Daniel Ch.5: The Party is Over

I definitely, I definitely feel sufficiently honored. All I had to do is

speak at the young adult retreat to feel honored. I mean, the young

adults went over the top and making me feel loved. So if the young

adults that were on that retreat are any of your kids, you should be

proud because that generated they really understand honored. They did a really great job.

I want you to turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter five. We

are continuing the series through the Book of Daniel. As you're turning there,

I want to read you a verse from Second Peter. Second Peter three to

nine says the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness.

Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish.

But everyone come to repentance. I want to ask everyone to buy your heads,

close your eyes. I want you to repeat this prayer after me.

Everyone say, Dear Jesus, speak to my heart, change my life in

Jesus' name. Amen. Out of curiosity, is there anyone out there that

has ever said I wasn't paying attention. If you were to have my adult

children grab a microphone, they would say I've had entire conversations with my dad

that he wasn't paying attention to. How about this statement? Have you ever

heard the phrase your numbers up out of curiosity? How about the writings on

the wall. There's a little bit more obscure, but some of you,

I'm sure have heard it. You've been weighed, measured and found wanting.

Okay, here's what everyone's heard. The party's over. Did you know that

every one of those idioms, those sayings that we use originated in Daniel chapter

five, and that's what you're going to learn about today. Oftentimes in God's

Word there's dual messages that we are supposed to learn. I think this particular

passage of Scripture really has two clear messages that it's trying to communicate to venture

today, to those watching online, to those listening to this podcast. I

believe the Lord is trying to speak to you. Maybe some of you in

both ways, but some of you clearly want you see. Oftentimes you'll study

God's Word and within it is a clear warning that you need to stop living

the way that you're living. That eventually, if you say no Jesus,

no Jesus, I'm rejecting you. I'm ignoring you. I want to live

for myself. Eventually God will lift his hand from you, and God will

allow the natural end result of your actions to be reaped upon your life.

When Peter said, God is not slow in keeping his promise, as some

understand slowness, but instead God desires gives us patience, because he desires that

none would perish, but everyone would come to repentance. Peter was responding to

people that were frustrated that God was allowing evil to continue, that God was

allowing people to continue to live for themselves and do their own thing. And

Peter was saying, God is not slow in answering, is and fulfilling his

promise. And his promise is that someday He is going to judge the world.

The one thing that each and every one of us has in common is

there will come a day where we will die, and we will stand before

God and we will give an account for our lives. And Peter is saying

God is not slow in keeping his promises. Some understand slowness, but he's

patient with you. And I not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to

receive repentance and eternal life. But then, in addition to this warning,

oftentimes there's another message, a bigger message, And I think that's what we

see here also, is that you and I can worry about everything that we

see in the world. We can hear about the war that's taking place in

the Middle East, what's going on in Gaza, and that can stray,

stir up all kinds of feelings and concerns that we can be nervous about,

maybe what we see happening in elections, or what we see happening in the

economy, or hearing about concerns that we have in our school system, or

just over and over again, we can get worried about crime and all of

these things, and we wonder is there hope anywhere? And there's a message

for each and every one of us in the middle of that, and it's

this great reminder that God is in control, that God has got you,

that there's hope in both of these messages, a warning and a word of

hope, I believe, are clearly seen in Daniel. Chapter five starts in

verse one and it says King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of

his nobles and drank wine with them. Okay, two weeks ago Morgan taught

on Daniel chapter four. Daniel chapter four is amazing, and Morgan's message was

awesome. If you missed it, you should go back and listen to that

podcast. But Daniel four is awesome because it's written from the perspective of Nebukanzer.

He reflects back on all the things that had happened in Daniel one through

three that period in history, and you get to hear about it from his

perspective. This godless pagan king wrote a chapter in the Bible. Nebekanzer was

reflecting on the fact that the Israelites had rebelled against God. Jeremiah is Ezekiel

warned them that they had not been honoring the sabbath Land. You see,

there was a principle in Second Chronicles that for every six years they worked the

land, the seventh year they were to rest and allow the land to rest

and recover. And for four hundred and ninety years, the Israelites ignored the

sabbath land principle and it was upsetting God. And eventually, through Ezekiel and

Jeremiah, God kept warning them over and over and over again. The Israelites

were not paying attention, and eventually God said, because you have not honored

this sabbath land for four hundred and ninety years, you owe me seventy years.

And he allowed the Israelites to be conquered by the Babylonians. And when

the Babylonians, under the leadership of Nebekinezer conquered Israel, conquered Jerusalem, they

took hundreds of young men between the age of twelve to sixteen. They kidnapped

them from their homes, and they drugged them into Babylon and they made them

learn the culture and the ways of the Babylonians. In addition to that,

Nebukanzer went into the temple and he took all of the sacred items out of

the temple, and most of them he brought back to Babylon, and he

created a museum where he displayed items from nations and peoples that he had conquered.

And in that museum were these sacred artifacts from within the temple. Well

throughout Nebucanezer's life, Daniel Shadrach Meshak and a Bendigo, they would have these

significant moments, this great reminder that God is in control, that God places

people where he needs them, that even though sometimes you're in a place it

doesn't make sense. If you look close enough, at just the right moment,

God is going to use you. And they would witness to Nebecanzer and

they would confront Nebecanezer, and it finally leads to Daniel four where Nebecanezer his

kingdom had grown so vast and he was filled with pride. And Daniel warns

him and he said, your pride is going to be your downfall. We're

familiar with that one. And he says, Nebecanezer, you're becoming too prideful.

And Nebacanezer didn't listen, and God allowed him to go crazy, and

he literally went insane, and he got placed in a Babylonian version of an

insane asylum, which was shoved away into a pasture to eat grass with all

their live stock and oxen and cattle. And for seven years the king of

Babylon was exiled from his palace and lived in a pasture and he ate grass.

And his Bible tells us that his fingernails grew long and his hair grew

long. And when Morgan was preaching on this, this was the image that

kept going through my head. Mister Burns with really long fingernails and long hair.

That was the satire on Howard Hughes. And if you know the story

of Howard Hughes, that recluse he locked himself in an entire two floors of

a hotel that he bought in Las Vegas and didn't leave for four years.

And by the time he came out, his fingernails were long and his hair

was long, and he was really, really creepy. But eventually Nebucannezer came

to his census and at the end of Daniel chapter four, one of the

most amazing passages of scripture because it is nebukan Nezzar's profession of faith in God.

And it is a great reminder that you have people in your life that

you would say, day, this person is never going to find God.

Just remember God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to

come to repentance. Well, Nebucanzar should have been judged. Hey, God

is not slow in keeping his promises. Some understand slowness, but God is

patient with us. And God was patient with Nebukanzer. And finally, towards

the end of his life he makes a confession of faith and here it is

at the same time that my sanity was restored. You know, sometimes people

just need to come to their senses. My honor and my splendor were returned

to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisors and nobles sought me

out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.

Could you imagine when they found him, they thought, you need some

you need a haircut and a manicure. But the Bible says that he became

even greater than he was before, and then he makes this declaration of faith.

He says, now I, Nebukanzer, praise and exalt and glorify the

King of Heaven, because everything he does is right and all of his ways

are just Did you know that that is a worship song. There is actually

a worship song that churches today sing that was written by nebuka Nezer, and

it says, in those who walk in pride, he is able to humble.

It says confession of faith. Well, then we hear about King Belshazzar.

Well what happened? Well, this is twenty years from the end of

chapter four. Chapter five begins Nebukanzer has passed away and he turned the kingdom

over to one of his two sons, Evil Marduke. Well Evil Marduke,

his name was Prophetic because he was a bad dude. He was eventually killed

by his brother in law, Nara Glasser. So Nara Glasser is reigning in

Babylon for four years and then he dies suddenly and he turns the kingdom over

to his son Labashi Marduke. Well Nebukanezzer also had another son that the whole

time had been plotting his revenge. His name is Nabinitis, So basically he

is Labashie Marduke's uncle, and he eventually kills his nephew to take over the

throne of Babylon. You with me, but you're saying, but this guy

named Bill Shazzar's king, well Nabindas, after ruling for a while, decided

he didn't like ruling so and he got a little bit crazy into weird religions

and became obsessed with the moon God, and he actually left his throne to

his son Belshazar while he chased after the moon God in Saudi Arabia. In

fact, he was there for about ten years. So by the time Daniel

five rolls around Bel Shazar is ruling his father's kingdom. The Bible says he

throws a party, and a thousand nobles come to this party. Now,

this room right here, we can cram If we crammed every square into this

room, it concede about eight hundred people, but it's comfortable at about five

six hundred, which is what we have set up right now. Imagine a

room twice this size full of nobles. And the nobles were the wealthiest people

in all of Babylon, and bel Shazar throws them a party. Bible says

verse two that while bel Shazar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to

bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebukanezer, his father, had taken

from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, and

his wives and his concubine might drink from them. A couple things. First

off, you're probably thinking Pastor Brandon I was kind of doing the family tree.

If bel Shazar is Nabonidas's son, and Nabonidas is Nebukanezer's son, why

does it say Nebukanezer was his father. Well, this was written in Aramaic,

and in Aramaic there's not a word for grandfather, so they used the

word father. In all likelihood. In your Bible, there is an asterisk

or a little tiny number that you can't see because you need your glasses.

And if you follow that to a concordance, it will tell you that he

is actually his grandson. So where it says my father, it means nebucan

As are my grandfather. But they didn't have that word. But did you

also notice that he went in and took the sacred items that Nebucanzer had taken

from the temple in Jerusalem, the sacred artifacts, these sacred items that were

meant in the worship of Yahweh God. They've taken those goblets, those items,

and they've brought them to the party, so the belshafs are and all

of his guests can gloat and drink out of them and desecrate them and make

a mockery of the things of God. Be careful when you are not paying

attention. So they brought in the gold goblets they had taken from the Temple

of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles and his wives and

his concubines drank from them. Bad move as they drank the wine, they

praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood,

and stone. So they're desecrating these sacred artifacts. And then they start praising

their wealth. They're like, how much money do you make, how big

is your house, how nice of a car do you drive? What type

of clothes do you wear? They are consumed with the gods of gold,

then silver, iron, and bronze. The thousand richest people in all of

Babylon are filled with pride because of their wealth. We live in the Seattle

area. Sometimes living here with the cost of living here and the price of

gas and houses and everything, we don't realize how high our incomes are in

comparison to other places around the nation. When you consider that America is one

of the wealthiest countries in the world, and Western Washington is one of the

wealthiest areas in the wealthiest country in the world, you and I are surrounded

by opulence, in opulence in wealth that we oftentimes don't even realize. Do

you also know that the Seattle area is the least churched area in America?

And I don't think the conundrum between the truth the two should be more obvious

than where there is greater wealth, there is less need in people's minds for

God. When I was in Modesto, if we open the doors of the

church, the place was standing room only. Modesto is a very poor area.

For some reason, people that have needs realize how desperate they are for

God. Sometimes people that are surrounded by wealth and beauty don't realize they need

God. And here is a group of people throwing a party, celebrating their

wealth, desecrating the sacred items from the temple as a part of that celebration.

Are you with me? Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and

wrote on the plaster of the wall near the lamp stand in the Royal Palace.

The king watched the hand as it wrote, So you gotta get a

picture. That room about twice this size. The wealthiest people. They are

having a blast, celebrating, partying. They're drinking out of sacred items that

were from the temple. Then appearing out of nowhere, something straight up out

of a horror movie happens, a hand appears. Scholars believe that that hand

was likely the size of two human bodies by itself, So imagine gargantuan hand

appears. And then when the hands starts writing on a wall, can I

tell you what you would stop doing, stop partying, and pay attention.

The party was over, the King's face turned pale. He was so frightened

that his legs became weak and his knees started knocking. You ever wonder where

the phrase your knees are knocking came from? Right here? Sometimes you need

to look at other translations to appreciate the meaning of the passage. So I'm

gonna read it from a few different translations. Our campus pastor in the police

loves the English Standard versions some of you use that I will preach from it

sometimes. Here's the way that SV puts it. The king's color changed,

his thoughts alarmed him, his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.

My wife loves the New Living translation. So here's what the New Living

Translation says. His face turned pale with fright, his knees knocked together in

fear, and his legs gave way beneath him. So in other words,

he turned ghost white, and he collapsed to the ground. I don't normally

preach from the King James, but I love the way the King James refers

to this portion of Scripture. The king's countenance was changed. His thoughts troubled

him, so the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote

one against another. In other words, he was so afraid he pooped his

pants. In other words, the party was over. They were terrified.

Sometimes, church, you need to heed warnings from God's word, because if

you wait too long, the writing's on the wall. If you wait too

long, your number will be up. After too long, you'll be weighed,

measured and found wanting well. The king and the crowd, they were

so afraid. They needed to know what those words meant. So the king

went in and he brought in all of his advisors, his sorcerers, enchanters,

those who practice witchcraft, basically all of his demon possessed advisors. He

brought them in and he showed them the writing on the wall, and he

explained what would happen for the person that could tell him what this means.

He says, if you can interpret these words and tell me what they mean,

I will lavish you with wealth like you have never seen before. And

Scripture says this is from Belshazzar. He says, I will make you the

third highest in the kingdom. Well why third, Well, I've already told

you. That's because Belshazzar was only second in the kingdom because the king was

in Saudi Arabia hanging out, chasing after the moon God. So the best

Belshazzar could offer was the third highest in the kingdom. Well, as the

story goes, the enchanter sorceress looked at the writing, They consulted each other

and went back to Belshazzar and they said, we can't interpret this. We

don't know what this means. By the way, does this sound familiar,

because this is exactly what happened in Nebucanzer when he had his dream. He

brought in all of these advisors and they couldn't figure it out. And guess

who comes back on the scene, Daniel. Well, you'll read in scripture

that in verse ten, it says the queen, hearing the voices of the

king and the nobles, came into the banquet hall. So the actual translation

should say queen mother. So this was in all likelihood nebu Canzer's wife,

So she was the queen mother. She still had a very important position in

the kingdom. She still had a place of honor. But there's something that

I want you to notice from that passage. She was not at that party.

I bet I know why because she watched her husband go through his bout

with insanity. Fine faith have his life transformed the latter half of his life

more blessed in the beginning. In all likelihood, she found faith too.

And when her grandson throw a party, he didn't invite her because she wasn't

going to approve. Do you know how many things I don't get invited to

because people think I don't think you're gonna like it. But she shows up

and she says, grandson, there is a man that apparently you've ignored.

Daniel. Years before, your grandfather had a dream that tormented him, and

Daniel interpreted the dream. That's why he is Prime Minister of Babylon. Daniel

is now in his seventies eighties. Eventually, Belshazzar calls in Daniel and he

says, can you tell me what this means? We all want to know.

We're all terrified. And if you tell me what this means, I'll

pour wealth upon you like you've never had before. I'll make you the third

highest ruler of all of Babylon. I love. Daniel's response, Daniel answered,

the king says verse seventeen. Can you can keep your gifts for yourself.

I don't need your wealth, just give it to someone else. So,

but I will tell you what these words mean. I will give you

the interpretation. And he starts off by saying, your majesty, the Ti

God gave your father or grandfather, Nebukanezer's sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.

This is Daniel basically chewing out this punk kid. He's saying, now,

your grandfather, that was a king, that was a ruler. People

were afraid of your grandfather. No one messed with Nebukanezzer. He was benevolent,

but he was strong. He was the opposite of you. But now

I'll tell you what these words mean. In the words you've probably seen in

your scripture, it was mine, mine teckel, parson, mine mind teckel

parson. And Daniel begins to tell him what these words mean. He said,

the word mine means numbered, bel Shazar, your days are numbered.

The word tekel means weighted, bel Shazar, You've been measured and weighted and

found wanting. And the word parson means divided. This is Bel Shazzar.

While you are here partying, not paying attention, the Persians were coming.

I want to show you something that has been excavated and rebuilt because it's totally

fascinating. Pop it up. This is in modern day Iraq. This is

the excavated city of Babylon right here. So archaeologists excavated it and they rebuilt

it two size so that you and I could see what it's like. Now,

unfortunately we can't go be tourists in Iraq and see it, but they

do have pictures of it. I would like you to notice it says throne

room with an arrow. That is where Belshazzar's feast was, So that's where

they were. Did you notice that around the city of Babylon there are these

huge walls. Well, most historians, in fact, this is from the

writings of Josephus and Herodis talk about belshats are knew the Persians were coming.

The Persians had conquered small villages and towns around Babylon, but Belshazzar wasn't worried

because this was his city and it was surrounded by these walls, which were

three hundred feet high. There weren't just one. There were two of them

parallel. And in between those walls was a moat that was one hundred feet

deep, because up here used to be the Euphrates River that filled this moat.

Then you'll notice down here is an opening, and there were ram's gates

that went fifty feet into the water, and they would rise up these gates

and drop a drawbridge, and that's how people would enter into the city.

You couldn't get into Babylon, but the Persians were coming. Bel Shazar wasn't

paying attention. He didn't care it was desecrating the things of God. Wasn't

paying attention, wasn't worried. Bel Shazar was I'm wealthy, I'm educated,

I've got everything the world could offer. I have nothing to worry about.

I've still got time. But what he didn't realize is the writing was on

the wall. He didn't realize that his number was up. He didn't realize

that he'd been weighed, measured and found wanting Daniel five ends with this verse.

It says that very night bel Shazar, king of the Babylonians, was

slain, and Darius the Mead took over the kingdom. At the age of

sixty two, Papa building back up while Belshazar is throwing a party. What

he doesn't realize was Cyrus, king of the Persians, so it talks about

Darius of the Meads. The Persians and the Meads had united together, but

Cyrus the Persian, was the king, and Darius was a vassal king,

a king pointed underneath Cyrus. While Belshazzar and the Babylonians are partying, Cyrus

has ordered his general Uberu to divert the river. So way up there he'd

built all of these ditches, and they dug it out to devert the Euphrates

River so that the moat would drop. History tells us that the Persians,

a less powerful empire than the Babylonians, conquered the Babylonians in three days without

any bloodshed. Historians tell us that by the time this party is going on

here, the Persians were now walking through a moat that was no longer one

hundred feet deep, but now went up to their ankles. Be careful when

you are not paying attention to what is going on around you. And they

actually walked underneath the bronze gate and in to Babylon. Did you know that

the average Babylonian resident didn't even know they'd been conquered for two weeks. You

know how they found out they'd been conquered. Cyrus and the Persians come and

the bronze gate opens in the door, the drawbridge lowers to allow him into

the city. So the Babylonians are like, when did you just have a

baby? Wait a second, when did that happen? When did you move?

Now? I was not paying attention. When did the Persians conquer us?

During that party? Tradition tells us that when this bronze gate was open

and the Persians began to come into the city of Babylon, the Daniel,

now like eighty five year old Daniel, met King Cyrus at the gate,

and he was holding in his hand the ancient scroll of Isaiah. In all

likelihood, Isaiah, which had been written one hundred and fifty years before any

of that took place in Babylon, were scrolls that were taken from the Temple

of God in Jerusalem. And Daniel opens up to Isaiah chapter forty four in

an appeal to Cyrus church, Well, the rest of the world is playing

checkers. God is playing chess while you were worrying about everything going on around

you. You have to step back sometimes and think God was in control before

he's got it now. In Isaiah forty four, verse twenty seven that Daniel

begins to read that was written one hundred and fifty years before this event,

is a letter to Cyrus of the Persians. Here's what it says. Be

dry, and I will dry up your streams. Cyrus, you are my

shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. And you will say of Jerusalem,

let it be rebuilt, and the temple, let its foundations be laid.

And this is the part that I love the most. This is what

the law lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus. Could you imagine being

Cyrus. You just walk through Babylon and a little Jewish guy runs up to

you, an elderly man, and he opens up these ancient Jewish scrolls,

and it is a letter written one hundred and fifty years before you were alive,

written to you. I mean, you have this quick epiphany that there's

a God and that he's got his eye on you. And then it says,

and to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations

before him? And to strip kings of their armor. What does the King

James say? The King James says, and to loose the loins of kings.

Cyrus I decided one hundred and fifty years ago that you were gonna make

Bell Shazar Poopa's pants. God's in control. Cyrus is known as Cyrus the

Great in Iran, which the Persians came from Iran. They still honor Cyrus

as their greatest leader ever. He was benevolent, he was intelligent, he

was like really an extraordinary leader. But he decreed that day after reading Isaiah,

not being able to deny that it was about him, he decreed that

the Jews were free. He said, you can go back to Israel,

you can go back to Jerusalem, and he gave them money so that they

could return, and he financed the rebuilding of the Temple. Oh, by

the way, this officially ended the seventy years of exile from Jerusalem. So

God allowed the Babylonians to conquer them because they owed him seventy years, and

then he allowed the Persians to set them free. Why God is in control,

He's got you, But at the same time, He's only gonna warn

us for so long. He's not slow in keeping his promises. Some understands

slownessh He's gracious, compassionate, patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish,

but everyone to come to repentance. Some of us were here and the

writing is on the wall. God's trying to get your attention. Are you

gonna pay attention this time? Or are you gonna be one of those people

that all of a sudden when everything happened, You're gonna say when? When?

When did all this happen around me? Or are you gonna say I'm

gonna I'm gonna pay attention and I'm gonna respond to the call of God on

my life. I'm gonna respond to God's call to live for him. What

are you gonna do? I want to ask everyone to buy your heads,

close your eyes. If you're here today and you want to say, pastor

Brandon, now, I need to get my life straight with God. He's

trying to get my attention. I'm that person. I'm Belshazzar. I am

like so like into my own world and into my own life. I keep

telling God later, I'll get to this later. I keep telling God,

not now, but I realize now's my time. If you're here and you

know you're not right with God. Maybe you've prayed prayers, you've been baptized

before, but if you were to be honest, you know you're not right

with God. But you want to leave this place, saying, Brandon,

I want to be right with Jesus. I want to go home today,

watch the Seahawks game. Know I'm gonna right relationship with God. That's you.

I'm gonna count to three, and I want you to raise your hand

so they don't hesitate. Don't wait. The writing is on the wall.

Don't wait till your number's up. Don't wait till you've been weighed, measured

and found wanting. God is trying to get your attention. Here I go

one, Two, raise your hand right now. Three, you put your

hands down. I'm gonna ask everybody to stand up. If you're new to

venture, oftentimes close my messages, having us all pray a prayer for pentance

together, and there's a lot of you that raise your hand. This is

you doing what Nebekinezer did at the end of Daniel four. This is you

saying I have come to my senses and I am acknowledging Jesus is Lord and

not only that, but I'm acknowledging that he is lord of my life.

And I'm going to invite everyone to pray this prayer with me. So I

want you to close your eyes and repeat after me. Everyone say, everyone

say. Dear Jesus, I stand before you today, and I admit I've

messed up. But today I ask you to forgive me, and I invite

you to come into my life and to change me. I choose from this

day forward to serve you with my life. Thank you for forgiving me and

for saving me. In Jesus' name