Daniel 5 (6)

Introduction
It looks as if Belshazzar’s foolishness has caused his empire to fall to a new sovereign. Nope.

Meditate on Proverbs 8.12-21.

Read Daniel 5.29-31.

Think it Through
1.  Down go the Babylonians, and up come the Medes and Persians. Out with Belshazzar and in with Darius. Regime change occurred, but the same Sovereign was still ruling over both empires. Which Sovereign? How do we know this? Meditate on Amos 3.1-8. Daniel undoubtedly understood this. How did he apply it? How should we?

2.  We might wonder why Belshazzar did not act immediately on what Daniel reveals. Perhaps the answer lies in Daniel 4.29? Explain (“You say my great-grandfather’s judgment did not come until a year later?”). Probably to save face with the members of his court, Belshazzar was more urgent to fulfill his promise of verse 16 than to act on what Daniel had revealed. But thinking we can postpone the judgment of God is foolish. Why? Jesus taught on this subject in Luke 12.16-21. What’s the lesson for us as we live for Christ in our Personal Mission Field?

Meditate
“Nor was it strange that Belshazzar should have paid the promised reward on hearing sad tidings. For either he supposed that his predictions would take place in the distant future, or else he hoped he would obtain mercy by honoring the prophet of God.” Jerome (347-420 AD)

“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12.20, 21

Lord, today many people will die without having heard the Good News of Jesus and the warning of judgment. In my own Personal Mission Field there are people who do not know You. I pray for them, and for myself, that…

Pray Psalm 135.8-14.
Think of the ways our sad world and the Lord’s Church have come under the judgment of God, then seek His mercy for forgiveness and revival.

Psalm 135.8-14 (St. Gertrude: Onward, Christian Soldiers)
Egypt's firstborn fell to God's redeeming pow'r;
Kings and nations crumbled in redemption's hour.
He the land of promise to His people gave;
Thus His Kingdom Jesus gives to all He’s pleased to save.
Refrain, v. 1
  Praise the Name of Jesus, you who serve His Word!
  Raise your voice and praise our good and glorious Lord!

Evermore Your Name, O Savior, shall endure!
Your renown throughout all ages is secure.
For You have compassion, vindicating all
Those who serve Your Name and on Your saving mercy call.
Refrain

T. M Moore

We encourage you to pray and sing the psalms as part of these Scriptorium studies. Your prayers can be enriched and enhanced by doing so. To learn more about how to pray the psalms, order the book God’s Prayer Program from our online store (click here). To begin singing the psalms using traditional hymn tunes, order The Ailbe Psalter (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.