0278. Daniel's Endictment: (A) Thou Knewest All This

Daniel’s Endictment: (A) Thou Knewest All This

"And thou his son, O Belshazzar, * * knewest all this" (Dan_5:22).

Daniel is standing before King Belshazzar. He is relating the certain conditions that led to Belshazzar’s sentence and overthrow. He is bringing against Belshazzar an endictment that presents positive proof of God’s justice in "the handwriting on the wall."

The first endictment is: "Thou knewest all this." The sentence follows the narration of certain events quite familiar to Belshazzar. The things that Belshazzar knew were these:

1. He knew that God had given Nebuchadnezzar "a kingdom, and majesty and glory, and honor;" that "all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, whom he would he kept alive; whom he would he put down, and whom he would he set up."

2. He knew that Nebuchadnezzar had sinned, that "his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride." He knew how Nebuchadnezzar had, in this unbridled pride, gone forth and walked upon his palace in the kingdom of Babylon and said: "Is not this great Babylon, for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power and by the glory of my majesty?"

3. He knew how Nebuchadnezzar was "deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: how he was driven from the sons of men: how "his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; they fed him grass like oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven."

4. He knew how Nebuchadnezzar, after the end of days, had lifted up his eyes toward Heaven, with his reason restored, and how he had blessed and praised the Most High, acknowledging "that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that He appointed over it whomsoever He would."

And is not all of this and much more true of every lost sinner? Is the sinner an ignoramus concerning God? If so, then he is willingly so.

The endictment against the sinner in Rom_1:18-32 is plain. "The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men * * because that which may be known of God is manifest unto them."

"For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so they are without excuse." "They knew God, but they glorified Him not as God." They were vain, "they became fools." "Wherefore God gave them up."

No wonder then, since the sinner will not retain God in his knowledge, since the sinner has sinned with his eyes open, "knowing all this," no wonder then that God says they "are treasuring up against themselves wrath, against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

Let the unsaved stop and consider. "Though thou knewest all this." Sinners have not taken plain positive warnings sent by the Most High God, they have not profited by the light which they have. They have only sinned the more.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR