The Kingdom

Kingdom Imperative: Knowing I Am Lost

There was a king in an ancient land who could have easily said in the last moments of his life: "I was lost, but I didn't know I was lost."

He was a youthful rounder partying kind of king. And why not? His fortress was an empire. As the son of the great emperor Nebuchadnezzar, he had inherited the pleasure of the nobles of his time. He had already accumulated a vast treasury of wealth of his own making with the requisite wives, and concubines and various party girls to make every evening one of fleshly delights.

Besides the usual treasury increasing the wealth of the prince Belshazzar, for that was his name and his one true asset, there was set aside in the kingdom another treasury. Not quite as accessible to the noblemen. It was taken from the temple in Jerusalem when it was sacked by his father. It seemed to have a future purpose and so was never used, as though it was reserved for an appropriate celebration yet to be discovered.

He, King Belshazzar, a proud Babylonian prince, now of age to rule an empire in his own right decided to elevate his party's importance. In the Book of Daniel of the Bible, chapter 5, it is written of this Belshazzar, that he "...made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand." When he had tasted the wine he, "...commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that he and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them."

I sometimes wonder about those who indulge their obsessions and cravings up to the moment of their last breath. Would they have chosen a different path if they knew that the lips they were kissing, would be their last. If the savory wine and delicate foods would be the last tasted in this life, would they reverse the curse they have been to be some kind of redemption for the poor and oppressed whose toil, flesh and blood placed the obscene opulence on the majestic table of the feast?

What if something from the Throne Room of the Most High God, Adonai, suddenly appeared to declare the party over; and yet in such a way that it strikes terror in the loins of the stallion king?

Could never happen. Youth is invulnerable. Invincible. Let the party rage!

Daniel 5:4-6 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand the king saw the hand as it wrote. the the king's color changed, and his thought alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together."

King Belshazzar offered all his wisemen great reward for interpreting the writing on the wall and when they failed the Queen Mother suggested that Daniel, an advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar be brought in to tell the meaning of what had just happened to the palace wall.

Daniel told the king to keep his rewards for himself. Then he said, "this is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

Daniel was rewarded with purple clothing, a golden chain, and made third ruler of Babylon.

But, in verse 30 and 31 the Bible declares: "that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old."

The legacy of Belshazzar? It could be said that "he was lost, but he didn't know he was lost." His wealth gave him privilege, friends, lovers, and all the pleasures that cause the flesh to wear out in a few decades. His eyes, ears, mouth, flesh and nerves were all elevated to enjoy the carnal delights of this world.

If he had listened to his father's story of how he, Nebuchadnezzar, was humbled by God, well then he would have known he was lost. Wasn't Nebuchadnezzar filled with pride, wasn't he turned into a grass eating, dew drenched ox of the wild for seven periods of time for that sin? And when he was restored to his right mind didn't God give him back the kingdom, and didn't he praise God for that adventure? And lastly, and more importantly, didn't he make a declaration and decree in his own hand describing his adventure in detail from the dream to the actuality for every member of his household and palace to read and wonder? He did. He did just that.

So in Belshazzar's unawareness that his lascivious life style was taking him down a road that would cost him his life, he might complain. He might say that "he didn't know he was lost." But Daniel said, "And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all things, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of His house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them; And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

Here is Nebuchadnezzar's truth: every soul ever created, or is being created or will be created is lost. To not know one is lost is to ignore the greatest book ever written, the Bible. But as the ancient king experienced in the "wilderness days" of his kingship, to be lost is to be found. God is always searching for the lost, but those who live life as though they "have it all," are truly the lost ones, because they will not be found. Only those who know they are lost are willing to go to a Bible teaching church that instructs on how to be found. Only those who know they are lost are desperate enough to ask God to guide them to the place of being found. Only those who know they are lost will be found in the eternal city, because God will never leave them lost or forsaken.

Today and Always, whom the Son, Jesus Christ, sets free is free indeed.

I pray that the family and friends of Tim Bergling have found peace and comfort. That the sorrows and grief that they have experienced in losing their son, has found a resting place of remembrance. May they things that their son was seeking be found by them. May what they have lost be restored to them, now and forever more.

In Jesus' Name. Amen






~Kenword~ 

 
                 
 
 
♫~ Kenword~♫
 

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