Well today, as we work through the text, there are a lot of conclusions and punchlines at the end of our passage today. And so what we'll do is we're gonna start by quickly working through King Belshazzar's speech, like a couple of kind of, I guess, running commentary, a couple of comments as we go, as we work our way through King Belshazzar's speech, and move quickly to that of Daniel, who preaches after receiving a word from the Lord, preaches to the king and the surrounding lords. And so we'll start in verse 13. 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 think we begin to see, we began to see some of the character of King Belshazzar last week as we saw kind of the disgraceful actions that he was participating in. And we see something similar taking place here. There's kind of like a question, right? Like, why didn't Belshazzar call in Daniel in the first place? They already went through this situation with Nebuchadnezzar decades before, where he tried working through all the wise men and they didn't have the answer. Daniel had knowledge and wisdom and understanding. And then Daniel ruled in the kingdom. We don't know for how long, but Nebuchadnezzar reigned for a significant while. King Belshazzar not know who he was? Was he a guy that just kind of ignored history and the stories of his family? Or was he actually rejecting God? The Queen Mother kind of seems to share with him last week as if, hey, I'm gonna remind you some basic history here, but we quickly see in King Belshazzar's responses here that he's actually sharing things that the Queen didn't share with him. So he seems to know who Daniel is. He seemed to not want to deal with him and Daniel's God, which makes sense if you just tried to show yourself to be over the God of Daniel. Now you need him to help you out. It's not exactly a good look for a king. And so King Belshazzar immediately tries to place himself in a position of kind of power over Daniel. He doesn't refer to him by his title. I don't know if Daniel's title would have been Vice President Daniel or something, but he doesn't refer to him as his title, but in fact actually kind of references to him as a slave. You're one of the exiles of Judah, right? The one my grandfather brought in, kind of captured and drug into town. Immediately showing disrespect and trying to place himself in a position of power. See this go on in verse 14 when he says, 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. It's interesting, the queen mother actually, he seems to be repeating back what mom said, But the Queen referred to him as having the spirit of the holy gods, and here Belshazzar removes the adjective holy, again kind of diminishing whatever authority and ability Daniel has, placing himself in a position of power over him again. And then he almost seems to kind of be like, here, give it a shot. In verse 15, when he says, now the wise men, the enchanters, they've already 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 from you that you can give interpretation and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make note to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and you shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. The same thing I promised to them, I'll extend to you. Everyone's watching, everyone's around. A thousand lords have been gathered. I'll give you clothing, I'll give you wealth, I'll give you prestige, I'll give you power. And Belshazzar almost seemed to be forced to offer this to the man that he was just mocking moments before. Daniel is not having any of it. I think what we see actually in our passage today is a very good example of what expositional preaching looks like. God has written, Daniel takes that interpretation and delivers it in front of the king and his people, and delivers it in a way that will land for them. He rebukes them, calls them to repent, We'll see that as he then preaches in the next verses. And so if you're taking notes today, the question that we'll be answering is the same question that we had from last week. What are we to learn about the Most High God from the story of King Belshazzar? What are we to learn about the Most High God from the story of King Belshazzar? And what we're going to see is that the Lord is building a case against King Belshazzar to indict him and bring him to judgment. Our first point this morning is this. Our most high God rules over all the kingdoms of mankind and sets over them whom he will. Our most high God rules over all the kingdoms of mankind and sets over them whom he willed. This idea, this understanding of the power and authority of our God has been repeated throughout the book of Daniel. And we're gonna see that Daniel is going to recount some history to King Belshazzar and make sure that this lands home. Verse 17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be for yourself and give your awards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. I want to make a couple of things very clear here before we move on. I don't think Daniel's being rude. I don't think he's being, I don't know, sly, like trying to be retributive. You disrespect me, King, I'm gonna disrespect you back. Daniel is going to give him the truth of the situation. He's going to interpret him the words that the Lord has given him. But the king needs to understand, he needs to have that hardness of heart broken through And so he's gonna preach to him, and he's not gonna be bought off by any presence from the king to change the interpretation. I think it's also important to note that if you've been with us throughout the series in Daniel, this is a different response than Daniel has to King Nebuchadnezzar back in chapter two. In Daniel chapter two, Daniel accepts the gifts of the king, and here he does not. We're not told exactly why. Maybe Daniel realizes that the kingdom is falling tonight, and so being third in command for a few hours isn't exactly that great. Maybe he doesn't want to accept any position under King Belshazzar, we don't know. But I think what's important for us to understand is that in our lives, in the Christian life, we can be in very similar situations, and we're not commanded to act the same every single time. Daniel, on one hand, accepts a position of authority so that he can have influence and protect his people and proclaim the truth and rule in light of the Lord, and at another time, decides that it's not his place this time. We don't need to act the same way every single time. In fact, we actually should be wisely looking at the details of the situation that we're in. The situations that we're in have different people, different circumstances, different external realities. These should all factor into our decisions as believers whenever we're trying to make a wise choice. So Daniel rejects the king. and opens up with a history lesson. 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. And listen to what Daniel says next. Whom he would, he killed. Whom he would, he kept alive. Whom he would, he raised up. And whom he would, he humbled. There have been a few leaders through history whose will is the law, who do not get questioned when they decide that they want something or to do something, and King Nebuchadnezzar was one of those. absolute, unbridled, unchecked power. It's kind of staggering when you think about it. And I actually think that this is a bit of a call-out moment to King Belshazzar. Belshazzar is trying to exalt himself. He's putting himself higher than God. He's trying to place himself higher than Daniel. He's posturing himself in front of all the leaders in the city and a party. And Daniel comes up and says, you're not as great as your father you're claiming. And in fact, Belshazzar, your name isn't even the one on the decrees that you're signing. Your dad's is, who's not even around. Daniel immediately humbles King Belshazzar. And then he points out the contrast of what King Nebuchadnezzar's response was when God came into the scene and called him to repent. In verse 20, But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he, King Nebuchadnezzar, 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. Bel Shazar knows this story. I mean, think about you for a second, right? You know the stories of your grandparents. You know where the family bodies are buried. I mean, we don't even live in Washington, D.C., and we know who the rulers of our country were 20, 30, 40 years back in some of the drama that surrounded them, right? Of course, King Belshazzar knows who Daniel is. I mean, you and I know who Dick Cheney or Al Gore are, right? That's 20, 30 years ago. This is Daniel we're talking about. And not only that, not only is it his family, not only is it his politics, it's his industry. This is what King Belshazzar is supposed to be knowing about and doing. Not only that, King Nebuchadnezzar signs edicts that have to go out to all the land proclaiming honoring to the King of Heaven. King Belshazzar is not just unaware, he's repeatedly pushing against the King Most High. He's pushing against the Jewish God, the true God. Our most high God rules the kingdoms of mankind and sets over them whom he will. And Belshazzar is repeatedly pushing against this. I think it's important to think about our text in light of who it's being written to today. There's a couple of people, right? It's written in Aramaic, it's written to the world. God is making clear who is in charge. He is calling anybody in positions of authority to repent and not be prideful in their hearts, but understand who really is the king. And he's writing to Jews who maybe under King Nebuchadnezzar have been kidnapped, pulled away from their land, from their families, and pulled into the city of Babylon and forced to live there. Or maybe now under King Belshazzar, we're talking about the kids, the grandkids of these people who've grown up their entire lives watching this kingdom that they've been pulled into crumble and fall apart. Think about being a Jew in this situation, right? You are trapped within the city walls. The king is off throwing a party. Would you be angry? Would you question the Lord and his sovereignty? This message is to both the world broadly, but it's also to God's people. We need not be so small-minded. We need not be anxious when the world starts to fall apart around us. We need not get depressed when our leaders are weak and want to do things their particular way. We need not be We need not become more and more like the world as the years drag on. Instead, we need to be reminded that the Lord is a God who keeps his promises and is in absolute control. As a little bit of a spoiler, the kingdom that's going to conquer Babylon, the Medes and the Persians, are gonna be the same kingdom that released the Jews back to their homeland. We don't always have the full story in the moment, We might be in a situation where we're being attacked. What would that look like today? We might be in a situation where planes are flying overhead and bombs are dropping. But the Lord might be using that for his people's good in a way that we cannot see. What would the Jews be being called to do in this moment? They would be called, I think, in part to make sure their families are safe. It's a dangerous situation they find themselves in. But they'd also be called to remind themselves who the Lord is and so continue to live lives of personal holiness with whatever situation God has placed them in. That's what Daniel's doing. Daniel's being called in before the king, and he is continuing to live out the truths of the word of God. Might we be people in similar situations that would hold firm to the promises of God and understand that he is at work? Our most high God rules the kingdoms of mankind and sets over them whom he will. And I think this text actually should be an encouragement to us. We can fall into so many different traps. We could think that as we look at our rulers, our military rulers, the leaders of nations, the executives of megacorporations, the local mayor or police chief at the local precinct. As we have interactions with any of those people, where's the Lord? Why am I getting punished? Another fine? What's going on? More sin in my city? More things being impressed on my children in the education in our town? God is in control. We might be concerned that we need to fix the problem. If we have opportunity, and that's what the Lord is calling us to, great. On one hand, Daniel accepts the position of political responsibility, but in another moment he doesn't. If you have opportunity to engage in politics or in your company or in your family, in your neighborhood in a way that allows you to have influence, praise the Lord. But we don't need to fix the problems of the world. They're in God's hands. And we should be looking for the greater story that God is writing. God is moving history in preparation for Christ's return. In this story, as in every other story in the Old Testament, we are seeing a repeated example of the importance of repentance, of the problem of sin, of the problems that both the Jews and the world have in breaking God's law. And we don't want to be caught off guard now in the New Testament for when that day of judgment will come. So let's be concerned with our own personal holiness and the positions and places in which God has given us. Something I appreciate, it's a small detail here, but the Queen Mother and King Belshazzar knew Daniel by his Jewish name. Not the name that the King of Babylon had given him. The testimony of Daniel was so consistent and was so faithful to the life of the Lord that that was what he was known for. He wasn't known for slowly falling into the sins of the age. As the passage continues, we're gonna see some repeated content. The book of Daniel is set up in a very particular way. I don't want us to just hear these things that we've heard in the previous couple of weeks and just be like, okay, cool. The story keeps moving on. I want us to see that this actually is very important kind of focal point for the book. We talked about when we first began in the book of Daniel that Daniel chapter one is a kind of introduction. But then as the book of Daniel goes on, Daniel chapter 2 through chapter 7 is in Aramaic before it switches back to Hebrew in Daniel chapter 8 to the end. What we see is actually in both the first half of the book, chapters 2 through 7, and the second half of the book, chapter 8 to the end, is something called a chiasm. Chiasm is a kind of an old literary device that we see pop up in a lot of ancient literature, but in particular all throughout the Bible. And it's a literary device, kind of based on the word chi in Greek, or an X, as you'll see, where we see what we should be interpreting in light of what, and what is supposed to be the focal point of the story. I think it's on the screen now. You can see that Daniel chapter two is a prophecy of four kingdoms. We got the vision and dream of King Nebuchadnezzar on the metal statue. In Daniel chapter 3, we see that there is a trial of God's faithfulness. Nebuchadnezzar sent Daniel's friends to the fiery furnace. In chapter 4, there is a prophecy to a pagan king, and Nebuchadnezzar is forced to repent. But then notice that same exact content continues in the reverse order. It's not exactly the same, it's not a repetition, but the same themes are being pulled out. In our chapter today, chapter five, there's another prophecy to a pagan king, but this time Belshazzar is unrepentant. In Daniel chapter six, we have another trial of God's faithful, and we'll see the story, the famous story of Daniel in the lion's den. And in Daniel chapter seven, we get another prophecy of four kingdoms as Daniel receives a vision from four beasts coming from the sea. And so what we're supposed to do with this is you interpret kind of the latter chapters in light of the connected passages up above, but our attention is being drawn to the middle. The word chiasm, meaning X, you can kind of see, I guess, it's pointing us to the middle. It's like a crosshair. And it's really wanting us to nail down what exactly is the point of the story. And so the point of the story in Daniel chapter 4 and Daniel chapter 5 that Daniel wants the world to see, he's writing this in the language of the people, is that God is the king and you need to repent world. And so we will repeatedly see this come up over and over and over again. We saw that come up right now in Daniel's proclamation to King Belshazzar, and now we're going to see it as Daniel indicts the king. What do we learn about the Most High God from the story of King Belshazzar? If you're taking notes, The next thing we see is that our Most High God humbles those who will not humble themselves. Our Most High God humbles those who will not humble themselves. In the face of repeated history, in the face of his past, in the face of Daniel, King Belshazzar does not break. 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 the vessels of his house you have brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, 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. Belshazzar wants to play the role of a mighty king, but the reality is it's his very breath. The oxygen in his lungs are in the hand of God, and at any time, the Lord can crush his hand, and Belshazzar would be no more. And not only Belshazzar's very life, every phrase, every part of Belshazzar's life is being directed by the true king of kings, who is in control, and whose are all your ways. We see here that before Belshazzar can claim any kind of ignorance, Daniel cuts him off at the pass. You see that verse 22, though you knew all this. He knows from his past, but also all men know there is a Lord who has all justice and goodness, who created all things, who is beautiful and whose ways that we should follow. Instead, mankind as a whole rejects this God. And Belshazzar, even with the content that he knew, rejects and turns to other gods who will let him live the way he wants to live. Belshazzar wants to party. Belshazzar wants to be seen as all powerful. Talk of the town. I'm not gonna worship a God who makes me smaller, who makes me humble myself. I think we see this in our own lives, right? The lives of those around us. On the one hand, it saddens us when we interact with people who have heard the truth of the gospel and continue to reject it over and over and over again. And what they want instead is some cheap knockoff version of life, some internal desire for pleasure or their own understanding of what right and wrong are, instead of turning to the Lord who will give them goodness and joy and life and community and mercy and grace everlasting. But I actually think part of the message of this chapter isn't that we should just be sad when we interact with these people. I think it's that we should be angry. King Belshazzar is blatantly, flagrantly declaring that the Lord is not all that. And in our lives, people who choose the idols of our age, you and I could probably both recount them. That's a positional power in your workplace, whether that's the amount of dollars in your retirement account, whether that's the pleasure that you want to have in building your life the way you want to build it, doing whatever you want to do. People fall into the idols of this age all the time and are rejecting the true king of heaven. People are defaming God. They are mocking him. So does that mean that we come out screaming and yelling every single time? No, but sometimes it might be appropriate to call out the seriousness of what is going on. Daniel is, before all the Lord's present. We might think of not just the people in our own lives, we might think of political leaders. We might think of so many people, but I think in reality, we should turn our hearts and look at ourselves. I think the reality is that our own hearts, left to our own devices, end up looking more like Belshazzars than we think. How often do our own hearts reject the Lord and cling to some status that the world has created? It's so fascinating here in this example, Belshazzar, he's both degrading the God of heaven while trying to compare himself and pulling himself into the class of somebody else, right? He's trying to compare himself to Nebuchadnezzar. We do this in our hearts constantly. People disparage the life of the super rich and yet try and position themselves as being well off and established and having a good kind of life. People, you know, mock those who have particular passions and throw their lives behind, you know, whatever the reigning kind of political activism movement or nonprofit of the day is, and yet they build their lives around, but I'm connected to this group and I go to these events. We constantly are pulling ourselves in different directions trying to compare ourselves to other people and mocking other people in order to pull ourselves up and make ourselves look good. What that is is it's pride. We're deciding what the scales are. We're deciding what the weights are. instead of looking to the Lord. I don't think all accomplishments are bad. I don't think saving up for your family and providing a roof for them is a good thing. I like going to graduation parties. We don't measure ourselves, though, based off degrees or square footage or asset size. We look to the Lord. So I do want us to consider this question here today. What accomplishments, assets, or connections do you use to feed the idols of your heart rather than humbly steward them for God? What accomplishments, assets, and connections do you use to feed the idols of your heart rather than humbly steward them for God? You can quickly know when life is getting hard, what do you turn to to make yourself feel good? What do you go to measure yourself? What's the scoreboard in your heart that says, okay, no, I'm actually doing okay? We live in such a blessed society in so many ways. We can choose between hundreds of jobs. We have so much stability in so many ways. We have such a high level of freedom. Yet with all of that degree of possibility and control that we have, it's an opportunity to steward much for the kingdom of God, not build our own kingdoms and castles here. We need to help ourselves reframe those things at which we've been given. God has given you parents that supported you when you went through school. God is the one who introduced you to your spouse and gave you the life that you have. God is the one who gave you that great deal on your house. God is the one who gave you your kids and your grandkids. They're all gifts from him that we're to be stewarding for him in his glory But instead I'm sure you feel that nefarious pull in your heart just like I do. Say these things are ours. May we be more like the wise and prudent manager who is faithful with what we've been given. Maybe not look anything like the gross example of King Belshazzar. And use whatever we want to worship whatever we want. Lastly, in our text this morning, we come to that prophetic message that the whole chapter has been moving towards. Join me in verse 24. Then from his presence, the hand was sent. So Daniel's saying, from God's presence, this hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed, mene, mene, tekel, and parson. 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 Persians. Then Belshazzar gave the command and Daniel was clothed with purple. A chain of gold was put around his neck and the proclamation was made about him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. So if you're taking notes, The last thing that we should take away this morning is this. Our Most High God fulfills His promises to judge the kingdoms of this world. Our Most High God fulfills His promises to judge the kingdoms of this world. I think we need to understand that the finger of God that etched into tablets of stone the Ten Commandments has shown up and drawn an epitaph on the palace of King Belshazzar. In judgment, God has come, and using language around weights and measures, has declared that King Belshazzar is a lightweight. Mene is repeated here to draw attention. Just like Jesus would often say, truly, truly, I say to you, it's like mene, mene. He's repeating that this thing is certain. God has numbered the days of King Belshazzar's kingdom. Just as we heard back in chapter two, the golden head is being toppled and being given over to the silver torso and arms of the Kikmedes and the Persians. It's done. He's had years to repent. Tekkel is a significantly lighter weight and measure. Significantly. It's like, imagine like hundreds of like, I think menes or 250 grams or so. Tekkels would be like one. It's so much lighter. And King Belshazzar has been personally weighed against God and found wanting. It's like your kingdom is brought to an end and you, King Belshazzar, you are nothing. You think you're great. Absolutely found wanting. Some of your Bibles might say at the next word, farsen or you farsen. You is just the word for and there, so farsen. And then when Daniel interprets it, he says peres, it's just singular and plural of the same word. And it means divided. So it's a half the weight of a meneh. It's a divided thing. The kingdom of Babylon has fallen. It's been broken in half. That which was a great weight is now no longer gold, but is silver. At this point, even though Daniel has rejected the reward Belshazzar offered, and even though I'm pretty sure King Belshazzar doesn't want to give it to him, The gifts were promised in public and so they're given to Daniel, the only one who has found the spirit of the true living God. Not that those gifts last particularly long, for that very night the empire of Babylon falls. And what happens to King Belshazzar? Well, by the end of the night, his lifeless body is dead on the palace floor, and the God whom he was mocking, he meets in person in condemnation that night. The king of kings has spoken, and what he has declared comes to pass. He's not like the kings of this world. He is in absolute control. You know, in the final days of Christ's life, he had many similar warnings to God's people that actually Daniel gives here to the kings of Babylon. Christ gave warnings about building bigger barns. What are you storing all this stuff up for? Christ gave warnings about being prepared for the day of judgment, because it will come like a thief in the night. But one passage in Matthew 25 in particular stands out. It should be a familiar passage to many of us. Jesus declares to all those listening in the temple, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on the right, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The true king of kings, one day will come an absolute judgment. And when he sits on his glorious throne, the throne that his father, not even some weakling like King Nebuchadnezzar, but the true Lord of hosts has given him, he will gather all the nations of this world to himself. You thought Babylon was mighty. Christ has the entire circumference of this world wrapped in his hand. And out of every single one of those nations, he will pull his people out. The sheep will be separated from all those unrepentant like Belshazzar. And they'll be given a new and marvelous and everlasting kingdom. And not just be a part of it, we'll have a chance to rule in it, to steward it with the Lord. In that kingdom, Christ will be judge. There will be no mocking of God. There will be no internal pride. There will be no sin that causes pain and hurt. That kingdom is a great gift that we have to look forward to. And so when we find ourselves in situations in this world that are painful, that hurt, let us remember that our Lord is in charge. And maybe we remember that we can have the response of Job, of turning to the Lord as he did in the beginning, and not like the response of Job's wife, telling him to curse God and die. So brothers and sisters who are here today, Kill these sins. Find those idols of the heart that you are so quickly to draw a scoreboard up against and use what the Lord has given you to feed some other understanding of this world and replace it with the understanding that there is a true king and he has given us the playbook to understand things by. And the way we should understand things is by His grace, by His mercy, by living out the way He's told us to live, not living out the way, the things of this world. And if you are not a Christian and you are here today, I hope you hear that no nation of this world, that no culture in this world has the answer that we're looking for. There's no internal sins of this age that will satisfy that internal desire that you feel, or that I hope you see. There's a lack in the way that people live. And instead, Christ extends mercy if you repent. If you turn to the Lord and say, God, I am continuing to live in a way that I ought not. Help me, Lord. Forgive me, Lord. Help me to live as you have called me to live. He is faithful to forgive us. Praise the Lord that one day we will all dwell in the kingdom of marvelous light. Let's pray. And so, Lord, we turn to you in gratitude and thankfulness for this lesson that you've given us over and over again in the book of Daniel. Lord, that we must turn to you. Lord, that we must understand that our hearts are being pulled away. Lord, we thank you for every gift that you've given. We thank you, Lord, for every right perspective that you've given. Lord, that we might be able to live wisely. Help us, Lord. Help us to remember again your mercy. Help us to remember again your ways. Help us to live out a life that is so different from the world that we don't get confused with it. Thank you for that example in Daniel. But Lord, we thank you primarily for that example in Jesus Christ, who did not live the ways of both the fallen Jewish society or the fallen worldly society around him. But instead, Lord, lived out your ways perfectly. Lord, help us again today to turn to you and put to death those idols that try to compete with you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.