The 7^th Sunday After Epiphany

SERMON

Text: Daniel 5:17-30

Then Daniel answered; and said before the king, "Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses. But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house 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, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written. And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians." Then Belshazzar gave the command and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.

In Christ Jesus, to whom belongs all authority in heaven and on earth, dear fellow redeemed:

Eighty-three years ago, our world watched in amazement as the communists in St. Petersburg established the first atheistic state in history. With unparalleled ruthlessness, the communists under Joseph Stalin removed all opposition and attempted to eradicate religion, which they considered an opiate of the people. Ten years ago, to the amazement of the world, this communist state, which had created a totalitarian empire in much of Eurasia, disintegrated and ceased to exist. Religion, on the other hand, is now thriving in the former Soviet Union.

Can we read the writing on the walls of history, or are we doomed to repeat the foolishness of the past? Twenty-five hundred years ago, our Bible tell us, God taught Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king of his day, an important lesson. His successor to the throne did not learn that lesson and suffered the consequences. The leaders of the Soviet Union did not learn that lesson and suffered the consequences. Have we learned the lesson? The lesson is that THE MOST HIGH GOD RULES IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN! Our God created this universe and still controls it! That truth should serve both as a warning and a comfort. Individuals and nations have rejected this truth down through the centuries and have suffered God’s judgment. Other individuals and nations at times have recognized this truth and enjoyed God’s blessing. This morning let us examine the lives of two men—Belshazzar, King of ancient Chaldea, and Daniel, a prophet of God. May we profit from their examples and be led to glorify our Savior God with our lives!

I.

We see, first of all, that Belshazzar despised God and received His judgment! The year was 539 BC. The ancient Chaldean Empire was about to fall, as the combined forces of the Medes and the Persians were pressing in on Babylon from all sides. Belshazzar, a successor and possible descendant of the great King Nebuchadnezzar, had called together 1,000 of his highest nobles to a strategy banquet, no doubt to determine how best to defend their kingdom. During the course of his banquet, Belshazzar called for the gold and silver vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from God’s temple almost fifty years before. These precious vessels, which at one time had been dedicated to the service of God within His holy temple, Belshazzar now used as drinking vessels for his lord, his wives, and his concubines as they toasted their idols and appealed to those idols for help.

It was in the midst of this situation that a frightening thing occurred. Out of nowhere the fingers of a great hand were seen carving a message on the stone walls of the banquet hall. The words were strange words—MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Their meaning was unknown to Belshazzar and indecipherable to his astrologers and soothsayers. They had a profound effect upon the king, however, as we are told that, “the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other” (Daniel 5:6). He was literally shaking in his boots! At this point Belshazzar’s queen suggested the he seek the help of a wise, old man—a man who had served the former Nebuchadnezzar, a man, she said, “in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God” and in whom was “the wisdom of the gods” (Daniel 5:11). That man was Daniel, who at this point was probably over ninety years old.

Belshazzar called Daniel and promised him great rewards if only he would interpret the message on the wall. Daniel, uninterested in honor or reward, informed Belshazzar that he would indeed interpret the message, but before doing so he stated the reason why the message had come. He reminded Belshazzar of an incident in Nebuchadnezzar’s life, an incident of which Belshazzar was well aware. It involved Nebuchadnezzar pridefully claiming that all of the glory and honor he possessed were of his own doing, rather than the blessing and gift of God. Because of this God had taken Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom away from him for a time, causing him to lose his mind and become like an ox in the field. It was not until Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the truth that THE MOST HIGH GOD RULES IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN, that God relented and restored the kingdom to him. From that point on, we are told, Nebuchadnezzar recognized the sovereign control of God and honored Him as “the King of Heaven” (Daniel 4:37).

Belshazzar’s great sin, Daniel stated was, “You…have not humbled your heart although you knew of this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven!” Note, in particular, that Belshazzar refused to humble himself in spite of prior knowledge of God’s omnipotence, and, furthermore he chose willingly to defy and despise God by using His vessels in worship of idols. In view of this open defiance and intention to sin, God administered His judgment all too swiftly. Daniel pointed out—MENE, MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it! TEKEL: God has weighed you in the balances, and found you wanting! PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and is given to the Medes and Persians! Belshazzar, who should have been moved to complete repentance and utter submission to God, mockingly presented his rewards to Daniel and proceeded with his banquet. Later that night he was put to death by invading enemies!

My dear friends, what can we learn from this sad example of Belshazzar? Let it be said from the very start that Belshazzar was a gross unbeliever, while you and I confess faith in our Savior God. Any comparisons, therefore, must be carefully made and any conclusions must be carefully drawn. However, there is one appropriate lesson I would like to share with you today. May we learn from the example of Belshazzar, that we ought never defy our God with behavior we know to be wrong! The Bible refers to such attitudes and actions as "presumptuous" sins—sins in which you or I, knowing better, presume to act contrary to God as if we are no longer subject to him, but rather His will must be subject to ours! Moses told the children of Israel, “The person who does anything presumptuously…that one brings reproach on the LORD….Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him” (Numbers 15:30-31). The writers of our New Testament reaffirm the seriousness of this situation and connect such attitudes and defiant actions with the possible hardening of the heart. They warn us that such attitudes can lead to ongoing impenitence and ultimately to eternal damnation.

How might this happen in our lives? I believe that it can happen all too easily, if we allow ourselves to take a casual view towards sin. From the beginning, let us understand that we are not talking about sins of weakness. We all sin frequently in weakness and need daily to repent of those sins. If, however, we know that God forbids something, and we still deliberately defy God’s will by doing it, we are in great danger spiritually. We are, in effect joining Belshazzar in saying, "You, God, do not rule me! I will do what I want to do!" Ultimately, and perhaps unknowingly, we do at those times combine such sins with the grave sin of idolatry. For instance, God forbids drunkenness, but I decide I do not care what God says, for I plan to go out with my friends and get totally plastered anyway! Is not such an attitude presumptuous—a denial of God’s authority in my life and an elevation of my own desires and my peers to the position of God in my life? Consider the casual attitude our society over against pre-marital sex and cohabitation. God’s will is very clear in these matters, and I might add His will has been given expressly for our good. Yet, we find so many confessing Christians, who although they know better, defy God in these matters, thus elevating their lust above God’s will and their lover as an idol above God Himself. Consider further the matter of divorce. God’s will again is clear. We are not to separate what God has joined together, with two exceptions—marital infidelity and physical desertion. Yet, individuals knowing this still defy God and seek divorces. In so doing, they place their own desires above God’s will and fail to trust God to help them resolve the issues confronting their marriage.

My dear friends, let us learn that to despise God’s rule in our lives is to invite His judgment! Sin is extremely dangerous and should never to taken lightly. Remember, the temptations leading to sin are merely the bait, while the angler is Satan himself, who is determined to destroy our souls!

II.

May we rather join Daniel who glorified God and received His blessing! I do not intend to say much concerning Daniel this morning. He was a righteous and godly man. He recognized that he was a sinner, as his revealing confession in Daniel 9 illustrates, but he placed his trust in His God and His Savior, a Savior about whom Daniel himself had prophesied.

Daniel, by the grace of God, glorified God at every stage of his life. As a teenager, Daniel glorified God when he refused to compromise God’s Word and eat food forbidden by Old Testament law. For this he was blessed. We are told concerning him and his three friends, “In all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm” (Daniel 1:20). As a career diplomat at the height of his career, Daniel risked all to glorify God by praying to him even when forbidden to do so. God blessed him by closing the mouths of the lions when he was thrown into their den. In our text, as an old man, by deferring Belshazzar’s gifts and honors, Daniel glorified God by placing his entire trust in Him and stating clearly in spite of any danger exactly what God was planning to do. For this God blessed Daniel. We are not talking about the trinkets Belshazzar bestowed upon him. No, Daniel was blessed with continued health and service to a new king, Cyrus, whom God had destined to help His people return to the land of Palestine.

My dear friends, THE MOST HIGH GOD RULES IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN! Let us recognize that truth and glorify our God in our lives. Then we will enjoy His blessings! Amen!

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting)