Daniel 5 - The cycle of bloodshed and judgement The chapter begins with an abrupt start. It’s an abrupt introduction to a King Belshazzar. It begins with a scene of a king holding a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and a party that flowed freely with wine. As the chapter begins an abrupt start, there was equally an abrupt ending to Nebuchadnezzar’s story. There is no mention of the continuation of Nebuchadnezzar’s life or even death. And we remember last week that the last words of Nebuchadnezzar that he acknowledges the one and true God. He was humbled by God and learnt the lesson of his proud and boastful behaviour. As we see the abrupt start of the account of King Belshazzar, we know from the reading today that his father is King Nebuchadnezzar. Since then 66 years has passed when Daniel was first deported to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar had passed away. The kingdom of Babylon still stands and Belshazzar takes the throne as his father goes out to war. But why is there a chunk of history left out in the book of Daniel? What happened to Nebuchadnezzar? Daniel is silent in these matters and he doesn’t explore the whole history of the reign of Babylon. Why because Daniel reminds us that he is only concerned with the spiritual concerns between God and His people. Daniel wants to show how our sovereign God deals with the world today. Daniel lived in a world that was volatile and ever changing. The life of Daniel and his friends was like a roller coaster ride, one minute they were elevated to leadership in the royal courts, and the next minute they find themselves fighting for their lives. And our world is no different from Daniel’s world. The world is a volatile place where each day has its joys and worries of its own. We find that the world is a dark and broken place. There are threats of violence and bloodshed each day that take us by surprise. There was the shock of the Boston bombings and even just last week the shock of a terrorist attack in London where a British soldier was brutally hacked to death by two men armed with axes and a gun all in the name of Allah. And close to our hearts our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East find themselves face with violence, torture and persecution on a daily basis. There are stories of Egyptian Christians who find themselves thrown into prison on blasphemy charges for insulting Islam with little or no evidence just because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Even in villages in

Egypt when there is a dispute between a Christian and a Muslim, the Christian community living in the village are forced out of their homes and their land taken away with the police and soldiers turning a blind eye with all that is happening. In this broken world, we often ask ourselves where can we find justice in the world? As we study Daniel chapter 5, we find true justice by the judgement of God.

Déjà vu (Daniel 5:1-5) Given the abrupt start to Daniel 5, we can’t help to sense the feeling of Déjà vu. The account plays out as though history is repeating itself. Obviously King Belshazzar didn’t quite get a chance to read the history book of the King’s of Babylon, in particular the chapter in how Nebuchadnezzar’s pride got the better of him. King Belshazzar’s behaviour in fact is no different from his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. And so the chapter begins with Belshazzar throwing a great party for his nobles to show off his status and power as the king. But Belshazzar was only a young king and in his short time in power he has little to zero credentials to show that he is a great and successful king. On the other hand King Nebuchadnezzar through out his lifetime has become a god like ruler to his people, he was able to conquer the entire known world during his time. And his greatest achievement was the conquering of Jerusalem and we remember from chapter one that the articles he took from the temple of God were Nebuchadnezzar’s prized possessions. And the young King Belshazzar was trying to gain credibility in the eyes of his officials and tries to outdo Nebuchadnezzar, which we see in verse two he orders his officials to bring in his father’s prized possessions in to drink wine out of them. And then we see in verse four he praises the goblets and gives toast to the life less idols of his religion. King Belshazzar was a king that lived life on the edge. He didn’t have a care in the world. Everyday for him was a party and it was a party that never stopped. He didn’t even care about the consequences of his actions and was went happily went about insulting anyone and everyone possible as he drank out of the goblets from the temple of God. But Belshazzar unknowingly insulted, and sinned against the almighty God. The God of heaven, the God who gave Israel into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands and the God who drove Nebuchadnezzar to live like a wild beast for seven years. Like Nebuchadnezzar before him, Belshazzar wanted to be their own gods, both of them lusted for power and both wanted to be in control of their destinies. Both disregarded consciously and unconsciously rebelled against God. And Daniel reminds us the reality of what the broken world looks like. Each day, each week, each year, each decade and the who of the worlds history as we look back at history, we cannot help to sense the

feeling of déjà vu of the never ending cycle rebellion and sin against God. Ever since Adam and Eve failed to obey God’s words in the Garden of Eden, by eating the forbidden fruit. The rebellion against God, has dominated the rest of humanity and the apostle Paul sums this so accurately in Romans that there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. There is no one who does good, not even one! It is not just Kings, presidents or prime ministers in this world that rebels against God and His ways. In fact the events of the famous Para Olympian, Oscar Pistorius who shot her girl friend, Reeva Steenkamp highlighted a greater issue of the brokenness of this world as a consequence of our rebellion against God especially in South Africa. Four days before Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend, Reeva wrote a message to the world from her computer “I woke up in a happy safe home this morning. Not everyone did. Speak out against of individuals in South Africa.” This one single message and the death of Reeva brought to light to the world the bed of violence that South Africa lives day in and day out. In fact a survey from the United Nations in 2011, that South Africa had the 10th highest murder rate in the world and with rape becoming more common, where nearly half of the rape victims were under the age of 16. And the dark history of the apartheid in South Africa has made its country and its states a lawless country, and as a result that not even the government can protect their own people. We can praise God that we don’t live in a country like South Africa. But even as we look around us in Australia, Daniel reminds us of a broken world. A world that lives lawlessly against God, a world that rules and governs without God, and a world that revolves around a never-ending cycle of rebellion and sin against God. And we ask if this cycle will ever end? And Daniel himself would have asked the same question if this cycle of godless fearing kings would ever end?

A warning to the whole world (Daniel 5:5-23) As Belshazzar drank and partied the night away, he didn’t have the care in the world. His attitude was to eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Except for the case of Belshazzar he was going to be slain that very night. In the middle of his partying, we see from verse 5, Belshazzar catches a glimpse of a hand without a body magically writes on the wall. Perhaps this was a neat party trick by one of the magicians? But this was no party trick in fact this was a warning from God. A warning unknown to Belshazzar and one that causes him to release his bowls like a little schoolboy who had just seen a ghost. Again like his grandfather before him calls all the wise men, astrologers and diviners in the land and again they fail with their human wisdom to interpret the writing on the wall. But like the whole book of Daniel, we again see God’s power at work. His sovereignty is shown powerfully through His actions. By His sovereignty, the queen mother probably Nebuchadnezzar’s wife as we see in verse 12 that she remembers that Daniel, a person full of the spirit would be able to interpret the writing on the wall. It’s a comparison that Daniel was brought in because of the failure of the King’s wise men. And God’s sovereignty works out that he muddles the wisdom of the wise and only God in His sovereignty provides Daniel the power to interpret the writing. As Daniel interprets the writing, we see from verses 18 – 21 that he reminds Belshazzar of the history of his grandfather. He reminds the fact that Nebuchadnezzar’s pride got to his head and for seven years by God’s power and authority he was driven to live with the animals. And by God’s grace, Nebuchadnezzar had sense to acknowledge that there was one higher than him and the Lord God who rules not just over Nebuchadnezzar, but the whole world. But as God deals with Belshazzar through Daniel, we see from verse 22 onwards that God does not show any grace: Dan. 5:22 “But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Dan. 5:23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not

honour the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. This was not a warning, but this was God’s judgment on Belshazzar’s life and it his attitude towards God sealed his fate. Daniel explains to us that Belshazzar actually knew the consequences of his arrogance against God. It was more than just his arrogance; in fact it was Belshazzar’s ignorance. He was ignorant of the history of his grandfather of how Nebuchadnezzar’s pride got the better of him. And he was ignorant of God’s revelation to Nebuchadnezzar that God is the one who rules the world, which served a warning of judgement if he exhorted himself above the Lord God himself. The warning signs of judgment were there but he was ignorant enough to eat, live and be merry and living life as though there were no consequences. As Christians we shouldn’t be ignorant of the coming signs of judgment. Jesus has revealed to us that the world will come to end. He warns his followers and the rest of the world of the coming judgment, but there are things that will take place so we don’t become ignorant of what is to come. In Matthew 24, when Jesus’ disciples marvelled at the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus revealed to them that one day that not one stone would be left on another. Jesus revealed further the warning signs of the judgement of God saying: Matt. 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Matt. 24:7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Matt. 24:8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. As we look around the world today, these signs have already begun. There is an uprising in the middle east of revolutions that have caused numerous wars. There is the war in the western world against terrorism. Not just war but recently we have seen disasters of the Oklahoma Tornado that took hundreds of lives. Friends what we are witnessing is the beginning of God’s judgment upon the world. God’s final judgment is coming and it is coming soon. The rumours of war and natural disasters are God’s impending judgment on the world. As Christian we should not be ignorant about these things because Jesus is coming soon to bring justice to the world once and for all.

Judgement Day (Daniel 5:24-31) It was that very night that Belshazzar had his life taken away from and not only his life but the whole kingdom of Babylon as we see from verse 30: Dan. 5:30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, Dan. 5:31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. Why did judgement come upon Belshazzar and not Nebuchadnezzar? Was it because Belshazzar drank from the vessels of the temple of God? Well it couldn’t be, because Nebuchadnezzar’s sin against God was just as great as Belshazzar. But we need to understand that God is god and by His sovereignty he chooses to who will have mercy and he will choose who will have judgement. Does this sound familiar to you? We see in scriptures that he shows mercy to Abraham. We see in the scriptures that God loved Jacob and hated Esau. And we see God harden the heart of Pharaoh, that through God’s judgment the world may see the power of God and be proclaimed in all the earth. We even see in the world around us where God could use natural disasters to judge nations. Like the events of Boxing Day tsunami to show God’s might and power to the whole world. In God’s power he might even use nations to rise above other nations. God in his power could have used the even the events of 9/11 with the collapse of the twin towers to humble a great nation of America. Well just the thought of that makes us feel uncomfortable. How can a God be just if he allows these horrifying things to happen? How can God be just? Well remember a couple weeks ago that God had the whole world and the whole of history in his hands? And through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue, Daniel explains that nation will conquer nation and this was God’s revelation to the world and us. God would not be just if he didn’t control the course of history. God would not be just if he didn’t humble nations and kings. And God would not be just if he just stood back and let humanity to rule itself. In fact God displays His power to us today to show that He is coming soon.

He is coming soon because he will finally bring justice that we are all longing for. A day that is the Lord’s day and Peter reminds us in 2 Peter 3 that the: 2Pet. 3:10 …day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2Pet. 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. Conclusion The finality of judgment, judgment day provides us a hope as Christians that one day that we will be with God in the new heaven’s and new earth. Where we will be finally be at home at God. The cycle of bloodshed, of suffering, of pain and of judgment will come to an end. And the injustice of the world that we see today will come to an end with the coming of Jesus as the judge of the world. And we pray and cry each day “come Lord Jesus come!” Amen.