Belshazzar’s Last Feast (Daniel Sermon 8)

I. From Pride to Presumption

Turn to Daniel 5. We continue in our study in Daniel and we come to Belshazzar’s last feast. Now around this room, there are many timepieces, aren’t there? Some of you may even be checking them right now. There are many different ways to mark time, and we’re getting better and better at it. I saw an advertisement in a magazine which has a wristwatch, which automatically changes its time as you change time zones. I don’t know how that works, but it’s got some kind of a receiver within it, that takes data from an atomic clock somewhere, and wherever you are, you know exactly what time it is, you don’t have to fiddle anymore with adjusting, isn’t that incredible? We’re very conscious of time and interested in telling time. And so it has been really from the beginning of the world, since God created the sun, and the moon, and the stars to mark time and as we see the sun come up and set, we’re interested in the passing of time, so we see the moon’s wax and wane. We’re interested in the passing of time. Some of the earliest timepieces were water clocks. I was reading about one in Egypt, which had a certain rate that the water flowed out of a vessel and they were able to mark the time within a day that way, there was a remarkable water clock in China that lasted for over 100 years and kept very accurate time.

But we’re going to see that God’s ways of marking time are different than ours, although He has them and there is a timetable that God is keeping though we don’t know what it is. And God has given us insight into time, but His times are His own. Jesus was born in the fullness of time it says in Galatians 4:4, at just the right time in history. We know that today is given to us for a purpose, isn’t it? For repentance. Today is the day of salvation, that we might call on Jesus Christ, and be forgiven of our sins. That’s what today is for, for repentance and day passes upon day and time is marked. But in God’s time, the judgments come and at just the right time, they come. God gave a promise to Abraham that he would own the promised land in the future but not yet. And why? The sin of the Amorites had not yet reached its full measure. God had a certain measure and when the sin of the Amorites had reached that measure, judgment would come by the sword of Joshua and the invading armies, in the Book of Joshua but not yet. God has His timetable and so He had for the ancient empire of Babylon. There was a right time for judgment and until that time came judgment would not come, but when that time came, the judgment fell and nothing could stop it.

Now, about 60 or so years before the chapter we’re reading today, there was a strange ceremony carried on by a Jewish refugee, his name was Seraiah and Seraiah stood by the flowing river Euphrates, as it flowed through the center of Babylon, and he read a scroll in Hebrew, the scroll was written by a prophet, a Jewish prophet and it had some words in it. Now, I don’t know what went on when the scroll was read. I don’t know if the Babylonians were hurrying to their jobs, maybe some of them were late going to and fro but here was this group of refugees, standing by the river Babylon or the River Euphrates in the center of Babylon, and the scroll being read. And when the reading was finished, Seraiah wrapped it up and tied a stone to it and threw it into the center of the Euphrates River and there it sank. Ceremony was over. What did it mean?

Well, the meaning was contained in the words of the scroll. We’ll get to that. But some time later, the waters of the Euphrates River started to dwindle on one given night, got a little bit dryer. Dwindled down from a river, a mighty river to a stream, to a trickle and then it was dry, river bed just mud and there perhaps, 60 years later, the stone that had been thrown in by Seraiah was there. I’m sure the scroll and its string was disintegrated. That’s what time does. But maybe the rock was still there, testimony that the time had come for judgment. Babylon would fall that night.

And it just so happened while that river was dwindling down and running dry, there was a big party going on. We can relate to that, can’t we? We’re a partying people? We enjoy a good party. And Belshazzar was throwing the party, the feast. It would be his last, his last feast, but he was throwing a party. Fascinating. With judgment impending, they’re throwing a party and a feast. And so we’re going to look tonight or today at Belshazzar’s last feast, Daniel 5 and we’re going to see a specific and accurate fulfillment of prophecy that God had given through His prophet Jeremiah. We have up to this point in Daniel seen many prophecies laid out, which have not yet been fulfilled, haven’t we? Future prophecies that are going to be fulfilled at the second coming of Christ. But Daniel 5 is not of a future prophecy, but of a past prophecy and it’s fulfillment, the fall of Babylon. And we’re going to see how accurate it is.

II. Historical Context: Babylon After Nebuchadnezzar

Now, instead of reading through these verses all the way through and then going back and explaining them, I think we’re going to look at it section at a time, but before we do it, we’re going to get the historical context. What had gone on now is that Nebuchadnezzar has died. The head of gold, you remember the statue in chapter two. It was a statue, which represented the flow of human history and the top was a head of gold and according to Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar himself was that head of gold, he represented the Babylonian Empire. Well, Nebuchadnezzar has now died, we don’t know how he died. We don’t have any record of him being assassinated, perhaps he died through an illness, but he died 562 BC. In the words of David, he went the way of all the earth, the way of all potentates, all his power is gone and now he’s going to stand before the Judge. We pray that in Daniel 4, he came to repentance and came to faith in Christ, and we hope we see him in heaven but his time on earth has ended. Nebuchadnezzar’s successors however were not like Nebuchadnezzar. He was the head of gold, his successors were nothing like him.

There was incompetence, there was intrigue, there was idolatry, there was not strong leadership. His son Evil-Merodach or Amel-Marduk ruled for only nine years and then he was assassinated by one of the generals in the army, Neriglissar. Neriglissar assassinated Nebuchadnezzar’s son, and then took the throne. Eventually he died and his son was placed on the throne for nine months. There was a conspiracy and his son was assassinated. Just one toppling after another, it became very weak, very unstable.

Finally, the leader of the second conspiracy Nabonidus took the throne and ruled until the end of Babylon. Along with him he took a wife Nitocris who was a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, she was a direct daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and the two of them had a son and the son’s name was Belshazzar. And when Belshazzar was old enough Belshazzar became co-regent ruling together with his father Nabonidus. Now, going back in time, Jeremiah 27, you don’t have to turn there, but there’s a clear prophecy given about not only the fall of Babylon but when it would come. Jeremiah the prophet gathered a bunch of small kings including the king of Israel or Judah to him. This is before Nebuchadnezzar had conquered anything. He gathered all these kings together and said all of you kings are given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. This is what he says, “Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, I will make even the wild animals subject to him, all nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.”

Do you see the time table? Three generations. And in the third generation, his grandson, the end would come. Belshazzar was his grandson. The accuracy of prophecy, very clear how long it would last. And so, Belshazzar was ruling. Now around that time, the Medes and the Persians started getting powerful. Cyrus the Great became the leader of that budding empire. And he began to conquer. He began to ride out over Babylon and began to win victories and he defeated Nabonidus in a critical battle and Nabonidus fled to Borsippa where he was captured. Cyrus the Great then turned his attention on Babylon itself, the city of Babylon. The armies of Babylon had pulled back inside the walls of that fortress. Belshazzar was pretty much all that was left, but that city had never been conquered. In all the history of the military annals there’s never been a city like Babylon, a fortress it seemed unconquerable and so they pulled in and they thought it was time for a party. And so they threw a feast.

III. Belshazzar’s Defiant Feast (vs. 1-4)

Now, let’s look at verses one through four. “King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine he gave orders to bring in the gold and the silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.” Here, we see Belshazzar’s defiant feast. The historical context couldn’t be clearer, right at the walls of the city is the combined army of the Medes and the Persians, they’re right around the walls, they’re ready to conquer the city, but the Babylonians defy them with a feast, a celebration, a party, Belshazzar leading the way.

But not only do they defy the armies of the Medes and the Persians, they defied God Himself, God Almighty, the Creator of the ends of the earth by calling for the golden goblets and cups from His temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out. Nebuchadnezzar never did this but Belshazzar did and they took them out and they drank, they drank celebrations to gods of gold and silver, of bronze, of iron, wood and stone. Now, massive banquets are part of the ancient Near East tradition. It shouldn’t surprise us that everyone in Babylon was at a party. The ancient historian Ktesias said that Persian monarchs who came later frequently were known to dine daily with 15,000 people, that’s a big feast. Earlier the Assyrian emperor Ashunasirpal II gave a feast to 70,000 people. In 485 Persian king Darius had a feast in which a thousand animals were slaughtered including, get this, oxen, zebras, gazelles, stags, Arabian ostriches, geese, game cocks and camel. Turns out that smoked camel hump is a favorite Persian dish. So those are the kind of things that they ate. They also served rice pilaf with meats, nuts, spices and fruit. Shish kebabs of mutton, fish, poultry, vegetables seasoned with special yogurt sauce. The guests at that banquet even enjoyed sugar brought by caravan from distant lands as at that time sugar was eaten only by kings. But it was lavished on all the guests. Now, that was a later feast, but this is the kind of thing that was going on as the armies were surrounding the walls of Babylon.

Now what brings this on? Well, it’s a base innate hedonism, a desire we have to enjoy things. We like pleasure, don’t we? We like to eat good foods, we like to have fun with our friends. Is there anything wrong with that? Well, no, as long as it’s in its proper order with God at the center. But hedonism for its own sake is destructive. And so it says in Philippians 3:19, think of the Babylonians now, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame, their mind is on earthly things.” That was Babylon that night, wasn’t it? One of the most amazing things I found about the history of World War II is that as Berlin was about to fall and Hitler and all his leaders were down in a concrete bunker and the whole city was surrounded by the Red Army and the forces were crumbling at that moment, even after Hitler had committed suicide, the Nazi officials had a party, a big celebration.

There’s something innate inside us that wants to be happy, we want to celebrate, we want to have fun even if death is imminent. And so from the Scripture comes this slogan, “Let us eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” And nothing could have ever been said more truthfully about Babylon. Actually, it wasn’t tomorrow, it was tonight. What should they have been doing? They should have been taking the time repenting. They should have been on their faces before God, seeking His forgiveness, not drinking from His vessels and praising idols of gold and wood and stone, getting drunk. But you know, it’s not very different in God’s own people either. Isaiah 22, writing about the fall of Jerusalem they did the same thing. This is what Isaiah says about the fall of Jerusalem, “The Lord, the Lord almighty called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth but see there’s joy and revelry, there slaughtering of cattle and eating of meat, killing of sheep and drinking of wine. Let us eat and drink you say for tomorrow we die. The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing to your dying day this sin will not be atoned for.” When it’s time to repent, you need to repent. It’s not time for a party, it’s not time for celebration, it’s time for repentance.

But you know something. I don’t think the Babylonians felt they were going to die tomorrow. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we… I don’t think they thought so. I think they felt confidence. They were able to perhaps before the party began at least stand up around the walls of Babylon and defy the Medo-Persian army and say, “You’ll never get in here. Never. These walls have never fallen and they’re not going to fall tonight.” Now in siege warfare there are three ways to win. If you’re the army besieging a city what are three ways to win? You can go over the wall, you can go through the wall or you can starve the city within the wall so they come out. Those are the three ways you win siege warfare. But according to Herodotus, the ancient historian none of the three were possible because the city was monstrously huge. 14 miles square on a side, that’s big. Think of how far it is from here to Raleigh. 14 miles on a side was the city. It had huge outer walls, 350 feet high. That’s a 35-story building. Somebody tell me, is there a 35-story building in downtown Durham? I don’t think there is, 35 stories is big.

So imagine the highest building in Durham and even higher and you’re looking up, and that’s the wall, you’re not going over that wall. I don’t care how much structure you bring you’re not going over. How about going through it? Well, according to Herodotus at the top of the wall, you can drive a chariot with four horses. That’s at the top. Do you think the top is thinner or thicker than the bottom? It’s got to be thinner, that’s the way a wall is. It’s got to be built almost like a pyramid. Some of the walls were 87 feet thick, 87 feet thick. You’re not getting through that way. Well, what about the starvation route? Well, the problem is that the city was so big that it encompassed fields, areas that could continue growing for years and they had huge store houses. And what about drinking water? Plenty of it, you’ve got the River Euphrates flowing right through the center of the city, plenty of drinking water, you’re never getting in here. Ancient Babylon was unconquerable. It had a 100 great bronze walls, gates in the walls, the inner and outer wall system had a series of moats, the river water was diverted around the wall so that you couldn’t get through that way. Within the walls, there are a beautiful avenues and parks and palaces. A great bridge spanning the Euphrates connected the eastern and western parts of the city. There was the famed, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, beautiful to look at, and it gave them confidence.

It’s the same thing that Nebuchadnezzar said when he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as a royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” This is an incredible place and nobody’s ever getting in here. And so they held a party. They had a banquet. It’s really shocking when you stop and think about it. When you’re in siege you want to conserve food, you don’t want to have a banquet but that’s exactly what they did. So, they defied the armies of Persia, they also defied the living God. Now this is particularly shocking because God had given Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire a lesson into His greatness. Daniel representing God had interpreted a dream that no one else knew. Miraculously he had read the king’s mind. In Daniel 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been rescued from the fiery furnace, God had showed His power. In Daniel 4 the most powerful man perhaps in the history of the world in terms of a monarch, a single ruler was turned into an animal for seven years by the God of Israel, and Nebuchadnezzar gave credit to Him, gave credit to the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Was the one who did that. “He rules over kings” he said. But none of that meant anything to his grandson, Belshazzar. Didn’t think a thing of it. And so he said, “Who was that God we beat? Bring his cups in here, let’s drink from those too.” Defying God right in His presence.

Jonathan Edwards in his famous sermon, Sinners in the hands of an angry God, said this and I think the words really strike to their situation. He’s talking about God’s power and he says, “There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand joining hand and vast multitudes of God’s enemies combine and associate themselves they are easily broken in pieces. What are we that should think to stand before Him at whose rebuke the earth trembles and before whom rocks are thrown down.”

IV. God’s Terrifying Warning: “The Writing on the Wall” (vs. 5-9)

Oh, the folly of human beings to defy God. Now in verses 5-9, there is the terrifying warning, the writing on the wall, the apparition appears. Now look up at the wall next to me, see that plaster up there, how would you feel right now if while I’m talking suddenly a hand appeared and started writing on it? What would you do? Would some of you scream? Would you run out? Would you stay and wonder what the writing said? Well, that’s what happened in middle of the party. Right in the middle of the party the hand appears look at verse 5, “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall near the lampstand in the Royal Palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote, his face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. And the king called for the enchanters, the astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, ‘Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.’ Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale and his nobles were baffled.”

Right in the middle of the party, the music stops. Now when the Titanic went down, the music kept playing until that it was the last possible moment, but music stopped a little early this night because people were terrified. What did the writing mean? What was it? What was the significance of these fingers and what were the letters? And terror and confusion reigned and no one knew what to do. And so the wise men were called in but nobody could read it. Maybe it’s on the cover of your bulletin. Have you seen that little odd thing? Can you read it? There it was, something like that. And no one knew what it said.

V. Daniel’s Clear Interpretation: The End Has Come (vs. 10-28)

And so the Queen Mother comes in verse 10-12, and gives some advice, “The queen hearing the voices of the king and his nobles came into the banquet hall. ‘O king, live forever’ she said. ‘Don’t be alarmed, don’t look so pale. There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king I say, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel whom the king called Belteshazzar was found to have a keen mind in knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams and explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel and he will tell you what the writing means.'” It’s very interesting this woman is not at the banquet, she’s the Queen Mother, I believe Nitocris, Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter, and she hears probably screaming from the banquet, she hears the voices of the nobles and others, and so she comes in and, “What is going on?” and she finds out and she says, “Listen, don’t worry about it, just get Daniel and he’ll come in and he’ll interpret it for you.”

Interesting that Daniel didn’t come with the other lot, did he? That group of enchanters and… He didn’t have anything to do with them. He came in on his own to interpret. And it’s interesting what the Queen Mother said to him, do you notice what she said when she first came in. What did she say, “O king live forever.” Isn’t that ironic? Would the king live forever? No, actually he’s hours away from his death. Hours away, he wouldn’t survive the night.

And so Daniel appears in verse 13, as usual he refuses to be associated with them. Verse 13, “So Daniel was brought before the king and the king said to him. ‘Are you Daniel? One of the exiles my father, the king, brought in from Judah? I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. Now, I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck and you’ll be made third highest ruler in the kingdom.'”

So, Belshazzar gives him a quick account of what’s going on and of the failure of his counselors and he makes him that offer. Now, what are the three things that the world has to offer? We’ve said before, power, prestige and pleasure, those three I’ll give them to you, they’re mine to give. I can give them to anyone I want and I give them to you. And what does he say? Verse 17, “Then Daniel answered the king, keep your gifts for yourself and give your honors to somebody else.” I have no interest. Now, I wonder if Daniel knew that that would be the night. I wonder. According to archaeology they have found a large banqueting room on the ruins of Babylon. They found a recessed area elevated where there may have been a throne. Interestingly enough, they found plaster on the walls. Some of the plaster was gone, decayed by age, I’m sure or maybe something else raked it off. You can’t really tell, but there was a window in that room and it overlooked the Euphrates River. And if they had just taken the time and go look, they would have noticed something about the river, the river was dwindling, the river was drying, the river was gone. Where is the river? Maybe Daniel knew where the river was. Maybe he knew what was going on, maybe he knew that that was the night.

And so, Daniel teaches the king some history, verses 18-21, “O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. 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… “ until he acknowledged what? What is the lesson? What is the lesson of the book of Daniel? “that the most high God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and He gives them to anyone He pleases.”

How many times have we heard the lesson? Over and over. And Belshazzar, you’ve not learned your history. Well, I never did well in history. Well, you need to do well in history. God isn’t going to do an Exodus every generation. He’s not going to have Jesus die every generation, He’s not going to have Him rise from the dead every generation. He’s going to give you a book and the history is written in the book, He’s not going to do these same things year after year. He’s going to give you a book and you read it in the book and you believe it or you don’t. But here’s the history and we need to learn from history. Belshazzar, you should have learned from what your father learned. What happened to your father? God was gracious and gentle to your father because he survived. But instead you defied Him. You set your heart against Him.

And so Daniel preaches judgment verses 22-24, “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 honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways. Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.” Is it still true that this God holds in His hand your life and all your ways? Are there many gods or is there only one God? And is that one God eternal or does He die? Does He change? Is He changeful or is He always the same? You have not humbled yourself, Belshazzar, you should have learned, but you did not honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways and therefore, the inscription has been sent.

Now why, why does God send the inscription? Why doesn’t He just bring the judgment? Well, sometimes He does just bring the judgment but God delights to tell you ahead of time what He’s going to do. He writes it down in Scripture and tells you ahead of time what’s coming so that you will know that He tells the truth. And so we have prophecies in the Old Testament fulfilled in the Old Testament, in the New Testament or yet to be fulfilled still. That’s the way God is. He tells us ahead of time what He’s going to do, and then He does it and so the writing comes on the wall and so we can read it and understand what God will do. This is the way he is, He writes and then He fulfills.

And so then, Daniel interprets it. “This is the inscription that was written: Mene Mene Tekel Parsin. Now this is what the 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 the Persians.” Look at that middle one. You’ve been weighed on the scales and found light. God’s tested you and you’ve come short. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” What is the Hebrew word for glory? ‘Kavod’, which means weight, heaviness you don’t have the glory of God. You come short of the glory of God, and you’re found wanting.

Now back in the ancient Near East, they had scales, and merchants would have a scale and they’d have weights. Woe to you if you had a deceptive weight or a tricky weight, but they put the weight and then they’d weigh out whatever they were selling. Belshazzar, you’ve been weighed and you’re found wanting, you’re a lightweight. You have not the glory of God in your heart and so your kingdom is brought to an end and your days are numbered, they’re counted out. They will serve the father, the son and the grandson and in the days of the grandson the judgment will come. Your days are numbered out and they’ve come to an end and your kingdom is divided out and given to the Medes and the Persians.

VI. Daniel Exalted, Belshazzar Destroyed (vs. 29-31)

Well, verse 29, “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.” Oh, I’m sure that made Daniel feel so happy and proud. Go home and tell his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Look what the king gave me, isn’t this wonderful?” Do you think so?

How worthless are the baubles the world gives? They mean nothing. The honor and praise of the world means nothing. You get to be the third highest ruler of a kingdom that’s going to fall tonight. Now, by the way what usually happens to the third highest ruler of the previous regime when the new regime comes in?

Usually, but not Daniel, he’s going to survive into chapter 6. We’ll see him, Daniel, in the lion’s den and he gets made the third highest ruler in that kingdom. Only the hand of God can do that. Daniel survived this night because he trusted in God. But there he is with his gold chain and his purple robe and he survives the night. How can it be? And then in verse 30 and 31 “That very night, Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at age 62.” Judgment comes suddenly, just like that. Even while going about his business, suddenly it ends. Reminds me of Jesus’ parable about the rich fool, remember? The guy has lots of stuff and his house is too small and so he decides to build bigger barns, you remember? I’ve got lots of years to come, plenty of time to enjoy all the good things of this world, I’ll build bigger barns. And remember what God said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” And so it was for Belshazzar.

Now, how did it happen? Well, it’s not recorded in the Bible, you won’t find it anywhere in the Bible except in prophecy. It’s set ahead of time in prophecy, but you have to go to the ancient historians, Herodotus and Xenophon. The date was October 11th and 12th, 539 BC. Cyrus the Great of Persia was surrounding the walls, and one of his generals Ugbaru was his name, noticed something. He saw an old canal that it turns out that queen Nitocris had dug and he got an idea and he said, “Why don’t we divert the Euphrates River through this canal system so it doesn’t flow under the wall and we’ll crawl under the wall and into Babylon.” That’s an amazing idea, isn’t it? The only problem with it is that obviously the Babylonians thought of that, so they placed traps around where the river flowed in so that the soldiers could kill easily, anyone crawling under the wall. So we have to be sure that there’s no soldiers on the wall. So you need two things: You need a dried up river bed and you need no soldiers on the walls. And then the city will fall.

VII. Isaiah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah: A Clear Prophetic Light Fulfilled

Well, that is exactly the thing that God had predicted would happen. Now, I’m not going to go through the prophecies carefully. I’d like you to read them yourself. Isaiah 21:5. In Isaiah 21:5 two hundred years beforehand this is what the prophet Isaiah said, Babylon is going to fall, and this is Isaiah 21:5 Isaiah said this, “They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Get up you officers, oil the shields.” What is Isaiah saying? Why are you feasting? You should be fighting. Isaiah 21:5, two hundred years beforehand. That’s not bad, is it? How about Habakkuk 2:16, Habakkuk’s wondering, “God, when are You going to bring judgment on Babylon?” He said, “I’ll bring it. I’ll bring it.” And he says in Habakkuk 2:16 speaking to the Babylonians, “You will be filled with shame instead of glory, now it is your turn, drink and be exposed.” They’re going to drink, they’re going to get drunk and they’ll be exposed to destruction.

But the best of all is in Isaiah 51 and I want to ask that you turn there and read it along with me. Jeremiah 51:36. Chapter 50 and 51 of Jeremiah are all about the destruction of Babylon. So if you want the full story, read those two chapters, prophesied sixty to sixty-five years before it happened. Jeremiah 51:36, “Therefore, this is what the Lord says…” Speaking of Jerusalem, “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.” Do you see what that says? I’m going to dry up her river. He actually says it twice in this whole section. “I’m going to dry up her river.” And down in verse 39, “But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them, and make them drunk so that they will shout with laughter, then sleep forever and not awake.” Do you see that? A dried up river, drunken soldiers, prophesied 60 years before it happened. Look at verse 57. He says it again, “‘I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well. They will sleep forever and not wake up.’ Declares the king whose name is the Lord Almighty.” They’ll get drunk, they’ll go to bed, they’ll fall asleep and they will never wake up. And so, the two things necessary for the fall of Babylon were provided in prophecy, a dried up river and drunken soldiers, both of them provided clearly.

And then finally, as a final touch, Jeremiah, the prophet, wrote it all out, this particular prophecy on a scroll, rolled it up and handed it to Seraiah, and he said, “Go to Babylon.” He was on his way to Babylon. “And when you get there, stand in downtown Babylon, near the Euphrates River and read the words of the scroll ahead of time, so that when it comes, I will say or they will say, He warned us. He said it ahead of time.” This is our God. He declares it in advance, and then He does it. And so, look down at 51, verse 59, chapter 51:59, this is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer, Seraiah, son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. When he went to Babylon, with Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year of his reign, Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon, all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. And then say, ‘O Lord, you have said you will destroy this place so that neither man nor animal will live in it, it will be desolate forever.’ When you finish reading the scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, ‘so will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster that I will bring upon her and her people will fall.’ The words of Jeremiah end here.” This is Jeremiah’s final word, Babylon will fall though drunken soldiers and dried up river.

VIII. Lessons and Applications

So what? So what? Well, so this. God hasn’t changed, He’s the same God. And I want to ask you, as you look at this, what walls are you trusting in? As you look around your life, are there some walls that you’re trusting in, protecting you from the day to come, the day of judgment? Are there some walls you’re looking at? What constitutes your walls? What are you trusting in that will enable you to survive that day? Good health, success, your intellect, your ability, your resume, your friends, your family, your good works, your basically good character. What are you trusting in? And what are you waiting for? Today is the day of repenting. Today is not the day of feasting and celebration. Today is the day of repentance. It’s a day of humbling yourself before God and asking for His forgiveness. Don’t put it off till tomorrow. I’m speaking to those who claim to be Christians. I’m not saying that you’re not Christians. All of us are, but we need to walk day-by-day in repentance and humiliation before God.

James 4, he said very simply, he said, “Weep and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” It’s not a time for celebration. It’s a time for humbling before God. What walls are you trusting in? What are you waiting for? And also, realize we live in a nation full of mockers. Do you understand that? People who mock God. Maybe they don’t have the vessels to drink from, but they would do if they could. The talk show hosts mock God. The late night comedians mock God. The political pundits mock God. And so do some of the politicians. The major media outlets mock God. Time, Newsweek, all of them, they mock God. We live in a nation of mockers. And God will not, cannot be mocked. Because whatever we sow, we reap. God is just waiting and He’s patient. The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. There’s a ticking clock.

And what of the future fall of Babylon? In the book of Revelation, and this is picked up again, Babylon has fallen, has fallen. “Woe, woe O great city of Babylon, city of power.” And so, I say to you, Babylon still lives though the city has fallen. There’s still a world system in opposition to God. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him… The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” There is one place of safety. There is one wall, a set of walls that will protect you on judgment day, and it’s Jesus Christ. Flee to Him. In a few moments, we’re going to sing 398, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, Zion, city of our God, listen, With salvation’s walls surrounded, thou mayest smile at all thy foes. Your sins will be paid for. No wrath, no judgment, nothing but eternal life, just through faith in Jesus Christ. Close with me in prayer, please.

I.   From Pride to Presumption
A.    A Mysterious Ceremony Finds Fulfillment: God’s Water Clock

Jeremiah’s final words… tied to a scroll

B.    Pride: Nebuchadnezzar’s curable disease

C.    Presumption: Belshazzar’s deadly flaw

D.    The Patience of God runs out

II.     Historical Context:  Babylon After Nebuchadnezzar
A.    The “Head of Gold” Returns to the Earth

1.    The “King of kings” falls ill and dies (562 B.C.)

2.    The “way of all the earth”

3.    Prepare to meet your God!! (Amos 4:12)

B.    Nebuchadnezzar’s Successors: Incompetence, Intrigue, and Idolatry

1.    Son Evil-Merodach the successor

a.    called “Amel-Marduk” in Akkadian (“Man of Marduk”)

b.    mentioned in 2 Kings 25… released Judean king Jehoiachin & allowed him to eat at his table

c.  two years later…

2.    General Neriglissar assassinated Evil-Merodach & took the throne

a.    served with Nebuchadnezzar when he destroyed Jerusalem

b.    eventually died, his son placed on the throne for nine months

3.    Conspiracy: Nabonidus placed on the throne

a.    Neriglissar’s son assasinated

b.    Nabonidus reigned for 17 years

c.    married Nitocris, daughter of Nebuchadnezzar

d.    had a son Belshazzar… Nebuchadnezzar was Belshazzar’s son

e.    the two reigned together as co-regents

C.    Jeremiah’s timetable

Jeremiah 27:6-7 Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.

D.    Persians at the Gate

1.    Cyrus the Great moves out, defeats Babylonian army

2.      Nabonidus fled to Borsippa where he was captured

3.    Cyrus the Great then turned to the great fortress of Babylon itself

4.    The city had never been conquered

III.     Belshazzar’s Defiant Feast (vs. 1-4)

A.    Massive banquets

vs. 1 “King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.”
Ancient historian Ktesias: Persian monarchs frequently known to dine daily with 15,000 people

M.E.L. Mallowan: Ashusnasirpal II gave a feast to 69, 574 guests when dedicating capital city of Calneh in 879 B.C.

In 485 B.C., Persian King Darius held a lavish feast: 1000 animals slaughtered, including oxen, zebras, gazelles, stags, Arabian ostriches, geese, gamecocks and camel (smoked camel hump a

favorite Persian dish); also served rice pilaf w. meats, nuts, spices, and fruit; shish kebabs of mutton, fish, poultry, and vegetables seasons with special yoghurt sauce; the guests even enjoyed sugar brought by caravan from distant lands and too expensive to serve to anyone but roylaty

B.    “Their god is their stomach”: Hedonism fattens for slaughter

Philippians 3:19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

1.    Hedonism:  Deep yearning for earthly pleasure

2.    Actually becomes enhanced in times of imminent danger

Illus. High-ranking Nazi officials had a vigorous party the night Berlin fell to the Soviet Army

3.    Squeezing last amount of pleasure… instead of repenting

Isaiah 22:12-14 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. 13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” 14 The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

4.    Massive drinking bouts

Central to it all: getting completely drunk with free-flowing wine… forgetting your troubles by drowning them in alcohol

“Let us eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
BUT the Babylonians probably didn’t think they would die tomorrow… they were:

C.    Defying the Medo-Persians

1.    Awesome Babylon: the “unconquerable city”

2.    Three ways to win a siege

a.    go over the wall

b.    go through the wall

c.    starve the defenders into submission

All three thought to be impossible!!

3.    Ancient Babylon: Herodotus’s description & that of modern archaology

·        14 miles square

·        huge outer walls: 87 feet thick, 350 feet high (35 story building); thick enough at top for a chariot with four horses to rise along easily

·        100 great bronze gates in the walls

·        inner/outer wall system, moat in between fed by flowing Euphrates

·        great Euphrates flowed down center of the city under the wall

·        within the walls: beautiful avenues, parks, palaces

·        a great bridge, spanning the Euphrates connected eastern/western portions of city

·        famed “hanging gardens of Babylon” large enough to support trees

Therefore, Babylon had never been conquered… the walls were too high to go over, too thick to go through… the Euphrates guaranteed a constant water supply, and the walls were large enough to include small farmlands… the city was amply supplied to withstand a siege of several years

Most armies could not siege anywhere near that long

4.    Banquet especially shocking… most cities under siege would be conserving food

5.  Total disregard for danger:

feasting/drunkenness throughout the city… not even a watchman on the walls; all the soldiers drunk

Summary: The Babylonians considered their city completely safe… they could stand on the walls and mock the Medes and Persians, then go inside for a drunken feast

The Babylonians defied the siege army They also defied the eternal God

D.    Defying the Eternal God

vs. 2-4   While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

1.    The God of Israel’s reputation… established through experiences with Nebuchadnezzar

2.    Belshazzar’s open defiance

a.    goaded on by wine

b.    BUT wine only removes restraint to expose what’s already in the heart

3.    Blasphemy and idolatry wrapped together in this defiant act

a.    sacred vessels removed from storage

b.    used to toast Babylonian gods (they were counting on military protection of Marduk)

c.    NOTE: descending value of what is worshipped: gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood & stone

4.    BUT God would not be mocked… the weapons of Belshazzar’s destruction surrounded walls

Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God:

There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.-He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God’s enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. … What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

IV.   God’s Terrifying Warning: “The Writing on the Wall” (vs. 5-9)
A.    The Apparition Appears

Archeological note: in the ruins of Babylon, there was found a large room 56 feet wide, 173 feet long, decorated in blue glazed brick with white and yellow lions… this was probably the site of this banquet

Midway, in the long wall opposite the entrance there was a niche in front of which the king’s throne may have been positioned… amazingly, the archaologists discovered the wall in the niche was covered with white plaster!

1.    The feast progressing, loud laughs and crude jokes

2.    Suddenly some fingers appear

3.    Writing on a plaster-covered wall

4.    Room lit by flickering lanterns & torches… probably area over king’s head most brightly illuminated

B.    Suddenly, the Music Stops

1.    Unlike the decks of the Titanic… the music suddenly stopped

2.    The laughter and jokes stilled

3.    Perhaps a woman or two screamed

4.    Perhaps the only sound the knocking of the king’s knees

5.    “No Fear”??? God is able to make us fear!!

C.    The Mysterious Letters

1.    Letters over the King’s head

2.    “Experts called in to read them”… some mysterious message

3.    Belshazzar must know what they mean!!

4.    Summons the soothsayers, magicians, Chaldeans

D.    Terror and Confusion Reign

Human wisdom utterly incapable of discerning God’s mind!! Even the lavish offer of rewards cannot produce a solution

V.     Daniel’s Clear Interpretation: The End Has Come (vs. 10-28)
A.    The Queen Mother’s Advice (vs. 10-12)

·        Nabonidus’s wife… almost certainly a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar; calls Nebuchadnezzar his “father” twice

·        “O King, live forever!!” [Takes on a certain irony in that this was the last night of his life]

·        She speaks to him not as a wife but as a mother would

·        Reminds him of Daniel… probably in semi-retirement

·        Praises Daniel:

“keen mind and knowledge and understanding; also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, solve difficult problems.”

B.    Daniel’s Appearance (vs. 13)

·        As usual, Daniel refuses to be associated with the other counselors

·        Makes a dramatic entrance… his bearing regal and holy, contrasted with the wine-flushed faces of the banquet hall

C.    Belshazzar’s Offer: Made and Spurned (vs. 13-17)

·        Quick recount of the evening’s disturbing incident

·        Retelling of the failure of the counselors

·        Offer of power and wealth: third highest ruler in the kingdom

Note: Nabonidus was first, Belshazzar the second… Daniel would be third

·        Offer totally spurned by Daniel

vs. 17 Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

D.    Daniel Teaches History (vs. 18-21)

1.    God gave Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom & glory

2.    Nebuchadnezzar’s extraordinary sovereign powers… perhaps the greatest the world has ever seen

3.    Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and downfall

4.    Nebuchadnezzar’s repentance and restoration

Basic idea: you should have learned from your father’s experience… his judgment should have humbled you

We also should learn from the experiences of people around us… to be warned and to flee the wrath to come!!

E.    Daniel Preaches Judgment

vs. 22 “But you,… O Belshazzar…”

1.    Prophetic power: Daniel levels severe charges against Belshazzar

2.    Incredible boldness here! Daniel shows none of tender concern he did for Nebuchadnezzar

3.    Daniel’s theology: God holds your very life in his hands

vs. 24 “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 honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.”

Acts 17:28   `For in him we live and move and have our being.’

as James put it

James 4:15 “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live…”

This is the basic idea of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”… God upholds our lives at every moment; every breath we inhale is a gift from Him; if we openly defy Him, we should not be surprised if that very night, our lives come to an end

Ask any damned person in hell, “Did you think you would end up here?” They would all answer, “No” Ask them why not, they will answer they always thought they had more time to set matters right

For Belshazzar, his time has run out

F.    Daniel Interprets the Writing:

1.    “Mene” (repeated) = “numbered”

“God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.”
2.    “Tekel” = “weighed”

“You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”
3.    “Peres = “divided out”

“Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Amazing symmetry! When Belshazzar’s grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar was besieging the holy city of Jerusalem, within the walls another prophet, Jeremiah, was sent to proclaim the conquest of the city to the Jews within: he said plainly “This city will be handed over to the Babylonians”

Now, 70 years later, Daniel plays the exact same role in Babylon!

VI.     Daniel Exalted, Belshazzar Destroyed (vs. 29-31)

A.    Daniel Exalted

vs. 29   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.

1.    O the vanity of the world’s gifts and honors!!

2.    A one-day rule over a city about to be destroyed!

3.    How useless are the world’s baubles when the judgment of God is about to fall!

4.    AMAZING: Babylon’s last official act… honoring a Jewish refugee named Daniel!

B.    Belshazzar Destroyed

vs. 30-31   That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

1.    Judgment comes suddenly

2.    Reminiscent of Jesus’ parable of the rich fool

Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

3.    The Kingdom stripped away and given to the Medes and Persians

C.    How It Happened

1.    Famous story from the ancient world: Herodotus & Xenophon

2.    The date was Oct. 11-12, 539 B.C.

3.    Cyrus the Great of Persia advanced against the walls

4.    A brilliant Persian general, a forgotten canal

a.    Ugbaru, governor of Gutium Cyrus’s commander in chief

b.    noticed an old abandoned canal previously dug by Queen Nitocris

c.    diverted the water of the Euphrates river to the old abandoned canal

d.    sent his men under the walls where the river had flowed

e.    if the Babylonians had been watching they could easily have killed the soldiers sent under the walls… but they were all lying in their beds drunk

f.    the Persian army flooded through the city and killed all these drunken soldiers while they lay in their beds

g.    King Belshazzar was among the slain that night

h.    DANIEL WAS NOT… God spared his life

D.    “Babylon the Great has fallen”

1.    The city that terrified the ancient world is now conquered

2.    The announcement goes out far and wide

Isaiah 21:9 `Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’ “

3.    The image seen by Nebuchadnezzar of the end of his empire has now come true

4.    Someday, a greater Babylon will fall… the world system in rebellion against God all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor

Revelation 18:1-2 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!

VII.   Isaiah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah:  A Clear Prophetic Light Fulfilled
A.    Isaiah: “Get up, you officers, oil the shields!!”

Isaiah 21:5 They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!

Isaiah predicted the fall of Babylon during a drunken feast almost 200 years before it happened

B.    Habakkuk 2: “Now it is your turn. Drink and be exposed!!”

Habakkuk 2:16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed!

C.  Jeremiah: “I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry”

Jeremiah was even more specific

1.    Concerning the time: the third generation: Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson

2.    Concerning the enemy: the Medes and the Persians

Jeremiah 51:11 “Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

3.    Concerning the method: drunken soldiers and a dried up river

Jeremiah 51:36-39 Therefore, this is what the LORD says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. 37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. 38 Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs. 39 But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter–then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

Once again, the amazing accuracy of predictive prophecy!!

4.    God announces it ahead of time: The Story of Seraiah

Jeremiah 51:59-64 This is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon–all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, `O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64 Then say, `So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.’ ” The words of Jeremiah end here.

VIII.     Lessons and Applications
A.    What do you boast about? That feeling of security

1.    Belshazzar was cocky… the walls of Babylon were his confidence

2.    What are you trusting in?

·        Your good health?  Your good deeds? Your powerful position in a company?

3.    Do not put off repenting till tomorrow… tomorrow may never come

B.    God’s ticking clock of judgment: God cannot be mocked

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
At the right time, judgment falls… that very night Belshazzar’s soul was required of him…So with us… we never know when will be our last day on earth

Modern popular culture in America mocks God as thought He will do nothing GOD CANNOT BE MOCKED!!

C.    The future fall of Babylon

Revelation 18:10-14 ” `Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Babylon represents all the allurements of the worldly pagan system… someday God will destroy finally Babylon the Great… only be sure you are like Daniel… undefiled by the world system

D.    Only one place of safety: The Cross of Christ

·        No protective walls in this world can save us from God’s judgment

·        BUT there is a safe refuge: the cross of Jesus Christ