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HELEN SANDERS
4-12-2022
THOU ART FOUND WANTING
In the Book of Daniel chapter 5 we are told about Belshazzar, the King of Babylon. He was a party man, like many that find themselves in leadership. He brought in a thousand of his Lords and wanted to impress them. Unlike his father Nebuchadnezzar who had humbled himself and realized that the God of Daniel was the true God (Daniel 4:37) Belshazzar was a prideful man.
He had his servants bring in the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken as bounty when he took the nation of Israel. Belshazzar then proceeded to drink out of them in a drunken, ungodly manner. Mind you, these vessels were only to be used by those that were Jehovah’s chosen people for His purpose in the temple. They were sanctified vessels for God’s use, not the ungodly.
God saw what they did as the last straw. After this party where not only he but his prince and their wives and concubines drank out of these vessels, handwriting appeared on the wall. They had sealed their fate by using these holy vessels for secular use.
The handwriting scared the king. No one in the kingdom could interpret the words. The king’s mother remembered Daniel and advised her son, the king, to bring him in. Daniel had a reputation in the kingdom for being truthful and a person that could interpret things. Daniel came, and in Daniel 5:27 he said, “Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”
Balances were like a scale. Found wanting meant that the scales of justice showed that Belshazzar was lacking and did not have anyway to escape what would come. The scale had tipped by what he had done. Because of his sin, Babylon lost its kingdom to Darius, the Median. Daniel’s interpretation was right on.
This brings us to a nation that treats the things of God as being ordinary, even evil. When a nation calls evil good and good evil, it tips the scale of justice and that nation is found weighed in the balances and found wanting, or lacking, just as the days of Belshazzar.
Sadly, when a nation’s leaders cause evil (sin) to be called good, not only the leader but the nation is judged. With the sin that has run rampant in our country, including abortion, same-sex activity, drug use, pornography, sex trafficking, greed, and more that has been promoted by those in leadership in the nation, and in the church, you are seeing judgment on that nation. Plagues will come. Drought will come. Inflation will come. Death will come. Natural disasters will increase.
In Belshazzar’s case there was no turning back. There is no evidence in scripture that he ever repented like his father Nebuchadnezzar. His sin caused the nation to be taken captive. This is God’s way to bringing a nation to its knees with the hope that it will bring repentance. It happened repeatedly with Israel. That is why they were captive in Babylon in the first place because of their sin.
Has this judgment changed the heart of our nation? No. It has plunged further and further into sin. Sadly, we will see more natural disasters and more plagues along with many sudden deaths. God will be with the remnant that has stood against sin, but like Daniel, the nation will go into captivity. The purpose? It is always to bring repentance to the nation.
We are living out the days of Revelation where like the days of Noah, there was no repentance. It is also like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah where only three escaped with their lives. The fourth looked back and died because her heart was still in sin city.
There will be many changes this year. The shaking will intensify in the church. Many well-known ministries have already fallen, and more will come. Without a doubt God dealt with those ministries and gave them a chance to repent, but they did not. That is why they fell, and others will fall. They will play the blame game just like Adam and Eve did in the garden, but it will be to no avail. They will have been weighed in the balances and will be found wanting.
Each of us has a choice at this season. We can determine to go all the way with God like Daniel did or face the judgment that will come when we go the way of the world. I would pray that each of us makes the right choice before it is too late.
I am sure Belshazzar had no idea what would be coming that night. It was unexpected, but it still happened. Let us not be caught in that condition. We must repent while we can.
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