To Profane the Things of God: Daniel 5:1-31
To profane the things of God is an easy mistake for people in authority to make. In fact, it’s an easy mistake for anyone to make. In fact, it’s an easy sin to commit!
Belshazzar was the king of Babylon following his ancestor Nebuchadnezzar. There were several kings between Nebuchadnezzar and his grandson a few times removed, Belshazzar.
Belshazzar made the fatal mistake of profaning the things of God.
He had a party with his nobles, his wives and concubines. He thought it would be fun to bring in the gold and silver goblets his ancestor, King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem and drink wine from them for his drunken party.
Daniel 5:4 gives us a feel for the flavor of Belshazzar’s party. Daniel 5:4, “As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold, silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.” (NIV) They used the goblets taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem to celebrate their false gods.
To take a thing dedicated to the worship of The God and use it to celebrate false gods is to profane the things of God.
Guess what the primary thing God made for His worship is? Mankind. People! Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” (NIV)
Part of creating man in the image of God is the understanding God is a free moral agent and mankind is, likewise a free moral agent, meaning we have freedom of choice.
God desires we love Him in the first position, and He leaves that up to us as a choice, never imposing His will on us.
Remember the people of Israel in Egypt. They were slaves in Egypt with their freedom taken from them by Pharaoh. What did God do? He sent Moses to lead them out to freedom. His desire for people is they be free to make the most of the life He gives them.
Speaking of the governing authorities in Romans 13:4 the Apostle Paul said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “For he is God’s servant to do you good. But, if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. “(NIV)
The two basic functions of government are defined here. First, Government exists to serve people for their good. Second, government exists to punish wrongdoing to keep order for man to live peaceful and orderly lives.
Government exists to serve free people, but not to impose its will on those people. When governments take control of people, they profane the most sacred thing of God — people!
It occurs to me The
United States of America is the most prosperous and well off nation in the history of the world. Why? Our laws recognize the freedom God ordained for people! Regardless, the narratives to the contrary this country has done more for the freedom of people than any nation in history!
When government misuses its authority to oppress people, God has a way of replacing those governments to free people again. He used America to do that in two world wars that freed multiplied millions around the world.
The worst thing a government can do is to profane the chief thing of God by way of the oppression of people! When they do such things, they follow in the footsteps of Belshazzar in Babylon in the year 539 BC.
Belshazzar’s party that was celebrating his gods with the gold and silver goblets from God’s temple was interrupted by the finger of a man writing in the plaster of the wall close to a lamp inside his palace.
Belshazzar was so scared that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. It freaked him out! He wanted to know what the things written on the wall by the hand said and what they meant.
The king brought all his wise men, and enchanters and diviners in to figure out what the writing meant. These guys were his government experts, and they couldn’t tell him what the meaning of the writing was. The king was terrified, his face grew pale, and his government experts were dumbfounded.
Now a woman who was what we could call the Queen Mother enters the fray. She tells him about Daniel who interpreted dreams for King Nebuchadnezzar. By this time Daniel is an old man, probably well into his 60s or 70s.
The king calls Daniel in to help understand the writing on the wall. He tells Daniel he heard the spirits of the gods are in him and he can interpret dreams and solve problems. The king is doing what Nebuchadnezzar did. He’s assuming his gods are the ones who can solve his riddles.
Belshazzar tells Daniel he will make him third highest ruler in the kingdom and give him riches and recognition if he can read the letters on the wall.
Daniel tells the king to keep his gifts and recognition, but he will read the letters on the wall for him.
Daniel reminds Belshazzar about what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. He was the most noted and powerful ruler on earth because God (with a big “G”) blessed him.
When Nebuchadnezzar got a hard heart because of pride God took it all away and he lived like an animal with the mind of an animal for a period of time.
He reminded him further when Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged The Most High as sovereign over nations that He restored him to his previous splendor and even gave him more splendor.
Daniel tells King Belshazzar that he knew the lessons of Nebuchadnezzar and didn’t humble himself under The God but set himself up against the Lord of Heaven.
Then Daniel tells the king the words and what they mean: “Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.” (Daniel 5:26B NIV)
“Tekel: You have been weighed in the scales and found wanting.” (Daniel 5:27 NIV)
“Perez: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Daniel 5:28 NIV)
The message was from God and was that Belshazzar had profaned the things of God by misusing things dedicated to Him for profane purposes. Thus, God was about to remove his rule and give it to the Medes and Persians!
Daniel 5:30-31, “(30) That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, (31) and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.” (NIV)
God is sovereign over the governments of men. All of them! Does this happen in the United States of America? What would make us think God isn’t sovereign here? He is.
Look over history and start to see if you can identify times when it could have been God removed rulers who profaned the things of God by oppressing people, who are God’s chief creation created to worship Him in freedom. You will find God acting in history!
How about the Axis powers in World War II, Germany, Italy and Japan? They oppressed and got their own people killed by the millions. Hitler committed suicide, Italy’s Mussolini was killed and hung in public by his own people. Hirohito was allowed to live and sit on a powerless throne for the rest of his life. His government was taken from him.
They profaned the greatest creation of God, people made to worship Him in freedom and were removed.
The first time I voted in a presidential election was 1972. I voted for Nixon who won in an historic landslide. He lied to the American people in the Watergate Scandal and had to leave office before being removed by Congress. He violated the trust of the people by deceiving them. He was removed because he profaned God’s chief creation made to worship Him… He profaned people by deception. Such deception is an epidemic today!
Let me ask what might be an obvious question: Have some in our government used the pandemic to exert control over people that’s not necessary? At the very least that’s possible. Make that probable!
I see evidence that suggests some in government have used the pandemic to take control of people. The states that imposed shutdowns and exercised the most controls seem to be doing at least as bad as anyone else, if not worse.
It seems to me leaders need to take a look at their motives and ask, “Why am I exercising control over people?” If they’re using a human tragedy to control people, they need to look at Belshazzar and see if they’re profaning
the things of God by oppressing people.
During the pandemic life expectancy dropped for the first time in decades. Life expectance dropped by more than 1 year! The cause isn’t the COVID-19 Pandemic as you might think it would be.
The cause of the decrease in life expectancy is because of depression and the fear associated with it. Things like suicide, drug addiction and overdoses, stress, alcoholism, and other unexpected factors. In fact, alcohol consumption is up more than 60 percent during the last year of shutdowns.
If leaders are profaning the things of God by misusing His people, He’s sovereign and doesn’t make mistakes.
The two states with the most severe lockdowns have governors that are on the ropes. Cuomo in New York is on his last leg. Our Governor in California, Newsom is facing a recall. Could they have profaned God’s creation, people by using a tragedy to take control of them?
God is on the throne and won’t mess His part up. I’m sure we can claim Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (NIV)