Pastor: Eugene P. Harder * Daniel 5 * 9\24\2000

How would you feel if you looked out in the field and there was your father on his hands and knees eating grass like an ox, his hair long, dirty and matted, his fingernails long like birds claws. You would say, "That's my dad, the builder of the great Babylonian Empire, the visionary for this magnificent wonder of our world."

What an embarrassing, painful shock that must have been to Nebuchadnezzar's son. "My daddy, the number one man, the most revered and feared man in the whole wide world has the heart of a beast (Daniel 4:16 )." If it had been me I would have asked, "What did my daddy do to deserve this big shake out?"

When Nebuchadnezzar's sanity returned he must have explained to his family how when he humbled himself and lifted up his head toward heaven, then Jehovah God restored him to his throne. We assume that Nebuchadnezzar completed his reign cured of the sin of pride and a worshipper of Daniel's God. You would think that the testimony of God's discipline would have made an indelible impression upon Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son.

But we see that daddy's revival became the son's rebellion. The reality is that Belshazzar the son did not learn from Daddy and as a result he compounded his father's sin which cost him his life. Belshazzar was full of the deadly cancer of arrogance and heading for life's big shake out..

Arrogance is that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree. It is proud contempt of others; lordliness; haughtiness; self-assumption and presumption.

While the Medo-Persian army surrounded Babylon, Belshazzar looked with smugness at the towering walls and the wide and deep mote that protected his city. There was no cause for alarm, the Euphrates River ran under those walls to furnish all the water they would ever need. There was a twenty year supply of food stored in huge granaries.

For over a thousand years no invader had been able to defeat the Babylonians and none would do so now. In his arrogance, Belshazzar was so certain that no army could breech those walls that he threw a wild party for a thousand people: The presence of wives and concubines tells us this was a sexual orgy.

As if that weren't enough, Belshazzar insulted Jehovah God by desecrating the sacred vessels, looted from the temple in Jerusalem 50 to 60 years ago. With these sacred vessels of gold he praised his own gods of silver and gold, of bronze and iron, wood and stone. Belshazzar got God's attention. Now it was God's turn to get the kings attention through a big Shake out.

During the party the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote four words on the wall of Belshazzar's giant banquet hall. Blood turned to ice in the reveller's veins. The kings knees began to knock and he collapsed.

Belshazzar promised the enchanter, astrologer and diviner purple clothing a gold chain placed around his neck, and the third highest position in the kingdom if they could give the meaning of the four words.. None of them had the foggiest notion what the message meant.
The queen remembered Daniel who by this time was about 85 years old. It had been 23 years since Nebuchadnezzar's death and Daniel, once highly regarded by the royal court had been retired. The Queen reminded the king that his father found Daniel to have insight, intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods and appointed Daniel chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners."

Daniel was brought before the king and told of the great rewards he would receive for correctly interrupting the writing on the wall. Daniel told the king to keep the rewards for himself and then told the king the meaning of the words. .

"O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendour. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled.

But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. "But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honour the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription." (Daniel 5:18-24 NIV)

Wow!! The world needs more men like Daniel whose calling is clear. Men who will not be deluded, detoured compromised nor marginalized. Men who won't flinch in the face of sacrifice nor hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, nor meander in the maze of mediocrity. In old age Daniel stood tall and couldn't be intimidated or impressed.

Next Daniel tells the King that he is in line for a big shake out. "This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. "This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." (Daniel 5:25-28 NIV)

The words are Aramaic, a well known language in Babylon. Everyone could read the words, but no one understood or did not want to accept their three fold message of the shake out.
First; Belshazzar, you are fired as the king.

Second; From God's perspective, your life is a hollow sham. All these party revellers may bow low before you, but in God's eyes you are a nothing. You have been weighed in God's scales and found wanting.
Third; Your kingdom has come to an end.

That three fold message should have caused Belshazzar to prostrate himself before God and ask Daniel how to call out for mercy. Belshazzar's response indicates the message went over his head.

"Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom." (Daniel 5:29 NIV) "Big deal," Daniel must have thought, "Everything ends tonight and not a peep of recognition of God's judgment from Belshazzar." Satan usually blinds us to life's impending shake out.

Belshazzar is typical of so many husbands. You can tell them that their wife is not happy and suggest a few minor changes that would improve the marriage significantly. Like Belshazzar, they hear the words but miss the message.

Belshazzar is also typical of many who heard that Jesus gives the gift of eternal life to all who receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. They don't understand that they have been weighed in God's scales and found wanting. For some reason, getting right with God is not a priority in their life. Then tragedy strikes and they are gone.

Why is Belshazzar unmoved at the prospect of his kingdom falling into the hands of the Medes and Persians? "That night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two." (Daniel 5:30-31 )

How did the Persian army get into the city? Ugbaru, also known as Gobryas, the ingenious commander of Cyrus' army, diverted water from the Euphrates River (which ran under the walls of Babylon) into a marsh. With the level of the water lowered, the soldiers were able to wade the river under the walls and enter the city.

God by mysterious handwriting and later by the mouth of his prophet. publicly evaluated Belshazzar's arrogant life. He weighed Belshazzar on the scales of righteousness and found nothing. God issued to Belshazzar the mother of all margin calls.

A margin call is what a investor gets when the value of the shares he bought on credit falls below his capital investment. God's margin calls can only be satisfied by the currency of God's righteousness.

The mother of all margin calls became the mother of all shake outs. Belshazzar's cup of iniquity was full and running over and he was bankrupt of the currency that impresses God. He was weighed in Gods scales and found wanting.

When we see trouble coming for a business, a person or a family we say, "The writings on the wall." What we mean by that phrase is that someone is headed for a big fall. Everyone can see the writing on the wall but the person who is headed for the big fall.

God said to Belshazzar, "You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting." I remember hearing those words preached and the profound impact they made on my life. Weighed on God's scales and found wanting. What a profound soul searching thought.

Once we've been found wanting, when will the Shake out begin and how severe will it be? Today I beg you to humble yourself before God, repent of your sin and maybe God will spare you one of life's big shake outs.

TLC Discussion Questions:

1. When you look at the graphic of the big man holding the little man upside down by his feet and shaking everything out of his pockets, does it remind you of a time when life did that to you?
2. Describe the difference between pride and arrogance.
3. Read Daniel 5:22-24 and share the evidences of Belshazzar's arrogance.
4. Read Daniel 5:25-28 and identify the three fold sentence God gave to Belshazzar.
5. Put the above sentence in the context of a person under God's judgment today. How might it read? Do you feel that you were ever under severe discipline from God? Would you care to share about it?
6. God uses the word picture of a scales. Explain how God and what God weighs. What is God looking for?
7. Have you ever seen the writing on the wall for yourself, a friend or a loved one? How were you alerted to that writing? How did you feel when the writing was ignored?