Sat.’s Devo - God’s Judgement

Read: Daniel 5:1-31; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 28:19-20 Daniel is such a uniqued book in that it deals primarily with the pagan kings of Babylon who swallowed up God’s people. King Belshazzar was the king after Nebuchadnezzar and the last Babylonian king. He didn’t learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s mistakes and did not fear God. Belshazzar was known for his cruelty and disrespect for life. He had his last banquet where he got drunk and ordered his servants to bring the cups they had taken from the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem so they could drink from them. When they did they praised their idols. God responded. He wrote with his own hand on the wall of the kings’ palace as they watched. The people watched in horror but none knew what it meant. The queen mother heard what had happened and came to see. She was grandmother, Nitocris, who was the wife either of Nebuchadnezzar or of Evil merodach. She knew of all the things God had revealed through Daniel and sent for him. Daniel was offered royal clothes and a gold necklace and promotion to the 3rd highest position. He told the king he could keep all his gifts but he would tell him what the writing said. He explained how God had humbled Nebuchadnezzar and made him mad for seven years until he could realize that God was sovereign over the earth. But Belshazzar had refused to repent though he knew all this. So Daniel told him what the three words meant. “Mene, mene” - God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. “Tekel” - means weighed because he had been weighed in God’s balance and not measured up. “Parsin” - means divided because God was dividing his kingdom and giving some to the Medes and some to the Persians. Belshazzar awarded Daniel with everything he promised and that very night Belshazzar was killed by Darius the Mede. In Peter, he says that people are slaves to sin and corruption and the only way to be free is through Christ. He spoke against the false prophets who led God’s people astray and charged them only to make themselves rich. God would condemn them and they would meet their destruction. God didn’t spare the angels who sinned when they left heaven and came to impregnate the women of the earth. Those angels were locked up in prisons in darkness until the judgment. God didn’t spare the world in Noah’s day but destroyed it with the flood. He destroyed wicked Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin and immorality. So, God will also punish false prophets and false teachers who deceive his people. Lord, guard our hearts and give us discernment to know your ways.