To Watch the Full Service — Click Here
Some people hate history. “All just names and dates.” Exactly. I love names and dates. They allow us to see how God is sovereignly unfolding His plan for mankind. And knowing the outcome of past events helps us to make good decisions today.
There are some dates every American should know: 1776, 1860, 1944, 9/11/2001. And there are some Old Testament dates every Christian should know.
–931 BC – The kingdom of Israel split, ten tribes to the north, two tribes to the south.
–722 BC – The Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom (Israel).
–586 BC – The Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom (Judah).
–539 BC – The Persians conquered the Babylonians.
These dates are exciting because they give us a time perspective of God’s fulfilled prophecies.
In Daniel 5 we are going to witness the fall of Babylon to the Persians in October 539 BC. But before that happens, we’ve got a king who gets drunk and does something really dumb, and pays a heavy price. His name is Belshazzar. There were four kings between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and they were all pretty much a disaster. Two of them were assassinated. Then King Nabonidus, Belshazzar’s father, co-reigned with Belshazzar for about 14 years. For a long time scholars thought the Bible was wrong since history said nothing about Belshazzar, but archeology has confirmed what the Bible said all along. King Nabonidus mentions him as his son on a 3×9-inch clay Nabonidus Cylinder (photo to right) now in the British Museum in London.
You can just count on it, when scholars and the Bible disagree, go with the Bible. The fall of Babylon is also prophetic of the final fall of Babylon the Great in Revelation 18, representing all the world systems of the Antichrist that will crumble under the judgment of God.
Daniel 5 declares the fact that God will not be mocked. Be sure your sin will find you out. God is the judge of all, and every man and woman will sooner or later give an account to God. This is a truth almost completely absent even in evangelical churches today. But God here reminds us that He always has the last word. You cannot escape the judgment of God.
We’re going to divide the first half of Daniel 5 into four parts in order to follow this fascinating story taking place in that majestic palace in the great city of Babylon.
THE BIG PARTY
Daniel 5:1-4, Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. 2 When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.
Why did Belshazzar throw this big party? The year is 539 BC. Everyone knew Cyrus and the Persians had conquered vast swaths of the Middle East. Now the Persian armies were marching down the Fertile Crescent between the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers and heading toward Babylon. In fact, they had already surrounded the city. Remember, Babylon had massive walls. Many years of supplies were stored inside those walls to feed the people. Everyone felt secure. Let’s celebrate! Babylon will never fall! By the way, the Euphrates River ran right through the middle of the city. Remember that.
So Belshazzar threw this big party for 1,000 nobles to encourage and assure them of peace and safety. He was sure no one could overthrow his great city with its great wall. This scene reminds me of all the voices that have assured mankind, “Don’t worry, God is dead. Make it your life goal to live for your own pleasure and fame. There are no divine laws to make you feel guilty. Just imagine there’s no heaven or hell.” That’s where we are today. Christianity is even being called the “evil power structure to keep people from enjoying themselves.” Some declare, “And even if there is a God, He loves everyone unconditionally. So don’t worry and enjoy yourself.”
So there they are in this huge room with all these high ranking noblemen feasting, and soon the wine began to flow. Having 1,000 guests to your party may seem like a lot to you, but not to ancient kings. They loved to show off their wealth and glory. One ancient king dedicated a new capital city named Calah and invited 64,574 guests! That’s more than the population of Warrick County. Alexander the Great invited 10,000 people to his wedding celebration.
Daniel 5:3-4, Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
So the wine begins to flow, everyone is feeling great, loud laughter fills the hall, and ladies are brought in, including Belshazzar’s wives and “cucumber vines.” Suddenly the king gets the dumb idea of showing how much greater the Babylonian gods are over the Hebrews’ God. So he orders the gold and silver vessels which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, from the house of God no less, to be brought out to be used by his guests. Belshazzar thought he could get away with acting like a big-shot before this inebriated crowd.
So these divinely sanctioned vessels are filled with Gentile wine and the guests become increasingly drunk, and probably with the ladies from the royal harem attending, things began to really get crazy. You’ve heard of party animals. Walvoord says Belshazzar probably wouldn’t have brought these sacred vessels in if he was sober. But alcohol can really make you do dumb, stupid things. It’s the greatest killer of all drugs. Alcohol kills nearly 100,000 people a year in America, more than all other Illegal drugs combined. Not to mention the families it destroys. That’s why God says in Ephesians 5:18, “Be not drunk with wine, for this is dissipation,” or “debauchery” in the ESV. Proverbs 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.” Leon Wood writes, “History is replete with costly mistakes made while men were under the influence of liquor.”
So in verse 4 they drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver and bronze – Anu, Enlil, Ea, Marduk – top dog god, Nabu, Shamash, Sin, Ishtar, Ninurta – war god, Tiamat the sea goddess. This blasphemous party was going great. Gold and silver vessels from the house of God were slipping out of drunken hands and clattering across the floor. To use these sacred vessels was the height of desecration. But Belshazzar thought it was great sport to insult the God of the Hebrews. After all, Babylon’s gods conquered Israel’s God in 586 BC.
THE MYSTERIOUS HAND
Daniel 5:5-6, Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. 6 Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.
You’ve heard the saying, “the hand writing is on the wall.” That originates from this occasion. Judgment is coming. A hand emerged in clear view with its fingers writing on the plaster wall. Suddenly implies at the very time they were all reeling in their drunken stupor, this ghostly hand appears. Belshazzar probably thinks at first he’s seeing things from all that wine, but now, this is actually the hand of a man, a human hand with fingers writing something on the wall. As we said, “Belshazzar, the handwriting is on the wall for you.”
According to archeology, this throne room was 56 feet wide by 173 feet long, with an area in the middle where the king probably sat on an elevated platform. When this mystery hand appeared and wrote plainly on the wall lit up by a lamp stand, I imagine a nervous hush sweeping through the crowd. One author described the scene, “The musicians put aside their instruments, the dancing girls stood motionless, and the waiters stopped short, as they all gazed at the words on the wall.”
Have you noticed how often God scares these kings with nightmarish dreams and visions and here, even an actual free-floating hand! Belshazzar was scared skinny. His face turned white as a sheet, his hipbones lost all strength, and his knees began knocking together. I’ve seen knees knocking in fear. I remember fully grown men having to get up front to give a speech in Mrs. Panosian’s speech class. Another guy in seminary was leading singing in chapel and the poor fellow’s legs were visibly shaking.
Warren Wiersbe wrote: “God turned the banquet hall into a court room and the king is about to be declared guilty.” When I was in college I went with some rowdy street preachers up to a large town north of Greenville, SC. Before we entered the town they pulled over and we all went into the woods and spent some time praying for God to give us boldness and bless our gospel efforts. It was the only time I preached on a street corner. Then before we left the town, we emptied out in front of a bar, set up some speakers across the street, turned up the volume, and the preacher preached from Daniel 5, “The handwriting is on the wall, be sure your sin will find you out. God will judge you just like he did Belshazzar. Your day is coming.” Something like that.
God has a message for this arrogant, blaspheming king. And it’s not good news. Judgment is coming.
THE KING’S DESPERATION
Daniel 5:7-9, The king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his face grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed.
Belshazzar is highly agitated. You can imagine he is yelling loudly for these court advisors. “Bring in the experts! They can handle this.” We’ve seen this story before. Here they come, parading in with all their goofy costumes, astrologers, diviners, the people who have the answers. Today they would be the scientists and professors and environmentalists. Bring in those Harvard and Yale smart guys. Surely they can make heads or tails of this strange writing on the wall. Belshazzar even promised one-third of the kingdom of Babylon, but of course, since the Persians had conquered nearly everything from Europe to India, that wasn’t much.
Here are your brainiacs who know everything. We have them today. We’re supposed to follow their worldly counsel. A man or woman who refuses to listen to God, who rejects the Scripture, who mocks the great doctrines of the Bible, is not someone to depend on for answers for life’s big questions. A lowly man or woman with the Bible in his hand and heart is wiser than the most educated fool sitting in the highest places of worldly power!
So here we have the failure of human wisdom, again. When they are completely flummoxed by the writing, Belshazzar is hit with a second wave of terror and dread. All the nobles are now perplexed, too, and they ought to be. Our experts don’t have the answer. Where do we turn?
THE WISE QUEEN
Daniel 5:10-12, The queen entered the banquet hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale. 11 “There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners. 12 “This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.”
This is either Belshazzar’s mother or grandmother, and she sounds like one. “Calm down and pull yourself together there. O king, live forever son.” She must have been alive under Nebuchadnezzar and knew of Daniel and his connection with God. Daniel is at least 80 years old now and apparently no longer the chief of all these court advisors. But God has him in the wings, just as before with Neb’s dream. And Queen Grandma had been duly impressed, describing him just like King Nebuchadnezzar did, only adding even more detail. Here’s a man who knows God, is faithful to God, loves God’s Word and boldly teaches it. I like that last quality she assigns to Daniel, “Solving of difficult or ‘knotty’ problems.” Daniel will be able to untie this knot.
Isn’t this good? Daniel represents Christians in this world who have the answers to life and death and eternity. God will use a man or woman like Daniel who believes God’s Word. Keep your Bible open to God’s answers. Just be ready. And that message includes judgment. Felix in Acts 24:24-25 called in Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ, which included righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. What was Felix’ response? “Go away for now and when I find time I will summon you.”
When you go to school and you become friends with unbelievers, remember, you know the true God of the Bible, and with all humility you are able to solve difficult human problems according to His words. God may have you in the wings at work to help poor lost co-workers solve difficult problems, whether it’s sin problems or marriage problems or depression problems or financial problems. Like Daniel, no matter how old you are, walk with God and be ready!
SO WHAT?
Let’s conclude on the sober note of the certainty of God’s judgment. Everyone’s party will end. The music will stop. Every person will stand before God. Every person’s life is leading to the judgment seat of Christ, either as a believer or as an unbeliever. Thank God, Christ took our judgment on that cross. But how many people ever give their accountability to God a thought?
They should shake like Belshazzar at the prospect. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will sooner or later confess that Christ is Lord to God’s glory. Are you ready? The Babylonians were not really safe inside those massive walls. The enemy was coming even as they were trying to figure out the handwriting on the wall.
There is one safe place: “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”