Daniel chapter 5 prophecy of
Daniel chapter 5 the book of Daniel has got six chapters of
historical record some of the best-known of all Bible stories
I think you'll agree the fiery furnace and we haven't yet got
to the lion's den that's chapter 6 but this week we come to the
writing on the wall the writing on the wall and then it's followed
by six prophetical chapters of vision, six chapters of prophetical
vision. So six chapters of history, six
chapters of prophetical vision, and today we come to chapter
five, which is the writing on the wall, Belshazzar and the
writing on the wall. And that phrase, the writing
on the wall, has fallen into very regular use in our modern
English, you know, you know what it says, ah, the writings on
the wall for them, you know, I might say to Michael, ah, the
writings on the wall for Chelsea, they were beaten again yesterday,
the writings, you know, The writing's on the wall. It's as if it's
done, it's settled. You can't alter it. Chapter 4,
as we saw last week about Nebuchadnezzar, who was brought low for salvation. That great, mighty king, that
head of gold was brought low for salvation. That vicious tyrant
was brought low for salvation. That evil, wicked man was brought
low for salvation. What a message of tremendous
hope if such a one, if such a sinner can be humbled and can worship
the true God and can praise and extol the true God because his
heart has been changed what a message of grace and hope for the worst
of sinners but then it's followed by chapter five where we see
his son Belshazzar and this chapter stands as a warning against presumption
as a warning against carelessness in spiritual things. I often
mention the thief on the cross. I often mention that. We love
to hear of the thief on the cross who said to Jesus, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, this day,
irrespective of your sins, irrespective of what you've done to live a
Christian life, irrespective of those things, this day you
will be with me in paradise. We love to hear that one, don't
we? And we forget there was another thief on a cross. Just as close,
you know, an arm's span away from the Lord Jesus Christ. And
one cried out, Lord remember me, and the other cursed him.
And the other went to hell, condemned. You see, they stand as contrasts.
Nebuchadnezzar was brought low for salvation. Belshazzar is
here in the scriptures to warn us against complacency. to warn
us against presumption and carelessness. Belshazzar was a king. Verse
1 of chapter 5. Belshazzar the king made a great
feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand.
Belshazzar was the son of Nebuchadnezzar, but he was an inferior king.
We know from other archaeological records that basically Nebuchadnezzar
had of all of his children, there were two who became kings, and
one of them was Nabonidus, and he was the most powerful king.
And Belshazzar, as it were, was the junior partner in the kingdom. So they shared the kingdom, and
Belshazzar was the junior partner. And that explains why, when Belshazzar,
in his fear, is making all sorts of promises, the one who can
interpret the writing on the wall will have the place of third
ruler in the kingdom not second third because Nabonidus was first
Belshazzar himself was the second king and then he would say that
the one who can interpret will be the third ruler in the kingdom
think about Belshazzar Daniel said to him in verse 22 and thou
his son he's speaking of Nebuchadnezzar and all that God had done with
Nebuchadnezzar thou his son O Belshazzar has not humbled thine heart,
though thou knewest all this." Belshazzar had seen God's dealings
with Nebuchadnezzar. He'd seen God's dealings with
those young men that were captured and brought from Jerusalem. He'd
seen God's dealings with Daniel, and with Hananiah, and Azariah,
and Mishael, otherwise known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And Daniel was known as Belteshazzar. That was the name of the pagan
gods that they gave them. And Belshazzar says, Daniel,
you saw all that happened. You saw all those things. You
see, Daniel's a lot older now. King Nebuchadnezzar's gone and
now it's the reign of Nabonidus and Belshazzar. So Daniel's a
lot older and he's able to say to him, you saw all those things. From your youth upwards, you
saw all of God's dealings with your father. He might have even
heard Daniel preach. He might have even heard those
things. He'd certainly seen his father extol and honor the King
of Heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways judgment.
He'd seen all of those. He'd no doubt heard his father
say, those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. You beware
Belshazzar, my son. Those that walk in pride, this
God is able to abase. You saw what he did. He must
have said these things to him. And Belshazzar saw all of those
things and he lived. without care for his soul. He
didn't humble his heart. He didn't do that. He lived as
if he was going to live forever. He lived as if his power and
his wealth would make him immune from eternity. He lived as though
it wasn't appointed to man to die once. Hebrews 9.27. And after
this, the judgment. That's it. Every day. Every day. Our fellow members of this human
race walk off this life into eternity and it is appointed
to man to die once and then comes the judgment. And your power
and your wealth and your influence in this life count for nothing.
Naked I came into the world and naked I will leave it. I will
take nothing with me. As they say, there are no pockets
in a shroud. When they wrap a dead body in
a funeral shroud, there are no pockets in there to take things
with you. Even though the ancients used to think that they could
and they dig up all sorts of treasures in pyramids and such
like, it doesn't do them any good. There's no wealth there,
there's no power, there's no influence there. We enter eternity
in the eternal purposes of God, we enter eternity either in the
Lord Jesus Christ, that's where Paul the Apostle said he wanted
to be found. Where do you want to be come that day of judgment?
I want to be found in Him. Oh, that I might not be found
outside of Him. I want to be found sheltering
under that great shadow of that mighty rock in a weary land.
That shadow of that great rock which will protect me from the
fierceness of the fury of the Son of Judgment, of the wind
of the terror of the judgment of God. I want to be found in
Him. And we pass into eternity either in Him or we pass into
eternity responsible for our sins and without excuse. Look
at Romans chapter 1 with me. Turn over to Romans chapter 1.
Because in this epistle, where Paul expounds that which is the
Gospel, the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes,
he also brings the indictment against the human race and against
people. He says in verse 19 of chapter
1, talking of mankind in general, God rejecting mankind. that that
which may be known of God is manifest in them the essential
things of God for God has showed it to them for the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly understood
are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even
His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse
everyone without excuse because there's enough we were coming
along in the car this morning and Marguerite was saying as
she always does at this time of year, look at the beauty of
the colors of the trees. You see that which Christless
eyes have never seen. And when you see that, you see
the hand of God, the God of the universe who has painted those
things, who has done all of those things, all of the things that
we see in creation around us. It leaves us without any excuse
because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God,
neither were they thankful, and became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise."
Oh, don't they, all around us. Oh, they don't need God. No need
for God. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. They changed the glory of the
incorruptible God to an image made like corruptible man, and
God gave them up. You see, they're without excuse.
They live as if they'll never die and never face God in judgment. But they're without excuse. They
will go into eternity responsible for their sins and without excuse.
We read the parable of the rich fool. Luke chapter 12. Sorry,
we didn't read that one. We read another one. But in Luke
chapter 12, verses 16 to 21, we read about the rich fool.
I mention him often. The one who thought he had everything.
the one who had prospered, whose crops had grown and his barns
were full and he didn't have room to store it all, and he
thought, well I've got everything I'm ever going to need. So let's
pull down these old barns and build bigger, newer ones and
then I'll be able to relax and enjoy life and enjoy a long and
happy retirement. And God said to him, thou fool,
this night your soul will be required of you. Let's not think,
oh I'm young, oh I've got sixty, seventy years. You've no idea
how long you've got. None of us have. None whatsoever.
One can be taken in a moment. One can suddenly find expecting
20 or 30 years ahead, know that they're taken. You fool, this
night your soul will be required of you. You see, the God of the
universe speaks to all of us, to all of us. He speaks in creation,
as I've already said. In all that we see around us,
it speaks of a God who is sovereign, who is great, who is awesome,
who dwells in unapproachable light. He speaks in this book
in His Word. He speaks in His Word. What more
can He say than to you He has said? He speaks in this Word
of God. And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us. And that Word is Christ. He speaks
through His preachers, His prophets. He raises up men to proclaim
the gospel of His grace. And He expounds this Word. And
He speaks. He brings a preacher to a man
like He brought Philip to that Ethiopian eunuch and came along
the side of his chariot and said to him, do you understand what
you're reading? No he didn't. How can I unless a man explain
it? And he went up and explained to him the scripture in Isaiah
that it was Christ and that he was dying for the sins of his
people and he proclaimed the gospel to him. And what should
forbid him to be baptized? And he was baptized. He saw the
truth. God gave him light. He speaks
through his word, through preachers. He speaks through the conscience
of each one of us. Because I tell you the most godless
the most God-rejecting. Even like Belshazzar. You saw
what happened. He was shaking his fist in the
face of God and that hand came, or the part of a hand, the fingers
of a man's hand came and wrote on the wall. And you saw what
happened to the confidence and the happiness of Belshazzar.
It says, his loins were loosed from within him and his knees
knocked together with fear. He was terrified. He was terrified
at eternity. He saw it. You see, this Word
proclaims a salvation. This Word proclaims an awesome
judgment, but it proclaims a salvation for sinners. It proclaims that. So great a salvation. And then
He says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Hebrews 2 verse 3, how shall
we escape if we neglect? How shall we escape if we live
as though this mattered nothing? How shall we escape if we go
into eternity unprepared to meet our maker and our judge? In John
chapter 6 and verse 44 Jesus is talking to those who are doubting
the gospel of his grace and he says no man can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draw him. No man can come to me The Father
must draw. This is sovereign grace. But,
but, but, we cannot blame God. We will not be allowed to blame
God for not drawing us. If you go into eternity without
Christ, you will not be able to say, ah, it's not my fault.
You didn't draw me. You left me to myself. Therefore,
I am excusable because it's not my fault that you didn't draw
me. That sounds like that would be fair to human logic. But the
Scriptures make it quite clear that if you go into eternity
without Christ, do you know whose fault it is? It's your fault.
If I go into eternity without Christ, it is my fault. It is
my deliberate rejection. It is my sin that will take me
there. No, we cannot blame God for not
drawing us. You see, God drew Nebuchadnezzar,
yes, but Belshazzar didn't seek the Lord while he may be found.
For that's what the Scripture says. Isaiah 55, verses 6 and
7. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. Call upon Him while He is near.
There's a day coming when you will not be able to seek the
Lord. There's a day coming when you will not be able to call
upon Him. There's a day coming when it will not be the day of
salvation. But today is the day of salvation. And so the Scripture
pleads, do not harden your heart. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 8, verse
15. Do not harden your hearts. And
He gives examples from history. Pharaoh, the Egyptians, those
who disobeyed in the wilderness. Do not harden your hearts like
those people did, but come to Christ as if it depended on you. That's how to come. Come to Christ
as if it depended on you. Like Paul says about running
the race in Philippians. He says, he knows, he knows it's
entirely of God. He knows it's entirely of the
strength of the Lord. He knows he has no strength of
his own. But he says, I run as if I and I alone wanted to win
that prize. I run as if it was down to me.
I live this life as if it was down to me and I run to make
that tape and be the winner of the prize. Come to Christ as
if it depended on us. You see, again in John chapter
6 and verse 37, in chapter 6 and verse 37 he says, Jesus is saying
the same passage, all that the Father gives me shall come to
me. Oh, everyone that the Father
gave to the Son from before the beginning of time will come to
Christ in time. But then he says, just in case
you're inclined to fatalistically sit back and do nothing and wait
and say, well, if he calls me, he calls me and I'll come because
I'm a puppet and I can't do anything else. But if he doesn't call
me, then that's not my fault. I won't be called and I'll use
that as my excuse. No, he says, and him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Oh, perhaps he hasn't called
me. Come to him and find out. Perhaps he's not calling me.
Come to him. Don't sit back. Don't fatalistically
sit back. Come to him. He that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. That's what we must do. We must
come to him, knowing it's all of him, but we must come as if
it depended on us and us alone. Be determined. This is why the
writers, they talk about diligently. following Christ diligently give
diligence to do all of these things give diligence says Peter
and add to your faith patience and virtue and all of this is
it add to your faith all of these things diligently Belshazzar
had seen very very much he'd seen the conversion of his father
Nebuchadnezzar and yet he lived as if he was the master of his
own destiny and so what does he do having scorned the teaching
and the example of his father, having scorned all of the dealings
of God with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace,
having scorned everything that God had done with them, Belshazzar
calls a great feast. We would call it a booze-up,
a drinking party. It was just debauchery. It was
just excessive sinful living. The purpose of the occasion was
to get drunk, was to drink as much as they could. And it was
a riotous party, an absolutely riotous party, where the wine
flowed without any stopping. And they were drunk with wine
wherein was excess. And that was the whole purpose
of the get-together, was to have a great big party, just like
the society in which we live. Just exactly like it. To live
as if we're masters of our own destiny. And we can do what we
want and live as we want. and perhaps someone said to Belshazzar
and those around him who'd seen what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar
who'd been affected by it perhaps someone said God will disapprove
of this you saw what your father did you saw what your father
was brought to you saw all of those things the God of heaven
who walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in that fiery furnace
the God of heaven who fed and caused to prosper those young
men when they ate only vegetables. This God will disapprove of this
sinful behavior, of this deliberate sinful behavior. And what does
Belshazzar do? Does he humble himself before
the mighty hand of God? No. He says, I'll show you what
I think of this God. I'll show you what I think. I'm
powerful. I've got riches. I've got influence.
I'll show you what I think of this God. I'll show you the contempt
that I have for this God. This God that my father made
such a fuss about. This God that my father suddenly
tried to start preaching to me about. I'll show you what I think
of this God. Go down to wherever they put
them. When they captured Jerusalem,
when they overran Jerusalem and captured Daniel and his friends,
they went into the temple in Jerusalem. And there were all
the vessels of the rites and the ceremonies of the temple
the gold and the silver cups and all of those things and they
they took them from the temple in Jerusalem and left it in ruins
and they brought them back to Babylon this was great wealth
these were beautiful things that were crafted with the greatest
of skill and he said I'll show you what I think of that God
go and get those cups we're now going to have a proper drinking
party instead of just drinking out of the equivalent of the
plastic cups of the day or whatever they used, go and get the best
cups from there." He was shaking his fist in the face of God. He was rebelling against the
God of heaven. Why are these cups and these
gold vessels so important in this account? You see, they drank
wine and they praised the gods of gold and of silver and of
brass and iron and wood and stone, all those idolatrous things,
and they used the vessels from the house of God which was at
Jerusalem. Why is that so important? You
see, some would just say, ah well, you know, these are mysterious
things, we better not touch that which we don't know and God had
said not to touch them and so they were just being disobedient
and so that's what's wrong. Obey God and you'll be accepted
and disobey God and you'll be rejected. No. These cups, these gold and silver
vessels, they were symbols of the gospel. That's what they
were. Symbols of the gospel. Symbols
of the way in which a person is right with God. How is a person
right with God? Not by works of the law. Not
by the things that we do. Because by the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Oh no. It's by the
doing and the dying of a substitute. By him alone. By the faith of
Jesus Christ. by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ, in satisfying the law of God on behalf of His people,
in fulfilling righteousness and obeying that law, by paying the
sin debt for all of His people, by rising from the dead, raised
for our justification, in all of those ways. And do you know,
every single day in the temple in Jerusalem, before they were
captured and taken away for their idolatry, but the rites and the
ceremonies that are outlined in the books of Moses in Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy all of those rites and ceremonies
were acted out in the temple every day and once a year the
Day of Atonement and every aspect of it was preaching the Gospel
of Christ. How can you say that? Because
Jesus said it. These are they which speak of
Me. All of those things spoke of
Him. All of those cups and those vessels and the altar and the
candlesticks and all of those elaborate things, they all spoke
of Him. They all spoke of how a sinner
with nothing in his hand to plead is made right with a sovereign
God who is judge of all the earth. It's only in Him, only in the
doing and the dying of a substitute. And anybody that was to take
or touch or meddle with was in mortal danger. What happened
to Uzzah? You remember the account of Uzzah? When David is bringing
the Ark of God back from the Philistines who captured it.
And they didn't do what the Word of God says. They didn't seek
what the Word of God said. The Word of God said that the
Ark of God was to be carried by the priests of his choosing.
It's like the Gospel being a burden on a man's heart to preach it.
The Ark of God was to be carried by the priests in a particular
way. They weren't to touch it. They
were to thread these poles through the rings that were on the sides
of the Ark, and they were to carry it on their shoulders as
a burden on their shoulders, as a man carries the burden of
the Gospel of Grace to preach it to men and women around him.
And they were to bear that Ark of the Covenant, which is such
a symbol of the Gospel of Christ. For in it was the law, and on
it was the mercy seat, and on it was every way that we approach
the living God, on the mercy seat, with blood, and the tablets
of the law were in it underneath that mercy seat because Christ
has fulfilled that law and all of those things were there and
it was to be carried that way but they forgot that and they
went and got a cart they went and got a new cart oh this will
be a better thing to do because you know men get tired and they
drop it so we'll put it on a new cart and it's something of man's
own making do you see what happens all around us with the gospel
of God's grace in these days Men come along and they get a
new cart. And they put the gospel on a
new cart. Oh, we'll go about it in such and such a way. And
you know what happened? As the oxen were pulling the
cart with the Ark of God on the back of it, they stumbled. I
don't know, it went down a rut in the road or something like
that. And Uzzah, with the greatest of sincerity, lent out his hand. I can imagine it, can't you?
I'm always keen to help. I can imagine walking along and
seeing it go to fall and I jumped to try and catch it and stop
it from falling because it's going to fall into disgrace in
the mud and I do that which God has forbidden and Uzzah was struck
dead in a moment such that David was furious David was scared
stiff and furious but Uzzah had done that which God had said
he must not do however sincerely he touched the ark of God and
he wasn't to do it and he was struck dead and men today are
constantly meddling with the gospel of God's grace and touching
it. And I tell you, they're in danger. They're in danger for their souls
for meddling with the gospel of God's grace. This is a warning. Don't meddle with the gospel
of God's grace. Don't touch it because this act
of Belshazzar in bringing these vessels that were from the temple,
these symbols of the gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he did that, in defiance against God, having
been told that God would be angry with their sin, and had said,
I'll show you what I think of that God. Let's go and get these
vessels. And in that moment, he crossed
the invisible line. For there's an invisible line
in the patience of God, in the dealings with man, over the sin
of man. There's an invisible line. God
is patient. God is merciful. He gives time
for us to come to Him. to repent but there's a line
that we cross there's a line that we cross when it's too late
and Belshazzar crossed that line of God's patience that night
when he took those vessels and shook his fist in the face of
God and in the same hour verse 5 look this is when he crossed
the line chapter 5 and verse 5 in the same hour came forth
fingers of a man's hand and wrote over against the candlestick
upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace And the
king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Archaeology tells
us that behind the throne, in the throne room, was a white
plastered wall. A very, very clear wall on which
you would see writing. And it wasn't the whole hand.
Every picture, you know, there's an operetta written about this,
Belshazzar's Feast. It's a story that has been enacted
in music and drama and films and paintings. down the years,
and every single one of them will show a whole hand writing
on the wall. It was just the fingers of a
man's hand that came and wrote on a wall. And that revelry,
that debauchery, that partying, that noise of celebration, of
sinfulness, all of that rejection of the God of heaven, all of
that stopped in a moment. Can you imagine? Imagine the
scene. There they are shaking their
fists collectively, metaphorically, in the face of God. And the fingers
of a man's hand come and write on the wall. And they write that
which is the pronouncement of judgment. And in their fear,
their revelry stops in a moment. You see, there they are, shaking
their fist in the face of God. But we know what Psalm 2 says.
Psalm 2 pictures the wicked as they reject the right rule of
God. And in Psalm 2, we read, Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Why is it vain? To think that you can defy the
living God. The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed. Oh, they go and get the vessels
from the temple that speak of the anointed of the Lord. And
they say, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their
cords from us. Let's throw off this yoke of
constraint of this God of heaven. We don't want anything to do
with Him. But look at verse 4. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. And then shall He speak unto
them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. While
they shake their fist in His face, He stops them dead in their
tracks. He laughs. He that sitteth in
the heavens laughs, and laughs them to scorn. So Belshazzar
calls for his interpreters. He calls for his astrologers.
He calls for anybody who will speak a word of peace to him
in his fear, because his knees are knocking together. He's absolutely
terrified. Absolutely terrified. And he
can't find one. He promises all sorts of extravagant
things that are really not in his hands to give. Because everything
is only ever lent to us by God. Every situation that we're in
is only ever lent to us by God for a time. And all of these
things were not in His power to give, as we see when we get
to the end of the chapter. He makes great promises. The
third ruler of the kingdom, a chain of gold, a scarlet robe, all
of these great things, great honor. Now the queen, verse 10,
by reason of the words of the king and his lords, this queen
we think is the wife of Nabonidus and she comes in and she's seen
some of these things perhaps it was her that said God will
judge you for this you go doing this party God will judge you
for this perhaps it was her and she says there is a man that
can interpret these things he's the man who interpreted these
things for your father Nebuchadnezzar go and get them there's an excellent
spirit in him he has much understanding and they brought in Daniel before
the king. And he knew who he was. And Daniel's
much older now. He's a much older man. But God
uses him. You see, the writing on the wall
couldn't be read. It could not be read or interpreted
by human wisdom. They couldn't see it. But God
gave his servant his message to speak to that generation.
And so he does. He always does this. He does
it today. He used a man. God uses a man. Why He uses a man, I do not know,
but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those that
believe, to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. God uses a weak
vessel. He uses a man. It is always God's
way. Jeremiah said, I am but a child
and I cannot speak. God said, oh no, you are my instrument
and you will go and you will speak for me and you will speak
the words that I give you to speak. God used a man. And in
exactly the same way, He used Daniel. He's much older now,
but He comes with the same message. And the message He brings is
the interpretation of the writing that is on the wall. And what
does it mean? Many, many, Tekel, Uphazin. This is the interpretation, verse
26. Many. God has numbered your kingdom.
Time is up. It's finished. He's finished
it. You're judged, you're weighed
in the balances and found wanting. The justice and law of God has
judged you and found you wanting. Perez, you say, well Perez is
not Ufacin. Ufacin is and, the plural of
Perez, because it says the kingdom is divided and given to the Medes
and Persians. The Medes and Persians, two nations
united together. In the statue that Nebuchadnezzar
saw in chapter 2, there was a head of gold he was that single head
of gold and then there was a silver chest and arms and it's divided
into two branches the Medes and the Persians he says it's given
to the Medes and the Persians and tonight your time is up you're
judged and found guilty and your kingdom is divided and what Isaiah
said 200 years before in Isaiah 45 verses 1 to 4 will happen
Belshazzar that very night Although he gives Daniel the position
of third ruler of the kingdom, although he puts a scarlet robe
on him and a chain round his neck, that very night, there
was no chance for it to be put into practice, because that very
night, Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain. Just
turn to Isaiah 45. We read it right at the start.
Because the description is historically, archaeologically, but yet prophetically
absolutely accurate Cyrus was the king of Persia Cyrus was
the leader of Persia whose right hand I have holden God has held
his hand even though at the end of verse four though thou hast
not known me you see the heart of the king is in the hand of
God God's holding his hand even though he Cyrus hasn't known
him we'll see later what Cyrus does Cyrus is the one who is
used of God to restore Jerusalem and the temple and sends the
people back there. He uses Cyrus as his instrument
to subdue nations, verse 1, before him. And I will loose the loins
of the kings to open before him the two-leaved gates. The armies
had gone out to fight Cyrus the Persian. And while they were
distracted thinking that they were fighting down on the plain,
Cyrus the Persian, Darius the Mede came and let himself into
Babylon through the gates underneath the city where the river Euphrates
flowed through. I will loose the loins of the
king to open before him the two-leaved gates and the gates shall not
be shut." He won't be able to keep them out and so he comes
in. The loins of the king were loosed
and we read in Daniel chapter 5 how Belshazzar, when he saw
those things, verse 6, the king's countenance was changed, his
thoughts were troubled, and the joints of his loins were loosed,
and his knees smote one against another. And that night he was
slain, and the kingdom was taken from him, and Darius the Mede
took the kingdom, that bit of Babylon. His place in that kingdom,
being about three score and two years old, it was too late for
Belshazzar. It was too late for Him. It's
not too late for us. It's not too late for any who
hear this, who are outside of Christ, to come. For today is
the day of salvation. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
that the Father will draw everyone that He gave to Him, to Him. But whoever comes, He will in
no wise cast out. Oh, how we must come to Him. while it is yet the day of salvation
while there is yet time and not leave it to the point where we
cross that invisible line that only God sees and his patience
with us runs out and we're called to give an account in our own
strength and our own weakness because our strength is weakness
without the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.