Daniel 5 Who's in charge for this generation and it's propitiation?

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Daniel 5:1-31

The Writing on the Wall
1A number of years later, King Belshazzar gave a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2While Belshazzar was drinking, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, F19 Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, so that he and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4They drank toasts from them to honor their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5At that very moment they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king's palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, 6and his face turned pale with fear. Such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.
7The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers, F20 and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will wear a gold chain around his neck. He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom!" 8But when all the king's wise men came in, none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant. 9So the king grew even more alarmed, and his face turned ashen white. His nobles, too, were shaken.
10But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, "Long live the king! Don't be so pale and afraid about this. 11There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar's reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom as though he himself were a god. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon. 12This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has a sharp mind and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."
Daniel Explains the Writing
13So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king asked him, "Are you Daniel, who was exiled from Judah by my predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar? 14I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom. 15My wise men and enchanters have tried to read this writing on the wall, but they cannot. 16I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems. If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will wear a gold chain around your neck. You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
17Daniel answered the king, "Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means. 18Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar. 19He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace. 20But when his heart and mind were hardened with pride, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of an animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.
22"You are his successor, F21 O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself. 23For you have defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! 24So God has sent this hand to write a message.
25"This is the message that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. 26This is what these words mean:
Mene means 'numbered'—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
27 Tekel means 'weighed'—you have been weighed on the balances and have failed the test.
28 Parsin F22 means 'divided'—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
29Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
30That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian F23 king, was killed. F24 31And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
FOOTNOTES:F19: Aramaic father; also in 5:11, 13, 18. F20: Or Chaldeans; also in 5:11. F21: Aramaic son. F22: Aramaic Peres, the singular of Parsin. F23: Or Chaldean. F24: The Persians and Medes conquered Babylon in October 539 B.C.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
A life of faith must be propagated, passed on. A life of faith must become someone’s legacy. Not just a life of faith though, but a life of faith In God Most High and His Son Jesus Christ.
Did you notice, as my husband brought up this morning, that and awesome and terrible God lesson had happened to this king’s father and this king did not even know who Daniel was? The scripture said Daniel was exiled from Judah, the very place where self exalted Nebuchadnezzar had been brought low by the hand of God, where Nebuchadnezzar had declared God as Most High, and decreed His power and dominion over the earth!
Things change, people change, automatically, they change, the earth is moving daily. If we do not purposely, with determination, grow in the things of Christ Jesus, purposing to live out the Divine destiny of the Lord, we will fail to “pass it on”. Ever notice how if you do not spend time on a thing and just let it sit, it either dies or rots or rusts or determinates? Only if/when we rise up and take back land, territory, and lives, will this gospel message- we so love be given to the next generation. Even the miraculous works of God’s mighty hands cannot sustain a generation if that manifestation does not also touch them personally.
Our faith is a living, breathing faith. We must live it for our “children”. We cannot just speak of it, as though it was a nice history lesson, something we reminisce about.
Obviously this king was not raised with a fear and respect for God Most High, as his father had had, because he went in to the temple of the Lord and took something there, an article of worship unto God and used it for ordinary day to day use. He was not operating from knowledge of God or he’d not have defied the worship of God.
We see this everyday in the form of mockery. If parents did not teach by example the gospel message by life force power, then the kids do not have a fear of the Lord and would easily defy God, either with their mouths or actions. What is so tragic about this is we’ve thought it was an option, almost an infringement on an independent choice. Our children were meant to be trained by us as parents, living examples of godliness and fear and great love for the things of God. If they do not see that or if we give them options at young ages, when we are responsible to mold them, we will see them die before our eyes! Nebuchadnezzar’s son died an eternal death. THAT is the tragedy. His son died, but not in faith. He died not knowing. Left to fend and find out for themselves, our children would be lost. Make them go to church? You’d better believe it. This is what we do, because this is what we believe, and this is what we live at home. Mommy loves God, loves Jesus, Daddy loves God, loves Jesus, we live like we love Jesus, and if we fail, we tell our kids of our failures and the learning processes we are growing through.
We live in humility, not under the rule of pride. We admit wrongs and show our kids how to place their sins on a cross, to crucify their flesh natured being and go worship in the throneroom, where we are face to face on a continual encounter with God, willingly accountable to our Father.
I know there are exceptions, circumstances. Like we did it all wrong, now we cry out to God for mercy! Or we live by faith but our spouse does not. We don’t live by the sway of our circumstances, we live by faith in the God of the possible, making impossible things happen. If we cry out, He hears and answers. Is anyone crying out? If you know to do it now, are you? It’s never too late. Don’t wallow in how much time is lost or how much of a wrong example you were. Start today as a righteous example. Cry out today, ask God for His miraculous work to redeem time and help us live out the rest of our days for Him.
There’s even a scripture where child training is concerned, that says, let not your soul spare for his crying….the natural soul will cry out, it doesn’t want to serve God or live by example or be responsible or to listen and obey. Your child was raised independent of God, and now mommy or daddy changes, he’s gonna cry out. The word says do not spare for his crying. That means do it anyway, he’ll get over it, and be better for it.
As I write I remember the scenario of our 3 part being, spirit, soul, body. Spirit is the daddy, soul, the mommy, body the baby or child. The child and even the mommy scream out, throw a tantrum, kick and protest, argue with the daddy about something ”we” are gonna do. The 2 says, yeah well see if “we “ do this or not, while 1 says “we” are doing this! Let not 1’s souls spare (stop the forward motion) for the crying of the other 2! Then there’s the deal where you don’t want to do what God says, but you decide to, you overrule the decision of the souls and body who are not feeling like it, you tell them, so what here we go, follow suit. What about in a family where a young child is telling mommy and daddy what the family is doing? And what if he doesn’t want to go to church or whatever? Mommy and daddy tell him, they override his fleshly immature decision and tell him “we” are going, this is who we are and what we do!


Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.