Middletown transcript., 1922-07-15
IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
Sll1nldayScho q ol
' Lesson '
(By REV. P. r. FITZwATER, D. D.,
Teacher of English Bible in the Moody
Bible Institute of ChicagoD
Copyright. 1922. Western Newspaper Union.
LESSON FOR JULY 16
THE HANDWRITING ON THE
WALL.

LESSON TEXT-Dan. 5:1-31.
| GOLDEN TEXT-God will bring every
work into judgment, with every secret
thing. whether it be good. or whether 1,
| be evil.-Eccl. 1874.
REFERENCE MATERIAI-Gen. 1851
2O-23
PRIMARY TOPIC-Daniel Tells the
King of His Wrong Doing.
JUNIOR TOPIC-Belshazzar's Feast
and Fate.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
Judgment Against King Alcohol.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
How to Enforce the Judgment Against
Strong Drink
!. eeIshazzar's Impious Feast (vv.
LAY.
!. Who attended wv. l, 2). Bel
shazzar, his wife and concubines and
thousand of his lords.
.. Behavior thereat wv. 8. AZ.
D They drank wine; they en- gagged
in revelry. (2) They committed sac
rilege. In their drunken revelrp they
drank wine out of the sacred vessels
which had been taken out OF the
temple, of the house of God, which
was at Jerusalem. When men are un.
der the influence of Intoxicating
liquors they lose all regard for sacred
things. CD They worshiped idols.
They prayed to gods of gold and of sill
yer, of brass, of iron, wood anG stone
II. The Handwriting on the Wall
wv. 5-1G).
!. The time of ". 81. 1t occurred
in the same hour in which they were
engaged in their drunken reveiry.
2. The effect upon the king Nv. 81
He was greatly disturbed; he was
seized with CONSERVATION. "The joints
of his loins We're loosed and his knees
smote one against another"
3. The kings behavior wv. 7-16)
ID He called forth astrologers ard
soothsayers. offering rewards of gold
and position ". 7-9). Their utter in.
ability to interpret the wrting left
the king even worse perplexed.
CD Daniel brought ut the suggestion
of the queen (vv. 10-1G) The queen
here was perhaps the wife of Nebu.
chadnezzar who remembered Daniels
service in interpreting his dream. For
that reason he was sent for and pronl.
iSed great reward
III. Daniel lnterprets the Writing
wv. 17-2S).
l.. Daniels address to the king wv.
1T-24). He brushes aside his prom.
ised gifts ". ~. He would not have
his speech limited by the kings gifts.
1t requires great strength of charac.
ter and courage to thus speak in the
presence of Il great king He knew
that this was no time for bribery He
knew that his would be the last words
ever to fall on this poor sinners ears.
2) He reviewed before him the his
tory of NebuchadneZzar and applied
the lesson To the behavior of Belshaz.
Ear wv. 1920. He showed clearly
that BelsIIaZzar should have profited
by the experience n his father.
>. The Interpretation of the writing
wv. 25-2S). (D "NIene" means mum
bered' ". 2G). God hath numbered
thy kingdom and finished it." CD "Te-
kel' means weighed" (v. 20. Thou
art weighed in the balances, and art
found wanting" 60 "Peres" means
divided ". 2S). THY kingdom is
divided. and given to the Medes and
Persians."
". The Judgment Executed wv.
29-3D.
In that night was Belshazzar slain
and Darius the Medean took tile king
dom.
The Chaldean' dynasty ended with
Belshazzar SO we may interpret this
whole scene as pointing to the CON
dltions at the close of the times of
the Gentiles and as adumbratIng the
prevailing conditions. lie. us note:
!. The stupidity of nj, They, like
people today, would not learn by ex-
ample. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS fate should
have deferred Belshazzar from such
frivolity. The driftwood of wrecked
humanity cast upon the shores of
time seems to do but little good to
posterity. The awful issue of the
drunkard's life and all kinds of sin
should deter men and. women from
practicing sin.
.. The magnificent splendor This
great feast was characterized by
pomp, display, parade. How charac.
teristic of this age
3. Luxury. The famous hanging
gardens Of Babylon We're a notewor.
thy example. Signs of luxu. J. today
are on every hand.
4. Licentiousness. The king with his
wives and concubines. This is noto.
riously prevalent today
D. Blasphemous Sacrllege. And NAV
not the sacrilege of today be in ex.
cess of theirs, exposing itself in D
a profession of religion for pecunarv
gain, social and political preferment;
(2) use of the pulpit and of the min.
istry for display and notoriety. even
for the propagation of false doctrine:
90 uniting with the church. attend.
ing the communion, so as to cover I'm
secret sins; (4) the use of the Word
of God to give point to joke (5) de-
nying that the Bible is Gods Word.
making it book of errors, myths and
legends; 60 sneering at the Virgin
birth, repudiating Christ's deity ana
settiiS asiue Ills Vlcarlous atonement
.. drunken carousals. The hand
writing is on the wall God will moi
endure lhls forever; His judgment
sna.i lan. conditions IN the world
inuicate that the time is drawing
near. Are you ready?
Fruit of Christ's Death.
The fruit of Christ's death is n