Psalm
9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God.”
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
disdain for the oracles of God and the righteousness of His Law. They rule with
impunity without regard for the fact that the Creator and 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 throughout 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 King 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!
