It was a night of revelry and mirth in the great city of Babylon. The banquet hall of the king's palace was gaily decorated and illuminated for the occasion. Wine flowed freely, and the king, his thousand lords, his many wives and concubines drank of it and made merry.
During the feast King Belshazzar forgot the warnings given by the true God to his grandfather and became recklessly boastful. He commanded the gold and silver vessels which had been taken out of the temple at Jerusalem to be brought, in order that out of them he might drink in honor of his false gods.
Trusting in the great walls and fortifications of Babylon, heedless of rumors of danger and lulled into a false sense of security, the proud king sought to enjoy "the pleasures of sin for a season." At this very moment the army of Darius the Median was outside and surrounded the city; but Belshazzar imagined himself quite safe from attack.
Suddenly, in the midst of his revelry, the fingers of a man's hand appeared, writing on the wall the words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." What did that signify? "God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. The kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." God had interposed and pronounced sentence on the king and his kingdom.
Friend, are you, too, indifferent to your soul's eternal welfare? The impious Belshazzar cared little about the God of whom it is said, "The God in whose hand thy breath is." If God were to withhold breath from our bodies, both you and I would soon be in eternity. God has tried man; He has weighed man in the balances; He has found man as well as King Belshazzar—"wanting.”
God's judgment on Babylon was not long delayed. The sentence pronounced in the words written by the mysterious fingers upon the wall was soon carried into effect. While the great banquet was at its height, the tramp of horses and of soldiers, and the clash of arms in the street without, heralded the triumphal entry of the great Babylon of the armies of the Medes and Persians—and the end And in "that night" was Belshazzar slain. The stroke of divine judgment fell, and the careless king had to pass into the presence of God—"wanting.”
How terrible that God, the God of love, must pronounce such solemn judgment, irreversible and eternal, upon the wicked! He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9). In His tender love and pity for His failing creature, He is not only the Judge, but when the heart responds to Him, He is a Deliverer—mighty to save.
There was another night—a night of judgment on the one hand, but of deliverance on the other. On that Passover night in Egypt, God was about to execute judgment. And it is a true picture of this present world, for though God has waited long, nevertheless He has the day "appointed" and the Man "ordained" by whom He will judge the world in righteousness. But before He draws the sword to smite, He first provides a way of escape for all who will accept it.
What was God's way of escape on that solemn night in Egypt? His edict was: "when I see the blood, I will pass over you." Ex. 12:1313And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13). Only the sprinkled blood of a spotless lamb and nothing else could avail to save the firstborn in the land of Egypt that night of the Lord. And now that precious word is equally true: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Putting aside the type and taking up the reality: the precious blood of Christ, God's appointed Lamb, is the absolute necessity to save your soul. Are you washed in His cleansing blood?
Every requirement of a holy God has been fully met and vindicated by the shed blood of His Son. Turn from the contemplation of your feelings, or anything within yourself. See how fully Jesus' blood has satisfied God's claims and silenced every accusation of the enemy. Rest by simple faith on the unchanging word, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”