Daniel 5 | The Fall of Belshazzar

King of Kings. Tell me what you think of when you hear the phrase King of Kings. The one who's really in charge. Yeah. Well, he's the most supreme.

All kings that ever existed, he's ahead of them all and he's ahead of us. We will be kings and priests one day.

I don't have to teach the class. You said the one who's really in charge. Almost implies that there are those who think they are in charge, but they aren't really. Yeah. Jeff and I just got a chance to sit with some other pastors in our region and at one point in time we were trying to anticipate what's going to happen in 2024.

Okay, something's going to happen in 2024. Couldn't it be great if it was in 2023? Yeah. So, yeah, what's going to happen in 2024? Obviously, we have elections coming up and somebody's going to be sitting in the Oval Office years after that.

But according to everything you guys said whoever's sitting in that Oval Office isn't ultimately in charge. He is or he is not. And if we really believe our scripture that whoever is going to be sitting in that Oval Office is actually there by appointment of God.

And if we believe in a big picture of God, which we do, that whoever's sitting in that Oval Office isn't going to do anything except God allows it to happen. These are all very, very comforting things.

As the heading of Daniel 5 says in my Bible, the hand writing on the wall. Absolutely right.

The Sovereignty of God in Daniel and the Rise of Belshazzar

We are going to look and consider Belshazzar today. And the concept of King of Kings is so central. I mean, we've talked about the first six books, first six chapters in the book of Daniel, are going to be the sovereignty of God on display.

Which leads us then after that from 7 through 12, the sovereignty of God in prophecy. So you can believe the prophecy that's proven by the sovereignty of God in display. So today we are shifting from more of a discussion of Nebuchadnezzar to a discussion of Belshazzar.

Before we do that, do you want to open us with a prayer? Absolutely.

Father God, we do turn to you and confess that you are the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. We can trust in your sovereign plan. And Father, as we begin to open the word today, we pray that we would rest in you, Lord.

Your word says that you turn the hearts of kings like a watercourse. You've got our sovereign over the kings of this earth. So we do trust you. Teach us many lessons, Lord, from your word today and make applications that only your spirit could know to do in our hearts, Lord.

We pray that you would speak individually to us, but from your word as you make application to our hearts. So thank you for your word. Speak, Lord. Your servants are listening.

We just very brief recap of what we've seen so far as we move into Daniel. As we approach the book of Daniel, we recognize captivity has occurred. And if you go back, we recognize that the northern kingdom already gone.

It lost ten tribes. The southern kingdom holding on some kings better than others. And eventually things went so bad, so bad, that the Shekinah Glory departs from the temple. And as the Shekinah Glory departs from the temple, that last that last force of protection for Judah is gone.

And so they are actually captured, brought into captivity. Which brings us into the book of Daniel. What Babylon would do with nations that they've captured is strip them of their heritage, so that they become almost homogenous amongst each other.

And one of the things, stripping them of their religious beliefs, creating a sense of order within the empire. And so you had these four young men, Daniel, Azariah, and they were considered to be of the better.

And so they were going to be brought into the king's presence, and they were going to be taught, instructed, fed good food, and we learned how Daniel and his friends withstood that, and how God blessed them.

They remained faithful. Then Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. It troubles him. Nobody can tell him the dream. All of the wise are to be put to death, but Daniel speaks up, but he's able to interpret the dream.

And Nebuchadnezzar is impressed by this young man, but nothing really of substance happens at that time, because then Nebuchadnezzar makes a golden image. And mandates that everybody bow down to the golden image, and if they don't, it's going to go bad.

In fact, they create a fire, a furnace, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishra, otherwise known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they refuse, and they're put into the fiery furnace. But it looks like there's four in there, and not just three, and one like the Son of God.

Then Nebuchadnezzar has another dream, and this one troubles him, and Daniel is brought, and he interprets the dream. And at this point in time, it appears as though Nebuchadnezzar's profession and confession is more genuine than after the first dream.

And that takes us through the first four chapters. Now, as we get into this chapter, we are brought into awareness of King Belshazzar. Which is slightly different than Belteshazzar. Belteshazzar is Daniel's Babylonian name.

Belshazzar is the king. It basically interpreted, Belshazzar means, Merduk, is that how you say it? Merduk, protect the king. That's basically what Belshazzar means. Belteshazzar, Merduk, protect your servant.

It's very similar, but slightly different, but it is basically, the name is acknowledging the supremacy and the power of Merduk. When you have the bell in front of it. So that's who this guy is, Belshazzar.

He is the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Now, there are a couple of kings that, if you look at the full lineage of kings, there's a couple of brief kingly acknowledgments, but you have basically Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and he is his son.

This does also become important as this chapter unfolds. So now we move into the chapter. We're going to take it a couple of times, pieces at a time, and this is a story of the sovereignty of God. It is a story of one who thinks he is all that.

It is a story of somebody who has been given by God's appointment, a throne to sit on, and who is going to absolutely abuse everything that would be acknowledging God, and is going to get judged forward.

So here is this king over a great kingdom, and the first thing that we're going to encounter is how he basically is just promoting himself up in a grandiose way. Would you give us the first four verses, please?

Yes.

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

Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the kings and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

What's in Belshazzar's mind? What's going on at this point in time?

He thinks his God's greater than the God of Israel.

Yeah, that's definitely true. What else is going on at this time?

I think it's interesting that there doesn't seem to be a transition between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. Not according to you. And certainly, Belshazzar hasn't learned from Nebuchadnezzar's example.

I mean, the end of chapter 4 is about being able to be humbled, and Nebuchadnezzar realizing that, and there's no clue that Belshazzar has grasped it. It's abrupt, the change.

Yeah. Yeah, and in fact, what you just said is going to show up later in this chapter. He's going to be reminded of a lot of things. Belshazzar has this high opinion of himself. His kingdom is basically the power of the world at that time, the known world at that time.

He has no reason to think he needs to bow down before anybody, submit to anybody, and I think that what we've got at the very beginning is, I love this word engrandizement. I had to look it up to make sure I had it right.

Belshazzar, he has grabbed, notice, 8 ,000 of the lords. That kind of implies that there's more than that out there. All right, that's a lot, that's a lot of people of power and prestige and everything else, but he basically brings them and their wives and concubines, cucumbers, there are there are thousands of people here, and it's all to honor Belshazzar, and they're going to have this big party.

What's of interest, if you were to go into the history, at this exact moment when Belshazzar has summoned a thousand of his lords, their wives, their concubines, they're having this big party, Cyrus is preparing a siege.

At the exact same time. Now, I honestly don't know, I can only imagine that that Belshazzar would have had a certain amount of intelligence, organizations, lookouts, know what's going on, but everybody's either asleep at the wheel, or they're afraid to tell the king.

Asleep at the wheel, soused. Or they're afraid to tell the king of what's going on. As a military guy, it befuddles me that all of this preparation that was going on by Cyrus was totally unknown in the kingdom.

But here's Belshazzar having this big party, and if I'm the guy that says there's this dude Cyrus, and he's about to lay siege on your kingdom, I don't, I've got this king who's having a big party. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mean you.

I've got this king who's having a big party. Do I want to be the Debbie Downer? So, Bobby Moskiel. Bobby Moskiel, that too.

Well, you know, they have a tendency of shooting the messenger. Yes.

And so almost the arrogance and the pompousness, the whole bit of Belshazzar is really put on display here. Because now what they're going to be doing is they're just going to indulge themselves. They're going to have wine.

They're going to be making merry. I got to believe the feast was just amazing. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, that he commanded that the vessels of gold, that Nebuchadnezzar, they bought the wine, they all drank the wine, the kings, the lords, the wives, concubines, everybody was drinking the wine and getting soused, perhaps, but just having a great, great party.

Sandy and I were in Ireland many years ago and we were looking for a place that we could go and like a tavern where we could have dinner and something like that. Couldn't find anything. And this one young lady says, well, if you go to Kilkenny at about eight o 'clock, maybe nine o 'clock, you're going to have a good crack.

Which, that got our attention. In Ireland, crack just means a good laugh, a good time. We use that word, it's a crack up. But that's what they were doing. They were all gathered around, they were having a good time and they were indulging and not only him, but he said, everybody here, all my lords, all the wives, all the concubines, let's just, let's just go for it.

And so they were indulging themselves. Without any conscience, they were just indulging themselves, blinded to what was going on. But then they take it to the next step and they are going to defile the temple of Jerusalem.

It's, he said to take, he commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, be bought. Then they were drinking out of them. There is absolutely no regard for the temple, for the Yahweh.

It's just more booty that we have taken from a conquered kingdom. It means nothing more than that. In fact, the stuff looks kind of good. Let's use it. Let's just use it. And this is an outright defilement against Yahweh, which will be, will be noticed.

But he even takes it one step further. And they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Isaiah 14. Sandy, if you would get Isaiah 14, there's a couple of verses there.

The idea here that's really presented is that Belshazzar is acknowledging that there are gods, small g. But each one of these gods, small g, that he's got here, gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, stone, are gods.

They are figurines. They are representations that man makes. And there is no need for a god over all of it. It's there. He is this. He is all of that. Sandy, what do you have there? I'm sorry. 12 to 14.

Yeah. How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, sun of the dawn. You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven.

I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.

Now Belshazzar is placing himself in a position that he and his people are the ones that are building, creating, and establishing these figurines, and he's calling them gods. And what a contrast if you just go back a chapter to chapter 4, verse 37.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. For all his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. And how far, and how totally, Belshazzar has fallen from that profession, from his father, where right now he's defining the gods as to those things that he can control, and there is no God over.

Over him. Now, you're equating what Sandy quoted as referring to.

Belshazzar? I am saying that the attitude, I will make myself like the most high. Because that's Lucifer. That's Lucifer, and that's Satan. Satan is the one who gives that thought to Belshazzar in the first place.

Belshazzar, you do not need to follow after the profession of your father. You are all of that. Now have a big feast, because you've made these gods, and that's all you need. You don't need anything else.

So it is Lucifer's profession brought into the heart of Belshazzar. That he has been elevated to king, and he's basically in a denial or ignorant of the fact that the reason he's up there in the first place is God put him there in the first place.

He's in total control. He's about to have a rude awakening. In the midst of this feast, a thousand lords, their wives, their concubines, and his wife, by the way, is there, too. There's an uninvited guest.

Rich, I'm going to ask you if you would read, please, verses 5 through 9.

Of chapter 5. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand, and the king saw the hand as it grew. Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him.

I love the emotion he puts into that one. That's why I picked him out. Go ahead. He turned white, too.

And his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanter, the Chaldeans, and the astrologer. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever 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.

Keep going. All the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing and McNewton McNewton gave the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.

It's not written here, but I can use my imagination. This feast would have been more than wine and food. There would have been dancing. There would have been entertainment. There would have been all of this stuff going on.

We've seen movies. You've got a picture for what this... that had to be a pretty big hall, by the way, for all of those people. And then one uninvited guest shows up. Thing. Just... no, not the thing.

Thing was the thing. Anyway, one uninvited guest shows up, or should I say a piece of a human hand shows up. And then on the wall, is it behind him, but it's somewhere where he can see. And the unexpected event from all of the entertainment, perhaps the court jesters, everybody that was there intended to make the king happy and entertained and just enjoying the time.

All of a sudden, this finger starts to write on the wall. That would freak me out all by itself. Meanie, meanie, teckle, parson. As he writes on the wall. But the king sees the hand, and it basically blows his mind.

It says here, the king's color changed. His thoughts alarmed him. His knees gave way, and his knees knocked together. That's a picture of total fear. I mean, from merriment and all the wine and all the festivities and using all of the choice chalices and everything else that were in the storehouse, to this goes on.

And he is totally overtaken. He turns pale, perhaps. He starts to quiver. This is the great king. This is the great king who was in charge of everything. This is the great king who answered to nobody.

But it goes bad for him, and so he calls out loudly. And I was really expecting you to just scream that one out, but that's okay. Who does he call for? Enchanters. The astrologers.

Why those guys? I don't know. They couldn't do anything before. Why do they think they were going to do something now? True. Good point.

The implication here is they've had, these guys, this group of guys have had their chance before, couldn't do it, and Daniel saved the day. But Belshazzar, again, is putting his trust in these individuals.

The implication here is that there's this group of wise guys, wise men, have not lost their ability to go in front of the king and to say what the king wants to hear, so that the king is pleased, because what they said is sad.

Does this sound familiar to you? What? Yes, man?

Are there yes men alive today?

Doesn't it sound a lot like where Jeff talked about in 1 Kings 22, 7 and 8? Candy, look, pick, find that one if you would. 1 Kings 22. These guys are going to come in and they are going to fail. They're not going to be able to do it, and the king is beginning to become alarmed.

It says, King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. Now, it doesn't say so here, but I gotta think that the wise men are afraid for their own lives at this point in time, because the reputation, if you're a wise man, and you can't do what the king wants you to do, you're probably not, yeah, that's going to happen, too.

Go ahead and read that passage, if you would.

But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here another prophet of the Lord, of whom we may inquire? And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah, the son of Imlach, but I hate him, for he never prophesied good concerning me, but evil.

And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

This sounds so familiar, because here, here is Belshazzar. His father had learned the lesson. We're going to learn that in the next section. And the wise men had failed his father before, but he calls these guys back again, because they're his comfort zone.

They're the ones that answer the questions the way he really wants it to be answered. Yes men, if you want, if you want to call it that. But at this point in time, he is not even acknowledging the opportunity to call for Daniel.

Why not? He's afraid of the truth. Absolutely. Absolutely. By the way, you skipped one, one great quote Sunday morning when you were talking about truth. You, you talked about Pilate. What is it? You can't handle the truth.

Oh, you're a good man. You can't handle the truth.

Carol, could you give us the next section, 10 through 12, I guess. Did we do that? No, 10 through 12.

But when the feet mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, long live the king. Don't be so pale and afraid about this. There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods.

During Nebuchadnezzar's reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom, as though he himself were a god. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, fortune tellers of Babylon.

This man, Daniel, whom the king named Belshazzar, has a sharp mind and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.

The queen has a memory that apparently Belshazzar has chosen to ignore. The queen has a recollection of Nebuchadnezzar's interactions with the enchanters, but then the success that Daniel brought. And the queen has a remembrance of the wisdom that Daniel brings and shows.

And so her advice to Belshazzar is bring in Belteshazzar. He's the one that can do it for you. It doesn't indicate here a resistance from Belshazzar, but I, in my imagination, almost can see his shoulders slump.

It's like, oh no, not that guy. And you can almost picture in his mind, he has just gone from so supreme, and so high and mighty, and so aggrandizing, and having such a great party, to having an uninvited guest and writing on the wall and becoming like a little schoolgirl, just afraid of his own shadow, not knowing what to do, calling for his wise guys who have always answered him the way he wants it to be, figuring the party can come back on, they can do it.

And the queen says, remember your dad? Let's go back a chapter, and let's read that. Remember what he said at the end? Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right and just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

King Belshazzar, that is now you, and you need to get Daniel here. You need to hear truth. And like the king said about Micaiah, I don't like this guy. I hate that guy. He has nothing good to say about me, so here comes Daniel.

And Janet, I'm going to ask if you would read 13 to 16.

Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard of you, that the spirit of God is in you, knowing that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.

Now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation. But they could not give the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of you, that you can give the interpretations and explain enigmas.

Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

The plea for help here is actually going to be concluded with a pompous proclamation that he's the one that can bestow favor and he's the one that can give reward. But what I found interesting is the way that it's worded here.

Are you that Daniel? Which gives me the impression he's never met the man. Now, Nebuchadnezzar would have had a son named Belshazzar.

Actually, I think Belshazzar was his grandson. And the queen was the queen mother. The queen mother, the wife of Nebuchadnezzar.

That very well means there are a couple of brief kings in between. I'm going in verse 11 where it says,. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father. Your father, the king. If it means grandfather, that's possible.

It could refer to ancestry, yeah. It could refer. But he would have grown up in the house. The time between Nebuchadnezzar's reign and the beginning of Belshazzar's reign is only a few years. Which really has to imply that Belshazzar would have experienced what Nebuchadnezzar lived.

But yet he, yeah. How old was Daniel? There's something written here which seems way out of, in his 80s or 90s.

Yes, he is. Oh, he is. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is. He takes over reigns, I'm sorry. He comes in in the third year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. We believe he was like 15 years old. And Nebuchadnezzar reigned for many years.

And then there was a few years in between. And then we have King Belshazzar. And it doesn't really tell us where within the reign of Belshazzar. But Daniel is an old man at this point in time. That is a true statement.

In fact, as we continue on beyond this, and we get into Chapter 7, just as an old by the way, we go, Chapter 6, you're going to teach that. That's King Darius when he takes over. Then in 7, the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar of Babylon.

So it's going to go back in history. It is going to go back in history. That's where his visions start. But you're right. If he met him as a child under his father, he clearly has had no relationship with him over the years.

Because he looked at him, are you that Daniel? Now he does say, I have heard. I have heard that you can do this. I have heard that you can do that. Verse 14, I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you.

And in verse 16, I have heard that you can give interpretation. So his reputation remains. There's no reason why he would not have even acknowledged it, except that he's all that and he doesn't need anybody.

And perhaps going back to, I hate that guy. He called the guys he wanted to hear from, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, the magicians, because they were going to tell him what he wanted. So he brings them by name.

And then he is acknowledging here that nobody else can help me. There's nobody else. None of the enchanters, nobody else that has come can give me an interpretation. I'm down to my last hope, basically what he is saying.

As much as he is probably aware, and maybe even concerned about what Daniel is going to say, he realizes he has no hope. This writing on the wall has taken and rocked him to the core so much that he's got to find out what's going on here.

He tells them, now the wise men, the enchanters have been brought to me to read the writing and make known its interpretation, but they could not show me. I have heard that you can. Now, if you will do this, this is his request, if you will do this for me, now I know you can, if you will.

And he's pleading to him with maybe a certain amount of skepticism, but yet he's willing to ask him. And then he makes this proclamation. If you do it, I will give you the cloth of purple around your neck, and I will make you the third ruler of the kingdom.

It's as if it's his to bestow, because he still is in control. He still is the great one. Now we go to Daniel. John, are you ready? You've got a big one, 17 to 23.

Daniel's Rebuke: Pride, Idolatry, and Ignoring God's Judgment

Then Daniel answered, said before the king, Let your gifts be for yourself. Give your rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing to the king. Make known to him the interpretation. O king, the most high God, gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father, a kingdom, and majesty, glory, and honor.

Because of the majesty that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled in fear before him. Whomever he wished, he executed. Whomever he wished, he kept alive. Whoever he wished, he set up.

Whoever he wished, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men.

His heart was made like the beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the most high God rules in the kingdom of men and appoints over it whomever he chooses.

But you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled him. Although you knew all this, and you have lifted yourself up against the law of heaven, they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your wives and your concubines have drunk wine from them, and you have praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, and the God who holds your breath in his hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.

The proclamation is a heavy one. First of all, Daniel says, I don't want your honor. I don't want your bestowing of all this kind of stuff. That's not for me. And I love the strength of Daniel to just step back and not let that be.

He says, nevertheless, I will tell you about the writing. And what it has. He promises that he will do it. But he starts out by really recapturing what he should already have known. How he should have already been reacting to things.

He said that God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar greatness and majesty. He did that for him. He gave him all the peoples and nations and languages. He killed who he would, kept alive who he would. But your dad, Nebuchadnezzar's heart was wrong.

And so God dealt with him, brought him down from his throne and his glory was taken from him. These have to be stories that Belteshazzar was aware of about the legacy of his father or grandfather.

It says here he knew all these things.

Daniel is saying you knew all these things. So the accounting of the history would have been passed on. But the real question is, did he know it or did he just know it? Did he understand what happened to his father?

Or did he acknowledge what happened to his father? More importantly, did he acknowledge why it happened to his father? Or did he just know the actual events of history that didn't occur? He was driven, he was fed grass.

Until he knew the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. The phrase there indicates Nebuchadnezzar's acceptance of the sovereignty of God. King of kings. It indicates that his father, grandfather did go there.

But then we get into some horrible words here. 22. Read 22 again for me, John.

But you, his son, Belteshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.

The first indictment that Daniel has against him is all of this information is true and valid and there is no reason, because you knew of it, why you didn't know it. Or why you didn't act on it. And why he didn't act on it is because you never humbled your heart.

It really is a clear picture of a heart that is hardened and unwilling to submit to the sovereignty of God. This king who had set up this great feast for a thousand of his lords, their wives and concubines, dancers, entertainers, wine and everything else.

This is who he really is.

You have not humbled your heart. And he wanted to show that how great he was. He really did.

This feast was all about his pride, all about his prestige, all about his position. And it's brought down. And then the indictments in verse 23. You have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven.

Ooh, mistake. Big mistake.

The reality is that there is one God and it is Yahweh. You have acknowledged and made offerings to gods of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood. There is one God. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven.

You have not just lifted yourself up to a throne and thrown a feast. You have lifted yourself against. You have taken the vessels of the house before you, your lords, your wives, your concubines, and you drank wine.

Basically, you have lifted yourself and you have desecrated. Not only not acknowledging him, but you have used his vessels for dishonor. And then you praise the gods of gold and silver. You find the things that you can make and you can control.

You will bow into them, but you're still the king. But you're going to bow to them. And then at the end of it, in all your ways, you have not honored God. That is the proclamation that Daniel makes. No doubt, Belshazzar says, I hate that guy.

But he speaks truth. If a pastor stands in the pulpit and proclaims sin and judgment, righteous judgment from God, and he is speaking truth, and somebody in the congregation is perhaps caught up in one of the practices, in denial, and feels offended, truth is truth.

Truth never changes. Truth is what it is. We need to hear truth. Daniel is giving him truth. And now here's what he's got to say in specifics. Carol, if you would give us 24 to 28. Hi, Patrick.

The Writing on the Wall and the Meaning of MENE, TEKEL, PERES

Therefore, he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written. Many, many, tekil harsin. This is what these words mean, many. God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekil, you have weighed on the scales and found wanting. You have been weighed on the scales and been found wanting. Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Mendes and Persians.

The words are from God. That hand was sent by God to write these down and to give a strong proclamation for egregious actions given to him. How does Belshazzar respond?

Strangely. In what way? Yes. He elevates the individual who has basically condemned him. What does he not do?

Make not way to God, repent. Repent, yeah. It's almost like he's in denial that anything could happen because after all he's the king. But yeah, you're right. His response is strange if we consider it.

But it's not strange if we take it from the world's point of view. He's the king and I'm going to give this guy his dues because he spoke to me, but I'm not really concerned about it anyway. 29, Belshazzar gave the command that 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 of the kingdom. David had sinned previously. First of all, he was supposed to be in the front fighting with the men and he wasn't.