5:1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.
2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father1 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. 3 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. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5 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. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared2 to the wise men of Babylon, “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.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.
10 The queen,3 because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. 11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.4 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, 12 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.”
Daniel Interprets the Handwriting
13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. 14 I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods5 is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. 15 Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. 16 But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. 18 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. 19 And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. 20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. 21 He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. 22 And you his son,6 Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered7 the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL, you have been weighed8 in the balances and found wanting; 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”9
29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 10 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Footnotes
[1]5:2Or predecessor; also verses 11, 13, 18 [2]5:7Aramaic answered and said; also verse 10 [3]5:10Or queen mother; twice in this verse [4]5:11Or Spirit of the holy God [5]5:14Or Spirit of God [6]5:22Or successor [7]5:26Mene sounds like the Aramaic for numbered [8]5:27Tekel sounds like the Aramaic for weighed [9]5:28Peres (the singular of Parsin) sounds like the Aramaic for divided and for Persia [10]5:31Ch 6:1 in Aramaic
5:1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.
2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father1 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. 3 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. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5 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. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared2 to the wise men of Babylon, “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.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.
10 The queen,3 because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. 11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.4 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, 12 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.”
Daniel Interprets the Handwriting
13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. 14 I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods5 is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. 15 Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. 16 But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. 18 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. 19 And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. 20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. 21 He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. 22 And you his son,6 Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered7 the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL, you have been weighed8 in the balances and found wanting; 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”9
29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 10 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Footnotes
[1]5:2Or predecessor; also verses 11, 13, 18 [2]5:7Aramaic answered and said; also verse 10 [3]5:10Or queen mother; twice in this verse [4]5:11Or Spirit of the holy God [5]5:14Or Spirit of God [6]5:22Or successor [7]5:26Mene sounds like the Aramaic for numbered [8]5:27Tekel sounds like the Aramaic for weighed [9]5:28Peres (the singular of Parsin) sounds like the Aramaic for divided and for Persia [10]5:31Ch 6:1 in Aramaic
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you all would open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 5. Daniel chapter 5. And you're in for a treat. I actually don't have any notes, so we're gonna see where the Lord takes us on this one. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a 1,000 of his lords and drank wine in front of a 1,000.
Jeffrey Heine:
Belshazzar, when he 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. Immediately, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand.
Jeffrey Heine:
And the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, 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 3rd ruler in the kingdom.
Jeffrey Heine:
Then all the king's wise men came in, but they cannot read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. And King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, oh, king, live forever. Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
Jeffrey Heine:
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. Then Daniel was brought in before the king.
Jeffrey Heine:
The king answered and said to Daniel, you are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they cannot show the interpretation of the matter. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the 3rd ruler in the kingdom.
Jeffrey Heine:
Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. Oh, king, the most high god gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed.
Jeffrey Heine:
And whom he would, he kept alive. Whom he would, he raised up. And whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys.
Jeffrey Heine:
He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the most high God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know. But the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways you have not honored.
Jeffrey Heine:
Then from His presence, the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed, Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parson. This is the interpretation of the matter. Mene. God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
Jeffrey Heine:
Tekel. You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple. A chain of gold was put around his neck, and proclamation was made about him that he should be the 3rd ruler in the kingdom.
Jeffrey Heine:
That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean, was killed, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years old. Pray with me. God, in this moment, I pray that You would give me clarity as we work through this text. We are so privileged and humble that we get to sit before Your Word. Lord, now through Your Spirit, write those words on our hearts, producing us life and joy, sorrow over sin, and a heart to repent.
Jeffrey Heine:
Come do that spirit. May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:
We're talking to one of our children who will remain nameless, the one it is. And, every time Lauren takes them to school, we have 3 daughters, she teaches them a Bible verse, and she'd been teaching them Ephesians 42, which was about, being gentle and being kind, being patient. And, we were reminding our kids of that yesterday. Actually it was this morning, we were reminding them of that, and one of our children said, You know, I didn't want to say this mom, but it's really annoying when you do that. And I don't need it anyway.
Jeffrey Heine:
You're like, you you don't need to learn kindness? And she didn't see it. She she just didn't see it at all. And I feel like that's how some of us are when we approach these texts. We begin thinking it's for others.
Jeffrey Heine:
Last week, I talked to some people after, you know, we looked at Nebuchadnezzar's pride, and they were like, man, I really wish so and so was here to hear that. And I know you you were tempted to look at the person in the right and left, and I I really they need to be listening. This is for you. Okay? Listen carefully to this story.
Jeffrey Heine:
We we've been going through the book of Daniel. We started this series when we moved into this place, because it's a great time to remind ourselves of the vision of being the church of God. That we are called to be salt and light to a community around us. We're living in a society that's increasingly hostile to what we believe, one that's pluralistic, one that's just like the community, the city that Daniel and his friends were plopped in in Babylon. So how would they be salt and light to these people?
Jeffrey Heine:
The story here that we're gonna look at begins when Daniel was older. 1st chapter, we saw Daniel was a youth as he interpreted the dream for King Nebuchadnezzar. And then last week, we saw Daniel when he was in his prime, if you will. He was middle aged. And now Daniel is an old man.
Jeffrey Heine:
Nebuchadnezzar has been dead. Belshazzar is actually the great grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Even though it calls him his father, that's just a way of saying that he he is a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar. So it's been a long time, and Daniel's likely retired. He's somewhat out of the scene at this point.
Jeffrey Heine:
And Daniel chapter 5 begins with a party. Party is kind of an understatement. This this is a huge party here. Belshazzar, he brings in a 1,000 of his nobles. A 1,000 of the most powerful people in the land.
Jeffrey Heine:
He gets somewhat heavily intoxicated at this point. He has all of his wives there. He even brings in his concubines, which you read any commentator, and they'll tell you that this was highly unusual. That you would bring in all of your harem, all of your concubines. And what he's doing is, he is creating a very sensual, kinda outrageous party.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then he, on top of that, he's like, I'm gonna show off all my wealth. And so he starts bringing in all these articles of gold, even the gold they brought from the temple of Jerusalem. And he commits blasphemy at this point. Now, to really understand what's going on here, You you got to understand the context of this. This isn't just pride that's on display here.
Jeffrey Heine:
This isn't just Belshazzar being arrogant. What we have is the Persian Empire is right outside his front door, literally. The the Persian Empire has been battling against the Babylonians for the last two and a half years. 10 days earlier, they had just taken the city of Sedan, which was the 2nd largest city in Babylon. It's only 50 miles away.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now, they've already, for a couple of years, had part of their army laying siege to the great city of Babylon itself, but now that they had conquered the second most powerful city, they have sent all of their forces. So Babylon at the time of this party is literally surrounded by the Persian army that has just been conquering city after city after city, and the great city of Babylon is all that is left. Death is knocking on his door, and he's actually unaware of it. But at this time, the Persians had actually they they diverted the river Euphrates that went underneath the city. It went underneath the city walls, and they diverted it, and they lowered the the river down a little bit, and soldiers had already snuck in through the mud underneath the wall.
Jeffrey Heine:
So as he is giving this party, soldiers from Persia were already inside the walls about to storm the castle, the royal palace. It's important to understand this is what's happening. He knows death is at the door when he throws his party. This isn't just a party of him showing off. It's not showing off to others so much.
Jeffrey Heine:
What's really happening is, he's showing off to himself. Because when death is at the door, he wants to look at his life and say, my life had some meaning. There there was some purpose or was some value to my life. And so he looks back at the women that he's had, the pleasures that he's had, the wealth that he's been able to accumulate, and he puts it all on parade, the friends that he was able to make all over the empire. And so he puts it all in a room, and he's he's showing off to himself.
Jeffrey Heine:
Did did my life have any meaning? This is the accumulation of everything I've worked for right here. You could probably hear the city gates. Boom. Boom.
Jeffrey Heine:
As they were laying siege. You know, this is what what we do. We we respond in those few lucid moments, you know, when we actually think of death. We begin wondering what will how does our life have any meaning? Because we've been trying to attach meaning to so many different things.
Jeffrey Heine:
And the same things that Belshazzar attached meaning to, that said, this is why my life has meaning. We do the same thing. You look at the women or spouse. We looked at this when we talked about romantic apocalypticism. Great word.
Jeffrey Heine:
But how we we can think if we just could have the love of the of one significant other person, If we could just have their love, then that gives purpose to our lives. And of course, we're fed this every Hollywood movie. Alright? It's what it is. You know, you have a Tom Hanks, a Meg Ryan, they're adrift, they're a purpulous, they they have no meaning in their life, and then they get together and meaning, purpose, catnests, PETA, you know, no no I realized none of this was registering before your time.
Jeffrey Heine:
Alright? They they they get together, and now they have purpose, they have meaning. We do this with wealth or with power. Now none of you are so shallow as to say that. You know, I really try to find my identity through wealth and power.
Jeffrey Heine:
I know you you would not say that, but what consumes your thoughts? What consumes your time? Is it the accumulation of those things? Is it thinking how you can rise up the corporate ladder? You you see, Belshazzar, he gave himself to what I would call religiosity here, and he brought out all the religious things.
Jeffrey Heine:
He he made toast to all of His idols. And some of us try to find our identity in this religiosity, and I'm not talking about knowing and loving the God of the Bible. I'm talking about serving a God you've created in your mind, a God who thinks like you think, does what you want Him to do, never argues with you, never contradicts you, that's an idol. For a lot of us, our religiosity is really just karma. That's that's what we think it is.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know, we're gonna do our real good works, and in return we're gonna get some good works back. God, we're gonna scratch your back, and you're gonna scratch ours. And so you just hope at the end of your life, you've done enough. Good. So I do try to find meaning there.
Jeffrey Heine:
We do the same things. I'm reminded of, and I've quoted him too many times, but Ernest Becker, in the very summary of his book, The the very last line, he says, you know what? Some of us, we we drug ourselves out of awareness, or we go shopping, which is the same thing. All in an attempt to deny our death. Persia is knocking on the door.
Jeffrey Heine:
It was at this time at the as he's showing off to Himself and He's showing off to others that He commits this this blasphemous action. And He, He actually uses these holy articles from the temple, and He raises up a toast to his gods. Basically spitting at Yahweh. And at that moment, fingers appear, and they begin writing on the wall. And and Belshazzar, as he looks at this, you know, his color changes in his face.
Jeffrey Heine:
It says that his knees trembled. If you look at the exact words there when he sees it, In verse 6, it says, Then the king's color changed and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way, and his knees knot together. Literally, his limbs gave way, or his knots were undone, or his bowels were released. The scene scared the mess out of him, is what it's saying.
Jeffrey Heine:
He was so scared. Now Persia knocking on the door didn't scare the mess out of him, but this did because he he realized in this moment, there's some there's something he's unaware of, some some power that he never really knew was there, and here he is, he's about to die, and he is scared senseless. And the queen somewhat mocks him, actually, says, well, I know somebody who can interpret that for you. He, solves riddles. That word solves riddles is the exact same phrase of, he undoes nots.
Jeffrey Heine:
He'll scare the mess out of you, but He'll come and He'll interpret this. And so they bring Daniel, and Daniel comes. He's, like I said before, he's likely been retired. The king has an obvious disdain for him. It's like, so are you this Daniel?
Jeffrey Heine:
1 of the exiles, one of the slaves that, my father brought out, of Judah? Basically says, you know, tell me. Go ahead. Tell me. If if you if you get it right, I'll give you the 3rd highest position in the land.
Jeffrey Heine:
3rd highest position. Let let me just take a a little aside here, because that 3rd highest thing just kind of piqued my interest. When I went to the University of Georgia, I took about 40 hours of religion, and basically, my religious professors, what they would love to do is basically pick up the Bible, rip it in half, and just say, it's useless when it comes to history. Every Easter, we're gonna get the same things. You know, you're gonna have Newsweek, whoever putting up some scholar, that says, you know, Jesus was married or, or or something along those lines and say that this is, this is what all the evidence points to.
Jeffrey Heine:
Well, the older commentators and the older scholar scholars, whenever they commented on this passage, they said, this is why you can't trust the Bible because there is no record ever of a Belshazzar outside of the bible. But there is plenty of records of Nabonidus, who was his, Nabonidus, who was the king of the Babylonians when the Persians came and conquered them. Nabonidus was king, not this made up Belshazzar. And so that's what what they all thought. This is a reason to throw out your Bibles.
Jeffrey Heine:
And until sometime fairly recently, they've discovered a number of inscriptions that mentioned Belshazzar. And what the inscriptions say is that Nabonidus went off 10 years earlier to go and live in Arabia, and in his stead, he left as an acting king his son Belshazzar to rule. And so what we have here, and you just see this when when he offers Daniel, you could be the 3rd highest ruler in the land and not the 2nd, when all the other times it's, I'll offer you the 2nd highest position in My kingdom. He's saying the 3rd because His Father is still alive. He's the 2nd person.
Jeffrey Heine:
He's the 2nd ruler in the land. All he can offer is the 3rd. And I just love, you know, shock that Daniel would actually know more about 6th century Babylon than some 20th century scholar. But it's true, and I want you to be able to trust your Bibles over and over again. The Bible proves itself right and historically accurate.
Jeffrey Heine:
And we see that here. Well, Daniel, when he does come, he interprets the words Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsons. Let's look at verse 26. Verse 24 says, then from His presence the hand was sent and the writing was ascribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parson.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is the interpretation of the matter. Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parson.
Jeffrey Heine:
Your days are numbered. It's repeated twice because it's an absolute certainty. Belteshazzar, with all your might and with all your power, you cannot you cannot extend your life a single hour. Does that does that sound familiar? Jesus said the same thing.
Jeffrey Heine:
He said, who of you by any of your anxiousness can extend the span of your life by even 1 hour? Psalm 139 says, the very days are numbered. They were written in a book before we were even born. There is a finite number of heartbeats every one of us has been given, and that will not change, and we are not in control. Tekel.
Jeffrey Heine:
You have been weighed and found wanting. Tekel could be written on the heart of every human. It is. You have been weighed and found wanting. There's a day when every person of your life.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he's gonna take your life, and he's gonna put it on the scales. He's gonna weigh you. He's gonna sift through that. And without Christ, you're all found lacking. You're all wanting.
Jeffrey Heine:
Everything you've put your hopes in, every good work you think you've done, all those things are sufficiently deficient, or wanting. If you really want to understand kind of what's going on here in this word tekel and really the fingers on the wall, you you have to go back to there's only one other time in scripture that fingers right on a wall. And that's when you go back to Exodus 31 at Mount Sinai. God has delivered the Israelites from slavery. He's He's taken them to Mount Sinai, this mountain, and it's here.
Jeffrey Heine:
He says, I am going to show you what I am like. I'm gonna show you who I am. I'm gonna show you what I am like, and also what I like. These are the things I like. This is my heart.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm gonna give you the law. And so Moses comes up there, and and God gives him the law of God, but He doesn't give it to him just orally. And He doesn't tell Moses to write it down. In Exodus 31, it says that God took the 2 tablets, and He wrote down the law with His finger, written by the finger of God. And so, Tekel here, when when the finger is writing on the wall, And and we see that God is saying, I have given the law.
Jeffrey Heine:
And if you hold up a mirror, the law, and you hold up the mirror of the law to yourself, you will see that you are deficient, you are lacking, You are wanting. You do not love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You do not love your neighbor as yourself. You can you commit idolatry. You you've committed murder and adultery, if not physically in your heart, you covet.
Jeffrey Heine:
The law that I've written you you are found wanting. The thing is, if if that rises into some objection, like, what are you talking about Belshazzar? He didn't have the law. He didn't know about Judaism. How can God judge him?
Jeffrey Heine:
Well, God still could use his law, which he should have known, but he also could judge him by his own words. He could judge Belshazzar by his own moral standards. Before I had kids, I would say these absolute statements. When I'm a parent now whatever is gonna come after that's a lie. You know, when when when I have kids, I'm never ever gonna let my kids tell me what they want to eat.
Jeffrey Heine:
They're gonna eat always what I put on the table, or they just don't eat. I mean, come on. I mean, so and you find yourself as a parent begging, please just eat this. We'll we'll butter it. We'll put sugar on it.
Jeffrey Heine:
Just please eat. If there was a tape recording of everything I'd ever said, at the end of my life, if somebody were to press play, I would melt because I have failed my own moral standards repeatedly. I hate gossiping, yet I have talked behind people's backs. I hate liars, yet I have lied. Repeatedly, I have broken my own moral standards.
Jeffrey Heine:
God doesn't even need His law. He could just use our own words. The other day, it was actually last Saturday, I had somebody come up to me and they went, and they said, I need you in your front yard away from your wife and kids, which is always, you know, it's gonna be a really good good conversation. Whatever whatever happens at this point is gonna be wonderful. And so I went out in the front yard, and for 30 minutes, I had the most angry man you could possibly imagine screaming in my face.
Jeffrey Heine:
Just screaming how much he hated me, He hated our church, for for these things that I hadn't done, or our church had not done. I literally had his spit going down my face. And as he is for 30 minutes, just screaming and telling me every evil thing under the sun, finally he says, you know, I hate this. I hate this neighborhood. I I hate I hate you for moving all these people in this neighborhood.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then he just said, you know, all of you are just judging people. He's like, I don't believe in judging people. He goes, I I I don't believe. He goes, you know, we should never be in anybody's business, and we should never judge one another. And I and I calmly, at this point, after just letting them vent for 30 minutes, I just said, what have you been doing for the last 30 minutes?
Jeffrey Heine:
Haven't you been judging me and my church? And he said, Well, I was just angry. He realized by his own words, by his own I didn't have to like let me tell you the 50 Bible verses that you're violating right now. I didn't have to do that. All I had to say is, your own words condemn you.
Jeffrey Heine:
Tekel is on all of our hearts. All of us are deficient. All of us are found wanting, and judgment awaits all of us. Our kingdom will be divided, the King we have worked so hard for. Well, what's the hope for us?
Jeffrey Heine:
God's saying repent here. If you just wanted to judge Belshazzar, no warning would have been given. There would have been no handwriting on the wall. He would just Persian army just showed up. But but he sends this warning.
Jeffrey Heine:
He sends Daniel because he's saying, repent. Your great grandfather repented. I'm pleading with you. Repent. Quit parading all of these things in front of you saying, I have meaning because of these things.
Jeffrey Heine:
These let that go. Repent. And that's the message for us. That repentance only comes through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our hope.
Jeffrey Heine:
There's only one other time in the Bible that we see the finger of God. Coincidentally, it's by Jesus. Let me come to Luke chapter 11, which is, right after chapter 10, in which Jesus has sent out all of His disciples, and they're healing people, they're restoring the blind, they're they're We don't we don't like it. You know, you're casting out demons. Why?
Jeffrey Heine:
I don't know. They just didn't. And He says, I tell you, the finger of God has come upon you. The finger of God is what's doing this. And because of that, you see His kingdom is being established.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's an obvious allusion to Daniel. Say, when the finger god of god first came, it came to point out sin. Here's the law. Finger of God shows up again to, to Belshazzar and says, and you broke it. And now the finger of God comes to deliver us from the power of sin and all the evil effects of the world.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jesus comes, and He saves us where we could not save ourselves. Listen, Belshazzar, he he was found wanting, but he was also found wanting. What everything that he ever thought he wanted was in that room. All of his friends, all of the women, all of the pleasures, all of his wealth, all of his religious fervor, and all of his idols, all in one room, he was still wanting. He still wanted more, because there is nothing in this world that can satisfy that whole that is in your heart.
Jeffrey Heine:
He was wanting, and he was wanting. Jesus has come to deliver us from the power of all those things, from the power of sin itself. And he says, repent. I'll give you new life. Would you come to me?
Jeffrey Heine:
And then God, he puts us on the scales again. When we trust Jesus, he puts us on the scales. And what we have is this great reversal, this beautiful exchange. We're no longer wanting because our sin and all of our deficiencies were placed on Christ, who wasn't wanting, who was perfect, but now it's placed on him, and now he's deficient. And his righteousness is placed on us, and now we are sufficient, and we are righteous.
Jeffrey Heine:
And the lesson that we pull from this is, if that's real to you, if that's real to you, your entire life should be different. I think Christians are pretty good at confessing sin, but sometimes I think we need to confess our righteousness. All the things that we parade before us, and we think that's why I'm somebody. That's why I'm a good person. That's why God loves me.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you say, none of that stands. We have to cling to Christ and Christ alone. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, I pray that You would take my mumblings and make them clear, that You would in this moment move in power. Lord, in a sense, every person here is a wall that You have written on.
Jeffrey Heine:
Every co worker that sees us, every neighbor that sees us, every person we come in contact, they're going to look at us, and what they should see is the finger of God. Not not in judgment, but the finger of God with the power to save. I pray that our lives will be a wall where that is displayed. That you would use us, that the finger of God would be present on us, and You would use us to change the people around us. Lord, in this moment, at this time, make your gospel real to us.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.