Hello Friends!
Welcome Back! Let’s continue our study of “Daniel’s Devotion” from God’s Word…
Daniel’s
Devotion (Part 4)
This fifth chapter of
Daniel's prophecy is not only a prophetic passage of great importance but also
a chapter that has a very important historic significance as well. The King of
Babylon, at the time of chapter 5 is Belshazzar who most likely was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. King
Nebuchadnezzar had died and Belshazzar came to power over this world empire
near the time of the end of this great Gentile world power.
The King had invited 1,000
of his "lords" to a banquet, which actually turned into the "last
hoorah" for King Belshazzar:
Belshazzar the king made a
great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the
thousand – Daniel
5:1
Though the Medes and the
Persians had been threatening to overthrow the Babylonians, the King felt
secure inside the walls of this supposedly "impregnable city" with
its double high walls surrounding the city, a city that had never been
defeated.
During the course of the
evening the King called for the "Temple vessels" that his grandfather
had brought out of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to Babylon. The King had his
servants fill these "special vessels" with wine and made them
available to the King's guest. This was a very bad mistake:
While
he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver
vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king
and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they
brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of
God which had been in
Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from
them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and
iron, wood and stone – Daniel
5:2-4
It was while the drunken
party was going on that the Medes came from the North and the Persians from the
South and damned up the water entering the city under its Northern wall and
exiting under its Southern wall. That gave Babylon's enemies a dry tunnel under
the walls to enter the city. This was the method by which the "impregnable city" was entered by its major
enemies at that time. The Babylonian Empire was brought down by the
Medo-Persian Empire – the second of the Gentile world powers to rule over Jerusalem
and the Jewish people.
This passage is describing
the fall of the Babylonian Empire but
does not mention that the city of
Babylon was destroyed. The city of Babylon has never been totally destroyed. However, Bible prophecy seems to say this will
happen in the last days.
Ancient Jewish Prophets
say that Babylon must be totally destroyed and never be rebuilt:
Isaiah chapters 13 & 14
Jeremiah chapters 50 & 51
Revelation chapters 16 & 18
Seventy-five years after the fall of the Babylonian Empire,
Ezra lived in Babylon:
This
Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which
the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his
request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him… For upon the first day of the first month
began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he
to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him – Ezra 7:6 & 9
Secular history tells us
that Alexander the Great ruled the world from his headquarters in Babylon, 200
years after the fall of the Babylonian Empire. The Apostle Peter started a
church in Babylon 500 years after the
fall of the Empire:
She who
is in Babylon, elect together with you,
greets you; and so does Mark my
son – 1 Peter 5:13
One day in the future,
Babylon will be totally destroyed.
The other thought that I
have is pertaining to the use of the "implements" from the Temple.
Because the Babylonians desecrated the Temple and it's implements…
But you
his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.
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. Then
the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written. “And
this is the inscription that was written:
MENE,
MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered
your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances,
and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes
and Persians. Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with
purple and put a chain of gold
around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the
third ruler in the kingdom – Daniel 5:22-29
God brought judgment to
King “Belshazzar” and “Darius the Mede received the kingdom”:
That very night Belshazzar,
king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom,
being about sixty-two years old – Daniel
5:30-31
God will also bring His eternal judgment on Babylon:
The
voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in
Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his
temple – Jeremiah 50:28
Make
the arrows bright! Gather the shields!
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the
kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
because it is
the vengeance of the Lord, the
vengeance for His temple – Jeremiah
51:11
Biblical Babylon is the
modern-day state of Iraq, where the Antichrist may be headquartered and will
rule over a "one world" political, governmental, economic system in
the last days. The rebuilding of war-torn Iraq is setting the stage for Bible
Prophecy to be fulfilled…
Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s continued
investigation of Daniel’s Devotion…
May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect
love, mercy and grace!
Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah
and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!
Blessings!
Shane <><