DAY 250 Read Daniel 3 to 5.
Today's reading: Many years elapsed between the events of Daniel 3 and those of Daniel 4. Then more years later came Belshazzar's ill-fated reign. Daniel was about eighty years old when he read the cryptic writing on the wall.
Memory gem: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (Daniel 5:27).
Thought for today:
Belshazzar's feast was the drunken debauch par excellence, led by the king and the great men of the government. It revealed the decadence of high society, the failure of the intellectuals, the final end of the civilization. As you read the story, you see three great pictures on the wall--revelry, revelation, and retribution.
Now the whole thing is being reenacted before us among the nations of our own civilization. There was a worldwide depression; then a second world war brought its desolation upon us; and now, what do we have? Repentance, peace, and righteousness? No! We seem to be entering into a modern Belshazzar's feast.
This age of great intellectual and scientific light is a dark night spiritually for the world. The revelry goes on about us today amidst our economic anxieties. Our amusement life is largely non-Christian--in fact, anti-Christian. We may put "In God we trust" on our money, but do we trust Him?
We have warnings enough. We have seen the handwriting on the wall. God has been writing His message of the approaching judgment day. As Belshazzar in his day had warning of things to come, so with us now.
Can we not in the events of our day and in the words of Holy Scripture and in the movings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, hear God's bells of grace and mercy pealing out His message of invitation and warning? They have not yet sounded a dirge or a knell. Let us respond to God here and now.
NOTE: The fall of Babylon occurred in 539 B.C.
"Darius the Median" of Daniel 5:31 and of chapter 6 has not been identified in secular history. Cyrus the Great was the acknowledged first emperor of the new Medo-Persian Empire. After Cyrus completed the conquest of the Babylonian territory, he may have placed the aged Darius (sixty-two years old) in charge of the Babylonian homeland as "king." Darius apparently died after a reign of less than two years.
Today's reading: Many years elapsed between the events of Daniel 3 and those of Daniel 4. Then more years later came Belshazzar's ill-fated reign. Daniel was about eighty years old when he read the cryptic writing on the wall.
Memory gem: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (Daniel 5:27).
Thought for today:
Belshazzar's feast was the drunken debauch par excellence, led by the king and the great men of the government. It revealed the decadence of high society, the failure of the intellectuals, the final end of the civilization. As you read the story, you see three great pictures on the wall--revelry, revelation, and retribution.
Now the whole thing is being reenacted before us among the nations of our own civilization. There was a worldwide depression; then a second world war brought its desolation upon us; and now, what do we have? Repentance, peace, and righteousness? No! We seem to be entering into a modern Belshazzar's feast.
This age of great intellectual and scientific light is a dark night spiritually for the world. The revelry goes on about us today amidst our economic anxieties. Our amusement life is largely non-Christian--in fact, anti-Christian. We may put "In God we trust" on our money, but do we trust Him?
We have warnings enough. We have seen the handwriting on the wall. God has been writing His message of the approaching judgment day. As Belshazzar in his day had warning of things to come, so with us now.
Can we not in the events of our day and in the words of Holy Scripture and in the movings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, hear God's bells of grace and mercy pealing out His message of invitation and warning? They have not yet sounded a dirge or a knell. Let us respond to God here and now.
NOTE: The fall of Babylon occurred in 539 B.C.
"Darius the Median" of Daniel 5:31 and of chapter 6 has not been identified in secular history. Cyrus the Great was the acknowledged first emperor of the new Medo-Persian Empire. After Cyrus completed the conquest of the Babylonian territory, he may have placed the aged Darius (sixty-two years old) in charge of the Babylonian homeland as "king." Darius apparently died after a reign of less than two years.
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