Thurs.’s Devo - The Writing on the Wall

Read: Daniel 5:1-31; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 28:19-20 King Belshazzar was having a feast which we would call a wild party where the concubines were present and men were calling out praises to their gods while getting drunk. Belshazzar had had the gold cups taken from the Temple in Jerusalem brought in to drink from. *** As they partied, the fingers of a human hand wrote on the plaster wall of the kings’ palace, near the lamp stand so they could all see it. The kings face paled as he watched it and he almost fainted. *** He shouted for all his enchanters and astrologers and fortune-tellers to come and tell him what it meant but none could read the writing on the wall. The queen mother heard the ruckus and came to see what was happening. She told the king about Daniel who had given Nebuchadnezzar understanding with his dreams. (Nebuchadnezzar was Belshazzar’s grandfather.) *** Daniel came in and read the words on the wall and gave him the interpretation, but first he gave him a rebuke. He reminded him that he knew the story of his grandfather and how he went crazy for a while until he grasped that God was the Lord of heaven and ruled the kingdoms of the world and appoints who he desires to rule over them. *** Then Daniel explained the words on the wall. The first was “Mene” which means that God had numbered his days and his reign had come to an end. “Tekel” means ‘weighed’ because he had been weighed on God’s scale and had not measured up. “Parsin” his kingdom had been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. *** Daniel was rewarded, and that very night, Darius the Mede, killed Belshazzar and took the kingdom. *** In Peter, he warned us to beware of false prophets and false teachers who will cleverly teach destructive heresies and deny Christ who bought them with his blood. Many will fall to their immorality who slander the truth. They will try to scam people of their money, but God condemned them long ago. *** God did not spare even the angels who sinned in Genesis 6 who came down and mated with women on the earth and produced genetically modified humans who were half-demon/ half-human. God destroyed the earth to get rid of them and later condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the same thing. But God rescued Noah and his family and Lot out of them because of their righteousness. So God can rescue us out of our trials. *** God is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desires and those who despise authority. In their arrogance they scoff at the highest order in heaven that even the angels wouldn’t bring a charge against. (I wonder if he isn’t talking about Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel.) *** These false teachers scoff at things they don’t understand. They delight in deception and their lust is never satisfied. They are trained in greed. They love to earn money doing evil. *** These people are doomed for blackest darkness. They hold people as slaves and live a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom but are slaves themselves. Some have known the truth and turned away from it and will not be able to be set free. *** Lord, I thank you for your discipline that leads us to repentance, but I also thank you for your justice that leads to life or death. You are a good, and full of wisdom and love. We trust you.