Okay, now we're turning to Daniel
chapter 5. Daniel chapter 5, I'm entitling
the message from verse 5 of Daniel 5. Let's read verse 5. In the same hour came forth fingers
of a man's hand. Now these are divine fingers.
These are the fingers of God and wrote against the candlestick
upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the
king saw the part of the hand that wrote, and he was terrified. They were having a big party,
going on in their idolatry, and God sent a message to this sinner. The title of the message is,
The Handwriting is on the Wall. The handwriting is on the wall.
Now, this is a well-known saying among many people, They use it
usually when something tragic occurs in someone's life, when
someone gets fired or something happens, and they usually say,
well, you know, the handwriting was on the wall. They telegraphed
it. The handwriting was on the wall.
Many have adopted that saying and use it for their own selfish
purpose to promote many things. If you just Google on the internet
this phrase, the handwriting's on the wall, you'd be surprised
how many people. I was surprised when I thought,
well, I'll just Google that and see what it says. And everybody,
a lot of people, not everybody, but a lot of people have adopted
that as a saying, the handwriting was on the wall. But as we all
know that this comes from God's Word, the book of Daniel chapter
5. It was a message, this writing
on the wall, it was a message to a pagan king named Belshazzar. It was a message of judgment
and death. Message of judgment and death. by the decree of the Most High
God. You remember Deuteronomy 32,
the Lord said, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal, I the
Lord do all these things. I lift up and I put down and
I raise up. Belshazzar in Daniel chapter
5 was the son or some say the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar,
his father, was taught a very hard lesson by the hand of God. That's why I went back and read
Daniel chapter 4, verse 35. And the Lord brought him to this
conclusion in Daniel 4, 35. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? God
taught Nebuchadnezzar that God is God in all things, over all
things. But Belshazzar, his son, ignored
the most vital lesson that his father learned. His father was
taught of God to honor and worship the most high God, but instead
Belshazzar went on in his idolatry, went on in his rebellion against
God until God sent a message of judgment. And while Daniel
was preaching that night to the king, verse 30 in Daniel chapter
five, in that night was Belshazzar the king slain. The Lord had
already prepared the man, prepared the man's hand to take the life
of this idolater. Now we see in this story in Daniel
chapter 5 that this man Belshazzar was a wild man. He had a wild
party, drinking with all of his friends, and they decided, well,
let's go down and take all the vessels that my father had brought
from Jerusalem, and let's use these vessels that were intended
for a holy, sacred purpose, and let's use these vessels to drink
wine and to have a big party and to mock God. He showed his
open rebellion and contempt for the Most High God, much like
Pharaoh. Remember what Pharaoh said to
Moses, who is the Lord, that I should serve him? Well, he
found out, didn't he? Much like Adam in the garden,
sinned against God, committed rebellion against God, worshiped
himself rather than God. in his sin and rebellion against
the true and living God, against the Most High God. God told him,
in the day that you eat of that tree, you'll die. In the day
that you rebel against me, judgment's coming. Judgment not only fell
on Adam, but fell on all of Adam's race. By one man sin entered
in, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men." You remember
what they said to the Lord Jesus Christ when He came? God Almighty,
the Most High God, manifest in the flesh. We'll not have this
man to reign over us. We have no king but Caesar. I thought about this in verse
5, the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand. This is not
the first time, this is not the only time the Lord sent a message
this particular way. Hold your place there and find
John chapter 8. You remember the woman taken
in adultery? And the Lord Jesus Christ, they
bring the woman before the Lord, tempting Him. Verse 6 in John
8, she's caught in the very act
of adultery. What should we do? And the Lord
Jesus Christ stooped down and with His finger wrote on the
ground as though He heard them not. Now what did He write? I
don't know. I don't know. So when they continued
asking him, he lifted himself up and said unto them, He that
is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. And he exposed them for what
they were hypocrites. So this is not the first time
the Lord had written something with the finger of God. Again,
another occasion, the law of God was written with the finger
of God. The two tables of the testimony,
the tables of stone, the scripture said, Exodus 31, were written
with the finger of God. This book This whole book, now
think about this, this whole book was written by the finger
of God. Not only the law was written
in stone by the finger of God, but this whole word, the Bible
is God's holy word penned by God. All scripture is given by
inspiration of God. Well, when Bashazzar sees this
writing upon the wall, he is startled, verse 6, down through
verse 9. He's greatly troubled and seeks
help in the wrong place. The king's countenance was changed
and his thoughts troubled him, so much so that the joints of
his loins were loosed and his knees spoke together. So what
does he do? He calls all the wise men of
his country. And the king said unto them,
Whosoever shall read this writing, and show him the interpretation,
I'll bless him with a scarlet robe, and a chain of gold, and
he'll be the third in charge. Then came all the king's wise
men, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to
the king the interpretation thereof. Why? Because they had no wisdom. They had no light. They had no
understanding. They were blind, blind. Belshazzar was greatly troubled,
but he seeks help in the wrong place. Worldly wise men cannot
and do not know the message of the word of God. They do not
know it. It only comes by sovereign revelation. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. We read in 1
Corinthians 1, the world by wisdom knew not God. The gospel is a mystery. The
natural man doesn't receive the things of the kingdom of God.
God must reveal Himself unto us. These worldly wise men knew
not God and they knew not the message of God. We read on in
verse 10, the queen hears about the dilemma of Belshazzar and
she comes with some advice. Your father Nebuchadnezzar, verse
10, the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords
came into the banquet house and the queen spake and said, O king,
live forever, let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance
be chained. There is a man in thy kingdom
in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, in whom is God the
Holy Spirit. And in the days of thy father,
light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of God, was in
him, whom the king thy father, Nebuchadnezzar, made a master
over these. For as much, verse 12, as an
excellent spirit is in him, knowledge and understanding is in him,
interpretation of dreams are in him, and he can, dissolving
doubts, All these things were found in Daniel, whom the king
named Belteshazzar. Now, let Daniel be called, and
he will show thee the interpretation thereof. The queen tells the
king about the experience of his own father, and his father
knew that was a blessing. He knew that Daniel was a blessing.
to Nebuchadnezzar and might be a help unto you." But notice
her description of Daniel in verse 12. He has an excellent
spirit. That is, God the Holy Spirit
dwells in him. He has light and understanding
is found in him. and that understanding that he
has is given of God. He has an excellent spirit in
him, for God the Holy Spirit was with him, and he has knowledge,
knowledge of a true and living God, God who is God. This is a good description of
every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells
in them. They've been given light and
they've been given understanding to know who God is in the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers have been given an
excellent spirit, haven't we? For God the Holy Spirit dwells
in us. He's given us the eyes of understanding that we might
see Him. And He's given us faith to believe
Him. Daniel was introduced to the
king, verse 13. Then was Daniel brought before
the king, and the king spake and said, Are you Daniel? the
one that was brought from the captivity by my father in Judea. I've heard of thee, the Spirit,
God is in thee, light and understanding, excellent wisdom. The wise men
could not help us, but I've heard, verse 16, of thee that thou canst
make interpretation and dissolve doubts." If you can do it, I'm
going to give you a robe, golden chain, I'm going to make you
a ruler in the kingdom. I'm going to reward you. Now,
verse 17, Daniel answered and said before the king, I don't
want what you have. Let thy gifts be to thyself.
Give thy rewards to your friends. Reward your friends. Don't reward
me. Yet I will read the writing unto
the king and make known to him The interpretation, O thou King,
O thou King, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father
a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. And for the majesty
that he gave him, all people, nations, languages trembled and
feared before him. Whom he would, he slew. Whom
he would, he kept alive. Whom he would he set up, whom
he would he put down. But when his heart, you see the
king's heart in the hand of the Lord. But when his heart was
lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was brought down
from his kingly throne. And they took his glory from
him. He was driven from the sons of men. His heart was made like
a wild beast. They fed him with grass like
an oxen. His body was wet with the dew
of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the
kingdom of men, that he appointed that over it, whomsoever he will. And thou, O Belshazzar, hast
not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest." He wasn't ignorant. He knew what had happened to
his father. Daniel answers the king with
a word of truth. Daniel was promised rewards for
his service, but he wasn't interested in what Belshazzar had. You see, the believer's reward
is Christ. He's all our reward. He is all
that we want and all that we need. Is He enough? If he's all
you've got, you've got everything that God intended for his people
to have. We're being made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel reminds
Belshazzar how the true and living God, the Most High God, dealt
with his father, how he raised him up and how he brought him
down. Many times in this story, in chapter 3 and chapter 4 and
5 rather, in Daniel we read this phrase, the Most High God. Did you notice that? Turn back
to chapter 4, verse 17. that the living to the intent
the living may know, the last part of verse 17, Daniel, for
that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever He will, He setteth up over it the basis
of men. In chapter 4, verse 32, the last
part, seven years passed over Nebuchadnezzar, tell thou, know
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and give
it to whomsoever he will. Now here again in chapter 5,
verse 21. Tell he knew that the Most High
God ruled. How high is God? He's higher
than the highest. He's the highest. He is the Most
High God. Beside Him, He said, I am God.
Beside Me, there is no other God. He rules everywhere of Him,
through Him, and to Him are all things. You see, the King's heart
is in the hand of the Sovereign, Almighty God. Now, Daniel preaches
the gospel to this pagan king and to us, beginning in verse
22. And he brings three charges.
You see it in verse 22? And thou his son, Belshazzar,
You've not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all these
things." You didn't walk in the light that you had. So here's
the first thing he says, you've not humbled, bowed thine heart
unto the true and living God. Even though you knew what took
place in your own father's life, you saw the working of God, yet
you ignored it. In other words, Belshazzar, you've
not bowed or submitted or surrendered. Surrendered. This is total surrender. That's what the gospel requires.
Total surrender. You've not surrendered to the
Most High God. That was the charge against Belshazzar,
but that's also the charge against every unbeliever. This is the
exact charge that God has against every unbeliever. You've not
bowed to the sovereign claims of the Most High God. You remember what Peter said
to those Jews on Pentecost? That same Jesus whom you crucified,
God has made Him both Lord and Christ, now bow to Him. Men by
nature are hard-hearted. God hates a proud heart. You
remember we studied in 1 Peter 5, God resisted the proud, He
gives grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto
the mighty hand of God, the Most High God, that He may exalt you
in due time. In your bulletin today, I usually
try to put a scripture verse every week in the bulletin. The
bulletin scripture this week is from Isaiah 57. For thus saith
the Lord, the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose
name is holy, I dwell in a high and holy place with him also
that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit
of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones. He's
not into them of a broken heart. He's saved us such as be of a
contrite spirit. You remember back over here,
don't turn, let me just read it to you again. In Luke 18,
verse 14, I tell you, the Lord said, This man went down to his
house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalted
himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall
be exalted. Now, Shazar, you've not humbled
yourself, had not submitted yourself unto the Most High God, and that
is the exact charge that God brings against every unbeliever. You've not bowed, you've not
submitted. The second thing is this. Verse 23, but you've lifted
up yourself against the Lord of heaven. Now what a serious
charge. You've lifted yourself up against
the Lord of heaven. You've not only humbled, you
have not humbled your heart, but you lifted yourself up against
the Lord and against his Christ. when they brought in the vessels
of the house before thee, and thou and thy lords and thy wives
and their concubines had drunk wine in them, thou hast praised
the gods of silver, gold, and brass, wood, and stone, which
see not, nor hear, nor know, and the God in whose hand thy
breath is, and whose are all thy ways, you not glorified."
Now here's a second charge God has against every unbeliever. You have lifted up yourselves
against the Lord of heaven. You praise the gods of silver,
gold, brass, wood, and stone. Daniel charges Belshazzar with
what? Idolatry. He charges him with
treason against the Most High God. It reminded me of the Psalm
over here, Psalm 2. Turn over there. You've lifted
yourself up against the Most High God. And make no mistake,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Most High God. Psalm 2, Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their band
asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in
the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them, He'll have
them, He'll do with them as He will, and He will have them in
derision to do. He shall speak unto them in His
wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure." There's nothing
more displeasing to God than idolatry. Was that not exactly
what the Jews were guilty of in the Lord's day? When Pilate
brought the Lord Jesus Christ before that crowd, do you remember
what they said? Away with him, we have no king but Caesar. Again, this is a charge against
every unbeliever. We read earlier in Luke 16, our
Lord said to those Pharisees, you are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Now listen
to me carefully. Daniel charges Belshazzar with
idolatry. All unbelief is idolatry. It is. To go about and establish
the righteousness of your own before God, and that's unbelief,
and not submitting to the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel
is nothing short of idolatry. You see, when He does the work
of grace in our heart, you remember from 1 Thessalonians 1? He turned
us to the true and living God, and we've turned from our What
are idols to serve the living and true God? You see, by nature,
we're covetous. By nature, we are idolaters.
God must change us and point us in the right direction to
serve the living and true God. Every unbeliever goes about in
idolatry until he's delivered by the power of God. Here's the
third charge against him in the last part of verse 23. God in
whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, you have
not honored." You have not glorified. The God in whose hand thy breath
is. God's not in our hands. We're
in His hands. And he's saying here, Daniel,
the prophet of God, you've not glorified God. You've not worshipped
God. You've not believed in true and
living God. And it's true of every unbeliever. It's true of
all men. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now let me ask you a question.
How does a sinner glorify God? How does a sinner glorify God? You're right. Turn to Romans
4. Let me show you. How does a sinner glorify God?
Well, it's real, real, Simple and straightforward. How you've
not glorified God. Unbelief does not honor God. What does? Romans 4. Look at
verse 19. Romans 4, 19. Being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, Abraham, when
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb, but he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, Giving glory to God. You see, saving faith honors
God, being fully persuaded that what He has promised, He's able
to perform. Therefore, it was imputed to
Him for righteousness. He's not honored God. He's not
believed God. You see, God's jealous of His
glory. His glory is His sovereign mercy to sinners. His great glory
is my great need. I want to honor Him by believing
the gospel, and submitting unto Him, and exalting Him, and worshiping
Him. God's going to get all the glory
in salvation and in damnation. One, to the glory of His grace,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Another, to the praise
of the glory of His justice. That God's going to have all
the glory. Now, Back to Daniel chapter 5, God sends judgment
to this rebel's house. Verse 25, this is the writing,
the writing that's on the wall, that was written, meenie, meenie,
tee cow, you farsin. What in the world does that mean?
Well, the wise men of that day didn't know, and the worldly
wise men of this day do not know. This is the interpretation of
the thing, meenie, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and it's finished,
it's over. Tikal, thou art weighed in the
balances, and found wanting. Perez, are you far sinned? Thy
kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and to the Persians. Belshazzar was found guilty before
God, and now the sentence is handed down. The Lord, the Most
High God, sends a righteous and just judgment to this sinner. This word in verse 26, meaning,
means God has numbered thy kingdom, or God has numbered your days
and your days are over. It is finished. In other words,
you're toast. You're done. It's over. It's
over. That night, what happened to
Belshazzar, verse 30? He was slain. God sent the executioner
and killed him. You see, my friend, judgment's
coming. It's pointed unto men who want
to die, and after that, judgment. There's nothing left for the
unbeliever but eternal condemnation and judgment. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Nothing
left for the unbeliever but judgment. How about the believer? While
those in Christ, to those who believe the gospel, resting in
the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no judgment. There is no condemnation. For our sin, because the Lord
Jesus Christ made an end of our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Instead of saying, your days
are finished, the Lord Jesus Christ said, it is finished.
He put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ." How completely
and fully did the Lord put away our sin? He said their sin and
their iniquity will I remember no more. They do not exist. Aren't you glad that the Lord
has finished our sin, made an end to our sin, The second word
that came was Tikal. Thou art weighed in the just
and righteous balance of God's holy justice, and found guilty,
wanting. Weighed in the balance. That's
a pretty common saying too, isn't it, among people. But it comes
from the Word of God here. Thou art weighed in the just
and righteous balance of God's holy justice, and found Guilty. Wanting. You see, the scale of
God's scale of justice is perfect and unchanging. Stack up all
the supposed goodness any sinner has, put it on the scale, it'll
never outweigh or outbalance the scale of His holy law is
too heavy. Our works are too light. God
is too holy and we're too sinful. Now you've seen those old time
scales, haven't you? Two weights. Two weights. And
when the weights are equal, they... But God's justice is too heavy. And our sin is too light. Not that it's not a terrible
thing to sin against God. I'm not saying that. But we can
never balance the scale by our righteousness, our deeds, or
our works. Never. Never. Now listen to me. Here's the flip side of that.
To the believer resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, we too shall
be weighed in the balance, and found in Christ." Found perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. You see, the believer in Christ
will not be found wanting, will he? He'll have a perfect righteousness,
satisfying to God. It's the one that God gave us.
We have a perfect justification in Christ because God is the
one who justified us by his grace. You see, those believers weighed
in the scale of God's justice will be found perfect because
they're found in Christ. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ,
all that he has done for us. As the Lord said about the publican,
God said he went down to his house justified. perfected forever
before God. He's able to present us faultless
before the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy, perfected. Oh yeah, God's not going to simply
put aside His justice. You see, in the gospel His justice
is honored. His mercy is also magnified and
honored in the gospel. Thou art weighed in the balance,
Belshazzar, And it's not good news. You see, the wages of sin
is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And here's the last word,
Perez, or Eupharsin. In verse 28, thy kingdom is divided,
and it's given to another. That is, you're separated. You're
separated. The kingdom is divided and given
to another. In other words, you're separated from any pleasure,
comfort, or hope. Everything he thought was to
his gain was to his condemnation. Separated from any comfort, any
pleasure, any hope. The unbeliever will be eternally
separated from God. No light, eternal darkness, no
hope, eternal misery, no life. eternal death. What a horrible
thing. Remember our Lord said in Matthew
7, Depart from me, I never knew you. Many will say to me in that
day, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. Then
I'll profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me you
workers of iniquity. The unbeliever will be eternally
separated from God. That's why hell is so terrible. No mercy, no light, no life,
death, judgment, misery. Ah, but in the Lord Jesus Christ,
there's no condemnation and there's no separation. He separated our
sin from us. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no
separation. We have vital, eternal union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. It leads me to this conclusion.
Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift of grace, who has given
us the victory over sin, over death, over hell, over the grave,
by His sovereign purpose. We studied this morning, according
as His divine power has given to us all things in Christ. Closing note. Look at verse 29. I find this most interesting. Daniel brings the charges against
him, says, you're guilty. And he gives out the sentence
unto Belshazzar. And then, look what happens.
You think this man would have been broken, and begging for
mercy, seeking the Lord's way of grace through Christ, then
commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet,
put a chain of gold upon his neck, and made a proclamation
concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. Instead of bowing to the Most
High God, he honors a sinner, trying to seek God's favor or
to remove God's wrath. Now, Shazar tries to make the
difference by giving unto Daniel rather than honoring God. By
making Daniel a ruler, he thought, well, I can, I can, I can, everything's
okay now. Judgment's at the door. Judgment's
at the door. Instead of bowing to the Most
High God, he still died a rebel. God still killed him in verse
30. The executioner was sent and
he was slain. Nothing, my friend, that you
do or give, and that's what Belshazzar tried to do. He tried to give
his way out of it. I'm going to do this. I'm going
to reform. I'm going to change. No, you better honor God or you'll
die. Nothing, my friend, that you do, give, your work, your
deeds, your religious merit, will bring you salvation, will
earn you salvation. It's forever decreed salvation
is of the Lord. And salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's a salvation that depends
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, not you giving a scarlet robe or
a golden chain or making somebody, I'm going to promote you in the
government. Everything gonna be okay Not
gonna be okay those who do not honor the Sun turn back to Psalm
2 Turn back to Psalm 2 we'll close with this Psalm 2 The last
part of Psalm 2 remember Look verse 10 The Lord said, verse 9, Thou
shalt break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O you
kings. Be instructed, you judges of
the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice
with trembling. Kiss the Son, that is, honor
the Lord Jesus Christ. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and he perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. May God bless His Word, bless
His