It's called "The Golden Compass," the newest Nicole Kidman movie. The film is based on the first book of the award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. He is an avowed atheist, who says his goal is to "kill God." Pullman claims to have written the books as a rebuttal to C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, which he views as religious propaganda. In his books, Pullman has crafted a world in which God, alluded to as the Authority, is a merciless tyrant, and his Church the instrument of his oppression.
I can't help but wonder what we would read in our local newspaper if Belshazzar was writing the movie critiques, what he would say about the wisdom in producing such a expression of disrespect. Belshazzar lived in Daniel's day, and based on the standards he lived by (or failed to live by), he probably would have been among the first in the theatre to see the debut.
That is until the night King Belshazzar of Babylon saw the handwriting on the wall. The incident made his face grow pale, his hip joints weaken, and his knees knock. After he'd witnessed this, no doubt he would have seen showing irreverence, as treating the holy as unholy, in a whole different light--if he'd gotten the chance.
It happened at a drunken party, which, no doubt, the king had thrown many times before. Belshazzar offered a toast to the gods of Babylon using the gold and silver vessels his grandfather, King Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the sacred temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar profaned the godly. He disrespected the holy. He defamed the Lord of Israel. He exalted himself above God by drinking from the vessels and praising false deities.
Suddenly a man's finger emerged from nowhere and began writing on the plaster of the wall. That's when Belshazzar's knees started knocking. The words on the wall said:
"God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it."
"You have been weighed on the scales and found deficient."
"Your kingdom has been divided and given over."
That night Belshazzar died.
Today, we live in a world where nothing appears to be sacred. The "fear of God" is considered an old-fashioned and not-fair response to a supposed good God. "My God!" this and "Oh God!" that have become common vocabulary in our day, when years ago out of respect and reverence, people weren't even permitted to speak His name aloud, even in prayer.
Sometimes it's difficult to remember that God is still keeping track of what's going on. But none of this is escaping His notice, and none of this is to be taken lightly, much less to be taken part in. Consider this verse:
"But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Peter 3:8-10).
God is postponing His judgment so that more will come to repentance. That's the only reason. But there will come a moment for all of us when God will pull the plug--whether corporately or for the individual as it was for Belshazzar. Pullman and others can forget about killing God now, and it's for sure that "The Golden Compass" and any other thing that fights against God will pass away and be burned up then.
As Belshazzar learned, God is watching and listening, and He is not slack concerning His promises no matter how long His delay takes. Come uppins' are certainly coming.
The handwriting is on the wall. We'd better all take heed. We'd better restore the growing-pale, weakening-hip joints, knocking-knees kind of reverence and fear for God. We'd better stop treating the holy as unholy.
He's watching, and His day is on its way. It will come like a thief in the night, but it will come. Let's be ready, and let's help others be ready for it, too.