"the Party Is Over"

The Party Is Over  .. Daniel 5

5 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.

3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Everyone Loves a good party! That is one of the joys of life, to be at a good party!  Good Music! Good Food! Good drinks! Good Friends!

My my my the wonderful joy of a good party!

A good party creates lasting memories that last a lifetime!

Oh the wonderful lingering thoughts of a great party!

We are fast approaching the time of year when we all look forward to a good party! A time to gather together, a time to see good friends and family, a time to have fun and enjoy the fruits of our labors!

But this year is like non other we have seen or experienced in our life times! For the first time in our lives our holiday parties have been restricted, canceled, or eliminated!

Our Work parties shutdown over!

Our family parties canceled over!

Our community parties forbidden over!

Our gatherings with friends at restaurants and parties shut down and over!

The expected parties we have enjoyed all of our lives are suddenly over this year!

There is danger unseen in the air that is causing the parties to be canceled and over! The risk of death and sickness has made the parties over!

The music has stopped.

The food is put away.

The bar tender has already issued the last call!

Most guests have left already.

The lights are on!

It’s a sad place to be in when everyone else knows the party is over, except you! When you have had too much to drink, and even though the music has stopped, you still hear music in your head, even though the host of the party has turned on the lights, you can’t see why we can’t just go a little longer..

No matter how long you stay, the party won’t start back up!

No matter how much you hope for it the party will not start back up!

No matter how much you cuss, swear, scream and shout the party is OVER!

The mind is drunken with power and the spirits of strong drink, it is not able to accept the fact that the party is OVER and its time to go home!

Here in our text we find Daniel who was now a full grown man, seasoned in prayer, seasoned in faith, seasoned in his gifts and service to the LORD!

It’s good to be in your seasoned years and still be walking with GOD!

Here we find in the 5 th chapter 1st verse…

5 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.

It is important to note that archaeologist have uncovered great banquet halls that would seat 5-10 thousand guests for parties and banquets. Note the text speaks of 1000 noble men, it can be rightly assumed that they also brought with them, wives, and concubines and others to the party. We can assume that the total number of guests at this party would have ranged from 5 to 10,000 people.

Even with the enemy camped outside, he ignored the death threats and danger the enemy threaten against him because he was arrogant. He felt since he had a 20 year supply of food he could hold out..

Your arrogance and resources will never last longer than the harvest from the seeds you have sown!

This must have been some party!

And Daniel was not even invited…

In life there are some parties, you should be glad that you were not invited to..

Some parties that might have tempted you to go to far..

Some parties you might have had one too many and messed up your life!

Thank God for the parties you didn’t go to and didn’t get invited to..

2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.