The Cause of the Nations’ Fall
“Like Belshazzar, many unbelievers are evading the difficulties and dangers of life with the excesses of pleasures and escapes. The enemy is at the gates – financial troubles, job vulnerabilities, looming consequences of long choices. Some Christians are often little better. We hide out in virtual worlds, medicate our anxieties, blot out reality with the noise of music, blog ourselves into believing all is well. May God grant all the grace of repentance lest we find ourselves swept away. What we need in such a world are good and great prophet/preachers, full of the Word, wisdom, courage and clear, plain words. We need men who will not be tempted by the siren songs of acclaim, recognition, money, sales and large numbers. We need men who will say, “I will not take your rewards because I must give you God‟s Words.” And we need Christians who will support such men. Do you sense the hand writing on the wall? Through the Word of God you have been hearing, has God inscribed condemnation? Have you come to understand that you are already under the wrath of God? Then turn, my friend, turn to Christ. Go not down with Belshazzar into eternal doom. Believe what the Bible says of Him. Bow to Him as your Lord. Receive the forgiveness of your sins, reconciliation and peace with God.” – Pastor Russ Kennedy
Clearcreek Chapel Pulpit Ministries
Daniel in grand prophetic tone, reminds Belshazzar of his failure to learn the les- sons his (grand)father learned. God humbled the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. Bel- shazzar has ignored the lessons of history and family. He has read the conversion letter. He knows what the sovereign of heaven can and will do. But he has not bowed his heart, tempered his pride nor restrained his sin. Daniel pointedly accuses him of lifting up himself against the God of heaven. His sin is not just horizontal, that is, against the Jewish people or in the face of family history. His praise of pagan gods and the defilement of Jewish relics is an affront to the one and true sovereign God. This is a lesson we need to learn again today. What ever happened to sin against God? Our “sins” today are violations of relational mores. They are breaking faith with others or not respecting others space, boundaries or meta-narratives. No matter how evil or wicked a religion may be, it is simply impolite and unkind to expose it for what it is. And we almost never hear people talking about sin against God. My friends, your sins are sins against the high King of heaven or they are not sins. Yes, you may sin against another, but every sin against another person is a sin because God says so. We live our lives before the face of God whether we recognize it or not. Daniel simply says to the most powerful man on the face of the earth, “In your pursuit of your religion you have sinned against the one true God.” This is simply a fact that is to be declared, particularly when we are giving the gospel. May we simply have the clarity in our own mind about what is at stake and courage in our own hearts to be able to say the most loving thing we can to someone whose course of sin is on a trajectory towards eternal hell and damnation. The alarm must be raised. The wrath of God hanging over their heads must be declared. The love of God that made the way must be proclaimed without hesitation or hypocrisy. Brothers and sisters, do you really believe that every single person who does not believe and bow is presently already under the sentence of the wrath of God? Listen to the words of John 3:16-21 which interlock these two concepts into a strong testimony of both present doom, future wrath and gracious love.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not be- lieved in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his 20 deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”
