Do not keep silent

 

Daniel 5:5

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.

This tells of the incident where Belshazzar (named for his god, Bel), King of Babylon, was feasting with a thousand of his lords and called for the gold and silver vessels, that his forefather Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the Holy Place in the temple in Jerusalem, to be brought out so that they all could drink wine from them.  

In those times, wars were not only fought as kingdom against kingdom, but as gods against gods. Triumphing over another king meant that your gods were stronger than their gods, which is why Nebuchadnezzar stole the vessels from the temple in the first place, placing them in the temple of his gods back in Babylon. 

This blatant act of defiance and sacrilege from Belshazzar was immediately addressed by God, because the hand wrote out his sentence – he was weighed by God and found wanting and his kingdom would be taken from him and given to the Medes and Persians.  All of this happened that very same night - he himself was slain and his seemingly impenetrable city was taken over by the Medes and Persians, all without a fight.  For they had diverted the Euphrates into a marshland, creating an opening under the river gate of the city and when they accessed Babylon, they found the bronze gate of the city ‘inexplicably’ unlocked!

Today we are still referring to this incident when we use the expression, “The writing is on the wall”, meaning that some misfortune is impending.  It used to be that quotations connected to events recorded in the Bible were regularly used by people, which is where the following, among many others, originated from:

Throw the first stone; Wash one’s hands of the matter; The blind leading the blind; Wolves in sheep’s clothing; To cast pearls before swine; A fly in the ointment; Go the extra mile; etc.

Even front-page news reports in leading newspapers from years ago carried references to the Bible or even quoted the Bible directly. It was part of everyday speech among most.

Sadly, today this has become the exception, not the rule. Believers by and large have become so aware of saying the widely ‘accepted’ thing, that most stay silent and rather do not say anything for fear of being criticized and ridiculed, even though what they have to say is the absolute truth as revealed in the Bible for us. It goes without saying that truth is always to be delivered in love, (Holy Spirit will guide you) but if it must be delivered, it must be delivered!  Remember, it was godly Daniel who explained the truth of the handwriting to the pagan king, knowing full well that what he had to say, would not be welcomed.

Points to Ponder:  Start speaking about our faithful and loving Father God, about our Lord Jesus Christ, and about His Holy Spirit openly and lovingly, irrespective of your audience.  Let His truth be ever upon your lips, as the Psalmist says in Ps 71:15.  Do not keep silent!

Ever be on my lips

I will betroth you to Me

Hosea 2:19-20

“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;

I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.”

For a wounded bride, wandering around lost and hopeless because of the betrayal of her first-love husband, reading these words must sound too good to be true. She, who had laid her whole heart down at the feet of her once-loving partner, only to have it trampled upon and shattered to pieces, must by now be shaking her head in disbelief and asking:  How can it be? Is there such love to be found?

There surely is! These words were said by our Heavenly Father in connection to His wife Israel. She who had trampled on His heart, shattering it to pieces by her idolatrous practices, time after time following after other gods instead of Him, their One True God. And yet – with a love too great for us to comprehend - He is once more wooing her back to Him, promising a betrothal that will last forever, that is grounded in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy, and promising everlasting faithfulness.

And in the last days she will find her way back to Him, her First Love, as many prophets declared.  We read in Hosea 3:5:

Afterward the sons of Israel will return [in deep repentance] and seek the LORD their God and [seek from the line of] David their king [the King of kings—the Messiah]; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness and blessing in the last days.

Just as Israel will return to her Husband through their Messiah Jesus one day, so our loving Heavenly Father made it possible for us Gentiles (non-Jews) to also be included and invited to the marriage of the Lamb as the Bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). And He extends to us who accept Jesus the same promises of righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, mercy and everlasting faithfulness, even though we prove ourselves to be shamefully unfaithful most of the time. What an amazing love is to be found in our God!

Points to ponder

If you have wandered off, deserting your First Love Jesus, will you not return to Him right now and receive His complete and utter forgiveness and acceptance? Experience that love that will not hold your desertion against you, but that will enfold you once again with everlasting faithfulness!

I betroth you to Me 

From glory to glory

 

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

There are verses in the Bible that are so packed with layers and layers of meaning, that we need to read and re-read them to find the treasures they contain. This is one of them!

But we all – We are ALL invited to have glorious fellowship with God. All of us. Not just the privileged few. Paul’s sweeping statement includes us with him in what he is saying here, despite the fact that many of us tend to think that he represents a super-elite type of Christian, one with whom most of us certainly feel we cannot compare!

with unveiled face – Paul writes elsewhere that the gospel is covered with a veil to those who are perishing, for Satan has blinded the unbelievers’ minds so that they cannot see the truth and Light of the gospel. But the moment we turn to Christ, that veil is removed. We now no longer need to cover our faces as in ancient days the slaves had to do before appearing in the presence of a king; there is no need to hide who we are or what we have done. There is no barrier between us and God anymore.

Beholding … the glory of the Lord – this is more than a casual glance, it is to make a careful study.  It surely means a daily looking, searching, sensing, being aware of Jesus. Being conscious of His presence; perceiving His truth in my mind; feeling Him in His love in my heart; being in contact with Him in my spirit. And then seeing, as John says, His glory when He lived among us, as manifested in His grace and truth, His loving heartfelt words, His perfect deeds, how His will was completely subjected to God, how He displayed what a faultless and complete human being looks like.

as in a mirror – we behold God’s glory as mirrored in the person of Jesus Christ and the Word. We must now mirror our Saviour to the outside world, displaying His characteristics.

are being transformed into the same image – In Rom 8:29 Paul repeats this “…He also predestined (us) to be conformed to the image of His son.” Being transformed means the work is not yet complete. This is a progressive sanctification. As we keep on beholding the 100% and start making adjustments to our behaviour, we are transforming, bit by bit.

from glory to glory – Peter wrote in 1 Pet 2:9 “…. that you may display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you…”  The beauty of Jesus starts to grow and grow in us, reaching further and further, and can be seen more and more in us. The result is glorious!

just as from the Lord, the Spirit – we cannot do this by following rules and religious practices. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. And this we have, as Paul writes in Phil 2:13 “because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His own purpose”. Hallelujah! It is His working in us that leads to our transformation!

Point to ponder:  Are you looking into the true mirror of God’s Word frequently, or are you using flawed mirrors of other people’s opinions of the Word of God?

Change my heart oh God