshazzar offer his wizards a chance to be second in the kingdom? Because Belshazzar was second in the kingdom. His father was first. This is the third time the official wizards had been herded into the palace to unravel God's message and the third time they didn't know beans about it. Three strikes and you're out so these fellows will have to find another line of work. They were quacks who made a good living telling the king what he wanted to hear. Anyway, their boss is about to…. retire.

 

We are going into all of this because the Book of Daniel has been attacked with a vengeance in an attempt to discredit it. Nobody can tell the future! Get rid of this troublesome book! For a long time one of the points of attack was its supposed inaccuracy about Belshazzar. He was not supposed to exist. But now it has to be admitted that he did indeed exist and the critics were wrong.

 

One final thought from Strauss on God's fingers. Belshazzar "saw only a few of the divine fingers, and the Bible says, 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God' (Heb 10:31. The mere sight of the fingers frightened him, but he was yet to feel the full weight of God's hand in judgment. The God of Heaven is merciful, slow to anger, and longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Peter 3:9). But there must come an end to His tolerating of the unholy and wicked deeds of any man."

 

The Book of Daniel is necessary to understanding the time line of human existence on Planet Earth. If God is in charge of Planet Earth then the evolutionists and the planners for a one-world government know about as much as the Babylonian wizards. The Book of Daniel is a square pill for the intelligentsia!   Also, if you believe the book of Daniel, you are in the way of the clowns who want a productive and peaceful world full of love and cooperation—without God.

 

Memory Verse for this week:

(1Th 4:13)But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (1Th 4:13) (See 1Th 4:13-18).

 

A cluster of six verses on the second coming of Christ will be presented as memory verses, one verse per week. I hope you will work faithfully on each verse, each week and master the six verses as a group. Begin a new verse on Sunday evening. Go over it and all the others you have memorized, five times a day. You will treasure them the rest of your life and be able to share them again and again. "May I say my verse to you?"

 

To be removed from this mailing list, please click here. In the subject line type "remove."  ●To subscribe to this and other Encourager mailings, click here. In the subject line, type "subscribe." Please give your name and email address. ●Please set your spam system (contact list) to accept encourager@biblewalking.com. and  dan@dancarr.org.   ●. Thank you for accepting our mail and passing it on.. ´Belshazzar´s Feast´ by Rembrandt. Canvas, f.163... London, National Gallery.  Rembrandt's depiction of the biblical account of Belshazzar seeing "the writing on the wall"

Good Morning! Devotionals are posted without pictures at:   http://www.bibleliving.blogspot.com