The Man Who Could Not Be Bought
Sermon Transcript
0:00:14.0
Well, I have good news for us today. The kind of news that hopefully you’re going to say, “I’m so glad I came to church this morning.” You ready for this? We’re all invited to a party. Oh, come on, you can do better than that. We’re all invited to a party! That’s right. And that party is found in Daniel 5. It’s an ancient party. We’re going to go back in time almost 25, 2600 years ago to one of the most notorious parties in human history. Let’s begin in Daniel 5:1. “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 [actually, his grandfather] 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 and 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.”
0:01:42.2
Well, Daniel 5 starts with a big party, a great feast that King Belshazzar put on. That’s a new name for us in our study of the book of Daniel. We’re used to King Nebuchadnezzar. But about 23 years have passed between Daniel 4 and Daniel 5. Nebuchadnezzar, who was the longest reigning monarch in the Babylon Empire more than 25, 2600 centuries ago, is no off the scene. And his grandson Belshazzar now sits on the throne. And Belshazzar throws this big party. He’s got an enormous guest list, about 1000 of his lords and his nobles and the reigning people in the Babylonian government there. And he invites them to a big party.
0:02:36.9
Now, before we go to that party and see what that’s all about, just a historical note here. Daniel 5 is one of those places in the Bible where God’s Word is proven trustworthy. If you have any doubts that the pages of scripture, this Bible from Genesis to Revelation, is the Word of God, here is one of those little places where it’s always kind of fun to drop in an example of the trustworthiness of scripture. Over the years not a few Bible critics have stumbled over this passage and have pointed out the apparent discrepancy in the passage, because it refers to Belshazzar the king when most ancient historians record Nabonidus as the last king of Babylon with no mention of Belshazzar. You say, well, what’s up with that? Is the book of Daniel wrong? The critics of scripture will say, “See, it’s not even in line with ancient historical documents.” I say not so fast, because, as I often say, sometimes it takes archaeology a little bit of time to catch up to what God already knows. The Nabonidus Chronicle, which is known as a Babylonian cuneiform document unearthed by archaeologists actually confirm that both the Bible and ancient historians were correct. They bring these two documents together. This Babylonian document discovered by archaeologists revealed that Belshazzar was the eldest son and co-regent with Nabonidus. And together they reigned over the Babylonian Empire from 553 to 539 B.C. Now, this perfect explains why later in Daniel 5 Belshazzar offers to the wise guys of Babylon and later to Daniel some rewards in the form of money and promotion to power to the third ruler of the kingdom. Why the third ruler? Well, because Nabsonidus and Belshazzar were co-regents, co-kings. Again, I just think it’s wonderful how in time the archaeologists turn enough shovelfuls of dirt to discover things like this that always…archaeology always proves the Bible correct. It never proves it wrong. Now, we may have to wait for archaeology. Sometimes even science to catch up to what God already knows. But the Bible is the Word of God and it is trustworthy.
0:05:21.7
Now, back to the party. I promised you a party this morning, right? So we’re going to go back to the party. And here is King Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, throwing a great feast, a great party with more than 1000 of his closest friends on the guest list. And if you’re old enough to remember the Hollywood movie Animal House, this is that kind of party. You can decide not to come. But we’re going to go to this party and find out what it’s all about.
0:05:50.0
There are really three characteristics of this grotesque display of debauchery that we can highlight. One is the drunkenness. The wine flowed freely. They drank wine in front of the thousand, it says, of Belshazzar. He’s got wine for everybody. The wine never ran out. This show of drunkenness reminds me of Proverbs 31:4-5. I wonder if King Solomon later had Belshazzar in mind when he wrote this. He said, “It is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all of the afflicted.” King Belshazzar drank, and he forgot some things that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar learned. He forgot the decrees and the dreams and the interpretation of those dreams. Because the reason this party in ancient Babylonian history is the most notorious party in human history is because this is the night the Babylonian Empire fell to the Medes and the Persians.
0:07:06.9
Drunkeness characterized this party, also fluent morality. The moral restraints have been lifted. Why do I say that? Because in ancient times it was highly unusual for women to be present at a party like this with the king and his nobles. But women are all over the party. The kings wives—yes, plural—his concubines—yes, plural—they’re all part of it. And you’re mind…don’t let it run too wild with imagination, but you can imagine what’s going on with the drunkenness and the mixed genders and all of that.
0:07:42.9
The third aspect of this scene is described by the sacrilegious-ness of King Belshazzar. Because it says that he asked for the sacred vessels to be brought to him. Remember in 605 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar led the charge and they besieged the city of Jerusalem and took to Babylon and into captivity the best and the brightest of the young Hebrews? And that included Daniel and his three friends. Well, they also ransacked the temple in Jerusalem and took all of the sacred vessels, including the gold goblets. And they brought them back to Babylon, and they put them in the temple of their gods. Well, Belshazzar says, “Bring me the goblets! Brings me the goblets!” And he fills them up with wine and raises a toast to the pagan gods of Babylon. He toasts the god of gold and silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone. How sacrilegious can you be?
0:08:50.1
Belshazzar has taken the evil and the grotesqueness of Nebuchadnezzar to a whole new level. At least Nebuchadnezzar’s heart on occasion—and we think even as he ended up—was leaning toward the one true God of Israel. Belshazzar defies the Lord God. The name Belshazzar means “Bel will be king.” And many believe that as he is beginning to see the Medes and the Persians moving in on the great city of Babylon and upon the Babylonian Empire that he calls this party and raises this toast in national pride. And he says,
“No, Bel, Baal, the pagan god, will be king, and I will be king.” It’s just a grotesque display of arrogance and pride. He is taking it to a whole new level, and the false security of the king is on display here.
0:09:51.1
By the way, this night and this party and what happens on this night is not only a fulfillment of Daniel 2, but it’s also a fulfillment of a prophecy by a contemporary prophet named Jeremiah. Read Jeremiah 50 and 51. It describes the fall of the great Babylonian Empire on a night when the leaders stumbled around in drunkenness. Isn’t it amazing how precise the Word of God is when it predicts the future?
0:10:25.0
But this is the night spoken of in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream back in Daniel 2. Do you remember that story about the great colossal image, the image that started with gold and went to silver, bronze, and then iron, and then down to the legs and feet was a mixture of iron and clay? And it was a picture of the panorama of world empires to come, starting with the Babylonian Empire as the golden head. But the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar learned, would ultimately fall. And it fell to the Medes and the Persians. The Medo-Persian Empire pictured in the chest and arms of silver, those two empires that came together. And then the Medes and the Persians eventually fell to the Grecians, the Grecians to the Romans. The Romans fell of their own doing. We await in Bible prophecy for the future rise of the revived Roman Empire, and now we’re to the end of the age.
0:11:29.9
But here on this night we go from gold to silver just as God predicted and just as He predicted through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and also through Jeremiah’s prediction as well. It’s a reminder that God will not tolerate arrogant self-sufficiency for long. He raises up some. He puts them down. He decrees the existence of these world empires.
0:11:58.7
So that’s a description of the party. Now, every party that you can think of, a good party usually has somebody who wants to crash the party, right? You ever crashed a party before that you weren’t invited to? Well, there is a party crasher that appears beginning in verse 5. It says, “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.”
0:13:10.9
So somewhere in the middle of the evening while the party was going hardy and the king and his nobles were probably a bit inebriated but not so much that they couldn’t recognize what was happening on the wall, there was a hand that appeared there. You ever heard about the handwriting on the wall as it relates to Daniel? This is the scene. This cryptic looking hand appears on the wall and begins writing a message. Belshazzar picks up on this, maybe out of the corner of his eye. We don’t know exactly. But he loses all the color in his face. Just like Nebuchadnezzar’s dream frightening him, this vision frightened Belshazzar. And what’s the first thing he does? Well, he does just like old granddaddy did. He calls in the wise guys of Babylon- the enchanters and the astrologers and the Chaldeans. And he says to them, “Guys, if you can interpret that for me, I’ll give you great wealth and authority and power. I’ll make you the third ruler of the kingdom.” And just like before, the wise guys of Babylon cannot interpret the vision.
0:14:21.9
Now, hold your thoughts right there. Dr. John Walvoord, who was the past president of Dallas Seminary and chancellor when I was there at school, has done some excellent research in the book of Daniel and has written a fine commentary on the book. And he adds this historical note, very interesting. He says, “In the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace archaeologists have uncovered a large throne room 56 feet wide and 173 feet long, which probably was the scene of this banquet or this party. Midway in the long wall opposite the entrance there was a niche in front of which the king may well have been seated. Interestingly, the wall behind the niche was covered with white plaster as described by Daniel, which would make an excellent background for such a writing.” Again, isn’t it fascinating and confirming to our faith and our trust in the Word of God that when archaeology discovers something, it reads just like the Bible does. This is not fantasy. This is not “once upon a time.” You won’t find unicorns and fairy dust in the Bible. This is real people in a real place and time in history. And archaeology confirms it in some amazing ways.
0:15:37.7
Well, the wise guys of Babylon cannot interpret the dream and the vision. And so the king finds himself in a difficult place. He is perplexed. The color in his face has left him. He is clearly bothered by this. And all of his guests have picked upon this. Something is not right. That’s when in walks the queen mother. Let’s read on in verse 10. “The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared…” Now, let me just stop right there. This is probably not the king’s wife, but the queen mother. Some scholars would say probably it’s the living wife of King Nebuchadnezzar, who was already gone. She isn’t invited to the party or she wasn’t at the party. All of Belshazzar’s wives and his concubines are there. She just appears at this moment and says, “‘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.’” Does this sound familiar? She probably learned this from her husband, Nebuchadnezzar. “‘In the days of your father…’” Now, in ancient times, father and grandfather were kind of synonymous terms depending upon…you know, no matter the length of the generational span. So, again, Belshazzar is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. “‘In the days of your father [or, your grandfather] light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him [that is, Daniel], and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father [your grandfather] made him [that is, Daniel] 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.’” The queen mother shows up and says, “Son, you need some help. You need to call on Daniel.”
0:17:54.8
By the way, one of the great themes in the book of Daniel is this idea that human wisdom is weak and powerless. And over and over again the wise guys of Babylon have been shown to be weak and powerless. Or, as Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, that “the wisdom of God makes foolish the wisdom of men.” And it does. Over and over again. All of the human sources we go to, to solve the problems of our day, to solve our personal problems, to solve our country’s problems, to solve the geopolitical problems of our day and our age, all of those human sources will ultimately fail. And this was proven over and over again there in the book of Daniel.
0:18:44.6
And so she says reach out to Daniel. Somebody said, “At some point, everybody calls the preacher.” Better sooner than later. But when you get to the end of yourself and the end of your human (0:19:00.1) resources and all the wise guys and wise gals that you’ve sought short of seeking out God, eventually you call the preacher. Maybe the preacher has an answer here. And this is what the queen mother is doing. “Son, you need to call Daniel just like your grandfather did.” And so Daniel comes.
0:19:21.8
Why isn’t he already there at the party? Why wasn’t he invited? Some speculate that Daniel has been in exile. Or maybe he’s retired. Again, it’s about 23 years between chapter 4 and chapter 5. Daniel is in his 80s by now. He is a senior statesman. We’re reaching the end of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity that was prophesied. So again, maybe Daniel is in exile, maybe he’s in retirement. Belshazzar reaches out to Daniel and speak to him as though he is speaking to him for the first time. (0:20:00.0) It gives you some indication that Belshazzar was not like his grandfather.
0:20:06.3
It says in verse 17, “Then Daniel answered and said before the king…” And this is after Daniel had been brought before Belshazzar. And he reviews some of the history with Nebuchadnezzar. You know, “Your grandfather this and your grandfather that.” Daniel basically says to Belshazzar, “You never learned the lessons of your grandfather.” And Belshazzar says to Daniel, “I’m going to cut you the same deal I offered to the Chaldeans. If you can interpret that dream back there, that vision back there, then I will shower you with wealth and make you the third ruler of the kingdom.”
0:20:50.0
And Daniel answers him, verse 17, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.” This is why I called Daniel the man who could not be bought. Basically, he says, “Belshazzar, keep your bribes. I’m not for sale. And this is what we love about Daniel. This is why Daniel is such an example to us of somebody who stands strong in his faith. He is a man of great courage and great competence. He has risen to the pinnacle of success as a Hebrew in a Babylonian culture. And he is man of great character. While others could be bought and sold for a price, while others could be bribed, Daniel says, “Keep that stuff to yourself, but I am going to I interpret the vision for you, king.”
0:21:48.4
And here is the summary of it. The party’s over. The party’s over. Daniel goes on in verse 18, “O 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 peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him.” He goes on to review the history of his grandfather again, again reminding him, “You have not learned the lessons of your grandfather.” Verse 22, “And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven.” And he goes on to describe the putrid sacrilegious-ness of Belshazzar’s actions of taking the sacred vessels and using them to toast the gods, the pagan gods of Babylon.
0:22:47.2
Let’s just pause right here for a moment. Has God put in proximity to you anybody who is a godly example? You who may identify with Belshazzar more than Daniel, has God put anybody near you who is a godly example? A father? A mother? A grandfather? A grandmother? Maybe a friend. Maybe a neighbor. Somebody who is a godly example but you never learned the lesson from them. Maybe it’s somebody who had a past that was really difficult. They learned some hard lessons like Nebuchadnezzar did, but they eventually came to faith. And here this person is in proximity to you, and God has put that person there for you to learn lessons. But, nope, you haven’t learned the lessons. You’ve remained in your arrogance. This is what Belshazzar does. And it’s a painful, painful lesson for him to learn.
0:23:49.6
Daniel goes on in verse 24 now to interpret the vision. “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.” Now Belshazzar, in his inebriated state, is leaning forward. This is what he wanted, the interpretation. Daniel says, “And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. 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; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” In other words, “Belshazzar, the party is over. The party is over.” Somebody once interpreted this, “You’re number is up because, king, you don’t measure up; and now your kingdom is broken up.” No wonder the color left the king’s face. No wonder he was fearful even though he didn’t know the interpretation of it. And as Daniel delivers the interpretation, it is not a good message.
0:25:01.7
Daniel speaks to Belshazzar with a tone that you don’t hear him using with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar at least had a heart that was a little bit pliable. That, every time something happened, “Yeah, Daniel, you're God is the one true God.” It took a while for that to stick with Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar has taken the evil and the paganism of the Babylonian culture. He is fully into it. He has drunk it up full. And now the night has come.
0:25:37.1
Verse 30, “That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.” From the standpoint of Daniel 2 and Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, we’ve now gone from gold to silver, just as God predicted. Just as Jeremiah the prophet predicted from the Lord as well. I mean, his prediction was out there. And Belshazzar not only didn’t learn the lessons of his grandfather, but he was like that drunken king made mention of in Proverbs 3. He didn’t pay any attention to the decrees of God. And it caught up with him one day.
0:26:28.0
Now, a lot of parties that you go to have what are called party favors, right? They’re kind of take-homes from the party, maybe a goblet with the name of the party and the date on there and it commemorates. Maybe you get a t-shirt or some other party favor that the party organizers come up with. So I’ve got some party favors for us, some take-home party favors by way of applications and principles that we can learn.
0:26:53.8
The first is this- excellent character wins. It wins over and over and over again. In God’s time and in God’s way, when you do what is right like Daniel did, character wins. Look at verse 29. “Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a 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.” I mean, Daniel is this man who has just got impeccable character. We’re going to learn next week in Daniel 6, the great story of Daniel and the lion’s den, that there was something like a congressional investigation that was set up to find something, some dirt on Daniel by which they could throw him into the lion’s den. They could find nothing on this guy except that he prayed to his God. And I guess that was against the law. He’s one of these guys in the Bible that you go, “How do I rise to the level of Daniel?” He just a man of impeccable character. He always does what is right, doesn’t count the cost against himself. His three friends did the same thing. His character wins. His character wins in the end. God honors that.
0:28:25.7
A second take-home party favor goes like this- empires rise and fall by the decreed will of God. That’s one of the overarching themes of Daniel. It is God who raises up kings and who raises up empires for His own sovereign purposes. And He puts them down for His own sovereign purposes in His own sovereign time as well. We see this in the dream that was interpreted in Daniel 2. The first portion of it that was fulfilled in Daniel 5. We see it in Jeremiah’s prophecy. We’ll see it as we continue on in a study. Daniel 7-12 really get into the end of the age and Bible prophecy from our point in time in history.
0:29:18.2
But it begs the question, what about the United States of America? I mean, we’re not a world empire, but we’re a superpower, right? We’ve got the biggest, strongest military on the planet. Nobody is going to come overtake us. But we could just as easily fall. The Roman Empire didn’t fall because there was another empire that had a stronger military that came against them. The Medes came against the Babylonians, and the Grecians came against the Medes and the Persians. And then the Romans came against Greece. But nobody came against Rome. Rome just crumbled from within for a whole host of reasons. And we look forward in Bible prophecy to the end of the age to a revived Roman Empire. We’ll talk more about that as time goes on. But here we are in the 21st century living in the United States of America, this superpower. And we know from Bible prophecy and history that superpowers and empires don’t last forever. Most democracies only last a few hundred years. Are we in the twilight of our time as a nation? That’s a fair question to ask. I’ll go on record as saying I really don’t see the United States of America specifically in Bible prophecy from this time forward to the end of the age. What happens to America? We could speculate about that all day long. I just know this. God will not tolerate defiant arrogance and the sacrilegious treatment of His truths and His principles.
0:31:03.9
I begin to shake and shudder on the inside when I read headlines recently about some elected officials that are now on record in favor of infanticide. Are you kidding me? We’re talking about the murder of born children, not just children in the womb unborn yet. Abortion is what it is all the way back to the moment of conception. But now we’re talking about something that only ancient civilizations who were pagan and devolved did. The sacrifice of children? Are you kidding me? And we now have officials that are on record saying, “Oh, yeah,” and hiding behind a woman’s right to choose and all of that. Do not defy the one true and living God and think that you can get away with it forever. Oh, we can line up a whole host of reasons why America can say, “God bless America,” but we’ve got to be “blessable” and be in a place where we’re worthy of God’s blessing. And this is the time, friends, this is the time for God’s people to pray. I mean, Daniel made a difference. He was God’s man in a godless culture. And our culture has become very Babylonian. It just has. And it hasn’t taken but less than a generation to get there. The mighty Roman Empire took about 70 or 80 years for it to completely fall. Started in about 375 A.D., and by 470-some A.D. scholars say it was gone. It takes about that long. Sometimes overnight, you know, like the Medes and the Persians who came and took over the Babylonians. But sometimes these superpowers, they take some time.
0:32:57.3
I don’t know what God is going to do with America, but here is what I say. It is time for God’s people to pray for two things- for revival in His church…and when we pray for revival that starts at the house of God. Spiritual awakenings happen out there in the culture among the unbelievers, but revival must start at home with God’s people. God, revive our hearts. Cleanse us from anything that is not rightly related to you. And that begins with you and me personally and us collectively as a church family and across the globe as the body of Christ. And then we pray for a great spiritual awakening from sea to shining sea. There have been two, maybe three spiritual awakenings in the history of our country. We need another one, friends, or I don’t see this going well for our country. Because God will not tolerate such defiance for long. He is a patient and long-suffering God, but He decrees the rise and the fall of empires or superpowers.
0:34:05.2
And finally the last take-home party favor- only a fool defies God. Belshazzar was the king of the mighty Babylonian Empire. He had that on his resume, but he was a fool. A fool in every sense of the word. A drunken, morally debased, sacrilegious fool. And he reminds me of a guy that Jesus told a story about in Luke 12 known as the rich fool. You remember this guy? The rich fool who had no orientation in his life to God, but, oh, he had learned how to make some money. And he was a rich fool because he tore down all of his barns and built bigger silos for bigger stores of grain. But he was rich, but he wasn’t rich toward God. And the angel of the Lord came to him and said, “Tonight your soul is required of you.” And as quickly as Belshazzar died the rich fool died. I see a comparison. What the rich fool is in Jesus’s parable in Luke 12, Belshazzar is a kingly rich fool.
0:35:18.3
And it’s a warning to all of us, isn’t it? It’s an encouragement for us to stand strong in our faith like Daniel did. But it’s also a warning to learn the lessons of Nebuchadnezzar, to learn the lessons of Belshazzar, to learn the lessons of the Babylonian Empire, not to mention the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, the Roman Empire, and to learn all the lessons of Bible prophecy. It’s time for the church to wake up. It’s time for the church to pray. It’s time for the church to be revived. It’s time for our nation to be awakened and be one nation under God again. Let’s pray to that end. Amen? Amen.
0:36:21.0