Well, brethren, let's continue to worship God together by opening together to Daniel chapter 5, if you have a copy of the Scriptures. Daniel chapter 5, we are picking up where we left off two weeks ago in our series through Daniel. But as we pick up here in chapter 5, we find that a few things have changed. The first four chapters really focused on the great Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. But now, as we reach chapter 5, verse 1, there's an abrupt change. It's 20 to 25 years later. Nebuchadnezzar's no longer on the throne. A successor, a Belshazzar, is ruling. Daniel is an old man now. And as we will see, the Babylonian empire is on the verge of collapse. Lots of changes, but this is the scene as we open up to chapter five, verse one. So let's read this together, the entire chapter. This is God's word. Let us receive it in faith as God's word. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king, his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way. and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and shows me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, O king, live forever, let not your thoughts alarm you, or your color change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. The days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers. Because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read this writing and make it known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing of the king and make known to him the interpretation. Oh king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all people's nations and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive. Whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened, so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart that you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lord, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them, And you have praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know. But the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed. Mene, mene, tekel, and parzen. This is the interpretation of the matter. Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. Then Belshazzar gave the command. Daniel was clothed with purple the chain of gold was put around his neck and a proclamation was made about him That he should be the third ruler in the kingdom that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was killed and Darius the mead received the kingdom being about 62 years old Amen bow with me again in prayer Father by your hand alone You have revealed the words of life on the pages of Scripture. We pray that You would grant us then today light and understanding and wisdom that we may know You, that we may know what to believe about You, that we may know what duty, what obligation, what commandment You have given to us that we should obey You. I pray that You would come and speak to us as Your humble servants, and we ask You, this Father, in the name of the Son, through the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, we all love stories with happy endings, don't we? At least most of us, I think. Even more than that, don't we all love stories of personal redemption? Let's think of how many books, how many movies trace out a character's unexpected rise to great heights, only to be followed by a heartbreaking humbling before they reevaluate what is truly important in life, and that leads to their restoration. It's a common plot line. And it's a common plot line because there's just something about stories of personal redemption that really and deeply resonate with us. We're all prone to make mistakes. We're all prone to get a big head when things go well for us. We're all prone not to really value what we have in life until it's gone. to give it another chance and to learn from our mistakes when we thought all was lost. These are the stories that often really inspire us as human beings. However, I don't think the same can quite be said about stories of judgment, can it? What about those stories that have no happy ending? What about the stories where there is nothing but swift and strict justice? There's no second chance. There's no opportunity to learn. There's no opportunity to repent and change. All those, these stories may not inspire us quite the same way. The truth is these stories are just as important for us to hear as are the stories of personal redemption. I hope you see where I'm going with this. The story of chapter 4 and King Nebuchadnezzar had a happy ending. It's a story that as we saw two weeks ago should fill us with encouragement and hope. God pursues those He loves. God is patient with those who hate Him. God humbles in order to exalt. He wounds in order to heal. He chastens in order to restore. This is emphatically not so here with Belshazzar in chapter five. We see something completely different here. This is intentional. This is intentional for the reader to contrast chapter four and chapter five, to see these two kings and evaluate the different circumstances, the different providence, the different response. Both chapters concern a proud, God-defying king. Both kings are warned by God by special revelation of their sin. Both kings hear Daniel. God sends Daniel the preacher to give interpretation and understanding to this warning and apply it to them. Both kings see what God promised to bring about come true. But only one king receives divine mercy. The other king receives divine judgment. I think there's no doubt that these two stories are a real-life illustration of the Apostle Paul in Romans 9 declaring that God has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills, that it does not depend upon man who runs or wills or decides or achieves. Everything depends upon who God shows mercy to. Today then, what we see is the flip side of God's judgment on human pride. In chapter 4, we saw how God judged human pride in order to lead Nebuchadnezzar to repentance. There we are to read that and learn of the mercy and patience of God. No matter how great our sin, God gives grace to the humble. He restores those and forgives the humble. But here we see another example of God judging pride, not to lead to repentance, but as a warning of the consequences of sin, that we reap what we sow. and as I call for us never to presume upon the mercy of God." See, this is exactly what Israel in exile needed to hear. They, at that point in history, were under the divine chastening of God for their sins. They needed that assuring hope that although they were under His rod of wrath, there is forgiveness and restoration promised to the humble. But at the same time, they needed also the warning that there is wrath and there is judgment to the proud and unrepentant. And if they did not humble themselves before the Lord, there would be no happy ending to their story. Brethren, the same is true for you and me here today as well. God warns these kings of their sin. He warns these kings of the judgment to come. And through His Word, He warns us of the very same things. And the question for us today then is, will we listen and learn from Nebuchadnezzar? Or will we harden our hearts and presume upon God's mercy and patience? and be struck down like Belshazzar. That's the question before us today. And as we break this down, I want to draw your attention to four different aspects of this story of judgment. Four different aspects. We see the folly of human boasting, the folly of human power, the folly of human ignorance, the folly of human pride. human boasting, human power, human ignorance, and human pride. Let's consider the folly, the foolishness of human boasting. We see this, excuse me, and verses one through four here, with this big party that opens the scene here in chapter five. We have a thousand of Belshazzar's lords, we have his wives and his concubines, and they've gathered for this great feast, and the overwhelming emphasis is that the wine is freely and excessively flowing. Reading this description, you can almost smell the alcohol. You can hear the laughter. The pitcher is a great revelry. Great drunkenness. It's ostentatious. It's full of pomp and show. There's clearly a lack of self-control. There's also sexual overtones as well with all these men and women gathered together. Belshazzar is drinking wine in front of this great gathering. It's some sort of display of self-glory. He stands before them and drinks wine. But the reality is, even though this is the opening scene, things are not quite what they appear to be on the surface. For one thing, Belshazzar wasn't actually the king. We know from historical records that Nabonidus was the king of Babylon at this time. Belshazzar was never king of Babylon, but Daniel in this text calls him king because he was a kind of de facto king. Nabonidus was absent from Babylon for many years and records show, we found actually in the 1850s, It was the first time we found any reference to Belshazzar. Records show that he entrusted his kingship to Belshazzar as a kind of co-regent while he was away. This comes out later in the passage, down in verse 16, where Belshazzar is like, Daniel, I'll make you third ruler in the kingdom, right? Because he was second already. He could only grant third. So the rightful king was first. So I point this out because the narrative opens with a sort of puppet king, as it were. This puppet king throwing a huge feast in front of this great throng, you know, as if he was really someone special. That's the picture. Furthermore, though, we also know We know from history, the readers would have known, and also from the end of the chapter, that these were the last days of the Babylonian Empire. This is the last night of the Babylonian Empire. Persian invaders had been camped outside the city for several years. Babylon was a strong fortress. Some of the walls were as high as 350 feet high in some places, 87 feet wide in other places. They had stores of food that could last years. They had a river flowing under the walls into the city that provided fresh water for them. So they weren't terribly worried, but even still, a massive army on this night was encamped just outside the gate, as they had been for years. Doesn't really seem like the best time to be throwing such a huge party, does it? It's amazing how the decline of civilizations, whether we're talking about Greece or Rome or America, it's amazing how the declining years of civilization are often marked by excessive revelry, loss of morals, partying, self-indulgence. Maybe Belshazzar is trying to drown his fears here. Maybe he's trying to forget and ignore the reality that is staring him in the face. Maybe he's deluded the prosperity of Babylon is going to continue forever, despite what the evidence suggests. Kind of like our culture here in America today, as if this is going to continue forever. Regardless of this, though, we must not miss the fact that the focus of this party is Belshazzar flaunting his status. He's boasting. The language is intentional. He drank wine in front of his lords and his wives and his concubines. He is the life and center of the party. And to top this off, he wants to do a party feat, as it were. He wants to wow the people and take things even a step further because he commands that the holy vessels from the Jerusalem temple be brought in to drink before them. He wants to boast. Boast of how great he is. Boast of the spoil of Babylonian conquests. But again, things are not what they seem to appear to be on the surface. All that glitters is not gold. The prosperity and the pomp here is deceiving. There's subtle hints all throughout this section that this is all a sham. Describing these vessels, in verse two, we're told that these were those that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple. That's a little subtle stab. Belshazzar, you don't have these because of your exploits, because of your achievements. Fact, scripture, and history don't credit Belshazzar with anything. He's just a footnote. Nebuchadnezzar is the one who had conquered kingdoms and built the empire. All Belshazzar could do is throw a party to the world and show and prove, by golly, I am somebody special. This is boasting. And as we think about all such boasting is empty, isn't it? Dehumanizing. Boasting is a form of bragging. It's making a show, trying to elevate our status, trying to elevate our own achievements. And we do this in our sin because more often than not, we know that we really aren't that special. feel the need to boast in our sin when we think that we don't get the attention that we deserve. That our achievements, that our importance, that our worth are not being properly recognized. Sometimes we boast because we know deep down that there's nothing really there, so we're trying to cover our shame, we're trying to throw up a smoke screen so that people might not see who we really are deep down. Boasting is empty. Boasting is evil. But what I want you to see here is boasting always leads to greater and greater sin. That's the real sin in this story, is Belshazzar bringing out these God's holy vessels to try to basically publicly shame Israel and publicly shame their God. It's an attempt to say, I am greater than the God of Israel. Even though I haven't accomplished anything. Even though chapter 1 verse 2 already told us that the only reason Babylon had those vessels was because the Lord gave them into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. He's going to take what is not His and what He has not achieved and act like all of it was because of how great He is. This is blasphemy. It's making a mockery of God. He's taking what belongs to God, what was sacred to God, to show public contempt for God, to boast of His power over God. And brethren, my point in this is that when we excessively value our own achievements and our own self-worth, we always by default end up showing contempt for God. Blasphemy in this sense, is taking credit for what is rightfully God's. Sinful boasting. It's our good looks. It's our wisdom. It's our riches. It's our achievements. It's our worth. It's our accomplishments. That because of our efforts, we have and enjoy everything that we have. And this boasting serves as an occasion for our own glory and our own self-indulgence. But brethren, the Christian life is, of course, in contrast to this. We are to live in the reality that everything that we have, we have received. As Paul says to the Corinthians, what do you have that you haven't received? If you've received it, then why do you boast as if you had not received it? The Christian life is the acknowledgement that even our own salvation is a gift from God. By grace you've been saved through faith and that is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God so that no man shall boast. It's a Christian life where we understand that we've been created by God and for God, for His glory and for His purposes. Christian life that when we come to the New Testament we find we don't find holy vessels that go in the temple in fact in Instead we find that in the New Testament. What are holy vessels in the New Testament? our bodies Our bodies which is why the New Testament says are you gonna take the holy vessel of God and join it to an idol? are you gonna take the holy vessel of God and defile it with sexual immorality to join it with a prostitute and Are you gonna take the holy vessel of God and praise and exalt your body, your achievements, as some sort of idol itself? The rise and triumph of the modern self? It's the same thing Belshazzar's doing here. It's why the New Testament says if you do this, if you take your bodies, your vessels, and defile them, if you turn to this idolatry, Judgment will come. We may not praise the gods of gold and silver, but in our boasting, we are elevating the creature over the creator, and that is idolatry, and that is the folly of sinful human boasting that brings judgment. Secondly, moving quickly, we can see the folly of human pride. Excuse me, that's fourth. Folly of human power, human power. a folly of human power. So there's this great boast. And in response to the boast and the blasphemy in verse five, we read that immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the King's palace. Well, this must've been quite a showstopper, huh? The haunting hand appears on the wall, and that's why the king responds like he does. His color changed, his limbs gave way, his knees knocked together. He was shattered. He was broken. He was dismembered right in front of everybody. Utter terror. However, it does not come out in the English, but this account is famous because it's full of puns and play on words. Literally, in the original language, which is Aramaic here, the text says that the knots of his loins were loosened. If I need to spell that out for you, that means a loss of bodily, control of bodily functions. In other words, it's saying that the king messed his pants. Talk about a party foul. You laugh at that. Yeah, I see you laughing at that. But you laugh at that rightfully so because that's the author's point here. He wants you to laugh at this. This description is poking fun at the king. It's carefully crafted so as to embarrass him so that we will laugh at him, the reader. In fact, that's even heightened as we work through the text. In verse 12, so after stating that the knots of his loins were loosened, in verse 12, the king says that Daniel is able to untie the knots for the king. And then in verse 16, Belshazzar himself says to Daniel, I hear that you can untie my knots for me. It's this repetition, this play on words that the author is trying and specifically depicting this king as an utter fool in front of this crowd. He's boasting of such great things. I'm just a really important guy. And yet in reality, he's like a toddler messing his pants. And he's bumbling and stumbling with his words trying to make sense of it. You know, the empty boasts of a toddler aren't very intimidating, are they? If you've raised children's children, then you know that. It's actually amusing. Three-year-olds defying their parents. You know, like drawing a line in the sand on the playground and saying, you can't tell me what to do. I'm going to do whatever I want. That's what's going on here. And Israel is to read this and to know, you think Babylon is this great kingdom? That this king is so powerful and so glorious just because he has world power and domination? Don't you see how empty and childish his boasts are? Don't you see how even the greatest kings of the earth can at a moment's notice be reduced to laughable folly? The same message is for us in our day, too. No matter how rich, no matter how powerful, no matter how influential men, celebrities, rulers, presidents may be, their boats are empty. Everything they have has been given to them by somebody else, God. And all it takes is the intervening word of God, and they are shattered. Jeremiah 23, 29, is not my word like fire, declares the Lord? Is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Belshazzar crumbled at the word of the Lord. Because it's not the sword, it's not the strength of men that humbles men and conquers kingdoms, it's the word of God. It is the Word that is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The Word did what the sword can never do to this king. And even though Belshazzar doesn't understand it, in some mysterious, ominous sense, he got whiff of the judgment of God that he deserved, and he was undone. This is a folly of human power. All men, all kingdoms have feet of clay, and the rulers and enemies of God in this world pose absolutely no threat to God and His people. because he is literally able to dismember them at the point of embarrassment at a moment's notice. And he does this through his word. The folly of human power. Thirdly, the folly of human ignorance. The folly of human ignorance. And what I mean by ignorance here is not lacking knowledge or information. You were ignorant of something that you hadn't been taught. I'm talking about willful ignorance here. This is what I mean by the folly of human ignorance. Ignoring, pushing out, or refusing to believe revealed knowledge and information. Here, Belshazzar is terribly disturbed by the handwriting on the wall. Like Nebuchadnezzar before him, he summons all his counselors and promises them anything, I'll give anything for exchange of my soul here, but they can't read it. In fact, verse eight says that they could not read the writing or make known the interpretation. This is a little bit odd because the writing is plain enough, it's Aramaic. Even though they couldn't interpret it, we might expect that, they should at least have been able to read it. We don't know why they couldn't read it. There's actually been a lot of speculation on this. Well, it was unpointed, which means there's no vowels, or maybe it was in an older form they weren't familiar with. I think this misses the point. The words were plain enough. I think God is illustrating for us here that you need spiritual eyes to understand spiritual truth. You know, just think of the prophet Isaiah and Jesus and Paul quoting Isaiah and how the people will hear but will not understand, the people will see but will not perceive. The Word of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is unintelligible to sinful humans apart from the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus told Nicodemus, unless you are born again by the Spirit, unless you are born from above, you cannot even see the kingdom of heaven, and see there means perceive or understand. It's God who must show mercy and save you before you can even believe. That's what's on display here. Even though the words themselves should have been like an adult taking a first grade level reading exam, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put the king back together again. But then the queen enters the room in verse 12. More specifically, this is probably the queen mother, maybe Belshazzar's grandmother. This would, in a position such as that, would have been a senior counselor to the king and thus that's why she would be able to enter his presence without being summoned. It also seems like she's old enough to remember Daniel's exploits firsthand. Daniel's probably in his 80s by this point. Nevertheless, here the queen mother comes in and she's the one who's depicted as knowledgeable, wise, mature, of course not drunk as well. And it's another stark contrast with this childish toddler-like king, another way of humiliating him, another way of pointing out that this guy is an utter fool. But he comes in and she immediately brings up how Daniel served and helped Nebuchadnezzar. And she concludes her little speech in verse 12 with instruction that really is more of a rebuke. Now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation. The gist of her message to the king is, Belshazzar, you're ignorant of what happened to your father. You failed to learn from him. You should have known who to turn to here. And this is only picked up by Daniel and escalated He's brought in in verse 13, and although it's subtle, again, we see the poor character of the king on display. He refers to Daniel as one of the exiles. You are that Daniel guy, right? He says in verse 13. You're one of those exiles. You're not one of the wise men, and not one of the men, actually Nebuchadnezzar had made chief of the wise men. No, he puts Daniel in his place. I'm the king and you're one of those foreign exiles. You're really nothing more than a slave. He even says in verse 14, I have heard of you, like in the sense of, you know, there's some fables going around about you, but I'm not so sure. I'm actually kind of skeptical. I've heard these things. You're going to have to put up or shut up. But notice how Daniel responds here. And this is really what I mean by human ignorance. Daniel doesn't respond with any niceties or salutations. This is a direct contrast to how he dealt with Nebuchadnezzar. Remember last chapter, he showed Nebuchadnezzar such great compassion and respect, both as a king and as a human being. But here he just says, You know, you're gonna promise me reward? Well, let your gifts be for yourself. My services are not for hire. I'm not here to please men. I'm not gonna be put under obligation by you to say this or that. These are the marks of a true prophet. The prophets of God, not motivated by financial gain, but those motivated by faithfulness to God and his word, even if it brings persecution. But then, just like Nebuchadnezzar was brought up at the party as the one who had captured the vessels, just as the queen brought up Nebuchadnezzar too, so does Daniel. In fact, from 18 down through verse 22, a long section there, Daniel goes on and on about just how great Nebuchadnezzar was. This is very intentional. Nebuchadnezzar is the one that God had given greatness and power. Nebuchadnezzar is the one that had kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. With all of this, he's saying these are things that he had, but you don't. In verse 19, Nebuchadnezzar, all the people's languages and nations trembled and feared before him. He doesn't need to throw a party to prove his greatness. And Nebuchadnezzar is your father. He says this a few times, Belshazzar, your father, not his literal father, but his predecessor, the father of your rule. Daniel wants the king to know that Nebuchadnezzar was the great one and that all that Belshazzar had had been given to him. He's trying to humble the king. He's trying to make him see the emptiness of his vanity, of his boasting, the impotence of his power. But even more than this, in verse 20 and 21, Daniel recounts Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation and restoration. and how he learned to confess that God, the most high God, rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. But you, his son, Belshazzar, verse 22, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all of this. Nebuchadnezzar was not just a greater man in an earthly sense. Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel makes clear, was a greater man in a spiritual sense as well. He learned from God and he amended his ways, but you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled and have not learned. You praise empty and lifeless objects, verse 23, while the God in whose hand is your breath and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. You see what Daniel's doing. He's indicting the king for his empty boasting. He's indicting the king for the facade of his human power. And he's indicting the king chiefly for his ignorance. He knew what had happened to his father. He knew how God had spoken to him and humbled him and broke him. Yet he hardened his heart. He refused to honor and serve the Creator, and He praised and worshiped the creation instead. This is but an illustration of Romans 1. Romans 1.21, sinful humanity. Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, nor give thanks, but claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immoral God for images of created things. Idolatry. Both the queen and Daniel indict the king for his ignorance, refusing to hear and heed what had already been revealed to him and what he already knew about God. And brethren, I hope you see here and feel this, that this is nothing less than an indictment upon all of sinful humanity. As I mentioned from Romans 1, we are all without excuse. What is true about God has been revealed to us. Yet in our sin we harden our hearts, we boast of empty things, we elevate created things over the Creator. That's why the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Think of this also in relation to Israel. In the exile, for more than 40 years, Daniel had loved and served Nebuchadnezzar. He was an instrument of God to change Nebuchadnezzar's heart. But just one generation later, The impact of all that was gone. That's why Belshazzar is a parody of Israel. Israel is to see themselves in this wicked king because they too, again and again and again, had forgotten, they had ignored, they refused to believe, they did not remember what God had done to their fathers in the exodus, in the promises of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And with each generation, there arose another generation, that haunting refrain in Judges, who did not know the Lord, And every generation, no matter what kind of spiritual progress had been made, they again and again turned back to idolatry. The message to them here is, eventually God's patience and mercy will run out. It's why the scriptures say, today is the day of salvation. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Folly of human ignorance, refusing to hear and believe and act in accordance with what we all know, what God has revealed in creation and in his word. Fourth and finally, this culminates with a folly of human pride. A folly of human pride. After contrasting Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar, inditing them for their ignorance, Daniel finally gets around to interpreting the message in verse 24. Mene, mene, tekel, parzen are Aramaic words. They form a sequence of measurements. And Daniel reads them as verbs. And if you read them as verbs, they read numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. Daniel tells us what this means in verse 26. Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. So in accordance with what God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar in chapter two, in accordance with what both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied, that night, the Babylonian empire fell. I mentioned earlier that the river Euphrates ran under the wall through the city of Babylon. Well, we know from history that the Persians diverted the course of the river, and they funneled troops under the wall in that dry riverbed, and that's how they overthrew the city. And that's what happened this very night as the king partied, as the king distracted himself with the pleasures of the world, and God said, tonight your soul is required of you. Sure, Belshazzar clothes Daniel with a purple robe and chain and makes him the third ruler of the kingdom. Why does he do this? Daniel had already refused that. Why does he do it when Daniel says you're about to die? We don't know. Speculation is maybe he was so drunk. So drunk that he didn't understand the interpretation. So drunk that it didn't hit home. So drunk that, like the Proverbs say, when you tarry over wine, your eyes see strange things and your heart utters perverse things. Maybe he thought that rewarding Daniel would change things. It doesn't really matter. The point is that he was foolish. His folly is on display, eating and drinking on the brink of the grave. Pride comes before fall, a haughty spirit before destruction. You reap what you sow. But the question that we need to ask here as we wrap up this last judgment, why isn't Belshazzar given an opportunity to repent? Daniel called Nebuchadnezzar did repent, but didn't say a word to Belshazzar. Why? I think the best answer is because Belshazzar already knew. He already knew. His day of repentance had passed. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar knew about the one true and living God. He knew all of what God had done for His Father, but He refused to listen. He refused to heed the Word of God, and thus it was too late. It's kind of like why Jesus didn't typically, normally evangelize the Pharisees. They already knew. They knew the Scriptures better than anybody, but they had hardened their hearts so long ago, there was no place left for repentance. Brethren, what a frightening warning. God resists the proud. And He gives grace to the humble. And you're not promised tomorrow. Not only you're not promised tomorrow, you're not promised the opportunity to repent tomorrow. You need the grace of God to repent. How do you know you will have that tomorrow? You don't. With this, Babylon's empire was brought to the ground. It's so ironic, the new Babel falls the same way as the old Tower of Babel, through the curse of incomprehensible speech and a dividing of the kingdom. Just like Egypt was overthrown by God's mighty hand hereto, the pen is mightier than the sword, as it were. And what Nebuchadnezzar saw and confessed is shown to be true, that none can stay God's hand. This is the folly of human pride. Unconfessed, unrepented of, it hardens and it brings judgment. Well, brethren, let's conclude this. And as we conclude, what shall we take away from this as we walk away today? I just want to say, in one sense, the ending of this story is a happy one. Because an enemy of God is humbled and overthrown. And blasphemy is punished. And we are to read this and see, you know what, no matter how powerful the mighty rulers of this world may be, all that glitters is not gold, and God will judge the wicked. and make no mistake about it too, God demands that the rulers of this world keep their hands off his holy things and his holy people. The state may run infinitely toward all other manner of wickedness and God may stand by idly, but when the state turns against the church, judgment always comes. This is a happy ending for us, in some sense. God will judge wicked rulers. But heading a little closer to home, of course, is the reality of the judgment aspect and the fact that God's word still whispers to us. Mene, mene, teco, perez. Whispers that to all of us. We may boast great things, we may take great pride in ourselves, but at the end of the day, all of our deeds, all of our accomplishments, all of our worth has been weighed in the balance. And it's been found wanting. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. So our days are numbered. And the little kingdom that we have built for ourselves in our lives, it's lost. even though we may distract ourselves, amusement and entertainment, even though we may close our eyes and suppress the knowledge of these things, even though we may praise the idols of this world as if they could save us, we have nothing that we can boast of before God. All of the idols of this world are false saviors, and they can only stand by like they did here and watch the kingdom be overthrown. The day of judgment comes, and they are no help. It's not the fun or inspiring part of the story, but it's the story that we need to hear that we cannot save ourselves, that our good deeds, that our righteousness have been weighed and it's not enough, and that we cannot presume that God will just forever show mercy. For he might say, tonight, fool, your soul is required of you. Do you see the handwriting on the wall? And yet, the fact that this story is before us today and God is warning us is proof of His benevolence and His love. And it's just so fitting, one church father commented here that the writing on the wall is a picture of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Word of God taking physical form in order to speak plainly to the Gentiles. And that's where our hope is found. Because He too was weighed in the balance. And He was found worthy. He was found perfect and complete in righteousness. And on the cross, He satisfied all the legal demands against us as well. And so now we can look and say, it's not our good deeds against our bad deeds. That is true outside of Christ. But in Christ, it's His good deeds that's credited to us. All that He has is ours. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He says that of you if you are in Christ. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. He says that of you if you are in Christ. Ask of me and I will give the nations as your inheritance. He says that of you if you are in Christ. The word then on the wall becomes the word that is true of you in Christ when you draw near to Him in faith. And that's why we read earlier as well that at the cross, Christ has canceled the record of debt. The handwriting on the wall with its legal demands, he set aside on the cross. And instead, there is a script written in the blood of the Lamb. You are worthy because he is worthy. But today is the day of salvation. You harden your heart to this, and there is no hope. I pray by God's grace that you see the glory of Christ today and come to Him in faith and put off all sinful boasting and arrogance and pride. Find your life and your salvation in Him, in Him alone. Let's pray.