THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 2, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from June 2, 2024 from Daniel 5:1-31

Theme: Our sovereign God will one day bring down the pride of the nations that rebel against Him.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the video archive of this sermon.

Click HERE for the audio version of this sermon.

If a movie were to be made of Daniel 5—and I was the director—I’ll tell you how I’d begin it.

I’d open with a black background and with the words of Jeremiah 25:12 slowly forming on the screen. Those are the words of God Himself, and they say;

“Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,” says the Lord; “and I will make it a perpetual desolation” (Jeremiah 25:12).

You see; in Jeremiah 25, God had promised that the nation of Israel would be taken captive by the Babylonian empire because of its sin; and would be in exile for 70 years. But at the end of the 70 years, God said that He would visit judgment upon Babylon, and would restore His chosen people to their land. As we come to Daniel 5, we find that the promised 70-year period was drawing to a completion … and God was about to keep His promise. The words of that verse, then, would set the tone for the story that would follow.

Then, after those opening words faded from the screen, the movie would begin with a slow shift to a panorama shot of the exterior of the capital city of the Babylonian empire. That ancient city was breathtakingly enormous; with high walls and fortifications all around it. Historians say its walls were so thick that four chariots could ride abreast along the top. It was also well-stocked and supplied from within. It was built so that it rested atop the Euphrates River, which flowed within the city. It was a mighty city whose citizens were confident that it could withstand even a long siege from any enemy army that surrounded it. But the focus of the scene would then narrow in on the army that—indeed—was surrounding it and threatened it that evening. It was the arm of the Median-Persian empire.

The Medes and Persians had been conquering many surrounding nations. And for some time, they had also been seeking a way to break into this seemingly impenetrable city. Even at night, it looked impressive and impregnable. There seemed to be no possible way for the troops to get in from the outside. I’d close in on the faces of the military leaders as they looked upon the city in frustration. Their eyes would scan the surroundings, and seek in vain for a way to penetrate the city wall from the outside. I’d show some of the military leaders in consultation with their commander—shaking their heads as if to express the seeming impossibility of breaking in. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be able to get into the city was the mighty Euphrates glistening in the moonlight—and certainly, no human being could ford that powerful flow.

Ah! But that river! Somehow, the thought came into the commander’s mind to divert the waters of the river in some way. It seemed like a wild idea. He probably didn’t know this, but—long before that time—God had made this promise in Jeremiah 51:36 concerning Babylon: “I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.” The commander must have thought to himself, “If the depth of the river could somehow be significantly reduced, then my troops could easily slip into the city. There’s a shallow lake nearby. Maybe the river can be drained into it.” Perhaps even God Himself put this idea into his thinking. And so, after consulting with his military leaders, the commander ordered his troops to the task of digging out a channel that would divert the flow of the river into the lake. And then he watched intently as—indeed—the mighty river began to grow shallow at the base of the city. It was working! Soon, it would be low enough for his soldiers to wade through, walk across the riverbed, slip below the protective wall, and enter the city almost unnoticed.

And then, suddenly, I would shift the scene of the movie to the feast going on inside the city walls. The wine was already flowing freely. There was loud music and wild laughter. King Belshazzar—the young and reckless ruler over the Babylonian empire—was hosting an enormous banquet. He was arrogant, confident, intoxicated, and completely unaware of what was going on underneath his city.

And just as the commander of that surrounding enemy army outside wouldn’t have known what God had already said about Babylon’s springs in Jeremiah 51, neither would the king inside have known what God had already said about his wild banquet in verse 57;

“And I will make drunk
Her princes and wise men,
Her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men.
And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep
And not awake,” says the King,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts (Jeremiah 51:57).

This isn’t just an idea for a movie. It’s a true story of what was actually occurring on the evening of October 12, 539 B.C. In just a few short hours, the mighty world empire known as Babylonia would soon be completely conquered—without resistance—in one of the most remarkable military conquests in ancient history … and King Belshazzar would soon be dead.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; before we look at Daniel 5 in more detail, let’s take a moment to see it within the context of the book as a whole.

We ordinarily consider the Book of Daniel to be a prophetic book; and of course, it is. It’s been preserved in our Protestant Bibles in the section known as the Minor Prophets. But only the last six chapters of the book of Daniel focus on prophecy. The first six chapters focus on history. They tell the story of this Jewish man Daniel; and give us the background of the man through whom God gave the story of the history of the world before it happened. Generally speaking, Chapters 1 and 2 deal with Daniel’s youth, Chapters 3 and 4 with his middle age, and Chapters 5 and 6 with events near the end of his life.

Chapter 5, then, tells us the story of Daniel’s life at the time of the downfall of the Babylonian empire (the head of gold that we read about in Chapter 2) and the domination of the Median-Persian empire (the arms of silver). About 70 years would have passed since Daniel had first been taken captive from his homeland by King Nebuchadnezzar, and had been brought into the king’s service in Babylon. In the story before us, Daniel would have been an older man in his mid to upper 80s.

And it would be important to know that by the time of the story of Daniel 5, God had already revealed to Daniel some information about the events that were about to occur. Daniel 7:1 tells us that the prophecy God gave Daniel concerning the transition from Babylonian to Median-Persian power was given to him in “the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon”. And Daniel 8:1 tells us that the prophecy God gave Daniel concerning the end of the Median-Persian empire was given to him in “the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar”. So; by the time of these final hours of Belshazzar’s life, none of these tremendous events came as a surprise to Daniel. God had already told him about them in advance.

And what a lesson the events of this chapter teach us! It’s a lesson that speaks directly to the way that—throughout the prophetic ‘times of the Gentiles’—the kingdoms of this world that arrogantly defy the one true God will eventually be brought to judgment by God. It’s a defiance of tremendous proportions. It’s a defiance that began with the building of the Tower of Babel—where the kingdoms of humanity sought to make a name for themselves in rebellion against God’s command to spread out on the earth. It’s a defiance that will reach its climax in the wicked world system that will be under the rule of the antichrist—a system called ‘Mystery Babylon the Great’. And it’s a defiance that is vividly depicted for us in Daniel 5. And the great lesson that we’re given about this defiance is that our sovereign God will one day bring down the pride of the nations that rebel against Him.

How important it is, dear brothers and sisters in Christ—so long as we live in the midst of this world during what the Bible calls ‘the time of the Gentiles’—that we remain patient in our trust in the promise of God, that we keep ourselves holy and separate from the ungodly values and priorities of this world system, and set our hope completely upon the return of our Lord and Savior, King Jesus.

This is illustrated dramatically for us in this story of the fall of King Belshazzar.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; who was this king? As best as we can piece together from history, he was a grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar—the king who had taken the Jewish people captive seventy years prior.

You remember the story of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, don’t you? It was told to us in Chapters 1-4. God had revealed a dream to that mighty king in which he saw the powerful Gentile nations in succession—one after another—in the form of a mighty statue. He himself was the head of gold—the most majestic of all the kings who would rule the earth until the time of Jesus’ second coming. He had been prideful; but we’re told in Chapter 4 that God humbled him—taking his sanity away from him and causing him to crawl on the ground like an animal for seven years. At the end of that seven-year period, God had restored both his reason and his kingdom to him; and he—from then on—gave glory to the one true God and confessed that ‘the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men’.

Now; King Nebuchadnezzar died at the young age of 43. And then, his son—Evil-Merodach—reigned in his place. But Evil-Merodach only reigned for two years before he was murdered by his brother-in-law. His brother-in-law only reigned for three years before he died; and then his son—only a child at the time—reigned in his place. This child king only reigned for nine months before he was murdered; and the conspirators of the murder placed one of their own—a man named Nabonidus—on the throne in his place. Nabonidus was away from the throne for much of the time; so he himself placed his son on the throne as his co-regent; and that son was the man we will now read about in this chapter—King Belshazzar. He was the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar the Great through his mother’s line. And he clearly grew up in a very dysfunctional family.

Now; in his father’s absence, Belshazzar followed the aggressively paganistic policies of his father. He took the opportunity to turn his nation and its people in an increasingly pagan direction. And he chose this particular night to officially celebrate the worship of false gods. And this leads us to the first thing we see in this passage …

1. THE KING’S BLASPHEMOUS FEAST.

Verses 1-2 tell us;

Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them (vv. 1-2).

These gold and silver vessels were the very ones that had been made at God’s command in the time of Moses, and that had been used by the priests in the sacred worship of God in the temple in Jerusalem. Even though they had been taken along with the captives to Babylon, they were still sacred in the sight of God. In fact—in Jeremiah 27:19-22—God promised that He would one day bring them back to Jerusalem and restore them to their place in the temple. So; taking these vessels and mishandling them in the sight of God was an extraordinarily wicked thing for Belshazzar to do.

And look at what he dared to do with them. Verses 3-4 tell us;

Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone (vv. 3-4).

Belshazzar did this—as we will shortly see—in open defiance of God. This was plainly a very shocking thing for this king to do. But I have to remind you that, just a few months ago, the leaders of our own nation took Easter Sunday—a day traditionally set aside by Christians around the world to remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus—and used it instead to celebrate an international day of transgender self-identification in open rebellion against God’s created design. The sins we read about in this chapter aren’t all that far removed from our own, and we need to pray for repentance and revival in our own time.

Now; God’s hand of judgment had already been moving against the kingdom of Babylon. The Babylonian empire was about to fall. But this blasphemous act seems to have been the event that provoked God to finally make that judgment known to its king. And that’s when we read of …

2. A HAND’S OMINOUS APPEARANCE.

The king and his leaders and this rebellious crowd were drinking a toast to the false gods in open defiance of the one true God—even using the sacred vessels taken from God’s house to do so. And so; in verses 5-6, we’re told

In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other (vv. 5-6).

The king shook in fear; because this was no earthly hand. Just as his grandfather had trembled at the dreams God gave him, Belshazzar trembled at the sight of a hand sent by God to write words before him. We’re told that this occurred on the plaster of the wall opposite the lampstand; so it would have been very visible to all in the banquet hall. And just as his grandfather desperately sought the meaning of the dreams from his pagan advisers, Belshazzar desperately sought the meaning of what was written by his pagan advisers.

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Now all the king’s wise men came, but they could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed, and his lords were astonished (vv. 7-9).

It wasn’t that they couldn’t read the letters. The letters of the writing were plain and were in a language that they would have known. But its meaning was unclear—just like a child would be able to read the letter forms of the formula E=MC2, but wouldn’t be able to interpret what the formula meant. And perhaps the reason that the king’s increasing perplexity made the pagan advisers more perplexed was because they were afraid of what a king like him might then try to do. After all, his grandfather—in his own perplexity—once sought to have all the wise men of his kingdom put to death. Would that now happen to them?

King Belshazzar knew that this was a message from God. He was in a frenzy to have the answer. And that’s when we next read of …

3. THE QUEEN’S RESPECTFUL APPEAL.

We’re told in verse 10;

The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall (v. 10a).

Who, by the way, was this queen? It probably wasn’t the king’s wife; because we’ve already been told in verse 2 that his wives were at this immoral banquet. This most likely was his mother—or his grandmother—because she spoke to him with a calm but authoritative voice. She may even have been the wife of Nebuchadnezzar himself; because she had very clear knowledge of who Daniel was and what he could do. She even reminded Belshazzar how his grandfather—who she refers to as his ‘father’—turned to Daniel for advice. Verses 10-12 tell us;

The queen spoke, saying, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation” (vv. 10b-12).

It says a great deal about this woman that she knew of Daniel’s character and that the Holy Spirit was at work in him. Perhaps she was also led by the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar to also herself become a worshiper of the God of Israel. But it certainly didn’t say much for Belshazzar that he had to be reminded that a man named Daniel even existed.

So; Belshazzar called for Daniel. Perhaps he had to be called for because he had been in retirement from service to the royal palace. Or perhaps—as some have suggested—Belshazzar had discharged him and replaced him with pagan advisers. Or it may simply be that Daniel kept himself as far away as he could from such wicked events as this blasphemous feast. In any event, Daniel was called for; and he faithfully came.

And this is where we hear …

4. THE MESSAGE’S SOLEMN INTERPRETATION.

Verses 13-16 tell us;

Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom” (vv. 13-16).

By the way; why only the “third ruler in the kingdom”? It would be because Belshazzar’s father was the first and he himself was the second. This, along with a chain of gold and the honor of purple garments of royalty, would have ordinarily been a great prize. But what good would it be given a position of honor in the evening over a kingdom that would be abolished by morning?

And so, in verse 17, we read;

Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation” (v. 17).

It was not Daniel’s place to become a ruler in an ungodly kingdom. But it was his duty to declare the truth to this king. And notice that—even though he never speaks to the king disrespectfully—he does speak to the king reproachfully. He rebukes him before revealing the meaning of the writing to him. He went on to say;

“O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses” (vv. 18-21).

In other words, he reminded Belshazzar of the humbling and the repentance of his grandfather—a story that he plainly knew … but chose to ignore.

“But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written” (vv. 22-24).

In other words, Daniel made it clear to the king that the message of the writing of the hand from God was a direct result of his rebelliousness and blasphemy against the God that had previously humbled his grandfather. What a spiritual lesson this is! We should learn from our fathers and our forefathers about the goodness of God; and turn to Him as they did!

And with that introduction, the message was read. Perhaps Daniel could point to the words and call Belshazzar to look at them for himself. Verse 25 says;

“And this is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” (v. 25).

These words—probably written in the Aramaic language—were words of measurement. They spoke of units of the weight of money. Mene was another word for a mina; which was a unit of currency. Tekel was another word for shekel; which would have also had a reference to weight. And upharsin was the word for persis with an Aramaic conjunction at the beginning; which would have described the dividing of a mina into two parts. Put together, the message would have said, “NUMBERED, NUMBERED, WEIGHED, AND DIVIDED.” And that’s when Daniel gave the meaning of this message from God to the king;

“This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians” (vv. 26-28).

The message to the king of Babylon concerning him and his kingdom on that fateful night was basically this: “The Most High God, who rules over the kingdoms of men, and who gives it to whomever He chooses, has declared to you—O King Belshazzar—that your number is up. It’s repeated twice for emphasis: Your number is really and finally up. You think of yourself as weighty and important; but the mighty God that you have rebelled against has put you on His scales and has found you to be light and worthless. And now, your mighty kingdom will be taken from you, split up, and divided amidst another kingdom.”

And with that, we read of …

5. THE EMPIRE’S SUDDEN FALL.

The message didn’t really seem to have sunk very deeply into Belshazzar’s heart. Verse 29 tells us;

Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom (v. 29).

And I suppose we could say that for a brief time, Daniel—the Jewish man who had been taken captive to the Babylonian kingdom—became, against his will, the third in power over a world empire. But it was indeed a very brief time. Hardly had the robe and the gold chain been placed on Daniel before the soldiers of the Medes and Persians broke in and raided the capital in an almost bloodless conquest. Verses 30-31 tell us;

That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old (vv. 30-31).

People went to bed that night as citizens of the Babylonian empire, and they woke up in the morning as citizens of the Median-Persian empire. And Daniel—this faithful and honorable man of God—went on to serve as an adviser to the royal court of the Medes and Persians. He endured in that role all the way up to the reign of King Cyrus—the very king who permitted the people of Israel to return to their land and carry those gold and silver vessels back to the house of God.

* * * * * * * * * * *

So; the great lesson of this passage to the world is this: The writing has already—as it were—been written on the wall by the hand of our sovereign God. He absolutely will one day bring down the pride of the nations that rebel against Him. He absolutely will set His appointed King—King Jesus—upon the throne; and Jesus absolutely will rule over the nations as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’. As it says in Psalm 2:12, let the kings of this world ‘kiss the Son, lest He be angry’.

And what is the specific and practical implication of this for you and me, dear fellow follower of Jesus? I suggest that we find it laid out for us in 1 Thessalonians 5;

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).

AE