Supernatural Graffiti

For those who don’t know, the year rolled over into a new century, into a new millenium, but the computers weren’t ready for that and the banks exploded and ATMs stopped working and satellites fell from the sky and there were riots and everybody died.

Y2K. We were fine. I played marbles, actually, with Amberle and Levi in Boulder, CO. Good times.

December 21st, 2012. End of the Mayan Calendar. and then the world ended.

October 12, 539 B.C. (According to the Nabonidus Chronicle, Tishri 16th).

The Day the World Ended

This is a cool part in the history of Babylon because we have a bunch of extra-Biblical texts telling the story of this end of the world.

Jeremiah 25:11–12 ESV

11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

Jeremiah predicts the date… and he’s spot on. More than 70 yeas earlier.

Isaiah 175 years earlier: Who is going to open the gates of Babylon, leading to the restoration of God’s people?

Isaiah 45:1 ESV

1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:

That is BONKERS!

Belshazzar’s dad (Nabonidus) is out fighting Cyrus, a vassal king of Darius of Medes. Nabonidus is… losing. In fact, he has lost… and now Babylon is surrounded by the Mede-Persian armies.

But… Babylon is huge. 25 foot thick walls, 40 feet tall, double layers, miles long… the Euphrates river runs under the walls so plenty of water. What’s to fear? Babylon can’t fall!

Daniel 5:1–12 (ESV)

1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

Good time to throw a rager. And drunk people tend to do stupid stuff, so...

2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.

3 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 wives, and his concubines drank from them.

4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

So… he’s picking a fight with YHWH. This is never a good idea. With the enemy at the gates, especially dumb. Talk about fighting above your weight class! This is ridiculous!

Ha ha, God, what you gonna do?

5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote.

Before there was Spielberg, before Hitchcock… before any of them: God is the master of drama. He invented it. I imagine the oconversation in heaven planning this one:

“And then an angel...”

No… no wait. Just. The. Hand. YAAS! Later it says hand, here just the fingers, either way, SO creepy. Do the fingers just fade out? Stumps?

Whatever the disembodied hand writes… SUPER IMPORTANT what it says!

6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.

7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation.

9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.

10 The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change.

11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. 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, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers,

12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

So they get Daniel… catch him up on what happened, and on the prizes.

Daniel 5:17 ESV

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts 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.

Your “rewards” aren’t worth much. Like the crown at Burger King.

And he reminds him of King Nebuchadnezzar… and the donkey brains… and being restored, and glorifying God...

Daniel 5:22–23 ESV

22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in 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, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

And then here’s the translation:

Daniel 5:24–25 ESV

24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.

Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, Divided.

Jewish tradition says they couldn’t read it because the letters were vertical and not horizontal.

Daniel 5:26–28 ESV

26 This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

This has entered the culture, most people don’t know what this is from. Sounds like something awesome from Shakespeare… or Morpheus. This is such a cool burn:

“You have been weighed in the balance… and found wanting.”

Daniel 5:29–31 ESV

29 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 be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

The walls surrounding the city of Babylon were formidable. In the previous chapter was the explanation that there were two sets of double walls extending for miles (the outermost system being seventeen miles in length). The outer walls were approximately twenty-five feet in width and rose to a height of at least forty feet. These fortifications were too difficult to challenge, and so according to Herodotus and Xenophon, the Medo-Persian army diverted water from the Euphrates River (which ran under the walls of Babylon) into a marsh. With the level of the water lowered, the soldiers were able to wade the river under the walls and enter the city. Xenophon added that the city was invaded while the Babylonians were feasting in a time of drunken revelry, and Herodotus also related that a festival was in progress.

and the kingdom is literally split up between the Medes and the Persians, called the Median-Persian empire.

Condemnation and Judgment

Here’s a true application of the sermon. “You have been weighed and found wanting!!!”

That’s true.

We look around and we see the world doing stupid stuff. Our leaders, our government, our media, pick your favorite.

People mocking God and the things of God.

And we talk about “earnestly desire prophecy...” this is part of it! Recognizing the sinfulness and brokenness in our world and calling it out! Boldly!

Hey, that’s sin. Hey, the end is coming. There is a Holy and Righteous Judge… and it’s not looking good!

and your time may not be up tonight or “literally” tomorrow…

I’m not sure if this statistic holds up… but for years now the “World Death Rate” has been holding steady. 100%. “long considered humanity’s #1 health concern”

When else has God written something with his own hand? There’s a theme here.

Exodus 31:18 ESV

And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

What do those 10 commandments do? They are for our good… they teach us the standard… but they also stand in judgment of us. We are weighed and found wanting, shown to be sinners, imperfect and broken.

(FYI: Moses broke those particular tablets written by the finger of God, thus the first to break all ten commandments at the same time).

But ever since… well everyone has broken those. The law is a tutor, teaching us that there is no one righteous, not even one.

We have all been “weighed and found wanting.” The writing is on the wall.

It is a prophetic act to read the writing on the wall. To point at the Judge and warn of the coming judgment. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

But… there’s a trap here.

John 8:5–11 ESV

Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

What did he write? We don’t know. (My favorite theory, he started writing all of their names and their secret sins down. That’s why everyone ran away so fast.)

But maybe something like “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.”

You have been weighed and found wanting… and the end is near. The finger of God himself. And whatever he wrote, when he said “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Then our Savior says “neither do I condemn you; go and sin now more.”

Full of grace AND truth.

1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

All of the preceding chapter… if you can’t do this in love, don’t do it at all. No one’s listening, it’s a clanging gong. It’s just obnoxious noise.

Point to the Judge, Point to the Savior

So, speaking God’s truth to Babylon… and the more we understand of God’s reality… and the more we understand the world around us… we live in Babylon.

Our world, as in Thornton, CO USA in 2022… they are partying and the writing is on the wall. God will not stand for their mockery.

Your friend at work, his days have been numbered. Your teacher at school… her days are numbered. Your favorite politician… they have been “weighed and found wanting.”

Humble and humbled because you know you have also been judged and found wanting.

With all the grace and love of Jesus...

Point boldly at the Judge: the end is near

The writing’s on the wall.

Point boldly at the Savior: God is here.

He’s come to save us all.

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