Belshazzar the king [of the Chaldeans] made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.  Belshazzar, whiles 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, 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 princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.  Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.  The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.  None was found to interpret the handwriting on the wall.  Daniel, a prophet of God, was then brought before Belshazzar and told of the writings upon the wall which troubled him so greatly (Daniel 5:1ff.).

     Among the interpretation of the writing upon the wall, Daniel used the word “Mene” which he then defined: (Daniel 5:26) “…Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”  From this definition we will draw a few lessons in this article.  One of those lessons is the reality that man does not have power over God even in this present world.  So many people fail to see the power of God in our lives today.  His providence has not ceased (Romans 8:28).

      We most certainly are not robots or chess pieces that God moves at His will.  We all have the opportunity to make choices between what is right and what is wrong (cf. Joshua 24:15).  As Nebuchadnezzar found out, Belshazzar was about to learn that God reigns in the kingdoms of men.  Notice what Daniel taught Belshazzar: (Daniel 5:18-21) “O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before 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.  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: 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 in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.”

     God has such power that He was able to use nations to punish other nations: (Isaiah 10:5-7) “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.  Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.”  Then, when God is done and the heathen kingdom that He used would not obey the Lord, God had the power to remove them (Isaiah 10:12-13).  God is so powerful that He was even able to control the bounds of the Assyrian invasion: (II Kings 19:30-37) “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.  Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.  By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.  For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.  And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.  So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.  And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.”

     It is very clear throughout the Scriptures that God reigns in the kingdoms of men.  Belshazzar was to have his kingdom taken from him as many others have whom chose not to follow the Lord.  With this knowledge nations should be careful in what they do.  Again, that does not mean that God chooses every action or even prevents evil from occurring.  God allows men to choose sin or righteousness.  He allowed so much of a choice from men that at one point in time mankind was so wicked that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).  God allows us to make our own choices, so let us learn from Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Assyria, and others who made the wrong choices.

     (Romans 12:9) “…Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”  If Belshazzar would have just loved good and hated evil his heart would have been turned towards God.  However, men often like to enjoy sin though the pleasures of sin are only for a season (Hebrews 11:25).  Men like the things of this world, which makes them opposed to the Lord (James 4:4).  Choosing good is difficult when the majority of mankind prefers the evil.

     Choosing good is a worthy decision.  The world would be a better place if everyone wanted to serve the Lord with all of their hearts, minds, and souls.  Evil would have no place.  However, it is the forbidden fruits of life that draws man from God to Satan just as we learn from the actions of Eve and Adam (Genesis 3:1ff.).  One cannot love God and evil at the same time (Luke 16:13).  One cannot be a servant of Christ and stand against the cause at the same time (Matthew 12:30).  Let us learn from what happened to those who in times past chose not to follow God’s instructions (Romans 15:4).

     God numbered and finished the kingdom of which Belshazzar ruled.  The Babylonian Empire would be delivered out of her kings into the hands of the Mede-Persian Empire: (Daniel 5:30-31) “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.”  Belshazzar followed in his father’s (Nebuchadnezzar) footsteps.  Nebuchadnezzar thought that he would take the credit for his reign and take glory from the almighty God.  The record states: (Daniel 4:29-30) “At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.  The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?”  As a result of his pride he was punished: (Daniel 4:31) “While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.”

     These great Old Testament examples show us that we too can fall because we fail to stand with God.  We must glorify our God who created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1) and all that is good contained therein (Genesis 1:31).  We should pray for our country: (I Timothy 2:1-3) “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.”  We must pray that our countries rulers will seek the wisdom of God and make decisions from that wisdom.  Nations that serve God will be blessed (Psalms 33:12).  The last thing we want to find of the United States is that God has “numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”  Let us as Christians serve as a shinning example in this nation to let everyone see the benefits that come from serving the Lord.  Maybe then some in Government will wake up to see that God was, is, and always will be able to give and take from men as he sees fit.  Let us remember that word “mene” and hope that the teaching from that word never will apply to our nation!