Untitled Sermon (4)

The Writingison the WallDaniel 5Exegetical idea: In his pride, Belshazzar defiles the holy vessels of God and God brings theBabylonian Empire to an end.Theological idea: God will bring judgment upon people and nations who stand pridefullyagainst him.Big idea: Humility before God is a path to security, while pride leads to certain judgmentby God1.Introductiona.Itis the fall of 539BC, over 20 years have passed since the events of chapter 4.i.Nebuchadnezzar is no longer king...hereigned over the Babylonianempire for 43 years...but has died and left the kingdom to hisson.b.In2 Kings 25 his son, Evil-Merodach takes the throne but is killed in a couparound560BC.i.A few kingsruledfor the next four years until Nabonidus comes topower in 556BC.c.But he is not mentionedin the biblicalaccount, instead we are introduced toanotherking:Belshazzar.i.In this chapter,Nebuchadnezzar is called Belshazzar’s father six times,and once Belshazzar is called his son.ii.The word father in the ancient Near East has meaning from naturalfatherhood to simple ancestry.1.And the latter is what is meant here: much like Jesus being calledthe Son of David or Abraham thefather of Jews...Nabonidusmarried into the family of Nebuchadnezzar and so his son followshis ancestry.d.There are tworeasonsBelshazzar istheking and there is no mention ofNabonidus:i.First, for all intents and purposesBelshazzarwas the acting king ofBabylon during this time.1.Nabonidus loved and worshiped the moon god, Sin(seen), somuch that he sought to replace Marduk as the primary deity of theBabylonians.a.This was met with resistance2.So Nabonidus decided to live in Tema, a city about 500 milesoutside of Babylon so he could worship as he pleased.a.This left Belshazzar torulein the cityas his coregent3.This is why Belshazzar in verses 7, 16, and 29 offers to makeanyone who can tellhim the interpretation of the handwriting“thethird highest ruler in the kingdom.”

ii.Secondand I think primaryreason there is no mention of Nabonidus isthatthe authors purposeisto stress the relationship betweenNebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar...they share the same story of pride.1.In fact, verse 22 Daniel tells him he should have learned the lessonof humility and submission to God from the life ofNebuchadnezzar.iii.This relationship ishighlighted in chapter 4 verse 37:“...those whowalk in pride God is able to humble.”1.Cue Belshazzar and his foolish feasthere in chapter 52.Feasting in Foolishness(1-4)a.He holds a great feast for a thousandpeople and he does something that was veryuncommon for the king:“he drank wine in front of the thousand.”...then it says“when he tasted the wine.”i.And on the surface that does not seem bad butwe can’t takethose wordsfor just face value...what theymeanis thathe became intoxicated infront of everyone1.He was showing off, he had his officials, wives, and concubines atthe party...all of them drinking, engaging in a night of debauchery.b.And thenin his drunken state,to make an even greater spectacle of the evening hecommanded for the“vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar had takenout of the temple in Jerusalem to be brough in”i.Nebuchadnezzar was polytheistic so he did not want to offend any of thegodsof the people he conqueredsohesettheir idols of worshipup in thetemple.ii.But Belshazzar does what no other king would do: He brought them inand everyonebegan to drink wine from the cups...c.Now wemustgo back to the Torah to understand the significance of what he isdoing: In Exodus40, God set aside the vessels of the temple to be holy,they werenot to be used for the mundane, ordinary thingsof life...i.The priests were the only ones allowed to handle them and when theydid they were to do so with reverence.1.Theywere to guard and keep watch over the temple and its vesselsso that they did not become defiled.ii.Thesecups and bowlswere consecrated unto the Lordand were only tobe usedforworship of God.d.Yet,Belshazzar takes these holy, consecrated vessels of worship to God and usesthem to drink wineinan act of praise to the gods of the Babylonians.e.This would have been inconceivable...they recognized that other nations had godsi.Soit would have been considered sacrilege to use, to desecratethe holythingsof other gods.1.His actions were outright defiance against the God of Judahf.So Montgomery reasons“the king must have lost his sense of decency to engagein such defiance”g.Listen, sin will take you further than you wanted to go, make you stay longer thanyou wanted to stay and cost you more than you wanted to pay.

i.Sin is irrational...and the longer we live with it, the longer we hold ontoit and don’t confront it the more devious it becomes in our live such thatwe justify our actions and words...1.Do not play with sin...it will destroy you and those around you...itmust be confessed...James 5:16 says: Confess your sins one toanother...it breaks its power over us, brings healing...but holdingonto sin is death...ii.In his intoxicatedpride...Belshazzar’sjudgment has been impaired as helauded his power and position in front of others.h.Now what we don’t see in this text is what is going on inBabylon on this verynight...i.Historytells usthere was a great banquet being held on the nightBabylon fell to the Medo/Persian empire.ii.In fact, in the Nabonidus Chronicles, the empire had suffered a majordefeat in the north at the hands of the Persiansjust two days prior to thisevent.1.Nabonidus was there and escaped to write about it later...2.The empire was crumbling, cities were beingdestroyed, peopletaken captive...iii.Babylon was the only city left unconquered...but they were underattack...the city was surrounded by the Medo/Persian army under thecommandof Da-rye-us.1.This was not anight to throw a banquet...it was foolish...but thenagain so is sin...iv.There have been many speculations as to why he would have held thisbanquet,knowing the imminent threat outside their walls.1.It seems they held an annual feastin the fallandtoboost moral andconfidence; tosort of rally the troops to fight...Belshazzar decidedtocontinue withthe banquet.v.He thought his city was invincible.1.They had the Euphrates river that ran through the city for a watersupply and they reportedly had enough food to last years...i.He was filled with pride...and in this moment of rallying the troops he wanted togive them extra motivation...by defying Godi.It was aprideful move: our gods are more powerful...its proven...we havethe vessels of worship from their gods...lets eat and drink and bemerry...our gods will be victorious once again.b.But his intoxicating pride would not last long...a fingerappears out of nowhereandbegins to write on the wall...Belshazzarimmediately becomes sober and isscared to death...2.Fearful Revelation(5-9)a.His body gives way: his color changes, his mind is alarmed, his limbs give wayand his knees start knockingi.He is physically shaken to thecore by what he sees.

b.So heyells forallhis wise men to give him the meaning of the writingand if theydo he will give them glory andpoweri.Butthey can’t and everyone freaks out...c.Upon hearing the commotion and despair of everyone in the room, the queensteps up and reminds Belshazzar of Daniel, whom Nebuchadnezzar had madechief over all the wise men of Babylon, a man who had an excellentspirit,knowledge and understanding to interpret dreams and solve problemsi.You would think he would know Daniel butit seems likely that he is nolonger actively used as an official, heislikelyin his80’s at this point...soperhaps he has retiredaway from the royal court.d.But now he is brought in to give the interpretation but before he does, hegives ashort sermon...a biblical theologyon pride and humilityfrom the life ofNebuchadnezzar:verse 1818 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness andglory and majesty. 19 And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, andlanguages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, hekept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. 20 But when hisheart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought downfrom his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. 21 He was driven from among thechildren of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with thewild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, untilhe knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.j.Daniel tells him: Yahweh God gave Nebuchadnezzar greatness and glory...all thekingdoms of the world were underhis control but instead of worshiping God andgiving God credit...i.“his heart was lifted up”...he became prideful,andeven though he hadseen the works of God around himhe hardened his heart toward God.k.Just like Pharoah did...he knew the Most High God reigned and had even shownhis greatness multiply times...yet he still rejected his rule over his life.i.AndsoGod humbledNebuchadnezzar...took everything away,strippedhim ofhis kingdom, his glory...and he was driven to live with the beastsof the field until he repented of his sin and acknowledged God as theMost High who rules over kingdoms and sets those up whom he wants.l.Nowlook at verse 22:22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 butyou have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven.m.You should have known better...n.But youare just as prideful as he was...and even worse becauseyou know whathappenedto Nebuchadnezzar because of his pride...and yet youblasphemed andmocked God...youhave not humbled yourself under the rule and reign of God,you have set yourself up over the Lord of heaven

i.You have worshipedthese false gods who cannot see or hear...they can’tdo anything for you...they are dead, lifeless man-made idols youworshipo.Andyou have not honored the God of heaven whogave you the kingdom andholds your very breath in his hands.i.And with those words, the hand leaves and Danieltellshim thefatefuljudgment of God upon his life and kingdom:Vs. 2525 And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. 26 This is theinterpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought itto an end; 27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 Peres, yourkingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”3.FatefulJudgment (24-31)a.The Aramaic wordsare: numbered, numbered, weighed, dividedi.It is a divine evaluation of Belshazzar’s life and the judgment to comeb.Numbered means that the end of his life has come, you will die and your kingdomwill come to an end.i.His life has been weighed in the divine balances of God...his life wasput on one side of the scales and the laws of God on the otherand he isfound deficient of righteousness...1.He did not measure up to God’s standard of righteousness2.He was prideful, defied God and never repents...he is foundwanting...in need of righteousness.c.And so the judgment of God falls on him:Divided meanshis kingdom will betorn apart,destroyed.i.And so for all the security he took in hiscity,and the gods heserved...none of that couldsave himnow...he would be killed and hiskingdom given to the Medo/Persian Empire.d.This is the story of everyone who continues in sin and refuses to repent and turnto God for salvation.i.Our days are all numbered: Hebrews 9:27–It is appointed for man todie onceand then the judgment...we all face death at some point...it isone of the guarantees of life...it comes for all of us.1.And then we all will face the judgment of God.ii.And in our sinful state, we are all found wanting, deficient of therighteousness required of God.1.Romans 3:23–All have sinned and fall short of the glory ofGod...meaning we do not live up to God’s standard ofrighteousnessa.No matter how much good we do we can never live up toGod’s standard...iii.But the good news that could have been Belshazzar’sand is now beingoffered to you is this: Jesus lived a perfect life...he lived up to God’sperfect standard of righteousness

1.2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that he had no sin...he perfectly obeyedthe Father in every way.iv.And then in the greatest act of love...he took our sin uponhimself...every single sin we have committed or will commit, Jesus diedto take away, shed his blood for the removal of our sin1.And in return we get his perfect righteousness...so that now inChrist when our lives are put on the scales of God’s justice we arefound righteous...we measure up...not because of something wedid but because of what Christ did for us.v.And the beauty is that today: no matter what you have done in the past,if you will repent of your sins and confess Jesus as Lord...you will becounted as righteous before God.e.That’s what Nebuchadnezzar does at the end of chapter 4,heis brokenover hissin and confesses God as Lord...but there is no confession here.i.Instead of Belshazzar repenting of his wickedness...he pridefullycontinues his party by honoring Daniel for the interpretation...f.He doesn’tfalldown on the ground broken, he doesn’t lament his wickedness andrepent...he continues in the folly of his pride.i.And that very night, he is killed and the Medo/Persian empire comes topower.g.Don’t walk out of here in your pride thinking you don’t need Jesus...your lifehangs on the scales of God’s justice and only throughfaith in Jesus will you befound righteous and receive eternal lifei.Listen, those who exalts themselves against Godand reject his rule overtheir liveswill come under his just judgmentii.But those who humble themselves before the Lordexperience hissecuritynow and forever