Truth Matters 70: The Lord's Reaction to Desecration

Hello, and welcome to Truth Matters.

I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis. Earlier I read Jeremiah 51 and 11. Make the arrows bright. Gather the shields. The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for his plan is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. And it was this act of defiance by King Belshazzar that ignited the anger of God. At this point, their sin had come to fullness of measure, and the Lord was ready to act in judgment. So let's move on to the Lord's reaction to their desecration of the golden goblets of the temple.

We'll read verses 5 through 9. In the same hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever reads this writing and tells me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck, and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Now all the king's wise men came and they could not read the writing and make known to the king its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed, and his lords were astonished. And so if you think about the context of these verses in which they're written, you know, currently Belshazzar is throwing a great feast, as we know that he is addicted to wine and to women, so much to the point that he gets so intoxicated that he brings out the golden goblets and starts praising the gods of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which these goblets were to be used in God's holy assembly. So God's action at this point brings out a finger of a man's hand appearing to write on the lamp, to write on the wall opposite from the lampstand, and immediately Belshazzar sobers up pretty quickly. But his whole countenance changed to the point fear sets in on him as far as the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other. But notice how Belshazzar reacts. He reacts the same way that we see Nebuchadnezzar acting early on in the first few chapters of Daniel. He cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And again, they were useless to explain the current events and what he was witnessing. You know, and we see that, that the inadequacy of the astrologers is really passed down from generation to generation, knowing that the ministers were driven away from the palace early on in the reign of Belshazzar.

Moving on to Daniel 10-12. The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, O king, live forever. Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God, and in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And king Nebuchadnezzar your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will give you the interpretation.

As humans, we often wait to the very end to call on God for help, when in fact we should have called on Him first for directions. If you would like to contact Truth Matters, you can reach us by emailing Dr. Davis at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com or write her at PO Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28348. You can connect with Truth Matters on Facebook or visit our website at ProjectTruthMatters.com. Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis is a ministry of The Truth Project. .