Like Daniel and his companions in chapter 5 of Daniel, we need to be victorious over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God and the insult to His holiness; instead of exalting ourselves before man and God, we need to exercise our spirit and have an excellent spirit, humble ourselves and honour God, for our very breath is in His hand.
Lord Jesus, we love You, we worship You, and we honour You! You are our Lord and our God! You are our King! Our breath is in Your hands. All our ways belong to You. May we be victorious over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God. May we never insult God’s holiness. We humble ourselves before You and we worship You. We revere You as our God and our Lord! Amen, Jesus Christ is Lord! Amen!
As we go through the first six chapters of Daniel to see the victory of the overcomers with Daniel and his companions, we are both inspired and exposed by the life and work displayed by these young overcomers.
They were in captivity in Babylon, but they remained in the Lord, with the Lord, and even one with the Lord in all things.
They overcame even at the price of their life. They did not care for what others did and said, and they worshipped God no matter what the consequence was.
Today many of us live in a democratic society with freedom of religion and freedom of speech, but the seduction of idol worship is everywhere.
When man is given all the choices and the world is so attractive, it is easy to worship things, people, sports, and entertainment, even without realising it.
We all can testify that this little device, our phone, is so useful, yet at the same time it can take so much of our time. We spend time doing this and that, watching this and that, listening to this and to that, and it seems that we have no time for the Lord.
But Daniel and his companions prayed, remained in the word of God, and overcame the seduction of idol worship. May we be the Lord’s overcoming saints today.
May we and our companions overcome by fleeing youthful lusts and pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
And may we learn the spiritual lessons seen in the Word of God so that we may be warned, restricted, and kept on the pathway of life.
We want to live an overcoming life on the line of life for the fulfilment of the economy of God. We want to live under the heavenly rule and give Christ the preeminence in all things.
Being Victorious over the Ignorance Concerning the Result of the Debauchery Before God and the Insult to His Holiness
In Daniel 5 we see Belshazzar the King, a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, and his debauchery before God, even his insult to God’s holiness, with a very swift response from God. Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and he drank wine before them.
Being under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded men to bring the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his forefather had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
They brought the golden vessels and profaned them by drinking wine and praising the gods of silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Oh Lord!
At that moment, the fingers of a man’s hand came forth and wrote opposite the lampstand upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace (v. 5).
The king saw it, his countenance changed, his thoughts alarmed him, the joints of his hips loosened and his knees began to knock together.
He demanded that the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners would be brought before him and declare the interpretation of the writing, and they will be rewarded.
But when all the wise men came, they could not read the writing nor make its interpretation known to the king.
Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his countenance was further changed, and his lords were perplexed.
The queen mother came and told him about Daniel, a man in whom is a spirit of the holy gods, who in the days of his forefather light and insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him.
He had an excellent spirit and knowledge and insight, and the interpretation of dreams, the declaring of riddles, and the resolving of problems (v. 11). Wow!
So Belshazzar the king called Daniel to come and asked him to give him the interpretation of the writing.
Daniel told the king that he doesn’t want the reward or gifts, but he will read the writing and make its interpretation known to him (v. 17).
Daniel started by rebuking Belshazzar, for he did not learn the lesson of his forefather Nebuchadnezzar who, because of his greatness and glory, became proud, his heart was lifted up, his spirit was so arrogant that he conducted himself in pride, and God disciplined him and brought him low.
He was driven from the sons of men and became like a beast until he came to know that God the Most High is the Ruler over the kingdom of men and sets over it whomever He wills (v. 21).
However, Belshazzar did not humble his heart, though he knew all this, but rather, he exalted himself against the Lord of the heavens, and he profaned and defiled the holy vessels from the temple, drinking wine from them while worshipping other gods.
But the God in whose hand was his breath and to whom all his ways belonged, he did not honour (v. 23).
So God has numbered his kingdom and brought it an end (MENE), He has weighed Belshazzar in the scales and found to be lacking (TEKEL), and his kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians (TERES). Wow!
The king commanded to clothe Daniel in purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and they made the proclamation concerning him that he should rule as the third ruler in the kingdom (v. 29).
But in that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. Wow!
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God and the insult to His holiness.
But Belshazzar was found lacking and wanting, and he was terminated on that very night when he indulged in debauchery before God and insulted His holiness. May we learn the lesson from this!
Lord Jesus, make us like Daniel and his companions today. May we know our God, worship God, and give God the reverence He deserves. Amen, Lord, we want to be victorious over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God and the insult to His holiness. We want to learn the lesson of worshipping God and not exalting ourselves before man or before God. May we humble our heart, realising that God is the One in whose hands our breath is and to whom all our ways belong. Oh Lord, You are our God. You are on the throne. You are sovereign. You are holy and righteous, and we worship You! You are the Lord of the heavens, and we honour and revere You! We praise only You and we refuse to worship any other gods. Save us from insulting Your holiness. Save us from being in debauchery before God. May we learn to be simple and pure, even single in heart in worshipping God. Oh Lord, may we be found weighty in Your scale today so that You may preserve us on the way of life and make us Your overcomers! Amen!
Having an Excellent Spirit and Learning the Lesson of Being Humble in Heart, Not Exalting ourselves, and Honouring God
As we prayerfully consider chapter 5 of Daniel, may we learn the spiritual lessons before the Lord as revealed in this chapter. Like Daniel and his companions, we need to be those who overcome any debauchery before God or insult to His holiness.
First of all, we need to exercise our spirit; as Daniel 5:12 says, Daniel had an excellent spirit and knowledge and insight.
We need to be persons in our spirit, those who exercise their spirit and do all things in spirit so that we may have knowledge and insight.
Belshazzar’s taking the vessels that were for God’s worship in His holy temple at Jerusalem and using them in worshipping idols was an insult to God’s holiness (v. 4); he should have learned the lesson from Nebuchadnezzar’s experience (4:18-37); however, he did not learn the lesson and suffered as a result (5:18, 20, 24-31).
We need to learn the lessons from our forefathers and from our spiritual history. Debauchery is an overindulgence in eating and drinking for an adulterous purpose.
We may have a great success, we may inherit something, or we may have a wonderful victory; if we remain in the enjoyment of that thing, we may fall into this overindulgence in eating and drinking, and we may do something that insults God and His holiness.
But if we exercise our spirit and learn the spiritual lessons of being humble in heart, not exalting ourselves, but honouring God, we will advance with the Lord and we will overcome.
In the case of King Belshazzar, he did not learn the lesson from his forefather; he knew that God took Nebuchadnezzar through a humbling experience due to the pride in his heart, but he did not learn this lesson.
We need to learn the lessons. We need to be open to the Lord and not neglect or ignore our spiritual forefathers and their history.
We need to learn even from the lessons of those around us so that we may not exalt ourselves but rather be humble in heart and honour God.
When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, enjoy Him, and live one spirit with Him, we will be persons in spirit, and we will have an excellent spirit.
Then, our very living will express the Lord and show others that we honour God. We realise that our very breath is in the hands of God, so we will not live in debauchery or looseness before Him. We acknowledge that our ways belong to Him, so we honour the Lord.
The Lord Jesus did this; He did what is right, He expressed God, and He did God’s work, yet He was rejected, persecuted, and reviled.
He did not revile in return, neither did He retaliate; He knew that all His ways are in God’s hand, God is in control, and God allowed all these to happen.
So He thanked God, extolled the Father, and worshipped God (Matt. 11:20, 25). This One is in us today.
We can overcome because the unique Overcomer is in our spirit, and when we turn to our spirit, He overcomes in us, and we overcome in Him.
Only the Lord Jesus had a proper reverence and fear of God, and only He can live a perfect life, even a life of obedience with a heart that is humble.
We can’t do it. We can try; we may be inspired when we see Daniel and his companions, but unless we come to the Lord and are one with Him, unless we let Him live a life of obedience and being humble before God, we are proud, we sin, and we offend God’s holiness.
When we have a certain achievement, which is not of ourselves but of God’s mercy, we will exalt ourselves, and God will come in to deal with us, for He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5).
When we are proud because of our achievement, God’s judgment is ushered in.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, he was reduced to nothing (Dan. 4:25), and in Belshazzar’s case, he was put to death, and his kingdom was taken from him in one night.
May we learn the spiritual lessons from the word of God, from our spiritual forefathers, and from those that God deals with, so that we may be those who have an excellent spirit, worship and honour God, and have a humble heart, one with the Lord.
The One who can live such a life is in our spirit. He is eager to live an overcoming life in us. He in us has the spirit of an instructed One, being eager to learn by the things He has suffered.
May we learn from the lessons in the divine revelation and from history, and may we have an excellent spirit as we live our Christian life to be the Lord’s overcomers today.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we exercise our spirit to contact You today. Oh Lord, we worship You, for You are our true God! May we have an excellent spirit so that we may have spiritual knowledge and insight. Save us, Lord, from remaining in the enjoyment of any achievement or victory we may have. Save us from being loose or in debauchery. Oh Lord Jesus, save us from exalting ourselves and from thinking we are something when we are not. We exercise our spirit to live one spirit with You. You are the Overcomer in our spirit. Lord Jesus, live in us an overcoming life today. We are one spirit with You. We do not want to live in and by ourselves; we depend on You, and we allow You to live in us today. May we learn the lessons from the divine revelation and from history. Keep us in our spirit today. May we treasure our spirit. May we worship God in our spirit. Amen, Lord, we fully open to You. We revere You. Perfect us in our daily living. Make us Your overcoming saints today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Daniel, msg. 7 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Noah, Daniel, and Job – Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God (2026 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 3, The Victory of the Overcomers Seen with Daniel and His Companions – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– For my words I take His wisdom, / For my works His Spirit’s power; / For my ways His ceaseless presence / Guards and guides me every hour. / Of my heart, He is the portion, / Of my joy the boundless spring; / Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, / Glorious Lord, and coming King. (Hymns #564 stanza 4)
– We worship here according to / The inner consciousness, / Anointed by His Spirit now / His fulness we express. / In truth we serve and worship too, / In shadows nevermore, / In Christ, the one reality, / The Father we adore. (Hymns #865 stanzas 5-6)
– Mine are the battles, triumph-shouts e’er ringing— / Joy of the warriors for the truth and right; / Mine are the trophies God’s brave ones are bringing, / Heroes of faith and overcoming might. (Hymns #596 stanza 7)
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