July, 1939
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my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. Daniel 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, com manded 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 nis princes, his wives and his con cubines, might drink therein. 3 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. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candle stick upon the piaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the in terpretation. 25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Golden Text: “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink" (Hab. 2:15). Devotional Reading: Isa. 28:1-6. Outline and Exposition I. T h e C oming J udgment (J o el 1:5-7) f | 1 h e prophet Joel reveals events to oc- I cm- in “the day of the Lord” (Joel 2:1, J - 2 ) . It will be a time of fearful judg ments upon the sinners of the earth, bring ing terrific upheavals and distress. It will be a day of darkness and gloom, of dread and affright. For Israel, one of the effects of that day will be the disappearance of all mirth and joy; the vine and the fig tree, types of gladness and rejoicing, will be wasted and broken. The vine being wasted, the drink ers will be without their wine—"it is cut off from your mouth” (v. 5 ). Because the people have grossly misused God’s gift, it will be withdrawn from them, not by natural storms of wind and gales, not by the people themselves, but by the invasion of a strange and terrible foreign power, “a nation . . . strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion” (v. 6). The prophecy speaks of a future devasta tion of the land as the result of that inva sion, the destruction of all growing things, leaving starvation and distress in its wake. Self-indulgence and rejection of the com mands of God are clearly revealed as the cause of the judgment. That person who finds his satisfaction only in the things of time and sense, and who uses those things without a thought of the God from whom
they come, will one day waken to find that both the gifts and the means for their pro duction have been removed, and that judg ment has fallen. II. T h e P ast J udgment (D an . 5:1-5, 17, 25-28) Belshazzar’s intemperance was revealed in drunkenness, sacrilege, idolatry, and a display of splendor and luxury. A great banquet was served to princes and great men, and on this occasion there was much drinking. Moreover, the king ordered that the silver and golden vessels that had been
taken from the house of God be brought, and the assembled crowd began to drink wine from these sacred vessels. As an ad ded sacrilege, the people boasted of the gods they worshiped in rivalry to the true God of whom they did have knowledge. They were without excuse; theirs was will- [Continued on page 271] Cdininimioh A Send for Folder and SP E C IA L 1 OFFER at low prices. Glasses $1.00 Dozen. Tray and 86glasses $6.50up. Beautiful CHROMIUM - PLATED, Aluminurfl, Wood and Silver-platea Services. Collection& Bread Plates, Pastor’s Sick Outfits, etc. Thomas Communion Service. Box 1214 Lima Ohio
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BLACKBOARD LESSON woe urvro Him that giueth h is REIGHbOB. DR.inK’W z :« \ ! • / , / \ '< n - MENE,MENE. ’ X I TEKEL,UPHARSItr <=r> ^ r ^ , onn.5:zs ; _- h 8 § k 3 O K I m M 'THOU - HR5T LIFTED UP TH45ELF RCRiriST THE LORD OF HERUEIT "om.s-.sz,as
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