Daniel 5:1

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 silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought out, that the king and his lords and his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought them in... and they drank wine and praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. (Daniel 5:1–4)

When the hand of a great king mocks the living God, the finger of God writes the answer on the wall.

Faithfulness Built on a Foundation

As we jump back into the book of Daniel, it struck me that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were literally taken from their families. Nobody talks about what their parents felt when these kids were ripped from them and carried to Babylon. They were taken in the junior high or high school age range, and the foundation they had in God up to that point was all they had. They remained faithful in Babylon because of the foundation their parents laid.

That's why we are so committed to things like VBS and summer camps, and why we love our youth. We have to raise up the next generation in Christ and lay that foundation so they can remain faithful here. I'm proud of our counselors—Pastor Nick Brower, Maggie, Emily, Callie and her husband Daniel, and Audrey. They took a whole week off to invest in your kids. We have the best youth team ever.

The Rise and Fall of Babylon

Last week we finished chapter 4, a testimony of Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king of Babylon, the head of gold in his own dream. Even in the most powerful kingdom on earth, this king was humbled by God and finally admitted that the Lord Most High rules the kingdoms of men and gives each kingdom to whom He chooses. In chapter 5, we read about the demise of that great nation—a downfall predicted by both Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Some thirty years have now passed. We are with Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson—not in bloodline but in royal line. For much of history, secular historians struggled because this Belshazzar showed up nowhere in their records. The history books said Nabonidus, his father, was the last king of Babylon. But in relatively recent times the Nabonidus cylinders were discovered—clay cylinders inscribed with the truth that Nabonidus was out on his conquests and gave rulership of Babylon to his son Belshazzar. Keep digging, and you'll find that what Scripture says is actually true. The word of God is accurate.

When we look at the demise of a great nation—and we just celebrated our own nation's Independence Day—do not think for one second that God couldn't one day and one night point His finger at us, as He does with Babylon, and in three words put it to an end. God alone is sovereign over nations. He gave our nation a start date and an end date we don't know. You had a birthday, but you don't know your last day. It's good to consider these things as we consider the hand of God in human history.

A Drunken King's Sacrilege

It is never a good idea for a great king to throw a party with all his noblemen. Remember Esther, where King Ahasuerus got the same inclination—I'm going to throw this wild feast and parade my queen around. Belshazzar's feast is basically a giant middle finger to God, elevating himself to God's level. Nothing against people having a drink, but in excess, as with these kings, it is always sin, and it always leads to terrible decisions. Some of you know that from experience.

Belshazzar went beyond even what Nebuchadnezzar had done. Nebuchadnezzar erected a giant gold statue of himself and threatened the fiery furnace. He walked about Babylon—one of the seven wonders of the world, with hanging gardens, massive walls, and infrastructure that would take years and billions to build today—feeling invincible. Yet even Nebuchadnezzar never dared touch the gold cups and plates taken from the house of God. Belshazzar did. He committed the unparalleled sacrilege of his day.

Sacrilege is taking something holy, set apart, devoted to God, and using it for the unholy. That's exactly what he did, and that's exactly why he was judged. God hates pride and He hates idolatry. The mentality is, "If these are worthy for God, I'll raise myself to that level and drink from them." That's pride—which is really the worship of ourselves. None of us struggle with pride, right? If you're married, you know you do.

A Party Inside a Besieged City

It gets even worse. When all this happened, the city of Babylon was under siege by Cyrus, by the Medes and Persians. Is it a great idea to throw a wild party with a thousand noblemen, their wives, and concubines while the enemy surrounds you? It's sin piled on sin, capped off by drinking from goblets made for the temple of God.

Why would a king do this while surrounded? Babylon was a great fortified city—walls some scholars estimate over 100 feet tall, wide enough for six chariots, with about 250 watchtowers. The Euphrates ran into the city, providing water and a moat. The gates were said to be metal—an incredible feat 500 years before Christ. Belshazzar may have thought, "We can relax; we're protected and have food stored for 20 years."

Maybe it was a morale boost. More likely it was a coping mechanism. When we're pressured and stressed, what do we turn to? Alcohol, drugs, sex—poor, unhealthy coping mechanisms that only fog the mind and slow our healing. But even more, I think Belshazzar did this in spite of God: "I'm so great I can throw a party while my city is besieged." That's terrible pride, all while praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—everything his fortified city was made of.

The Finger of God on the Wall

Immediately in verse 5, the fingers of a human hand appear and write on the plaster of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand—a lampstand probably also taken from the temple, now lighting up the hand of God writing his doom. When the king saw it, his color changed, his thoughts alarmed him, his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The original language indicates he soiled himself. So what happens when the hand of judgment appears in your life? At least the king wished he wore his that day. Now he's instantly sober, freaking out, desperate for someone to tell him what it means.

The hand of God appears throughout Scripture, from beginning to end. The same finger that wrote on the wall had written before and would write again. It spelled doom for Pharaoh—when the plagues fell, his magicians said, "This is nothing other than the finger of God." In Exodus 31, the same finger wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets. In the New Testament, in Luke 11, Jesus said, "If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then you know that the kingdom of God has come upon you."

That same finger stooped down and wrote in the dirt when the religious leaders dragged in a woman caught in adultery. Scripture doesn't say what He wrote, but I agree with the scholars who say He was writing out the sins of each Pharisee watching Him. Then He said, "Let any of you without sin cast the first stone." That's what the finger of God does. The same hands that pronounced judgment in the Old Testament touched lepers, raised the lame, healed the sick, fed five thousand, and cast out demons. And those same hands were pierced for your transgressions. One day in heaven, when Jesus shakes your hand, you'll see the nail scars.

That same hand wrote through Isaiah, "I am the LORD, that is My name. My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols." Belshazzar learned that the hard way. When you don't worship the Creator, you end up worshiping the created—always. We are religious beings, and we will worship something. Belshazzar had good cause to fear, because "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

The Useless Wise Men and the Queen Mother

So he calls for the magicians, Chaldeans, sorcerers, and enchanters—the wise men called twice before for Nebuchadnezzar. Now for the third time they prove absolutely useless, because they don't have the Spirit of God in them. Even when the king offers to make them third in the kingdom, clothed in purple with a gold chain, none of them can interpret it.

Then the queen comes in—the queen mother, very likely Nebuchadnezzar's surviving wife, who served as a mediator between the people and the king. Notice she was not at the party. Hearing the commotion, she comes and says there is a man in the kingdom in whom dwells the Spirit of the living God—Daniel—who can interpret this. I believe this queen mother watched Nebuchadnezzar fall from his height to acting like a donkey, then repent and look up to the Lord Most High and be restored. Because she witnessed all of that and was not at that party, there's a good chance she worshiped our Lord and that we'll meet her in heaven.

God's Judgment Has Just Cause

Point one: God's hand of judgment does not show up without just cause. We like to say God isn't fair, but we all have a line. If someone crosses it, we want judgment. If someone speeds past you, you want the cop to pull them over. God has a line too, and Belshazzar found it. He committed the ultimate sacrilege—taking what was devoted to God and using it to elevate himself, and he knew exactly what he was doing.

Don't Presume Upon God's Grace

Point two: we dare not presume upon the grace God has shown to others. We often say, "God was so gracious with them; I'll just make my life right when I'm old." Have you heard that argument? But why did God give Nebuchadnezzar a year of grace, while Belshazzar shows up in one chapter and is gone by its end, with no year of grace at all?

Paul warns us not to live this way. Don't cheapen the grace of God. His grace was purchased when He was nailed to the cross bearing our sin—meaning we should run from our sins to His grace, not run to His grace so we can keep sinning. The devil loves to whisper, "Go ahead and sin; God is so gracious He'll forgive you fast." Then, once you've sinned, he flips it: "You're a terrible person; God wants nothing to do with you; you aren't even a real Christian." He makes grace seem unreachable. We don't presume upon grace, because we don't know the number of our days. The God who formed you in the womb and knows the hairs on your head also knows your last breath. So live every day as if it were your last.

Daniel Refuses the King's Rewards

Daniel is brought in, and the king says, "You are that Daniel, one of the exiles whom my father the king brought from Judah." That's how Belshazzar sees him—just a captive—when in reality Daniel had been castrated, taught a new language, and pressured to worship other gods. And here Belshazzar condemns himself: he says he had heard of Daniel's excellent spirit, meaning he knew about him all along and wanted nothing to do with him, out of pride.

He offers Daniel purple, a gold chain, and third place in the kingdom—third because his father Nabonidus still held the throne. Daniel refuses it all: "Let your gifts be for yourself, and your rewards for another." He doesn't want anyone thinking his words are influenced by the king's offer. He is influenced only by what God wrote on the wall, and his job is to be faithful and interpret it. That's exactly what we do here every week—look at the word of God on the pages of Scripture and interpret it so we grow closer to Jesus. Daniel also knew the king had nothing to give, because his kingdom was already ended. When we stand before God, we'll have nothing to give either—only this: "I followed Your Son, Jesus Christ."

A History Lesson That Condemns

Daniel doesn't start with the interpretation; he starts with history that condemns Belshazzar further. The Most High gave Nebuchadnezzar greatness, but when his heart was lifted up with pride, the Lord brought him low until he knew that the Most High rules the kingdom of mankind. Then Daniel says, "You, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this." You lifted yourself against the Lord of heaven, drank from His vessels, and praised gods that cannot see or hear, but the God in whose hand is your breath you have not honored. Everyone breathe in—God just gave you a breath. None of us will be innocent before the judgment of God.

The real tragedy is that Belshazzar never repents. That makes him a foreshadowing of the spirit of Antichrist. The hand wrote: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PERES. Numbered—God has numbered your days and brought your kingdom to an end. Weighed—you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Divided—your kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians. That very night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom.

Remember the dream: the head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar; the chest and arms of silver were the divided kingdom of the Medes and Persians. As Daniel spoke, the enemy had already entered the city, diverting part of the Euphrates so troops could march in on dry ground under the walls. Some historians say the people welcomed the enemy because they despised Belshazzar and his nobles. When rulers despise their own people, we shouldn't be shocked when the people welcome an invading army.

Willful Ignorance and the Sin of Pride

All sin is sin, and all sin leads to death. But guilt and punishment are proportionate to the knowledge we have of right and wrong. Belshazzar knew better—he knew Nebuchadnezzar's story—yet remained willfully ignorant. Paul speaks of those who did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over. Peter speaks of those who are willfully ignorant, letting truth escape them because they want it to. Does that sound like the generation we live in? "I have my truth; your truth is relative." But God will judge even that, because He gives each of us the Spirit of truth.

Pride is always a problem for God—one of the seven deadly sins. G.K. Chesterton said if he had only one sermon to preach, it would be on the sin of pride, and I think that's right, because pride is the root of all other sins. It's why the devil was cast out of heaven: "I can be like God." Even self-described Satanists say they don't worship Satan, but they worship what Satan worships—self. "I decide what's right and wrong for myself."

The opposite of pride is humility. We can either humble ourselves before God or be humbled by Him on the day of judgment. Our generation struggles with humility—everybody wants to be heard, nobody wants to listen. That's why Twitter is so popular. Humility is listening, especially listening to God and His Scriptures—the handwriting on the wall. As C.S. Lewis taught, humility isn't thinking less of yourself in a false, self-loathing way; it's thinking of yourself less, thinking more of God and others. That's the two greatest commandments lived out: loving God and loving your neighbor.

We All Have a Day of Judgment

If you don't worship the Creator, you'll worship something created. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all will give an account. Everything hidden will be made known on that day. You may think there's something nobody knows about—God knows, and nothing hidden will stay hidden at the judgment. Hebrews 9 reminds us that it is appointed for men to die once, and after that the judgment. The day you breathe your last is the day you breathe your first before King Jesus.

Point three: we all have a day of judgment, and it will be a different day for each of us. If you knew you had five days left, who is the first person you'd call? What would you say? Who would you have to reconcile with? What affairs would you need to put in order? Those are things we ought to be doing already, because we don't know our last day—people die in accidents and from illness all the time.

Thank God for Jesus. As Christians, we can stand before God the Father as if we were Jesus, clothed in His righteousness, because Jesus stood before the Father as if He were us—bearing our sin, guilt, and punishment on the cross. That's why His nail-scarred hands will be in heaven. If you're not confident about that day, get right with Jesus this morning. He is gracious and forgiving and wants you to come to Him.

King Jesus Cleanses Unholy Vessels

Point four: King Jesus is in the business of cleansing unholy vessels. Belshazzar defiled the sacred vessels taken from Jerusalem. So who are the sacred vessels today? You and me. When you believe in Jesus and He comes into your life, He gives you a new heart, a worthy dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, and makes you new. Your body is now a temple of the living God.

And just as we're shocked at what Belshazzar did with God's vessels, we should ask: what are we doing with our bodies? We've all used this holy vessel for unholy things. The good news is that Jesus is in the process of making all things new and cleansing unholy vessels—that's sanctification. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:20–21:

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself of what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Many of us battle what I'd call imposter syndrome—sitting in church wondering, "If people knew what I'd done with my body, they'd call me a fraud." That's why Scripture tells us to confess our sins to one another, so we can be forgiven. We have our mountaintop moment of commitment, then we come down, get into the storm, and sin—and then we get chained to the guilt of our past so we can't enjoy the present or look to the future. Many say, "I won't serve in the church; I'm not good enough." No—we need to break that chain, because King Jesus is in the business of cleansing unholy vessels. It doesn't matter how dirty you've made your vessel; King Jesus can make it clean.

During this song, I want you to ask: What do I need to repent of—pride or some other sin? What am I tethered to that holds me back from the fullness of God now and from being used as a holy vessel, set apart for good works? Perhaps some of you haven't committed to serving God because you feel too dirty, as if God could never accept you. No—God is in the business of cleansing unholy vessels.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, I lift up those who do not yet know You, who have not made Jesus the Lord of their life. Lord, may today be the day they commit to follow Him as their Lord, the King of kings, the God who numbered the hairs on their head and fashioned them in the womb for good purposes. They need to turn to You, confess their sins, and commit to following You all the days of their life until they see You face to face. Stir their hearts. May they not be like Belshazzar and refuse to repent.

And Father, for those of us who have been Christians a long time, yet something in our past still holds us back from living in the fullness You called us to—free us from those chains. Cleanse us, and send Your Holy Spirit to fill us afresh and weed out every area of sin in our hearts. Give us the excellent spirit that Daniel had, the spirit King Jesus had, so that others can say, "I know that person knows God." We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's worship Him.