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by Sandy Shaw
Having been asked recently about what Jesus Christ wrote on one occasion, and having been reading and studying and preaching through the book of Daniel, I share this with you before returning to the Gospel of Luke, where we have been for a number of weeks.
Immediately after Daniel explains and interprets the ‘writing on the wall’, Belshazzar, the king, promotes Daniel, making him third highest ruler in the Babylonian kingdom, handing over royal robes and a gold chain.
These gifts are worthless.
What is the point of being third highest ruler in a kingdom on the verge of collapse? It is as though Belshazzar had not understood what Daniel had said.
Be careful who pats you on the back, or who may congratulate you, or praise you.
Would not Daniel have found the honouring of his person extremely distasteful? It was inappropriate at such a serious hour.
When George McLeod of Fuinary was ‘elevated’ to the House of Lords, one of his comments was, “Prophets get pelted, not promoted”. He had always desired to be a prophetic voice.
Thousands thought Babylon would never fall, but it did.
The last official act of this mighty Empire was to honour a man of God, a Jew, an Israeli, a prisoner! What irony!
There was another occasion when the finger of God wrote.
Some religious rascals brought a woman, caught in adultery, to Jesus Christ. These rogues wanted the woman stoned.
Why did they not bring the man? Was he one of them, and a member of their club?
Jesus wrote in the dust. We do not know exactly what He wrote, but might it have been the same words as appeared on that Babylonian wall?
Their religious days were numbered. They were found to be spiritually wanting, and that hypocritical sham would soon be over. These men slipped away from Jesus, the older ones first.
We then see the woman and Jesus. Jesus did not condemn her, but Jesus did say, “Go, and sin no more”.
Jesus Christ regarded the whole sordid incident as sin.
In these current times of tumult and turmoil make sure you are safe in Christ our Passover Lamb.
Be safe, covered by the protective blood shed for us on Calvary’s cross, to wash away our sin, and be nourished and strengthened by the Lamb of God, as you partake of the bread and the wine, and as you feed upon His Word day by day.
The Passover in Exodus, and Daniel in Babylon, and John in his Gospel, has so much to teach us in these challenging times.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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