GRAFFITI FROM GOD (Daniel 5:1-12)

Is God writing on your wall?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today you see it all over, not just big city subways, but small town overpasses, parks, bathrooms, sides of buildings, and even train cars. It may be humorous or romantic or serious or even vile. I'm talking about graffiti. Strongly felt messages crudely written in secret but in places for all to see. Graffiti is drawing or writing without permission and within public view. The worst city in the world for graffiti? New York City. You have to ask yourself the question, what motivates defacing public property? Well, I suppose that's another message. But in Daniel chapter 5, it tells of a time when God wrote some graffiti of his own in a scary way. Now, when you look at the first twelve verses of Daniel chapter 5, it breaks down naturally in three ways. Crashing the party verses 1 to 4, killing the party, verses 5 to 6, and then saving the party verses 7 to 12. Let's start with crashing the party. The king at this time is not Nebuchadnezzar. It's a guy named Belshazzar. You have to understand that Nebuchadnezzar has died two decades ago by the time Daniel chapter 5 begins. That would have been the year 562 BC. He was age 72. He reigned forty-four years, the longest of any Babylonian king, but as he died, he left the throne up for grabs. In time, his son-in-law, by the name of Nebonidus, gains the throne, but he later flees to Arabia for political reasons, and he leaves in his place his son Belshazzar as co-king to run things back in Babylon. Belshazzar is called Nebuchadnezzar's son, but he's actually his grandson. And this is the last night of his life. The date is October 12, 539 BC. Now these two kings, Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar, differ greatly. Nebuchadnezzar builds an empire and yields himself to God ultimately. Belshazzar, on the other hand, throws a party and defies God in the end. Look at verse number one. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Now this is an extravagant party involving all the elite of Babylonian society. These are the high-end officials. Everyone of significance is there. This is held in a 55 by 165-foot hall of the palace that has been archaeologically today excavated. And Belshazzar theatrically shows off his ability to hold his liquor. Well, the alcohol takes his foot off the break of his mind, and things quickly accelerate out of control. A caged monster is released. Look at verse 2. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God 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. Now these vessels of gold and of silver, do you know what they are? These are the cups, saucers, dishes, bowls, pitchers, and utensils that God told Israel to make for use in his temple. All of this is stated back in Exodus chapter 37. These were actually used in the tabernacle service at first. And they're heavy, valuable, and they number in the thousands according to Ezra chapter 1. And when new vessels were made for Solomon's temple, it says Solomon left the vessels unweighed because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze was not ascertained. Now, back in 586 BC, 50 years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar took these vessels as spoil. Now, why does Belshazzar want these vessels? Well, he wants to insult Israel's God. Now here's the problem. These vessels are anointed with holy oil, according to Exodus chapter 40. And other than priests, anyone who touched these things died, Numbers 4 tells us. Like touching a high voltage wire, you would instantly be fried. When Aaron's two sons played around with the holy censors, God burned them alive, according to Leviticus chapter 10. And when Uzzah touched God's holy ark to steady it, God killed him, 2 Samuel 6. When King Uzziah barged into the temple, God struck him with leprosy, according to 2 Chronicles 26. But these guys are partying with the holy objects that are deadly. And this is a mockery of Israel's God. Insolently they dare God while drinking judgment on themselves. Belshazzar is arrogant, blaspheming. And then he combines both of these arrogance and blasphemy with idolatry. This is stupid. Plain and simple. Galatians chapter 6 says, God is not mocked, and he will not be mocked at this point either. And he will kill this party. Verses five and six point that out. When the celebration is in full swing, the mood is raucous. And guess what? At the height of the party God pokes out of heaven. Verse five says immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote God here is the death of the party. His hand appears. You can just imagine the scene. The music ceases. Dancers stop. Waiters freeze. The hand writes. You know, partying people probably should be more frightened than what they are. Many think life is just this big party, and they drink so they don't have to think. They refuse to think. They do everything not to think. They will not let God nudge them into thinking. I wonder if Jesus crashed your party? Would things sober up pretty quick? I imagine they would. Isaiah 5 22 warns us, woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks. That's a verse that might be relevant to us today. Now what is it that made God so angry here? Was it that everyone was laughing and having a blast? No. Was the music too loud? Hardly. Was it that people are getting drunk and having immoral sex? Well, I don't think that helped. But that does not seem to be what pushes him to appear. I'll tell you what it is. God is angry because they're taking what is holy and doing something unholy with it. They completely disregard what is sacred. Everyone today wants to party. And godless people are partying with things that are sacred, partying with marriage, partying with the family, partying with children or gender or sex or the Bible or the church. They're drinking from God's goblets. Nothing seems to be sacred anymore. This is deadly. And Belshazzar reacts, verse six, then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way and his knees knocked together. I guess Belshazzar holds the record for sobering up the quickest. He looks like the corpse he's about to become. Ominous writing quickly wakes Belshazzar up to face the reality of God's judgment. Now we transition to the saving of the party, verses 7 to 12. The king doesn't get it. Verse 7 says the king called loudly to bring in enchanters, Chaldeans, and the astrologers. He should have fallen on his face and cried out to God. Instead, he calls the same old losers that we've bumped into time and time again through the book of Daniel. And he promises a huge reward in exchange for his soul. He says, whoever reads this writing and shows me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Third ruler because Nebuchadnezzar was actually the first. Belshazzar was in reality the second. This individual will be the third. But notice here that he thinks that money and wealth can buy his way out. It cannot. Proverbs 11 says, Riches do not profit in the day of wrath. All the wealth that you and I have, this is not a currency that heaven recognizes. It's useless. Verse 8 says, Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Well, surprise, surprise. Why don't these leaders ever give up on these guys? They could not interpret either of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. Now they can't interpret three little words. The world's counselors are always baffled by God's hand. They cannot decipher life's mystery. The world does not know who God is or what he has done, what he is doing, what he will do, or why. They do not know where we came from, who we are, why we are here, or where we are going. And still, the rest of us look to the godless to explain the handwriting on our wall. And all the while they're telling us, ignore it, it'll go away. Party on. But it's still there. It's no wonder we are told, verse 9, then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. You can just imagine the awkward silence. Every noise grinds to a halt. And then enter the queen. Verse 10 says, The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall. Apparently she had not been there. And the queen declared, O king, live forever. Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. In other words, pull yourself together. There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your fathers, this would be Nebuchadnezzar, who, by the way, died, as I said, twenty-three years earlier. 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, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. Finally, some sanity. Now the queen here is likely the queen mother, or perhaps Nebuchadnezzar's surviving wife, or maybe even his daughter. In other words, this would make her Belshazzar's grandmother or mother. And she says to call Daniel. And obviously, as I said, neither the queen nor Daniel are at the party. And by the way, Daniel is still around. Now keep in mind the chronology. In 539 BC, Daniel first came to serve in Nebuchadnezzar's court in 605 BC. It is now 539 BC. He starts at 605. Now it's 539. He is a senior statesman who has served the high levels of Babylonian power for 66 years. This is not his first rodeo. Believe it or not, Daniel is in his early 80s, a forgotten dinosaur in the Babylonian court. And for years he's been faithful to God in the heart of a hostile and godless pagan superpower. And the queen remembers him as distinct from his peers. She recalls him having a driving force that was not physical or mental, but supernatural. And she gives a lengthy catalog of Daniel's credentials. And she knows God gets into Daniel's head that he should be called. Wow. What a night that was. Let's take a moment and think about how these words might connect to us. Have you ever looked at your life and wondered if God was trying to say something to you? Is God writing on your walls? Are you, dare I say it, under God's judgment? You know, we don't always know if something is God's judgment or not. It's not ours to judge. Jesus told us that. No one of us has a direct pipeline to God's mind, and I certainly do not. But I also want to point out that we can be under God's judgment, even if things might be going well for us. In Romans 2, the Apostle Paul says, Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed? God is not impatient or impulsive in his judgments. Even if he's provoked, he's not. He does not send lightning bolts. The Bible says he's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God is patient and kind. And it is all meant to do what? To lead you and me to repentance. But if we keep rejecting repentance, Paul says we're damning up God's wrath on judgment day. If things are not going well for you, it may be a sign of God's judgment. Now, not all pain and suffering are judgment. I don't want to communicate that. For true believers, these may be trials to strengthen or discipline us. But if we're playing with what is holy, suffering is the birth pains of a coming, more final judgment. And God is still patient. Both King Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar are under God's judgment, but they differ. As I said a moment ago, Nebuchadnezzar repents of his pride and is restored. Belshazzar does not repent and is ruined. One lives, one does not. But God patiently gives Nebuchadnezzar opportunity to repent. He gives him two dreams. And he lets Daniel interpret both of them as a sign to him. And after the last dream, God lets a whole year go by before doing anything to Nebuchadnezzar. And then let him eat grass for seven years was God being kind and patient. On the other hand, Belshazzar's judgment is sudden and unconditional. Belshazzar could have repented and should have, but he does not. And you have to ask yourself the question: why is God not as patient with Belshazzar as he was with Nebuchadnezzar? And I think the reason is that Belshazzar should have learned from Nebuchadnezzar's experience. The more exposure we have to God's truth, the more accountable we are. He should have known these things. Over and over God patiently sends temporal judgments on those who play with holy things in order to warn them of the eternal judgment to come. Things like sickness or pain or affliction or loss. The Bible repeatedly shows God giving the wicked generous amounts of, as Revelation 2 says, time to repent. But they refuse to repent. God's terrifying hand appears to warn us of what is ahead. God's warnings are not hatred, they're not mean. God is not a monster, they're not done in arrogance. No, God is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance, 2 Peter 3.9. God will tell you to repent. He will grant you repentance, he will send warnings to you to repent. He will give you time to repent. But one thing he will not do is repent for you. He cannot repent for you. If a tornado picks you up and throws you 500 feet, breaking your neck and arm, then you have a cancerous spot on your liver, and then you have a severe blockage in key arteries in your hearts. God may be trying to wake you up. It might be handwriting on the wall. God is patiently warning you of a more severe judgment to come. He's not happy about doing it, but it's better than losing you forever. Do not ignore his loving warnings. My job is not to tell you when God is judging you, but to say that he does judge and offer the good news of repentance. You say, well, how is repentance good news? Repentance is hard. You have to admit you're wrong, you have to humble yourself, you have to change. Yes, I know all that. But at least you can still turn around. At least there is still time. That's good news. There's only one thing worse than repentance, and that's not being able to repent. Either because you do not want to, or because God has said to you, I'm done. Belshazzar played with the gold vessels of God's temple. The ultimate vessel of gold is your body. Did you know that? The scripture refers to your body as a vessel, and your vessel is to be used in a holy way, according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The handwriting on the wall is God's last ditch attempt to tell us to stop playing with our vessel. Something is coming that will change your color. Make your knees knock, and your limbs give way. Hebrews 10 31 says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If only God's hand scares us. How can we survive in God's full presence? Repentance, my friends, is better than ruin. If handwriting is on your wall, the good news also is that someone is calling you. Calling you to change. The Bible says, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus said in Luke 15, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who did not need to repent. Give him that joy. Give heaven joy by seizing upon the moment that God is calling you to turn from your sin and embrace your God.