May 12, 2025 • 28 mins
As we continue our Courage in the Fire series, Pastor Joe walks us through Daniel 5, where King Belshazzar throws a wild party using sacred temple vessels, showing complete disregard for God. A mysterious hand appears and writes a message no one can interpret—until Daniel steps in to deliver God’s judgment. Pastor Joe reminds us that just as the king called upon Daniel to interpret the writing on the wall, Christians ought to be ready to answer for their faith when called upon by those who are not believers.
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(00:00):
This is a reading from Daniel chapterfive.
King Belshazzar made a great feast
for a thousand of his lordsand drank wine in front of the thousand.
Belshazzar,when he tasted the wine, commanded
that the vessels of goldand of silver, that Nebuchadnezzar
his father, had taken out of the templein Jerusalem, to be brought,
(00:20):
that the king and his lords, his wives,and his concubine to my drink from them.
Then they brought in the golden vesselsthat had been taken
out of the temple,the house of God in Jerusalem,
and the king and his lords, his wivesand his concubines drank from them.
They drank wine and praise the God of gold
and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
(00:42):
Immediatelythe fingers of a human hand appeared
and rode on the plasterof the wall of the king's palace
opposite the lampstand,and the king saw the hand as it rode.
Then the king's color changed,and his thoughts alarmed him.
His limbs gave way, and his kneesknocked together.
The king called loudlyto bring in the enchanters.
The Chaldeans, and the astrologers.
(01:04):
The kingdeclared to the wise men of Babylon,
whoever reads this writing and shows meits interpretation,
shall be clothed with purple,and have a chain of gold
around his neck, and shall be the thirdruler in the kingdom.
Then all the king's wise men came in,but they could not read the writing,
or make known to the kingthe interpretation.
Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed,
(01:26):
and his color changed,and his lords were perplexed.
The queen,because of the words of the king
and his lord, came into the banquetinghall, and the queen declared.
O King, live forever.
Let not your thoughtsalarm you or your color change.
There is a man in your kingdomin whom the spirit of the Holy God,
in the days of your father, lightand understanding
(01:47):
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, enchanters,Chaldeans, and astrologers,
because an excellent spirit, knowledgeand understanding
to interpret dreams, explainriddles, and solve problems
were found in this Daniel,whom the king named Belshazzar.
(02:11):
Now let Daniel be called,
and he will show the interpretationthat Daniel's brought in before the king.
The king answered and said to Daniel,you are that Daniel,
one of the exiles of Judah, whom the kingmy father brought from Judah.
I have heard of you,that the spirit of the gods is in you,
and that light and understandingand excellent wisdom are found in you.
(02:31):
Now the wise men, the enchanters,have been brought in before me
to read this writingand make known to me its interpretation.
But they could not showthe interpretation of the matter.
But I have heard that you can giveinterpretations and solve problems.
Now, if you can read the writingand make known to me its interpretation,
you shall be clothed with purpleand have a chain of gold
around your neck, and shall be the thirdruler in the kingdom.
(02:54):
Then Daniel answered and saidbefore the king,
let your gift be for yourself,and give your rewards to another.
Nevertheless,I will read the writing to the king
and make known to him the interpretation.
O King,the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar
your father kingship and greatnessand glory and majesty,
and because of the greatnessthat he gave him, all peoples,
(03:16):
nations, and languagestrembled and feared before him
whom he wouldhe killed and whom he would he kept alive.
And he would he raised up,and whom he would he humbled.
But when his heart was lifted up
and his spirit was hardened,so that he dealt proudly,
he was brought down from his kinglythrone, and his glory was taken from him.
(03:37):
He was drivenfrom among the children of mankind,
and his mindwas made like that of a beast.
And his dwellingwas with the wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox,and his body was wet
with the dew of heaven, until he knew thatthe Most High God rules.
The kingdom of mankind sets over it.
He, he will in you, his son Belshazzar,have not humbled your heart,
(03:58):
though you knew all this,
but you have lifted up yourselfagainst the Lord of heaven,
and the vessels of his househave been brought in before you,
and you and your lords, your wives andyour concubines have drunk wine from them.
And you have praised the gods of silverand gold, of bronze,
iron, wood, and stone,which do not see or hear, or known,
(04:18):
but the God in whose hand is your breath,and who are all your ways.
You have not honored.
Then from his presence the hand was sent,and this writing was inscribed.
And this is the writing that wasinscribed, many, many tackle and parson.
This is the interpretation of the matter.
Many God is numbered the days of yourkingdom and brought it to an end tackle.
(04:41):
You have been weighed in the balancesand found wanting.
Paris.
Your kingdom is dividedand given to the meat and Persians.
Then Belshazzar gave the command,and Daniel was clothed with purple.
A chain of gold was put around his neck,and a proclamation
was made about him that he should bethe third ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar,the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius
(05:03):
the Mede received the kingdom,being about 62 years old.
Everybody,
good morning and welcome to ChristCommunity Chapel.
I'm really, really glad that you're here.
Thanks for coming.
Happy Mother's Day.
To those of you who are moms,this is a day where we recognize
the quiet heroes that are in our lives.
(05:25):
There is no lovequite like a mother's love.
So if you're a mother, grandmother,a step mom, a single mom, an adoptive mom,
or you're just a womanwho, is a mom to somebody who needs a mom.
Thank you. We honor you today.
We also know that today can be a hard dayfor any number of reasons.
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So if this is a hard day for you,I want you to know that we see you.
We love you.
We're really glad that you're here.
You're in the right place
because our church,we want our church to be like a family.
And you belong here. All right.
So happy Mother's Day.
All right.
This is the third week of ourfour part series on Daniel.
(06:08):
We we're calling it courage in the fire.
We're looking at stories about Danieland his three
friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
They were exiles in a foreign countrycalled Babylon.
And when you're in exile,in a foreign country, at first
you are very, very differentthan the prevailing culture.
(06:29):
But culture is like a riverthat flows in one direction.
And it's the easiest thing to dois to just let
that river take youand just float down the river.
It takes tremendous resolve,
tremendous courageto stand against the current.
One of the reasons we chosethis series is because
(06:50):
of its similarities to our culture,
that if our culture is like a riverthat flows one direction,
is flowing away from God,it takes great resolve, great courage,
to live for Jesus right here, right now.
You know, there are a lot of reasonswhy I love the Bible.
(07:11):
One of the reasons is so brutally honestabout the people I in the Bible is
it shows them, wartsand all, all their flaws.
Which makes sense because the main themeof the Bible is that we need a Savior,
and it's comforting,to know that the people in the Bible
needed a Savioras much as I do as much as you do.
(07:32):
The downside is that there aren'ta lot of people to look up to or examples
for other than Jesus,who's like, way up here.
But Daniel'sone of the few people in the Bible
with no gaping flaws.
He he wasn't a clergyman.
He wasn't a minister.
He was a a businessmanand an administrator
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who was so good at what he did,
so full of integrity that he served
four different administrations,four different kings.
And, chapter one, it's King Nebuchadnezzarhere in chapter five.
It's a king called Belshazzar.
We had the whole of chapterfive read to us.
(08:15):
It's it's where the iconic phrasehandwriting on the wall originated.
I have three pointsthat I want to pull out of chapter five.
I want to talk about the party.
I want to talk about the writing,and I want to talk about the moment
the party is what Belshazzar does.
The writing is what God does,and the moment is what Daniel does.
(08:41):
All right, first the party.
Chapter five starts out like this.
King Belshazzarmade a great feast for a thousand of his
lordsand drank wine in front of the thousand.
Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine,commanded the vessels of gold
and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar
his father, had taken out of the templein Jerusalem, to be brought at the king
(09:02):
and his lords, his wivesand his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought in the golden vessels
that had been taken out of the temple,the house of God in Jerusalem,
and the king and his lords, his wivesand his concubines drank from them.
They drank wine
and praise the gods of goldand silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
It's pretty wild party.
(09:23):
So, you know,
it starts out with a feast for a thousand.
Like, I don't know when the last timeyou had a party
for a thousand of your closest friends.
That's what Belshazzar is doing.
Then he breaks outthe wine with the wine, is flowing freely,
breaks out the womenas his wives and concubines
come, which is very unusualfor that day and age.
(09:45):
And then it's like Belshazzarsays, what the heck?
Let's throw in a little blasphemy.
Go get all the holy stuffthat you can find and we'll use it
instead of our party cupsfor this shindig.
All right, it is a wild party.
One of the things that you should knowis that historians tell us that,
a week to ten days before that,
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a king named King Cyrus of Persia
had come down with his armyand met the Babylonian army
and decimated the Babylonian armyabout 50 miles away from the capital.
So Babylon was essentially defenselessat this point.
So Belshazzar knows that death is coming,
(10:29):
is coming like a tidal wave.
And that's the context of this party.
A couple things.
One is that the rewardand judgment of God,
sometimes is slow in coming,
(10:49):
but it comes
what I mean by thatis that sometimes it seems like God's
not paying attentionto obedience or disobedience.
I mean, you can do all the right thingsand be obey
obeying God, and nothing seems likeit's working out in your life.
You know, Daniel, here
is somebody who has lived a lifeby all indication
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of consistent, faithful obedience.
Well, one author called a long obediencein the same direction.
And here in
chapter five, he's been discarded.
He's been just cast away.
He's been marginalizedeven though he has been obedient.
(11:34):
Belshazzar is a kingwho's living more like a frat boy,
and he has wealth and power and prestige.
But judgment is coming.
It's slow,
but it comes.
And that means if if you are obeying God,you're doing all the right things.
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And things don't seem likeyou're not being rewarded for it.
Be patient. God sees.
It also meansif you're doing the wrong thing
and you know it and you think you'regetting away with it, you're not.
God sees.
That's the first thing.
The second thing is there's athis party is almost frenetic.
(12:17):
I mean, it isit is a panicky kind of party.
And in that way, it's a microcosm ismof our world and our culture right now.
My dad was an English major, in college,and he loved Shakespeare.
And he would tell me about the playswhen I was growing up.
And hehe would quote Shakespeare sometimes.
And one of the quotes I still rememberis a passage from Macbeth,
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and it
says that life's but a walking shadow,
a poor player who stress and frets
his hour upon the stage and has heardno more.
It's the tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,signifying nothing.
One of the reasons that Shakespearewas such a genius was his ability
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to kind of lay open the human heartand show us what is inside of us.
And that passage kind of shows
us the deep fear every human being
has of being insignificant of our lives,
just not mattering at all.
(13:27):
Here in the book of Daniel,with Belshazzar
knowing that death is coming,it's like he's casting around just to try,
try to find something that shows himself
that he has significance.
He starts with this big feast
to show his power and his wealthand the women and pleasure,
and then finally raisinghis fist in defiance of God.
(13:52):
I told you, there are a
lot of reasons why I love the Bible.
One of the other reasonsis that the Bible, like Shakespeare,
is able to open the human heartand show us what we feel.
But more than Shakespeare,what the Bible does, it shows us why
we feel, what we feeland what to do about it.
(14:14):
When God creates human beings,when he creates Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve
are in perfect relationship with him
and they know exactly who they are.
They have identity,they have purpose, they have significance.
And then when sin enters the world,
that breaks the relationship with God
(14:35):
and every human being, everyone you know
is on this desperate search for identity
and significance.
And all you have to do is look aroundand see.
It's it's almost it's a frenetic search.
People are panic. Yeah. I googled,
(14:55):
the question how many genders are there?
And a site called Team Talk, gave me this.
There are many different genders,including male, female, transgender,
gender neutral, non-binary, gender pin,gender, gender queer, two spirit,
third gender, and all or noneor a combination of these.
(15:19):
Those are ten different variables.
And it ends by saying it could bea combination of any of the 1010
different variables in a combination,or it's that over a thousand
different possibilities. What?
Why would any culture in the worldsay that there are a thousand different?
You know why?
It's this desperate, frantic search
(15:43):
for significance,for meaning, for identity?
The fourth century theologian Augustinehad it right when he said,
Oh God, you have made us for yourself.
And our hearts are restlesstill they find their rest in thee.
That's the first point.
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The second point is the writing.
So Belshazzarthrows this huge party and then,
ask for all the holy vesselsto be brought out.
He blasphemes and then a hand comesand writes on the wall.
This is what it says.
Immediately the fingers of a human handappeared and wrote on the plaster
(16:24):
of the wall of the king's palaceopposite the lampstand.
And the king saw the hand as it wrote.
The king's color changed,and his thoughts alarmed, and his limbs
gave way in his knees knocked together.
That's where we get that iconic phrase,the handwriting on the wall.
My first question is.
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Why would God do that?
Oh, why would he write
on the wall at all?
I mean, judgment was coming.
Belshazzar obviously deserved judgment.
Not only had he ignored God,he had blasphemed to God.
If I if I was God, I would have just letthe judgment come without warning.
(17:08):
The Persian army, fierce and merciless.
But instead God writes on the wall.
And Belshazzar,
who didn't want anythingto do with God, a moment before
now, is desperate to find out
what God is saying to him.
(17:30):
Do you see how gracious that is?
I used to think that God wroteon the wall, really?
To just let Belshazzar know the jig was upand it was time to pay the piper.
But that's not it at all.
C.S. Lewis has a really famous quoteabout pain.
He says, Godwhispers to us in our pleasures.
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God speaks to us in our conscience,
but God shouts to us in our pain.
Pain is God's megaphone
to rouse a deaf world.
What God was doing to
Belshazzar was getting his attention.
He was giving him
(18:11):
one last
chance, which is incredibly gracious.
I met with a man a couple of weeks ago
who has just been diagnosed with stagefour cancer.
He's going to fight it with all he has,
which is exactly the right thing to do.
But in the middle of our conversation,he said,
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you know, I I've never been closer to Godthan I am right now.
I've never been closer to my family.
I've never treated every day as a gift.
A diagnosis like that
can be like handwriting on the wallcan make your knees buckle.
It can also be an invitation
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from God
to draw close to him.
And this is what is true.
If you live long enough,you will experience
something thatwill make your knees buckle.
Handwriting on the wall
is coming for all of us.
That's one thing.
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The second thing that strikes meabout the handwriting on the wall
is that God writes in a codethat's so weird.
Like he writesfour words, many, many tickled Berson.
And it's not like I have to believethat God knew the Babylonian language.
My guess is God is pretty fluent.
You know, in all languages.
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Why does he write in code?
Like Belshazzar is desperate to know
what God has said,
and he writes in a code.
That brings me to my third point,which is the moment.
So Belshazzar throws this wild
party of God right on the wall.
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Belshazzar is desperateto know what God is saying,
so he offers this huge reward,but no one can tell him.
And then the Queen speaks up.
And this is what the Queen says.
The Queen,because of the words of the king
and his lords,came into the banqueting hall,
and the queen declared,oh King, live forever.
(20:15):
Let not your thoughtsalarm you or your color change.
There's a man in your kingdomin whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
In the days of your father.
Light and understanding and wisdom, likethe wisdom of the gods were found in him.
And King Nebuchadnezzar,your father, your father, the king
made him chief of the magicians,enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers,
(20:37):
because an excellent spirit, knowledgeand understanding to interpret dreams,
explain riddles, and solve problemswere found in this Daniel,
whom the king named Belteshazzar
now let Daniel be called,
and he will show the interpretation.
One of the reasons we chosethis series is we were.
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We wanted all of us to look at the courage
that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego had so
we could be inspiredto have the same courage.
What happens here is that
Belshazzar experiencessomething that makes his knees buckle.
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He needs to know what God has said.
He doesn't know who to turn to,and the Queen remembers Daniel.
And what she remembers about Danielis his reputation
that he had an excellent spirit.
This is what is true.
You may be the only Christianin your family.
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You may be the only Christian at work,
the only Christian at your gym.
And everyone in your life at some
point is going to experiencesomething that will make their knees
buckle.
And when that happens
and they need someone to talk to them,
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live your life in such a way
that you're the one they think of
that when they think, man, I don't know
what to do at this moment in my life.
I don't know what's going to happen.
I need to talk to someone who can tell me
that to be.
I remember years ago I joined a bike club,
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in part because I wanted to ride,but, in part because I wanted to be around
people who were not Christians,not church people.
Not not that I was so tired of you guys,
but it was going to give me an opportunity
maybe to talk to them about Jesus. But,
that was a pretty serious bike cluband we were out of breath
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most of the time,so there was no time to talk.
So I wondered if I wasever going to get a chance.
And then one of our riders
got hit by a car,and I was the first call they made.
And I remember getting the call,
and then Saint John's been hit by a car.
Can you come to the emergency room?
We need you now.
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And that was my moment.
There's going to come a moment
in the lives of the people around you
who they need to talk tosomebody live your life in such a way
that when that happens, they think of you.
Then the second thing that happens is
Daniel's offered a rewardand he turns down the reward.
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And it's not just that he's
being snarky about the reward,
it's because he doesn't.
He wants to make sure that Belshazzarknows he doesn't have mixed motives,
that what he's going to tell himthis message from God isn't
for some other reason.
You know, sometimes I think I hear about,you know, Christians getting
into conversations with non-Christians,and it becomes an argument.
(23:52):
And it's it's almost like the Christianwants to be right
more than we wantto bring someone to Jesus.
And that's a mixed motive
here.
Daniel doesn't
make an appointment with Belshazzarso he can tell him why he's wrong.
He just waits for Belshazzarto have that moment when his knees buckle
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and he calls for Daniel.
And then Daniel talks.
And what Daniel says, he launchesinto the story about Nebuchadnezzar.
He says, O King,the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar
your father kingship and greatnessand glory and majesty,
and because of the greatnessthat he gave him, all peoples,
nations, and languages trembled and fearedbefore him whom he would.
(24:39):
He killed, whom he would
he kept alive, whom he would,he raise up, whom he would he humble.
But when his heart was lifted upand his spirit was hardened,
so he dealt proudly.
He was brought down from his kinglythrone, and his glory was taken from him.
He was drivenfrom among the children of mankind,
and his mind was madelike that of a beast, and swelling
(24:59):
was with the wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox.
His body was wet, and the dew of heaven,until he knew that the Most High God rules
the kingdom of mankind,and sets over at whom he will.
And you, his son Belshazzarhad not humbled your heart, though
you knew all this, but you've lifted upyourself against the Lord of heaven,
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and the vessels of his househave been brought in before you,
and you and your Lord.
Your wives and concubineshave drunk wine from them,
and you praise the gods of silverand gold, of bronze, iron,
wood, and stone,which you do not see or hear, or know,
but the God in whose hand is your breath,and whose are all your ways.
(25:42):
You have not honor.
What's he doing?
What he's doing with Belshazzaris he's giving them hope.
What he's saying is, you knowyour father, Nebuchadnezzar, he was great.
Probably greater than you.
He made the same mistake.
He was weighed on the scale
(26:02):
by God and found wanting.
But he repented,
and God was gracious.
You know what he's doing?
He's giving him the gospel.
You see that,
right?
When when somebody comes to youand they're something's happened
in their knees, a buckle, they're saying,I don't know what to do,
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what how do I face this?
You can tell them, listen,
let me start with this.
And what you need to know is
Daniel had no ideahow Belshazzar was going to respond.
He left that up to God,but he gave him the gospel.
You can sayto the people in your family, at work,
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at the gym,
listen,
you've been weighed on the scaleand found wanting.
This is what the Bible says we all have.
But Jesus has come
so that you could be saved.
Don't you see?
This is God being gracious,God getting your attention
because he wants relationship with you.
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You may be the only.
You're the only Christian in some circle,
and in that circle it's going to happen.
There's going to behandwriting on the wall when it happens.
Live your lifein such a way that it's you.
They think of,
and then tell them the gospel.
Have the courage to speak
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and then leave the results to God.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we come to you and I am.
I'm grateful for it.
I love the book of Daniel.
I love what he does here.
But more than that, I love what you do.
That Belshazzar, as far away from youas he could possibly be.
(27:50):
You still give him an opportunity
like you gave me,like you've given all of us.
Like you're giving somebodyright here, right now.
Lord, I pray that we will turn to you.
And after that,I pray that we will live our lives
in such a waythat when the people around us
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have something
that makes their knees buckle,that they'll think of us
and we'll be able to share your lovewith them.
The news of Jesus.
Thanks for your grace.
Thanks for giving ussuch a wonderful Savior.
We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
This is a reading from Daniel chapterfive.
King Belshazzar made a great feast
for a thousand of his lordsand drank wine in front of the thousand.
Belshazzar,when he tasted the wine, commanded
that the vessels of goldand of silver, that Nebuchadnezzar
his father, had taken out of the templein Jerusalem, to be brought,
(00:20):
that the king and his lords, his wives,and his concubine to my drink from them.
Then they brought in the golden vesselsthat had been taken
out of the temple,the house of God in Jerusalem,
and the king and his lords, his wivesand his concubines drank from them.
They drank wine and praise the God of gold
and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
(00:42):
Immediatelythe fingers of a human hand appeared
and rode on the plasterof the wall of the king's palace
opposite the lampstand,and the king saw the hand as it rode.
Then the king's color changed,and his thoughts alarmed him.
His limbs gave way, and his kneesknocked together.
The king called loudlyto bring in the enchanters.
The Chaldeans, and the astrologers.
(01:04):
The kingdeclared to the wise men of Babylon,
whoever reads this writing and shows meits interpretation,
shall be clothed with purple,and have a chain of gold
around his neck, and shall be the thirdruler in the kingdom.
Then all the king's wise men came in,but they could not read the writing,
or make known to the kingthe interpretation.
Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed,
(01:26):
and his color changed,and his lords were perplexed.
The queen,because of the words of the king
and his lord, came into the banquetinghall, and the queen declared.
O King, live forever.
Let not your thoughtsalarm you or your color change.
There is a man in your kingdomin whom the spirit of the Holy God,
in the days of your father, lightand understanding
(01:47):
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, enchanters,Chaldeans, and astrologers,
because an excellent spirit, knowledgeand understanding
to interpret dreams, explainriddles, and solve problems
were found in this Daniel,whom the king named Belshazzar.
(02:11):
Now let Daniel be called,
and he will show the interpretationthat Daniel's brought in before the king.
The king answered and said to Daniel,you are that Daniel,
one of the exiles of Judah, whom the kingmy father brought from Judah.
I have heard of you,that the spirit of the gods is in you,
and that light and understandingand excellent wisdom are found in you.
(02:31):
Now the wise men, the enchanters,have been brought in before me
to read this writingand make known to me its interpretation.
But they could not showthe interpretation of the matter.
But I have heard that you can giveinterpretations and solve problems.
Now, if you can read the writingand make known to me its interpretation,
you shall be clothed with purpleand have a chain of gold
around your neck, and shall be the thirdruler in the kingdom.
(02:54):
Then Daniel answered and saidbefore the king,
let your gift be for yourself,and give your rewards to another.
Nevertheless,I will read the writing to the king
and make known to him the interpretation.
O King,the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar
your father kingship and greatnessand glory and majesty,
and because of the greatnessthat he gave him, all peoples,
(03:16):
nations, and languagestrembled and feared before him
whom he wouldhe killed and whom he would he kept alive.
And he would he raised up,and whom he would he humbled.
But when his heart was lifted up
and his spirit was hardened,so that he dealt proudly,
he was brought down from his kinglythrone, and his glory was taken from him.
(03:37):
He was drivenfrom among the children of mankind,
and his mindwas made like that of a beast.
And his dwellingwas with the wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox,and his body was wet
with the dew of heaven, until he knew thatthe Most High God rules.
The kingdom of mankind sets over it.
He, he will in you, his son Belshazzar,have not humbled your heart,
(03:58):
though you knew all this,
but you have lifted up yourselfagainst the Lord of heaven,
and the vessels of his househave been brought in before you,
and you and your lords, your wives andyour concubines have drunk wine from them.
And you have praised the gods of silverand gold, of bronze,
iron, wood, and stone,which do not see or hear, or known,
(04:18):
but the God in whose hand is your breath,and who are all your ways.
You have not honored.
Then from his presence the hand was sent,and this writing was inscribed.
And this is the writing that wasinscribed, many, many tackle and parson.
This is the interpretation of the matter.
Many God is numbered the days of yourkingdom and brought it to an end tackle.
(04:41):
You have been weighed in the balancesand found wanting.
Paris.
Your kingdom is dividedand given to the meat and Persians.
Then Belshazzar gave the command,and Daniel was clothed with purple.
A chain of gold was put around his neck,and a proclamation
was made about him that he should bethe third ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar,the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius
(05:03):
the Mede received the kingdom,being about 62 years old.
Everybody,
good morning and welcome to ChristCommunity Chapel.
I'm really, really glad that you're here.
Thanks for coming.
Happy Mother's Day.
To those of you who are moms,this is a day where we recognize
the quiet heroes that are in our lives.
(05:25):
There is no lovequite like a mother's love.
So if you're a mother, grandmother,a step mom, a single mom, an adoptive mom,
or you're just a womanwho, is a mom to somebody who needs a mom.
Thank you. We honor you today.
We also know that today can be a hard dayfor any number of reasons.
(05:45):
So if this is a hard day for you,I want you to know that we see you.
We love you.
We're really glad that you're here.
You're in the right place
because our church,we want our church to be like a family.
And you belong here. All right.
So happy Mother's Day.
All right.
This is the third week of ourfour part series on Daniel.
(06:08):
We we're calling it courage in the fire.
We're looking at stories about Danieland his three
friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
They were exiles in a foreign countrycalled Babylon.
And when you're in exile,in a foreign country, at first
you are very, very differentthan the prevailing culture.
(06:29):
But culture is like a riverthat flows in one direction.
And it's the easiest thing to dois to just let
that river take youand just float down the river.
It takes tremendous resolve,
tremendous courageto stand against the current.
One of the reasons we chosethis series is because
(06:50):
of its similarities to our culture,
that if our culture is like a riverthat flows one direction,
is flowing away from God,it takes great resolve, great courage,
to live for Jesus right here, right now.
You know, there are a lot of reasonswhy I love the Bible.
(07:11):
One of the reasons is so brutally honestabout the people I in the Bible is
it shows them, wartsand all, all their flaws.
Which makes sense because the main themeof the Bible is that we need a Savior,
and it's comforting,to know that the people in the Bible
needed a Savioras much as I do as much as you do.
(07:32):
The downside is that there aren'ta lot of people to look up to or examples
for other than Jesus,who's like, way up here.
But Daniel'sone of the few people in the Bible
with no gaping flaws.
He he wasn't a clergyman.
He wasn't a minister.
He was a a businessmanand an administrator
(07:55):
who was so good at what he did,
so full of integrity that he served
four different administrations,four different kings.
And, chapter one, it's King Nebuchadnezzarhere in chapter five.
It's a king called Belshazzar.
We had the whole of chapterfive read to us.
(08:15):
It's it's where the iconic phrasehandwriting on the wall originated.
I have three pointsthat I want to pull out of chapter five.
I want to talk about the party.
I want to talk about the writing,and I want to talk about the moment
the party is what Belshazzar does.
The writing is what God does,and the moment is what Daniel does.
(08:41):
All right, first the party.
Chapter five starts out like this.
King Belshazzarmade a great feast for a thousand of his
lordsand drank wine in front of the thousand.
Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine,commanded the vessels of gold
and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar
his father, had taken out of the templein Jerusalem, to be brought at the king
(09:02):
and his lords, his wivesand his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought in the golden vessels
that had been taken out of the temple,the house of God in Jerusalem,
and the king and his lords, his wivesand his concubines drank from them.
They drank wine
and praise the gods of goldand silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
It's pretty wild party.
(09:23):
So, you know,
it starts out with a feast for a thousand.
Like, I don't know when the last timeyou had a party
for a thousand of your closest friends.
That's what Belshazzar is doing.
Then he breaks outthe wine with the wine, is flowing freely,
breaks out the womenas his wives and concubines
come, which is very unusualfor that day and age.
(09:45):
And then it's like Belshazzarsays, what the heck?
Let's throw in a little blasphemy.
Go get all the holy stuffthat you can find and we'll use it
instead of our party cupsfor this shindig.
All right, it is a wild party.
One of the things that you should knowis that historians tell us that,
a week to ten days before that,
(10:06):
a king named King Cyrus of Persia
had come down with his armyand met the Babylonian army
and decimated the Babylonian armyabout 50 miles away from the capital.
So Babylon was essentially defenselessat this point.
So Belshazzar knows that death is coming,
(10:29):
is coming like a tidal wave.
And that's the context of this party.
A couple things.
One is that the rewardand judgment of God,
sometimes is slow in coming,
(10:49):
but it comes
what I mean by thatis that sometimes it seems like God's
not paying attentionto obedience or disobedience.
I mean, you can do all the right thingsand be obey
obeying God, and nothing seems likeit's working out in your life.
You know, Daniel, here
is somebody who has lived a lifeby all indication
(11:13):
of consistent, faithful obedience.
Well, one author called a long obediencein the same direction.
And here in
chapter five, he's been discarded.
He's been just cast away.
He's been marginalizedeven though he has been obedient.
(11:34):
Belshazzar is a kingwho's living more like a frat boy,
and he has wealth and power and prestige.
But judgment is coming.
It's slow,
but it comes.
And that means if if you are obeying God,you're doing all the right things.
(11:55):
And things don't seem likeyou're not being rewarded for it.
Be patient. God sees.
It also meansif you're doing the wrong thing
and you know it and you think you'regetting away with it, you're not.
God sees.
That's the first thing.
The second thing is there's athis party is almost frenetic.
(12:17):
I mean, it isit is a panicky kind of party.
And in that way, it's a microcosm ismof our world and our culture right now.
My dad was an English major, in college,and he loved Shakespeare.
And he would tell me about the playswhen I was growing up.
And hehe would quote Shakespeare sometimes.
And one of the quotes I still rememberis a passage from Macbeth,
(12:41):
and it
says that life's but a walking shadow,
a poor player who stress and frets
his hour upon the stage and has heardno more.
It's the tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,signifying nothing.
One of the reasons that Shakespearewas such a genius was his ability
(13:05):
to kind of lay open the human heartand show us what is inside of us.
And that passage kind of shows
us the deep fear every human being
has of being insignificant of our lives,
just not mattering at all.
(13:27):
Here in the book of Daniel,with Belshazzar
knowing that death is coming,it's like he's casting around just to try,
try to find something that shows himself
that he has significance.
He starts with this big feast
to show his power and his wealthand the women and pleasure,
and then finally raisinghis fist in defiance of God.
(13:52):
I told you, there are a
lot of reasons why I love the Bible.
One of the other reasonsis that the Bible, like Shakespeare,
is able to open the human heartand show us what we feel.
But more than Shakespeare,what the Bible does, it shows us why
we feel, what we feeland what to do about it.
(14:14):
When God creates human beings,when he creates Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve
are in perfect relationship with him
and they know exactly who they are.
They have identity,they have purpose, they have significance.
And then when sin enters the world,
that breaks the relationship with God
(14:35):
and every human being, everyone you know
is on this desperate search for identity
and significance.
And all you have to do is look aroundand see.
It's it's almost it's a frenetic search.
People are panic. Yeah. I googled,
(14:55):
the question how many genders are there?
And a site called Team Talk, gave me this.
There are many different genders,including male, female, transgender,
gender neutral, non-binary, gender pin,gender, gender queer, two spirit,
third gender, and all or noneor a combination of these.
(15:19):
Those are ten different variables.
And it ends by saying it could bea combination of any of the 1010
different variables in a combination,or it's that over a thousand
different possibilities. What?
Why would any culture in the worldsay that there are a thousand different?
You know why?
It's this desperate, frantic search
(15:43):
for significance,for meaning, for identity?
The fourth century theologian Augustinehad it right when he said,
Oh God, you have made us for yourself.
And our hearts are restlesstill they find their rest in thee.
That's the first point.
(16:03):
The second point is the writing.
So Belshazzarthrows this huge party and then,
ask for all the holy vesselsto be brought out.
He blasphemes and then a hand comesand writes on the wall.
This is what it says.
Immediately the fingers of a human handappeared and wrote on the plaster
(16:24):
of the wall of the king's palaceopposite the lampstand.
And the king saw the hand as it wrote.
The king's color changed,and his thoughts alarmed, and his limbs
gave way in his knees knocked together.
That's where we get that iconic phrase,the handwriting on the wall.
My first question is.
(16:46):
Why would God do that?
Oh, why would he write
on the wall at all?
I mean, judgment was coming.
Belshazzar obviously deserved judgment.
Not only had he ignored God,he had blasphemed to God.
If I if I was God, I would have just letthe judgment come without warning.
(17:08):
The Persian army, fierce and merciless.
But instead God writes on the wall.
And Belshazzar,
who didn't want anythingto do with God, a moment before
now, is desperate to find out
what God is saying to him.
(17:30):
Do you see how gracious that is?
I used to think that God wroteon the wall, really?
To just let Belshazzar know the jig was upand it was time to pay the piper.
But that's not it at all.
C.S. Lewis has a really famous quoteabout pain.
He says, Godwhispers to us in our pleasures.
(17:51):
God speaks to us in our conscience,
but God shouts to us in our pain.
Pain is God's megaphone
to rouse a deaf world.
What God was doing to
Belshazzar was getting his attention.
He was giving him
(18:11):
one last
chance, which is incredibly gracious.
I met with a man a couple of weeks ago
who has just been diagnosed with stagefour cancer.
He's going to fight it with all he has,
which is exactly the right thing to do.
But in the middle of our conversation,he said,
(18:32):
you know, I I've never been closer to Godthan I am right now.
I've never been closer to my family.
I've never treated every day as a gift.
A diagnosis like that
can be like handwriting on the wallcan make your knees buckle.
It can also be an invitation
(18:52):
from God
to draw close to him.
And this is what is true.
If you live long enough,you will experience
something thatwill make your knees buckle.
Handwriting on the wall
is coming for all of us.
That's one thing.
(19:13):
The second thing that strikes meabout the handwriting on the wall
is that God writes in a codethat's so weird.
Like he writesfour words, many, many tickled Berson.
And it's not like I have to believethat God knew the Babylonian language.
My guess is God is pretty fluent.
You know, in all languages.
(19:34):
Why does he write in code?
Like Belshazzar is desperate to know
what God has said,
and he writes in a code.
That brings me to my third point,which is the moment.
So Belshazzar throws this wild
party of God right on the wall.
(19:54):
Belshazzar is desperateto know what God is saying,
so he offers this huge reward,but no one can tell him.
And then the Queen speaks up.
And this is what the Queen says.
The Queen,because of the words of the king
and his lords,came into the banqueting hall,
and the queen declared,oh King, live forever.
(20:15):
Let not your thoughtsalarm you or your color change.
There's a man in your kingdomin whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
In the days of your father.
Light and understanding and wisdom, likethe wisdom of the gods were found in him.
And King Nebuchadnezzar,your father, your father, the king
made him chief of the magicians,enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers,
(20:37):
because an excellent spirit, knowledgeand understanding to interpret dreams,
explain riddles, and solve problemswere found in this Daniel,
whom the king named Belteshazzar
now let Daniel be called,
and he will show the interpretation.
One of the reasons we chosethis series is we were.
(20:57):
We wanted all of us to look at the courage
that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego had so
we could be inspiredto have the same courage.
What happens here is that
Belshazzar experiencessomething that makes his knees buckle.
(21:17):
He needs to know what God has said.
He doesn't know who to turn to,and the Queen remembers Daniel.
And what she remembers about Danielis his reputation
that he had an excellent spirit.
This is what is true.
You may be the only Christianin your family.
(21:39):
You may be the only Christian at work,
the only Christian at your gym.
And everyone in your life at some
point is going to experiencesomething that will make their knees
buckle.
And when that happens
and they need someone to talk to them,
(22:02):
live your life in such a way
that you're the one they think of
that when they think, man, I don't know
what to do at this moment in my life.
I don't know what's going to happen.
I need to talk to someone who can tell me
that to be.
I remember years ago I joined a bike club,
(22:25):
in part because I wanted to ride,but, in part because I wanted to be around
people who were not Christians,not church people.
Not not that I was so tired of you guys,
but it was going to give me an opportunity
maybe to talk to them about Jesus. But,
that was a pretty serious bike cluband we were out of breath
(22:45):
most of the time,so there was no time to talk.
So I wondered if I wasever going to get a chance.
And then one of our riders
got hit by a car,and I was the first call they made.
And I remember getting the call,
and then Saint John's been hit by a car.
Can you come to the emergency room?
We need you now.
(23:06):
And that was my moment.
There's going to come a moment
in the lives of the people around you
who they need to talk tosomebody live your life in such a way
that when that happens, they think of you.
Then the second thing that happens is
Daniel's offered a rewardand he turns down the reward.
(23:29):
And it's not just that he's
being snarky about the reward,
it's because he doesn't.
He wants to make sure that Belshazzarknows he doesn't have mixed motives,
that what he's going to tell himthis message from God isn't
for some other reason.
You know, sometimes I think I hear about,you know, Christians getting
into conversations with non-Christians,and it becomes an argument.
(23:52):
And it's it's almost like the Christianwants to be right
more than we wantto bring someone to Jesus.
And that's a mixed motive
here.
Daniel doesn't
make an appointment with Belshazzarso he can tell him why he's wrong.
He just waits for Belshazzarto have that moment when his knees buckle
(24:17):
and he calls for Daniel.
And then Daniel talks.
And what Daniel says, he launchesinto the story about Nebuchadnezzar.
He says, O King,the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar
your father kingship and greatnessand glory and majesty,
and because of the greatnessthat he gave him, all peoples,
nations, and languages trembled and fearedbefore him whom he would.
(24:39):
He killed, whom he would
he kept alive, whom he would,he raise up, whom he would he humble.
But when his heart was lifted upand his spirit was hardened,
so he dealt proudly.
He was brought down from his kinglythrone, and his glory was taken from him.
He was drivenfrom among the children of mankind,
and his mind was madelike that of a beast, and swelling
(24:59):
was with the wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox.
His body was wet, and the dew of heaven,until he knew that the Most High God rules
the kingdom of mankind,and sets over at whom he will.
And you, his son Belshazzarhad not humbled your heart, though
you knew all this, but you've lifted upyourself against the Lord of heaven,
(25:22):
and the vessels of his househave been brought in before you,
and you and your Lord.
Your wives and concubineshave drunk wine from them,
and you praise the gods of silverand gold, of bronze, iron,
wood, and stone,which you do not see or hear, or know,
but the God in whose hand is your breath,and whose are all your ways.
(25:42):
You have not honor.
What's he doing?
What he's doing with Belshazzaris he's giving them hope.
What he's saying is, you knowyour father, Nebuchadnezzar, he was great.
Probably greater than you.
He made the same mistake.
He was weighed on the scale
(26:02):
by God and found wanting.
But he repented,
and God was gracious.
You know what he's doing?
He's giving him the gospel.
You see that,
right?
When when somebody comes to youand they're something's happened
in their knees, a buckle, they're saying,I don't know what to do,
(26:23):
what how do I face this?
You can tell them, listen,
let me start with this.
And what you need to know is
Daniel had no ideahow Belshazzar was going to respond.
He left that up to God,but he gave him the gospel.
You can sayto the people in your family, at work,
(26:44):
at the gym,
listen,
you've been weighed on the scaleand found wanting.
This is what the Bible says we all have.
But Jesus has come
so that you could be saved.
Don't you see?
This is God being gracious,God getting your attention
because he wants relationship with you.
(27:07):
You may be the only.
You're the only Christian in some circle,
and in that circle it's going to happen.
There's going to behandwriting on the wall when it happens.
Live your lifein such a way that it's you.
They think of,
and then tell them the gospel.
Have the courage to speak
(27:27):
and then leave the results to God.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we come to you and I am.
I'm grateful for it.
I love the book of Daniel.
I love what he does here.
But more than that, I love what you do.
That Belshazzar, as far away from youas he could possibly be.
(27:50):
You still give him an opportunity
like you gave me,like you've given all of us.
Like you're giving somebodyright here, right now.
Lord, I pray that we will turn to you.
And after that,I pray that we will live our lives
in such a waythat when the people around us
(28:12):
have something
that makes their knees buckle,that they'll think of us
and we'll be able to share your lovewith them.
The news of Jesus.
Thanks for your grace.
Thanks for giving ussuch a wonderful Savior.
We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
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