Trinity Baptist Church

 

We are going to study one of the most exciting, dramatic chapters in all of God's Word.

 

A change has occurred. Up until this time the king of Babylon has been Nebuchadnezzar. Now there is another king, Belshazzar. Daniel, chapter 5, records for us the downfall of the kingdom of Babylon. The head of gold, which God had revealed in the great image, is now going to be taken down. God is going to do just exactly what He said He would do.

 

Let me give you the setting of this fifth chapter. About twenty-three years have passed between what we find in the fourth chapter and what we find in this chapter. Daniel is now an old man. Some believe that he is in his late 80s. He has served God and lived for the Lord from the time that he was young until now the time he is old.

 

The king is a man named Belshazzar. We are told in verse 2 that his father was Nebuchadnezzar. The word “father” is used in the sense of “ancestor”. Actually Belshazzar was the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar.

 

His father was a man named Nabonidus. For many years there was no evidence there every lived a man named Belshazzar. In fact, the liberals in earlier years, used to point out the mention of the name Belshazzar and say that was proof that the Bible had errors in it. They said there was no such man as Belshazzar. 

 

In 1854 a man named Taylor was excavating in southern Iraq in some ruins there. He discovered a number of cylinder tablets. On those tablets was cuneiform writing. In one of those tablets he found mention of Nabonidus and his eldest son, Belshazzar. Sooner or later God will always vindicate His Word. You can always put it down if God says it in the Bible, that is exactly the way it is.

 

Belshazzar actually ruled alongside his father, Nabonidus. Nabonidus was a kind of odd, eccentric kind of guy. He liked to spend a lot of time doing other things and being away from the palace in Babylon. So he and his son Belshazzar ruled as co-regents. You see a subtle reference to that in verse 7 where Belshazzar says that the person who is able to interpret the writing on the wall will the third ruler in the kingdom.

 

Here is the setting. At this very time Nabonidus has been cornered in another part of the kingdom by the Medes and the Persians. The city of Babylon is the only place in Iraq that has not fallen to the Medes and the Persians. At this particular time they have surrounded the city and have been besieging the city about two and a half years.

 

But the people inside the walls of Babylon are not concerned about it at all. They have a complex series of walls around the city. Some of them are as high as 350 feet and 87 feet wide. There are a hundred towers on these walls. They have an abundance of food. In fact, they estimated they had enough food to last 20 years in the city of Babylon. There was an ample water supply because the River Euphrates flowed under the city of Babylon. So they had plenty of food and plenty of water. What did they care? Here is a picture of a king who is living under the illusion that he is not in any danger whatsoever. Yet at that very time this sleeping king has a spider that is wrapping its web around him. Unbeknown to King Belshazzar he has now come to the last night of his existence. What a night indeed it is.

 

It is first of all a night of,

 

 

We are told in these opening verses of the chapter that King Belshazzar has pitched a great feast. Geologists have uncovered many of the features of the city of Babylon at that time. They have discovered that there were a number of banquet halls. In fact there was one banquet hall down in a tunnel under the Euphrates River which would hold a capacity of a thousand people.

 

So when the Bible tells us that Belshazzar had a great feast for a thousand of his lords, it was very easy to set a table for a thousand people. So he did. They are having a great feast.

 

You can almost imagine how it is as his officials come in and they have their arms and fingers jeweled. The air is heavy with the fragrance of perfume and the sound of loud music. The king's wives and his concubines and the dancing girls and the musicians and the magicians are all there. It is a night of revelry. Nothing wrong with having a party, but notice what the Bible says in verse 1. "And drank wine before the thousand."

 

 

 

When alcohol comes into the picture you know immediately that you are going to have some problems. We are living in a culture which for the most part has given itself over to the consumption of alcohol. I presume that I am one of the few voices in our land today that will ever lift up its cry against alcohol. But as long a God gives me breath I'm going to warn people of the dangers of alcohol.

 

They are drinking the alcohol. When people start getting drunk they get smart. They get stupid smart. In other words they get to be smart alecks. So King Belshazzar becomes a smart aleck. He decides he will show out a little bit. He whispers over to one of his servants to go get the silver vessels that are in the museum of Babylon. Evidently, they were taken out of the temple of the house of God in Jerusalem. 

 

For seventy years these sacred, holy vessels of the Lord have been in Babylon. I can almost imagine that Jewish parents would take their children and show them these sacred vessels that had come out of their temple. Now he decides he is going to be sacrilegious. He is going to make fun of sacred things.

 

So they bring in these vessels from the house of the Lord. The Bible says that they drank wine out of these vessels. In verse 4 it says that he praised his own gods; and he mentions six kinds of gods, gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. Even the number of gods comes up one short. There are six. He is basically making fun of sacred things.

 

 

 

This is a challenge to the God of heaven. He is basically calling on the God of heaven and challenging Him. When you challenge God, God will take up the challenge!

 

The Bible says that at that very moment. Look at verse 5. "In the same hour." God didn't take long! There came a handwriting on the wall. The fingers of a man's hand wrote on that plaster. They have found evidence in these palaces that there was a kind of white plaster. It would be very easy to write on the walls of that plaster. All of a sudden there is handwriting on the wall with the fingers of a man's hand.

 

We have two other references to the fingers of God. There is a reference in the past in Exodus 8, verse 19, when the plagues came to Egypt. It says, "And the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he harkened not unto them as the Lord had said."

 

The Lord Jesus, in Luke 11, verse 20, said, "But if with the finger of God I cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come unto you."

 

The handwriting on the wall. All of a sudden all of the music stops. The dancing is still. All of a sudden all of the revelry ends and there is quietness in this massive palace where a thousand people have gathered. All of a sudden there is a solemn stillness and every eye looks to the king for some kind of encouragement. Instead they find a man sitting on the throne whose face is pale. His joints are coming unglued and his knees are knocking. Instead of a strong leader they find a weakened king.

 

The Bible says in verse 7 that the king cried aloud. Literally the word means he shrieked. He is frightened. He is scared. Why didn't he interpret this handwriting on the wall as a positive sign that God was going to give him victory over the Medes that had gathered around him?

 

We interpret things according to our conscience, don't we? In the garden of Eden, when God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day, Adam ran and hid from God. Why? Because he had a guilty conscience.

 

When King Herod heard about the Lord Jesus Christ he said Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. He had a guilty conscience because he had murdered John the Baptist. We always interpret what happens according to the condition of our conscience.

 

Someone looks at you and lingers for a moment at your face and you wonder do they know? You interpret thing according to your conscience.

 

He did what they always did. He called in all the experts. In verse 7 it tells about bringing in all these experts who were supposed to know everything. They were supposed to have all of the answers. The Bible says it's the same thing again. They are not able to understand or read the writing. That's what verse 8 says.

 

We have first of all a night of celebration. But it has turned from a feast to fear.

 

 

 

The second scene is,

 

Look at verse 10. Evidently this is the queen mother. Evidently this is a reference to the widow of King Nebuchadnezzar who would have been the grandmother of Belshazzar. The queen mother comes in in verse 10. She says, "O king, live forever." Isn't that something? He wasn't going to live another night. Yet she is talking to him like he is going to live forever.

 

There are a lot of people like that. They think they are going to live forever. But you are not going to live forever. There is going to be an end to it one of these days.

 

Then she said, "Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed." Don't worry about it. Everything is going to be all right. She's an optimist.

 

verse 11

 

Who is she talking about? She's talking about Daniel. Do you see what this man is known for in the land? "In whom the spirit of the holy gods is." That was the pagan way of saying that this man is a different kind of man. This is an unusual man who is living in our midst. So they send for Daniel.

 

Verse 13

 

I want to point out to you that Daniel was not at the party that night. That's refreshing to me to read.

 

In a day of compromise and in a day when people say just go along and don't upset anybody. You don't want anybody to think you are a stick in the mud. You don't want anybody to think you are not one of the boys. I'm pleased to notice that Daniel was not at the party that night. He had some convictions and he had some courage and he didn't come.

 

There was a man in the kingdom who had an answer those people needed. When the time came, they called for a man who could get in touch with God.

 

Look at this. This gets good. 

 

Verse 17

 

He is basically saying, keep your silver, keep your gold, keep your playthings. I'm not interested in any of these. I am not for sale. I can't be bought! Daniel just blew it all away and told them to keep all their trinkets. He will interpret it for them.

 

Then he takes Belshazzar to God's schoolhouse. Have you ever been to God's schoolhouse? Daniel is going to teach him some lessons in God's schoolhouse.

 

The first lesson is a history lesson.

 

Look at verse 18-20.

 

We studied that last week.

 

Verse 21

 

He is giving Belshazzar a history lesson about his own grandfather and the dealings of God with him.

verse 22

 

He is saying you didn't learn the lessons of history. You didn't learn from the experiences of your grandfather.

 

Not only does he give him a history lesson, but he gives him a theology lesson.

 

Verse 23

 

He is basically saying, you don't even know who God is. Did you know your breath is in the very hands of God? I want you to exhale all the breath you can and just hold it. Don't inhale. Just stop right there the rest of the night. Did you know you are literally dependent on God for your next breath? God has your very breath in His hands. A person is a fool to ignore the God who holds their very breath in their hands.

 

He gives him a theology lesson.

 

That's not all he gives him a spelling lesson in verse 25. He is going to spell the words and explain the words that the handwriting on the wall conveys.

 

The first word is the word MENE in verse 26. That word means numbered. Basically he is saying, you are numbered. Your number is up.

 

This whole universe is built around numbers. All material substances are built on arrangements of certain elements. Even music is built according to the number of vibrations in the sound of the music. Your very life is built around numbers. You have so many days. You have so many weeks.

You have so many months. The very chemicals of your physical body are based on arrangement of numbers. That why in Psalm 90, verse 12, the Bible says, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." God has your number.

 

He gives him another spelling lesson. He spells the word TEKEL. That means thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.

 

In I Samuel 2, verse 3, it says, "Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed."

 

It's time for us to get on God's scales. Listen to a poet who put it this way. "Weighed in the balances and wanting, weighed but no Savior is there. Weighed but thou soul has been trifling. Weighed and found lighter than air."

 

How much do you weigh on God's scales?

 

Mene means numbered. Tekel means weighed and found wanting.

 

Upharsin means thy kingdom is divided. He is saying that this very night Belshazzar the party is over. This brings me to the third scene. It is,

Verse 30 says, "In that night." Just that quickly.

 

 

 

Historians tell us that the Medes and Persians that had surrounded the city of Babylon had been building a channel off the river Euphrates.

That night the channel was completed, and they diverted the flow of the Euphrates River into this channel. The soldiers were able to march under the walls of the city of Babylon in the bed of the Euphrates River.

 

History also tells us that they had bought off those who were guarding the gates and some of them were drunk. So the gates were opened by these conspirators and that very night the armies of the Medes and Persians came rushing into the palace where Belshazzar was. That night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

 

That event took place on October 11, 539 BC. It was all over and the head of gold now has become the arms and the chest of silver.

 

There is a handwriting on the wall against all of us. Turn to Colossians 2, verse 14. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us." Our deeds are like a handwriting on the wall. The judgment and condemnation of God against sin is like a handwriting on the wall. But the Bible says God has done something to blot out that handwriting of ordinances against us. "And took it (the handwriting) out of the way, nailing it to His cross.'

 

All that handwriting against you and me and the deeds we have done, when Jesus died on the cross, He nailed it to His cross. The handwriting on the wall has been replaced by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.