Daniel 5- The Writing on the Wall

      

     Today we’re finishing our series in the book of Daniel. And so far in this series we’ve talked a lot about King Nebuchadnezzar, and the ways that he came to eventually see that God was the true God and learned humility. Yes, God revealed his power to him multiple times as Nebuchadnezzar relied on Daniel to interpret dreams for him, as he saw Rack, Shack, and Benny saved from the fiery furnace, and as he was reduced by God into an inhuman, animal like state until he learned humility and had his kingdom restored to him. And now the book of Daniel jumps ahead a bit in the story to King Belshazzar who was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Our bible translation said Nebuchadnezzar was the father, but a better translation is likely ancestor based on what we know from extrabiblical historical records, and indeed the Hebrew word here is used to refer to ancestors more broadly both in Ezra and Daniel in other places. Yes, history tells us that Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Nabonidus, was actually the true king per se at the time of this story, but that he would sort of go off often and pursue his own interests for long stints and leave his son Belshazzar to rule as king while he was away.

            But the key here is that Belshazzar was closely related to Nebuchadnezzar, and as you can imagine he therefore knew Nebuchadnezzar’s history and particularly the history of his relation to Yahweh. If you throw some people into a fiery furnace and they don’t burn, that’s something that you’re probably gonna tell your children and grandchildren about a few times. And so it seems clear in this story that Nebuchadnezzar had probably at some point tried to stress to his descendants the importance of humility and the importance of respecting Yahweh, a God of great power.

            But Belshazzar learns no such lesson, does he? Daniel 5 opens with Belshazzar throwing a great party. And knowing that Belshazzar is only ruling because his dad, the real king is away, reminds me of all those movies or tv shows you watch where as soon as the parents leave town the teenage son throws the wild party at their house where you just know something is going to go wrong… And this is a big party they’re throwing, more than a thousand are in attendance. And as they drink more and more their better judgment leaves them and they start to commit some of the most blasphemous acts you could imagine. They take all the things from the Jerusalem temple and use them to drink alcohol out of and get intoxicated from.

And you might think well maybe they’re just using these vessels from the temple to drink out of because they’re running out of other glasses to serve guests from because after all they have thousands in attendance at this party. But no, it seems that they’re almost intentionally mocking Yahweh here. They not only desecrate Yahweh’s consecrated items for their party, they do this while worshipping idols, gods of gold and silver and stone. Almost in my mind being like, oh my grandfather and his crazy made-up stories about Yahweh, let’s make a farce of this Israelite God and his religion. But Galatians 6 warns us, “Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked.” There are consequences for our actions.

            What are some initial takeaways here? One kind of fairly obvious one is that almost nothing good really ever happens at drunken parties. Romans 13, Galatians 5, and 1 Peter 4 all warn against drunkenness, revelry, and carousing. And we don’t use the word carousing much anymore nowadays but that’s basically wild, drunken parties. You may remember from our Esther series how King Ahasuerus got himself in trouble often with drunken parties. It’s the same here with Belshazzar.

            But another key takeaway is simply the need to learn from history and from our ancestors and those around us. You see, Nebuchadnezzar had more grounds to claim ignorance for why he acted in prideful or idolatrous ways early on in the book of Daniel. For the Israelites and their religion may have been fairly new things in Babylon during his time. And so God responded with more mercy and grace to Nebuchadnezzar, God gave him multiple chances to learn his lesson and learn the truth about God. But Belshazzar had no such grounds to claim ignorance. He had been already entrusted with the necessary knowledge about God through God’s dealings with his grandfather, and so God was far less merciful with second chances to him.

            If we are wise we will notice when other people make mistakes and learn the lesson from their mistakes. But many seem to not learn from others and not learn till they go out and make the same mistake themselves. Let’s go ahead and learn the lesson from others before we make the mistake ourselves so that we don’t have to face the consequences they faced. Well, if Belshazzar was held to a higher standard because he had more spiritual knowledge than King Nebuchadnezzar, I have to warn you, that you and me, we have wayyy more knowledge than either Nebuchadnezzar or Belshazzar, so we are held to even higher standards. Are we taking advantage of all this knowledge we have access to? Of all the stories in the Bible where we can learn from our spiritual forefathers so that we can live better and more righteous lives than they did? Do not neglect the lessons of history, or you are doomed to repeat them.

            Belshazzar should’ve known better, so he faced stricter judgment when he repeated the mistakes of Nebuchadnezzar. And judgment came in the form of a hand that suddenly appeared and began writing on the wall. And in my mind here I’m sort of imagining, if you’re familiar with the Adams Family, I’m imagining Thing here writing on the wall, that disembodied hand. Pretty creepy. So Belshazzar is very understandably terrified when he sees this happening. He grows pale, his knees knock together. But it turns out that no one could decipher what the writing on the wall meant. Until finally one of them remembers, oh yeah, Daniel, he’s the type of guy we used to call on for this sort of thing. Only the queen mother remembered about Daniel and his abilities to interpret spiritual things.

            And that’s already a bad sign. If most all of the kings and lords and wise men are at this feast, and none of them could even remember Daniel, it tells you that they have already long neglected trying to listen to the prophets of God. Notice throughout the book of Daniel when Daniel is typically brought into the story, into the royal courts,
only when there is a crisis, when something has gone wrong, when there is a problem the ordinary wise men of Babylon can’t help solve. I think many modern day pastors can probably relate to Daniel here. That there are quite a few people who sort of just ignore pastors and the church and God and the Bible until they reach a crisis moment in their life. Only when they encounter a grave difficulty that they are struggling to get through on their own do they finally come back and try to get help and discernment from God. And hey, let us not be the kind of people who judge others when they finally come back to God. Rather let us be the type who are eagerly ready to welcome people home. But let us note regardless that if one is wise they do not come to God only at crisis moments in their life. There is as much godly wisdom and knowledge that we need as we live the ordinary days of our lives as we need at moments of crisis. And if we have long saturated ourselves in the presence of God and His word in ordinary times, then when crises do come we will find ourselves far more prepared to face them, and by saturating ourselves in God’s wisdom we will be much less likely to encounter crises that were of our own making, that sprung up from our own stupidity or sin. Let us not be like the king who only goes to Daniel and to God in crisis, let us regularly call Daniel into our courts, let us regularly hear the wisdom of God. And let us not forget God in prosperity, but dwell with him whether in plenty or in need.

            But Daniel gets there, and he of course can interpret the writing on the wall. But he doesn’t really want to… You see the writing on the wall was a prophecy of judgment, of coming doom. And just like last week, we said that nobody wants to speak words of judgment or doom, but sometimes we have to. Sometimes God calls us to. But King Belshazzar tries to sort of coax Daniel to interpret for him by promising him the rank of third in the kingdom if he does so. He promises Daniel 3^rd place in the whole kingdom, not second, because again Belshazzar really is only technically second in the kingdom, his father is first. But Daniel’s like no, I don’t want that position or the expensive gifts you’d give me. Because Daniel knew Belshazzar was the ruler of a collapsing kingdom. To become a high official in a kingdom doomed to collapse is to only open himself up to greater dangers of harm when the enemy army comes through.

            And yet not everyone is wise like Daniel. Many seem to be willing and eager to strive for positions of power in dying kingdoms. The truth is that all earthly kingdoms are passing away, and if we are wise we should care far more about our positions in the kingdom to come than in earthly kingdoms. Daniel doesn’t want the position, though reluctantly he receives it nonetheless when Belshazzar gives it to him. And Daniel does not let himself be swayed by bribery to give the king a more favorable interpretation or prophecy. No, he speaks the truth. The truth that Belshazzar has been weighed and found wanting and that doom was coming. That is what the writing on the wall meant.

            We still have this phrase, this idiom, in our language today, of the writing being on the wall. And this of course comes straight from Daniel 5. It means that there are enough signs that something bad is going to happen soon. And the truth is that we often don’t need a supernatural sign to know that the writing is on the wall, that doom is coming. You see, one of the most wild parts about this story in Daniel 5, about this wild, blasphemous party of thousands, is that it was taking place in the middle of a siege. This is how cocky and prideful Belshazzar was. His city was literally under siege by the Persians and the Medes and their vast army. And this normally means, man the parapets along the wall, ration food carefully, be alert. But they must’ve felt safe and secure in the power of their royal city. Their walls were strong, their food was apparently seemingly abundant enough to party, and they had endless water supplying the city as the River Euphrates ran through Babylon. And yet it was this foolish letting down of their guard through partying that allowed the city to be captured. Extrabiblical history sources tell us that the Persians and the Medes diverted water away from Babylon by altering the flow of the Euphrates River by digging a bunch of trenches which allowed them to enter the city through the dried up river bed and easily capture the city. Belshazzar died that very night.

            Partying with an army at your doorstep. How stupid can you be? And yet are we sometimes just as foolish? 1 Peter 5 warns us to be alert, to stay sober minded because our adversary the devil prowls around roaring like a lion, looking for someone to devour. Indeed, the Bible warns us that doom is imminent. That at any moment, Jesus could suddenly return and the days of the final judgment could be upon us like a thief in the night. Have we let our guard down foolishly? Or have we stayed awake and vigilant? We must strive to not be like Belshazzar, caught unprepared. We must guard and protect our souls and keep them safe. Having seen the writing on the wall, the signs that we are in the last age, Jesus warns us through many parables that we should make sure we are prepared for the return of the Son of Man. When he returns, how will he find us? Will he find faithful servants or drunken, arrogant fools?

            Friends, judgment may be nearer than we think, the handwriting may already be on the wall, so let us not postpone repentance, let us not postpone finally learning our lessons, and forsaking pride, and humbling ourselves before God, and thrusting all of our hope onto the mercy of His Son Jesus Christ. Judgment is indeed coming. But for those who are in Christ, Jesus takes the judgment in our place. So how do we prepare for the coming judgment? It’s simple, we prepare by throwing our hope and our faith into the grace of Jesus Christ.