An Old Testament Warning To Christians Today Series

Introduction

The year is 539 B.C. There is 539 years to the appearance of Christ on earth as a baby in a manager. There are 2022 years from Christ birth to the present day. But the warning given in 539 B.C. applies to this very day. It is a very old warning, but it is one that we must take seriously today as Christians. (Let me tell you that the Bible is not old fashion. What is true back then is still true today.)

Let me share with you how this warning comes about. Nebuchadnezzar has gone the way of his father to the grave. Now on the throne is his grandson, Belshazzar. Belshazzar decided to have a party in the royal ballroom of the palace. He invited his thousand closest friends for food and drink with the emphasis on the drinking.

Sometime during this festive occasion, Belshazzar called the stewards to go fetch the gold and silver vessel that his grandfather had taken from God’s Temple in Jerusalem when he laid siege to the city. The stewards pass the gold and silver vessels around to the guest so that they may drink along with the king from the holy vessels.

Within one hour of drinking from those cups, judgement was issued against Belshazzar as a hand wrote on the wall “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

Belshazzar didn’t know what that meant; his wise men did not know what it meant. The queen mother tells her grandson, the only that will know the meaning is Daniel. And so, Daniel was summoned to the palace and let’s look at what Daniel tells the King,

Daniel 5:22-23

22 “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. 23 And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.

Background Information

Listen closely to what Daniel tells Belshazzar. You have taken something God says is holy and set apart for Him and used it in an unholy way. These were vessels of God’s Temple used in the worship of God, and only to be used in the worship of God. But Belshazzar made them unholy by using them in a drunken feast with his friends.

Despite all the wrongs of Nebuchadnezzar and he did a lot of things wrong, he never was accused of taking what belonged to God and using it in an ungodly way. Belshazzar, he crossed the line, he used God’s holy vessels in an ungodly way. And judgment came to him quickly.

Nobody here would do what Belshazzar did, right? Nobody here would take something that belongs to God and use it such a common way, right. Wrong! Let me show you why an Old Testament warning issued by Daniel is for today’s Christian. It is possible that you and me as Christians are using what is holy in an unholy way. And chastisement from God will come. Let me explain how that can be.

Point #1

In God’s thinking the gold and silver vessels of the Old Testament become you and me in the New Testament. We are now the holy vessels of God.

2 Timothy 2:20-21 “20 Now in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthenware ones, some of which are for honorable use, and some of which are for ordinary use. 21 Therefore, if someone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”

Look what it says: he will be a vessel for honorable use. When I cleanse myself from sin, ask Jesus Christ into my heart, I become born again, right? But we are not taught very much from the pulpit that you are no longer an ordinary vessel but now you have become an honorable vessel to be used by God.

We all know Saul of Tarsus, who become the Apostle Paul of the New Testament. After his salvation experience, God tells Ananias to search out Paul. But Ananias was a little apprehensive because he had heard how this man was killing and imprisoning those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord.

Listen to what the Lord tells Ananias. Acts 9:15 (NKJV)

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.