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Modernism, the super-man, civilization, are all so many phases of Babylonianism, and
we do well to remember the horrible thing that surrounds us and entangles us, lest we
forget our separate calling and bring that holy name into disrepute.
We shall miss the most powerful exposition of all if we do not realize that in
Rev. 9: 20 we have a quotation from the Book of Daniel. It is common knowledge that
Daniel's prophetic visions are preparatory to the vision of the Revelation, yet the
quotation here is not from one of the visions of Daniel's book. It is taken from Daniel's
solemn warning to Belshazzar, in the night in which he was slain.
"And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knowest
all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the
vessels of His house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines,
have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass,
iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy
breath is, and Whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: Then was the part of the
hand sent from Him; and this writing was written. . . . God hath numbered thy
Kingdom and finished it. . . . Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting"
(Dan. 5:).
Belshazzar lifted himself against the Lord of heaven in spite of the example of
Nebuchadnezzar. He did not receive the love of the truth that he might be saved. So
likewise, in spite of the most unprecedented judgment that had fallen upon mankind, it is
written, the rest of the men. . . . repented not.
If Belshazzar sets forth the character and doom of the last phase of Babylonianism,
Daniel and his companions set forth the faithful remnant, who pass through fire and who
are cast to the lions, rather than bow down to the idol of the state. We may have sung
with little thought, as children, "Dare to be a Daniel". May we pray with a deeper
realization that both we and our dear ones may stand as stedfast as did that man of God.
So ends this phase of the sixth trumpet judgment, with a world mad upon its idols, and
given up to evil. As it was with Belshazzar, so must it be again; the next act in this
mighty drama will be the "taking of the Kingdom", not indeed by Darius the Mede (who
will follow the folly of Belshazzar), but by Christ the Lord, the Prince of the kings of the
earth.