WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.480 Tonight in Daniel five we read the story of the fall of Babylon. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:16.559 Babylon is, apart from Jerusalem, the most epic and talked-about city in all of the Bible. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.320 Babylon is founded after the flood. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:25.600 Noah gets off of the ark and his descendants spread. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:35.679 Noah's grandson, by the name of Nimrod, and I'm not joking, went and founded Babylon. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:45.119 He founded Babylon right after founding Nineveh, so he's kind of 0 for 2 here as far as cities with relationships with God people. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:52.960 God had promised the Israelites and promised through the world, through Noah, that he would never flood the earth again. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:03.679 What happened in the original Babylon, Babel, as it was called, is people were drawn together out of a sort of antagonism towards God's word. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.599 They didn't believe that God would show mercy. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.560 They didn't believe that God would refrain from flooding the earth again. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:12.719 They knew their own sin. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:22.000 Babylon stands as a testimony through time of self-awareness, at least, knowing their sin, knowing they fall short of sin. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:29.680 But instead of believing God for his mercy and believing God when he said he would never flood the earth again, they instead decided to build the tower. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:39.680 The idea being that you could, you know, the problem with the world before the flood is that they couldn't get high enough, is kind of the way people in Babel were thinking, build a tower up to heaven. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.840 And God, of course, watches them build. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:54.640 And from this point forward, Babel stands, Babylon stands as almost a physical monument, a testimony to human thinking that you can outmaneuver God. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:04.319 Now in the Bible, the concept of Babylon, that's what it represents false worship and human ingenuity in contrast to divine sovereignty. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:11.840 And that is not to say that everybody who lived in Babylon was sinful any more than obviously to say everybody who lived in Jerusalem is righteous, right? 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:23.919 If Jerusalem stands for the city of peace and where God will put his name, which it does, clearly in the Bible, everybody who lives in Jerusalem is not peaceful, nor is God's seal of approval on them. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:38.639 And so there's this dichotomy, there's this split in the Old Testament between the concept of Babylon as false worship and human ingenuity, and this concept of Jerusalem as the city of peace where God's name will be, and yet the people who live in those cities often don't match each other. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.639 And you see this right in the middle of the book of Daniel. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:52.879 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, he gets converted, whereas the Israelite king, who is taken by the Babylonians into captivity, he, as far as we know, dies as an apostate. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:00.400 And so there is this profound irony with Babylon, that there are those in Babylon who know more about Yahweh than those in Jerusalem. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:06.719 Nevertheless, Babylon stands throughout the Bible as a picture of false religion. 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:21.120 The original Tower of Babel was designed to escape God and intimidate others, to avoid judgment by man's effort, to fulfill what the serpent offered Eve in the garden to be like God. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.520 That's what Babylon represented. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:30.639 In Genesis 11, it was an actual city with an empire and a government and taxes and all that. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.680 It had religion, it had commerce, and it becomes the foundation. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:40.879 When God strikes a Tower of Babel and scatters people around the world, the foundation for all false religions are traced back to Babel. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:44.800 Every false religion in the world has its roots going back to Babel. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.479 Every other false religion sees its origins in the Tower of Babel. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.800 And God crushed it and scattered it. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.120 He sent that poison all around the globe. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:04:03.360 And he does this, of course, so that he can isolate Israel, and so the gospel and the Messiah can grow up protected by scattering the false religions around the world. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:11.439 There was supposed to be a difference that the Savior would come to Abraham and his descendants, and so they had to be isolated. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.720 Babel grows and prospers around the world. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.560 The Babylonians, when the Babylonian Empire came, they kept the name of the tower. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:21.839 They kept the name of the city. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:29.279 They named their empire, the Babylonian Empire, after the city there, capital city, Babylon, which was of course where the Tower of Babel was. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.759 They kept their identity, they kept their paganism, this false worship. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:41.279 You see this with Nebuchadnezzar building the statue that ascends to heaven, you know, six stories tall. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:45.759 To give you a point of contrast here, our cross on our ceiling, which you can't see from here. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:50.639 You can see the support beams, but if you're outside, you can see the cross, it's six stories tall. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.439 That's what you're dealing with here with Nebuchadnezzar's statue. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.720 Commanding the people bow down and worship it. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:03.519 Of course, God had given Nebuchadnezzar a vision of the different empires of the world coming and going from the head of gold down to the feet. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:10.319 And of course, they were all going to be crushed by the rock of ages who would obliterate them as Christ's kingdom is the one that is established. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.040 Nebuchadnezzar initially did not believe that. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:16.319 Instead, he built his own statue and compelled people to worship it. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.160 That's the most brazen exchange. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:22.560 And nothing represents Babel or Babylon more than that exchange right there. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:31.600 Here's the rock of ages, the God of the world who offers salvation and forgiveness, put him aside and replace him with a man-made idol, a statue. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:34.959 Thinking that worshiping that statue can bring you closer to God. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:37.439 That's the most brazen of exchanges. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:41.279 You'll see Babylon throughout the scripture. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:43.759 The Bible ends in Babylon. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:48.160 Revelation 18, the Antichrist has set up his kingdom. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.879 And there's an element of that that's Rome. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:06:00.959 The concept of Rome, Peter calls Rome Babel or Babylon because of all the false worship that happens through the Roman religion. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:07.120 But here in the middle of the Bible, Daniel 5, you see the fall of Babylon. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:12.720 Again, it'll be reconstituted in the book of Revelation, that's Revelation 18, but for now, here becomes the fall of Babylon. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.560 It starts in verse 1. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:21.680 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:29.360 Now, what Daniel's readers would know, and you perhaps learned in world history, but maybe forgot. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:33.439 So I'll remind you, Belshazzar is new on the throne. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:35.920 There's been other kings since Nebuchadnezzar. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 We last saw Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.600 Nebuchadnezzar was the powerful king in Babylon. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:50.319 Babylon as a as a city had existed for centuries, you know, thousand plus years, really as a prosperous, significant city with its own king and rulers. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:56.000 But this this reign here, this kingdom Babylon here was the most powerful one they'd ever had, the one that conquered the Assyrians. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:58.800 Nebuchadnezzar was their strongest king they had ever had. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:03.839 He's the one that went to range and grazed in the field for seven years where the Lord humbled him. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:04.720 Now he's gone. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:05.439 He's died. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:10.720 His son-in-law, named Evil Murdoch, again, not making these names up. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:16.000 You have Nimrod founding Babylon, and now Evil Murdoch reigning over it. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:18.000 I don't know where he got that name. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:19.680 Maybe not when he was born. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:20.319 I don't know. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:22.639 That would be a mom who is angry. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.199 What should we call him? 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:26.000 Evil. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:28.639 Evil Murdoch. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:30.160 He had reigned for a while. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:34.240 He was murdered, taken out of the equation. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.519 Then another king reigned, and then he left. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:41.600 Nebuchadnezzar's son-in-law was on the throne. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:43.519 And now Belshazzar. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.639 I don't really understand how Belshazzar is related to Nebuchadnezzar. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:49.120 I don't know if it was by marriage or one of his many wives. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:51.519 It's history is not very clear on that. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:58.720 But the king who was in charge was a relative of Nebuchadnezzar, and he abdicates the throne. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.439 He takes an army out to go fight the Persians. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:03.680 The Persians were storming against Babylon. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:05.519 They were trying to take down the Babylonian Empire. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:08.639 Babylonian Empire had fought off many such invasions before. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.439 I mean, it was the largest empire in the world. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:13.600 They had conquered Israel. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.439 The Babylonian Empire grew by conquering other smaller empires. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:20.639 The way the Persian Empire grew was not in the same way. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.319 The Persian Empire did not grow by conquering little pieces of the pie here and there. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.519 The Persian Empire grew by going right after Babylon. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:28.959 Bring it down. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:32.000 And that's what's happening here. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:40.559 The king who was on the throne, the leader of Babylon, took the army to go out and scatter the Persians. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:41.200 That was his goal. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:41.919 So he had left. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.840 Babylon is left here without the army. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:49.600 The army left maybe three or four days before this exchange that we read about in Daniel chapter 5. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.240 The army has gone to fight the Persians and get them away. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.879 In Babylon, you could see the Persians moving around. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:56.639 You didn't know which side they were going to attack. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:01.759 Babylon was a massive city with massive walls, a river that fed the cities, the Euphrates River. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:02.879 It had a water supply. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:04.879 It's not the kind of city you could make a siege on. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:10.159 A smaller city, you would just surround it, keep out the food, and starve the people out. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.639 That's how Israel fell, if you remember that. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:14.639 Babylon was too big for that. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:15.759 It had its own commerce. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:16.799 It could grow its own food. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:17.840 It had massive walls. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:20.240 You couldn't do a siege of Babylon. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:24.080 Instead, you would have to breach it or get into it somehow. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:27.600 And they thought they were invincible, and that's why they sent their army out. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:30.480 You don't need an army if people can't get inside your city. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:32.240 So they sent their army out to the Persians. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.240 They didn't know how many Persians there were. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:40.720 Now, what we know from secular history is that the Persian army caught the Babylonian army. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.360 The Babylonian army went out over the hills, didn't realize that they were outnumbered. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.320 They mostly surrendered, and the Persians had won the battle. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.600 That's all happening when chapter 5, verse 1 is written. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:55.759 Belshazzar, who's the second in command, assumes the title of king. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.840 Historians call him king because the real king was out with the army. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:03.440 He's doing a feast. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.519 He doesn't know that the real king has already surrendered. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.480 He doesn't know at this point his army has already lost. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:12.480 He knows the Persians are out there. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.000 He doesn't know how close. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.559 And he doesn't know that it's already over. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:19.360 So what does he do? 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:21.440 He throws a party. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:22.960 Look at verse 2. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:34.000 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, and it just means someone before him on the throne, I don't think it was his actual father, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:39.120 He commanded they be brought, that the king and his lords and his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:43.200 And they brought him the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.240 The kings and his lords, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:52.559 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver and of bronze and of iron and of wood and of stone. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:55.840 Nothing is more Babylonian than this exchange right here. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:04.799 This festival is done for arrogant boasting, sheer pride on display? 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:08.000 I mean, just imagine the arrogance that's at play here. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.759 Babylon is a place where the emperors are worshipped as gods. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:14.480 The emperors are perceived as if they were gods. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.480 So he feels like he's invincible. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:22.080 And if you are one God kind of in a spitting contest with another god, that's the way they viewed this. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:31.360 What better way to demonstrate your superiority here than take that other god's vessels and drink wine out of them in your own debauched party? 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:40.799 I watched the highlight of the uh Patriots game last week. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:42.960 I don't know if it's I don't even remember if they won or not. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:43.759 Do they win? 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:45.440 Who knows? 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:52.720 Anyway, what I do remember about the game is that their owner was wearing Super Bowl rings as cufflinks. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:55.919 How insane is that? 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:02.080 He has Super Bowl rings are so extravagant, are so you know ubiquitous for him. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.879 He's got them laying around, he's wearing them as cufflinks. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:06.799 That is insane. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.919 Notice what Belshazzar is doing here. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:25.440 He brings out the golds that were conquered from the Jewish temple, from Yahweh's temple, and he does a party by drinking wine out of Yahweh's gold while commanding everybody, look at the end of verse 4, to worship the gods of gold. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:28.720 That lets you know what he thinks about Yahweh. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:33.519 By the way, the vessels from Yahweh's temple were not glasses designed for drinking wine out of. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:35.440 They're like candle snuffers. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:36.559 They're shovels. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:44.240 There's a golden shovel, and then a connection, a collection of candle snuffers is the word, is the thing you put over the flame. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:55.360 And then a collection of basins that you would mix the fat of the animals in with fire, smear it around, burn the fat off, and have ash, and then the the incense thing you could swirl around. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:56.879 Those are the vessels from the temple. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.240 He's filling them with wine. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:59.759 And what does he put in it? 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:01.519 How do you put wine in an incense burner? 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:02.799 Does it spray out everywhere? 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:03.840 Probably. 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:05.200 In a shovel? 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.480 He's drinking wine out of a golden shovel from the temple. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.480 I mean, do you see his boasting here towards God? 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:14.879 How strong is Yahweh? 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:15.279 I don't know. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:19.519 Let me take his golden shovel from his temple and drink wine out of that. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:29.759 Now remember that God had already declared to Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom would fall and it would be over. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.799 Belshazzar either doesn't know that story. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.759 Belshazzar didn't read Daniel 4, obviously. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:38.960 Or maybe it's gotten to him. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:39.519 He doesn't care. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:41.600 He doesn't know that his army is already lost. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.759 He doesn't know that he's the one in charge because the one above him has already been captured. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.120 He doesn't know any of this. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.600 He's just drinking gold in this drunken party. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:53.919 The date of this, by the way, if you're into history, October 16th, 539. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:04.879 They didn't use our Julian calendar, of course, but if you take their the calendar that they did use and extrapolate it to ours, this event happens October 16th, 539 BC. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.120 Belshazzar is parting with the gold. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:17.440 Verse 5, immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:18.960 Opposite the lampstand. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.919 This whole thing has been uncovered by archaeologists. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.120 The room is big enough for lots of people to be in it. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:26.720 The throne is a throne room. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:28.159 The throne's on one side. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:29.919 Would have been lit across him. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.559 The idea here is that the king would be the only one facing the crowd as he's drinking from all these golden things. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:36.559 He's designing to keep the spirits up of everybody. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:37.360 You know, we're going to win. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:38.159 Of course we're going to win. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:39.440 We're the strongest gods in the world. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.200 There's no gods like our gods, kind of. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:46.080 You know, they sing that song to themselves as they're drinking gold from Yahweh's wine from Yahweh's temple. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:55.840 And at the back wall, which only Belshazzar could see, a hand appears, almost as if it's reached through the door, and it writes on the wall, verse 5 says. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:54.080 And it's, I don't know, harder than you would think, and we'll talk about that in a second why that is. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:16:00.399 But he summons them all in and says, I'll give you all these awards, I'll give you gold, I'll make you the third ruler in the kingdom, he says in verse 7. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:02.799 Because remember, he thinks he's a second ruler. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.440 So be under me, prime minister, so to speak. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.000 Verse 8. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.080 All the king's wise men came in, they couldn't read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.080 So King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:13.759 His color changed again. 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:16.480 He was pale before, now he's translucent. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:18.960 His lords were perplexed. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:22.480 The queen, because of the words of the king and of the lords, came into the banqueting hall. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.240 The queen declared, Oh, King, Lephore, and this is the queen mother, is what the word for this is. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:28.240 She's not Belshazzar's wife. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:32.480 She's maybe perhaps even his mother, her mother-in-law. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.039 She comes in and says, Don't panic. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:36.240 Get your color back. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:17:03.840 Verse 11 There's a man in your kingdom to whom the spirit of the holy gods, in the days of your father, which again that doesn't mean biological father, the one who is before you, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him, King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, and your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, the astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, solve problems, were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belshazzar. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:06.240 Very similar to Belshazzar's name. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.599 Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:12.240 Notice that this Queen Mother respects Daniel. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:14.559 She's using his Jewish name. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.599 And she's saying, Everybody knows this. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:18.640 Call him. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.440 But the king, Belshazzar, does not respect Daniel. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:27.839 I mean, how could he when he's drinking with implements from Yahweh's temple? 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:30.160 Daniel's brought in before the king, verse 13. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:34.000 The king answered and said to Daniel, You are that Daniel. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:36.799 I mean, just notice the derogatory tone in his voice. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.319 You're that Daniel. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:41.680 Would have thought you'd been taller. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:47.519 You're that Daniel of whom I've heard that you have the spirit from my father. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:51.119 Notice this language, verse 13, that my father brought from Judah. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:52.960 In other words, you're the captive. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.079 You're nothing but a prisoner. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.640 I've heard of you. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:00.160 Notice that he doesn't believe it. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:02.880 I've just heard the spirit of the gods is in you. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:08.799 And again, every chance he's taken to take a shot at the true God, Yahweh, he's taking advantage of. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.119 Every opportunity to put Daniel in his place is doing. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.759 Well, I've heard that you have a spirit of some of the gods. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.559 And that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.799 Again, he's saying, I heard this, not that he believes it. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:26.240 Now the wise men, the enchanters had brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, they could not show the interpretation or the matter. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.759 But I've heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.519 Again, notice I've heard. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:39.920 Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple, have a chain of gold around your neck, and then you shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:42.319 This is designed to intimidate Daniel. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:48.400 Look how big and strong I am, look how weak you are, how your God, I'm drinking wine from his implements. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.880 I mean, you are nothing, Daniel, but if you can do this, you can be a little bit less than me. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.039 Daniel, at this point, think of what he's been through. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.599 There's been a fiery furnace involved. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:00.960 Okay? 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:04.160 I mean, Daniel's not afraid of this. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:05.839 How do you intimidate Daniel? 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:06.799 He's at the end of his life. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:08.240 I mean, he's he's old. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:13.599 Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be for yourself. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:15.039 Wow. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.480 I don't think Belshazzar has been talked to you like that before. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:20.079 Let your gifts be for yourself. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.240 Give your awards to someone else. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.519 Nevertheless, I'll read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:30.160 But not first without a sermon. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:35.920 O king, the most high God, not gods, take that back. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:41.599 The most high God, he says, gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:42.720 Now those are fighting words. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:46.640 He's telling Belshazzar, how did your father become king? 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.960 My God made him king. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:54.240 This is Jesus telling Pilate, hey, you have no power unless my God gives it to you. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:54.720 Okay? 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.119 So don't threaten me with crucifixion. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:58.960 Who do you think gets your power? 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:06.079 Because of the greatness, verse 19, that he gave him, all peoples, nations, languages trembled and feared before him. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.799 Whom he would, he killed, whom he would he kept alive, whom he would he raised up, whom he would, he humbled. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.759 At the end of the night, we'll read Nebuchadnezzar's own words about his conversion. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:24.880 But what Daniel's doing here, he's taking Nebuchadnezzar's description of God and applying it back to Nebuchadnezzar, demonstrating God has all power and gave some of it to Nebuchadnezzar. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:26.000 Verse 20. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:38.000 He was brought down from his kingly throne, his glory was taken from him, he was driven from among the children of mankind, his mind was made like that of a beast. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.759 Lycanthropy is the word. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.519 He went out and grazed with the cow. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:42.640 He thought it was a cow. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.480 And his dwelling was with wild donkeys, he was fed grass like an ox. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:54.880 His body was wet with the dew of heaven until he knew that the most high God rules the kingdom of mankind, sets over it whom he will. 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:58.000 I mean, look what he's doing to this king. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.680 You paraded me in here to read something for you while making fun of my God. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:04.000 Let me tell you about where your power comes from. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:08.160 At least your dad knew who the true God was. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:15.359 In verse 22, and you, his son, and again, I don't think it's the word for son here, I think it's successor is the better word. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:17.119 If you have the SV, that's what it's footnoted there. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:20.799 Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:22.960 Don't play this whole I've heard, I've heard, I've heard. 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.559 You know this, Daniel's saying. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:30.400 But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven, the vessels of his house, you brought him in before you. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:34.559 You and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, you've drunk wine from them. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:44.319 You have praised the gods of silver and gold and bronze and iron and wood and stone, which do not see, by the way, or hear, or know. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:51.920 But the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways you have not honored. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:52.559 Notice the contrast. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.279 You're worshiping the gods of gold, silver, and stone. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:57.119 They don't exist. 00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:02.319 Find a rock, it doesn't have Eyes and it doesn't give you power. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:03.920 What a contrast. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:09.039 You're getting drunk out of wine from the true God of heaven, from what belongs to him. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:13.359 Then from his presence the sand was sent, Daniel says, verse 24. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:15.440 This writing was inscribed. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:18.079 This is the writing that was inscribed. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:20.079 Many, many tekal and parson. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:22.319 This is the interpretation of the manner. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.960 Many, God is numbered, the days of your kingdom brought to an end. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.279 Tekel, you've been weighed, and the balance is found wanting. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:30.319 Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.000 We'll get back to that paragraph in a second. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.079 Then Belshazzar gave the command. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:35.839 Daniel was clothed with purple. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:37.920 A chain of gold was put around his neck. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:41.680 A proclamation was made about him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.039 Very next verse. 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.039 That night Belshazzar the Chaldean was killed. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:52.000 So his reign as the prime minister lasted approximately 15 minutes. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:57.519 Darius the Mead received the kingdom being 62 years old. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:58.480 The Persians won. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:02.480 Now, you know from history the Persians did this by they had damned the Euphrates. 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.079 They had built a blockade that blocked the water. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.200 And the Babylonians did not anticipate this. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:10.880 They didn't see this coming. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:14.000 They blocked the river and they did it instantly. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:19.599 They had a way to, they obviously built this contraption to put down into the river and block the water at once. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:21.680 They couldn't last forever because the water would build up. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:22.880 So they blocked the water. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.400 The river turns into mud. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:30.319 They could then infiltrate the city through the city, the series of canals and tunnels that brought the water into Babylon. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:31.759 These are unguarded. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:32.880 There's no army there. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:34.880 The whole thing was over in a moment. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.960 And this had to have already been happening while the handwriting was on the wall. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:41.039 That's where we get the expression, the writing is on the wall. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.440 I mean, this your fate has been sealed. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:45.039 It's already done. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:47.039 And you're boasting. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:50.000 Now back to the key paragraph here. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:53.920 I'm going to give you an outline to take notes on. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.759 That all was introduction for this point. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:02.000 Three obvious truths that the blind can't see. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:09.359 All of the wise men can't read them. 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:16.559 And it's not because they're written in some kind of invisible ink that you have to have the right decoder glasses on to read. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.200 There's three words written on the wall. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.359 And they cannot read them. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:23.680 They're blinded by their own sin. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:30.480 They don't have the spiritual insight to know what these words are. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:37.359 What a picture of depravity, though in your own drunkenness, your own love for sin, you can't see God's clear revelation. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:38.960 God's giving revelation. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:42.400 He's literally writing it on the wall. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:46.000 And they cannot perceive it because their hearts are darkened. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:52.079 Now, like Hebrew, Aramaic can be written without vowels. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:54.880 These words have three consonants. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:58.480 And if you're familiar at all with Hebrew, you know this. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:06.319 You can, you know, even street signs or Hebrew newspapers today don't have the vowels, vowels in Hebrew, you know, subscript. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.039 So you can write Hebrew without the vowels. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.400 And it's actually not that hard. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.240 You can write English without the vowels, too. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.599 The key to understanding that is context. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:21.119 If you know what the sentence is saying, you've got some context around you, you can figure out what the word should be. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:25.200 Well, three words written on the wall, you could say it's lacking context. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:27.119 And so that's why it becomes difficult. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:28.720 We know what the words are. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:36.319 Now, here's this might be boring for some of you, but if some of you have taken a Hebrew class or two, you might be interested in this, and that's why I'm sharing it with you. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.079 The words change meaning depending on what vowels you give them. 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:47.680 And so there's three different ways these three words could be pronounced, which means there's three different ways they could be interpreted. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:49.200 Let me give you all three. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:52.880 The obvious way you would read these on the wall is about money. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.440 Mina, shekel, and a half. 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:57.759 Or Mina, Mina, shekel and a half. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:00.480 So, mean a unit of money? 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:03.920 Shekel, a half unit of that, shekel's smaller. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.119 It'd be like a ton, a hundred pounds, and half of that. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:09.839 Ton, a hundred pounds, and a dollar, that kind of thing. 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:10.960 It's units of money. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.640 Mina, meena, shekel and half. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:14.319 You could see why the king would be confused. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:16.000 What does that mean? 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:20.559 But if you put different vowel markings on them, it becomes these three words. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:23.119 Appointed, weighed, and judged. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:25.039 Appointed, weighed, and judged. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.519 Also not very helpful for the king. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:34.160 The third way you can mark these, they become puns and they become funny. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:36.960 They become God making fun of the king. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:38.720 You could render them this way. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.799 He pays you're too light and Persia. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:44.400 See where that's funny? 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:45.920 Who do they lose to? 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:47.680