When The Lord Gives You The Finger

TITLE: WHEN THE LORD GIVES YOU THE FINGER

SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 8:19 / EXODUS 31:18 / DANIEL 5:1-6 / ST. JOHN 8:1-6

Have you ever been in traffic and driving too slowly or change lanes when another vehicle was in your ‘blind spot’ and the vehicle behind you whips around you hits the gas pedal to pass you and look over at you and give you the finger. I will not ask if you have ever done so. Or perhaps in a heated argument and before you walked away you gave that person the finger or they gave you the finger. In modern times, flipping someone off has become a common way for people to express their anger or frustration when words fail them.

• It is a quick and powerful way to convey strong emotions without having to say a word

• Additionally, the shock value of the gesture can make it particularly effective in getting a reaction from others

Furthermore, flipping someone off can also be seen as a form of nonverbal communication. By using body language instead of words, people can convey their emotions in a more direct and immediate way. In this sense, giving someone the finger or what we term flipping someone off serves as a way for individuals to assert their dominance or display their displeasure towards someone else.

Ultimately, flipping someone off has become a thing because it is a simple yet effective way for people to express their negative emotions towards others. While it may not always be the most polite or diplomatic gesture, it has become a widely recognized symbol of disrespect and contempt in many cultures.

• I don’t know why some of you are looking at me shocked and appalled like you have never

• Some of you are the King and Queen of ‘Road Rage’

Have you ever found yourself in a heated discussion and the other person begins to point their finger in your face? If you’re talking directly to someone and you start to point at them, it can be seen as an act of aggression. People react almost instinctively to someone pointing at them while they’re speaking to them and the reaction is usually not positive. The closer someone comes to you while they’re pointing at you the more likely you are to feel Agitated - Irritated - Annoyed.

When I consider our various text read this morning, I wonder what happens ‘WHEN THE LORD GIVES YOU THE FINGER.’ I want to lift that as our thought this morning. Our narrative in DANIEL 5 unfolds some 70 years following the events of DANIEL 1 when Daniel was taken into Babylonian captivity as a teenager. he is well up into his eighties at this point in our text.

• KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR has been gone for 20 years

• He died leaving us his legacy in the last words as recorded in DANIEL 4:37

We now are introduced to the last king of Babylon, a man by the name of BELSHAZZAR. He is the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar and co-regent of the nation with his father NABONIDUS. As the chapter begins, we find the fabulous city of Babylon besieged by the armies of the MEDES and PERSIANS under the able leadership of CYRUS. However, the great tragedy was that Babylon was crumbling from within at the same time.

While the city of Babylon was besieged by the great armies of the Medes and the Persians, King Belshazzar was feasting.

• He should have been fasting

• He was blinded by power and belligerent

He called a thousand of the nobles of Babylon to a great party in the royal hall.

• You had to be somebody to have received an invite to this party

• Everybody who was somebody was there

• There was wine, women and song

• This was the office party to beat all office parties

• All the concubines were there

• The orgies which ensued during these godless feasts should not be properly described in a book such as this

• They were as perverted and sick as much of what is taking place in the perversion of our contemporary culture

As the party moved into full swing and the crowd became more and more intoxicated, Belshazzar sent for the gold vessels which had been brought to Babylon from the TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Southern Kingdom. For 70 years these sacred utensils which had been used in the worship of the living God in the temple in Jerusalem had been in safe storage in Babylon.

They deliver and bring these Gold Vessels reserved for God’s use, they bring them out to this party, they began to drink in these glasses dedicated to God’s service. There was no need for doing that. wine tastes like wine no matter what the goblet or cup is. It doesn’t matter if it was in a red plastic party cup, it’s going to taste the same.