HELEN SANDERS
12-9-2021
WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES
In the book of Daniel, we find the account of Belshazzar. He was the king that succeeded King Nebuchadnezzar. If you recall, Nebuchadnezzar had been very prideful, and God brought him down by having him spend seven years like an animal in the field. When he came to his right mind, he gave God the glory for the restoration.
You would think that his offspring Belshazzar would have learned a lesson from this. As king he had a party where there was a lot of wine. In his drunken state he made a terrible decision. He called for the golden and silver vessels that had been taken from the temple of Jerusalem to be brought into the feast. These vessels were consecrated to God and were not to be used by anyone other than the Levites and the High Priest. This made no impact on Belshazzar. He used these vessels to drink their wine out of.
Suddenly, there appeared on the wall handwriting by fingers of a man’s hand with no body. This brought the king great concern and he called for his pagan astrologers to tell him what the writing meant, but they were unable to interpret it. Finally, the queen told him about Daniel being able to interpret dreams and visions and he was brought in. Daniel interpreted the dream by divine revelation and told the king what it meant.
The words written by the hand upon the wall were MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. (Daniel 5:25.) the interpretation was given in verse 26-28, “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, meaning God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
The king lost the kingdom because of his foolish acts. The word TEKEL literally means, you have been put on the scales and weigh nothing. You are worthless. You have no value.
We must never take for granted the things of God. We must never mock the Holy Spirit, or speak against the gifts of God, or we may find ourselves weighed in the balance, and become of no value. How sad to see a life that could be redeemed by God worth no value because of their choices and lack of repentance. On the other hand, those of us that have been weighed on God’s balances and are doing the things that glorify God will be rewarded. The rewards don’t always come in this life, but they will be laid up for us in heaven.
Don’t think the good things you are doing are in vain my friends. God sees them and will not forget them. On the other hand, those that have deliberately chosen to reject God will find that God sees this too. We make the choice, and we must choose wisely. Don’t be like foolish Belshazzar. Be like his Father Nebuchadnezzar that came to his senses before it was too late.
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