Roche Coleman Ministries: The Infusion Broadcast

Dr. Roche Coleman: And I'm hoping and praying that God never takes his glory from the church. Never takes his glory from us individually. We want God's glory, God's spirit. We want all of his majesty to dwell with us wherever we go. Wherever you go, you say God, I want your glory. I want your splendor and your majesty, Lord, with me to guide me. It's impaired to that we have it.

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning into the Infusion broadcast with the Roche Coleman Ministries. Dr. Coleman is continuing his teaching on the book of Daniel. But first, I'd like to take a moment to request your support. We're a listener supported broadcast and a generous one-time or ongoing monthly contribution will help us with our time costs. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with Dr. Coleman to help fulfill the mission of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in your community as well as globally? To encourage and challenge believers in their walk with God. You can visit us online at rochecolemanministries.org to make a contribution today.

Or if you prefer, our mailing address is Roche Coleman Ministries, 594 Sawdust Road, Suite 185, The Woodlands, Texas 77380. And if you have any questions, please call us. Our number is 346 386 4621. We appreciate your support very much. Let's go to Dr. Coleman now for part two of the message, Vessels with a Distinct Purpose.

Dr. Roche Coleman: Israel was not polytheistic, meaning worshiping many gods. Israel was what? Monotheistic. Monotheist. They believed in only one God that exists and that there was one God, period, that they worshiped. There were no other gods. Now, there are those who believe that Israel was what they would call monolatry. And in monolatry, that is that there there's one supreme deity that's worshiped, but the people believe that there are other gods. I disagree. I don't believe the Bible gives the account of Israel being monolatry. I believe it has them as completely monotheistic. Believing there was one God and there were no other gods.

Now, and this is a kind of a side note. Stay with me now. Just because Israel recognized that these other nations are worshiping these other gods, it does not mean that they acknowledge them as true gods because they saw them as mute death idols, Isaiah says. He saw them as graven images of wood, metals. Why is all of this important? Because I'm convinced the reason also that Belshazzar bring these out is he is trying to demonstrate that he is superior. His God is superior to the God of Israel. So he is desecrating these objects by bringing them out and drinking and having a party with these objects.

I want you to hear me on this and I want to pause because it'll be easy to gloss over this and not observe this. Watch this close. Listen to me. These vessels, remember the word we use and I'm writing here, they are holy. They are holy. And what I mean by holy is this. They have been set aside. Hagias, the Greek word for sanctify, it means to sit apart or set aside. They have been set aside for a distinct use and purpose. And so for him to go and to take these vessels that are used in the worship of God in the temple of Jerusalem and to profane them, to commit this sacrilegious act, he is desecrating the things and treating the clean as unclean.

You and I must understand that there are things God has set aside and set apart that are not to be handled in any manner. You want me to tell you one of the number one things that God has set apart and set aside as holy and we should not just handle it any way. You want to know what the number one thing is? Us. We. We have been set apart. We are a peculiar people. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Our temple body is the temple of the Spirit of God. We've been set apart.

And God expects us to conduct ourselves in such a manner. Are you with me? If he is that concerned about vessels, basins, cups, chalice that they use in the worship, what more does he expect from us? Here it is. Belshazzar is not reverencing these objects as holy and he's not reverencing God as holy. And so the Lord is going to intervene. Boy, this is this is just intriguing. So he he he pull the This is go get them. Y'all go go go go those vessels. And you're like what why does he do this? There's there are other goblets and things he could drink from.

Why why this? And then he lets his nobles, verse two, his wives and the concubines drink from them. To me, you are mocking God. And be very careful when you find people who are mocking God and try to make light of our God. Our God is a holy God. And he is to be reverenced as holy. And I am convinced presently in our culture, in our church, we have to remember still that the church is still a place of the holy. Still a place where there should be reverence, that there should be conduct that be fitting the church.

When we come together and gather, this is where we come to fellowship and to convene in the very presence of God. The symbolism is rich, is beautiful, and we can't just conduct ourselves in any way. It's the church. And we take the church wherever we go. We are also the church. Here it is. Belshazzar is Man, he is he's getting in deep. So everybody's drinking from them. They bring the gold vessels that have been taken in in in notice how the texts keep reverencing where they are from. This repetitiveness is there for a reason. It's to emphasize the what is happening here.

Verse two, taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem. Verse three, taken out of the temple in the house of God. There's there's a parallelism. The same thing is going on here. He says, which was also what in Jerusalem. He said this is this was come from God's house. These are no ordinary vessels. It's like the fine China. You know that fine China that you have, you don't just bring that out and just throw that in it just put it up there on the counter just handle it any way. No, that's that's the fine China.

Wait a minute now. We don't just handle that any way. And we use it on particular occasions. And when we use it, we conduct ourselves in particular way. No knife fights with the fine China. I want can I take this out here? I want to cut No, you can't take it out in the garage and cut nothing. That's the fine China. Get your hand. Put it down. And this is how it is with God's vessels. He's handling any kind of way. The king and his nobles, his wives, his concubines, they drank from them. These polytheistic pagan worshipers who do have no reverence for God are using what was set aside for the use of the priestly, shall I say, tribe in Israel.

And they're using them to party. Music playing, music loud, people stumbling over one another. Just doing whatever. And they are desecrating the things of God. Listen, we want to treat God as holy and reverence the things of God as holy. Please never forget that. He doesn't do it and God is going to get his attention. And this is what I put down here. Belshazzar is blasphemous. You know, he put the I I believe he really was trying to demonstrate several things. I think he really wanted to say, hey, I'm in charge now. It's transitioning power.

There's a new authority. Dad might be dead. Not sure if he's dead, but nevertheless, I'm in power. The victory is that granddad had. Hey, I we should get the victory. We should be able to conquer these people. Why? Because remember, Babylon had these massive walls. They were high and they had supplies that were given enough that they could sustain them for years. They could be there. And so he felt they were secure in where they were placed. And we've talked about the walls and we've talked about the vastness of the empire. And so he felt like, okay, I'm good.

I'm good. But what he didn't know is is that there was a force, a power greater than the Medo-Persians that was working against him. He didn't understand that that God was fighting against him and that his time was up. It was time for Israel to return to their homeland. Their redemption had come. Here it is. And so if you look in Jeremiah here 27, we didn't finish it. I stopped intentionally. He lets us know then I will bring them back and restore them to this place. He's talking about the vessels. Jeremiah 27 and 22. They'll be carried off to Babylon.

They'll be there until the day I visit them, declares the Lord. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place. Those vessels were not going to stay in Babylon. They were just in storage just for 70 years. And God good like that. I mean, when you read this, you like God sent the vessels and allowed them to stay as well. Why? Because God was saying the glory has departed. You see, when the vessels left, when the people left, it was symbolic of Ichabod. You know that word Ichabod. It means the glory has departed.

In the book of Ezekiel, when the glory leaves and it departs from the temple, that's what happens when they leave and they go to Babylon, it is Ichabod. The glory has left. And I'm hoping and praying that God never takes his glory from the church. Never takes his glory from us individually. We want God's glory, God's spirit. We want all of his majesty to dwell with us wherever we go. Wherever you go, you say God, I want your glory. I want your splendor and your majesty, Lord, with me to guide me. It's impaired that we have it.

And so what happens here, it's gone. But God says, I'm bringing it back. He is going to bring the vessels back, bring the people back because they're gods. They're his. His possession. And I love the fact that God is so so so so so so so able to use other individuals, use the Babylonians. And now he's going to use Cyrus as his servant. Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 44. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44. Because I want you to see this. In Isaiah 44, we get a chance to hear him say these same words.

Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44:28. He says, it is I who says of Cyrus. Who is Cyrus? King of Persia. He is what? My shepherd. And he will perform all my desire. And he declares to Jerusalem, she will be built in of the temple. Your foundation will be laid. Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings and to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut. See this? The king of Persia, King Cyrus, is the servant of the true and living God.

See, what I love about this is is that God is in total control and God used all of these individuals for his own purpose, for his own glory. And no one, I mean no one is beyond and above God using them. Cyrus is going to come to power. We're going to see this later. I'm getting slightly ahead, but I just want to throw it in. And he is going to ensure that the vessels that were desecrated by Belshazzar get back to their proper destination. But not just the vessels, the people of Israel. He think he's coming in asserting his authority, his power.

He think he's uh shall I say advancing his kingdom, which he is, but what he's really doing is he is a tool in the hand of God to release Israel to get them back to their destination. All of these rulers are instruments in the hands of God to bring about his divine plans for who? His people, which is what Jeremiah is talking about in Jeremiah 29 when he says, I know the plans I have for you. This is how God get them back, but they had to go into 70 years of captivity and now it's 5:39, October 12th of 5:39.

Hey, it's time to get ready for you to go back. And God is using this. Belshazzar is a part of that plan. He is part of what God is doing to orchestrate it all. And God is bringing it to fruition. Here it is. So he's drinking and all of this taking place. And we go back up to verse four here. They drank the wine and they praised. Look in verse four here. They praised the God of gold. They praised the God of gold and and and you notice you said gods here plural. This is again going back to their polytheistic posture and silver and bronze, iron, wood, stone.

You see, their this is what their gods consist of. And remember we looked at in previous weeks some of the gods, at least seven of the gods of the Babylonian empire, but we said their primary deity was none other than Marduk. And so we see here that uh Nabu was the God of literature. And we see these are some of the primary gods that worship it, but they are the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. All made from minerals, elements that come from the earth that the true God has created. So they're not gods at all.

They're false gods. They're not true gods. But that's what they're worshiping. And they're worshiping them with the vessels from the true God. God is angry. He's angry. Why? Because God wants proper reverence. All of this is happening and you see it taking place and you're like, wow, what is what's what's going on here? It's part of God's sovereign plan. His sovereign plan. When you get down to verse five, we're going to see now the Lord moving. Suddenly, the finger of a man's hand emerged. It began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall in the king's palace.

The king saw the back of the hand. It's interesting how he only see the back of the hand that did the writing. Then the king's face grew pale. Notice his posture how it shifts now. Face grew pale. His thoughts alarmed him. His hip joints went slack. His knees began knocking. And the king is like, I lost my high. He like, what is going on? Can you imagine at the party now, everybody has been enjoying themselves and all of a sudden a hand begins to write on the wall. I know everybody was looking in their cup like, what is in this cup?

What what what somebody put something in here. And they're like, what's going on? It changed the mood. This is the supernatural move of God in the life of Belshazzar. Just like he moved in the life of his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. But Belshazzar has forgotten what God did for his father. I want to tell you something. This is very very very important because what happens if we're not careful, we will forget the God that allowed us to have the victory. It can happen. We're going to see this further when we go through this text here because I want to make certain we lay it out clearly, but I want you to understand something.

There is no way possible that Belshazzar has not heard about the God of Israel. I guarantee you he has seen the letter that we read in chapter four that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had written. He has heard the accounts of all of the miraculous signs and wonders that were performed in the kingdom through Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I'm certain there were still tales that were heard about the great feats of the Hebrews who were there serving in the administration of the Babylonian empire who were eunuchs. He's heard this. You and I know that there are certain stories that are repeated.

There are certain narratives that people talk about. And Daniel is still alive, so he knew about God. But what is the problem? Verse four. He still worships the gods of wood, the gods of gold, silver, iron and stone. And the tragic part is today some of our relatives, some of our even peers and maybe some of our children or grandchildren, they have turned to the gods of gold, silver, wood, stone and iron. It's not because there's an ignorance. It's because of rejection. But the same gods that were worshiped here by these nobles, they'll worship today.

Same approach is just in a different form, a different manifestation. Are you with me? And I want to let you know something. The same fate for a Belshazzar will be for the fate of all of those who reject God. This is why it's so important that we try our best to pass the legacy of godly godly heritage to the next to successive generations. That we want them to know our God and know the Lord who's able to save, the God who can redeem and who can keep. It's important that we do that. We're going to pick up because our time We're going to pick up here next week.

And we're going to pick up Belshazzar when he is seeing the hand writing on the wall. And we're going to look at this because I want you to see how God used a hand to inform Belshazzar. Your time is up. Your time is up. And I believe this is where we get some of the sayings like the writing is on the wall. I mean literally the writing was on the wall. Father, we love you. We thank you and we bless your holy name. Lord, we thank you for the example that we see from Belshazzar, Abednego and We see God how you use so many people to bring about your will.

God, help us to apply, Lord, this historical event to a contemporary audience. May we learn, Lord God, that you are holy. You set us aside as holy. Lord, may we be holy as you are holy. Thank you. We love you. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Dr. Coleman. Amen. Not only are we set apart by God, but we're to see and manifest his holiness in our lives just as Daniel did. Now, if you missed any part of this series, I hope you'll log on to our ministry at rochecolemanministries.org to review them online. If you have any questions, please give us a call. Our number is 346 386 4621. Now, maybe you feel stuck in the areas of shame and pride and this is hindering your usefulness to God. You'll find Dr. Coleman's book, Debilitating Duo, helpful. In it, Dr. Coleman shows how God deters us from wrong choices.

Please log on to rochecolemanministries.org to order your copy today. Remember, God has set us apart to fulfill his plan in this world. May we be faithful in pursuing his holiness and be fit for his use wherever he's placed us.