Today my heart is troubled by the state of our nation and the world. The leaders of our world sit high and mighty upon their thrones and dictate their carnal, immoral decrees as though they rule in absolute power, brandishing contempt and distain for the oracles of God and the righteousness of His Law. They rule with impunity without regard for the fact that the Ruler of the universe has allowed them to rise to the prominence of their position. He gives them the very air they breathe and the life that possesses their mortal bodies.
What these immoral leaders fail to realize is that every word and act of mortal man will be brought into judgment. All men, both great and small will give an account of his life's work when we stand before the Judge of all judges. They fail to realize that the God of all creation has a threshold of Grace and Mercy, a line in the sand if you will. A time in which His Grace and Mercy will proceed no further and Judgment takes their place. We see the pattern repeated time and time again through the Bible.
One such example comes bolting from the pages of scripture in Daniel 5. Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, ordered a great feast to impress a great company of his lords. Caught up in the celebration of his own vanity, he commanded that his subjects bring the golden and silver vessels that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the House of God in Jerusalem. Daniel 5:3, “Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6Then 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.”
It was Daniel's lot to interpret the message and deliver God's decree. You see, it is God's decree that reigns sovereign and will stand with us in judgment. Daniel chastised the king for his gross indifference to the Holy Vessels of the Lord's worship and service. Daniel 5:23, “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: 24Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 25And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29Then 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. 30In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.”
The action of the king was blatant sacrilege. Belshazzar had seen the favor of God upon his father Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom when he recognized and submitted to the God of Daniel. However, Belshazzar's gross indifference to all things pertaining to the Lord God of Life and Creation became his undoing. Belshazzar crossed the threshold of God's Grace and Mercy. God's judgment awaited him on the other side.
We observe the same attitudes and actions in the societies of our nation and world today. The trend is to call the bad things good and the good things bad. Our world is no different than Belshazzar in Daniel's day. The attitudes and actions that demand our acceptance are blatant sacrilege and an affront to all things that God calls good. The hand of God is writing on the wall. His warning is being given. Immoral leadership and immoral living is weighed in God's Balance of Holiness and found lacking. Be it known by all mortal men that sin and rebellion will be brought into judgment. God's Grace and Mercy will turn to Judgment. The ONLY solution is to repent and return to fellowship with Jehovah God!
