A quick test of your Bible knowledge: There are many phrases that people say everyday that are actually statements from the Bible. An example is when people talk about retaliating, they would say “an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth!” - Exodus 21:24
What other everyday sayings do you know which are from the Bible??
By the skin of my teeth – Job 19
By the sweat of my brow – Gen 3
Going the extra mile – Matt 5
Little bird told me – Matt 16
Out of the mouths of babes – Psalm 8
Rise and shine – Isaiah 60
Scapegoat – Lev 16
In a twinkling of an eye – 1 Cor 15
United we stand, divided we fall – Matt 12
We’ll learn from Daniel 5 today, “the handwriting is on the wall”.
First, let’s remind ourselves of what we noted last week: God is always at work and His desire is for every person in the world to believe in Him and God will humble the proud and arrogant!
We will add to this today: God gives warning signs and will judge at the right time!
We have noted from Daniel 1-4, God warned King Nebuchadnezzar several times and until he was completely humbled by God, he didn’t believe in the God of the Bible. We can say today that God brought Nebuchadnezzar to hit bottom to challenge him to finally believe.
Today, we will again note God’s warning. But because of Belshazzar’s stubborn and unyielding heart and spirit, God allowed his life to be taken violently!
God is an unchanging God!
What are God’s warnings today?
What’s the condition of our hearts and spirits towards God?
Can we be of help to those who will likely be judged by God?
Please open your Bibles to Daniel 5. King Nebuchadnezzar is now dead and a step son Belshazzar took reign. Read along with me Daniel 5…..
Based on v1-4, what can we say about King Belshazzar??
King Belshazzar loved to party and made a mockery of the God of the Bible!
Based on v5-7, what was the second mistake that King Belshazzar made? It was the same mistake that King Nebuchadnezzar made; King Belshazzar first depended on his secular advisers rather than acknowledging God!
How scared was King Belshazzar? Look again at v9….
Doesn’t this indicate that it was time for Belshazzar to call out on Almighty God? But, he didn’t!
And so, what did God do? God actually gave Belshazzar another chance by using the Queen to call on godly Daniel! But what was the final mistake that King Belshazzar did?
Look again at v16….
Even though King Belshazzar knew that Daniel is a godly man, this King tried to bribe Daniel without humbling himself to God or anyone else! King Belshazzar was willing to give Daniel 3rd Place; who was still #1 in Belshazzar’s heart, mind, and spirit?? In spite of how scared the King was and having the opportunity to hear God, Belshazzar was not willing to bow down to anyone! Ever feel scared? Think of God’s amazing love! Our fears and God’s love should bring us to our knees!
Look again at v22-23 to note Belshazzar’s problem……..
God is always at work and His desire is for every person in the world to believe in Him and God will humble the proud and arrogant! And what can we add to this truth? God gives warning signs and will judge at the right time!
And so, we read in v24-30 God’s judgment on King Belshazzar! And isn’t it interesting that even when God already told Belshazzar his fate, we read in v29 that he still wasn’t willing to bow down to God or anyone else! Belshazzar said, “Thanks Daniel and I honor you by being #3 to me, but I am still the God of the Universe!” And we read in v30, “that very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain!”
How about us and other people today?
Is it still God’s desire for everyone to know the truth and be saved today? Last week we noted 1Timothy 2:3-6. God desires every person still alive to know and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and God, therefore be saved from eternal judgment! Have we believed in Jesus Christ as the Only Savior and Lord in our life?
Is God humbling the proud and arrogant these days? Let’s note a few in recent history: Adolph Hitler engineered the Holocaust; he did not sleep well at nights; there were many attempts on his life; and eventually faced defeat and death.
Idi Amin ruled Uganda with human rights abuse, political repression, ethnic persecution, murders, nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is estimated to be 500,000. Idi Amin was exiled to Saudi Arabia where he eventually died of kidney failure!
Al Capone engaged in various criminal activities, including smuggling, bribery of government figures, murder, and prostitution. Capone was eventually incarcerated at Alcatraz federal prison. In the final years of Capone’s life, his mental and physical health deteriorated due to neurosyphilis and he died from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.
Now, none of us may act like Hitler, Amin, or Capone, but God will humble anyone who is proud and arrogant who will not worship the God of the Bible.
Has God given us a time frame of the final judgment of unbelief in Jesus Christ? Turn your Bible to the last book of the Bible, to Revelation 20…..
Who are listed in the Book of Life? We can easily see in context that those who will be with God are those who believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible; and God has set the schedule for final judgment!
Based on Scriptures, we can summarize God’s final calendar of events with this diagram…
Any day now, an event called “The Rapture” will happen. Rapture means to be caught up. We read in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord.”
Then there will be a time of Great Tribulation, then The Millennial Kingdom of Christ on earth, before the final judgment! The handwriting is on the wall! The handwriting is in the Book! It is the same God who declares judgment!
Does God give warnings today of the final judgment to come? We can note one thing in our diagram: Israel became a country again just recently in 1948 (before that time, Israel was scattered as told by God in the Bible). And this tiny country of Israel was reborn and is a powerful force in the world today, why? – because God will use Israel for events leading to the final judgment!
What are other warnings from God before the final judgment??
We read in Matthew 24:4-8, Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
How many of you are fascinated with computers, from cellphones, to Ipads, to computers beating champions in Jeopardy? We will study Daniel 12 in the near future which states that before the final judgment many people will travel to and fro and knowledge will increase!
We will also note from Daniel that the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and the old Jewish sacrifices will be done again. You can go on the Internet today and send money to groups who are working on rebuilding the Temple. And did you know that a Red Heifer (a type of cattle) is needed for the Temple sacrifices and for a long time no red heifer could be found. But, in 1997 the first Red Heifer was found! Another Red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.
Warning signs from God are all around us!
Christians should know the handwriting on the wall by God! It’s all in the Bible! There will be final judgment for all who does not believe in Jesus Christ! We need to conclude by asking ourselves, what’s our role as Christians today?
What’s the condition of our hearts and spirits towards God who will judge?
Always humble yourself before God!
Remember the challenge from last week? Every time you drink something, think of H2O – Holiness, Humility, and Obedience! How are we doing with that?
Are we telling people about this final judgment?
Always look for opportunities so share God’s judgment of sin BUT ALSO His amazing love!
Are we telling people about the signs leading to this final judgment?
Use everyday common things and events to share God’s warnings to the world!
