Background:

The timing of Daniel 5 is significant. It marks the end of the mighty Babylonian Kingdom exactly like the dream God gave to Nebuchadnezzar’s- the head of gold was replaced by the chest and arms of silver of the Medo-Persian kingdom. The year is 539B.C. It’s been 23 years since the death of King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian kingdom has passed through 4 different kings. The reigning king in chapter 5 is Belshazzar.  He is not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, although he is referred to as such. He is actually the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. His father, Nabonidus married the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Just as a historical side note: For centuries many independent historians argued that Belshazzar was a fictional character created by Daniel. They clocked Nabonidus as the last Babylonian King, but scripture recorded Belshazzar as the last one. Guess who was right? The scriptures of course. King Nabonidus was absent from Babylon for 10 of his 17 years of reign and he appointed his son Belshazzar as co-regent of the throne. This co-regency is explained in Daniel 5:7. Over the years many archaeological finds have proven the existence of Belshazzar and the actual hall in the palace where chapter 5 unfolds.

In Daniel 5, King Belshazzar was 36 years old. Does anyone want to guess how old Daniel is? Taken captive in 605 B.C as a teenager here in chapter 5 it’s 539 B.C (66 years). So 66 + 17= 83.

“Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.” (Daniel 5:1 NLT)

• While this party was going on, a Medo- Persian alliance lead by the Median King Darius and the Persian King Cyrus and their armies surrounded Babylon. Historical books reveal that Belshazzar and his Babylonian army were so cocky and arrogant that they would mock the Medo-Persian army that surrounded the city walls. They thought Babylon was invincible.
• The city walls surrounding Babylon were 320 feet high, 80 feet wide, 56 miles long. They had enough provisions to last them 20 years and the Euphrates River ran through the city providing fresh water.
• That night the Medo-Persians would dug a canal, diverted the Euphrates River, marched under the wall into the city.

 STATEMENT: PRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL

 How often do we all fall in that trap of the enemy? Here’s what the word says:

⁸ BE SOBER, BE VIGILANT; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith (1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJ)

•  Pride will cause us to sleep while the enemy is attacking
• Pride will cause us to do stupid things

 ² While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines…

⁴ While they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. (Daniel 5:2, 4 NLT)

• Belshazzar makes the grievous mistake of treating the holy as unholy
• Did you know that Satan’s agenda is to: Desecrate what God has Consecrated. To defile what God has declared holy.
• You and everything about you were consecrated, set apart for God’s holy use. Just like a vessel.

 ¹⁶ For I have CHOSEN (SANCTIFIED) THIS TEMPLE AND SET IT APART TO BE HOLY—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. (2 Chronicles 7:16 NLT)

• Temple here is not referring to a building made by human hands but our spiritual body as a vessel of honor that holds the presence of the Holy Spirit

²⁰ In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. ²¹ IF YOU KEEP YOURSELF PURE, YOU WILL BE A SPECIAL UTENSIL FOR HONORABLE USE. YOUR LIFE WILL BE CLEAN, AND YOU WILL BE READY FOR THE MASTER TO USE YOU FOR EVERY GOOD WORK. (2 Timothy 2:20-21 NLT)

• Your responsibility and my responsibility is to keep our pure and holy. Honoring God by doing what God has called us to do.
• Where is Daniel in all of this? Why is he not at the party?
• Daniel made the decision not to mingle with cheap utensils in the junk drawer.
• There are some parties that you just don’t need to go to. There are some “friends” that you just don’t need to have.

⁵ Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, ⁶ and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him. (Daniel 5:5-6 NLT)

• Let me just say this, it freaked out the king. He sobered up pretty fast. He calls for all his astrologers, fortune tellers, and enchanters but no one could make any sense of these strange writings on the wall.
• Daniel at the age of 83, was no longer part of Belshazzar’s administration. Perhaps judged as too old and forgotten.

STATEMENT: YOUR AGE OR CIRCUMSTANCE ARE NEVER DISQUALIFYERS FOR GOD

• As long as you are breathing, God is not done! You keep obeying God and Keep moving forward in the same direction God has put you on.
• Eugene Peterson has authored many books including the Message Bible, which is an idiomatic translation. One of the books he wrote is called: “A long obedience in the same direction”
• One of the highlights of this book is: “We tend to overestimate what we can do in a year or two, but we underestimate what God can do in 10 or 20”
• Allow me to give you a quick perspective of Daniel’s time in Babylon:
  • He served crazy King Nebuchadnezzar for 43 years
  • He served Nebuchadnezzar’s son, known as Evil-Merodach for 2 years before he was assassinated by his brother in law
  • He served another crazy king (Neriglissar) for 4 years
  • He served his son Labashi-Marduk who ruled for 2 months before he was assassinated by Nabonidus, the father of Belshazzar.
• Daniel did not have it easy, but he stayed the course and remained faithful to God!
• At the age of 83, Daniel never gave up hope, never stopped praying, never stopped prophesying.

YOUR JOURNEY WITH GOD IS ONE OF LONG OBEDIENCE IN THE SAME DIRECTION GOD HAS PUT YOU ON.

• He who began a good work is going to carry it to completion.
• If you stay humble, God will lift you up in due time.
• If you stay hungry, God will satisfy you with his promises.
• If you stay obedient, God will do it in you and through you.

The queen mother heard what was happening and hurried to the banquet hall. She told Belshazzar about Daniel. The only man who could interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Immediately Daniel was summoned.

Belshazzar points to the writings on the wall and said: “If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will have a gold chain placed around your neck. You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.” (verse 16)

Listen to the boldness of Daniel as he addresses King Belshazzar: “Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means.”

STATEMENT: There are some gifts not worth receiving if they take you away from God

Daniel told him how God humbled King Nebuchadnezzar. Because of his arrogance and pride, God stripped him down to nothing. He ate grass like an animal for 7 years until he learned that God rules over all the kingdoms of the world.

²² “You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and YOU KNEW ALL THIS, YET YOU HAVE NOT HUMBLED YOURSELF. (Daniel 5:22 NLT)

STATEMENT: The greatest tragedy in life is not that we don’t know. The greatest tragedy in life is that we don’t do what we know.

Jesus said: “Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going.” (John 12:35 NLT)

• Knowing that light exist is not good enough. We are called to walk in the light!
• The writings on the wall were: Mene, mene, tekel, and Parsin.

Mene means ‘numbered’- God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
Tekel means ‘weighed’- You have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.
Parsin means ‘divided’- Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

• That night King Belshazzar was killed and King Darius, the Mede, took over the Babylonian kingdom

 CLOSING STATEMENTS:

• You have been weighed and found wanting. The reality is that we been weighed and found wanting
• Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
• Here’s the reality we have all been weighed and found that we don’t measure up.
• We all owed a debt that we could not pay.
• But God sent His son to pay that debt for us. A debt that He did not owe.
• On the cross that debt was paid.
• Listen to Jesus’ last words: “It is finished!” in Greek the word is “Tetelestai”
• An accounting term which means- final payment on a debt

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJ)