Well, good morning, Saints of God, How were we today?
Good, good. Well, our message for today.
Can you hear me? OK?
I'm talking through my clip on microphone.
There you go. I think I'm hearing it now.
So we're continuing on with our sermon series and in the on the
three angels message. And even though there are three
messages, this is only, this is the third message, but it's
going to focus on the second angels message because the first
message was an overview. The second sermon was on the
first angel's message. And this is the third sermon.
So it's going to focus on the second.
So just so you're not confused, so the title is a special
message for a Special Time Part 3.
And of course, we want to welcome all of our guests and
visitors who follow us online. We love having you with us here
and we're so blessed to have you watching us.
And these are some of the platforms that we use, all of
the platforms I believe that we use.
Our website is Middletown, Portland, sda.com.
You can follow us at YouTube at MPs DAC, Facebook at MPSDAC,
Instagram at MPSDAC, Threads at MPSDAC, and then my personal
channel is Path of Prophecy, so you can follow there.
So like to begin with a word of prayer.
And we had a special incident last week where I was supposed
to preach this message, but for some reason it didn't get
preached. I can talk to you about that at
potluck. I won't burden you with that
story right now, but I believe that God bless.
So I don't know whether the the devil didn't want that message
preached or God wanted a different message preached, but
nonetheless, we want to start with a word of prayer.
So let's begin this message with a word of prayer.
Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for
your goodness and your tender mercies.
Lord, there is precious light that is in your scripture and
we're living. We recognize that we live in a
very, very Dark World, a world in which there's much turmoil,
in a world in which the love of many is waxing cold and we are
looking for answers. There are many people looking
for answers to the questions of this life.
And it's my prayer that what is shared here today would shed
precious light upon our minds. I pray that my lips would be
anointed to proclaim your word. And we also pray, Father, that
the blessing of your Holy Spirit would give us comprehension and
understanding and insight and discernment over what is shared
so that we can apply it to our own lives.
And we thank you, Father, for hearing and answering this
prayer in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
So I have a book in my collection titled Alcohol All
Risk, No Benefits, and it was edited by Doctor Peter Landis,
the former General Conference Health Ministries director, and
Doctor Dwayne McBride, and it's published by Pacific Press.
A little book, short little book, easy reading, but just a
very powerful book about the dangers of alcohol.
Now here's what it says on page 13 of the introduction to that
book. It says a few years ago some
research findings indicated that one or two drinks of an
alcoholic beverage was related to reduced risk of heart
disease. This was often called the French
paradox because of the apparent low cardiac risks for the French
population who drank moderate amounts of wine and also
consumed a high animal fat diet. These findings were often used
by individuals to justify their personal alcohol use and by the
alcohol industry to tout the health benefits of moderate
alcohol use. Their efforts resulted in
governments defining moderate use of alcohol as part of a
healthful diet. However, the the statement goes
on. However, there were major
methodological problems with the findings that alcohol was
beneficial to health. The definition, for example the
definition of who was a non drinker was not clear because
those who stopped using alcohol and because of the health
consequence consequences were included with non drinkers.
Other positive health and health risk behaviors were also often
not included in this research. Now the most recent research has
shown that there is no safe level of alcohol use.
How much safe level is there? None No safe level of alcohol
use and that alcohol has no heart health benefits.
How many heart health benefits does alcohol have?
None. OK, measurable health
consequences exist for any level of alcohol use among all age
groups. These include cancer rates,
heart disease, and stroke. And what the editors point out
in their introduction is that there is no safe level of
drinking alcohol of any kind of any kind.
Beer, hard liquor and wine. And there is certainly no
benefit. Thus the title Alcohol, all
risk, but no benefits. OK, so any amount of drinking
alcohol puts you and potentially others at risk.
Now with that, I want to share the following with you as it
relates to how we can best understand the second of the
three Angels messages. Amen.
The second of the three Angels message.
Here's what it has to say, and I'm going to have to use the
manual clicker here. So while there are many dangers
to drinking alcoholic beverages, one of the hidden dangers of
alcoholic wine is its seductive power.
OK wine, alcoholic wine has a seductive power to it, OK, And
we want to be aware of that. There's many dangers, as the
book shares. There's no benefits, all risks,
no benefits to drinking alcohol. But one of the dangers, the
hidden dangers, particularly with with wine, is it has a
seductive characteristic about it.
Listen to the council of Scripture on this subject,
coming from none other than King Solomon, considered to be the
wisest man whoever lived. Can you imagine that if, if, if
you ever had a chance to meet and mingle with the wisest
person, whoever lived, you would want to sit at their feet and
take notes? OK.
And here's what he had to say about wine.
He says do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles
in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly.
At the last, it bites like a serpent and stings like a Viper.
Solomon gave this warning about the dangers of wine.
Why is that? Because wine creates a physical
danger for our health and the health of others.
You know, if we drink alcohol, it not only impacts us, but it
impacts those around us. OK, here's also what Solomon had
to say. King Solomon he said this wine
is a mocker, strong drink, a brawler, and whoever is LED
astray by it is not wise OK is not wise.
So here in this instance, Solomon is using Hebrew poetry
to make a point. Wine and strong drink Alcoholic
beverages have specific qualities about them that are
not positive. And when you partake of
alcoholic beverages, including why wine, Solomon makes the
judicial statement here that if you partake of these substances,
you are not wise. You're not wise, OK.
In the Bible, God is warning us about the dangers of partake.
Excuse me, didn't mean to jump ahead there.
God is warning us about the dangers of partaking of
alcoholic beverages, including wine, because of what it does to
the individual and who partakes of them makes a mocker of you.
It makes it gets starts fights, OK?
Those who drink strong drink are known for getting into fights.
Those who indulge in wine have earned the reputation of being
winos or drunks and people mock them, OK.
Solomon summarizes his point in the second-half of the verse,
telling us that the danger of these types of beverages is that
they can lead you where they can lead you astray.
So there is a danger to alcoholic beverages,
particularly wine, because of its seductive nature.
Because you think that, oh, I'm going to be having a good time
with it. But in reality, it does what?
It leads astray. It leads you astray.
It gets us to wander off the path.
OK, now this understanding is important.
This understanding what I just shared with you, what Solomon
had to say, plus what the science has to say is this.
This is important for us to understand because it helps
clarify why the apostle John employs the word wine to
describe how it leads to the demise of modern Babylon.
OK, of modern, modern Babylon, listen to what John had to say.
Millie read it to us just a few moments ago and another Angel
followed saying Babylon is fallen.
Is fallen that great city because she has made all
nations, how many nations, all nations drink of the wine of the
wrath of her fornication. Wow.
That is what the Bible tells us. That's what John wrote for our
benefit on that lonely rock out in the Aegean Sea in the OR in
the the Eastern Mediterranean on the Isle of Patmos when he was
banished there by the Roman Empire.
In vision he saw this, and another Angel followed, saying,
Babylon is fallen. Is fallen that great city?
Why? Because she has made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Now I know that we have a mixed multitude here with us, people
from all, no, not all nations of the world, but many nations of
the world. The Philippines is represented.
Amen. If you're from the Philippines
or have Philippine ancestry, raise your hand.
Come on, Joy. There you go.
Yeah, There you go. Yeah, There you go.
So our Filipino people are are represented.
Now, in this Bible passage, it says all nations drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Would that include the Philippines?
That would include the Philippines.
OK. We have some people, I believe
from Brazil. Anybody from Brazil represented
or if you have Brazilian ancestry in you.
Yes. Raise your hands.
Amen. Amen.
All right. So the statement is she has made
all nations, Babylon has made all nations drink the wine of
the wrath of her fornication. Would that include Sister
Mallory? Would that include Brazil, your
beloved country, your home country?
Yes. Sadly, that would include that.
OK, Anybody from the United States of America born here in
these United States. Amen.
Yeah. Uncle Sam and apple pie.
Amen. Amen.
But sadly folks, sadly this statement from the Bible also
includes the United States. OK, very sobering fact.
Listen to it again. And another Angel followed
saying Babylon is fallen and has fallen that great city because
she has made all nations, including the Philippines,
Brazil, the United States and all nations of the world drink
the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
So here's a question I have for you.
What exactly is this wine that Babylon invites the nations of
the world to partake of? OK, is that a fair question?
What exactly is this wine? We're we saw that the science
tells us that alcoholic beverages leads to 0 benefits,
all risk but zero benefits. And that Solomon made the
observation that the danger, particularly with wine, is that
it can, it has this seductive power and it can lead people
astray. So we want to know exactly what
is the content of this wine? OK, well, hang on a second here.
Hang on a second here. Hang on a second.
I prepared a whole sermon to unpack this, so don't get ahead
of me, brother. All right, OK.
Babylon's wine is its seductive power employed over the nations
of the world. We're told that this wine is
given to all the nations of the world.
And in order for these nations to partake and to join in with
Babylon would mean that they have been seduced.
They have been seduced, OK. And so the wine of Babylon,
Babylon's wine, is its seductive power that she employs over the
nations. I'm going to unpack it further,
but just be patient here with it.
What do I mean by this? Well, here's what the Bible
says. Jeremiah chapter 51, verse 7,
Babylon, talking about ancient Babylon, not modern day Babylon.
Ancient Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand.
What kind of a cup? A golden cup in the Lord's hand
that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine.
Therefore the nations are what? Deranged.
That's what the text tells us. OK, all the nations became
deranged, or you know what we would say in the modern
parlance, drunk. OK, they became intoxicated
under the influence of drinking from Babylon's golden cup.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote that this wrote this prophecy about
ancient Babylon when it was at the peak of its power.
The wine of Babylon had the ability to seduce the nations to
come under her influence and her authority.
And what the wine of ancient Babylon was to the nations of
the world in its day, so is the wine of modern Babylon to the
nations of the world in our day. Just as the nations of the world
in Jeremiah's time were seduced by Babylon, so the nations in
today's world are seduced by modern Babylon.
OK, Well, how is that possible? How is that possible?
Well, here's what it says. For all the nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, The kings of the
earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of
the earth have become rich through the abundance of her
luxury. OK, so this is John writing
later on in Revelation. This is Revelation chapter 18,
verse 3. And what John is telling us in
this passage is that the influence of modern Babylon is
so widespread that even the kings, the leaders, the
presidents, the prime ministers of the earth have partaken of
this wine of the wrath of her fornication.
But we still haven't answered the question yet, right?
We still need to answer the question as to what exactly is
the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
And to do that, we need to do a very brief little word study in
our Bibles. Are you ready for that?
You're ready to get into the word Amen.
Amen. Here's what it says.
Revelation chapter 18, verse 3. I had it on the screen.
I put it up again just in this different format, says this.
For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. Now that I'll be honest with
you, that's a funny little statement.
The wine of the wrath of her fornication.
The whine of her wrath. When I think of the word wrath,
I think of anger. OK, so why would the whine of
her anger of her fornication? That seems like a very puzzling
way of stating this. OK, well that's King James and
new King James. That's what I use in my
preaching Bible. The word in the original is the
word thumos, and it means anger, wrath, rage, indignation.
OK, so those are all synonyms. Interchangeable.
No problem there. But it can also mean an intense
expression of the inner self, frequently expressed as a strong
desire or a passion. And here is where the context
can help clarify the use of the word.
OK, so the word can mean wrath and anger, but it can also mean
passion, desire. OK, so let us be honest with
ourselves and consider some other translations.
In fact, Millie, read one of those translations, which I'm
going to quote up here. Here's one from the NIV.
Here's what it says for all nations have drunk the madding
wine of her adulteries, OK? Because again, the word thummos
can mean anger, wrath, strong passion, kind of like a
derangement, which is what Jeremiah said.
OK? So this would be a very
appropriate way of translating the passage, OK?
For all nations have drunk the madding wine of her adultery.
It's just very similar to what happened in Jeremiah's passage,
OK, Jeremiah said the nations have become deranged.
Here John is saying as it's translated, the nations have
become maddened. OK, Maddened.
OK. So I want you also to listen to
how the new Living Translation phrases this portion of the
passage and this. Is similar to how when I did my
own translation, it came out like this.
So here's the new living translation.
And I believe this is what Millie had read to us.
For all the nations have drunk the wine of her passionate
immorality. OK, her passionate immorality.
Well, who is the her? Well, it's Babylon, right?
Babylon is the her that's talked about here, and she is serving a
cup of wine to all the nations of the world.
And what is this type of wine? It is her passionate immorality.
Her passionate immorality. And I'm going to unpack this a
little bit further, and we're going to see how Scripture helps
us to understand what John is describing for us, particularly
in the second angel's message, Revelation, chapter 14, verse 8.
OK, so I believe that the new Living Translation really
captures the description of what the vintage.
Listen carefully. What the vintage of wine.
It really is. It is her passionate immorality.
And in the next slide, I'm going to present Revelation chapter 17
and verse 2 using the new Living translation and the new King
James side by side to help us to better understand what exactly
this wine is that the nations are partaking.
So Revelation chapter 17, verse 2, if you want to follow along
in your own Bibles, that's where I'm going next.
Revelation chapter 17, verse two, side by side, New Living
Translation and new King James. Here's what it says from the New
Living Translation. The rulers of the world have had
immoral relations with her, the great prostitute, and the people
who belong to this world have been made drunk by the whine of
her immorality. OK, the new King James says with
whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her
fornication. OK, So what is the problem that
John is describing to the reader and to the listener of this
passage? Well, what type of wine is this
that the nations of the world and the inhabitants of the earth
are partaking of? That's because that's the
question I asked in the beginning.
We need to understand what is this wine?
What is it talking about? Well, we've done a little bit of
a Bible study. We're going to continue with
this. But it describes this wine as
the wine of her immorality, OK, Her passionate immorality, OK.
So what? What's the problem here?
Well, let's go back to Revelation 14 verse 8 in the
this time in the new King James and the new living Translations
and it says and another Angel followed followed saying Babylon
is fallen is fallen that great city because she has made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
The new living Translation says. Then another Angel followed him
through the skies, shouting, Babylon is fallen.
That great city is fallen because she seduced the nations
of the world and made them drink the wine of her passionate
immorality. OK?
So Babylon uses the seductive power of her wine of passionate
immorality. And I know we have children in
our presence, so I'm going to be very careful how I say this, OK?
But Babylon is described in a female personage, and she is
committing fornication with the kings of the earth, OK.
She is having, in other words, an illicit relationship, a
relationship that is outside of the confines of marriage with
another partner, or in this case, partners.
And This is why the Bible describes her in these very
strong terms as a harlot, as a prostitute, OK, Because she
doesn't do this out of love. She does this for personal gain.
OK, Personal gain. And so what's happening here is
that Babylon uses the seductive power of her wine.
And what she does is she offers this wine to the kings of the
earth and to say come into union with me.
Come into union with me for the specific purpose of presenting
her vision of God's Kingdom rather than God's vision of
God's Kingdom. Does that make sense?
In other words, God has a Kingdom and the description of
his Kingdom is found in this book.
But what she has done, what Babylon has done, is saying,
let's put this book aside and let me give you my vision of
what the Kingdom of God will look like.
We will talk about God. We will think about God.
We will use godly language, we will use all this type of stuff.
We will even try to keep the commandments of God, but we're
going to just alter them slightly.
But we will still call it God's Kingdom.
And as a result of it, the kings of the earth sign on the dotted
line, and they commit fornication with this female,
OK? The wine is so powerful, the
kings of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth get
intoxicated with it. They buy into her vision of
God's Kingdom on earth. Listen to what it says.
Then another Angel followed them, followed him through the
sky, shouting, Babylon has fallen.
That great city has fallen because she seduced the nations
of the world. OK, that would include the
Philippines, that would include Brazil.
That would include the land of my birth, the United States of
America. All the nations of the world are
going to be seduced by this. And I believe that at this time
in Earth's history, we are witnessing a very strategic
employment of that vision. In fact, it was just this
morning when my wife was doing just a little prep work for
Sabbath school, final prep work, OK?
And this article popped up from the New York Times, I believe it
was, or the Washington Post or something like that.
And it was about making America great again and all of this
business with the Christian right, and all of this kind of
stuff. And I said, send me the article.
Just send it to me, OK? We can read it later, but even
very right right now, this is happening.
This is a current topic. OK, so here's the question.
Here's the question. I want us to give pause and ask
ourselves these questions of the text.
Is Babylon going to be successful in accomplishing her
goal? No.
The Bible says very clearly the Angel from heaven itself says
Babylon is fallen. And just to make the point again
says it's fallen. Anytime the Bible repeats
something, you need to pay attention.
Amen. And so the second angel's
message says another Angel followed saying Babylon is
fallen, is fallen. Doesn't matter how great that
city is, Don't. It doesn't matter how powerful
it is, doesn't matter how much wealth it has, doesn't matter
how much it's in the headlines, OK?
The Bible says she has fallen. She has fallen.
That means she has fallen, OK? Now she will not be successful.
Why not? Because I she falls, OK, now why
does she fall? The same reason that ancient
Babylon has fallen. OK, the same reason that ancient
Babylon has fallen. So we what we need to do is
briefly consider this story found in Daniel chapter 5, the
story of King Belshazzar's feast, because this will help
again clarify for us. And here's what it reads for our
online audience. Daniel chapter 5 verse one.
Daniel chapter 5 verse chapter 5 begins this way.
Belshazzar, the king made a great feast for 1000 of his
Lords and drank wine in the presence of the 1000.
So who was Belshazzar? Who was this Bible character by
the name of Belshazzar? He was a king, one of the kings
of the earth, right? He was none other than the king
of Babylon. OK.
And so since John tells us that Babylon has fallen in Revelation
chapter 14, verse 8, we need to pay careful attention to the
story of Babylon's fall found right here in Daniel chapter 5.
Because what is what is initiated in the Old Testament
is repeated on a grander scale in the New Testament,
particularly in the Book of Revelation.
So This is why the entire Bible is so important.
You know, some of our Christian brothers and sisters from other
churches, they say, well, we're in fact on the way here this
morning. I passed by this church, Phil,
you probably passed by it too on Route 84.
There's a church on the right hand side of the road on 84 as
you're heading down here, Scott, you and your family probably
pass by that very same church. It says the New Testament
church, they're a New Testament church.
It looks like a hotel building that's been converted into a
church building and they they have on the sign New Testament
church. Well, that's wonderful.
Jesus is mentioned in the New Testament, but you'll never
understand that Jesus of the New Testament unless you have the
Old Testament to shed light as to who he is.
That's why we have Matthew quoting all of these Old
Testament prophecies from Isaiah, from Jeremiah and so on
and so forth for our online audience and for anybody.
You will never understand what the wine of Babylon is unless
you start getting back into the Old Testament and start reading
it. OK, so here's how it says
Belshazzar, the king made a great feast.
What kind of a feast? A great feast.
How big was this party? It was so big that 1000 of his
Lords came 1000 of his Lords. Imagine that.
OK, and what did they, what did he do at this party?
He drank wine in the presence of the 1000.
Now that's not only what he did. In fact, the Bible goes on to
tell us in Babylon and excuse me, in Daniel chapter 5.
I'm going to open up my Bible because I don't have a slide for
this, and I just want to tell the story here and make sure we
get our facts right. But it says Belshazzar, the
king, made a great feast for 1000 of his Lords and drank wine
in the presence of the thousand while he tasted the wine.
Verse 2, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and
silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from
the temple, which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his
Lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from
them. So we need to understand the
context of what's taking place. The book of Daniel is written
while Daniel was captive in Babylon, and Babylon had
overtaken Jerusalem and had taken the citizens of Jerusalem
captive. Daniel was one of those
captives, captives, but he not only did that, but Babylon
overtook the temple and destroyed the temple and took
the sacred vessels from the temple and brought them back to
Babylon. And it was basically King
Nebuchadnezzar's way of saying my God is more powerful than
your God. But is the Babylonian God more
powerful than the God of Daniel? No, he's not.
Yeah, at least somebody's paying attention.
The rest of you fell asleep. OK.
But yeah, Scott, thank you for answering.
I was getting a little concerned there.
OK. So, yeah, the, the, the, the God
of Babylon is not more powerful. In fact, it was the God of
Daniel who permitted the Babylonians to do this very
thing. He permitted it, and he
permitted it for a very special reason, because Judah needed to
be chastised because they had rejected the prophets of God and
they had killed the prophets of God, and they didn't want to
hear what the prophets of God had to say.
So God says, all right, you don't want to hear what I have
to say to you. I'm not going to listen to what
you have to say. Babylon have at it.
And the king of Babylon came and took them captive, and he took
the sacred vessels from the temple and put them in his
temple. It was kind of like putting the
sacred vessels into his trophy case, saying, look what we have
done. We've captured these sacred
vessels. We are more powerful than Judah.
OK. But as you see the book of
Daniel unfold, you see that no God is more powerful.
And he's allowing the nations to do these things in order to
achieve God's grand purpose. OK, God's grand purpose.
But here's something that Belshazzar did.
He crossed a line because he was a king, an earthly ruler.
He was not a priest. He was not a Levite.
He was a gentile. But what he did was he took
those sacred vessels out of the temple where his father had kept
them. His father at least had the
sensibilities to say, look, we captured them.
But here's where they stay. They stay here.
We don't bring them out for our own advantage, for our own use.
But Belshazzar at this time was already what?
He was intoxicated. Yes, he was under the influence
of the seductive power of wine. And so here's what he does next.
He claps his hand and the butlers come.
He says, bring those sacred vessels.
OK, bring those sacred vessels. And now they bring the sacred
vessels that had been in Jerusalem, that the king and
his, and so that his Lords, his wife, that the king, his Lords,
his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
When they then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken
from the temple of the House of God, which had been in
Jerusalem, And the king and his Lords, his wives, and his
concubines drank from them. So he called them to have them
brought out so that they might do it.
And that was kind of his last opportunity and finally decided,
no, let's let's go ahead with it.
Let's do it. I'm giving everybody the green
light. Let's do it.
Party on. And so they began drinking of
them. And then to amp it up even
further, here's what he did. Listen to this verse 4.
They drank wine and praise the gods of gold and silver, bronze
and ironwood and stone. So now they're praising
different gods other than the King of kings and Lord of Lords.
And isn't that what modern Babylon does?
Modern Babylon offers its wine to the nations of the world to
praise a different God other than the one who is King of
kings and Lord of Lords. Well, God is not silent on the
matter, right? God has the last word.
And if you've ever heard the phrase, well, the handwriting is
on the wall. This is the story from where it
originates from, because here's what happened next, verse 5.
In the same hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote
opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the
King's palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
So here they're having this party, they're drunk, they're
now partaking of this alcoholic wine, using the sacred vessels.
And instead of praising God with those sacred vessels, they're
praising false gods and they're having a wild party.
And that's when God says enough is enough.
Babylon, your time on earth is complete.
And this hand appears in this party and starts writing on the
wall. Can you imagine that?
We shouldn't be frightened by this.
We should be sobered by this. This should this is a very
sobering thought because all of us come under the judgement of
God. But there's good news in this.
OK, I'm going to share the gospel with you.
There's the gospel is in this story.
Amen. So what happened is this hand
starts writing on the wall. All they see is a hand.
They don't see a man and it's a handwriting on the wall and
starts writing. And the reaction of the king is
worthy of note. The Bible says his knees began
to knock together and his bones came out of their joints.
And he was speechless. He didn't know what to say.
Finally, when he caught his breath, he called for his
advisors, the wise men, the magicians and the say traps and
the Chaldeans to come and interpret what was written on
the wall. And they came and they looked at
it. They studied it, and they looked
at it and they studied it and they tried to interpret it, but
they had no way to understand what it meant.
And so finally the queen came into the picture.
And the queen approached Belshazzar and said, you know,
there is a man that your father used to rely upon.
His name is Daniel. He's one of the Hebrew captives.
And whenever your father Nebuchadnezzar had a great
mystery to solve, he would always go to Daniel and Daniel
would answer the question. He has the spirit of the of the
God of God with him. I would suggest to you that you
call him and bring him in to solve this problem.
And so Daniel was called in and it's worthy to note that Daniel
wasn't in attendance at the party.
Amen. The only time Daniel showed up
to the party was to prophecy, which means for us and our day,
we need to understand the prophecies because we shouldn't
be going to the parties. But I believe that in time, one
day, we will be invited to the party, not to party, but to
prophecy, because people will be at their wit's end saying what
is going on and we'll be able to give them a biblical answer of
thus saith the Lord. And thus hopefully we can win
some souls to Christ. Amen.
So Daniel came to the party.
He finally showed up and the king says, Daniel, I understand
that you have the, the spirit of the gods with you and, and I
would like for you to unravel this mystery.
And if you do that, I'll give you a purple robe and a gold
chain around your neck. And Daniel said, well, you can
keep your purple robe and your gold necklace.
But I will help you to understand this mystery.
So let's have at it. And so he began telling him the
story of his father, Nebuchadnezzar.
He says, you know, your father was a great king.
He was such a great king that God gave him his Kingdom.
And whatever he chose to do, he was able to do it.
If he wanted to execute this person, he could execute that
person. If he wanted to keep that person
alive, he could keep that person alive.
He was a very powerful King Belshazzar.
But one day his his head grew so puffed up with his own greatness
that God disciplined him and corrected him by allowing him to
leave his palace. And he became became like an
animal for seven years. And he lived out in the field
and his hair grew long and his nails grew like the claws of an
animal. And he began to eat the the
grass like an ox. You can read about this in
Daniel chapter 4. But finally it came time for
that season of judgment to pass upon Nebuchadnezzar.
And Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his Kingdom because he was
willing to acknowledge God as supreme and that this, all of
his greatness came from God, even though he wasn't a Jew,
even though he was a Gentile. And here's the very telling part
of it. In the story, Daniel Chapter 5,
it says, but you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled
your heart, although you knew this.
OK. And that was the problem.
Belshazzar knew his father's history.
His father had it written down. Daniel had transcribed it for
us. We have it in the book of Daniel
chapter 4, as I said. But Belshazzar also knew this,
but he didn't learn from it. He acted very foolishly because
God provided counsel to him, but he ignored that counsel and
chose to walk away from it. OK, so Daniel went on to
prophecy, he says. But you, his son Belshazzar,
have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this, and
you have lifted yourself up against against the Lord of
Heaven. They have brought the vessels of
his house before you. And you and your Lords, your
wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them.
And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and
iron, wooden, stone, which do not see or hear or know, and the
God who holds your breath in his hand and owns all your ways.
Listen very carefully. You have not glorified.
Do you know what Daniel was telling Belshazzar right there
at that moment? He was giving him the first
angel's message because the first angel's message is the
everlasting gospel. His father Nebuchadnezzar had a
Kingdom. The Kingdom was removed because
of what? Pride and arrogance?
But God in his goodness and mercy, which is what the gospel
is. God's goodness and mercy
restored Nebuchadnezzar. OK, Belshazzar knew the gospel,
but he rejected it in favor of praising other gods.
And the first Angel message says, Then I saw another Angel
flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred,
tribe, tongue and people saying, fear God and give glory to him.
Why? Because the hour of his judgment
has come and worship him who made heaven and earth and the
sea and the springs of water. Belshazzar was judged because he
knew the gospel but rejected it and failed to glorify God.
That's what the text says. Let me read it to you once
again. It's not on the screen, so I'm
going to read it to you, he says.
And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and
iron, wooden, stone, which do not see or hear or know.
And the God who holds your breath, the Creator who holds
your breath in his hand and owns all your ways, you have not
glorified. That's the appeal of the first
angel's message to fear God and give him glory.
And so as a result, as a result of rejecting the first angel's
message, Belshazzar was brought into judgement.
How do we know this? Well, Daniel went on to say,
then the fingers of the hand were sent from him, and this
writing was written. And this is the inscription that
was written. OK Menne, menne teko ufarsen.
This is the interpretation of each word.
Many God has numbered your Kingdom and finished it.
He had numbered Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdom, but he didn't bring it
to a completion because why? Because Nebuchadnezzar responded
to the gospel. OK Teko, you have been weighed
in the balances and found wanting.
Perez, your Kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes
and the Persians. OK, so let's consider a few
points about this story. God performed an investigative
judgement by weighing Belshazzar in the balances.
And as a result, he lacked from what the opportunities that were
presented to him. He failed to humble himself in
the knowledge of God, right? In other words, he failed to
accept the first angel's message by fearing God and giving glory
to him. By choosing to reject the true
God, he ended up worshipping the false gods of this world.
OK, now where was Daniel when the party started?
As I said, he was nowhere near that party.
The only reason he shows up to the party is not to participate
but because he was on a direct mission from God to prophecy to
the drunk king and explain the judgement of God that had fallen
upon Belshazzar's Kingdom and what happened.
Bible tells us Daniel chapter 5 verse 30 and 31.
That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain and
Darius the Mede received the Kingdom being about 62 years of
age. OK, now the application to our
day should be very clear, and it's clarified by what the
Apostle Paul wrote to the Church of the Thessalonians.
Listen to this First Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 2
and 3. Paul writes, For you yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in
the night. For when they say peace and
safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains
upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.
Daniel chapter 5 helps us to understand this warning that the
return of Jesus will be like a thief in the night.
This is exactly how the Persian Empire took Babylon on the night
of Belshazzar's feast. You remember the story.
The Euphrates River ran through the center of Babylon.
Ancient Babylon and the Babylonians had walls that were
thick enough that you could have chariot races on the tops of
them. They had enough food supplied to
them for 20 years to last a siege that would last 20 years.
So basically Belshazzar, the night of his feast, was
essentially thumbing his nose at the at the Medes and the
Persians saying you can't conquer us, so we're just going
to have a party and then just enjoy ourselves.
Basically, they were crying. Belshazzar was saying there's
peace and safety in the Kingdom, there's nothing to worry about.
But what happened that very night?
The Bible says that very night El Shazar was slain and the
Medes and the Persians entered the city.
How did they enter it? Well, they were clever.
And the Bible prophesied this 150 years in advance, how this
was exactly going to happen. And that was that.
Darius had his the river dammed up the water, the table, the
water table lowered itself on the river so that the soldiers
of the Medes and the Persians could March through the
riverbank and into the city. The very night that they were
having the party, all the guards were sleeping or snoring or
drunk themselves or whatever the case was.
Nobody was watching and they snuck in and they opened the
bars of the gates of the city, let the rest of the army in, and
the rest is history. History tells us this is exactly
how it happened, just as the Bible said it was going to
happen. OK, for you yourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the
night. For when they say peace and
safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains
upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape.
Listen friends, listen. God has presented to us a people
7th Day Adventist. We have a mission to share this
message with others, but we are the first recipients of the
gospel, the everlasting gospel. And when we reject God's grace
in whatever realm of our life, say no, God is not I've got,
yes, I can have God be my God here and here and here, but not
over here. I don't want him to be God over
here, OK? When we when we reject God's
grace over here, we're rejecting the essence of that first
angel's message. And the danger that we fall into
is to turn to the gods of this world and partake of the wine of
Babylon, OK? And the wine of Babylon is very
seductive because it's the idea that we can be religious and
make our Kingdom here rather than plan for God's Kingdom.
OK, But God's Kingdom has to change our hearts.
That's that's the issue. God has to have first place in
our heart, in everything, in every realm.
Nebuchadnezzar's an example. He thought he was the greatest
thing until God humbled him. And God will put us through the
paces. He will humble us because He
wants us in the Kingdom. But if we continue to reject
those opportunities that God is affording us, OK, ultimately we
too will end up becoming intoxicated with the wine of
this world that says we can have God's Kingdom here on earth
rather than in the earth to come.
OK, That's what this Christian nationalism business is all
about. And it can happen on a corporate
level, but it can also happen at the individual level.
And so that's why we need the Word of God.
That's why we need to listen to the Word of God because we don't
want to end up like Belshazzar. Amen.
Belshazzar's story is written for our Admonition.
A. So the message of the second
Angel is that Babylon is fallen, is fallen.
Why? Because she has misrepresented
God to the world in the great controversy between good and
evil. There is this great controversy
between good and evil. And Babylon says, yes, I will
mediate the relationship between you and God.
This is what God is like, and this is how we can have God's
Kingdom. We can have it right here on
earth. OK?
That's what Babylon says. But God's word says differently.
God says, no, come out of Babylon.
Come out of Babylon. Come out of the confusion where
the Bible says one thing and the church says the complete
opposite. OK, the Bible says this, but God
says, but Babylon says this. OK, God says come out of her my
people, come out of her my people, and be not partakers of
her sins. Why?
Because the fate of Babylon, you don't want to receive the fate
of Babylon. Babylon is fallen and ultimately
Babylon will be destroyed. So the message of the second
Angel is Babylon is fallen. Why?
Because she has misrepresented God with her intoxicating,
seductive wine to the world in this great controversy between
good and evil. Listen to this Prophets and
Kings, page 530. In that last night of mad folly,
Belshazzar and his Lords had filled up the measure of their
guilt and the guilt of the Chaldean Kingdom.
No longer could God's restraining hand ward off the
impending evil. Through manifold provinces, God
had sought to teach them reverence for His law.
What was God trying to teach the Babylonians?
For what? Reverence for God's law.
OK, here's what it says. We would have healed Babylon, he
declared, of those whose judgment was now reaching unto
heaven. But she is not healed.
That's what Jeremiah wrote. God wanted to heal Babylon.
Amen. That's how good and gracious God
is. OK, because of the strange
perversity of the human heart, God had at last found it
necessary to pass the irrevocable sentence.
Belshazzar was to fall, and his Kingdom was to pass into other
hands. Belshazzar was given the good
news about God and His Kingdom, but sadly he failed to glorify
him with that knowledge and submit himself into God's ways.
Friends, this story is written for our admonition, Amen.
This story is written for our benefit, Amen.
We don't want to miss, make the same mistake that belches are
made and reject the first angel's message by failing to
fear God and give glory to Him and choosing.
Remember it's a choice, choosing to worship God who made the
heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them.
The truth of the matter is this, that we are all broken, just
like Babylon, everyone of us. OK, the good news is this.
God wants to heal you like he wanted to heal Babylon.
Do you want to be healed by God? Amen.
If you want to be healed by God, raise your hand.
Amen. I want to be healed by God.
Amen. And I for our online audience,
write text to us. Write get on your little
keyboard and tell us I want to be healed by, by by God.
OK, just text that in right now. Tell us so.
So, Sister Joy up there, she'll read it about when I give her my
microphone in a few minutes after we close the service.
She can tell me. Yeah, we had three people or we
had five people or even 1. But acknowledge it.
Confess it. Say I want to be healed.
Amen. Amen.
And God will do exactly that.
Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for
your word. Your word sheds light on our
path and it's a lamp to our feet to guide us in these very, very
dark, foreboding days. Lord, there is a seductive wine
that is out there, the wine that is offered by none other than
Babylon itself. But Lord, we want the truth.
You've given us the truth. The truth is that we are all
fallen like Babylon. We are all broken like Babylon,
this God of love who wanted to heal Babylon even though she
rejected that healing. We have acknowledged we need you
to heal us. We need to be broken.
We have been broken and we need to be healed.
So Father, forgive us where we have strayed.
Forgive us for where we have praised the gods of gold and
silver and iron and wood and stone bronze.
Forgive us, Father, where we have rejected that first angel's
message, where we have strayed and tried to build our own
Kingdom just like Nebuchadnezzar did of old.
Father, grace us with your presence.
Bring healing to our hearts. We thank you for hearing and
answering this prayer in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen.