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Daniel 5

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10/6/1991
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Daniel 5
Daniel 5
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27 Daniel - 1991

Daniel is a book of history as well as prophecy, and it contains one of the most awesome and detailed predictions in the entire Bible. Skip Heitzig examines the backbone of Bible prophecy.

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Daniel 5

Daniel has always been one of my favorite, books and I'm not just saying that because we're in it tonight. It's easy for me to get caught up in the book of the moment and say it's my favorite book, but Daniel is really one of my favorite books, because it's a book of prophecy. And I love the fact that God, through his word, can predict things so accurately-- and I've watched a lot of people come to know Jesus through the book of Daniel.

I remember when I worked in Southern California in the hospitals, and of course, in hospitals, there are a lot of skeptics-- not only as patients, but as professionals. And they looked upon reading the Bible and Christianity as just a pipe dream, a myth, a joke. And so I'd often challenge them to look at the prophecies of Daniel and see how they were literally fulfilled.

I remember sitting down one evening with one of the techs that worked over in inhalation therapy, and she was scoffing, and she was a skeptic, and we went through-- for about an hour at our evening lunch break-- prophecies in the book of Daniel. And she gave her life to Jesus that night, and she's still walking with the Lord. The word of God is like a sharp, two-edged sword.

Daniel chapter 4 is a testimony. And the neat thing about it-- it's a testimony of a heathen king, a Gentile king, somebody who not only didn't know the Lord, but hated people who said they knew the Lord and made a decree that people would be killed if they followed any God besides him or his gods.

God humbled Nebuchadnezzar, the ancient Saddam Hussein. Being in the same area of Iraq, God not only humbles him, but in chapter 5, 23 years after chapter 4, we're going to see how God humbles one of his descendants, Belshazzar, who is now upon the throne. God has the ability to raise nations up to pinnacles and to bring them down. We read about that last week. It was Nebuchadnezzar's own testimony.

In fact, we read, in verse 17, that the most high rules-- in the kingdom of men and he gives it to whomever he will, and he sets over it the lowest of men. In chapter 5 tonight, we now witness the fall of a nation-- ancient Iraq, or Babylon. Its last King, Nebuchadnezzar, upon the throne; one given to pride, thinking it would never fall, thinking he was it, and that he could hold the nation together.

At the time chapter 5 is going on, the Persians have encircled the city of Babylon, and it's about to fall-- though the Babylonians think it will never fall. They thought that for a long time. It's going to fall. Nations in the past have risen and fallen.

In 1976, we celebrated the 200th-year anniversary of the United States as a nation. We made a big to-do about it. It was actually quite a celebration. And I'll never forget they took one of the water spillways in Corona, California-- this huge, cement dam-- and painted a huge American flag on it. I mean, it spans-- I don't know. It's huge. You can see it from the freeway for miles.

And I used to drive that road from Orange County to San Bernardino in Riverside County weekly-- few times a week. And I'll never forget, off to the left, seeing that huge American flag. "200 years of freedom," it read on it. But a lot of Americans didn't realize is that while we were celebrating 200 years of our nation being birthed, it was the same year was the anniversary of the fall of Rome 1,500 years earlier. And I think our nation should take its cues and take a lesson from Rome-- it's a warning-- and a lesson from Babylon.

Babylon was great, and the Bible says God made Babylon great. Babylon was an idolatrous nation. God smote-- to use old, King Jimmy-- the nation of Babylon and humbled its rulers. Rome, at one time, governed the world-- as predicted, also, by the prophet Daniel. Rome became strong, took over many nations.

When Rome fell, she did not fall because of military might of other nations. Rome fell because of her own corruption and degradation from within. I commend to you an excellent book called How Should We Then Live? Subtitled The Rise and Decline of Western Civilization, where Francis Schaeffer paints a picture of Rome reaching its pinnacle and then falling, and how he paralyzed the United States of America as the heir of Western civilization, following the same path of Rome, and before that, its predecessor, the Kingdom of Babylon.

You remember, back in chapter 2-- which, by the way, happened 65 years before chapter 5. 65 years, by the way, is a long time. People forget a lot of things. A new generation arises-- a generation that does not remember the lessons that God taught mom and dad. And a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar, grandpa to the present king of chapter 5, Belshazzar, was on the throne, he saw a dream. And at night, he was terrified by it, called his soothsayers in, and said, tell me the dream and its interpretation, or you're history.

They couldn't do it. Daniel came in. Daniel said, in your dream, you saw a great image-- head of gold, chest of silver, stomach of brass and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. Nebuchadnezzar, basically, here's the skinny-- you're the head of gold. You're a mighty emperor.

But one day, Babylon will fall. And in its place, an inferior kingdom-- that of the Medes and the Persians-- will take over-- and then another kingdom, and then another. As you remember, Nebuchadnezzar didn't like the idea of the head of gold being the head only. He wanted the whole statue gold.

So he erected a statue, in the very next chapter, commanded the world to worship it. God humbled him in the next chapter. And now, in chapter 5, we have the fulfillment of the vision in chapter 2. The head of gold gives way to the chest and the arms of silver.

The Medo-Persian Empire is about to take over the world, even as God predicts. After Nebuchadnezzar left the throne, the kingdom basically went downhill. I mean, even from a leadership standpoint, Nebuchadnezzar was quite a leader. I'm not going to say he was a good leader, because if you didn't do what he said or think like he thought or worship the little gods that he worshipped or bowed down, he would basically kill you.

He was a despot, an iron rule. He controlled the world, and he knew how to run the world. After him, the kingdom had all sorts of problems. And finally, when we get to chapter 5-- where it says Belshazzar, the king-- he really was a weak ruler. He was given to drunkenness and parties and revelry, and the kingdom was just going downhill and was really at a low ebb when Belshazzar was on the throne.

Nebuchadnezzar had learned some important spiritual lessons. Don't you remember all of them? Over and over again, God showed him that God was the boss, and Nebuchadnezzar was not. And every time Nebuchadnezzar was lifted up by his own beauty or pride, God knew how to take him to the woodshed and give him a good spanking, until he would cry, uncle! When he cried uncle, God would restore the kingdom. And every time he got lifted up, God would take him to the woodshed.

Now, his grandson, 65 years later, 23 years after the testimony that was written to all of the world in chapter 4, sits upon the throne and has forgotten the lessons that grandpa learned. And that's unfortunate. And it's typical, by the way, too. Does that sound familiar to you of any other person or group of people in the Old Testament-- like the children of Israel?

Mom and dad learned great lessons of God's might and God's power and God's deliverance, but the Bible says, in the book of Judges, over and over again-- a new generation arose who did not know the Lord. Neither did they follow after the footsteps of the good kings, but they went astray, and they did what was right in their own eyes. God got their attention, sent them into captivity. At repentance, brought them back. And that generation did great-- until they died, and their kids came up, and their kids didn't know God, and the parents didn't communicate the truths of God to their children adequately. And so you have that cycle.

It seems to be the same today. I remember my dad would often try to teach me the shortcuts of life, telling me what things to avoid so I wouldn't have to learn things the hard way. You ever heard your dad say that? Now, son, I don't want you to learn things the hard way.

And of course, being the average American, rebellious kid, I would fold my arms, give him that look, and say, right. All right, is lecture over now? Thank you. And of course, kids always know much more than their parents know-- until they grow up, and then they realize how foolish they were in their younger years. And I do look back to the time when my dad used to lecture me and think, God, I wish I would have listened.

But I used to just blow it off and not listen to the lessons he learned. Now I find myself with a son growing up, and I sound so much like my father, as I have the same heart to steer him away from the hard knocks of life. Realizing that he's just going to have to learn some things through the school of hard knocks-- it's actually one of the best schools around, because it's lessons that you never forget when you learn them on your own.

Now, as much as I want to-- and I do, by the way-- want to transfer all of the knowledge God has given me to my son, I want him to know God. The same time I realized that he cannot rest in my relationship with the Lord. He'll never be able to say, well, my dad is a Christian, so therefore, I'm OK. Or, well, my dad was even in the ministry.

In fact, I've seen that most kids whose parents are in the ministry often turn out worse than other kids because of the pressure that's often put on them. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on him. I want to encourage him. I want to teach him the lessons that God has shown me. But he's going to have to have his own relationship with God.

Would to God that he will listen at a young age and not have to go through some of the hard knocks that dad had to go through. Belshazzar on the throne did not listen to what his parents were teaching him after the lessons they learned. And I can just hear Belshazzar making all the excuses as Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps, got him, and as he was an old man and brought Belshazzar before him.

Said, now, listen-- Belshi, as you grow up and you see all of the power and the beauty around Babylon, there's something I want to tell you. I used to be an aspiring young ruler, thinking I had it made. But there is a God in heaven-- the God of the Hebrews, who have been in captivity here. He is the Lord of Lords and the King of kings, and here's my testimony. I want you to read it.

Now, I can see Belshazzar growing up and being a teenager saying, look, this is a new generation, all right? We're not like your old generation. Stop trying to make us like you. And I can see, as he would grow up and sit upon the throne thinking, oh, yeah, well, grandpa had this weird religious experience, but he's an old man, and those things happened way back then.

Well, he's on the throne now, and he's about to learn a lesson all for himself. Belshazzar the king made a great feast for 1,000 of his lords and drank wine in the presence of the 1,000. Now, there are critics-- and every time you speak the Bible or biblical truth, you will have critics-- critics always take pot shots at the Bible. And one of their favorite things to do is find supposed inconsistencies in the scripture and bring them out and say, see? The Bible is an accurate.

And chapter 5 happens to be one of those places that they poke fun at, because it says Belshazzar the king. And the critics will tell you, look, there was never such a king that sat upon the throne called Belshazzar. The last King of Babylon was not Belshazzar. It was Nabonidus.

We know that from history. And so here it says Belshazzar the king, and he's portrayed as the last king before the fall of Babylon to the Medes and the Persians. Therefore, the Bible is, again, inaccurate, because it has this inconsistency historically. Nabonidus was the king, not Belshazzar.

But again, the spade of the archaeologist comes along years later and finds tablets called the Nabonidus chronicles, and etched upon the tablets is the story of Babylon, which mentions, by name, Belshazzar, who was co-regent with Nabonidus before the fall of Babylon. Both of them were rulers.

There was Nebuchadnezzar. There was Nabonidus, his son. And the co-regent, the co-heir of the throne, the son of Nabonidus, Belshazzar-- who ruled, oftentimes, in the place of his father, because his dad was absent a lot. And so this is not a historical inaccuracy. It's very accurate. And it takes secular scholars time to catch up with God.

But the man of faith is always ahead of the man that has no faith. The Bible says it. We believe it. The critic comes along and challenges it. All you have to do is wait around. The archaeologists will pull something up and prove that the Bible was true all along.

Nebuchadnezzar reigned upon his throne 43 years. After he left the throne, one of his sons, Amel-Marduk took control, but he was assassinated. As soon as he was assassinated, someone else came upon the throne-- a son-in-law-- by the name of Labashi-Marduk.

Now, that's not important, except to realize that he was assassinated and Nabonidus-- the heir of Nebuchadnezzar reigned-- who brought his son along, Belshazzar, to sit upon the throne. There is an interesting scripture in Jeremiah chapter 27. I'll read it to you. A prophecy-- a prediction-- where God says, I have made the earth, man, and beast that are upon the ground by my great power and my outstretched arm, and I've given it to whomever it seemed proper to me. And now I have given all of these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, my servant.

Boy, that stumbled me the first time I read that. Your servant? The one who defied the living God to the whole world? Who, at the time God wrote this, was a pagan king in Babylon whose only desire in life was personal power? My servant, the King of Babylon, and the beasts of the field I have also given to him to serve him. So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son.

So there will be Nebuchadnezzar's son and grandson, who will be upon the throne until the time of his land comes, and the many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. Now, that prophecy was perfectly fulfilled, as we'll see in this chapter. The son of Nebuchadnezzar hit the throne. His grandson was on the throne. The time of the land had come-- that is, the captivity was ended 70 years. And at that time, the captivity is over. Babylon is humbled. And the Medes and the Persians take control.

Belshazzar the king made a great feast for 1,000 of his lords. Now, by the way, the year is 539 B.C. At the time that Belshazzar is a party animal in Babylon, the Persians are outside the walls stocking the city, trying to get in. Now, the Babylonians were very proud. Thought, our city is strong. It will never fall. After all, 300-feet walls and 80-feet thick freeway on top, 250 watchtowers. We've got it made. Nobody has been able to conquer this city. And they thought it was impregnable.

And so at the time when the enemy is surrounding the city-- the time of greatest vulnerability-- the king-- party's down-- has a cocktail party. He gets 1,000 of the rulers, and they drank wine in the presence of 1,000. Let's go on, just read a little bit. While he tasted the wine-- and you have to picture it this way. When they tasted the wine, they would toast.

And if you can imagine, around this courtroom where Belshazzar sat-- which, by the way, has been perfectly reconstructed and rebuilt by King Saddam Hussein since it had fallen. He spent $60 million-- or 60 million bricks and millions and millions of dollars to reconstruct Babylon. In that very same place, there were idols in niches all around the room. And the people would stand up, and Belshazzar would say, no, let's toast to this God over here, and they'd all stand up and take a drink. And let's toast to this god-- by the time they got halfway around the room, man, they were soused. They were tasting the wine, and they were just goners.

Belshazzar was a drunk. Alcohol was one of his problems. Now, alcohol has also become a problem in America. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but if you have fallen or followed alcohol sales in the last couple generations, in 1960, we spent $130 million annually in this country on alcohol. By 1975, $360 million was spent on alcohol, and presently we spend in the billions annually on alcohol.

For every one heroin addict in the United States, there are 15 hardcore alcoholics. It's become the drug of our culture. And while some of the social drinkers of America condemn the drug addicts of marijuana and cocaine-- which are evil and bad and can ruin a person-- we have alcoholics running around behind the wheel. And Belshazzar would have been one of them if he would have been living today.

So he's toasting to all these gods. While they tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave a command to bring the gold and silver vessels-- which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the temple, which had been in Jerusalem-- that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them. Belshazzar was a party animal to the max, and he was probably showing his people, look, I'm not afraid. The Persians are outside, but let's have a great time.

But he went one step too far. It was bad enough that he was drunk and got his rulers drunk. He did something that his grandpa, Nebuchadnezzar, never would have done. At least Nebuchadnezzar-- though he was a pagan idolator-- would never defy, quite like this, the God of Israel. All of the vessels for worship that the priest used in the temple of Jerusalem that had been taken to Babylon-- which was Nebuchadnezzar's practice when he took over a nation; they were there for safekeeping-- were now drug out-- the holy vessels of worship-- and used to party downwind.

Basically, Belshazzar was defying, openly, the God of Israel. He was sort of saying, hey, I challenge you. I dare you. Our gods are superior to the God of Israel. After all, the children of Israel are our captives-- or as Hussein would say, our guests. We're in charge.

Hey, bring the vessels in. Let's drink out of them. So they had this drunken orgy. Silver and the gold goblets used by the priest were taken in and used for this debauched orgy-- this party.

Now, to a Jew, this would be an abomination. No doubt this king knew about it, but was defying the Lord. They brought the gold vessels that were taken from the temple in the house of God-- which had been in Jerusalem-- and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

You know, when a person is drunk, they often do and say things they would never do and say were they sober. That's oftentimes why people drink-- to cope with life. They're so insecure they can't handle life in a sober state. And they'll do things in defiance, even, against God.

I've seen people speak the most blasphemous things while they were drunk. I've also seen people, quote unquote, have a "repentance experience" while they're drunk, only to forget about it when they wake up. Cry, oh, oh, yeah, I'm such a sinner, repent, and they wake up, they have no recollection of what happened.

That's why I don't witness to drunk people. Put them in a bed. Let them sleep it off. Get then safe so they don't kill themselves. But they can make promises. They can say horrible things, or even nice things, But have no recollection.

The only instance that I saw different was in my early Christian walk when a drunk came up to the ministry I was involved with, and he was drunk as a skunk. And we prayed that God would supernaturally, miraculously sober him up, and he did. I watched it before my eyes. I'll never forget the look on the guy's face as he stood there sober. And he gave his life to Jesus, by the way, that night-- in a sober state-- and continued to follow Him.

But here's Belshazzar, he's drunk as a skunk, getting everybody else drunk. Brings the concubines in, has this orgy-- which, in Babylonian custom, was not permitted in the court to bring these women-- the wives, let alone the concubines. Well, they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. That verse demonstrates to us the folly of idolatry.

Can you imagine worshipping something that is not living, walking up to a stone and going, I praise you, oh, most holy stone? Oh, dead, inanimate object that has no life or breath, please save me and help me. How ridiculous.

When there is a God in Heaven who is alive, who can govern the affairs of man, who himself pits himself against every idol, every god, there is none like him. To go around the room and praise these stupid, little images-- David gave great insight to idolatry as compared to God in Psalm 115. You might don't have to turn there and follow along-- the 115th Psalm.

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory, because of your mercy, because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say where, now, is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever He wants.

Their idols are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they don't smell. They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throat.

Those who make them are like them, and so is everyone who trusts in them. The Psalmist declares some basic truths about people who would forsake the true and living God. When a person leaves true worship of God, he needs a substitute. And an idol is a substitute.

When a person leaves the worship of the true God, there is now no God in its place, and so you want to fill up that gap with something. When a person makes an idol, the Psalmist declares they have they are the works-- verse 4-- of men's hands. When a man makes a god, he makes a god like himself so he can relate to that god.

He puts a little nose on his god, because the person has a nose and can smell, so I'll fashion a little nose on my god, little nostrils. And because I have ears, I'll fashion ears on my God. Because I have eyes, I'll put eyes on my god. And because I have hands, I'll put hands on my god.

And so when a man makes a god, he makes a god like himself, and basically an idol. It's self-worship at its root. But though he makes a god like himself, the god ends up being less than himself, because the human being has eyes that can see and transmit messages to the brain. The auditory canal has those three bones that can vibrate and transmit sound to the brain, and you can hear. But a god does not have the same capacity as a human being. He's always less than a human. Oh, he has eyes, but he can't see out of them.

You never put glasses on an idol, because he has no vision. Has ears, but he can't hear. Hands, but he can't feel. He has a throat, but he can't speak. So he makes a god like himself. The god ends up being less than himself. And eventually, in the worship of that idol, the man becomes like his god. Whatever you worship, you will eventually become like.

Those who make them-- verse 8-- are like them, and so is everyone who trusts in them. A man eventually becomes like the god he worships. If your God is true and righteous and living, you will become true and righteous and living as you worship the true God. If your god vain and empty and hard, you will become vain and empty. You'll become like the god you worship.

The gods were made-- they praise the gods of the Babylonians in verse 4, and God was basically being challenged. Belshazzar was shaking his fist at God, all right? This God who lived in Jerusalem, I defy, I challenge. Well, God is going to accept this one challenge, and the night of revelry will turn into a night of revelation.

In verse 5, we get that fabulous, famous story of the spiritual graffiti being placed upon the wall by the finger of God. In the same hour, the fingers of a man's hands appeared and wrote, opposite the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. And the king's countenance changed.

Now, he's drunk, remember. He's inebriated, and he sees this happening, and he's probably going-- rubbing his eyes, going, whoa! I had too much of that stuff. And he checks it out, and everybody else's mouth is dropped, and their eyes are wide as saucers, and they turn pale. And he notices that people collectively don't see the same vision when they're drunk, and so he gets a little bit scared.

His countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loose, and his knees knocked against each other. Hey, there's nothing like the old King James in this verse-- his knees smote one against another. That really says it like it is. Now, this guy's probably a little bit drunk, trying to get his balance, and he sees this, and his knees start shaking.

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers-- the Chaldeans, the soothsayers, anybody, basically. Help me! The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and tells me its interpretation will be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck, and he will be the third ruler in the kingdom. It's an interesting phrase, by the way. Why third ruler?

Again, it shows the validity of scripture. The first ruler was Nabonidus. The co-regent was Belshazzar. And since he was second in the kingdom, he could only give away the third position. That's why. Third ruler in the kingdom.

He sees the handwriting on the wall-- whoa, I need help. He was convicted. He was scared out of his wits. Reminds me of another story of another hand writing in the New Testament. We read about Jesus in Jerusalem, and he comes to the temple mount one day before one of the feasts.

As he's out there, the Pharisees bring a woman to him caught in adultery. And they drag her before Jesus, and they say, hey, master, this woman was caught in adultery-- in the very act. The law says she had to be stoned. What do you say?

They were trying to trap Jesus, knowing that he was compassionate and full of forgiveness. And they wanted him to be full of legalism like they were, and death like they were. The law says-- the Bible says-- let's kill her! In fact, I've underlined it right here in my Bible. Lets kill her.

Well, what do you say, Lord? Of course, my question is, they brought the woman who was caught in the very act. Where was the guy? It takes two to do it. Shows their prejudice, their one-sidedness, their sinfulness. They bring the woman to Jesus.

And Jesus took his finger and started drawing in the sand, as if he didn't hear them. I don't know what he wrote. The scripture doesn't tell us. But it was enough to convict them. He's drawing in the sand in front of all these Pharisees, and then he says to them, well, whoever is without sin, let him cast the first stone.

It could be that, in like manner, as judgment was written upon the wall for Belshazzar, that Jesus Christ-- let's say Jesus was writing the secret sins of these Pharisees. OK, Shlomo wicked, lustful thinking, extortion-- just maybe writing down some-- that only God would know about. And as he's writing them down, he would say, well, hey, any of you who are without sin, throw the first stone.

Whatever it was, they were deeply troubled, and they put down their rocks, and they left. Jesus said, woman, where are your accusers? Lord, I have none. Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. It shows the compassion of Jesus toward those who would repent. Well, Belshazzar was far from repentance. Basically, he's toast at this point.

Now, all the king's wise guys came, but they could not read the writing. Isn't that strange? They couldn't even read the writing. They weren't soused. If they were, I could understand. These guys had to be brought in. They were sober. But they couldn't read the writing.

Now, the writing was probably in Chaldean, or even Hebrew-- of which they had a master of the language. But for some reason-- supernaturally, perhaps they couldn't make it out. Why? Because God wanted Daniel to come in and grandstand it. It was a setup. But they couldn't read it, or make known the king's interpretation.

By the way, this is strike 3 for these guys. They have failed twice before to prove their work. At this time, I'd just get rid of them. I mean, they're on the payroll, and they're there to perform a function, and every time affairs of state need their assistance and their prowess and their abilities, they fail. Kick them out.

Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled. His countenance was changed, and his lords were astonished. Never before was Belshazzar more sincere than at this point. And have you noticed that?

A lot of times, people will make fun of you as a Christian. They'll laugh at you. They'll talk about their beer parties, and oh, you Christians, you don't have any fun. Ha, ha! But when life drops out from under them, who do they ask first of all? Who do they call on first of all?

Notice how sincere they get when a catastrophe comes? God gets their attention. And by the way, it's because God loves you if he's gotten your attention because of some catastrophe tonight. It's not because God hates you. God loves you. And some people are hardheaded, and it takes difficult, hard measures and methods to get in touch with them.

But the truth is God loves you, and God wants to take your life and make something out of it. And it's only because of stubbornness and hard-headedness that you're not reaping the benefits of a relationship with Him-- as Belshazzar, in this case. Verse 10-- the queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. So she was obviously out of this event as well.

The queen spoke, saying, oh, king, live forever-- which was a joke, because he's going to die very shortly. Do not let your thoughts trouble you. Oh, come on. If you just saw a hand write on the wall, you wouldn't be saying that. Nor let your countenance change.

We think that this queen is the queen mother of Babylon, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, the wife of Nabonidus, which would be the mother of Belshazzar. So his mom comes in, says, oh, honey, son. Don't let this bother you. Don't let it trouble you.

I know they can't figure it out, but there is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God. And in the days of your father-- and really, is he speaking of Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar wasn't his father, but his grandfather. But in Chaldean and in Hebrew, there's only one word for father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather. There's only one word. It can mean all of them.

It means "your forefather," basically-- whichever one you want to pick down the ladder. In the days of your father-- or in this case, your grandpa-- 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, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. It sounds like this lady had firsthand knowledge.

If she's the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, no doubt Nebuchadnezzar took her aside and told her about this Daniel. And perhaps she heard Daniel's prophecies. She remembered. She knew the skinny.

In verse 12-- and as much as an excellent spirit, knowledge and understanding, interpreting dreams, solving problems or riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel-- giving him his Hebrew designation-- be called, and he will give you the interpretation.

Do you see that phrase in verse 12? It is much as an excellent spirit? It could be translated as spirit that is uppermost, or a spirit that excels. In other words, it speaks about a person who, of all of the parts of his life, puts his spirit as uppermost. That's important. You were born tripartite. Three parts-- body, soul, and spirit.

Thessalonians gives you that designation. You were born in three parts. When you were born, you were born apart from God. You were born a sinner. The spirit part of man which communicates with God was really dormant at that point, and you came in in a body, and your flesh became uppermost.

From the day you were born, you were body conscious. Look at a baby. A baby is very body conscious. When the baby is hungry or thirsty, it cries. When the baby wets, it cries. When the baby does other things, it cries. It's body conscious. It lives satisfying body appetites.

And so man is born in this world, body uppermost, soul, or your mind, emotions, will-- and then spirit dormant. The body is controlling everything, and that's what Romans calls having the mind of the flesh. A person who is born in that, which is everyone, continues through life as the mind of the flesh. I want to feel good. I need to do these things for myself, and the body is uppermost.

When a person asked Jesus into their life, into their heart, Jesus called it a new birth. Even as you were born physically, you need to be born spiritually. But when you're born again, you do a reversal. You were born spirit, soul and body. You now become-- or body, soul, and spirit. Now it's spirit, soul, and body. Spirit is uppermost. All of a sudden, you're conscious of God. All of a sudden, you think, I need my spirit nourished. I need to read the Bible. I need to pray.

Never before did you think like that, right? When you were a Christian, did you have a hunger to read the Bible? That's the last thing I wanted to do. I'd have shot myself if I could have seen into the future me as a Christian. A hunger for going to church? Oh, give me a break. How boring, I thought. But when I was quickened in my spirit and that became uppermost and I had all of a sudden the spirit consciousness, the mind of the spirit, all of a sudden, everything else became subservient to that.

However, I found that I still had a fleshly nature and that the flesh and the spirit war against each other, and that as a Christian, I must make priority, number one, my spirit. I must nourish my spirit daily. I must be in the word and in prayer and in fellowship so that I can maintain that mind of the spirit, not have the mind of the flesh, because I have a new nature now. But that new nature needs to be nourished. Otherwise, the old nature will take over.

It's like a weed. Do you ever water your weeds? No, they grow naturally. You need to water your flowers in your gardens. Your new nature takes watering. Your old nature doesn't. It'll grow all by itself. But now we have a new nature, and we must keep the spirit uppermost.

Daniel was a man of excellent spirit. He lived a life where he didn't live in the mind of the flesh. He didn't always think, well, I have a food drive, and I have a water drive, and I have a sex drive, and I have this drive and that drive. Therefore, I must satisfy all those cravings. Spirit took number one. And besides that, he was very gifted in these things.

In verse 13, then Daniel was brought in before the king. This king could care less about Daniel before this time. Daniel, Shmaniel. I want to have a party, man. I bring a preacher in, he'll just quench my whole happening. The last thing you want when you're drunk is somebody to preach the gospel at you.

I remember when I was a young believer, we used to find the parties in town and kind of crash them spiritually. All of our friends who were nonbelievers-- we'd come in and we'd sit down with them, and we'd share with them. And I tell you what. They probably had the worst party that night.

[CHUCKLING]

Most of them said, oh, what a drag. Let's just go home.

Daniel was out of the scene, but now, Daniel is brought in. An old preacher, who's now in heaven, in the 1800s, named Joseph Parker, in speaking to future preachers said, preachers of the word, you will be wanted someday by Belshazzar. You are not at the beginning of the feast, but you will be there before the banqueting hall is closed. The king will not ask you to drink wine, but he will ask you to tell the secret of his pain and heal the malady of his heart.

Abide your time. You are nobody now. Midway down the program, to mention pulpit or preacher or Bible would be to violate the harmony of the occasion. But the preacher, as we have often had occasion to say, will have his opportunity. They will send for him when all the other friends have failed. May he then come fearlessly, independently, asking only to be made a medium through which divine communications can be addressed to the listening trouble of the world.

Oh, Daniel, preacher, speaker, teacher, thunder out God's word if it be a case of judgment and doom, or whisper it or rain in gracious tears if it be a message of sympathy and love and welcome. You'll have your opportunity, Christian. God will open the doors, and sometimes, it's when the unbeliever is at his lowest.

And those are gracious opportunities. You know, you should never come to a person who's laughed at you and scoffed at you and then, when his world has fallen out and says, man, help me. Don't point your finger at him and say, yeah. Yeah, it's easy for you to say now-- but don't do that. Use it as a gracious opportunity to bring them into the kingdom of heaven.

A lot of times, I get asked to do funerals of pagans, the people who didn't come to a church. And I remember one time when Mr. And Mrs. Overhand on the west side were murdered and bludgeoned to death by their 16-year-old son and buried in their backyard. It made press all over the country.

And the funeral home called me up. It was a Christian funeral home, and thank God for them. And they said, Pastor Skip, we have an unusual circumstance. You know the much-publicized murder of the Overhands. Their son is now in jail, and their bodies are down here at the mortuary. And their family's come in from all over the country, and they're all unbelievers. And they don't know of a preacher in town, and I mentioned you. Would you be willing to do it? I said, I'll be right down. What a fabulous opportunity.

When there's just grief and you can't make any sense of that situation, to be God's messenger at a time like that, what a great opportunity. I jumped at it. I wanted to go down and preach the gospel, and it was a fabulous time that we had, I think. And I think God really used it to break through to their hearts.

Daniel had this occasion. I bet Daniel was praying for Belshazzar. He's retired. He's over 80 right now in this chapter. I bet he's saying, God, you know Belshazzar? He's a party animal. He hasn't called for me. But Lord, you open the door. I'd love to, before I die, have a crack at him. So you set it up for me, will you?

Well, he got his prayer. The handwriting came on the wall. Everybody flipped out. The astrologers couldn't handle it. The queen said, get Daniel. Daniel comes in, probably a little grin on his face.

[CHUCKLING]

And the king spoke to Daniel and said, are you that Daniel who was one of the captives from Judah whom my father, the king, brought from Judah? I've heard of you, that the spirit of God is in you, that the light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.

Now, these wise men and the astrologers have been brought in before me to read this thing, and they couldn't do it. I've heard of you, that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas. Now, if you can read the writing and make known its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and you shall be third ruler of the kingdom. That's the only language he knew how to speak. Instead of humbling himself and saying please, help me, he said, now, if by chance you can pull this off, I'll greatly reward you.

And Daniel answered and said before the king-- I love this man. What a servant of God. Let your gifts be for yourself. I don't want your stupid gifts. Give your rewards to somebody else, yet I will read the writing to the king, and I will make known to him the interpretation. In other words, he wouldn't be bought off.

Perhaps Belshazzar thought, hey, tell me what this means. But he knew the history of Daniel, so it's like, hey, I'll give you a lot of money, as if to say, make it a favorable interpretation, would you? He said, look, keep your bucks, buddy. I'll tell you what it says, and I'll make known to you the interpretation.

Oh, king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father, a kingdom and majesty and honor. Notice, he doesn't say, oh, king, live forever. Now, he said that to Nebuchadnezzar. This guy's mom came in and said, oh, king, live forever. Daniel didn't say oh, king, live forever, because he knew that night he'd be dead. And why live in hypocrisy? Hey, king, I'll tell you. It's not going to be a pretty sight, but here goes.

And by the way, notice that the interpretation starts up in verse 25. Before he gives him the interpretation, he lets him have it, both barrels. He figures, I'm getting one crack at the guy. I'm getting one crack at all these thousands of lords. You could probably hear a needle drop.

So he says, Nebuchadnezzar, your father-- God gave him a kingdom of majesty and glory, and because of his majesty and all that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, languages trembled in fear before him. Whoever he wished, he executed. Whomever he wished, he kept alive. Whomever he wished, he set up. Whomever he wished, he put down.

But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his earthly throne, and they took his glory from him, and he was driven from the sons of men. His heart was made like the beast.

His dwelling place is the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like an oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven until he knew that the most high God rules in the kingdom of men and appoints it over whomever he chooses. But you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this.

He's comparing Nebuchadnezzar with his grandson as if to say, you know, now, your grandpa, he was a real man. He was a king, and God humbled him, and he understood that God was most high. But you, little punk--

[CHUCKLING]

Taking the vessels of God and partying down-- oh, you think you're big star. You haven't humbled your heart, though you knew all of this. That was his first mistake. He sinned against knowledge. He sinned against the light that he had. And you know, God will hold people accountable and responsible for Biblical knowledge, for the life that they have, be it little or great.

Now, if he was held accountable for sinning against the light and the knowledge that he had, knowing the history of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, how much will God hold America responsible? With all of the TV preachers and the radio ministry that goes out and the bookstores and Bibles that we have and churches that we have, the truth goes out constantly, and yet many people have not turned to Jesus Christ. Though you knew all of this, you didn't do anything about it, and God will hold that person accountable.

Remember the New Testament? Jesus lived around the Sea of Galilee, lived in Capernaum, hung out in Chorazin, went over to Bethesda, or Bethsaida. One day He was there, and the people of Bethsaida. And Chorazin and Capernaum yawned at the miracles of Jesus. They were ecclesiastically bored with Jesus's ministry.

Jesus, in town one day said, woe unto you, Capernaum. Though you be exalted in heaven because of the miraculous works that were done in you, you will be brought down to hell. Woe unto you, Chorazin and Bethsaida. If the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago. Therefore, your condemnation is deserved.

It's interesting. When we go to the Sea of Galilee this next week, you will see three cities that dot the Sea of Galilee, all in ruins now. Capernaum? Not one inhabitant. There's not a city. Bethsaida and Chorazin are rubble, never inhabited as a city, never rebuilt. Judgment was pronounced on them because Jesus based His ministry there. And yet people never changed. They were held accountable. They didn't react according to the light that God gave them.

Next, he says, you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You've deliberately defied God. And thirdly, you're an idolater. They have brought the vessels of the house before you. You and your lords and your wives, your concubines, have drunk 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 listen to this phrase-- and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all of your ways, you have not glorified.

Belshazzar? You're in deep trouble, buddy. You've been worshipping these stupid idols around this room that can't talk. And the very God who holds your breath and sees your ways, you haven't glorified. And then the finger of the hand were sent from him, and this writing was written. And this is the interpretation. Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. And then he gives the interpretation.

Now before we jump into the interpretation and conclude, Daniel pinpoints something that has been the basic problem of man since the beginning. An age-old problem with man is that people get tired of God, and the very light and knowledge that they have, they don't respond to favorably. They walk away from it. And there's this spiraling downhill away from God and into all sorts of debauchery.

I would like you to look at a New Testament scripture, a parallel for a moment, in Romans, chapter 1. It's the downward spiral of humanity. It's sort of a courtroom scene painted by Paul the Apostle. In verse 18, we read, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all and godliness, and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness."

And you're going to notice this devolution, where man starts high and works his way downward, not the reverse. The Bible does not teach social evolution, that man starts low and works his way up and solves his own problems. The Bible teaches the truth, that man started with knowledge of God, sinned against that knowledge, and devolved. And pretty soon, that society that does that finds itself practicing all sorts of flagrant sinful activity, calling it normal.

Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power in godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God and did not glorify Him-- the same phrase we read about in Daniel's prophecy-- nor were they thankful, but became vain or futile or empty in their thinking. Their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, creeping things.

Therefore, God gave them up to their uncleanness and the loss of their heart to dishonor their bodies among themselves, exchange the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forevermore. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchange the natural use for what is against nature, lesbianism. Likewise, also the man leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of the error, which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased or a reprobate mind, to do the things which are not fitting.

They knew God originally, but it says they suppressed the knowledge of God. They didn't want the truth to work in their lives, even though they could look at creation and figure it out, that it didn't just happen. It didn't just happen that the Earth happens to be-- happens to be-- 93 million miles from the Sun, which gives us a beautiful exchange of heat and cold. It just so happened that the Earth has a 23 and 1/3 degrees tilt on its axis, which gives us the forces. It just so happens that there's this 79-to-20 balance of nitrogen and oxygen, with the 1% of varying gases, which gives us this biosphere to house life. It just so happened.

From the beginning, man figured out, this had to be God. There were no atheists originally, because the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Man wasn't that foolish from the beginning, but they spurned the knowledge of God. And they were not thankful, and so God gave them over to a reprobate mind.

It happened with Belshazzar, this downward spiral of humanity. You haven't glorified Him. You got tired of God's revelation and His truth. And now here's the interpretation. Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin, which means numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided. Four little Chaldean words, and now Daniel interprets them. This is the interpretation of each word.

Mene-- God has numbered your kingdom and has finished it. In other words, Belshazzar, your number's up. You've been numbered, and now God tore off the little tag with your number on it. You're numbered. Your days are numbered. Your kingdom is numbered. You know what? Our days are numbered. God knows the number of our days. The Bible says that we ought to ask God to help us to number our days, that we can apply our hearts to wisdom. James says our days are like a vapor.

The more funerals I do, I'm aware of that fact of how fragile life is. 1991 might be the last year for many of you. In fact, I'd almost bank on it, this size of a group. For some of you, 1991 is your last year. I've seen many Saints of God and unbelievers die the last several years God has your breath in His hand. God will pull up your number one day, because the Bible says, it's appointed unto man. Every man wants to die. No one gets out of this thing alive. And only God knows your number. And for this guy, his number's up. At least God had the courtesy to tell him in advance.

Tekel-- you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. I'll give you a loose paraphrase of that. You've been weighed in the scales, and you're a lightweight, Belshazzar. You are fluff. You are shallow. There is no substance to your life. As God put you in the balances, the scale tips the other way. You have no substance. There is no reality to your life.

Peres-- your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. If only this guy would have studied his own prophecy and realized that the head of gold would be replaced by the chest and arms of silver. God keeps His promises. Right at that very moment, the city was surrounded, as we have said, by the Persian army.

At the time, they were having a drunken feast. At the time Daniel points to the wall and gives the interpretation, the Persians had already taken the Euphrates River that ran through the central part of Babylon, and north of it had diverted the water into another channel. And the river was drying up, and the Persian armies were going underneath the levee gates on dry ground. The gates had been left open. They were usually locked every night. They were left open by a drunken soldier, caught up in the revelry, and the city was about to fall.

Hundreds of years before this event, in Isaiah chapter 45, God prophesied that a man by the name of Cyrus, who at that time wasn't even a twinkle in his father's eye-- he wasn't even around yet. His father wasn't even around, yet God named him by name and said that he would take over Babylon, which wasn't a world power at the time, and even describe the Persians coming under the gates and taking over the city. Boy, if he would have just read the Bible, he would have been ready for this. Well, you're numbered, you're weighed, you're divided, you're out of here.

And Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night, Belshazzar, the King of the Chaldeans, was killed and Darius the Mede-- Darius the Mede was the ruler of the Median side of Media, Persia. Cyrus was the ruler who had sent out Darius the Mede-- received the kingdom being 62 years old.

What God predicted happened. Belshazzar was numbered, weighed in the balances. He was a lightweight. He was history. The Bible predicts in the last days that they will be like the days of Noah. As it was in the days of Noah, Jesus said, men will be eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage. Just like Noah, people party down, oblivious, Jesus said, to the fact that judgment was about to fall upon the earth. They were making all their future plans unaware of impending doom, like Belshazzar. Jesus said it would be like that way at the end times.

Today, people are totally oblivious, first of all, to the mass ascension, which won't take place in Albuquerque. It's called the Rapture of the Church, when the church will be cut away. And after that will come judgment of seven years upon the earth. Man's oblivious to it-- eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, up until the time that God will judge the earth. The Bible says, in the last days, perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God.

But you know what? There's handwriting on the wall, isn't there? We can see it, if you read the Bible, and if you read USA Today or the local paper or watch Ted Koppel or Peter Jennings, and you see biblical prophecy being fulfilled, you can see mene, mene, tekel, upharsin, divided, divided, numbered, numbered. What is it? Yeah, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided. The number is up. The handwriting is on the wall.

And it's time for every single person who has any sense at all to ask themselves, which God do you serve, the gods of the Babylonians and the gods of gold and silver? Are you following after finances, money? Is that your goal in life? Are you thinking, boy, this is my goal, to make that much money? I'm going to strive after the gods of gold and silver? Is that what you're shooting at? Is it the gods of pleasure-- oh, I just want to be happy? Or is it the living and true God? Whichever God you aim at, whichever God you serve, you will become like Him. Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.

Some of you are worshipping a career. Your sights are set upon a position. You'll come up so empty, you can write over any of those pursuits the words that Jesus spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria. Drink of this water, and you're going to thirst again. Oh, I just want to be happy, man. I just want to make a lot of money. All right. It'll be fun for a while, but drink of this well water, and you'll thirst again. Oh, I just want a good woman. All right, well, drink this water, and you'll still thirst. Oh, all I want is a good career. Great, but drink of this water, and you'll thirst again.

There's only one well you can drink out of where you'll never be thirsty again, and it's the living water Jesus promised. Jesus said, whoever drinks of this water will never thirst again. All of you are drinking out of some well. All of you are pursuing some goal, some God. Which is it? Let's bow our heads, and let's search our hearts.

Lord, there have been many men and women throughout history that have dared to defy the revelation of God. Belshazzar was a sad but true case in point. You predicted the fall of Babylon. But he and his revelry, pursuing his false gods, was oblivious, and yet his number was up. He was weighed in the balances and found to be a lightweight. Although people looked at him as a very important person, You looked at him and saw fluff.

Lord, tonight, Your eyes are looking at us. And people may think that we're a great person, or that we have many great talents, and people at work-- we might have fooled a whole lot of people. But we don't fool You. You look at the heart. And tonight, as every night, You weigh us in the balances. And You know and You alone know if we're found wanting. And Lord, tonight, as You weigh us in the balances, I pray that we would weigh ourselves. And Father, I pray that if we are found lacking, that we would cling to the everlasting arms of our Savior, who alone can give us righteousness, and who alone can give us living water to drink.

Lord, it is true that people who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. We learn from this case history in Belshazzar. And Lord, when our number is up, instead of hearing those awful words, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin, we'd rather hear, well done, good and faithful servant. And so Lord, right now, as You are speaking to individual hearts, bring them into Your kingdom.

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8/25/1991
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Daniel 1
Daniel 1
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9/1/1991
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Daniel 2
Daniel 2
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9/22/1991
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Daniel 3
Daniel 3
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9/29/1991
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Daniel 4
Daniel 4
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10/20/1991
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Daniel 6
Daniel 6
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10/27/1991
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Daniel 7
Daniel 7
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11/3/1991
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Daniel 8
Daniel 8
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11/10/1991
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Daniel 9
Daniel 9
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11/17/1991
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Daniel 10
Daniel 10
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11/24/1991
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Daniel 11-12
Daniel 11-12
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