MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN: lessons from Daniel 5
MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN: lessons from Daniel 5
The movie clip is taken from the official trailer of the 'JUSTICE LEAGUE' movie which was released in 2017. It turns out that justice is big business! So many people feel as if they don't get justice in their real lives. And as a result, they are drawn to portrayals of justice in the fantasy world of movieland! But what does the Bible teach us about justice?
Today's article is on biblical justice and it is an excerpt taken from my Bible study book titled:
'MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN: lessons from Daniel 5 on justice, judgment and salvation'
But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
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 in the kingdom.
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
INTRODUCTION
The storyline of the entire Bible is God revealing His salvation plan to us. First to Adam, then to Noah, then to Moses, then to Israel and now to the whole world.
His salvation plan begins with an understanding of justice.
THE WEIGHING SCALES OF JUSTICE
What is justice? Simply put, it means to be fair and righteous. Justice is a two headed concept.
Fairness means that what you do with one, you will do with the other. It implies balance and equity. Because balance and equity are such important elements of justice, weighing scales are often used as a symbol to represent justice.
Righteousness suggests right conduct or behaviour from God’s perspective. Therefore, for example, while your best friend may not mind you having an affair with his wife, God does! In this scenario, your best friend may not consider your affair an injustice BUT God does!
Justice implies a system of accountability for wrongs committed or alleged.
It is worth noting that the human justice system is only capable of holding individuals accountable for their actions- what we say and what we do. But God’s justice system holds us accountable for our thoughts (intentions) and our deeds (actions).
The purpose of a justice system is to arrive at a judgment- a finding of guilt or innocence. This final step is absolutely necessary so that punishment or reward may be administered.
In the context of God’s eternal salvation plan, hell is the punishment and heaven is the reward.
BIBLICAL JUDGMENT
As we now know, a judgment is a decision.
In a court of law, to render a fair judgment, the judge must consider all the evidence. The evidence that points towards wrongdoing, or guilt, and the evidence that points towards innocence.
In the adultery example that we used above:
§ God may say- But they know the rules! I gave them the Ten Commandments.
§ Commandment #7 says that ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’.
§ The accused person committed adultery!
§ The accused person is therefore guilty!
Now this is, of course, a ridiculous example. But you get the point. Something happened. There is evidence submitted as to what happened. Then the judge must determine if that act constitutes a wrong. If it does, then the accused party is eligible for punishment.
In the Old Testament, this is what the Daniel 5:23-30 passage means. It gives the story of God’s judgment and punishment of King Belshazzar (son of King Nebuchadnezzar).
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. (Daniel 5:27, KJV)
In the New Testament, Jesus has promised us the very same accountability. In order to decide who enters heaven or not, He has promised us a 'Book of Life' judgment (Revelation 20:12-15). This begins with the second resurrection.
It is a FALSE DOCTRINE to teach people that when believers die they go straight to heaven! Nowhere in the true word of God does it say this! If the saints have to wait to enter heaven (i.e. the first resurrection), then really, do we expect more consideration than them?
SALVATION
Now we are ready to discuss salvation!
If you check Google. One of the most common questions that is asked about Christianity is:
People are so confused!
So many believers are of the opinion that belief in God alone somehow guarantees their entry into heaven and a complete exoneration of ALL of their personal individual sins- past, present and future!
It is a message that was preached by Paul in many of his epistles. Romans 8:30-39 is a classic example of this doctrine. Belief in God equals guaranteed entry into heaven! A lot of Pastors teach this doctrine. They call it God’s grace.
But this is NOT what Jesus taught!
Paul’s doctrine teaches a ‘once saved, always saved’ salvation. The ‘once saved, always saved’ salvation is known theologically as- eternal security.
The Lutheran, Baptist and Evangelical Churches believe in this doctrine of eternal security but the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Methodist Churches do not.
Folks, we cannot bypass the accountability step! The weighing step. This false doctrine is not what Jesus taught us!
There are four important steps in God’s salvation plan...
'MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN: lessons from Daniel 5 on justice, judgment and salvation'
DANIEL 5:23-30 (KJV):
But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
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 in the kingdom.
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
INTRODUCTION
The storyline of the entire Bible is God revealing His salvation plan to us. First to Adam, then to Noah, then to Moses, then to Israel and now to the whole world.
His salvation plan begins with an understanding of justice.
THE WEIGHING SCALES OF JUSTICE
What is justice? Simply put, it means to be fair and righteous. Justice is a two headed concept.
Fairness means that what you do with one, you will do with the other. It implies balance and equity. Because balance and equity are such important elements of justice, weighing scales are often used as a symbol to represent justice.
Righteousness suggests right conduct or behaviour from God’s perspective. Therefore, for example, while your best friend may not mind you having an affair with his wife, God does! In this scenario, your best friend may not consider your affair an injustice BUT God does!
Justice implies a system of accountability for wrongs committed or alleged.
It is worth noting that the human justice system is only capable of holding individuals accountable for their actions- what we say and what we do. But God’s justice system holds us accountable for our thoughts (intentions) and our deeds (actions).
The purpose of a justice system is to arrive at a judgment- a finding of guilt or innocence. This final step is absolutely necessary so that punishment or reward may be administered.
In the context of God’s eternal salvation plan, hell is the punishment and heaven is the reward.
BIBLICAL JUDGMENT
As we now know, a judgment is a decision.
In a court of law, to render a fair judgment, the judge must consider all the evidence. The evidence that points towards wrongdoing, or guilt, and the evidence that points towards innocence.
In the adultery example that we used above:
§ God may say- But they know the rules! I gave them the Ten Commandments.
§ Commandment #7 says that ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’.
§ The accused person committed adultery!
§ The accused person is therefore guilty!
Now this is, of course, a ridiculous example. But you get the point. Something happened. There is evidence submitted as to what happened. Then the judge must determine if that act constitutes a wrong. If it does, then the accused party is eligible for punishment.
In the Old Testament, this is what the Daniel 5:23-30 passage means. It gives the story of God’s judgment and punishment of King Belshazzar (son of King Nebuchadnezzar).
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. (Daniel 5:27, KJV)
In the New Testament, Jesus has promised us the very same accountability. In order to decide who enters heaven or not, He has promised us a 'Book of Life' judgment (Revelation 20:12-15). This begins with the second resurrection.
It is a FALSE DOCTRINE to teach people that when believers die they go straight to heaven! Nowhere in the true word of God does it say this! If the saints have to wait to enter heaven (i.e. the first resurrection), then really, do we expect more consideration than them?
SALVATION
Now we are ready to discuss salvation!
If you check Google. One of the most common questions that is asked about Christianity is:
‘Am I saved?’
So many believers are of the opinion that belief in God alone somehow guarantees their entry into heaven and a complete exoneration of ALL of their personal individual sins- past, present and future!
It is a message that was preached by Paul in many of his epistles. Romans 8:30-39 is a classic example of this doctrine. Belief in God equals guaranteed entry into heaven! A lot of Pastors teach this doctrine. They call it God’s grace.
But this is NOT what Jesus taught!
Paul’s doctrine teaches a ‘once saved, always saved’ salvation. The ‘once saved, always saved’ salvation is known theologically as- eternal security.
The Lutheran, Baptist and Evangelical Churches believe in this doctrine of eternal security but the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Methodist Churches do not.
Folks, we cannot bypass the accountability step! The weighing step. This false doctrine is not what Jesus taught us!
There are four important steps in God’s salvation plan...
(To read the rest of this Bible study on justice, judgment and salvation- visit our website: WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG and get your copy of 'MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN' today.)
*****
HARVEST TIME Prophecies’ is the blog post site of TNG Academy. Our blog post site gets its name from Matthew 13:30- the separation of wheat and tares that occurs at harvest time (i.e. the endtimes). Remember, the ‘wheat’ symbolises the things of God and the ‘tares’ symbolise the things of the devil.
The purpose of this blog is threefold.
1. Some of the posts are written to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the theology of Christ’s core message- i.e. the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.
2. Some of the posts are written for the reader’s personal discipleship journey. We need to understand what God expects from us. After all, all believers should be on a journey of ‘becoming’ our best selves, capable of impacting and changing the world!
3. Finally, some of the posts are written to answer this question:
What would our faith look like today IF we had fully embraced Christ’s doctrines, as recorded by His Apostles, and rejected the doctrines of Paul and the other false apostles?
If we are sincere about our desire to restore Christianity to its roots, i.e. a return to Christ’s original message, then we must start by admitting that ‘while men slept’ (Matthew 13:25) the enemy planted false teachings (tares) into the New Testament!
Visit our website- WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG, to see our Bible study books. Which books would I recommend for you to read first? Start with these three-
- WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
- MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN!
- THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES.
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