A warning message for hardened sinners (Sermon 8)
Date 13 01 02 Text Daniel 5 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
What I have for you this morning I have entitled ‘A warning message for hardened sinners’. We are all sinners, of course, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and need to repentant. From the moment we know that we ought to repent and yet do not do that, we are hardened sinners, sinners who have resisted the gospel. When I say ‘This is a message for hardened sinners’ you may think to yourself ‘Does that mean me?’ If you know you ought to repent and trust in Jesus Christ but you haven’t done that then you are a hardened sinner. There is such a thing as being more or less hardened. The case we have here of Belshazzar is an example of someone far gone in hardening his heart. He stands as a warning to all who have hardened their hearts or are tempted to harden their hearts.
Daniel Chapter 5 is a famous chapter of the Bible. Perhaps you know it well. You may have seen pictures of the fingers writing their message of judgement on the wall. In English we have that saying don’t we ‘The writing is on the wall’? It means as here ‘A disaster is about to happen’. I want us to look both at Belshazzar, a hardened sinner who we must not follow and Daniel the preacher whose message we must all heed if we are to avoid the disaster that came to Belshazzar.
As we have said before, Daniel’s service under four kings is covered in this book. We have looked at his service under King Nebuchadnezzar in Chapters 1-4 and then the two visions he had (Chapters 7 and 8) in the early years of Belshazzar. Now we come to the last year of Belshazzar, some 50 years after Daniel arrived in Babylon as a young boy. We know from elsewhere that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus who was the king who succeeded Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar reigned c 605-562 and Nabonidus 556-539, the last six years involving a co-regency. For the last 10 years of his reign Nabonidus was away fighting in central Arabia. It would seem that Belshazzar, the crown prince, reigned in that period. Much of the power was with the Queen Mother who appears to feature in this chapter.
It is clear that by this time Daniel is a forgotten man. Since Nebuchadnezzar’s time he has been marginalised, sidelined, forgotten. God still remembers him, of course, but to Belshazzar he is a nobody, until suddenly the king sees he is the most important man in the kingdom – but it is too late. It’s like doctors and nurses. Who worries about where to find one when they are well. But when you are sick and in need – that’s a different situation. Who needs preachers? The hardened sinner comes to a sermon like this and he thinks ‘May be I’ll listen; may be I won’t. It doesn’t really matter.’ Such an attitude could cost you your life.
Let’s look at Belshazzar and at Daniel then, Belshazzar the hardened sinner and Daniel the faithful preacher, and at what happened in far away Babylon so long ago.
1. Hardened sinners
1. Their character
1 They ignore the truth. It is staggering to think that although Belshazzar had grown up in Daniel’s life time and must have at least heard about what happened to his grandfather – the dreams and Daniel’s interpretations and the period of madness and the decree to worship the true God, etc, yet he did nothing about all that. He just ignored it. He forgot about it. Are you the same? Beware.
2 They live for pleasure. The very first thing we read about Belshazzar is in verse 1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. I suppose it could be taken as a note of the generosity of Belshazzar or his conviviality but bearing in mind everything else that we read here about him it points to a sensuality, a lust for pleasure, that was allowed to dominate everything else. At this very time the Persians and the Medes were drawing ever closer yet Beklshazzar was intent on having his feast, the very last thing he ever did. Are you like that? Are you impelled by the desire for enjoyment? Are you driven by the pleasure principle? Is having a good time all that matters to you? Beware.
3 They blaspheme against God. We are told in verses 2 and 3 that While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father (ie grandfather) had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. Nebuchadnezzar was a sinful man. It was wrong for him to have destroyed the Temple as he did. How much worse was Belshazzar to act as he did, however. Yet this is the tendency of the hardened sinner. He shows no reverence. He jokes about holy things. He makes light of them and uses them as if they were his to do as he likes with. Another warning, especially to those so familiar with these things.
4 They worship idols. Verse 4 adds that As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. It is clear that what ever noises Nebuchadnezzar had made in favour of the true God, his kingdom had not changed. Indeed, we have evidence from elsewhere of him engaging in promoting idolatry on several fronts throughout his reign. Belshazzar and those with him were enslaved to the same empty and ridiculous system of idolatry that existed before Daniel came to Babylon. The idols are different today. Some are run by big business and the sports industry and others but it abounds. Do you worship idols? Is there a secret shrine in your heart to some idol? It will destroy you if you do not repent.
2. What it is like when God speaks directly to them
1 It is a supernatural and amazing thing. So you can imagine the scene. There is Belshazzar sat on his throne on a little platform at one end of the palace. All around him are a thousand nobles and their wives and concubines. They are laughing and singing and no doubt engaging in various sorts of lewd behaviour as they blasphemously drink form the holy cups and worship their idols. What a noise rises from the palace. Then suddenly everything stops. Why? Verse 5 tells us how Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared (just fingers not a hand) and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. This is the finger of God suddenly speaking directly to Belshazzar. It is a supernatural thing. How amazing it is. How often God speaks like this we do not know but he certainly spoke to Belshazzar like it and left him with no excuse for his sin.
2 It is a frightening experience. Certainly all we know of God’s interaction with men leads us to see that such an encounter is a frightening thing indeed. We read of Belshazzar that His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. He could not have been more frightened.
3 It is incomprehensible to the sinner. Of course, although the writing was very plain and could easily be read by the king and all his nobles, what it meant was not nearly so clear. It is like the Bible. The Bible is clear but few who read it get to its heart. And so Belshazzar does just what his father did (7) The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom. And exactly the same thing happened Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. It is the same today. Here is a person who wants to understand the Bible. He sees an advert. It’s for the Reader’s Digest Book of the Bible or something like that. He sends for it. He looks at the lovely pictures and diagrams. May be he even reads it. Does he understand the Bible? No. Such books won’t help him. It just makes him less sure that the Bible has the answer anyway. So he goes to a church and he has the same experience because the preacher is a false teacher.
4 Its incomprehensibility increases their fear. In verse 9 it says So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled. We can sympathise I’m sure. Maybe you know just how he felt. Judgement is obviously coming but how, from where? We are bewildered and in fear.
2. Faithful preachers
1. Their character
It is at this point that Daniel comes back into the story. Here comes a faithful preacher of the Word. Here is Belshazzar’s one last hope, the last opportunity to hear God’s message. Daniel has the character of a faithful preacher of God’s Word.
1 They are the only ones who can help sinners but the last ones they turn to. It is the queen or probably the Queen Mother who remembers Daniel and commends him to Belshazzar. She remembers what happened in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. It’s alright she says to the king Daniel will sort it out Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father - your father the king, I say - appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. There are various providences that lead us in the right direction. Despite our natural reluctance to listen to faithful preaching, God sometimes shuts us up so that we have to listen.
2 They are marked by wisdom and insight. In describing Daniel the queen majors on his intelligence and his ability to interpret. Verse 12 This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, she says, therefore, and he will tell you what the writing means. Faithful preachers need a certain amount of intellectual ability, not necessarily academic, but they need to know the Bible well. They need to have an insight into its message. Otherwise, they can do no good. Daniel was such a man. We need more like him today. Pray that God will raise up more preachers. There is a desperate need for more and more such people.
3 They are men who know something about suffering. When Belshazzar meets Daniel he says (13) Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? This is a little reminder of the painful background that was Daniel’s. It brings back to mind what we learned in Chapter 1. It was long ago now but it had shaped who Daniel was – an exile, a man who had reluctantly left behind his homeland and been taken to Babylon and forced to learn its language and culture. I would venture to say that in the case of every faithful preacher there is an element of suffering. It is one of the things that God uses to prepare them for future ministry. In suffering, one thing we ought to keep in mind is how it may prepare us for future ministry.
4 They are not ambitious for worldly advantage. In verse 16 the king says If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom (ie after Nablus and himself). This is the typical ‘money can fix everything’ sort of attitude so common in this world. Daniel is not interested in such things. His reply shows that he has not changed from the boy of 14 or 15 who chose to eat vegetables rather than defile himself with the king’s food. Verse 17 Then Daniel answered the king, You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means. Daniel is willing to do all he can for the king but as for worldly reward, he is not interested. That is another mark of the faithful preacher, one to be cultivated by those who preach or aspire to preach and another way of telling if a man can be trusted or not. If he is after money or worldly fame then give him a wide berth.
2. What they have to say when they preach
Here is the most important thing.
1 They preach the sovereignty of God. Verse 18 O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendour. Daniel makes quite clear to Belshazzar where greatness comes from – from God alone. This is a mark of all faithful preaching – it points us to God. Look to him.
2 They preach against pride. Daniel then goes on to remind Belshazzar of things he well knew but had conveniently forgotten – of how powerful his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had been, But (20) when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. Despite this incredibly graphic lesson Belshazzar had done nothing at all to humble himself before God. Verse 22 But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Is that the situation with some of you this morning? You know that God hates pride. You know how he humbles sinners like Nebuchadnezzar and Herod and Belshazzar too. But have you humbled yourself before him? Have you bowed down in reverence to God? God resists the proud. What hope is there for you if you go on in arrogance and pride as you are?
3 They preach against ungodliness. In verse 23 Daniel describes how instead of humbling himself the king had Instead, set himself 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. Don’t you realise that God holds your life in his hands? He will soon judge you. Yet you live regardless of him. You do not worship him or serve him as you should. Your idols are far more precious to you.
4 They preach what God’s Word means. One of the most important things that preachers do is to explain the meaning of God’s Word. That is what we need – to know what God’s Word actually says. This is the heart of what we preach here. Obviously there is more than that involved but that is the heart of it, as here. If a preacher doesn’t explain to you what God’s Word says then he can do you little good.
3. The final message faithful preachers have for sinners
1 Your days are numbered and will soon end. Here Mene comes first. Daniel says God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. A mina is a peace of money and can mean numbered too. None of us lives forever. Soon we will be judged. Belshazzar had no time at all. Perhaps you only have a short time too. None of us has long.
2 You’ve been weighed and found wanting. Next comes Tekel. Daniel says You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. A tekel is like a shekel, another unit of money or weight. It here means weighed. All our lives God is weighing us, sizing us up. He knows what we are really worth. All you have ever done has been assessed by God and you are being assessed now. You know you lack the weight. You know you cannot make it up. Christ alone can do that.
3 What you thought you had will be given to others. Peres{singular of Parsin} refers both to Persia, the nation that was about to take the kingdom, and means divided. It is also a half mina or a half shekel. Daniel says Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar was about to lose all he held dear, even his very life. Death awaits us all and if we are not in Christ even what we think we have will be irreparably lost. Wake up to your situation before it is too late.
3. What happens when hardened sinners ignore faithful preachers and do not repent
Daniel was faithful but Belshazzar obviously did not listen. Verse 29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. Yet (30, 31) That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of 62. We know that is what happened. What about you? Are you repenting?
