Please turn with me to Daniel chapter 5.  We are going on with courage!

Years ago, the late Ray Stedman, shared about a meeting of homosexuals in Palo Alto that he decided to attend.  He went in and everyone sat on the floor.  Nobody knew who anybody else was.  As a group they were basically railing on the church and railing on Christians and their attitude toward them - with an attitude of militancy and hatred - on and on they went.  A definitely anti-Christian hostile environment.  A lot of hurting people.

Then the speaker said, “Does anyone have anything else they want to say?”

So Ray stood up and said, “My name is Ray and I’m a citizen of this city.  I’m one of the Christians you’ve been talking about.  I’m sorry for the treatment you’ve received from many of my brothers and sisters.  We meet down here at Peninsula Bible Church and all of you are invited, whoever would want to come.  I want all of you to know that there is one ray of hope, and it is the hope that will bring for you the relief and the life you need.”  (1)

Reading that I’ve wondered at the courage it took to do that.  How many of us - given that kind of environment - how many of us would have the courage to stand up and say what Ray did? 

That is what we’ve been looking at here in Daniel.  Courage to live for Jesus - at school - at work - in our families.  Courage to speak up even when its not popular.  Making decisions grounded in the word of God and not the latest opinion poll.  Doing what’s right before God regardless of what it may cost us.

John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”

What does that courage look like?  Where does it come from?  How can we have that kind of courage in our lives?

Let’s jump into Daniel.  As we’ve been doing we’ll go through the text - unpacking as we go along - and then think together about how all this can apply to our lives.

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 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.

Let’s pause.  Between chapters four and five there’s been some major changes - some history that we need to catch up on.  Last Sunday Nebuchadnezzar was king.  This Sunday its... Belshazzar.

Meaning that we need to get up to speed on Belshazzar’s Background.  Who he is and how he got to be king.

Let’s walk through what’s up on the screen.

Coming to chapter five - the year is 539 BC - Nebuchadnezzar has been dead 23 years.  Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach  - which has nothing to do with being evil or Evil Knievel.  Evil-Merodah means “man of Marduk” - Marduk being…  the #1 Babylonian god.

Then Evil-Merodach was assassinated by his brother-in-law - General Neriglissar - who had served under Nebuchadnezzar when Jerusalem was destroyed.  General Neriglissar died 4 years later in 556.  Then Neriglissar’s son Labashi-Marduk succeeded him to the throne and was promptly assassinated nine months later.

Makes you wonder why anyone would want to be king.  Get to be king and you get dead.  Be careful who you name as your benefactor.

All this intrigue leads to a revolt that took place 7 years after Nebuchadnezzar died - a revolt that put a guy by the name of Nabonidus on the throne.  Who’s on the throne?  Nabonidus.   555 BC.

Point being that Nabonidus - who’s now the king - Nabonidus wasn’t related to Nebuchadnezzar.  He’s seized the throne by leading a revolt.  So in order to legitimize his right to rule - Nabonidus married King Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter - who by the way - at one time had been married to Neriglissar.  Nabonidus and Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter have a child.

That child they named Belshazzar.  Same guy that’s here in Daniel 5:1.

Pause for one moment and ponder - with all the intrigue and the political marriage - ponder what kind of loving - affirming - nurturing environment Belshazzar grew up in.  Maybe not too far removed from the dysfunctional families some here have grown up in.  Just think about how all that might have messed up Belshazzar just a tad.  Just saying.  Hang on to that.

According to the historical records - meaning that what were looking at here from stuff that archeologists have dug up - meaning these are real people living in real time.  Because of what we know historically - apparently Nabonidus would go off and fight battles and be out conquering people - and while he did that he left Belshazzar in charge of Babylon.

Kind of like King Richard off at the Crusades and Prince John back home doing what’s best for Prince John.  Prince John not being all that stable.

Coming back to verse one - while Nabaonidus was the king of the empire - Belshazzar was the king - at least in Babylon.  And, Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar - who in a patriarchal sense was Belshazzar’s father.  Are we kind of together on all that? 

Second - along with understanding Belshazzar’s family line - we need to get a taste of what this feast was like.  (pun intended) 

Gathered together in one large palatial banquet hall are a thousand nobles of Babylon - the movers and shakers - the rich and famous.  With them are all of Belshazzar’s wives and concubines.  Five times in four verses we’re told that they were drinking wine.  When Scripture repeats things it repeats them why?  So we don’t miss the point.  Point:  This was a par-tay and these people were really toasted.

In the center of all this is Belshazzar - the not really the king - king - who likes to call himself the king and tout that he’s Nebuchadnezzar’s child.  Belshazzar - who was raised in opulence - is probably a pompous - proud - spoiled - rich brat - who’s really messed up - and this feast is an ego-feast.  Belshazzar getting strokes by showing off for the paparazzi.

Belshazzar has the vessels of gold and silver which taken from God’s Temple Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar - Belshazzar has these vessels - who’s vessels?  God’s vessels.  Belshazzar has these vessels taken out to be used as common cups for drinking wine.

Even Nebuchadnezzar in his worst days respected God enough to not do that.  But, Belshazzar - the thousand nobles - his wives and concubines - in a display of arrogance and ego - thumbs his nose at the Almighty God of creation - profaning God’s sacred vessels - uses them to drink toasts to a long line of false gods.  “Look at me.  I’m greater than all the gods.”

Which tells us a whole lot about Belshazzar.  Doesn’t it?  Watching what’s going on at this feast?  The guy is a poser.  Rather than manning up - rather than dealing with his feelings of insecurity and woundedness and emptiness - his feeling inadequate - what he’s been dealt by being raised in such a nurturing family - he’s throwing this party - playing to the crowd - seeking the affirmation of this crowd - who probably see him for the empty shell of a man that he is.

Belshazzar is posing.  He’s pretending to be what he’s not.  Using his power and position to cover the inadequacy he feels within.   

We’re together?

Let’s go on.  Verse 5:  Immediately - meaning as they were using God’s vessels to toast all these false gods - 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 ways, and his knees knocked together.  The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers.  The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.  Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation.  Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.

Belshazzar has the distinction of being first person to see the handwriting on the wall.

The hand without a body - appears out of nowhere.  No transporter effect.  Just - poof - suddenly its there.  Meaning this is not a human hand.  The hand writes on the plaster - probably by scratching the words into the wall.  Think finger nails on a chalkboard.  With one hand God brings the ego-fest to a screeching halt.

Belshazzar’s face goes white.  It’s a circulation stopping - pacemaker resetting - moment.  His thoughts alarmed him.  Meaning he’s terrified.  He has no idea which god he just ticked off.  But this isn’t good.

We’re told that his limbs gave way.  Translated from the Aramaic that’s a polite way of saying that his bladder let go.  He soiled himself.  Finally his knees start knocking.  Which means he’s getting ready to collapse.

Belshazzar - the poser king - the “son” of Nebuchadnezzar - who in arrogance - before everyone whose favorable opinion he’s desperate for - who’s thumbed his nose at the Almighty God - is now a staggering - white faced - knees knocking - clothing soiled - drooling - drunk - watching a disembodied hand carve words in the wall of his imperial palace.

His response is to call in his advisors - to turn to the wisdom of men - the world - to try to make sense of what’s going on.  He offers them a great reward if they can interpret what’s on the wall.  All of which shows us his mindset.  Wealth and prestige being what he uses to control people - to try and control his life.  Where he turns for courage.  What has totally failed him.

Bottom line:  It’s a God moment.  By God’s hand we see the truth of who Belshazzar really is.

Coming to verse 10 - we’re introduced to the queen and The Queen’s Advice.

Verse 10:  The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever!  Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change.

Notice that she politely doesn’t mention the condition of his clothes.

Verse 11:  There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.  In the days of your father, 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, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar.  Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.

First notice that the queen comes from outside the feast.  She’s not one of Belshazzar’s wives.  Probably she’s Nabonidus’ wife - the queen mother - the daughter of… Nebuchadnezzar.  Which makes sense.  How many sons throw wild parties and invite their mother?

Point being that she’s probably seen all this before with her father.  So she’s prepared - by God - with the advice Belshazzar needs to understand what God wants him to understand.

Second notice what she advises.  Go get Daniel.  Daniel is the go to guy when it comes to the things of God - and dreams and visions.  Daniel - who at this time is probably in his early 80’s and retired from public service.

Point being:  Once again God’s man is brought in where human wisdom has failed miserably.

Verse 13:  Then Daniel was brought in before the king.  The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah.  I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.  Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make know to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter.  But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems.  Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

Notice when Belshazzer has Daniel brought in he reminds Daniel that Daniel is one of the exiles from Judah - a captive slave - a foreigner - a not so subtle way of saying, “I am so far above you.”  Soiled clothing and all he’s got his image to maintain.

Then this phrase:  “Whom the king my father brought from Judah” -  bypassing... Nabonidus.  Reminding everyone that he is the one legitimate rightful ruler of the empire.

Verse 14:  “I have heard of you…”  He can’t even allow himself to be gracious and acknowledge that it was the queen mummy who advised him about Daniel. 

In verse 16 Belshazzar offers Daniel door prizes and the position of ruler number three.  Not number two.  He can’t offer that.  Nabonidus - who’s off fighting to defend the capital - Nabonidus is number one .  Belshazzar is number two.  Left at home posing and pretending to be what he’s not.

Bottom line:  Sitting on a throne does not make one a king.  Wealth and position do give one true courage.  Belshazzar is a drunken hollow empty shell of a man.  Posing and posturing even as he fearfully follows mummy’s advice.

Coming to verse 17 we’re coming to Daniel’s Answer.  God’s man with God’s courage delivering God’s message.

Verse 17:  Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to another.  Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. 

Daniel has survived Nebuchadezzar.  He’s survived all the assignations and the intrigue of the court.  He’s been here and done this before.  He’s God’s man and he knows it.  Belshazzar can keep his trinkets and anything else he’s using to get people to esteem him.

And, because we’ve heard this account in Sunday School or we’ve read ahead - down through verse 31 - we know how this ends.  Belshazzar’s gifts are like Confederate money at the end of the civil war.  They’re only valuable as a souvenir of history.  As is anything in this world that we’re clinging to for courage.  Worthless.

Verse 18:  O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty.  And because of the greatness 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.

Daniel goes past the façade to the core of who Belshazaar is.  “I knew Nebuchadnezzar.  And you’re not him.  He didn’t have to pretend to have absolute sovereignty.  He had absolute sovereignty.  It was God who granted him that sovereignty.”  

Verse 20:  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 over it whom He will.

Verse 22:  And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,

Who knew all of this?  Belshazzar.  “You knew.”

Verse 23:  But you - knowing 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.

Let’s go back to verse 22.

Choice of two.  Who wins today?  How many choose Seattle?  How many choose New England?  How many don’t care?

Verse 22 - grab on to this phrase:  “You knew all this.”  “Belshazzar you knew better.”  There’s a choice here.

What we looked at last Sunday - chapter four - the tree growing in Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar - sovereign over his domain - basking in his own arrogant magnificence - on the learning curve.  Nebuchadnezzar out standing in his field - getting pasteurized by God.  What it took for God to finally get a hold of Nebuchadnezzar’s heart.  So that Nebuchadnezzar from the core of who he was - in humility and openness before God -  would glorify and honor the one true God.

Belshazzar knew all that and he chose to glorify himself rather than glorify God.  Unlike his grandfather, Belshazzar purposefully chose to reject God.  Chose to worship gods of his own creation and wealth.  Gods made by men out of gold and silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone.  Choosing to value more highly what he had created by his own ability and wisdom and industry rather than to worship his creator. 

So God has also made a choice.  “Belshazzar, after appealing to you through the life of your grandfather - God who holds your life in His hand has sent this hand  -notice the irony of that - God sent this hand to write these words on the wall.”

Here it is - God’s Judgment.

Verse 25:  And this the writing that was inscribed:  MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.  This is the interpretation of the matter:  MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to and end; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

 “MENE” is a unit of weight in gold or silver - or what would have been equivalent to 6 Babylonian shekels.  What comes out to about $2,200.  Not much for an empire.  A “TEKEL” was a smaller unit of measure - or one shekel - or what comes to about $370 - not much for a king.  “PARSIN” was something like a half-shekel - or about $185.  A bargain if you’re acquiring a kingdom.

Its like God saying, “Belshazzar, you want to worship your wealth.  Okay, let’s go with that.  Let’s use an illustration you can understand - like money.  What you’re hanging on to is worth a whole lot less than you think it is.  Actually, its pretty worthless.”

The interpretation - or what’s really the application - comes from these monetary units and the double meanings they have in Hebrew and Aramaic.  In other words (pun intended) because of the way that Hebrew and Aramaic are written these words can actually have different meanings - which may be one reason why the wise men of Babylon couldn’t come up with a meaning that made sense.

Point being:  God is the author.  God gives Daniel His meaning - God’s message of judgment for Belshazzar.  MENA means “to number.”  TEKEL means “to weight.”  PERES - which is the singular form of PARSIN means “to divide.”  Literally:  To number.  To weigh.  To divide.

Bottom line:  God sees through the façade of your life - what you number as important - God sees the emptiness within.  You’ve been weighed on God’s scale and found wanting.  Because you have not valued God above all else everything you count as valuable God is taking away.  Your kingdom is at an end - divided amongst your enemies.

Verse 29:  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 - probably about 3 hours later - Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.  And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel didn’t want these things.  But, Belshazzar goes ahead and drapes him in door prizes.  Whatever has God has said hasn’t had one smidgen of an impact on Belshazzar.

While all this partying is going on inside Babylon - outside Babylon Nabonidus was being beaten by the Persian Army.  Real people in real time history.  Nabonidus - defeated by Cyrus The Great - fled south leaving Babylon exposed.

Which - in the past - had actually been an effective strategy for the Babylonians.  Babylon was a fortified city with walls 65 feet thick - solid rock.  The Euphrates River flowed through the city - supplying water - and flowed around the city forming a wide moat.   It was an impregnable city.

The Babylonians - as the Persians were marching towards Babylon had stored up several years worth of provisions.  So the strategy was to seal the city - stay behind the walls - and ride out the siege.  For over 1,000 years no one had conquered Babylon.

Belshazzar’s feast - on one hand is arrogance against God.  On the other hand its sheer arrogance against the Persians - thumbing their noses against the Persians whom they knew could never enter the city.

But, in chapter two - God - through Daniel - told Nebuchadnezzar that Babylon was going to fall to the Medio-Persian Empire.  Kingdom number two of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw.

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah - about 150 years earlier - Isaiah had predicted by name that Cyrus would conquer Babylon.  (Isaiah 44:28-45:7) 

Cyrus - the Persian - after defeating Nabonidus - went upriver from Babylon and built a dam which diverted the Euphrates River into an old unused channel.  When the river level dropped - under cover of darkness - on what was probably October 12, 539 BC - Cyrus marched his troops down the riverbed - under the walls - and into Babylon - conquering the city almost without a fight.

Belshazzar is killed.  Then Cyrus - who then went off to fight other battles - turns the city over to his general Darius who was a Mede. 

Processing all that for us and our need for God given courage.

First we need to think about the truth of what God writes.

Belshazzar is a sorry hallow shell of a man - living a self-deceptive lie of what his life is really like.  He’s a drunk - drowning his emptiness in alcohol.  He’s got wives and concubines and peers that he’s going to - trying to find self-esteem and validation.  He’s given his soul to gods of gold and silver - wealth and possessions. 

Belshazzar had history with God.  He knew what God had done to His grandfather.  But, he chose to ignore the warning.  Chose to reject the implications for his own life.  Daniel gives this sobering interpretation of the handwriting and Belshazzar still isn’t listening.  Judgment is right outside the walls and Belshazzar is still handing out door prizes.  Still holding on to this façade of who he’d like to be.

There’s a warning here - in what God tells Belshazzar - a warning for us that we need to pay attention to.

In some ways we’re not a whole different that Belshazzar.

It is so easy for us to fall into the role of a poser.  Sometimes we’re not even aware of it.  But what we’re living outside is a whole different than what’s going on inside.  The inadequacy that we feel - for whatever the reason we may feel that way - maybe the baggage we pick up along the way - the inadequacy we feel for doing the stuff of life can lead us to depression and anger and frustration and some really bizarre behavior.  Can lead us to turn to things in life that in the times when we really need courage those things we’ve turned to come up pretty worthless.

Sometimes the truth hurts.  The reality is that when it comes down to it we are totally inadequate when it comes to what we need to do life.  We really are people of great need - emotionally - mentally - relationally - spiritually. 

God is honest with us about that.  It’s a humbling message that Belshazzar refused to listen to.  The reason we feel inadequate is because we are.  But God is not.

Paul - as he was struggling with an issue in his life and trying to understand how to move forward in life - Paul tells us - 2 Corinthians 12:9 - Jesus tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

“Paul, stop trying to do this on your own power - your own understanding of what you think should be going on.  You are weak.  Be humble about it.  Trust Me.  I’ve got it.”

Paul put is plainly for us:  “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.”  (2 Corinthians 3:5 NASB)

God in His sovereignty unfolds history exactly as He said He would - from Nebuchadnezzar’s vision and the prophecy of Isaiah to the timing of the feast on the night of the invasion.  God putting all the right people in all the right places at all the right times speaking truth into Belshazzar’s life.

Its almost like God is trying to make a point.  The truth of what God writes.“You got nothing.  I’ve got everything.  Trust Me.”

Second - we need to think about the implications of what God writes.

There’s a road sign in Mexico - usually on rural roads:  “No se juega con su vida.”  Which translates...  “Don’t play with your life.”  At night cattle will wander out onto the roads.  Hit a cow at high speed and we’re history.  Be warned.  Slow down.  Don’t play with your life.

Which we do when turn anywhere else for what we need in life - rather than choosing to turn to God.  God warns us - lovingly calls to us - even here giving us the example of Belshazzar - the only secure way to travel through life is to rely totally on Him.  He passionately desires to supply all we need - to fill us - to heal us - to lead us.

The courage we need for life doesn’t come from our trying to deal with the emptiness within.  We are inadequate.  Courage comes as we acknowledge God’s truth about our lives and choose to turn control of our lives over to Him.  To look to Him to supply what we lack.

If the hand of God were to appear on your wall this afternoon - next to the TV as you’re watching the game - what would God write about your life?

_______________________

1. Ray Stedman quoted by Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes

2. National Observer, May 29, 1967  

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.