Writing on the Wall
Let us meditate Daniel 5:1-31. Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. As commanded by him, the gold and silver vessels, which had been taken from the temple of the house of God in Jerusalem by his father Nebuchaddnezzar had been brought, and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. In the same hour, the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king became sad and lost his strength, and Daniel was brought in to interpret the writing on the wall.
This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Daniel interpreted as follows:
MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;
TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found waiting;
PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
The interpretation of the coded words on the wall is very much relevant to the present day ministries. Like Belshazzar, the servants of God are nowadays making a great show of the spiritual gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit and drinking the wine of the Holy Spirit for themselves alone. The wine is symbolic of the blessings that emanate from the vineyard of Christ. We, the Christians, want to drink the wine ourselves without sharing it with those who have not yet tasted this precious wine. We enjoy peace of mind and covet divine healing, material prosperity, and miracles in Jesus’ Name for meeting our own needs. We build a wall around our churches or ministries without bothering about the lost souls just outside our churches or in those places not reached by the glorious gospel. We covet the offerings of the people of God and pray God to bless those who help us financially. Our vision is confined to our own lords, our own wives and our own concubines.
The lords are those who labor with us in our ministries. The wives are those who are married or devoted to our ministries by their sacrificial prayers and offerings. The concubines are those who are partially devoted to our ministries but are also attached to the world.
The vessels of the House of God are required for public service in the Temple and are not meant for self-gratification of a group of people. These should be used for revival in the body of Christ and for world evangelism. The gold and silver vessels of the house of God are symbolical of the spiritual gifts meant for evangelization of the world and for edification of the body of Christ. These are not exclusively meant for the lords, the wives and the concubines.
Daniel said to the king, “O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified” (Dan.5:22-23).
If a servant of God makes use of the God given gifts and talents only for a group of his own people, then he is not making the right use of these gifts and talents. The spiritual gifts adorn the Body of Christ. No doubt, the Body of Christ needs such spiritual gifts to gravitate the lost souls to the Kingdom of Christ. But, if the minister concerned glorifies these gifts, the same will become the gods of gold. Similarly, on attaining new birth through the Blood of Christ, the natural talents inherent in the newly born children of God get sharpened by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit makes use of these talents for building the Kingdom of Christ. But, if the minister concerned glorifies these talents, the same will become the gods of silver.
In some churches, the pastors give superfluous messages to their sheep, and use the gifts of the Spirit exclusively for them. They do not bother about the lost souls in the streets who have not heard the glorious gospel. Nor do they bother about the people suffering from many diseases and afflictions who are not of their churches. They condemn other denominational churches that do not believe in such spiritual gifts. They glorify the spiritual gifts operating in their ministries and have thus lifted up themselves against the Lord of heaven. They thus praise the gods of gold.
They glorify their talents of preaching, singing and writing. They are proud of their talent of preaching. They are too proud of writing many books for the Lord that they claim copyrights for the messages, which were freely given to them by the Holy Spirit. They thus glorify the gods of silver.
The servants of God also praise the gods of bronze and iron. They also glorify their spiritual experiences like salvation, water baptism, Holy Spirit Baptism, etc. They are also proud of their church doctrines so that they condemn the other denominational churches that do not believe in their doctrines; they also do not allow the other servants of God to preach in their churches. If God has given them some visions and revelations, they do glorify such visions and revelations. Paul said that he would not glory in the visions and revelations given to him by the Lord “but in mine infirmities” (II Cor.12:1-5). They thus praise the gods of bronze. They too glorify their iron-like faith in God that they condemn the weak in the faith. They thus praise the gods of iron.
They glorify the gods of wood and stone. They trust in and are proud of their assets of land and buildings but have no vision about those poor saints who worship God in thatched huts or about those who serve God without any roof over their heads. By glorying in these gods, the servants of God concerned do lift up themselves against the Lord of heaven.
The spiritual gifts and the talents that are used in our ministries are not an end in them but are only a means to the ultimate goal of revival and world evangelism.
Paul said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom they world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal.6:14).
The writing on the wall is interpreted as follows:
MENE: God has numbered your ministry, and finished it.
TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. You have been found wanting in intercessory prayers (prayers for other ministers of God, etc.), love for all the saints in the universal body of Christ, burden for the lost souls, holiness, righteousness that exceeds that of Pharisees.
PERES: Your ministry has been divided and given to those who would bear fruits for the Lord. God would divide your ministry and give it to the one who shares your vision but is willing to do the perfect will of God and who has “a contrite and humble spirit”. God revives the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones (Is.57: 15). He does not revive the spirit of the proud. The ensuing revival is meant for the humble ones.
- T.Job Anbalagan