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Memory Verse, Friday, November 7, Daniel 5, part 3
Chapter 5: "The FIVE-fingered "HAND" writing on the Wall: Babylon HANDED over."
Listen to this: "Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.""
Pretty awesome, right? Cyrus was the one who took Babylon. It would be pretty cool if this is what Daniel prophesied to Belshazzar, but it was not. It was prophesied over a century before by Isaiah the Prophet, (45:1-3), and at that time, Babylon was not even the superpower, let alone Persia in the future!
If you recall, in Isaiah 36-39, Hezekiah, the king for whom God destroyed the Assyrian army encamped around Jerusalem, was in power. He is also in 2 Kings 17-20, and 2 Chronicles 28-32. His great mistake was his pride, showing the envoys of Babylon the great wealth of Jerusalem. Isaiah prophesied:
"Hear the word of the Lord: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." (2 Kings 20:18, also Isaiah 39:5-7)
So the prophecy of Cyrus was two kingdoms away! And we see the "doors of bronze and bars of iron" which the Persians penetrated through. And it was Cyrus who made the proclamation to allow Israel to return and rebuild their temple, which you can read all about in Ezra.
I've heard many accuse the "Old Testament" God as a fickle God of vengeance. I think this may be enhanced because so much of the detail in the Old Testament is about the periods when God, who had been patient for centuries, enduring the constant breaking of the Covenant, finally brings forth His judgment. All the periods of patient love and endurance is kind of washed over for the "juicy stuff"!
Isn't this just like the world's thinking? They ignore all the good things that are happening, because they don't make good "news". We do the same. We complain about the periods of difficulty, but what about the decades and decades of good stuff we've enjoyed, even in this fallen world because of God's common grace?
They also do this to say that Jesus was just a weak, loving teacher, helping and healing, and forget about the temple cleansing, the Woes to the Pharisees, and the prophecies of the sure destruction of Jerusalem as well as the scattering of the nation throughout the world until the end, when their blindness will be removed.
And they discount the Book or Revelation as symbolic poetry, although you see that Jesus appears to John to reinforce all that the Father had spoken to us by the Old Testament Prophets. It will surely come to pass, and just as it is written. The Great Tribulation is real. The plagues will occur, just as they did locally in Egypt. They are worldwide in Revelation.
God was long-suffering to Jerusalem. Warning after warning for the whole nation, from the time of Moses' departure and the 400-plus years of disobedience in the Promised Land, where judges were sent to bail out the tribes. To the Kings, where Solomon, who was given the gifts of wealth, wisdom and honor, threw it away for women and idolatry, causing the 400-plus year split and constant idolatry within the divided kingdoms.
And look at us! Given the greatest gift of all! Salvation through Jesus, a salvation that we do not even have to earn, for He paid for it! And we reject the free gift! Well did the writer of Hebrews say of this generation: "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3a)
The leaves of the fig tree are ripe. Look up, for your redemption draws near… or judgment. Which will it be?
Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
*ESV used unless noted*
Memory Helps:
Chapter 5: The FIVE-fingered "HAND" writing on the Wall: Babylon HANDED over.
We can add a few subtitles:
1-4: "Belshazzar's party gets out of HAND."
5-9: "The HAND writes on the wall."
10-30: "Daniel tells the king that his kingdom will be "HANDED" over.
We can add verse 30: "That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed."
Now, for 30, I have had trouble deciding who my "memory character" would be, and have finally landed on "Mighty MouSe", an old cartoon character I used to watch, mainly because he was quite an action-packed little super hero, and M=3, S=0, vowels fillers, so MouSe can only mean verse 30. So, in our word picture, our little hero grabs Belshazzar, makes a fist with his "five-fingered" hand, and sends him flying out of the picture. Daniel is there, watching the judgment take place. This way we link Daniel 5:30 to the verse.
Quick phonetic alphabet review: 0=S or Z; 1=t, or d; 2=N; 3=M; 4=R; 5=L; 6=J,sh,ch; 7=K or hard g; 8=F or V; and 9=P or b. All vowels, and w, and y are fillers. Example: "95" could be represented by PauL, or BaiLey, or PaiL, with the consonant sounds representing the numbers, and the vowels fillers.
Verses will be in the ESV unless otherwise notated.
Soli Deo Gloria
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