Over Stepping Divine Principles

The Scripture says that Nebuchadnezzar was Belshazzar's father, but he was actually his grandfather. Belshazzar was really the son of Nabonidus. Nebuchadnezzar had a daughter that Nabonidus married, so Belshazzar was a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.

There have been times when critics who have made every attempt to discredit the Word of God have even made the statement that Daniel couldn't have been the writer due to the fact that Belshazzar wasn't the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Well, let God be true and every man a liar. In 1854 a number of tablets were discovered from the ruins of the Babylonian civilization. When they were translated, it was discovered that Nabonidus and Belshazzar reigned, or shared the government, together and that Nebuchadnezzar was his grandfather. When the word father or son appears in the Scripture, it's because there is no Semitic language for grandfather or grandson.

Verse 1 says, "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand." Historians and commentators say it wasn't uncommon for a king to throw a great feast and invite as many as twenty-five thousand guests. When the word thousand was used here, it actually meant thousands, more than just a thousand, which lets us know that a great number of people were invited to the feast. This was nothing new as far as kings were concerned. Great feasts were common in the ancient world.

Luxury and revelry were at a high pitch, and at those great feasts, the same thing took place. They got carried away with their drinking, their feasting, and their womanizing, and there was a great tendency for people to discredit the things of God when they were in a drunken stupor.

Belshazzar committed blasphemy against the God of Heaven at this feast spoken of in our Scripture text. He overstepped the principles of God's known law in that drunken stupor and discredited the things of God. He commanded that the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem be brought so that he, his princes, his wives, and his concubines could drink therein. To be involved in drunken revelry was bad enough, but to commit sacrilege was tempting God and asking for judgment. King Belshazzar overstepped divine principles when he used those vessels as wine bowls and goblets for himself and his guests. This was insulting to the great God of Heaven, and it was mockery.

Ezra 1:9-11 lists all the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar brought forth out of Jerusalem, and it totaled about 5400 pieces. Verse 4 of our Scripture text says, "They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." Exodus 20:3 states, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Belshazzar knew better than to do what he did, and when he committed that act, he sealed his soul with God. He knew God's people were in captivity, and he also knew that whenever a nation had been defeated, its god was also discredited.

Psalm 121:4 says, "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." While God's people were down in Babylonian captivity, Belshazzar overstepped the things of God and discredited God Himself, but He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Although God's people were in trouble and in captivity, God was not. He that keeps (or watches over) Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Just think of that! You and I need our sleep, but God doesn't. This is why we can call upon Him any hour of the day or night. It makes no difference what hour we call upon God, all hours are the same to Him. Our God doesn't slumber or sleep. He's still watching over the church today.

The Night of Pleasure Turned into Fear

Belshazzar thought since God's people were down in Babylonian captivity, that he could do just about as he pleased. The more he sipped the wine, the bolder he became. No doubt he thought their God had no power over them, and that if He had power over them, His people wouldn't be in captivity. He soon became so bold that he sent his servants to get those vessels, and they did. Little did Belshazzar realize in his drunken stupor that whether nations or rulers recognize God or not, they are under His control and will in due course receive their recompense. (This is also true concerning people today. Whether they serve God or not, they are under His control. It is God who puts men up and puts them down.)

Verse 5 says, "In the same hour [ What hour? The very same hour that they became carried away with their drinking, reveling, and feasting, when these things reached a high pitch, and the same hour that the king had commanded the vessels be brought to him.] came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the pilaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote."

Verse 6 says, "Then the king's countenance was changed [He went from drunk to sober quickly. He wasn't a happy-go-lucky man then.], and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." The party was over instantly! It stopped faster than it started. Happiness gave way to fear, and laughter gave way to troubled thoughts. Those who were laughing and having a great time, no doubt tipping their glasses together and making all kinds of pledges, became troubled. Belshazzar's conscience troubled him. Why? Because he realized that this message was from Heaven, and he knew that he could not expect any good news from God. Isaiah 21:4 says, "My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me."

Daniel 5:7 says, "The king cried aloud..." God didn't stop the party by sending down an angel with a drawn sword. No, He merely used the fingers of a man's hand. Next, Belshazzar sent out word to gather all the wise men of Babylon to read and show the interpretation thereof, but none of the king's wise men could read the writing or interpret it. Verses 9-10 read: "Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied. Now the queen by reason of the word of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not they countenance be changed."

She told him of Daniel, whom she said had great wisdom and understanding, and she mentioned the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was then brought before the king and offered gifts if he could read the writing and interpret it. Daniel declined all the gifts, and then he proceeded to read the writing and give the interpretation thereof. The writing was "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN," which interpreted means, God has numbered they kingdom and finished it, thou are weighed in the balances and found wanting, and thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar was weighed in the balances and found wanting. Verse 30 of our Scripture text says, "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain."

Living After the Flesh

Now let's bring this story up to our day. Today, as in Daniel's day, we see a lot of feasting for the flesh going on. People are still gathering, like Belshazzar, having great feasts and getting themselves in such a high pitch or stupor that they forget there's a God in Heaven looking on. People are getting so carried away with the flesh today. We're living in a day such as we've never seen before. Today people get so caught up in living after the flesh that they become numb to the things of God. Oftentimes, that's why it takes an unusual moving of God's Holy Spirit to even move people. They're so caught up by the spirit of this world that they fail to discern the true Spirit of God. The spirit of this old world might have a greater grip on us than we think. If we don't watch, the spirit of this world will get hold of us, and we'll become numb to the things of God, and next we will begin to lay aside the things of God.

What did Jesus say in Luke 21:34-36? "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the world earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."

Just as Belshazzar was carried away in feasting and following the flesh, today many who claim to be God's people are following this same course. They have no thought of the Judgment, no thought of dying, no thought of the Second Coming of Christ. People today are experts at pushing these things out of their minds and breaking conviction. When was the last time we thought about the Second Coming of Christ? It's not a fairy tale; it will happen, and it may happen sooner than we think. When was the last time we thought about dying? Or do we immediately push that thought out of our mind? We know that we're going to die, don't we? We're going to go to the Judgment whether we want to or not. It makes no difference whether or not we want to go.

Jesus said, "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." In our Scripture text, the hand of God didn't move until Belshazzar tampered with the vessels of God's house. This was an insult in the face of God; it was as if to say that God wasn't watching, God didn't care, and God was asleep somewhere. When people take the things of God and mix them with the desires of the flesh, God will be hasty in placing the handwriting on the wall. The things of God and the world won't mix. The world is against the things of God. First John 2:15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." We can't bring the things of God down to a worldly level.

Belshazzar's Failure

When did trouble come to Belshazzar's banquet hall? When a man who knew better showed no respect for the things of God. He got a message straight from Heaven. God didn't send an angel down to say, "Belshazzar, straighten up." No, the same finger that reached down in the sand and wrote the sins of those who brought the woman who had committed adultery is the same finger that wrote on the wall in Belshazzar's palace. God handled this one Himself.

We're not like the heathen; we have light and understanding. Yet that same light will become a curse to us if we don't walk in it. First Thessalonians 5:4-5 says: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."

Let's read Daniel 5:18-24: "O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would be put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oven, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

"And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this [Belshazzar knew this. He wasn't a king in darkness; he was a king who had light.]; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written." Belshazzar failed to take a lesson from what happened to his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar exalted himself, but God did not. Verse 23 says that he lifted up himself against the Lord.

Are We a Vessel of Honor or Dishonor?

Retribution, or judgment, is definitely on our trail when we show dishonor and disrespect toward the things of God and lift ourselves up against the things of God. Some are living very loose in their Christian experience, and God is taking note. Some feel they're doing just enough to get by. If we entertain such a thought as that, we're probably not even in the Kingdom of God. God's people don't want to do just enough to get by. They feel they're not doing enough for God, and they what to do more for Him.

Some have no time for God until a problem comes their way. Why are they living so sloppily? Because everything seems to be going all right for them. They're not sick, they have a good job, and they have a good income. Just like the Laodiceans trusted in their riches, they, too, are trusting in the fact that they have a few dollars in the bank; so they are coasting along, doing just what they feel they need to do to have the respect of the people of God.

Second Timothy 2:20-21 says: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purify himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."

If we're a child of God, we are a vessel that contains the Spirit and the Word of God. We are a vessel of honor, of gold and of silver, meet for the Master's use, sanctified, set apart from the things of this world, prepared unto every good work. Therefore, if we take our earthen vessel that has been dedicated to God and allow just anything to be poured into it, we will become a vessel of dishonor, fit only for destruction. Just as those vessels of gold and silver in the Old Testament were dedicated for the use of God, our vessels, are dedicated to God. He placed our vessel right in the church, just as those vessels were at Jerusalem.

Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost isn't going to dwell where there's defilement of any kind. We can't take vessels of gold and silver, set apart for the Master's use, and allow the devil to dump his goods into the vessel and still remain a vessel of honor; we will become a vessel of dishonor. He said in every great house there are vessels of honor and dishonor, gold and silver and earthen vessels. Right in the congregations of the church (not in the church, in the congregations) are vessels, some of gold and silver (or honor), but there are also some vessels of dishonor. God's desire is that each and every one will be a vessel unto honor.

Some are allowing things to come into their vessels that God is definitely against. Belshazzar had light, and so do many people today. When people walk against light, that stirs the wrath of God. It wasn't the feasting that Got Belshazzar in trouble with God. Kings had had feasts before. Belshazzar had light and understanding; he knew that God had brought Nebuchadnezzar (his grandfather) down to eat grass like an ox; yet he became lifted up in pride and overstepped light and understanding.

Loaded Down With the Cares of This Life

Today there are those who are taking their vessels that have been dedicated to God and are allowing them to become wrapped up in just plain, everyday living. In Luke 21, Jesus didn't say that we need to watch out for the X-rated movies, the honky-tonks, or the gambling dives. No, He warned us to beware of the cares of this life. True children of God don't have problems with what's going on down at the X-rated movies, the bars, or the gambling dives. What do they have problems with? The cares of this life. Jesus knew what He was talking about. He said to watch, because it would be a snare upon all people. The cares of this life are ruining some of the golden vessels that have been dedicated to God.

Again, Luke 21:34 reads, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." What does the word overcharged mean? The Moffitt translation says it means "overpowered." The Goodspeed translation says, "loaded down", loaded down with cares of this life, or self-indulgence.

"For as a snare, shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." The Goodspeed translation says it well catch you like the springing of a trap. We can get caught up with the cares of this life just that quickly. God knows that every one of us have to make a living and have to do things in this life in order to live, but what is the danger? The danger is in being overpowered, overcharged, or loaded down to the degree that we don't have time for God. God drops down from the number one position to number two or lower...wherever or whenever we can "slide Him in". God is a jealous God, and He must be number one in our life or He won't be in our life at all.

Needless to say, death is on our trail; our appointments are settled. We shouldn't allow our vessel to get caught up with the cares of this life so that our appointment overtakes us. May God help us not to get so busy working two or three jobs that we don't have time for God. Let's not become so busy that we don't have time to attend the church services. Don't get carried away buying, selling, banqueting, and partying. There's nothing wrong with any of these things, unless we become overpowered with them and our soul gets lean and our flesh gets mean. When our flesh gets exalted, our soul will become lean.

We must not allow our vessel to become contaminated with the world and the things of this world. Let's not get so wrapped up in things that are going to come to an end. If we're going to overindulge, let's do it in the things of God. If we want to get overpowered, let's get empowered with the Holy Spirit.

Belshazzar wasn't looking for judgment; he was just looking for a good time, but the party ended in tragedy. There are those who are having a good time; they're not really in the work of God, but instead, they're caught up in things of this life. Let's ask ourselves, "Are we allowing things in our life when we know better?" Again, the party is going to end one of these days, and the handwriting will be on the wall where we can see it. When that handwriting appears, we'll "wish to God" that we'd been more diligent in the things of God and that we had not allowed things into our life. We'll regret that we didn't put forth effort in a greater way.

What Brings About Stern Judgment?

Pride and overstepping light and understanding will bring stern judgment from God. Daniel 4:37 reads, "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase." What does abase mean? To bring down low.

Daniel 5:4 says they drank wine out of the golden vessels. There's another lesson here. When we start pouring the wine of Babylon into the golden vessels of God, destruction is on the way. Babylon doesn't have any wine for the church. when those Babylonians started pouring wine into the golden vessels of God, destruction came swiftly. Let's not allow any of Babylon's wine to get into our vessel and defile it.

We read in Daniel 5:30, "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain," At a time when Belshazzar should have been fasting and praying, he was engaged in riotous living, and destruction was right around the corner. Right at a time when he was feasting and carried away, little did he know that King Darius was on his way and that destruction was going to come swiftly. He shoud have been getting hold of Daniel to call upon God for him.

Belshazzar had carnal security, but no one is secure from the hand of God. Belshazzar was lusting after the flesh, feasting, and overstepping God's commandments during his last days on this earth. What a terrible way to appear before God. Nevertheless, that was the way Belshazzar appeared before an angry God. Babylon was glorying and boasting in their own gods and achievements, and death was shortening the gap between them and God all the time. While they were glorying, feasting, drinking wine, and having a merry time, death was shortening the gap between them and the judgments of God.

It would be a terrible thing to leave this world and appear before an angry God after having had light and understanding. May God help us not to get caught up in the things of this world. If we're away from God right now, what are we going to do if our appointment comes? We don't have any guarantee that we'll be alive tomorrow. What if our appointment comes as suddenly as it did for Belshazzar? What a sad, sad thing.

Many push the thought of death out of their minds, but God will bring it to their minds every once in a while, and He will remind them that they need to set their houses in order and prepare to meet God. Luke 12:48b says, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required..." If we're living after the flesh and overstepping light and understanding, we need to do something about it, and we need to do it hastily, before it's too late. It's possible for us to play around and continue to overstep the things of God until we find ourselves in a place where we can't even hear God's voice anymore. Our heart will become hardened.

Proverbs 1:24-33 states: "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: [Why?] For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." It would be a terrible thing for the great God of Heaven not to answer when we called upon Him.

As children of light, we live in a very responsible position before God. Before us is the lesson. God didn't bring Nebuchadnezzar into judgment in the sense that He took him home to stand before Him, but He did, Belshazzar. The Scripture says that Belshazzar knew the things that happened to Nebuchadnezzar, his grandfather; nevertheless, he lifted himself up and would not humble himself. Belshazzar had light and understanding, and God put the handwriting on the wall. Today when people overstep light and understanding, God is not marking their iniquity by causing them to drop dead in the streets, but there is still a God in Heaven who is going to bring them into judgment.

May God bless all our hearts. I didn't bring the message to try to scare us. I brought the message hoping that someone somewhere would take heed to the message and humble themselves before God. To those who are yet "in sin", my prayer is that they will humble themselves and ask for forgiveness before it's too late.

[The End]