In the fifth chapter of Daniel we find quite a party going on. The thousand in attendance had been invited by the king to this spectacular event. Eventually  Belshazzar decided to get some more "ohs" and "awes" out of his guests by impressing them with the gold and silver vessels his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem. As his guests drank the king's wine, and the gold and silver flashed in the light, they praised the gods of Babylon. They probably drank toasts to the king, the kingdom and the glorious future of Babylon.

Then the chatter and praised stopped as every eye turned to the palace wall where they saw a part of a man's hand writing on the wall. They were undoubtedly somewhat sobered by the message they could not understand. Those of the world and the occult could not understand what was written. Only the man of God could interpret the message. The politicians, "experts", worldly, and those in the occult do not understand God's warnings today either.

Many, many things are weighed or measured today. We do not know for sure if the weights are accurate, or if the gas pump gives us exactly a gallon of gas. We feel
more secure when there is a state sticker saying that the scale or pump has been tested and approved as accurate. Without such testing, we would be skeptical unless we knew the person doing the weighing.

God's message to the king and celebrating crowd was that He had weighed them and found them wanting (or lacking). God's scale is perfect. It never needs to be adjusted. Right is right, wrong is wrong.

Applying this passage to today, God weighs individuals. God weighs ministers and churches. Revelation 2 and 3 give us a picture of this.

God had weighed King Belshazzar, his treatment of the sacred things of God, and his kingdom. All came up short and destruction was at hand.

When God weighs individuals, faith without works comes up short. Talk without obedience comes up short. Action without love comes up short. If we say we love God but do not love or forgive our neighbor, we come up short on His scale. When we repent and are born again, Christ tips the scale in our favor.

We each need to soberly look at our life and consider how God is weighing us. What about our church? Would it come up short in any way? What about our leaders and our country? How does America weigh on God's scale.

We cannot set dates, but it is time for God's people to humble ourselves and pray earnestly before destruction lies at our door.