It's a good thing you didn't ask us to sing that repeat part because I can't get that hot. Alright. I get all of my We are in Daniel chapter five So, Daniel chapter five and we are going to read verses one through four to start. The judgment of God is sure. I also have titled this, the old and the new.

That is for the old prophecy and new prophecy. You'll get an idea of that when we get later on near the end of the sermon. There is a new part to this prophecy but the prophecy is not new. It's actually quite old concerning Babylon and what's gonna happen at the end of chapter five. So, Daniel five one through four, Belshazzar, the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand.

This sort of reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar and his image and you know, having all of his local rulers and stuff come so they could bow before his image. Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem. That the king and his princes and his wives and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem and the king and his princess, his wives, and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and they praised the gods of gold and of silver, brass, and iron, of wood, and of stone.

Bible tells us in Proverbs sixteen eighteen, pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before fall. I read that same verse at the beginning of my message on Daniel chapter four except in that case, it was concerning Nebuchadnezzar. In this case, it is concerning Belshazzar. Belshazzar being the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way that God is God, that he is in charge, and he did finally surrender after, again, having to learn his lesson the hard way after seven years of being out of his mind because he chose not to give glory to God.

He finally came to his senses and he surrendered and God restored But his grandson sadly did not learn from his grandfather's mistakes or change of heart, and so defiantly and arrogantly believed that he was invincible. Belshazzar was fairly young yet. He ruled jointly with his father, Nabonidus, who was the son of Belshazzar. I mean, son of Nebuchadnezzar. And it is not uncommon for younger people to think they are invincible.

However, Belshazzar had the added issue of being the king, and so that just added to his big head. He also lived in what was considered to be one of the most well fortified cities that has ever been built on the face of the earth. The walls of Babylon were were impenetrable. They have the ability to sustain their society for years inside the walls with water and food. So he couldn't be besieged and starved at.

He just didn't feel he had anything to worry about. But again, what does the verse tell us? Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before fall. In first Corinthians ten twelve, it says, wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. Belshazzar thought clearly that he stood on his own two feet and didn't have anything in the world to worry about.

God warns us that we should think, if we should think that we know it all or can do it all or have it all under control, that we are deluding who? We are deluding ourselves. We do need God. We desperately need God. Belshazzar needed him too but instead he snubbed his nose at God in the most blasphemous of ways.

So, God reacted. As we'll see later on, had already been prophesied. Belshazzar came to an end as did the invincible city of Babylon, just as God had foretold. We start with the blasphemy we read about in the first four verses. Belshazzar decided to have this great party to bring all of his Lord's thousand of them to the feast.

He was not merely looking for good dinnerware when he called for them to bring the gold and silver, you goblets and utensils from his treasury that they had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. He knew very well what he was doing. He was snubbing his nose. He was holding his fist up to the God of heaven and saying, I've got this. You can't get me.

I am secure in here and there's nothing you can do. Thus, I can intentionally blaspheme your name and defile that which was built, which was made, which was concentrated in the service of the God of heaven. His intentions were blasphemous as he purposefully defied the power of heaven. And he used it in what amounted to an orgy in worship of his pagan gods. He drank publicly which apparently was not the norm for the kings of that day that might have drank.

They were, of course, warned in scripture that drinking alcohol for kings was not at all a wise thing to do but not that Belshazzar was all that concerned about scripture. But it wasn't the norm it would seem for him to do what he was doing. Also, the invitation of his wives and concubines and other women was not the norm either. Everything about this party reaped the blasphemous behavior. Do we have such parties today?

Yeah. Sad to say, such parties today are the norm for a lot of people. On TV, Hollywood, where what's the TV is made? Washington DC, I'm afraid. Among many of our leaders, this is normal behavior, we're told.

At our colleges and universities, this is sort of expected of young people, But it is wrong. And it is vile. And do you think God takes notice? I I think he does. It is though Belshazzar had read Habakkuk two fifteen through 20 and decided to defy God.

Hold your place. Daniel five, let's turn to Habakkuk. I give you a minute to find Habakkuk. It's after Nahum, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk two fifteen Habakkuk was a prophet of Israel before the time that Babylon conquered Judah, not long before but before. Habakkuk had this to say in chapter two and verse 15.

He says, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor to drink and put us the bottle, thy bottle to him and makest him drunken. Also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. Thou art filled with shame, with shame for glory, drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and the shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid because of men's blood for the violence of the land of the city and all that dwell therein.

What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? The molten image and teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusted therein to make dumb items. Woe unto him that saith to the wood away to the dumb stone arise and shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver. There's no breath at all in the midst of it.

But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Why did God warn them against? He warned them against drinking. He warned them against making of broken images Particularly, those mentioned here of wood and stone and gold and silver and in verse 20, it mentions what?

The temple of the Lord. Man does all of these things in defiance to God but God is in his temple and God is on his throne. And let the earth keep silent or bow down in respect before him. Belshazzar was not going to do that. Instead, he did the opposite.

Everything that is worn here against, he did and he is going to reap the consequences of what he was sowed. King or not. The Bible says in Hebrews ten thirty one, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Those gods of wood and stone and silver that they praised while they drank from goblets that were in the temple that they had taken Those gods couldn't do them any good. There is a living God and indeed it is a fearful thing to be on the wrong side when it comes to a living God.

Belshazzar is about to find that out. How be it a little too late for him. Next, we see in verse nine, the wall of terror. You may have, at some point, I don't recall. Well, you know, I did go on some ride once in amusement park that went through a haunted house type of thing but these amusement parks and fairs, sometimes they have haunted houses.

People go through those things to scare themselves on purpose. I'm not all that into scaring myself on purpose. I've never been had any desire to watch much in the way of horror movies. Just doesn't seem to be all that fun thing to do, but to each his own. But Belshazzar's great drunken party is going to turn into a haunted house in just a second.

Verse five. Daniel five. In the same hour, came forth fingers on the man's hand, wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, And the king saw the part of the hand wrote. Just the hand. Then the king's countenance was changed.

I can see his face. You can see his face. And his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another but he bowed at the floor. He was so scared. Oh, how things change so quickly.

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers. King spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, not wise, maybe should be a quote. Whoever shall read the this writing and show me the interpretation thereof shall be closed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men that they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled and his countenance was changed in him.

His words were astonished, astonished, astonished. So suddenly, fear gripped the room. The partying stopped, and the shaking started, and it started with the king. When he saw that solitary hand riding on the wall of his palace, and immediately, he feared the worst. Something how quickly he went from I'm invincible, God can't touch me to I'm shaking in my boots.

But when faced truly with the God of heaven, man needs to shake in his boots. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom and knowledge. Albeit it's coming a bit late for Belshazzar. So to man will one day, so man too will one day fear before God of heaven.

As every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that he is Lord, that Jesus is Lord. But like Belshazzar, Belchazzar, get that name out tonight. For many, it will come. Says in Matthew thirteen fifty, shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing and we read about that further in Revelation chapter 20, the place called the Lake Of Fire. Disappointed on a man once to die, but after this judgment.

And Belshazzar's not only about to meet his judgment on earth, but he's about to meet his maker, and he is not ready. We better be ready. That brings us to verse 10 in the testimony of Daniel. Verse 10 in chapter five. Now, the queen by reason of the words of the king and his words came into the banquet house and the queen spake and said, oh king, live forever, let not thy thy thoughts trouble thee nor let thy countenance be changed.

There is a man in thy kingdom and whom is the spirit of the holy gods? In the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of God, of the gods was founded in whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king I say, thy father made master of the magicians, the strongholds, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. For as much as an excellent spirit of knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation. Isn't it something this man with these great credentials wasn't part of the administration of who?

Of Belshazzar. Oh, and you have your, you know, regular run of the mill astrologers, Chaldeans, soothsayers who were mostly just phonies. But like like most administrations today, when the former administration goes out and the new administration comes in, what happens? Well, get rid of all the old counselors, get rid of the old cabinet, and you bring in your friends, and you bring in the people that gave you money, and they become your advisers. And this was likely the case with Belshazzar.

Even when Solomon passed away and his son Rehoboam advanced to the throne in Israel, the people gathered together at the coronation of Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and said, we'll follow you but but only if you give us some relief from the taxes that were levied on us by your father and Rehoboam, he went to his father's counselors first and they said, you better listen to the people. He went to his friends second and his friend said, you're king. You don't have to listen to people. So he took the advice of his friends and he lost his kingdom. The only tribe that remained, the three of them, was Judah.

He lost the rest of it to Jericho. No relation. But this was likely the case with Belshazzar. Out with the old and with the new. For several years, Daniel has been on the sidelines.

Put to pasture, so to speak. As a result, Daniel was semi retired at least. Forgotten by many, but evidently not by the queen for some reason. She evidently knew who Daniel was. Daniel probably thought that his days of public ministry were behind him but not so.

You know, God calls people to different ministries at different times in life Just because God hasn't called you to a particular ministry when you were 20 or 30 doesn't mean he might not call you when you were 40 or 50 or 60. There are missionaries that go out in the mission field at 60 years old after they retired from their other job. So don't don't get too what's the word? Too relaxed, too comfortable. If you're here, God's got something for you.

I don't know what exactly that is. If we're we're willing, he he will use us and a lot of times in ways older in life, we couldn't have when we were younger because we just weren't ready yet. So, Daniel gets a call. God knew all along that he was far from finished. As we'll see, he actually is in the administration of the next king of a different empire.

So, God wasn't finished with him yet and handwriting on the wall was the catalyst to bring a man who never seeks to be a shining testimony. Praise God back into the limelight. One thing I can deduce from the queen's description here of Daniel is despite the fact that he was on the sideline didn't change how he acted. He was just the same testimony in his semi retired state as he was when he was the king's trusted counselor. That's the way we all should be.

Just continue to honor the Lord. He knows what he's doing. You never know when God might use you or how if you remain faithful like that. What did Paul say is required in stewards of the man be found? Faith.

Just keep being faith. And so, we see the the blasphemous beginning of our story, the the haunted house, the wall of terror, the testimony of Daniel, and now, we're gonna look at the prophecy. Daniel's interpretation. There's a few parts to this. First of all, let's look at verses 13 through 16 as Daniel was brought before the king and how he responds.

Then was Daniel brought in before the king and the king spake and said unto Daniel, art thou that Daniel, which are a art of the children of the captivity of Judah. Now, that that must have caught Belshazzar's attention because he had just had the implements from the temple in Jerusalem in Judah brought for him to use in blasphemy. Whom the king my father brought out of jewelry which would be Judea. I have even heard of thee that the spirit of the gods is in thee and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee and now the wise man, the astrologers have been brought in before me that they should read this writing and make known to be the interpretation thereof but they should could not show the interpretation of thing and I I have read, heard of thee that thou canst make interpretations, dissolve doubts. Now, if thou canst read the writing and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shall be the third ruler of the kingdom.

So, Belshazzar sort of butters up Daniel. He offers him great power and riches and fame. Hoping I am sure to get a favorable interpretation. But Daniel didn't have anything. Wasn't Daniel's writing?

Wasn't Daniel's decision? It was whose? It was God's. Daniel could not but interpret what God had declared. So, no amount of money or power or buttering up or anything like that was going to alter what Daniel had to say.

And of course, that should be true of any any observant of the Lord amount of money or fame shouldn't make any any difference. Because God's message is God's message. So, notice Daniel's response. Then, Daniel answered and said, before the king, let thy gifts be to thyself, Give thy rewards to another. Yet, I will read the writing of the king and make known him the interpretation.

But what is Daniel doing? Well, he's saying, I don't want your gifts. They have no bearing on my interpretation. You keep them. You you need to know I'm not doing this for what?

I'm not doing this for money. I'm not doing this for fame. Unfortunately, Balaam had an issue with that. It reminds me of Abraham after he won a battle against the enemies of Sodom who had taken Lot captive and he brought Lot back and he brought the spoil back to Sodom and the king of Sodom said, well, give me my people back and you keep the rest and Abraham said, I'm not gonna keep anything. That I have received from you, lest somebody say the king of Sodom may be rich.

So, here it is. He only kept back the tenth to give to Melchizedek. He kept none of it for himself. Verse 18, oh thou king, most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father kingdom and majesty, glory, and honor. Notice David's Daniel starts out talking about God, the high God, the true God, the almighty God.

Nebuchadnezzar got his kingdom because God gave it to him and that's that's the end of the matter. Finally, Nebuchadnezzar realized that. He goes on and for the majesty that he gave him that God gave Nebuchadnezzar, all people, nations, languages, tremble, and figurative for him. Whom he would, he slew, and whom he would, he kept alive, and whom he would, he set up, and whom he would, he put down. When his heart was lifted up and his mind harbored in pride, he was opposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.

He was driven from the sons of men. His heart was made like the beast, and his dwelling was with the wild They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the most high God ruled the king of men, and that he appointed over it whomsoever he will. So, what is Daniel doing? Well, he's recounting what happened to Nebuchadnezzar again that we read in the previous chapter of Daniel that led to Nebuchadnezzar's declaration that he wasn't in charge but the God of heaven is. He goes on in verse 22 and here's his point and thou his son, the word son in Hebrew can mean son, grandson, great grandson, great, great, great, great, great grandson is all the same.

It happens that Belshazzar is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and thou the son of Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart. Though thou knowest all those, Daniel says, not that you're ignorant. You you've heard the story. You know it. You just haven't won.

Haven't heeded it. You haven't repented. You you've continued to ignore it, reject it. He says, thou knowest all this but verse 23, hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of the house before thee and thine thy lords, thy wives, thy concubines, and drunk wine in them, and thou hast praised the gods of silver, of gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which seest not, nor hear, nor know, and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified.

Now, he he is far from glorifying God. He is purposefully blasphemed it. Purposefully bumped his nose at it. He says, the Belshazzar, you knew all this. You didn't listen.

Then heed the lessons of your grandfather. Now for your insolence, you will pay. Psalm two says that the nations, they revolt against the Lord and the God and and God and the heavens shall what? Shall laugh. Well, it's not a laugh of joy.

That's a laugh in that they, mankind, those who reject and rebel against the Lord are no match with the godfather. It's it's like when I was in Georgia, we had fire ants. I know you have fire ants here as well. Georgia, they would build their their mounds above the ground, a foot or two feet high. And he'd stick us a stick in their in their mound, and boy, they would aug and they'd start coming up that stick towards your hand, and boy, they were gonna take care of.

But sometimes we need to get rid of one of those ampules. I go get a stick and a can of gasoline and a match. And, you know, those ants were no match for that stick when it also included a can of gasoline and a match. Man thinks that he is going to rebel against God but that that in the end, that just isn't gonna happen and it wasn't gonna help him with Baal Shad's beard. The words that written on the wall were from God to you, Daniel was saying.

And in the language of your conquerors, Come to find out these words, meaning, meaning, Thicho, and Farsi, those are Persian. To the language of the people that are about to come through that wall. In verse 24, Daniel says, then was the part of the hand sent from him in writing, him being God. This writing was written. This thing and this is the writing that was written, meaning, Tekel, Eupharsan.

This is the interpretation of meaning meaning, God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel, thou art weighed in the balances and are found money. Perez, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes. And the person should say, well, Perez and Eupharsen aren't the same thing. Eupharsen is the plural form.

Perez is the same word. Right. But it's plural. The word u is like the word and. The letter u is like the word and.

Then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler of the kingdom. Well, I think probably one of the reasons Daniel didn't care to accept it was because, well, he wasn't gonna be third ruler very long. Why third ruler? Because when Belshazzar was actually second to Nabonidus' father. So, he couldn't offer him the second highest.

He could only offer him one, the third. In that night was Belshazzar, the king of Chaldean slain, and Darius, the median, took the kingdom, beat him out threescore and two years old. Daniel interpreted the words and in the language of his conquerors, this was what they meant. God has taken inventory of your kingdom and your reign. And it or you have been weighed in the balancing balances and have come up what?

Short. You have been found wanting or lacking so that you will pay this night with your life and your kingdom which will be divided to your comfort. If you think you are invincible, you're not. That was true of Belshazzar. That is true of any human being that walks the face of this earth.

There is a god in heaven, and the fact is when we are measured according to his standard, we're reminded in Romans three twenty three that we all come up what? Sure. We all come up short. For all that sin and come short of the glory of God. Not only does Belshazzar not measure up neither do we.

Praise God. We have a savior who does. Jesus Christ. And in Christ, we measure up. Praise the Lord.

Now, Belshazzar was having this great party to assure his subjects that despite the armies gathering outside their walls, the Medes and Persians were no threat to them. He's throwing a great party. Show off. We're no threat. Nothing to worry about.

We're gonna party and have a good time. Who cares about those armies out there? They can't touch us. He was wrong. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the what?

Son of man. Son of man. As they were going about their regular festive activities without thought of what was coming. Solo shall it be on the day of Christ's return. People will just be ignoring the signs of the times not recognizing what was about to come upon them.

Not sensitive to their sin or repentance. Maybe a bit of what our government and society are doing today might remind us a little bit a lot of what Belshazzar was doing instead. Just ignore all the science. Everything's gonna be what? Alright.

We're The United States Of America. Nothing bad can happen to us. Now, honestly, we know that's not true. Sad to say, it seems that many of our leaders don't seem to have that awareness. Lot of our leaders that were elected by a lot of our people, we know better.

One day, whether it be The United States Of America or the whole world, it's all gonna hit the fan and it's all gonna be over and there is indeed a point of no return. Praise the Lord. He is long suffering to us. We're not willing that any should what? Perish but that all should come to repentance and God is staying his judgement day by day, by day, by year, by year, by century.

But one day, one day, the clock's gonna what? It's gonna run out. Gonna run out for The United States. America's gonna run out for the world in which we live. Praise God.

We know that in Christ, it's not gonna run out for us. It's not gonna run out for us because we have eternal life because we are on the right side, the winning side. However, we have friends and relatives and coworkers and neighbors that don't see it. They don't have that same knowledge or understanding there. They don't see what's coming.

Maybe we should make some attempt to tell them and tell them that there is a way to escape. History tells us that it was no secret to Belshazzar that the army of the meat and Persians were masked outside his walls. But the king was self deluded and believed as many did that the walls of Babylon withhold any army at bay. But not God. As Daniel was speaking, the waters of the Euphrates River, the water of the Euphrates River was being diverted.

You see, Cyrus's army had actually left their siege of Babylon to go a few miles away. Where they found a place they could divert the rivers, the waters of the Euphrates River. You see, there was no way over the walls of Babylon and there was no way through the walls of Babylon. But while they were having this party and nobody was paying attention, they found a way in. You see the Euphrates River flowed through the walls of Babylon.

So, they built a canal and they diverted the waters and then their army walked into the city from both sides. Took it over quickly and it was done. Now, this prophecy came to fruition even as it was being given. While Daniel was telling Belshazzar what was going to happen, it was actually already won. It was actually already happened.

However, this is not the first time that God warned Babylon that this was going to happen. Turn with me to Jeremiah and I am almost done but turn with me to Jeremiah. We're gonna read a few verses from there. God forewarned Babylon, this was coming before Belshazzar was born before Israel or about the time Jerusalem was being taken by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah chapter 50.

Jeremiah chapter 50. And verses one through three. We're gonna look for a few verses in chapter fifty and fifty one. Did Babylon have warning? Yes.

Did Belshazzar had warning? Yes. Jeremiah 50 and the word of the Lord's, the word that the Lord spake against who? Babylon. And against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

Declare ye among the nations and publish and set up a standard, publish and conceal not. In other words, this isn't just for Israel, this is also for who? For Babylon. Say Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach or Marduk is broken in pieces. Bel and Marduk were the highest gods of Babylon.

Her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the North, there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein, they shall remove, they shall depart both man and beast. You wanna know where Persian media are in relation to Babylon? Guess what? They are North of Babylon.

And once once Cyrus and the Persians were done with the city of Babylon, it was not the city of Babylon really much longer. Babylon, the great city of Babylon is just some ruins in the desert today and has been for over a thousand years. Look at the wood chapter 51 verse 11. 51 verse 11. Make bright the arrows, gather the shields, the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for his devices against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.

The vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his what? What were they doing? They were using the utensils from the temple. On the night, that God brought justice and vengeance upon the Babylonians. Look at the word in verse 28.

Verse 28. Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. And the land shall tremble and sorrow for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. Verse 57, 57, and I will make drunk for princes and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men, and they shall sleep for perpetual sleep and not wake say it the king whose name is the Lord of hosts. And then back to '36 37, therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will plead thy calls and take vengeance for thee and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

What did what did Cyrus do in order to get into the walls of Babylon? He diverted the river. He dried it up. What were the people doing that is mentioned in verse 57? They were getting drunk.

While the armies of spires were gathering to come in and take the city. And Babylon shall become heaps, the dwelling place for dragons, and astonishment and hissing without and and having the word dragons can be translated, I think, jackals or something like that as well. So not literally talking about flying dinosaurs. Okay. But in other words, scavengers.

Is the point. God prophesied and all came in pass just as he foretold. The same thing is gonna happen to this world. We can be sure of that. And the days may be coming sooner than anything.

For so also has God pronounced judgement on this world. As to some great degree spelled it all out in his word. He even likens the world system during the tribulation at the time time just before his coming. Revelation 17 says, and there came one of the seven angels which had seven vials and talked with me saying unto me, come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with her, the wine of her fornication, so he carried me away. The spirit of the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarf upon a scarlet colored beast full of nature of blasphemy having seven heads and 10 horns.

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness for fornication. And upon her forehead was the name written mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

And then he continues foretells the destruction of the mystery of Babylon The Great. Sort of parallels the Babylon of Belshazzar. The sword describes the world in general in which we live today. But God still tarries, and we still have this opportunity. Let us work while it is what?

While it is dead, for night is coming. But yet it is dead, and we are the light of the world. We need not fear because we are on the weak side. We need not be ashamed or silenced Because we have the truth. We live in a world that needs to hear it.

For while for Belshazzar, the time was too late. At this juncture, it wasn't too late for everyone. And maybe if he would have listened soon, it might not be too late for the people that we love. Let us be of Daniel. Let us be faithful.

Let us, when we are called upon, take his stand for the truth. The Maybe the Lord can use us to make a difference now before the common judgment. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, If you would not, we would be hopelessly lost and awaiting the judgment. But in Christ, we are awaiting something different.

Lord, help us to see this world is not our home. We're just passing through. We're not to get too entangled in the things of the world that we forget that that our home is awaiting us, that there is a savior awaiting us. Let us not be depressed and discouraged by the world around us. Let us see the challenge that is laid before us.

Let us be faithful. Let us be hopeful. Let us be true. And Lord, use us to draw others from this place as you are waiting before the judgment. In Jesus' precious name, we pray.

Amen. Take your handbooks if you would. Turn to, I think it's like 389. Let's see here. 389.