During the
Babylonian captivity, after King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar came to power.
Despite knowing what God had done to humble Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar was
so wicked as to use items reserved for God to hold his common drink (Daniel
5:2–3). During his feast, a hand appeared and wrote four words: Mene, Mene,
Tekel, Parsin (some translations render the last word “upharsin,”
which may be a combination of the Aramaic words “and” and “pharsin”).
Daniel, who had
served Nebuchadnezzar and interpreted his dreams, was called to explain the
mysterious words. Daniel explained them: Mene meant God had numbered Belshazzar’s
days and was ending his kingdom (Daniel 5:26); Tekel meant that Belshazzar
had been weighed and found wanting (Daniel 5:27); and Peres (the
singular form of Parsin) referred to Belshazzar’s kingdom being divided
and given to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:28). In summary, it was God’s
declaration of judgment on both Belshazzar and Babylon. That very night, the united Medes and Persians came, and Belshazzar was killed.
From this account, we learn that there is a point at which God will no longer tolerate our sin and will bring eternal judgment. It is therefore imperative
that we repent and trust in Jesus before it’s too late!
God is merciful,
delaying judgment to provide an opportunity to repent (2 Peter 3:9). However,
God won’t delay forever, and we don’t know when we will cross the line. In Belshazzar’s
case, it was when He profaned vessels that were set aside for God by drinking
out of them himself. At that moment, God’s patience ended for Belshazzar.
However, that
doesn’t mean that God will allow us to keep living unless we do something
equally grievous. For each of us, before we were born, He has set when we will
die (Acts 17:26), and we don’t know when that is (James 4:14)!
When we are
young, we feel like we’ll live forever. But ask anyone in their 90s, and they will tell you that they also thought that, but now, in retrospect, life passed by
in a flash. Indeed, many young people have died, never coming close to their
90s, so you may not even have as long as you think.
What does this
mean? We all have a hidden countdown leading to our last breath. Until then,
God is patient with us. While we are born sinful (Psalm 51:5) and deserve
death (Romans 6:23), until we die, God gives us the opportunity to repent. However,
if we haven’t done so when the timer expires, we face His wrath with no
opportunity to escape (Revelation 20:11–15; Luke 16:19–31). Because of this, we encourage you to make your eternal destiny your number one
priority. Know that you are a sinner and under God’s judgment. Then repent of
that sin and turn from it, trusting that Jesus has paid your judgment through His death and that He conquered sin and death through His resurrection. When you
trust in Jesus, God will count Jesus’ death in your place. After you die, He
will raise you again to live eternally with Him.
The issue isn’t whether time is running out—it’s whether we’re paying attention while it is. Every breath we take is another moment of God’s patience but also one step closer to the moment that patience gives way to justice. Are we treating today like we still have endless tomorrows or like it may be the very moment God is calling us to finally respond?
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