Opening illustration: Have you ever seen a tragedy coming and could do nothing to stop it? One night as my wife and I were returning from an underground church service, a car passed us at incredible speed, losing control as it sped by. Careening out of control, the car bounced along the center median, rupturing the gas tank and spewing a trail of gas down the highway. Sparks flew as the underside of the car scraped the concrete curb and it hit a vehicle in front and flew many feet up in the air and came down with a big thud.
Instantly, the sparks ignited, and flames followed the car to its final halt. We watched helplessly while the flames caught up with the car, ignited the gas tank, and engulfed the car in flames. A wall of fire between us and the automobile prevented our rendering aid. Thankfully, those on the other side of the flames were able to rescue the passenger. Apparently the police were there at short notice and were trying to set everything in order.
Let us turn to Daniel chapter 5 and capture an event which happened to set right what was wrong.
Introduction: Reading Daniel 5 gives me that same feeling of helplessness and distress. From our distance in time, our knowledge of history, and the account of Daniel, we know the king, and likely those dining with him at his royal banquet, are destined for destruction. Yet we can do nothing to prevent it. Helplessly, we look on as judgment day comes for King Belshazzar.
Announcement of the king’s coming judgment begins by mysterious hand writing on the wall of the banquet hall. Crying aloud, the king summons the wise men of Babylon. Their inability to fulfill his instructions only adds to his frustration. When his ability to interpret such matters is made known to the king, Daniel enters the scene.
Conservative calculations set the dimensions of the ancient city of Babylon like this:
• The outer walls were 17 miles long
• These walls were 22 feet thick and 90 feet high
• The outer walls had guard towers another 100 feet high
• The city gates were made of bronze
• A system of inner and outer walls and moats made the city very secure
Why did God write on the Wall?
1. Limit to God’s mercy and longsuffering: (Stop it now, we can’t go on any longer!) vs. 1-4
Such seems to have been the scene at Belshazzar’s banquet. One thousand of the king’s nobles were invited, along with their wives or other women. The king was responsible for what happened, and too much wine seems to have contributed to his poor judgment. A false sense of pride and self-sufficiency seems to have dominated the dinner party. The king remembered the expensive vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken when he defeated and captured Jerusalem. How much more impressive the evening would be if they drank their wine from the gold and silver vessels from the temple in Jerusalem.
And so the vessels were brought in. The wine continued to flow freely, and toasts began to be offered. That these pagans were engaged in a kind of drinking bout with the sacred temple vessels was bad enough, but the ultimate blasphemy was toasting the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone.
God condemned Belshazzar for misusing temple items which were dedicated to God. Just as today people use church buildings and finances for personal reasons. God has a limit to how far He will allow men to go in their sin. In His longsuffering and mercy, God may allow men to continue in their sin for a time. But there is a time for judgment. The king and his Babylonian dinner guests crossed the line that fateful night in the banquet hall of Babylon. Judgment day had come, and the writing on the wall announced its arrival.
Application: The consequences nations and individuals have faced in the past ~ Sodom & Gomorrah; disobedience of Israel allowed them to be slaves of the Romans; demise of the British rule in the world; consequences of sexual, abortion and homosexual sins … has God reached that limit in our lives and in the life of our nation?
2. Public Witness of God’s Warning: (Take heed. This is my final warning!) vs. 5-9
The writing on the wall was a message for all those who defy God and took pride in themselves. Knowing the power of the Babylonian kings, Belshazzar must have seen many men stand in fear and trembling before him. Now it was his turn to tremble. In that torch-lit banquet hall, the revelry had reached its peak, doubtlessly with loud boasting and toasting, laughter and celebration. Likely, the king was the life of the party. Perhaps he was closest to the sudden emerging of the mysterious hand in the light of the nearby lamp.
One might have thought the king was having a heart attack. Barely able to stand, his face was ashen and seized with terror. The raucous laughter turned to deafening silence with all eyes on the king. The king’s eyes were fixed upon the hand as it wrote. As a sense of foreboding and panic fell on the crowd, all eyes turned to the mysterious writing on the wall. The king’s actions alarmed all who were present.
One can only imagine the scene. Already affected by too much wine, the king’s terror robbed his legs of all strength. The lower part of his body seems to have lost control. Crying aloud in fear, his speech probably slurred, the king immediately summoned his wise men to the banquet hall. What did these words on the wall mean? He must know. A tempting reward was offered to anyone who could interpret the meaning of the handwriting on the wall.
Some think the king did not recognize the words, while others believe he only failed to understand their meaning. Since the words seem to be written in Aramaic, and there are only three, it may be that he recognized the words but did not understand their meaning. Unable to decipher their meaning, the wise men come and go. The king’s fear and distress intensifies while the others remain terror stricken.
They could not read the writing, or make know to the king its interpretation: When Daniel comes to interpret these words, it doesn’t seem so hard to figure out. It may be that God deliberately put a veil over the minds of these men so Daniel would be called. It is suppose that the Babylonian wise men could not read the writing because it was in Aramaic.
Application: 9/11 and many other writings that God has written on the walls of our nation and on the walls of our lives. Are we taking heed and responding to God’s warnings in the positive ways or else …?
3. Raising a Remnant in Adversity for God’s Glory: (Praise The Lord!) vs. 10-12
The queen mother does not seem to have attended the banquet, but eventually the cries of those in the banquet hall reach her ears, and she arrives on the scene. Taking note of Belshazzar’s appearance and demeanor, she tries to calm him. She informs the king that in the past a man named Daniel had successfully dealt for many years with such difficult matters. Daniel could decipher the words and their meaning.
The queen has great confidence in Daniel’s ability based upon his track record in the history of Babylonian affairs. Her summary of Daniel’s accomplishments in verse 12 suggests that Daniel performed other amazing tasks throughout the lifetime of king Nebuchadnezzar. Those recorded in the Book of Daniel are but a sampling of Daniel’s ministry to the king.
Sadly, we must observe that the queen mother’s confidence in Daniel does not seem to have been related to any personal faith in his God. She refers to Daniel and his great wisdom in pagan terms and makes no reference to Daniel’s God as the God of the Jews. She simply refers to his wisdom as having its source in “the gods.” His wisdom was extraordinary, but not the wisdom of a sovereign God. Her knowledge of Daniel and his God is superior to that of Belshazzar, but inferior to that of Nebuchadnezzar’s final assessment (ref. Daniel 4:2-3, 34-37). Her confidence does seem to produce a calming effect on the king and his guests. The king summons Daniel to appear before the king and his guests that very night.
Belshazzar was judged for his pride and for not learning humility from history. He did not learn the lessons God had given Babylon through the experiences of king Nebuchadnezzar. Specifically, the king evidenced his pride through his blasphemous act of using the temple vessels to toast the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Often the kings would kill the bearer of bad news. But Daniel was not afraid to tell the truth to the king even though it was not what he wanted to hear. We should be just as courageous in telling the truth under pressure. The purpose for revealing king Belshazzar’s judgment does not seem to be to call him to repentance but to demonstrate to the reader that the fall of Babylon and its king was an act of divine judgment, due to sin. Nebuchadnezzar repented when the wisdom and power of the God of Israel was demonstrated. Belshazzar does not repent. Nebuchadnezzar died in faith; Belshazzar died in unbelief. Nebuchadnezzar came to know the salvation of God; Belshazzar came to experience the wrath of God.
Application: Raised Samuel; the judges; the prophets; there was a deafening lull between the OT and the NT while Israel was in Roman captivity and then God raise John the Baptist whom the king killed and then came Jesus Christ whom the Jews, Romans and all of us got together and killed Him too. God raised His disciples, then came Paul … they were killed too. In the contemporary world God has been raising His remnant by sending many prophets, evangelists and missionaries … what has the world been doing with them? They just don’t desire to listen and take heed to those things that disturb and convict their Spirit and rattle their flesh. Let us pray that we and our nation will wake up to the writings that God has been constantly writing on our walls. Let us not be a people who behave deaf, mute and blind. Time to wake up!
*Before we close I will bring to our notice as to what God actually wrote on the wall ~
Daniel tells Belshazzar that God’s judgment is at the door.
Daniel 5: 24-28 "Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written. And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.” This is the interpretation of each word.
MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;
TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting;
PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
(I) MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of each word: “It should be observed, that each word stands for a short sentence; mene signifies NUMERATION; tekel, WEIGHING; and peres, DIVISION.”
• God had Belshazzar’s number, and it fell short
• God weighed Belshazzar, and he came up light
• God would therefore divide Belshazzar’s kingdom to the Medes and the Persians. Peres is also called as half mene ~ kingdom (Daniel apparently breaks [divides] the word in two while interpretation)
(ii) Weighed in the balances, and found wanting: A mighty army and brilliant tactics overcame The Babylonian Empire, yet it still fell from within. The armies of the Medes and Persians could only conquer because Belshazzar and his kingdom were found lacking in spiritual and moral value.
In the entire OT and NT these are the only few verses (vs. 24-28) having Aramaic terminologies.
Conclusion: Is there anything in our lives or in the life of our nation where we are testing God to His limit? Is there anything in our lives or in the life of our nation where we show defiance to His Name and power? Is there anything in our lives or in the life of our nation where we are defaming the name of the Lord or God and tarnishing His name? How do we as individuals, as a body of Christ and as a nation glorify God? OR Are we waiting for the writing on the wall? Time for each one of us to come to the Lord in complete repentance, complete reliance and complete rest on the Lord God our Savior and King. Let us not give God an opportunity to write on our walls …
