"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"
If there's anything people don't want, it's for a hand to appear in your dining room and begin writing on your wall! Belshazzar was having a grand feast, a wild party with a thousand of his lords, and he commanded that the gold and silver vessels, which were taken from the temple in Jerusalem, be brought so that they could drink their wine from them. Suddenly, a misty frightening, imposing, and surreal Hand appears and begins writing on the wall of the banquet room! Barnes' notes states, "The Babylonians, it would seem, were unaquainted with the 'characters' that were used, and of course, were unable to understand the meaning." Almighty God knows how to make an appearance!
"This is what these words mean: Mene: God has
numbered the days of your reign and brought it
to an end." (Daniel 5:26)
Daniel was brought to read the writing, which was easy for him to do since it was "in the ancient Hebrew character." Barnes' notes further states in his commentary, "it was the Divine intention to put honor on Daniel." Belshazzar told Daniel that if he could give him the interpretation, he would clothe him with scarlet, put a gold chain about his neck, and make him the third ruler of the kingdom. Daniel's reply to this was, "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another, yet I will read the writing unto the king ..."
What if God's Hand wrote across the sky today? What if He disrupted the upheavals of our world with the appearance of His Holy Hand in the midst of human debauchery and sin? You say, "Well, that kind of thing just wouldn't happen today." You may be right, because we are in the dispensation of "grace." But, it's about over ... there is a final "number" that will register on God's own mental digital analytic converter, which causes Him to "Inhale" and the saved in the Lord Jesus Christ will rise in the moment in the twinkling of an eye, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, known as the Rapture of the Church (I Thessalonians 4:16-17 and I Corinthians 15:52).
God is not just overlooking evil; He's biding His time until the "fulfillment of time." We don't want to be around when the 7 years of tribulation begins in the book of Revelation after the Church leaves in Revelation 4:1. The tribulation period will be judgment upon all those who did not obey Him, all those who denied Him, all those who did not receive Him as their Lord and Savior, who were not baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and were not filled with His Spirit and spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. (Acts 2:38; Acts 8; Acts 10; and Acts 19)
We "do" have writing on the wall today! It's the image of Matthew, of Ezekiel 38-39; it's the view of prophecy being manifested every day in our headlines, and all around the world. Our "wall" is the writing of the Holy Bible playing out before our very eyes. When God writes, it's an eminent warning, "Get Ready!" He's writing on the walls of every Nation; He's writing, writing, writing, on the hearts of men, women and children from North to South, East to West ... don't you feel the "pen pricks" on the doors of your souls? The Lord Jesus Christ is shaking the earth with a mighty "vengeance," trying to get people's attention ... He's writing in the earthquakes, the fires, the storms, the clouds of darkness in the form of turmoil the world over.
There's a happy ending to the story ... that is, if we yield to His magnificent offer! "What offer?" you say. Life without end, golden streets, rivers of life, mansions and Glory ... Heaven ... and then eternal life ... The bottom line? Nobody lives forever ... that is, unless we take hold of the Master's Hand of salvation! But, not the Hand that's writing ... Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin! God told Belshazzar, by the power of His writing Hand, that his reign was coming to an end. Belshazzar died that same day!
It's best to join the Reign "that has no End!"
By Sheryl Fowler
(Visit promiselandchurch.net and theexperience238.com.
PromiseLand Church, Austin, Texas, Pastor Kenneth Phillips)
No comments:
Post a Comment