Daniel 5:1-End.

Ezra 5:10-20

This story pertains to a king who hadn’t been tested and trusted, a king whose weight wasn’t commensurate with the vessels of the Lord which he used to drink wine and was judged and didn’t live to tell the story.

To take a step back, the father of this king was Nebuchadnezzar, who took Israel captive and took the vessels of the Lord into captivity as well. These vessels had been specially created and dedicated to the Almighty God in covenant and in oath, by the name of the Lord. God had received these vessels in heaven as the cup He would use on the earth to receive the drink offering of His sons and daughters in Israel. Also, whoever would use this cup to drink must have been tested and trusted to become able to stand before the Lord and in His might. Even the Priests of the Lord who were custodians of these vessels dared not touch it except at God’s request or demand.

These vessels were watched and cared for by the Lord since they had been fully dedicated to Him. No one on earth and in heaven was worthy to drink from this cup except those allowed by God. Jesus referred to this cup when the mother of John and James came to beg Him that her sons should be allowed to drink from the cup. Jesus further said “you do not know what you are asking for”.

I wish Belshazzar received this memo about the special vessels of God that no man can use except he has been tested, trusted and accepted by God Almighty. He was so full of himself and on that day of his merriment with about a thousand lords of Babylon, he called to use the vessels of the Lord which had been brought from Israel, the vessels God had watched over day and night since they were dedicated to Him. Belshazzar took the vessels and drank wine with them. Immediately he did that, heaven received a memo that someone was drinking from the vessel of the Lord. The court was opened and a procession began to weigh the ability of this person to drink of the vessel of the Lord. Books were opened and scrolls of remembrance were called from the courts of the Lord to see if God at anytime had given that person the character, and the temerity to take the vessel and use it to drink his own wine. Heaven found from their records that there was no one like that who was given that ability to use God’s vessels to drink wine. A verdict went out from heaven and was seen as a conspicuous hand writing on the wall with the language that Babylon could have been able to comprehend but couldn’t because it is only God that is kept in plain but still won’t be seen or perceived, it is only God that can stand in the bright light but still cannot been seen by men except He allows them to see Him.

A verdict from heaven came to Belshazzar with a death warrant because it is written “...you who bear the vessels of the Lord, be ye clean” Isaiah 52:11. This death warrant had no remedy because there are certain things you will do before God and there won’t be any sacrifice that can change the consequences of such actions. The verdict read “MENE MENE TEKE UPRASIN” At this point there was a word named “MENE” in Babylon but lacked the meaning of this verdict. Belshazzar lost appetite, lost his loins and his peace. There was no man found in the whole Babylonian empire to interpret the words and verdict of heaven. None in Babylon could measure up to God’s standard to even interpret the verdict of God concerning the actions of the king but a certain son of the captive by name Daniel.

Daniel, though a captive, had been tested, trusted and accepted by God as the servant of heaven on earth that will inform the whole earth of the verdict of God concerning the actions of men. Daniel was qualified by God through consistency from the days he stepped into Babylon till the end of his life. Daniel was the one who vowed not to eat from the king’s table. Daniel was the one who told Arioch that he demanded time to be given to him to speak to heaven concerning the matters of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Daniel was the man who when he was qualified to be called a god in Babylon and receive the prostration of Nebuchadnezzar, a king of kings, he still went back to his post which was the gate. It was Daniel who would later risk his own life to pray to the God of heaven morning, noon and night without any fear of the law of Persia and Medes which couldn’t be changed for anyone. This Daniel that no fault was found in him, this Daniel whose place was not among men but among the gods was accepted and sent by Heaven to become the interpreter of God for the people of the earth who had desecrated the vessels of God and whose verdict has been passed without remedy.

Daniel ignored the ridicule by Belshazzar who called him “a certain son of the captive from Judah” to deliver the word of the God of heaven just like he did in the days of the father of the king. Without any fear for the earthly king or kingdom, Daniel interpreted the verdict of heaven to the foolish and untested king of the earth who couldn’t restrain himself from sharing the vessels of God to drink his wine. Daniel rejected the gifts of the king after the interpretation of the verdict because his sufficiency was of God.

Belshazzar died, was completely forgotten but God watched over His vessels and brought them all back to the land of Israel from where they were taken. His eyes never left those vessels of honor. They were His and no one dared to touch them after that day.

Friends, you are reading this because the God of Heaven is speaking to the inhabitants of the earth. Only tested and trusted men can be accepted by God to bear His cup and His vessels. If you have not been consistent for Jesus to stand before Him morning, noon and night like Daniel to declare His will alone in your life, don’t touch God’s vessels anyhow else you will die foolishly like Belshazzar. Heaven is asking the earth again today “who are those on earth not tested or trusted but drinking from my vessels?” If you will call the name of the Lord and declare yourself to be for the Lord, depart from evil and be clean. Stop messing up the name of the Lord, stop being a shame to His name all in the name of being a Christian. Stop being deliberately evil towards Him by using His grace for lewdness. Soon He will not have it and will have to spit you out of His mouth. If you want to be cold, be cold. If you want to be hot, stay hot. If you want to be faithful, do all within your power to plead your allegiance to Him. Stop being a double agent on earth, stop it. And if you don’t a verdict is coming from heaven which will have no remedy. Don’t mess with God, He’s still the consuming fire. The Lamb is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. That was why no lion was worthy to feast on Daniel because he did all within his power to stand for God and the lions in the den saw THE LION inside of him. Lions don’t eat lions.

Be careful. If you are weak, acknowledge the strength of God to stand in places where your strength is small but don’t be deliberately evil and deceptive by engaging the grace of God to sin and to cover your filth. He is able to deliver to the utmost those who come to Him. Soon the verdict of the Lord is coming on all double agents on earth, they will never escape it except they repent. Do all you can not to be part of them.

Selah: Pause, Think and Meditate on these things.