Truth Matters 69

Welcome to Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Dr. Davis continues her teaching journey through the prophetic book of Daniel. Today, she takes us to the fifth chapter of Daniel.

I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis. After King Nebuchadnezzar, many kings came after him. History tells us that King Nebuchadnezzar died in October of 562 BC after having reigned 43 years. Going through history, Belshazzar was the fourth king after Nebuchadnezzar, who's known as his grandson, the Belshazzar that is mentioned in verse 1. Just to get to know him, his character was somewhat different from his grandfather.

Belshazzar was addicted to wine, to women, and to music. And the party that he throws in chapter 5 is famous for the handwriting on the wall. But notice in these first four verses, Daniel is not on the scene. Based on history, all of the ministers were sent away from the throne.

He dropped out of sight for about 10 years. Let's focus on verse 3. Verse 3 says, Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God, which had been 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. This is really the worst sacrilege. It's the worst abomination that Belshazzar could make before the God of Israel. And if you remember, these golden goblets were taken by King Nebuchadnezzar when the temple was raided, and when he ultimately defeated the Israelites and they were sent into captivity. Belshazzar sent for the golden goblets, which is an open defiance of these holy vessels. He taunted the Hebrew God with this act of desecration. Jeremiah talks about this in a lot of his writings. So I'm going to read Jeremiah chapter 50, verse one through three. The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet, declare among the nations, proclaim and set up a standard, proclaim and do not conceal it.

Say Babylon is taken. Baal is shamed. Meradoc is broken in pieces. Her idols are humiliated.

Her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land desolate and no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, both man and beast. Earlier I read Jeremiah 51 and 11.

Make the arrows bright, gather the shields. The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes for his plan is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. And it was this act of defiance by King Belshazzar that ignited the anger of God. At this point, their sin had come to fullness of measure and the Lord was ready to act in judgment. So let's move on to the Lord's reaction to their desecration of the golden goblets of the temple.

We'll read verses five through nine. In the same hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

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. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. The king spoke saying to the wise man of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and tells me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck.

And he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Now all the king's wise men came and they could not read the writing and make known to the king its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled. His countenance was changed and his Lords were astonished. And so if you think about the context of these verses in which they're written, you know, currently Belshazzar is throwing a great feast, as we know that he is addicted to wine and to women, so much to the point that he gets so intoxicated that he brings out the golden goblets and starts praising the gods of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which these goblets were to be used in God's holy assembly. So God's action at this point brings out a finger of a man's hand appearing to write on the wall opposite from the lampstand and immediately Belshazzar sobers up pretty quickly that his whole countenance changed to the point fear sets in on him as far as the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees not against each other. Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis is a Ministry of the Truth Project.