Daniel is able, once again, to interpret what the magicians
of Babylon are not. He lectures the king
first about his own father, Nebuchadnezzar, and how the Lord had given Him
great power, His very kingdom, and how also the Lord had taken that all away
when the king ascribed all that he had to his own power and might. I wonder, in the midst of this lecture, what
was the king thinking. He surely knew
the story of his father and surely thought that this episode would be his own
moment of dealing with God or the gods, whichever he was inclined to
believe. Unfortunately for him, there
was no second chance to be given, the Lord had already weighed him in the
balance, found him wanting and his days were coming to an end. That night he was "killed." The time of the Babylonians was coming to an
end.
Peter has his own Isaiah 6 moment. Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up, the
train of his robe filling the temple, and his reaction was quite like Peter's
here, go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.
Peter saw in Jesus and the extraordinary catch of fish something that caused
him to believe that Jesus was more like God than anything he had ever
seen. It is certainly an odd reaction
but Peter knew that what had just occurred was supernatural, Jesus didn't have
some gadget that allowed Him to know where the fish were. Can you just see Jesus smiling and shaking
his head as Peter fell to his knees in the boat? This scene, first Peter reluctant to do as
Jesus said and then in deep humility making grand confession of Jesus, was
certainly a pattern that would become quite familiar.
John writes of our duty towards our brothers and sisters
whose sin is known to us. Surprisingly,
based on my personal experience, it isn't that we are supposed to share it with
others and "tut-tut" in superiority over them. I know that is more often my own reaction,
unfortunately. We are to ask for their
forgiveness before the Lord. That doesn't
mean we are to overlook it with respect to confronting them on their sin, but
our attitude should be as one who is herself/himself a sinner in need of grace
and forgiveness. Our own lives cannot
stand complete scrutiny either. Daniel had
been willing to intercede for Nebuchadnezzar but with Belshazzar he spoke only
the Lord's judgment, the handwriting was, quite literally, on the wall and it
could not be changed, no matter whether Daniel interceded or not. We must be quick to pray for our brothers and
sisters and slow to judge them. We are
to be always mindful of the grace we have received in order to be justified
before Him and also the grace we always need in order to maintain that
salvation.
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