You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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We're going to be in Daniel chapter 5 this morning, Daniel 5.
Before we go there, though, I want to talk for just a minute, share one kind of side
note with you from my study this week, a little tidbit that I took away before we dive into
the story itself.
I share this with you because of our commitment to God's Word and its reliability as one of
the most fundamental aspects of our faith.
This is just one of those small instances this week where our faith can be strengthened
in the trustworthiness of the Bible.
A couple centuries ago, critical scholars began to attack the historical veracity of the Bible,
particularly areas of the Bible that require supernatural involvement, right?
You're aware of that.
In an effort to support a naturalistic worldview where we can explain everything by what we
see and experience, miracles were out, right?
Prophecies were out.
And so Daniel, which purports to be written in the 6th century B.C.
He undeniably depicts accurately, everybody agrees, some of the events that happen in the next
couple hundred years after the 6th century B.C.
So how would the critical scholars explain that?
How could the book of Daniel actually do that?
Well, the agreed upon opinion was that Daniel was actually written after those events that
it writes about.
Probably somewhere in about the 2nd century B.C. is what popular opinion came to be among
those scholars.
And that explained it, right?
No wonder he can write such a good account.
The events already happened, they said.
One of the key planks in their argument is the king in our story this morning, a guy named
Belshazzar.
In all the historical records there about Babylon from the 5th century and the 4th century B.C.,
historians like Herodotus and others, there was no Belshazzar.
None at all.
Lists of all the kings of Babylon, he's not even there.
So the biblical author appeared to have made this guy up.
You know, 400 years later they said, of course.
He didn't know any better.
And he just made up another king of Babylon.
Beginning in about 1860, archaeologists began to find more old records.
They started digging other things up in southern Iraq, actually found several things that had
histories of Babylon recorded and lists of kings.
And lo and behold, there's this guy, Belshazzar.
He is the oldest son of the last formal king of Babylon, Nabonidus.
And these historical records detail how Belshazzar actually ruled in Babylon for several years
during his father's reign, that he was the one actively ruling in Babylon when it fell.
So not only, according to these newly discovered records, was Belshazzar there, not only was the
biblical author correct in having him as the last king in the city of Babylon, but also
in the second century when these scholars were arguing the Bible would have been written,
there was no record of Belshazzar.
Anybody in the second century trying to write about the fall of Babylon had no record of the
guy, never would have made him up.
So there's no way a second century author would have written Daniel chapter 5 with a guy named
Belshazzar.
To know about Belshazzar, you actually had to be there in the sixth century yourself.
So Belshazzar argues against the possibility of Daniel being written after the events that
it talks about and gives extra support to the reliability of the biblical account and the
prophetic activity.
Yes, wonderful.
We love it when that happens, right?
That's so encouraging.
I don't usually share little tidbits like that, but I thought that one might really encourage
your faith and it's part of what we're talking about this morning.
If I lost you in that explanation, we don't usually spend a lot of hours here at Southwood
talking through the archaeological evidence for critical scholarship and I don't do it
real well.
So if you didn't understand any of that, here's what you need to know.
What you're about to hear is a trustworthy account of what actually took place at the end of
a great kingdom the night Babylon fell in 539 B.C.
Listen as I read God's holy, inerrant, infallible word, Daniel chapter 5 at verse 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 of silver that
Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the
king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house
of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from
them.
They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Immediately, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the
king's palace opposite the lampstand.
And the king saw the hand as it wrote.
Then the king's color changed.
And his thoughts alarmed him.
His limbs gave way and his knees knocked together.
And Belshazzar calls together all of his wise men and asks them to interpret what is going
on.
Finally, the queen remembers this guy named Daniel who's good at this stuff.
Bring him in.
And Daniel comes before the king.
We'll skip ahead to verse 18.
Daniel says to Belshazzar,
O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory
and majesty.
And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled
and feared before him.
Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive.
Whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled.
But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly,
he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.
He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast,
and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys.
He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew
that the most high God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets it over whom he will.
That was our story last week.
Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar becoming a beast.
And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this.
But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of his house
have been brought in before you.
And you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them, and you
have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not
see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your
ways you have not honored.
Then, from his presence, the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.
And this is the writing that was inscribed, Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parson.
This is the interpretation of the matter.
Mene, which means numbered.
God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
Tekel, which means weighed.
You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Perez, which sounds both like the word for divided and an awful lot like the Persians.
Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple.
A chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him that he should
be the third ruler in the kingdom.
That very night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed, and Darius the Mede received the
kingdom, being about 62 years old.
Pray with me.
Father, this is a sobering passage of your word.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you would tenderly, but firmly, apply it to each of our hearts.
Would you do that work with the word?
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Last week, we did see the glories of God's grace on great display as we see God pursuing
the proud pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, all the way to making him a beast in order to humble
him, to help him see God's greatness and then restore him.
And we said as we looked at that, God's grace knows no bounds, right?
God's grace reaches even to the beast.
It extends to the proudest, most hardened enemies of God.
He forgives.
He loves.
He restores those who've fallen.
That's what our God is like.
In this next story, it doesn't feel quite as good.
There's no fairy tale ending for this idolatrous king.
But the gospel is still here as well.
As God's justice is demonstrated, it's still full of grace for us.
And the reason I say that is that what we learn about God here in this whole handwriting
on the wall story is that he hates sin enough to judge evil and loves us enough to assure
us that he will.
It's both a word of warning and a word of comfort to us about the seriousness of sin and God's
commitment to justice.
And both the warning and the comfort come from the gracious heart of God.
It's his grace that motivates him to give the firm warning and the tender comfort.
I want us to see that this morning.
To see this, we must remember for whom the book of Daniel was written.
Who's the audience of Daniel chapter 5?
It's not King Belshazzar, is it?
He's not the one being warned here.
He's dead before the book is written.
The kingdom of Babylon is gone.
The audience of the book of Daniel is God's people, right?
This is not a warning for the nations necessarily.
It's particularly a warning for God's exiled people coming straight from their prophet Daniel.
They should be both warned and comforted by this account that they're given.
We receive it as they would have.
So first, the gracious warning.
God's people are reminded that sin and its consequences are serious.
Deadly serious.
You hear the warning part, but you don't hear the gracious part yet, do you?
Doesn't sound real gracious at first glance, does it?
I still remember my driver's ed class back when I was 15 years old, headed into high school,
so excited to get ready to drive.
I remember that Shannon Pitner was the instructor.
I don't remember a lot of particulars that Mr. Pitner taught us in that driver's ed class.
But I do remember the video that he showed us on the first day of class before he even introduced himself.
On the video, as sirens blared and lights flashed on the way to the scene of a traffic accident,
the words scrolled across the screen.
.01 seconds after impact, the steering column slams your chest.
.05 seconds after impact, your head crashes through the windshield.
.1 seconds after impact, and so on and so on for every fraction of a second.
I don't remember all of the things, but within a matter of a few fractions of a second, you're pronounced dead.
A morbid video, you might say.
.10 seconds after impact, and so on and so on, you're going to be able to do that.
But it grabbed the attention of some 15-year-old future drivers in a really stark way.
Why did Mr. Pitner show a video like that at the very beginning of driver's ed?
Why did he start the class that way?
You know, right?
Because Mr. Pitner wanted us to know in no uncertain terms the deadly seriousness of reckless driving.
He wanted us to know the severe consequences of not paying attention and learning how to drive properly.
He wanted to give us a gracious warning to caution us away from death and toward life.
That's what God is doing in this equally morbid account here in Daniel 5.
Look at verse 30 again towards the end of it.
That very night, the very night all these things happened, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed.
That very night, his life will be demanded of him.
And how will his idols help him then?
And he's throwing a party, right?
This is supposed to be a fun night for him.
He's going to worship the idols of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, verse 4 tells us.
And immediately, verse 5 says, right in the middle of the party, the hand of the true God appears writing on the wall.
And the message is this, you will not find safety in being idolatrous.
Be warned, those other gods you're seeking pleasure in will not save you.
Think of the warning, not just to Belshazzar, but to God's people here.
God's people in exile in a foreign land.
Why is it, after all, that they find themselves in exile in Babylon?
Of all of the sins the Bible mentions that they've committed, what's the one that it most often comes back to?
Wandering after other gods.
Bowing down to their idols and serving them instead of the true God.
A warning to God's people who found themselves wandering after other gods.
Where are you bowing down to a God of your own design?
An idol of your own pleasure?
You've shirked the call of the one true God to faithful obedience and told yourself you're safe following the ways of your own desires and direction.
You've told yourself you're safe to indulge in the sins of the day like everyone else.
Hey, come on, everybody's struggling with these things.
It's okay.
Materialism.
Self-defined sexual morality.
Greed.
Lying to get ahead.
And God loves you enough to warn you, sin is deadly serious.
Stop.
Turn back.
You're not safe there chasing those idols.
We see not only a warning against the idolatry of other gods, but also a warning against the idolatry of human strength.
What does Daniel say to Belshazzar?
It's a very pointed conversation he has with him.
You haven't learned anything.
Did you not see Nebuchadnezzar, your father, meaning your predecessor as king, a couple kings before you?
Nebuchadnezzar was taught this lesson in a painful way about his pride.
God turned him into a beast to humble him until he understood and acknowledged who was truly great and in charge.
And Belshazzar, you know this.
And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this.
But you've lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven, just like he did, and you saw what happened to him.
How many times have we as parents thought, I wish you could learn from my mistakes.
And you know what?
It looks like you're going to have to make them again yourself.
We think we're stronger.
We'll be safe where others fell.
Listen, what's happening in this picture, while he's at the party that night, Belshazzar is surrounded by the armies of Persia.
They're laying siege to Babylon.
But instead of being worried about that, he throws a huge party for a thousand people.
After all, I'm safe behind these great walls at points 87 feet thick, the walls of Babylon.
350 feet tall.
Ain't nobody coming in here.
We can have a party.
They can stand out there and hold us siege as long as they want.
We're safe.
No one's coming through.
And we've got the Euphrates River flowing right through the city.
We can eat and drink as long as we want while they sit out there and get tired.
It reminds you of Nebuchadnezzar from last week on the roof of the palace.
Sitting out there and thinking, wow, this is pretty amazing.
I'm something.
Marveling in his arrogance at his own human might.
Thinking he finds safety there.
And here it rears its ugly head again.
That very night, the Persians will kill Belshazzar in his palace and take his city.
I think of God's people.
Prophet after prophet.
Warning after warning.
And yet, failure to trust God after failure to trust God.
Wandering again and again.
And you must see your own frailty, Daniel would be saying to these people in exile.
You must see the devastation sin has brought upon you and your fathers.
If you don't see it, if you don't turn from it, you too will perish in exile.
But return to God and you can be restored.
That's a clear warning to us as well, isn't it?
Don't think you're safe hiding behind the thick walls of outward strength or success.
That you won't be found out or that your sin won't receive dire consequences.
Don't pull into your garage and close the door.
Walk into your office and close the door.
And in the privacy of your own heart and life.
Think that you're safe and that your sin won't bear painful fruit.
Be warned.
Sin is deadly serious.
So we won't find safety in being idolatrous.
In serving other gods of sin and self.
But perhaps even closer to home.
Even more under the radar in the church this morning.
We will not find safety in being religious.
And you may have thought that's the answer.
If I need to stop running after all these other gods.
I better run into church this morning and do some religious.
I better start being more religious.
And Daniel gives a very clear warning.
And we can tend to deflect this warning.
And say, oh, it's for somebody else.
But it's so clear in this passage.
Look at verse 3.
Look what's happening before the hand shows up.
They brought in what?
The golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple.
The house of God in Jerusalem.
These were the vessels back from the first verse of this book.
That Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem.
They were there for the worship of God.
And he'd taken them into Babylon.
And Belshazzar calls for them and has them brought.
So they can drink from them.
Immediately when that happens.
The fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall.
Immediately God shows up with a message.
Daniel connects these same dots.
We're not just reading into it when he's talking to him.
Here's what it's looked like to lift yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
The vessels of his house have been brought in before you.
And you've all drunk wine from them and praised other gods with the vessels used to worship Yahweh.
You've worshipped gods who don't see or hear or know.
But the God in whose hand is your breath and whose are all your ways you have not honored.
You've held his cup but you haven't honored him.
You have held in your hand the things of God.
But the God who holds you in his hand you have not honored.
God will not be mocked will he?
There's not safety in the outward forms of religion.
In external religiosity.
And God's people need to heed that warning.
Lest they think they're safe because they've worshipped in the temple.
Or because they've been circumcised.
God takes your sins seriously.
And he's calling you to return not merely to the outward forms of religion.
Not merely to find a holy cup to hold on to.
But to a heart that embraces him.
And his ways.
You will not find safety in merely being religious.
In holding in your hands the things of God.
While not truly honoring the God who holds your breath in his hand.
Are you rationalizing sin?
Telling yourself the sin you're consistently indulging in is okay.
Because you're consistently showing up at church too.
Do you think you're keeping God placated?
By showing up regularly.
Giving occasionally.
Not even serving when asked.
Is your religiosity merely a charade?
Like Belshazzar's.
Holding the cups from Yahweh's temple.
Bringing them to his party as though he cared about Yahweh.
But using them to serve his own pleasure and worship his own gods.
God says be warned.
You will not find safety in being religious.
And we're the ones who have to hear that warning.
We're the ones sitting in the pews at church.
The ones who have easy access to the things of God.
Who so easily grab on to them and hold them in our hands.
And God says that's not what it's about.
It's not merely outward forms of religion.
While living a life completely differently.
Indulging your sin every other day.
The sin in your heart playing out in your life is deadly serious.
The solution is not to hide it.
Not to cover it with outward religious activity so that everybody thinks I'm a good guy.
Because I wear a suit and go to church and show up so often.
The solution is not to medicate it with human success.
That it appears like I've got my life together.
You must confess it.
You must turn from it.
Receive God's forgiveness.
And seek to be guided by His Spirit.
Spirit, I'd ask you this morning.
What is the sin that you're thinking?
You're crazy.
I could never let anyone know about this struggle.
Or that failing.
Don't you understand, Pastor?
Have you not lived in Huntsville, Alabama?
The consequences would be terrible if people knew about this.
Can you imagine if people found out?
What would happen to me?
What people would say?
What about my family?
Hear the gracious warning of God's Word to you this morning.
The consequences may indeed be terrible.
But if you do not turn from your sin,
the consequences of that,
of not turning from sin and seeking Jesus,
will most certainly be worse.
will most certainly be even more terrible
than the ones you anticipate right now.
God is deadly serious about sin.
First and foremost,
repent and turn to God.
Plead for His mercy.
He delights to forgive.
We have celebrated that this morning.
Don't forget who He is in the midst of your sin.
Alongside that,
I'd urge you to find someone else that you can share with.
Someone you can tell about your sin.
Someone you can ask to pray with you about your struggle.
Someone who can walk with you through the painful,
but fruitful process of repentance.
You'll need help.
You may think,
no one will understand.
These church people,
they've got it figured out.
They won't understand.
I can't tell them.
Y'all,
that's the beauty of a community like this.
That's the way we're supposed to be,
that it is a safe place
for you to share your struggle with someone.
Because our hearts are all wracked by sin.
I won't be looking down on you
when you share something with me.
I'll be looking in the mirror.
I'll be right there beside you.
We're all in it together.
Father, you can uncover your sin.
You can share and find safety.
You see, those of us who have declared
that our hope is in Jesus
as we have this morning,
we have to admit the seriousness of our sin
in order to do that.
The hymn writer reminds us
it took the death of the Son of God
to pay for our sin.
That's how serious it was.
The hymn,
Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted
is one we often sing around
Easter.
Ye who think of sin
but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great,
here, here at the cross,
may view its nature rightly,
here its guilt may estimate.
Because we look,
mark the sacrifice appointed.
What had to happen
to pay for the sin?
How serious was it?
See the one who bears the awful load.
Tis the Word,
the Lord's anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
It's the perfect one
who had to die
because of our sin.
Those of us who hope in Christ
know and admit
the seriousness of our sin.
Nowhere better than at the cross
do we see
how seriously God takes sin.
His grace does not mean
that sin gets ignored
and the bar lowered.
Quite the opposite.
It means sin gets punished
and we sinners
are warned and urged
to throw ourselves
upon the only one
who reached the bar.
Jesus.
That's grace
according to God's Word.
So the gracious warning
is that God takes sin seriously.
And that same truth
is for God's people
a gracious comfort.
Try to put yourselves
in the shoes
of God's exiled people
for a minute.
You're in Babylon
away from the promised land.
You've been dragged there
by mighty but pagan Babylon.
who's come into your land.
Who's tortured your families.
Taunted your God.
Dragged you away
into servitude.
What are you thinking?
What's going through your mind?
Where is God?
Will the Babylonians
ever get what's coming to them?
Why do the wicked prosper
while the righteous suffer?
Why do those who trust in God
seem to have it hardest?
Have you ever felt
something was so unfair
but you couldn't do anything
about it?
Perhaps at work
with a promotion.
Perhaps with your kids
at school.
Perhaps with someone you know
suffering unjustly
and you just can't help them.
There's nothing you can do.
Doesn't that burn you up?
Don't you hate that feeling?
You're longing to see
justice prevail
and things be made right
and it's not in your power
to do it.
So often we're not
powerful enough
or connected enough
or knowledgeable enough
to bring the justice
we long for.
But God is.
both of His hands
we said
equally skilled
at ruining evil.
At administering justice.
That's the grace
of God's justice again.
This time from a little bit
of a different angle.
God loves us enough
to assure us
that He will judge sin.
The judge of all the earth
will do right.
The bully will be called
to account by someone
bigger and stronger
than He is.
The mighty Babylonian kingdom
comes to an end
in an instant.
Even in a moment
where it still looks
splendid and powerful.
The Persian army
has taken their strength
and used it against them.
They've dammed up
that Euphrates river
so that the water level
begins to get lower.
And what happened
the night of the handwriting
on the wall
is the Persian army
rode right in
on that river
underneath the passageways
that ran right through
those thick walls.
Right into the middle
of Babylon
and the city fell.
That's what happened
the night Belshazzar
saw God's hand
writing on the wall
Mene.
Tekel.
Parson.
He was weighed
in the scales
of God's justice
and found wanting.
His days were numbered
by the God of heaven.
His kingdom was given
to another
and his life
taken.
That very night
Belshazzar
the Chaldean king
was killed
and Darius the Mede
walks in
and receives
the kingdom.
Why?
Because God
will judge
sin
and will bring
justice
to his people.
Listen to the comfort
of this y'all.
If you haven't been
in their shoes
it may be hard
to feel the comfort
of Babylon
falling.
But this is not
a parable
that teaches us
a theoretical
principle
about God
and justice.
This is an actual
historical account
of a story
you are a part of
as God's people.
These are
your ancestors.
This is
your God
at work.
God created
the world good
and he is committed
not only to
defeating evil
but to ridding
the world
of evil
forever
so that we enjoy
his perfect world
with him
as he always
intended.
He will do that.
That's your story
that you're
living in
and this is a glimpse
of what's
coming.
Isn't that our hope
that God's going
to do that?
That we would
then live
forever
with him
and his world
made perfect
with evil
being eliminated?
That's our hope.
That is so
comforting.
For you
it may be
a particular
individual
who has
mistreated you.
A particular
injustice
you've
suffered in the
past
that continues
to haunt you.
or it may
indeed feel
like an
entire
kingdom
opposed to
you
and your
God
and you face
the weight
of that
today.
I'll admit
that Babylon
looked mighty
for a long
time before
its fall
in this story.
God's justice
sometimes lingers
even into
eternity.
But God
says I've
got eternal
scales that
on many
days you
can't
understand or
appreciate.
Trust me.
That's his
call this
morning.
Trust me.
I'm committed
to justice.
I will punish
evil.
I will vindicate
my people
against those
who mistreat
them.
And you
can find
great comfort
in that
promise.
The cross
of Jesus
is once again
our great
assurance of
that isn't
it?
The cross
of Jesus
there where
God defeats
the greatest
of our
enemies.
Death.
Satan.
Sin.
There where
God shows
his hatred
for sin by
pouring out
his wrath
on the
sin bearer.
There where
the justice
and grace
of God
kiss.
There at
the cross
we know
that as
serious as
sin is
it will
not haunt
us forever.
While God
has promised
to punish
sin he
has also
promised not
to punish
you again
for the
sin Jesus
has already
died for.
Hallelujah.
You won't
be punished
for it
because Jesus
was.
And while
other lesser
enemies still
haunt you
today and
life is
painful and
justice seems
far off
because of
it you
can be
confident
your Savior
will deliver
you from
them as
well because
he's delivered
you on the
cross from
your greatest
enemies.
So it's
safe.
The first
safety we've
been able to
find it's
safe to
entrust
yourself even
as a great
sinner.
even as
one greatly
sinned
against
to Jesus.
It's safe
to entrust
yourself to
him.
The warning
of this
chapter is
clear.
God takes
sin
seriously.
You will
not find
safety in
being idolatrous.
You will
not find
safety in
being religious.
you will
find safety
only in
your
perfectly
just and
gracious
God.
Let's pray
to him
now.
Father, we
don't look
forward to
sermons like
these.
We like
the other
stories better.
sin.
But we
believe we
need to
know the
truth about
sin because
sin is
something we
know all
too well.
And we
need when we
face the
reality of
our sins
something to
give us
hope.
And it is
only you
that gives
us hope.
Don't let us
look anywhere
else but to
Jesus.
Might we
find hope
in him for
today and
enough hope
in him to
make us
confident for
eternity.
Do that
work in our
hearts.
We ask it in
his name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
southwood.org.