Scripture: Daniel 5 v 3 - 5: "Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote."
It is a rather well-used expression "the writing is on the wall" and its taken to mean that something momentous, usually bad, is about to occur. In the original experience in Daniel's day, the king was about to lose his throne.
This Babylonian king had taken captive many Israelites, plus many treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem, which temple they destroyed. On this night the king decided to use the golden goblets taken from the temple to fill with wine and praise his own pagan gods.
In the same hour he saw a hand write the fateful words "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin" on the wall near him, which neither he nor his sorcerers nor his astrologers could interpret. Eventually Daniel, the Jewish prophet, was brought before the king to help because in him was an excellent spirit and he could interpret dreams.
Daniel 5 v 24 - 28: "Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
The king praised Daniel and clothed him in sumptuous robes but it did not stop God from carrying out His Word. That same night the king died and his kingdom was taken over by the Medes and the Persians (now Iran). God had a plan because the Persian king, Cyrus, released the Jews back to their homeland from where they had been taken seventy years before.
What do we learn from this event? Firstly, it is very unwise to mock God by abusing His people, His Temple and its golden vessels. Whether Christians or Israeli's, the Lord God favours His people. The Christians are His actual body -
Colossians 1 v 18: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
The Israeli's are His actual Bride - Revelations 21 v 9- 12: "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel."
Our God will protect His own.
It is very unwise to mock true born again Christians who are submitted to God's holy will and doing their best to save the rest of humanity i.e. those who will experience first hand their own writing on the wall if they do not wake up to the reality of this world situation. It is equally unwise to persecute the Jews as it shows which people are aligned with the Antichrist. Our God does not need social media to know who they are.
We are without doubt going through the birth pangs of the closing stages of the end of this world as we know it. The New Age plan of Satan is well established.
One day soon we will have a One World Government using One World Currency and under One Religion. What if the universal currency is already here and not like our dollar notes, gold coins but what we have been groomed with over the past 25 years, online banking with an online currency like cryptocurrencies.
The past two years have seen massive changes in world economies with the pandemic causing serious problems to it through isolation, job losses, business closure, illness and many deaths. Now we are being hammered by the war in Ukraine causing global shortages of food, rising inflation, world economic recession, energy blackmail.
There is a whole lot of shaking going on, and not just Nebuchadnezzar's knees, but the stock markets are seeing writing on their screens that is a real nightmare. The banks are shaking too, governments are under pressure. People are rising in protest as their very hard earned salaries are being taxed without the people on the ground getting the services they desperately need.
We are staring lawlessness in the face in South Africa. And we are not alone. There is a growing wave of unrest that could become a tsunami of wanton destruction and looting. We had an 8-day nightmare of this sort exactly a year ago and not one of the perps has been arrested yet. This will not go away, it might simmer for a while but it's the elephant in the room.
We will have absolute peace on Earth. For a short time. Then the Son of Perdition that Man of Sin will be revealed. He is the Antichrist who will command every human to have a mark of 666 on his right hand or forehead. Without the mark you cannot buy nor sell. No food, water, electricity, new clothes or petrol.
Everyone who takes this mark will be excluded from Heaven. Its the ultimate standoff between God and Satan. By this time the Christians will have left this planet through the Rapture, by the grace of God.
The Jews will still be here but finally understanding that Satan has always wanted to kill the Bride and the Groom so he can run the universe. They will be rescued at the Battle of Armageddon when the Lord returns with all His saints to destroy the armies of the whole world as they are united to annihilate Israel.
John 3 v 29: "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled." Words of John the Baptist referring to Jesus Christ, shortly after revealing Him to Israel as the Lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world.
The eyes of the Jews will be opened to know that Jesus is their true husband and they will flee into the mountains of Petra in Jordan. For those left in Jerusalem after the Antichrist enters the rebuilt Temple and declares himself God, the darkest days have arrived which will affect the whole world. The cruellest Pharoah, Hitler, Nero, ISIS leaders, will pale next to the evil of this man in whom Satan has fully manifested. The writing on the wall will be revealed to the world in that day.
People will still make Heaven if they refuse the 666 mark and are martyred for their faith. First it was the blood of animals that covered the Jews sins for one year called Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.
Then the Blood of Jesus covered Christian believers sins once off for all sin at the moment they are born again. In the last days of the Great Tribulation only your own blood will do. Those who believe in an all-loving Father who will relent and forgive the whole world need to rethink this idea. Otherwise the death of Jesus on the Cross was a fairytale.
Just as the writing on the wall spelt the end of an era for the Babylonians so should we all heed that lesson today and bring our lives fully in line with our Saviour, Jesus Christ. His last words on the Cross were Father, forgive them, they know not what they do! Today we do know and must give Him the honour, praise and worship He deserves.
Prayer: Heavenly Father Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. You want everyone to be saved and home with You but not everyone is willing to walk in Jesus' footsteps and bear His Cross. Help us, O Lord, to bring Your truth to them before they have to see the writing on the wall and weep for eternity. You are abundantly merciful and full of love but Your Word is clear and we must believe it. In Jesus' name. Amen.