TITLE: WHEN THE LORD GIVES YOU THE FINGER
SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 8:19 / EXODUS 31:18 / DANIEL 5:1-6 / ST. JOHN 8:1-6
Have you ever been in traffic and driving too slowly or change lanes when another vehicle was in your ‘blind spot’ and the vehicle behind you whips around you hits the gas pedal to pass you and look over at you and give you the finger. I will not ask if you have ever done so. Or perhaps in a heated argument and before you walked away you gave that person the finger or they gave you the finger. In modern times, flipping someone off has become a common way for people to express their anger or frustration when words fail them.
• It is a quick and powerful way to convey strong emotions without having to say a word
• Additionally, the shock value of the gesture can make it particularly effective in getting a reaction from others
Furthermore, flipping someone off can also be seen as a form of nonverbal communication. By using body language instead of words, people can convey their emotions in a more direct and immediate way. In this sense, giving someone the finger or what we term flipping someone off serves as a way for individuals to assert their dominance or display their displeasure towards someone else.
Ultimately, flipping someone off has become a thing because it is a simple yet effective way for people to express their negative emotions towards others. While it may not always be the most polite or diplomatic gesture, it has become a widely recognized symbol of disrespect and contempt in many cultures.
• I don’t know why some of you are looking at me shocked and appalled like you have never
• Some of you are the King and Queen of ‘Road Rage’
Have you ever found yourself in a heated discussion and the other person begins to point their finger in your face? If you’re talking directly to someone and you start to point at them, it can be seen as an act of aggression. People react almost instinctively to someone pointing at them while they’re speaking to them and the reaction is usually not positive. The closer someone comes to you while they’re pointing at you the more likely you are to feel Agitated - Irritated - Annoyed.
When I consider our various text read this morning, I wonder what happens ‘WHEN THE LORD GIVES YOU THE FINGER.’ I want to lift that as our thought this morning. Our narrative in DANIEL 5 unfolds some 70 years following the events of DANIEL 1 when Daniel was taken into Babylonian captivity as a teenager. he is well up into his eighties at this point in our text.
• KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR has been gone for 20 years
• He died leaving us his legacy in the last words as recorded in DANIEL 4:37
We now are introduced to the last king of Babylon, a man by the name of BELSHAZZAR. He is the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar and co-regent of the nation with his father NABONIDUS. As the chapter begins, we find the fabulous city of Babylon besieged by the armies of the MEDES and PERSIANS under the able leadership of CYRUS. However, the great tragedy was that Babylon was crumbling from within at the same time.
While the city of Babylon was besieged by the great armies of the Medes and the Persians, King Belshazzar was feasting.
• He should have been fasting
• He was blinded by power and belligerent
He called a thousand of the nobles of Babylon to a great party in the royal hall.
• You had to be somebody to have received an invite to this party
• Everybody who was somebody was there
• There was wine, women and song
• This was the office party to beat all office parties
• All the concubines were there
• The orgies which ensued during these godless feasts should not be properly described in a book such as this
• They were as perverted and sick as much of what is taking place in the perversion of our contemporary culture
As the party moved into full swing and the crowd became more and more intoxicated, Belshazzar sent for the gold vessels which had been brought to Babylon from the TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Southern Kingdom. For 70 years these sacred utensils which had been used in the worship of the living God in the temple in Jerusalem had been in safe storage in Babylon.
They deliver and bring these Gold Vessels reserved for God’s use, they bring them out to this party, they began to drink in these glasses dedicated to God’s service. There was no need for doing that. wine tastes like wine no matter what the goblet or cup is. It doesn’t matter if it was in a red plastic party cup, it’s going to taste the same.
• This is a big party
• They bring these cups and drink
This was an act of defying the God of Israel as He is referred to in this chapter, the God of Heaven and the Most High God. Belshazzar was actually trying to defy God saying, “our gods rule over your gods.”
• Almost like the Colleges and Universities get together every year for the “Battle of the Bands”
• These Marching Bands gather from all over the nation
• They show out and show off
• Ultimately one is crowned as the Best College Marching Band in the Nation
• This was kind of like that
• It was kind of a Battle of the gods
• They drank the wine in the house of their gods
• VS. 4, “THEY DRANK WINE, AND PRAISED THE GODS OF GOLD, AND OF SILVER, OF BRASS, OF IRON, OF WOOD, AND OF STONE”
It’s interesting that while they were having this great big party going on and everybody’s having a good time (they think they are), it’s going to be short-lived. Do you know the pleasures of the world are short-lived? Remember your party days before you got saved when you were living like the world and you thought, “wow, we’re having a good time!”
• Pull car over when song came on, got out and danced on side of the Road
• I heard about some of you up there on the ‘Hill’ back in the day
• When I think back to those days, I realize, it was a lot of wasted time and energy
• We did some Dumb and Fun things back in the day that could have and should have ended our lives – But God!
So here they are in this chamber getting drunk and partying. They had this false sense of security. They were in the walls of Babylon and thought, “no one can touch us - no one can attack us - no one can reach us - we’re secure - lock down the gates. Make sure the guards don’t drink (we’ll do the drinking), they stay wide awake, and we’re having this big party.” Yes, they had this false sense of security. Just like we do sometimes when we think we are hiding something from God.
• PSALM 139:7-10 “WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT? OR WHITHER SHALL I FLEE FROM THY PRESENCE? IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN, THOU ART THERE: IF I MAKE MY BED IN HELL, BEHOLD, THOU ART THERE. IF I TAKE THE WINGS OF THE MORNING, AND DWELL IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEA; EVEN THERE SHALL THY HAND LEAD ME, AND THY RIGHT HAND SHALL HOLD ME”
King Belshazzar's problem, like so many of us in our culture today, was he had forgotten some valuable lessons from the past. Not the least of these lessons was the one that Nebuchadnezzar mentioned, DANIEL 4:37 "THOSE WHO WALK IN PRIDE HE IS ABLE TO PUT DOWN." What is pride? Daniel gives us a very pertinent insight in DANIEL 5:23, "AND YOU HAVE LIFTED YOURSELF UP AGAINST THE LORD OF HEAVEN." The phrase lifted yourself up means to boast, to elevate or to lift one's self up above the rest.
• ISAIAH 14:12-14 “HOW ART THOU FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, O LUCIFER, SON OF THE MORNING! HOW ART THOU CUT DOWN TO THE GROUND, WHICH DIDST WEAKEN THE NATIONS! FOR THOU HAST SAID IN THINE HEART, I WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN, I WILL EXALT MY THRONE ABOVE THE STARS OF GOD: I WILL SIT ALSO UPON THE MOUNT OF THE CONGREGATION, IN THE SIDES OF THE NORTH: I WILL ASCEND ABOVE THE HEIGHTS OF THE CLOUDS; I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH”
This is exactly what Belshazzar was doing. He was busy boasting about himself. Like King Nebuchadnezzar before him who once asked, "IS NOT THIS THE GREAT BABYLON WHICH I HAVE BUILT?" Belshazzar elevated himself in like manner.
• We are warned in ROMANS 12:3 “FOR I SAY, THROUGH THE GRACE GIVEN UNTO ME, TO EVERY MAN THAT IS AMONG YOU, NOT TO THINK OF HIMSELF MORE HIGHLY THAN HE OUGHT TO THINK; BUT TO THINK SOBERLY…”
• Be careful when we begin to think we are all that
• PROVERBS 16:18 “PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION, AND AN HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE A FALL”
This party is now in full swing. All of a sudden, at once the drinking, feasting, and abuse stopped. A deathly silence filled the hall. Fear swept over the crowd in waves. King Belshazzar's response is recorded in DANIEL 5:6 — "THEN THE KING'S COUNTENANCE CHANGED, AND HIS THOUGHTS TROUBLED HIM, SO THAT THE JOINTS OF HIS HIPS WERE LOOSENED AND HIS KNEES KNOCKED AGAINST EACH OTHER."
• His face, which moments earlier had been red with wine, is now ashen gray
• Fear gripped his hardened heart
• His eyes, which had been squinting moments earlier, were now wide open
• His lips were quivering, and his heart was beating out of his chest
• His knees were knocking
• HEBREWS 10:31 “YES, IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD”
• The handwriting is on the wall as in our own culture today
What is it that brought this tremendous fear and sobered the King up better than multiple cups of Folgers – Maxwell House - Starbucks. He just sobered up immediately. Why would the king be freaked by this? well, a finger is writing on the wall with no physical body attached to it. His first thought may have been, “What was in that drink?” It’s obvious to the king that it’s bringing judgment against him, and his guilty conscience was bothering him. When you’re not right with God and you know you’re out of fellowship with God (you’re not ready to die), things freak you out. You’re not really ready to live until you’re ready to die. When things go wrong, “Oh, you know, God is judging me. God is after me!” You have this guilt because of your sin, and guilt results in your fear.
VS. 5. “IN THE SAME HOUR CAME FORTH FINGERS OF A MAN’S HAND, AND WROTE OVER AGAINST THE CANDLESTICK UPON THE PLAISTER OF THE WALL OF THE KING’S PALACE.” He reveals the writing on the wall -- "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
And, did it ever come true!
• MENE is an Aramaic noun from a verb meaning "to number." It means your number is up, you're finished, your time has run out, it's over
• TEKEL is a noun from a verb meaning ‘to weigh’ as one might weigh on a scale
Belshazzar was weighed upon that scale that night and he was found wanting.
• UPHARSIN is a noun from a verb that means to break into, to separate or to divide
• Not only were Belshazzar's days numbered and not only was he weighed and found wanting, but he was to be separated
• He was killed the very night
The Bible says, with a finger it was writing on the wall. Yes, my brothers and sisters, WHEN THE LORD GIVES YOU THE FINGER.
• I believe this is the same finger of God that brought the plagues upon the Egyptians
• I believe this is the same finger of God that wrote in the tablets of stone and gave us the Ten Commandments
• It’s the same finger that cast out demons
• It’s the same finger when Jesus knelt down with His finger wrote in the dirt as though He heard them not
• I believe that is the finger that was written on that wall in Belshazzar’s palace
• None other than the finger of God Himself
• God was coming to bring judgment upon this wicked king
WHEN GOD GIVES YOU THE FINGER – rest assured the judgment of God is coming. The idea here is one of great power.
• God has more power in His finger than any man has in his entire body
• God has more power in His finger than a whole nation of men think they have
• The finger of God is a picture of great power
Run with me over to the NT for just a few minutes. We find the account of the adulterous woman. As Jesus was teaching in the temple, the Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. You remember this event, don’t you? I don’t know what happened to the man, if she was caught in the act, that’s what the text says. They placed her in the center of the court. They said to Jesus that the woman had been caught in the act of adultery and that, according to the LAW, MOSES commanded that such women be stoned.
• LEVITICUS 20:10 “AND THE MAN THAT COMMITTETH ADULTERY WITH ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE, EVEN HE THAT COMMITTETH ADULTERY WITH HIS NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE, THE ADULTERER AND THE ADULTERESS SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH”
• They brought this woman to Jesus and apparently told the Pastor to get dressed…the Deacon…Sunday School Superintendent….okay, okay, let me stick with the text
The Scribes and Pharisees asked, “WHAT THEN DO YOU SAY” and Jesus gave them an answer they weren’t expecting. They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But JESUS STOOPED DOWN AND WITH HIS FINGER WROTE ON THE GROUND. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN AMONG YOU, LET HIM BE THE FIRST TO THROW A STONE AT HER.” Again, He stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground.
It is common for readers of John’s Gospel to try and guess what Jesus wrote on the ground. Perhaps the most popular answer is that He wrote out the sins of the Scribes and Pharisees. I am not sure about that; we like to conjecture and get the congregation all excited as we whoop and hollar and make this point. But I think, since the Pharisees bought up ‘THE LAW OF MOSES’ that’s where Jesus pressed his claim, since they bought up the Law.
The fact that it is explicitly written that Jesus used his finger to write with, is very significant. It very well could be that the mention of Jesus’ finger is meant to evoke the imagery of God writing on the tablets with his finger. Couple this with the fact that Jesus started writing in the ground AFTER THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES MENTIONED THE LAW AND MOSES, and we have the context for our own educated guess. By using His finger, Jesus may have written some of the Law, as if to answer the question, “WHAT THEN DO YOU SAY?” with “I’m the One who wrote the Law.”
You remember the Law of Moses, don’t you? EXODUS 31:18 “AFTER THE LORD HAD FINISHED SPEAKING WITH MOSES ON SINAI, HE GAVE HIM THE TWO STONE TABLETS OF THE TESTIMONY, WRITTEN BY THE “FINGER OF GOD.”
• The use of God’s own finger might be the key to understanding what Jesus wrote on the ground
If the connection to SINAI is correct, then more important than what Jesus wrote on the ground, is why he wrote on the ground.
• By using His finger, Jesus signaled that He was the God of Israel who had appeared on Sinai
• Jesus was in essence saying “I was there when God the Father wrote the Law with His own finger” and you now have the audacity bring up and quote
--I imagine Jesus Wrote on the Ground with His Finger
--Thou Shalt Not Steal – That includes filing your Income Taxes
--Thou Shall Not Bare False Witness – That means ‘Don’t Lie’ about others as well – A Rumor is an Unsubstantiated Fact
--Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery - - That means no ‘Side Chick Allowed’
--Thou Shall Not Take the Name of the Lord Thy God in Vain -- Oh that can’t be good
--Thou Shall Not Commit Murder – That includes murdering someone’s character as well
--Thou Shall Not Covet What Your Neighbor Has – Stop being jealous over what someone else has, thank God for what you do have
--Thou Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me – That’s anything that keeps you from serving the Lord
--Honor Your Mother and Your Father – Whoops!
--Love Your Enemies – Whole Lot of folks had to walk away here
--The Finger of God is primarily a picture of God’s immense, unlimited power
--His finger is more powerful than all the people of the world
--His finger is more powerful than all the fallen angels and demons
--His finger is more powerful than any other power in the universe
--The finger of God is a picture of God’s Sovereignty and His Grace
--WHEN GOD GIVES YOU THE FINGER
--It is to Correct Us
--It is to Better Us
--It is to Bless Us
--It is to Show His Authority
--It is to Show His Power
--It is to Show His Presence
--It is to Show His Mercy
