Truth Project: Daniel 5 - A Peculiar Message on the Wall

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, the day King Belshazzar of Babylon seized the finger of God, writing a peculiar message on the palace wall. As the king watched the message being written, he became faint and anxious. Not knowing the meaning, he cried out for his enchanters, astrologers, diviners, and wise men of Babylon to come to his side.

They too were frustrated, not knowing how to decipher this mysterious message on the wall. But to their amazement, the king's wife knew of a wise man in the kingdom who had special abilities to interpret dreams and understand great mysteries. Daniel was his name, as he had been the prime minister of the empire during the reign of Belshazzar's grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. Here's Dr. Davis, Belshazzar, having his way. Hello and welcome to Truth Matters.

I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis. On our last episode, we ended with chapter four of Daniel and covering the humiliation of King Nebuchadnezzar and really how he lost it all to gain it all. He had a moment of pride within his palace and said, look at all I've done. And then the prophecy spoken by Daniel and the interpretation of Daniel that he would be like a beast living on the outside. What happened to Nebuchadnezzar? But later at the end of chapter four, we see where Nebuchadnezzar praises God. He said, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice and those who walk in pride he is able to put down.

The reason Nebuchadnezzar could say this is that he had firsthand experience of being put down because of walking in pride in chapter four. Moving on to chapter five, this is the infamous chapter in which we get the saying, the handwriting on the wall. A lot of us are very familiar with chapter five, so we're going to try to glean a lot of nuggets out of chapter five.

But many of us have heard this story numbers of times, even as children. So let's get into chapter five. We'll read verse one through four. Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem. The king and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God, which had been in Jerusalem. 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 and iron, wood and stone. From the time of the beginning of captivity to the time of chapter five, there had been about a 70 year time span. If you remember in Jeremiah 25, he predicted that in 70 years I will punish the king of Babylon. So moving over to Jeremiah chapter 25 verses 12 through 14, the Bible says, Then it will come to pass, when 70 years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord, and I will make it a perpetual desolation. So I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. Also, Jeremiah predicts judgment in Jeremiah 51 verse 24, and that states, And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight, says the Lord.

If you move over to Jeremiah 51 and 11, Make the arrows bright, gather the shields. The Lord has raised up the spirit of the king of the Medes, for his plan is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple. 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 one. 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 five 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 three. Verse three 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 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, Merodach 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 men 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 knocked against each other. But notice how Belshazzar reacts. He reacts the same way that we see Nebuchadnezzar acting early on in the first few chapters of Daniel. He cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. And again, they were useless to explain the current events and what he was witnessing. And we see that the inadequacy of the astrologers is really passed down from generation to generation, knowing that the ministers were driven away from the palace early on in the reign of Belshazzar.

Moving on to Daniel 10 through 12. The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, O king, live forever. Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God, and 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, astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers, inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belshazzar. Now let Daniel be called and he will give you the interpretation.

You know, I just have to insert in here that oftentimes women do run to the rescue. And this is a quick example of the queen, who may not have been within the banquet hall, but responded to the level of chaos, but comes in with an immediate solution. Who knows that the spirit of the holy God rested upon Daniel and she witnessed his wisdom, his excellent spirit, his knowledge, and suggested Daniel to be the remedy to Belshazzar's situation.

So of course, Belshazzar had no other options, because everything he had tried had failed, very much like us. Whenever we get into situations, we often call on God last. And in this case, Daniel was the last resort, when really God should be first resort in our lives.

In this case, he should have been called first. However, oftentimes we're called in the end, God is considered at the end of the issue. As humans, we often wait to the very end to call on God for help, when in fact we should have called on him first for directions. This was the case of King Belshazzar and the citizens of the royal court of Babylon. They had been caught up in the nightlife of modern Babylon, forgetting the goodness and benefits of God and Nebuchadnezzar's experience of putting self before the Almighty. When we put God last instead of first, it's a recipe for disaster, as Belshazzar discovered as he witnessed the mighty Babylon fall quickly into the hands of the Persians. The Bible clearly states that pride goes before a fall and that sin a reproach to righteousness. When we turn from God, we turn off the power that keeps and protects us from the traps of sin.

Perhaps you've been walking down that road of self-indulgence, falling into Satan's booby traps, traps that lead to self-destruction and aimlessness. If this is you, then you can begin a new journey in life today. Dr. Davis and her staff would like to share with you the life-giving message of Jesus. If you would like to contact Truth Matters, you can reach us by emailing Dr. Davis at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com or write her at P.O. Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28348. You can connect with Truth Matters on Facebook or visit our website at ProjectTruthMatters.com. Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis is a ministry of The Truth Project.