In the fifth chapter of Daniel, the Babylonian king Belshazzar made a great feast and used the vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem to drink wine from; in his debauchery, he desecrated vessels that had been sanctified for worship of the one, true God. God gave a message to Belshazzar of four words written by a hand on the wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin (Dan. 5:25). Mene meant that his kingdom had been numbered and finished (Dan. 5:26).  Tekel meant he had been weighed on the scales and found wanting (Dan. 5:27). Parsin meant that his kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians (Dan. 5:28). That night, just as God said, Belshazzar was slain, and his kingdom was given to Darius the Mede (Dan. 5:30-31).

God’s word, the Bible, is accurate. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, skeptics claimed for years that the existence of king Belshazzar was pure invention, that the Bible was mistaken and Nabonidus was in fact the last king of Babylon; however, archeological discoveries of cuneiform tablets, housed in the British Museum, contain references that Belshazzar was co-regent with his father Nabonidus.[1] Belshazzar’s promise to make Daniel “third ruler in the kingdom” (Dan. 5:16, 29) fits with this truth, since Nabonidus and Belshazzar would be the first and second rulers in the kingdom. Belshazzar was ruling when Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian empire, a significant event in world history. Chapters 50 and 51 of Jeremiah describe the fall in detail. A century before Babylon’s fall, the prophet showed how a coalition of nations including the Medes would come from the north to take Babylon, that though Babylon had well-supplied storehouses and lofty fortifications her sea, the Euphrates river, would be dried up suddenly during a feast. Diverting the river that flowed under the city’s walls was evidently how Babylon was taken.

The Bible also speaks of how each one of us will be subject to the judgment of God (Acts 17:30-31; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:11-15). We will be weighed; our lives will be put on one side of the scale and God’s holy word will be put on the other side. Certainly, extremely wicked people will not measure up (Rev. 21:8). Yet, even good people that do a lot of great things will not be able to balance the scales by their goodness (Lk. 17:10). Our words and actions will condemn us in light of a perfectly holy God (Hab. 1:13) who has a perfect standard (Ecc. 7:20; Mt. 12:36; Rom. 2:12; 3:23; Gal. 3:10-12). Successful people according to the world’s standards will meet a similar end as Belshazzar: their days are numbered, their own accomplishments will find them lacking when weighed on God’s balance, and they will die and leave their possessions to be divided by those who shall come after them. However, with Christ there is hope (Rom. 5:1-2). By God’s grace, the blood of Jesus provides the means by which the scales are tipped and one can stand justified before God (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Heb. 9:12-14; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Rev. 1:5; 12:11). Are you washed in the blood and ready to stand before God (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-7)?

[1] Raymond Philip Dougherty. Nabonidus and Belshazzar: A Study of the Closing Events of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929), 13.

Jesus clearly predicted His death and resurrection multiple times to the disciples (Mark 8:31; 9:12, 30-32; 10:32-34). His language was clear, but the disciples had trouble wrapping their minds around what He was saying. Jesus said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again” (Mark 10:33-34). This is very clear. At the first prediction, Peter understood enough to resist what Jesus had said; he tried to rebuke his master, but was rebuked by his master (Mark 8:32-33). With additional clear predictions, the disciples were to grasp that Jesus going up to Jerusalem to die was the plan of God. Yet, Peter was ready to fight to the death to prevent the arrest of Jesus (John 18:10-11) and the disciples in Luke 24:19-21 were troubled after these things took place. Even by Acts 1:6, the disciples still seem to have some expectation of Jesus restoring an earthly, political kingdom. The Messiah dying was not on their radar. When we today read the predictions Jesus gave of His death, we have the benefit of a scope that encompasses the entire plan God revealed in the New Testament and can readily see what Jesus was saying. We often find what we are looking for, but are blind to that which goes against our preconceptions. If this blindness could happen to the first disciples, it can happen to us today.

As disciples of Jesus today, we might miss what the first disciples grasped. The period of these predictions forced one to count the cost of following Jesus. Take the events of Mark 10, for example. The rich, young ruler met Jesus while He was going out on the road that led to Jerusalem (Mark 10:17). Following Jesus on that journey would require forsaking all his possessions, and he sorrowfully was not willing to make the sacrifice (Mark 10:21-23). The disciples had left all to follow the Lord on this road up to Jerusalem; they knew they were to receive new family in fellow disciples, but also persecutions, and ultimately eternal life (Mark 10:28-30). They were getting a sense that their lives and futures were bound up in the life of their Lord who came to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Around this same time, the disciples recognized going up to Judea, the region in which Jerusalem was located, was a deadly prospect since many there were seeking to kill Jesus; thus, to follow Him there was to go die with Him (John 11:7-16). How did these first disciples view dying with the Lord in baptism to be raised to a new life (Rom. 6:3-10; Col. 2:12-13; 3:3)? Certainly their view would be far from that of popular religion in our time that twists Christianity into convenience and focuses on achieving all your aspirations in this life.

Peter, who at first fiercely resisted Jesus dying and cowardly denied Him three times to save his own life, came to embrace the fact that he too would die in following in the footsteps of His Lord (2 Pet. 1:13-15; cf. John 21:17-19). Death is no great ruin to the Christian. Jesus died and was buried; however, he was raised on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4). He has been raised and still lives. The disciple who shares in His death is also bound with Him in eternal life. Far better than any accomplishment in this life is to go beyond this life to be with Jesus eternally (Phil. 1:23).

In 2009 I visited an orphanage in Peru. While there I was given the opportunity to meet a few of the children being cared for, and among the children we met were two boys named Alex, age 11, and Charlie, age 13. Both boys had mental disabilities and had lived at the orphanage for most of their lives. The director of the orphanage told us a bit about the boys’ history. We were told Alex was brought to the orphanage after being thrown into a trash can as an infant. He was discovered in the trash by a passerby, and when they found him there were rats biting his flesh. He was nursed back to health and lives at the orphanage to this day.

Charlie was also discarded as an infant, but they did not find Charlie until three or four years later. You see, there are countless street dogs that rove the city, and Charlie was discovered as a toddler living among the dogs. He barked, crawled on all fours, and ate garbage to survive. Charlie was raised by these dogs, and the reason he was discovered was because he was biting people on the street as if he were a dog himself. There was a similar story out of Russia regarding a girl who was raised by a pack of wild dogs until the age of 5.

We all know that this world can be a cruel place. This world can be heartless, unloving, and vile. Satan, as ruler of this world (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), the evil one (1 Jn 5:19) is a murderer and a liar (Jn 8:44) who prowls about looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). There are times when we see evil things happen in this world, when we see children abused and discarded as refuse and we think, “Is there any hope?” The answer to that question is a resounding yes. There is hope, there is joy, and there is love to be found.

You see, Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy, but the good shepherd has come so that we might have life more abundant (Jn 10:10). There are times when we all feel unwanted and unloved as if we are just garbage to be disposed of. But joy may be found in the assurance of our adoption as children of the Most High. As Romans 8:15-19, 24-25 says, “¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God… ²⁴ For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

So we, as adopted children of God, can take great joy and comfort in the knowledge that although the world might treat us as garbage to be discarded, we can take comfort in our heavenly Father.