Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Daniel 5:1
The leader of a major European country was famous for his parties. This man had plenty of money, both from his government salary, the bribes he received from crooked businesses, and from the wealth he had amassed in his businesses. He loved to show off his wealth by throwing great parties for his friends, and during those parties, he tried to outdo all the guests in immoral and shameful behaviour – at least what we would call shameful. Justice eventually caught up to this man, and he had a great downfall. But he is typical of many people, great and small, who try to impress people by their wickedness. Belshazzar was the same, and we know what happened to him.
Belshazzar’s party was one where restraint was cast aside in the king’s mad desire to show off. Just like fools today, he thought that excessive drinking was funny. And as he drank, he cast off those inhibitions that would have kept him from doing anything so shameful as polluting the vessels of God’s temple to praise the false gods of Babylon. Belshazzar crossed too many lines that night, threw too much defiance into the face of God, ignored too many warnings. This man learned that his sinful display to feed his ego came at a high price, and he is still regretting that wild party that he threw and the vessels of God that he profaned. He is still regretting that he defied the God that his grandfather learned to respect and honour. We live in a world awash in defiers and profaners who will have to learn like Belshazzar that they can insult God only so long. As Christians, we need to make sure their vile attitudes don’t rub off on us.
Remember how David complained about the prosperity of the wicked, how evil men appeared to getting the best of things, until God showed him what was going to happen to those men. We can get discouraged today, too when we see evil men mocking God and flaunting their abominable lifestyles. They appear to get stronger and bolder, and they appear to benefit from their evil. But every one of them will have to answer to a holy God for every misstep and every evil thought. Rather than envy those people, we should pity them and pray for them, and thank God that we can humbly and reverently appreciate His holiness and righteousness.
Those who mock God and promote evil today will do so for a short time, and then have a long eternity of regret. Those who appreciate God today and humbly submit to Him will have a long eternity of bliss. -Jim MacIntosh