The book of Daniel is a book for young people, and especially for young men. Daniel and his three brethren were but youth, of eighteen years or less, when they were taken captives to Babylon. On the other hand, Belshazzar was also a young man of only eighteen or twenty years. Thus at two great crises in the history of the kingdom of Babylon,--one at the beginning, the other at the end,--the chief interests of that great kingdom hung upon the conduct of young men of from eighteen to twenty, or perhaps twenty-one, years.
This book of Daniel was written to tell what should come to pass in the latter days, and therefore especially "for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." (1 Corinthians 10:11)
And the lesson to be drawn from the characters of these two sorts of young men are of special importance in the last days. Babylon itself was a picture of the last days; and the fall of Babylon was a representation of the fall of the whole earth. The last message heard from heaven before the end of all things is: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. ... Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:2,4)
It was the corruption of Babylon in all sorts of iniquity that caused her fall. And the wild rout in that drunken and lascivious feast of Belshazzar, was the culmination of a long and popular course of intemperance and iniquity.
Yet for sixty-nine years Daniel, as one of the chief men of the kingdom, had lived in the very center of this sea of intemperance and iniquity; he had daily passed in and out among the chief actors in it; and had kept himself pure from any taint of any of the abounding vices.
Called to that place when he was but eighteen; honored at the very first with provision from the dainties of the king's table, and from the store of royal wines; promoted at the age of twenty-one to the position of personal attendant in the presence of the king; at the age of twenty-two made one of the greatest men of the empire by being further promoted to the threefold honor of "ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon," (Daniel 2:48) -and given a seat in the council of the king; and with all this made the recipient of "many great gifts,"--this young man, so honored and flattered and courted in such a place as that, and in such society as was there, steadily maintained through his whole life absolute integrity of character, perfect propriety of conduct, and complete control of every appetite and every passion. This was Daniel; and his three brethren were not far unlike him.
There was another young man in the center of society in Babylon. He also was prominent in the king's court. He, too, was promoted to a high place in the kingdom; he was associated with the king himself in the rulership of the kingdom. He knew the right way. He had the best of examples before him. He knew the purport of all these things.
Yet he despised all instruction, disregarded all admonition, and indulged every appetite and every passion; and so reached at last the point where he recognized no bounds of propriety in conduct, was destitute of principle, and thought of no such thing as integrity of character. At the age of twenty-one, or younger, he had run his course, had been weighed in the balances and found utterly wanting, and had perished in his outbreaking iniquity. This was Belshazzar.
Today the world is fast running in the way of Babylon. The intemperance and other vices of Babylon are prevalent everywhere. Today every young man is practically in the society of Babylon. Today these characters from Babylon, portrayed in the book of Daniel, are living examples; they are living illustrations of the choices that will be made, and, indeed, that are being made, by young men in the Babylon of today.
Today there are before every young man the two ways,--the way of Daniel and the way of Belshazzar. Today every young man has the opportunity to choose which of these ways he will take. Today, indeed, every young man is choosing either the way of Daniel or the way of Belshazzar; for not to choose the way of Daniel is to choose the way of Belshazzar. There is no middle ground.
There is no middle ground because it is solely a question of principles. That you would not go today the whole length to which Belshazzar went at the end of his career, is no security to you; for today, and in this matter, the end is in the beginning. He who today despises the instruction given, and disregards the admonition written, on this subject for this time, chooses the way of Belshazzar, and will reach the end of that way as Belshazzar did; for there is no other ending to it.
Belshazzar knew the right way, but he would not humble his heart to choose that way. He knew of the Lord of heaven and his obligations to Him; but he lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven, and would not glorify Him.
It is perfectly certain that there are today scores of young men in the families of Seventh-day Adventists, as well as of others, who are choosing the way of Belshazzar. They have been taught, they have read, so that they know, for themselves, the lessons of the book of Daniel. They know the principles and the career of Daniel. They know that these principles are of God. Yet they disregard it all, they repudiate it all, and choose the way of Belshazzar; so that the words are as true to them today as to him that night: "You ... Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this; But have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven:...and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified." (Daniel 5:22-23)
Today the message goes forth: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. ... Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:2,4)
Soon, "great Babylon [will come] in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." (Revelation 16:19)
Today, while it is called today, the representative characters of the book of Daniel are living characters. There are two of them- Daniel and Belshazzar. These are the two ways today, and there is no other way. The way of Daniel, or the way of Belshazzar- which do you choose today? Not to choose the way of Daniel is to choose the way of Belshazzar. Choose the way of Daniel today, now, and forever.--Advent Review, April 26, 1898.