Daniel 5:1-6 (New International Version)
1. King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
5. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
Sounds like quite a party doesn't it, all the elements are there in this Babylon empire. Wine, women and a lot of idol worshiping going on. But the Kings party was about to get interesting. If you will notice where the gold and silver goblets were taken from, and how they are being used, you know what is about to happen. Please go ahead and read the rest of the chapter, but I would just like to touch on these goblets for just a minute. Belshazzar had set himself up against God, he knew what all had happened to his father Nebuchadnezzar. I am sure he had heard the stories many times, but oh how soon people forget! Pride had entered his heart and he actually believed he could get away with this horrendous act. This gold and silver goblets were in the Temple of God, consecrated and anointed holy vessels, and now they were being used in an unholy way. God certainly did not overlook what was happening and if you will read the last of the chapter, you will see the consequences. This is the way our life is, when we are saved we become holy vessels in the house of the Lord (read 2 Timothy:20,21), we must beware of the enemy's tactics. He has no greater agenda than attempting to desecrate what God consecrates. We must treat ourselves as such so Satan will have no power over us. This is a powerful truth that I pray will be revealed to you, let me know what you think!
