The Day of Judgement

Introduction

Please open your Bibles to Daniel Chapter 5.

I want to thank the worship team for orienting us toward our Saviour and and through His Word this morning, helping us to see and celebrate Him.

Thank you _____ for reading our text today, which is the heart of chapter 5, and our message today.

Illustration

Imagine for a second you are a teacher in high school, and you are just finishing up the last class of the day, and the bell rings.

There is a general sense of relief and even excitement from the teens, with the exception of one.

A young man about half way down the row on the right hand side does not respond with relief to the bell, and certainly not excitement.

He sort of hangs his head and slumps in his chair a bit.

You try to lighten things up with a little joke, perhaps, ‘Finally! Someone who truly appreciate my teaching and doesn’t want to leave...’

only the faintest hint of amusement flickers over his face, before going back into a sort of placid indifference.

He responds, ‘Its better than sitting around at home...’

After a couple more questions the student opens up about how he is grounded for a month!—not allowed to go to any of the sports he loves, see any friends, and not allowed any screens or devices, but must come straight home and take part some kind of non-screen activities for the evening.

I wonder what would come into your head in that moment?

Perhaps some judgement regarding the parenting style being implemented here? Especially if you have not really seen any explicitly bad behaviour from this child.

You might conclude that these parents are overly harsh and exacting.

But let’s rewind this scene and try it again for a moment.

This time, you know the parents of this teen very well.

They are some of the wisest, kindest, and most reluctant to punish parents that you have ever met.

The same scene plays out and in this case, rather than immediately questioning the choices of the parents, you think, “Wow, he must have done something really bad...”

Now, why is the reaction so different?

Simply this: in the first scenario, you have no idea of the character of the parents, you only know the teen and the punishment. In the second, you know the parents well.

Waverley, in our culture today, God’s judgements are repeatedly condemned as harsh and exacting, and those He judges are assumed to be victims of a tyrant’s irrational and petty rage.

Now, the reasons for this are somewhat complex, but one of the key reasons is that they do not know the tenderness, humility and goodness of our God. They do not know Jesus.

In today’s text, we see the judgement of God fall, and although the Bible very seldom feels the need to defend God’s judgements, I believe here we are meant to see the great patience of God, as well as the reality that His patience does not last forever.

The reality of God’s long, but limited patience has implications for each and every one of us in here today: whether we are walking faithfully with Christ, walking in rebellion to Christ, or somewhere in between.

My hope is by the end of this message we will be in awe of our Lord’s patience, and see the folly of testing the patience of such a good and glorious Saviour.

I hope that we will see, and feel, that...

All people must humble themselves today, because God’s patience is long and limited.

FCF - Just as Belshazzar is prone to neglect God’s power, mercy, and patience, Christians are today as well.

MP1 - Because God’s patience is long and limited, we must not presume upon God’s patience.

MP2 - Because God’s patience is long and limited, All people must repent today.

MP3 - Because God’s patience is long and limited, God’s people must be patient.

MP1 - Because God’s Patience is Long and Limited, we must not presume upon God’s patience.

Exegesis

To get a sense of the immense mercy, kindness, and patience of our Lord here this morning, we must dig into this text and the many allusions and explicit references to God’s kindness and patience.

First, let’s rewind a bit to consider Belshazzar’s father (or possibly grandfather) Nebuchadnezzar.

First, back in chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. A dream that no one can interpret except the exile from Judah.

exile specifically credits the dream and interpretation to Yahweh, the God of Israel, who we know is Jesus Christ.

The dream reveals that God has given Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar the great honour of being the golden head of the statue. Even-so, they are just one of several great kingdoms, which will all be eventually consumed by God’s kingdom.

Nebuchadnezzar seems to respond rightly saying, ‘“Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” (Dan 2:47).

Yet, in the very next chapter, we see Nebuchadnezzar setting up a golden statue. I agree with pastor Greg who suggested that this statue is not only an impossibly arrogant gesture apart from anything before hand, but in addition seems to be defiantly saying, “I refuse to believe that I am merely the golden head of the statue, but rather I will be the entire statue...”

Now, does the Lord strike Nebuchadnezzar dead for such haughty opposition to His glory? No!

If you remember, the Lord patiently endures Nebuchadnezzar’s hostility toward His servants, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and even appeals to Nebuchadnezzar by making a supernatural demonstration of power before him: delivering his servants from the fire, and sending some kind of Christ-like messenger to accompany the men in the fire.

Nebuchadnezzar again has big words for the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” (Daniel 3:28 -29)

Surely Nebuchadnezzar has now learned his lesson, no?

In Chapter 4, we see yet again that Nebuchadnezzar must be confronted with another dream—another dream which only Daniel can discern. The dream was of a beautiful, yet haughty and proud tree. That proud tree was Nebuchadnezzar himself.

The dream went on to show the tree being cut down and stripped of all its glory, and Daniel gave the application to Nebuchadnezzar: humble yourself before God.

So no, Nebuchadnezzar had not yet learned from the previous episodes, and this dream does not move him to repentance and humility either.

In fact, a short time after he hears Daniel’s interpretation, he walks along the roof of his palace and says, (Dan 4:30) “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?””

At this point, God struck Nebuchadnezzar dead. He has been given enough chances.

No, he did not!

God humbled Nebuchadnezzar by giving him the mind of a beast, and driving him from among men for a season.

At the end of this adventure, it does indeed seem that Nebuchadnezzar has gained a measure of humility.

But what is important for us today, is that all of these episodes are very public. Belshazzar should have had very intimate knowledge of all of these things. Daniel explicitly says this in the section that was read (v.17-23). But what does he do?

He makes himself the centre of attention at a great party, and intentionally calls for the holy vessels from God’s temple, and praises the false gods of gold, silver, iron and bronze (v.1-4)

Having known all of God’s patience, and glory, and mercy and kindness, surely at this point He ought to be struck dead by God, no? Yes, clearly he should! But what does God do?

Another supernatural sign, a disembodied hand appears on the wall...

Not in a dark corner, but in front of the lampstand, clearly visible.

Does Belshazzar express some sense of fear of God? No, he calls for pagan diviners, and overlooks Daniel.

He calls Daniel, and although he is in a position of utter helplessness, presumes to be able to elicit obedience from Daniel.

He speaks down to Daniel (one of the exiles, my father brought…).

This time, instead of giving the interpretation of the writing first, Daniel gives the application first, which could be summarized this way: You knew God’s work in your father’s life, but instead of taking into account and walking humbly before God, you exalted yourself. Specifically and most heinously in this most recent act of bringing the vessels of the Lord into your party as play things.

Belshazzar must surely repent at this point, no?

He does not.

So the Lord takes his life—that very night--and his kingdom, and gives it to Darius, who will reign over the Medio-Persian empire for some years.

Application

I wonder how many in here this morning have been shown God’s kindness, mercy, and patience like Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar in here today.

God shows up in your life, shows you his goodness and his power, and for a little while you respond.

But then you become complacent, and go back to serving the idols of this world: wood and stone.

Like Nebuchadnezzar, you take what was set apart for the service and worship of Christ, and use it to praise and honour idols.

Instead of using your time, your energy, your money for God and His name, you instead exalt your home, your hobbies, your activities, and really yourself.

Then the Lord comes along and gets your attention with some crisis.

Your marriage becomes really hard.

There is an illness in the family.

Perhaps chronic pain or loss of job...

…and you return to the Lord… for a bit.

The Lord heals the illness, provides an answer to the prayers for a job, or for the birth of a child, etc… and then what happens?

You go back to your old ways. You go back to serving created things rather than the creator.

Some of us have maybe had this happen so many times, we make it an annual rhythm!

“Oh yeah, summer is the time when I stop reading my Bible and going to church… no worries; I’ll pick it up in the Fall”

I tremble for you. I really do.

You don’t know what will be in your heart next summer. Or next Fall.

Hebrews 3:13 says, “...exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” every day!

I’m not saying that taking a week to visit your family is going to lead to apostasy.

But I am sounding a warning: if the scriptures seem to think that spiritual safety is found in daily exhortation, what state of danger is the person who takes a planned, annual 1- 2 month hiatus from all things that orient them toward the Lord and His Word?

Waverley, hear me carefully: There are no promises in the Bible for those who say in their heart, “I will indulge this idol, God will forgive me later...” There are no promises for that person. There is no security for that person. It does not matter how many years you have served in the church, how many experiences of God you have had, or how godly your family is. You are walking on thin ice that may give way at any moment.

If we look at the very end of our text, v.30, we see that Belshazzar was in the middle of a party, and the Medes and the Persians were right outside his gates. They killed him that very night.

We must all of us, regardless of our confessions, professions, or history walk humbly in union with Christ.

If this warning has stirred you at all, I plan to unpack what it might look like to walk safely, humbly, in union with Christ.

But we have some spade work to do first.

We must first explore the starting point for all who are in Christ.

MP2 -Because God’s patience is long and limited, All people must repent today.

Exegesis

In giving you sort of a big picture of chapter 5, I skipped over the writing on the wall. Let’s read Daniel’s interpretation.

Let’s read it together (read v.24 - 28)

What does all this mean?

God has written a clear yet mysterious message that can only be read if Belshazzar humbles himself enough to avail himself of the interpreter that God has given him. This is insufficient humility, but it is something.

There are three simple things the Lord wants to communicate to Belshazzar.

Mene: you may think your kingdom will go on forever as you feel it has up to this point, but it will not. It is done.

Tekel: you may think you are weighty and important, but in God’s eyes you are wanting.

Peres: you may think that your kingdom will be handed down to your eldest as it was handed down to you--a whole entity, but will not. It will be divided among your enemies.

How could this be?

Belshazzar is perhaps the most powerful man in the world. How would you do in his situation?

Illustration

Think of it.

You sit at the top of the greatest empire the world has ever known.

Better than the Egyptians.

Better than the Assyrians.

A Thousand of the most important people in the world gathered.

The best drink in the world. The most beautiful people in the world.

The best bands, the best food. the best drink.

A wave of your hand, and you have brought to you the sacred vessels from one of the many, many nations that your father has conquered, and he has handed it all to you.

Everyone there to celebrate one thing: you

And yet, in God’s eyes you are found wanting.

In God’s plan, there are mere hours left in your life, and all you have will be given to your enemies.

Application

This is the verdict that is due to each and every one of us apart from Christ.

But God seeing our desperate plight, send His Son to rescue His people:

The One who had never ending days of glory, suffered a life cut short prematurely, offering days without end to those who trust in Him.

The One who is of infinite weight and glory, suffered as one utterly worthless and despised, offering glory and honour to those who trust in Him

The One who has the universe as His inheritance, suffered the dividing of his clothing among his enemies, offering a share in His inheritance to all who trust in Him.

Each one of us in here, can exchange our weightlessness, our insignificance, our fleeting days...

…With His weightiness. His heaviness. His significance. His eternality.

But we must confess the truth of who and what we are on our own:

Wanting. Dependant. Light. Sinful.

Have you done that before?

Why would you not do that today?

If you have never receive Christ as your Saviour, I would urge you to do so today.

Don’t test God’s patience. His patience, His kindness to you, is meant to lead you to repentance.

Confess your need for the blood of Christ, shed on the cross to cover your sins.

Confess your need for His righteousness to cover your wickedness

Confess Him as Your new Lord, to cherish and to honour today, and you will find life.

Please don’t leave here with out talking to a believer today. I’d be happy to talk to you.

But this is not a one time thing!

Every day our flesh will rise up an exalt itself above God and His ways.

We will be pulled toward self-sufficiency and into the delusion that our kingdoms will last forever, and our days will be without number—apart from Christ.

So the question is, what does daily humility look like?

For those who perhaps will come to Christ for the very first time, and those who have made the good confession long ago, we must live out daily repentance and faith.

I can’t give an overview of the Christian life here, so based on the three words again, let’s explore a little bit what this looks like.

1. Mene - Numbered.

We must remember that this life is short.

If I looked at what you owned, how you spent your money, how you spent your time, would I conclude that your treasure is in this life, or in the life to come?

Would I see a life that is trying to make heaven here? All your savings and efforts into the perfect retirement, the perfect home, the perfect career, the perfect education?

Or would I see that you are ‘seeking His kingdom and His righteousness’, and trusting that all that you needed will be provided by God?

I want freedom from this for you—for us--in realizing that Christ is preparing a place for you—you don’t need to make your perfect home here.

2. Tekel - weighed

We must remember that our weight, our significance is found in Christ.

Would I see someone who is is taking every opportunity to make a name, a reputation for his or herself? Or would I find a person who is growing toward deeper self-denial, and deeper joy at seeing Christ and others honoured and put forward as important—more important that themselves?

In conversations, in the midst of conflict, when what you think is best and correct is in danger of being ignored—are you growing in putting these things in God’s hands?

Or do you push others aside to get in your opinion, your joke, your story?

When you enter a group, is your mind filled with ‘what will people think of me,’ or is it more filled with, ‘how can I serve and love others?’

There is so much freedom and joy in this! I want that for all of us. Jesus says, ‘If you lose your life for my sake, you gain it...”

3. Peres - Legacy

What do you hope will be left behind when you go? And how do you plan to achieve that?

Some of us have totally got caught up with this world, and (for example) have plans for our kids to become star athletes or some kind of high pressure six-figure job, not even thinking about how devastating it is for a person’s character and family it can be to hold one of those positions.

We need to consider deeply if we have embedded in our children a desire for godliness, or worldliness.

But even those of us who have more noble aspirations: I want my son or daughter to be a good man. A godly young woman. etc., we need to remember that all we can do is walk in obedience. I think many wonderful mothers and fathers can testify that putting our children and their futures in God’s hands is a daily, if not hourly exercise.

MP3 - Because God’s patience is long and limited, God’s people must be patient.

Exegesis

Now, we have gone over God’s amazing patience with Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire in general.

How the Lord has endured patiently the folly, sin, pride and idolatry of Nebuchadnezzar and his son, perhaps leading Nebuchadnezzar to some form of repentance, that did not get passed down to his son, Belshazzar.

But one question should be in our minds during this time:

“What about to God’s faithful people, those who are walking uprightly before Him as God shows patience to the unrepentant?”

The answer is simply, they must be patient. We must be patient.

What must we patiently endure?

We must endure trials and temptations.

Now, I will try to avoid re-hashing the survey of the book of Daniel that I did near the beginning of this message.

So even though both of trial and temptation are present in this text, though perhaps not quite as clearly as I would like.

We see the temptation in Daniel 5:16

Daniel 5:16 (ESV)

But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. 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.”

and what is Daniels response?

Daniel 5:17 (ESV)

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.

From my limited knowledge of Ancient Near Eastern culture, I will add that I believe the threat of death or imprisonment is implied here, even though it is not explicitly stated. The text I will point to is verse 19 Daniel 5:19

Daniel 5:19 (ESV)

And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled.

I could also go back to Daniel 3, and the story of the giant statue and the fiery furnace.

The refusal of the three friends to worship the golden statue is a death sentence.

All this to say is that those who want to walk in union with Christ, must share in Christ’s patience with those who are opposed to Him.

Illustration

Dinner time at my house is not unlike a kind of strange game of wack-a-mole at my house right now.

My boys are 3, 1 and 6 months, so between my wife and I we both have a bit of a dinner habit that looks like this:

“Kuvo take a bite”

Put some food into Ezra’s mouth.

“Asaph, don’t throw your food on the floor!”

Maybe scoop some food into our own mouth

“Just wait Kuvo, its too hot”

“Asaph put your plate down”

Ezra Screams and starts crying

But there was one night not too long ago when both Ezra and Asaph were just having a really hard time, and we were basically going back and forth between them trying to console them. It was not pleasant, and Kuvo tends to struggle quite a bit with Ezra’s crying.

But for whatever reason Kuvo just sat there, and quietly ate his dinner.

I can’t tell you how much that meant to me, how beautiful it was.

He got an extra helping of desert that night.

Yes, my wife and I were showing a measure of patience with our youngest two.

But because we were attending to them, Kuvo received zero attention from us, and had to deal with the ear-piercing antics of his brother.

He joined us in patiently enduring the behaviour of his brothers.

Application

Certainly Daniel, as well as his friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had times of honour and comfort. Certainly God cared for them.

But they suffered trials and temptations as a result of God’s patience with Nebuchadnezzar and his son. They suffered temptations and threats.

And this was a delight to their heavenly Father, as Kuvo’s patience was a delight to mine.

And as God is patient with this world, with our friends and neighbours, with our leaders and influencers, we must also be prepared to be patient.

This patience will certainly be rewarded, but it will not be easy.

So what can we keep in mind to help us endure the trials and temptations of this life?

1. God’s loving patience toward us

As we suffer under or through relationship with unrepentant family, friends, bosses, coworkers, and leaders, we must remember God’s patience with us.

Even those of us who have been a Christian as long as we can remember know that God’s warmth and affection for us never ceased for a single moment, even when were doing some of the most hard-headed and rebellious things imaginable.

He has been so patient with us. Will we resent the patience He shows toward those who make our lives difficult, or even sheer agony at times?

Certainly, we cannot do this without the Spirit, but the believe the Spirit will be pleased to work as we consider God’s patience with us.

2. the reason for God’s patience.

In Sunday school right now, the kids are memorizing 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

I’m not denying that it is hard to suffer as the unrepentant treat us with contempt and hostility at times.

But what a glorious God, who made Himself vulnerable to mocking, physical torture, and death in Christ—and now daily suffers the blasphemies, arrogance, and indifference of the human race, why?

Because He is patiently waiting, patiently longing for people to turn from their sin and come to Him.

3. The transience of the earthly rewards

One thing that does not get too much attention in this chapter, but is none the less a trial for us, is seeing people who don’t love God, and walk in brazen rebellion against Him enjoy wealth, and prosperity, ease, and perhaps many things that we ourselves wish we had.

I think of Daniel and the many years he served Nebuchadnezzar faithfully, and by the time his son Belshazzar arrived, he was forgotten.

Remember, he had to be reminded by the queen mother about all his wisdom and knowledge that Daniel had imparted to the king.

When Daniel comes, Belshazzar offers prestige and honour and wealth—but Daniel sees right through it.

And as we consider the whole story, how right Daniel was to treat Belshazzar’s rewards with contempt!

Again, within a few hours all the prestige and eminence of the Babylonian Kingdom came crashing down, and any honour bestowed by them may very well have made that person a target for the hostility of the Medes and the Persians.

Thus, as we wait, we must continually remind ourselves of how transient the pleasures of this world are. That the neighbour that swims in wealth and ease, or the depraved leader, or hostile family member—they may lose everything within the day. But we are promised and eternal inheritance in Christ.

Conclusion

If we go back to the classroom at the beginning of the sermon, and you are still the teacher, what do I hope would be your response; knowing the parents, knowing the discipline that they have chosen to implement, but not knowing or wanting to probe into all the details of the crime committed?

Well, I hope that you would listen and sympathize with the disappointment and challenge of being grounded for a month.

But I also hope that you would try to remind this teen of his parents love for him. They desire for his good. And their patience and kindness.

As I hope we would do as we leave this place.

As we confront hard texts in the Bible, skeptical Christians, and unbelievers: is our heart full of the goodness, patience, and lovingkindness of God? Are we zealous to express that goodness?

Even if something in the scripture strikes us as hard, or cruel?

Even if God’s work in our lives, or in the lives of those we love seem harsh or unfair?

I would urge us all to be agents of persuasion: persuading ourselves, persuading each other, persuading the unrepentant to come in humble submission to our patient, loving Saviour, and to come today.

Let’s pray.