MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

My pastor preached on Daniel chapter 5 this Sunday and I was struck by a thought I can't get out of my head.

"MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

'This is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." Daniel 5:25b-28

King Belshazzar was throwing a wild party when his enemy, the Medes and Persians, were near his capital city.  The king partied in the city of Babylon without a care while doom was outside his door.  During the party the finger of God wrote, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN on the wall to get the king's attention.  The writing was on the wall for the king... literally.  That's when Daniel came and interpreted the writing for the king with the passage above.

See, King Belshazzar was partying like he and his own kingdom were immortal.  In fact, he was praising gods with the vessels from God's temple.  He was in effect giving Yahweh the finger and Yahweh gave him the finger back.

King Belshazzar died the same night that the writing was on the wall for him.   His days were indeed numbered.

How many King Belshazzar's are around us that we don't warn?  How many people have the writing on the wall in front of them and are waiting for us to tell them, to warn them?

~See God has numbered all of our days.  "... it is appointed for a man to die once, and after that comes judgement."  Hebrews 9:27  "Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." Job 14:5  "... your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  Psalm 139:16

None of us will live forever.  We will die and without Jesus' blood covering us we will die like King Belshazzar, still in rebellion and doomed to judgement.

~We have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.  " ... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 "All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." Psalm 14:3

We have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.  If we are trying to get to heaven based on our own works we will fail miserably.  No one is righteous and that is the requirement, all who aren't righteous will be obliterated when God destroys all unrighteousness.  If God is against you, you will not stand!

~Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.  King Belshazzar was going to die that night, in fact.  He would not even sleep one time after the warning.  He died while still in rebellion against God.  How do you think that worked out for him?

Christians the writing is on the wall.  People are dying without Jesus all around us.  Their days are numbered, they've been found wanting and they will face judgement.  How will they avoid the judgement unless we interpret the writing on the wall for them?  Daniel could have been killed for interpreting this message for the king and you and I might face ridicule for sharing this warning with the world, but we must declare the warning.

People need Jesus.  Yes they need Him because He is wonderful, but they also need Him because they/we are not wonderful.  This is the Gospel: the world is corrupt and broken and doesn't deserve redeeming, yet God comes to redeem those who turn to Him.  People need Jesus and we are hoarding Him!  To confess, I'm guilty of this, too.

So, Christians warn the world and share the Good News.  Non-Christians, listen to this plea.  You need Jesus, without Him you face an eternity in Hell.  Please see the warning and trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior today.