The writing on the wall

The "writing on the wall" account in Daniel 5 is endlessly fascinating. It's worth reading the whole thing.

As a brief summary, the Babylonian kind Belshazzar was throwing quite the rowdy party, when he decided up crank things up a notch by using drinking vessels that were stolen out of the Jerusalem temple.

God, angered by that show of disrespect, issued the ominous "writing on the wall." Belshazzar summoned Daniel to interpret the writing.

That account is famous. But in this post, I'd like to draw attention to one detail. As part of Daniel's rebuke, he notes that Belshazzar's father, Nebuchadnezzar, also had angered God. The difference, though, was that Nebuchadnezzar had humbled himself and repented, and God then forgave him. Belshazzar, by contrast, had never shown such humility and repentance.

Then comes this chilling line (Daniel 5:22, KJV),

And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this.

Yikes! It's the "though thou knewest all this" part that should scare us. Because we also know the story of Nebuchadnezzar! In fact, we know a lot more than that. We have the entire bible, including the gospel accounts! We're no better than Belshazzar. In fact, we're worse! We have access to much more spiritual information and insight than he did.

We have no excuse. Let us not delay. Let us "humble thine heart" before God.