The Night the Music Died Daniel 5:1-31 Sermon 05 August 1st, 2010   He’s been dubbed “King James” or “The Chosen One.” He’s reputed to be the billion dollar athlete, a global icon. In an interview in December of 2005 he said, “In the next 15 or 20 years, I hope I'll be the richest man in the world. That's one of my goals. I want to be a billionaire…And I can't do that now just playing basketball” Lebron James, Born in 1984 in Akron, Lebron James’ mother was a 16-year-old teenager. His father, an ex-convict, deserted his Mom, forcing her to raise LeBron by herself. In high school he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio and was highly promoted in the media as a future NBA superstar while just a sophomore in high school. At 18, he was selected with the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers and he signed a $90 million contract with Nike before he ever stepped on a professional basketball court. A few weeks ago in a much-publicized free agency process that culminated with a live ESPN broadcast…an hour-long special, dubbed "The Decision," which had the highest rating for any program that night and concluded with “King James” announcing that he wanted to be part of a championship team and thus, he was signing with the Miami Heat. To take a line from the movie, Titanic, right now Lebron James is the “king of the world.” Not only will he make $14.5 million next season, he has endorsement contracts with Nike, Sprite, Bubblicious, Upper Deck, McDonald's and State Farm. He’s ranked #1 in the Forbes Top 20 Earners Under 25 with annual earnings of $27 million. This morning though we want to talk about another “king of the world,” an ancient king who had a very tragic ending, Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians. His story is found in Daniel chapter 5 (p. 629). As we continue our series, Night Scenes from Scripture, this was The Night that the music died. We’re working our way Daniel 5 and how God brought a pagan king literally to his knees so you’ll want to turn there. Belshazzar’s Story: Ever wondered where a certain cliché originated? We use clichés all the time, often never giving them a second thought. Sayings like: Get your head in the game, Get out of my hair, or Handle it with kid gloves. Those are all clichés. Often clichés have significant historical roots. For example, the phrase “lock, stock, and barrel” is a synonym for totality. We say things like, “I bought the whole estate, lock, stock, and barrel.” This cliché originated in the 18th century and referred to a fully assembled musket which was made up of three main parts: a lock, a stock, and a barrel. When we say we’re going to “bury the hatchet,” we’ve decided to make amends with someone. That cliché came from Native Americans who’d literally bury their weapons—hatchets included—whenever they were smoking the peace pipe with another tribe. Daniel 5 is the source of another popular cliché: “The handwriting is on the wall.” It refers to something that’s obvious, ominous and imminent. The year was 539 B.C. The great city of Babylon faced a crisis of survival because the Persian armies had surrounded her massive walls. It was a city under siege. No doubt King Belshazzar sensed the terror of his people, so he stages a magnificent banquet to bolster sagging morale and to demonstrate his own faith in Babylon’s gods, not to mention her seemingly insurmountable fortifications. Babylon’s best days, the days of Nebuchadnezzar, are behind her. It’s a kingdom in decline.   Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, Belshazzar, is now on the throne. He’s co-ruling with his father, Nabonidus who spent most of his reign away from Babylon, attempting to secure the borders and strengthening the weakening empire. Because of Nabonidus’ extended absences, he appoints his son, Belshazzar, to co-rule with him. When Daniel 5 opens, Belshazzar has been left in charge of the famous double-walled capital city. He throws this morale building party because the enemies are literally at the gate. The empire of the Medes and the Persians is growing in power. In an attempt to end their threat to his kingdom King Nabonidus took the armies of Babylon out to fight against Darius, the king of the Medes and the Persians. But Nabonidus was defeated and fled so Darius and his hordes advanced, capturing every outpost until only the city of Babylon remained. They arrived and laid siege to the city but Belshazzar thinks, “Who’s afraid of the big, bad Persians?! I’ve got plenty of water! The Euphrates River flows right through town. I’ve got tons of grain stored—enough to feed the population for twenty years—so we’ll just wait them out.” And Babylon was impregnable, not to mention an architectural marvel. Two million people lived there making it easily the largest city in the world. A wide ceremonial boulevard ran down the city center 1,000 yards long—that’s ten football fields. A double-wall system encircled the main city. The inner wall was 21 feet thick and reinforced with defense towers at 60-foot intervals. The outer wall was 38 feet high and 11 feet wide; and also had watchtowers. Another defensive double-wall system had been added that ran for 17 miles and was wide enough at the top for two chariots to pass each other. And King Belshazzar is one arrogant dude, though he knew how God had humbled his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar and brought him to the end of himself. Daniel 5 alludes to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar’s experiences with God were well-known. Belshazzar no doubt had been warned of the coming “silver kingdom” that God said would destroy his empire. He’d heard Nebuchadnezzar share his personal testimony of his decision to humble himself and worship God—a lesson he’d learned the hard way by living like an animal for seven years or more. But King Belshazzar foolishly ignored all that God-given knowledge and refused to bow his knee to the one and only Most High God. To show his lack of fear of the enemy army encamped around the city and to boost the morale of those in his government, Belshazzar threw a party—a huge one. He invited a thousand nobles and broke protocol by telling them to bring their wives and concubines as well. Archeologists tell us that this party was held on the night of October 12, 539 B.C and they’ve unearthed the banquet hall where this party was held. It was one big drunken orgy. On this night Belshazzar and his buddies are on a bender. Intoxication was the main activity in that banquet room. But that’s not all they did. In that day it was considered improper for women to come to banquets. The fact that wives and concubines were invited tells us hunger and thirst weren’t the only appetites this banquet was intended to satisfy. Everyone knows that drunkenness and immorality go hand in hand. In fact, it was more of an orgy than a banquet. While Daniel 5 uses fairly restrained language, the author is making it clear that Belshazzar is giving free reign to any appetite his guests wanted to indulge...with him setting the tone with his own perverse behavior at the head table. Think Spring Break for rich geezers! But habitually indulging any appetite gets boring after a while, and Belshazzar and his guests got tired of their drunken orgy, so Belshazzar decides to push the envelope, growing even more brazen. Sin is never static. It follows the law of diminishing returns and the path of sin always leads downhill. One sin leads to a worse sin, which leads to an even worse sin and so on. James refers to this downward spiral when he wrote: “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). We see this downward spiral in verse 2 where Belshazzar gave orders to get the Temple goblets that Nebuchadnezzar had obtained some 65 years earlier when he conquered Jerusalem. They weren’t just abnormally valuable, more than that they were considered sacred objects. They’d never been used for anything other than the worship of the God of Israel, the God we worship every Sunday here at Grace. Belshazzar decides it would entertaining, it might take a little of the boredom factor away if he took these vessels, which were the expression of devotion and holiness for an exiled people and used them to mock their God and His warnings of this coming demise of Babylon by another kingdom that would supposedly conquer mighty Babylon. Please understand no other Babylonian king has been so perverse and disrespectful. No one else had the audacity to use these holy vessels. It’s clearly calculated to insult the God whose Temple had stood in Jerusalem. Verse 4 says, “As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.” Let me give you a contemporary analogy of what Belshazzar does. Picture a Sunday morning here at Grace. We’re having Communion and on the Communion Table are the little glasses in which the juice is served, honoring the death of our Lord. Suddenly, an inebriated man staggers down the aisle, grabs a cup out of the tray, dumps the juice on the floor and fills it with a shot of whiskey. He then turns around, lifts his cup to the congregation and shouts, “Here’s a toast to the Devil!” Essentially, that’s what happened on that fateful night in Babylon. Is it any wonder that God said, “Enough is enough. Your number is up!”? Proud Belshazzar hardened his heart against God which led him to make the very serious mistake of treating the holy as unholy. The word holy means “set apart for a special purpose.” 2 Chronicles 7 tells us that God Himself had consecrated Solomon’s Temple and everything in it, which included these goblets. God declared them holy, commanding that they be set aside exclusively for His purposes. These weren’t just any goblets; they belonged to God and were to be used only for worship in His Temple. Belshazzar knew better. He knew these were God’s goblets. He knew it was wrong to use them. In fact, that’s why he wanted to use them—he thought it would be fun to take something that was God’s...something set apart for His worship...to take something holy and treat it as unholy. I’m stressing this because in a very real sense we do the same thing. As Christians, we too are God’s holy vessels, set apart for His purposes. In the New Testament we’re repeatedly referred to as God’s saints or His “holy ones.” 2 Cor. 1:21-22 says, “God has anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us.” But do we always live our life in a way that is reflective of God’s ownership? Do we always live according to His will? Be honest and ask yourself: Am I treating myself as God’s holy vessel? Or, am I using my life for unholy things? Satan has no greater agenda than to desecrate what God consecrates. He wants to do with us what Belshazzar did with those goblets and take what God has declared holy and set apart, and use it for unholy behavior. Possibly as soon as the goblets were distributed, Belshazzar called for a toast—perhaps to the “impregnable” walls of his city. But as soon as he and his guests brought those holy vessels to their unholy lips for the first time something amazing happened. A hand appeared in mid air and the finger began to write on the wall. This was God’s hand—think about that! We’ve heard of the “unseen hand of God,” but with their own eyes Belshazzar and his guests saw the seen hand of God. Belshazzar’s face goes white. He’s so frightened his knees knock together and his legs buckle under him. Nothing sobers like crisis. Fear has a way of negating the effects of booze and God’s holy hand can be a very fearful thing. God’s finger wrote a terrifying message on the plaster wall of that Babylonian ballroom, a message that contained His judgment. The Most High God turned that ballroom into a courtroom and declared the King guilty. Belshazzar was understandably terrified and called on his wise men to interpret the words, but they couldn’t do it. His grandmother hears the commotion and urges Belshazzar to call Daniel. While Belshazzar had heard of Daniel, he didn’t know Daniel. Long ago he’d pushed that name out of his mind. When his wise men failed to interpret the words God had written on the wall, Belshazzar and his nobles continued to cry out and moan in fear. Their cries are so loud that Nicrotis, the last surviving wife of Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar’s grandmother heard. Think of her as the elderly Queen mother of Babylon. Queen Nicrotis would have known of Daniel’s skill and had seen all he’d done years before. Perhaps she was a friend of Daniel and may have even been a God-follower like her husband. It’s apparent she’d refused to debase herself by attending this “banquet.” She knows Daniel’s qualifications and told her grandson to call him in. Belshazzar does just that and offers Daniel the place of 3rd highest in the kingdom if he’ll interpret the words written on the wall by the hand of God. Now Belshazzar could only offer Daniel the place of 3rd highest in the kingdom...because he’s 2nd. Remember, his father Nabonidus was numero uno. By this time Daniel is in his 80’s. It’s been decades since he was called in to advise a king. He’s probably living in some sort of Babylonian retirement home. His hair is gray, his beard white. And after decades of retirement, this discarded, old prophet is once again brought forward to advise a Babylonian ruler. As he surveys this banquet hall, he sees what’s been going on. He sees the scantily clad women, the drunkenness from the wine that flowed like the Euphrates itself. Then his eyes land on those goblets, the holy vessels from the Temple. He probably hasn’t seen them since he was a boy, but he knows what they are. He knows their purpose. He knows that God had set them apart for a special holy purpose, so in disgust he says, “I’ll interpret the writing. But you can keep your gifts. You can’t buy your way out of your sin, Belshazzar. God’s judgment is coming and all the gold in your treasury won’t stop it.” First, Daniel reminded Belshazzar of what pride had cost his grandfather. He reminded him of Nebuchadnezzar’s “animal years” and of his decision to worship the One True God. Daniel also reminded Belshazzar that this was not news to him. He knew all of this, but in pride had ignored it and had chosen to diss the Most High God. Listen to Daniel’s words? “You, O Belshazzar have not humbled yourself—even though you knew all this. Instead you have set yourself up as the Lord of heaven.” It’s one of the most powerful phrases in the Bible. Daniel gets in Belshazzar’s face and says, “You knew!” It was bad enough that Belshazzar did the wicked things he did—but what made it worse was that he knew better. He was without excuse! God had given him a front-row seat to all that had happened to Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar knew about Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and their interpretations. He knew about the fiery furnace. He’d heard his grandfather’s testimony and knew Who God was and what He demanded…and still he willfully chose to do all he did. Before we judge King Belshazzar, let’s admit it—you and I sin in the same way! We avoid responsibility for knowing the truth because we want to do what we want to do. We have the Bible, we have God’s Spirit living in us. We know better but we still sin. We do what we want to do and don’t do what we don’t want to do all the time. We avoid thinking about, reading about, talking about, dwelling on, looking at that which might convict us, cause us pain, or call us to change. Be honest. Is there an area, several areas in your life where you know better, but you’re closing your eyes? Maybe you’re a parent and you’ve been making work an idol. You know your family needs you. You know your kids long to spend time with you but you avoid thinking about that reality. You’re closing your eyes to that truth—but you know that you know. Maybe you have a problem with anger. You use words that drip with sarcasm and contempt, and you avoid the hurt look in the eyes of your spouse or co-worker because you know that what you’re doing is wrong. Maybe God has blessed you, you know that you should give, that God should have priority over your finances but you want what you want…and you rationalize that you “need” those things. Maybe you have a neighbor in need. You know that you could help them, but to do that would mean giving of yourself—giving up time to do what you want to do and so you ignore them. You know better, but you still selfishly look the other way. Or, maybe you’re here this morning and you know that you’re not a Christian. You know that you need Jesus. A friend or family member has shared the Gospel with you, perhaps repeatedly. So, you know you should ask Jesus into your heart and life...but you know what that would mean...so you don’t ask. You resist God’s love. My friend, if you’re convicted in any way by this part of our text, don’t close your eyes. Don’t pull a Belshazzar. Don’t ignore what you know. Humble yourself before God and follow His leading! Remember—God has given us free will so we are responsible for acting on what we know. Daniel told the King that he’d refused to honor and worship the One true God and instead chosen to worship and praise gods made out of gold, silver, bronze and other materials, that Daniel quickly pointed out are not really gods at all. Daniel pointed out to the king that these gods couldn’t see, hear or understand anything, but he’d made the mistake of honoring and worshipping them instead of the God of Heaven who held his very life in His Hand. The Scripture doesn’t tell us at this point how Belshazzar responded to what Daniel was saying, but I imagine he was even whiter than he’d been earlier when He had seen the Hand of God. Having given Belshazzar some important background information Daniel came to the message itself, “This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. ‘This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians’” (vss. 25-28). Three little words compose the message, one of which was repeated. They seem to be Aramaic words. While these words may have been familiar to Belshazzar, the message was so terse he couldn’t understand it. It was a three point message from God. Daniel explained that the twice-used term ‘MENE’ informing the king that God had numbered the days of his kingdom and was putting an end to it. In effect, God is telling Belshazzar, “Time’s up.” ‘TEKEL’ meant the king had been weighed on the scales of divine justice and found deficient. The king had given God short measure. ‘PERES’ is the divine notification that the Babylonian kingdom was to be divided and handed over to the Medes and the Persians. Verse 29 describes Belshazzar’s response, which, like his life and administration, was found wanting. The king’s response to Daniel implies two sad realities. First, his response indicates that he believed Daniel had given him the true interpretation of the writing on the wall. He rewarded Daniel as he’d promised to anyone who could interpret the writing on the wall. By rewarding Daniel, he gave testimony to the truth of the interpretation Daniel had given. Surely he’d never have rewarded Daniel for an interpretation he believed to be inaccurate. But his response is sadly deficient. While Daniel is not said to have urged the king to repent, as he did with Nebuchadnezzar (4:27), prophecy affords sinners the opportunity to repent. Though Daniel does not indicate how much time is left for the king. We know from the final verses of the passage that the night would not pass before the king was put to death. For him, there were only minutes—maybe hours—to repent, and instead he blows God off…again. King Belshazzar seemed unmoved by Daniel’s admonishing, even insisting on rewarding him and giving him his reward. He put the purple robe on his shoulders and gold chains around his neck. He honored Daniel but not Daniel’s God. He went right back to his party, blind to the fact that, to use another cliché, “the party was over.” One of the greatest empires in existence was about to crumble in a single night. For two years the army of the Medes and Persians had had workers upstream digging a canal to alter the course of the river—dumping the water into a swamp. And on this night it was finally finished. They opened its sluice gates and the water level of the Euphrates dropped such that their troops could easily enter under the gates. They literally marched right into that “impregnable” city. The Babylonians surrendered without a fight and the only one they killed was Belshazzar himself. All others were spared, which explains how Daniel lived to serve God another day. Daniel intends for us to grasp this one thing: the Word of God is sure. God brought about the downfall of Babylon and Belshazzar, its king, just as He said. The history books provide details of this defeat, but Daniel underscores the one thing they all omit: the death of Belshazzar and the defeat of Babylon was the judgment of God on a city and a people who profaned the name of the God of Israel. God will not be mocked. What are the lessons for us? We see from our passage that the events of that fateful final night in Belshazzar’s banquet hall didn’t benefit him at all, so we have to conclude then that Daniel 5 was written more for our spiritual benefit than for Belshazzar. Let’s tie this up then by highlighting some lessons we should learn from the writing on the wall. 1. The sin of pride is deadly. Pride is the evil response of sinful men to the grace of God. It’s taking personal credit for what God has given or accomplished. Pride was the root sin necessitating the disciplining of Nebuchadnezzar, as we learn both from Daniel 4 and our text in chapter 5. Pride is also the sin of Belshazzar. It led to his blasphemous acts with the temple vessels and, ultimately, to his death. While the Bible views pride as a dreaded and deadly sin, in today’s culture, pride is seen more as a virtue. It’s not something people have too much of, but something they believe that they lack and need more of. Why does the Bible condemn individuals for thinking too highly of themselves and command them to do otherwise, while our culture tells us the great evil, the source of many social ills, is a lack of “self-esteem?” Isn’t self-esteem oftentimes just another name for pride? And when is it ever described, defended, or advocated in the Scriptures? Like his father, Belshazzar did not see God for who He is. He had no adequate grasp of the greatness of God, which always results in humility—a realistic view of ourselves. Only when we view God rightly do we see ourselves correctly. Pride swells our egos to the point that God is small and He can be controlled by us. True worship sees God as “high and lifted up,” infinitely wise and all-powerful. True worship causes us to fall before God in humble praise and adoration. To fail to acknowledge the glory of God and pursue and promote one’s own glory is to pursue death. We must not fail to learn this from the death of Belshazzar. 2. Secular wisdom is insufficient and inadequate. Three times in the first five chapters of Daniel, the wisest men in the land were summoned by the king to tell him the truth which had been divinely revealed. Each time, the wise men were forced to acknowledge their inability to do so. Secular wisdom can never provide the answers for the all-important, spiritual and eternal issues of life. Romans 11:33-36 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay Him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.” So then why would a Christian turn to secular wisdom for all that’s essential for life and godliness? Aren’t the Scriptures sufficient? Is the Cross of Christ not the solution for sin? What does a lost world offer that’s better than the Bible has to offer? Frequently, Christians are turning to secular wisdom for truth, guidance, and direction, when the Book of Daniel directs our focus to divine revelation. It’s time to get back to the Book! 3. God’s hand is seen throughout human history. This divinely inspired account of the fall of Babylon differs greatly from that of secular ones. And how and why Daniel differs is both significant and instructive. Secular accounts focus on the political and administrative blunders of Belshazzar and Babylon. Daniel focuses on the moral failures of Belshazzar and the nobility of Babylon. Secular history looks at the death of Belshazzar and his kingdom from a political point of view. The Bible describes the same incidents from a spiritual worldview. The moral failure was that of pride. The sin was that of blasphemy and failing to give God the glory which is His. Secular accounts focus on the diverting of the river which passed under or through the walls of Babylon, while the Bible focuses on divine judgment. The city fell because this was God’s judgment on a wicked nation and a wicked king. Daniel 5 describes the hand of God in the writing on the wall, but it also describes the hand of God in the history of Babylon and of Israel. To Belshazzar the “hand of God” was a bizarre and frightening thing. To the Christian, seeing “the hand of God” in history should be a constant mindset and a source of encouragement. 4. God wants us to learn from history. While Belshazzar’s punishment was revealed by the writing on the wall, this king’s sin was the result of his failure to heed the lessons which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had learned. The basis for Belshazzar’s judgment was his failure to heed history and the lessons of his father. All Belshazzar needed to know in order to honor God and be spared from divine judgment, he already knew. But he failed to act on what he knew from history. Even when the day of judgment was revealed through the writing on the wall, he still refused to repent. When you and I stand before God, all of the Bible will be the basis for divine judgment. We can’t say we didn’t know better nor can we plead ignorance. No one, in all of time, has been given so much revelation as we. So what have you done with the revelation you have received through the Bible? As God held Belshazzar responsible for what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar, so He will hold each of us responsible for what has happened to men through history, as revealed in His Holy Word. We must learn to heed the lessons of history. 5. The judgment of God is certain. Daniel 5 is the inspired account of the judgment of God, falling upon Babylon and upon its king, Belshazzar. How sad to read of a king who parties while his kingdom crumbles, and who fails to repent even when the day of judgment is divinely revealed to him. Refusing to heed the “hand-writing on the wall,” he was judged for it. The final minutes of life were spent in matters pertaining to his earthly kingdom, rather than in seeking entrance into God’s eternal kingdom. The judgment of Babylon and of Belshazzar were certain. They were also imminent. Yet the king never seemed to grasp this and act accordingly. His actions are typical of all who are blinded by sin. Conclusion: Belshazzar was the “king of his world.” In moments it was all gone. “King James” or Lebron James today seems to have the world by the tail. He’s sitting on his throne but at best, it’s a temporary throne. This past week I was talking to a young man who’s had some serious brushes with the law. I asked him about his future plans. His goal, his plan for his future and getting out of his current issues was that he was going to play professional football. Aside from the fact that very, very few of all of the kids who play high school sports are good enough to even play in college, much less play professionally, there’s another issue. You see, a little known fact is that most professional athletes from the three major sports are completely broke and deep in debt shortly after retirement. And it’s not like today's players aren’t aware of the many horror stories of players of yesteryear who, because of their lack of job skills, injuries and bad financial dealings, become nearly destitute. Yet, today nearly 80% of players in the NFL are hovering near or are in bankruptcy just two years after retiring from the game. In the NBA, 60% of its players are broke within five years of retirement. Will Lebron James ever be a billionaire? Will he ultimately lose it all as so many have? I don’t know. I do know this that unless he’s a believer, unless he commits his life to King Jesus, all the power and all the money in the world – like Belshazzar – will do him no good. It matters little if one is rich in this world, if you are bankrupt in the next. As Jesus said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37). Belshazzar didn’t just lose his life, more importantly, he lost his soul. He refused to repent and turn to God. My friend, on the day that God writes your name down and calls your number, will you also lose your soul? If you’ve never repented and run to the Cross, run to Jesus today!