In Daniel chapter 5, the prophet Daniel stood before King Belshazzar during a night of pride, idolatry, and judgment. When the mysterious handwriting appeared on the wall, none of the wise men of Babylon could explain its meaning. But Daniel, filled with courage and faith, was willing to speak the truth—even when it exposed the king’s sin and announced God’s coming judgment. This powerful chapter reminds us that true faith is not silent in the face of corruption. Like Daniel, we are called to boldly declare God’s truth in a world that often resists it.
The Setting of Daniel 5: Belshazzar’s Feast
We want to continue our study through the book of Daniel. And this morning we’re coming to Daniel chapter 5. In Daniel chapter 5, I need to give you some background so you’ll understand who’s Belteshazzar? How did Belshazzar show up? And why are they calling him king? I thought Nebuchadnezzar was king. That’s where we left off in chapter 4 with the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar, the transformation, and the fact that Nebuchadnezzar, from all of his testimony that are given in chapter 4, came to believe in the true and the living God and no longer trusted in his ability and his heart and his strength.
So who’s Belshazzar? Well, Belshazzar is actually the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter married Belshazzar’s father. He was the actual king of Babylon at this time.
If you look at the historical records, you will find that this king ruled with his son Belshazzar. And oftentimes this king would go out on military expeditions to other parts of the world. At this particular time, he is in south of Babylon and he is fighting some enemies of Babylon and taking care of managing the kingdom down there.
Belshazzar is, in that essence, his co-regent. If you look at England, you have King Charles and you have his son, Edward. And it would be like Charles saying, I have to leave for an extended period of time, so I’m going to allow Edward to take all the responsibilities and duties that the king would have to undertake while I’m gone.
That’s what’s happening here. Well, Belshazzar has no respect for the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar and it’s evident by what’s going to happen. But there’s one consistent individual in the life of both men and that would be Daniel.
Belshazzar isn’t even aware of Daniel, but his mother is. She saw what happened during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and what Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Meshael, and Azariah did when they stood with God. I want you to understand, Daniel was involved in politics, but he never compromised. And there’s a whole lot of compromising going on in our country today. As we’re going to look at this account, it would have been very easy for Daniel to not speak truth, but he does. I am concerned as I look and see some things happening across America today in the name of Christ.
Since Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and I don’t know if any of you watched the memorial service they had for him, the memorial service was done in the name of Jesus and it was talked about the fact that you had two stadiums full of people and thousands of others that wanted to get in. And there’s been much talk about a great revival, but the question is, what kind of revival? And the question is, what Jesus is at the center of the revival In the text this morning, the Babylonian religion is evident throughout the text. They mocked God, they mocked everything God stood for.
Belshazzar is not going to do any of it in the name of the Lord. We need to examine whenever anybody comes and says, I’m saying this in the name of the Lord, what Jesus, what scripture, what Bible, and what are the impacts of revival? As I was looking at the text this morning, what Belshazzar is going to get involved with is despicable and disgusting. He’s going to have basically a drunken orgy.
I want to show you, the things that people would introduce and say are Christian are just as despicable and disgusting as a drunken orgy when they mock the name of Jesus and say, a Mormon Jesus, a Catholic Jesus, are the same Jesus as the Jesus of Scripture. And you have people that claim to be Bible-believing Christians that are gushy over the fact that a Roman Catholic would hold up a rosary beads and say, what a wonderful spiritual Christian moment to show revival. Or that a Mormon would get on stage and talk about the revival that’s occurring when Jesus is viewed as the brother of Lucifer and that he could become God.
Those things are just as despicable as what we’re going to read about. Let’s read the text and see what’s going on here and see what Daniel does.
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
Daniel 5:1-3
It’s said that his father Nebuchadnezzar, that is oftentimes what you’ll read in the Middle East. If you’re a descendant of somebody, if you’re a grandson, you don’t necessarily have to be the son’s son to be called and referred back to as your father because you’re in his line. So he is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem, and the king and the princes and his wives and his concubines drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
They praised all the false gods that were symbolized by the material things that were placed before them. But these weren’t just any gold vessels or silver vessels. I’m pausing here from the text.
These were taken from the temple of God and were the instruments to be used in the worship of God. And now these things that have been taken from the temple of God that were to be used in the worship of God, and Nebuchadnezzar, when he had invaded Jerusalem, he had gone to the temple, he’d taken these vessels, and this was common, and this was before Nebuchadnezzar had given his life to the Lord and acknowledged God was the God of heaven and the God of all creation. This was when Nebuchadnezzar was still worshiping false gods.
Nebuchadnezzar’s view was that if you took the vessels from the temple of the God of the nation you conquered, your God was greater than their God. Now his grandson is drinking out of these vessels which are to be holy and had been set apart to worship the Lord and to be used in the worship of the Lord. I want you to understand what they were to be used as part of the worship.
What was the temple worship? What was the whole theme of the temple worship in Israel? If you go back, and those of you who were here when we went through and looked at when Moses established and built the tabernacle under the direction of the Lord and we studied the various instruments, what their purposes were, what the worship in the tabernacle and later that worship was transferred to Solomon’s temple. It all centered around blood sacrifice that was given and the great day was Yom Kippur, the day of atonement where the sacrifice was given for the sins of the nation of Israel as well as the high priest’s sins. And there was always an acknowledgment that man was sinful and could not come to God unless there was a shedding of blood.
It went back all the way to the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve first sinned and the Lord covered their nakedness and what he did is he covered their nakedness or their sinfulness and he took the skin of an animal and he took that animal and slayed the animal and made a covering of that animal’s coat to cover their nakedness. Their nakedness was a symbol of their sin and there had to be a penalty to cover that sin and it was really a pointing to the coming of Jesus and that his blood would be shed to cover our sin. And there was no forgiveness without Jesus coming and shedding his blood that he could pay the penalty for our sin and his blood could cover our sin.
It went all the way back to God’s promise to Adam and Eve. These vessels were part of that worship what had made God so angry with Israel that he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come in and to destroy the temple, destroy Jerusalem, take the Jewish people into captivity was their total disregard for him and ultimately their disregard for the sacrifice of Jesus which was the whole temple worship pointing to. They thought that they simply could have the temple in Jerusalem and as long as the temple stood, it was like a lucky charm.
Their belief system, their worship, their relationship with God it was covered by the temple. But that wasn’t. God desired a relationship with them and he gave them the whole law, the sacrificial system. The law was given to show their sin. The sacrificial system was given to point to Jesus. The Messiah who would come to cover their sin and the whole worship was to enable them to come to him and be his people and worship him and have fellowship with him and they mocked it.
The Handwriting on the Wall
God took them into captivity. He allowed these vessels to be taken into captivity and now Belshazzar is making a total mockery of the whole thing. Let’s continue.
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand and wrote over against the candlestick upon the placer of the wall of the king’s palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed. His thoughts troubled him. The joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another.
You know what he meant by the joints of his loins were loosed. He couldn’t control himself any longer. He was in such fear. If you can imagine a hand appearing and writing on a wall. And this was a meeting hall probably much bigger than this auditorium and everyone saw this hand.
7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Daniel 5:7
Now, I just want to see there that’s telling you exactly what his position is, third ruler in the kingdom. He’s the second ruler. He’s the son of the king. Whoever can ever read this will be right below him. There’ll be his father who’s off taking care of duties in other countries. Him, Belshazzar, and this wise man who could read this.
8 Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. 9 Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
10 Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:
And this would be the queen mother. It would be his mother, it would be the true queen, his father’s wife, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, who would have lived during the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
I want you to see something here. This shows you there’s a disconnect between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. He hadn’t heard that Daniel had been made master, that he was the one that was over all those others. Or he would have called him. But he had no fear of God, like Nebuchadnezzar did. And his mother came in and told him of Daniel.
12 forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
I want you to take a look at what the description is of Daniel’s character. This is by those who are not believers. It’s evident that Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter doesn’t have the same relationship and fear of God that her father had because she’s still calling Daniel the one that hears from the holy gods of heaven. She’s not acknowledging there is but one God as her father did. But I want us to just take a look at Daniel’s description. Excellent spirit. Knowledge. Understanding. Interpreting of dreams. Showing of hard sentences. Dissolving of doubts. What do some of those things mean? Well, the Bible tells us that where does knowledge come from? Knowledge comes from fear of the Lord. Knowledge comes as an expression of wisdom that comes from God.
Wisdom begins when we fear the Lord. Daniel feared the Lord to the point that he was willing to risk his own life to come in and speak to Nebuchadnezzar and tell him his dreams. And he not only had that wisdom, but he applied that wisdom with knowledge.
He wasn’t deceived by the soothsayers, the magicians, the Chaldeans that were around him. But he possessed the knowledge of God and he did not let them impact him. And he spoke, it says, hard sentences.
That means the truth. He spoke the truth even when it wasn’t easy. Even when it wasn’t what everybody else was saying. He spoke hard sentences. One of the things that I greatly fear today is that you have a lot of people that say they’re Christians that don’t want to speak hard sentences, that do not possess the knowledge and wisdom of God, do not seek to walk in His power and might. If people were willing to speak hard sentences, why would you call a Mormon or a Roman Catholic a brother in Christ and say you’re a Christian? I can guarantee you, you would not be looked upon kindly by many Christians today if you made those statements.
But you see, we’re so ready to embrace the false gospel to accomplish a purpose that we’re willing to lack knowledge and wisdom in our application and we will not speak hard sentences. That was not Daniel. Daniel lived in a very difficult situation. He lived in a culture where the whole religious system, the whole belief system was anti-God and Satan based. It went all the way back to the Tower of Babel, to Nimrod and Semiramis. When Nimrod wanted to be God over the world and he wanted to have Satan as his master and he began to build the Tower of Babel so that he could be lifted up as God.
Babylon came from those roots. That’s where Daniel found himself. He didn’t find himself back in Jerusalem with the influence of the Babylonian religions around him like he had back there where they brought in Moldauk and Baal and the various Canaanite and Zidonian gods and Syrian gods and they brought them in and the kings of Israel brought them in and placed them around the city of Jerusalem around the high hills or they replaced them in the temple itself.
He was right in the center of this worship system. Yet he was placed over by King Nebuchadnezzar. All those that claimed to be the leaders, the priests, the wise men, the magicians, the Chaldeans, the ones that had all the knowledge and wisdom of the Babylonian religion.
Nebuchadnezzar puts Daniel above them all. Why? Because Daniel spoke hard sentences. He spoke the truth. It would have been easy for him to lie about what was going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar which we studied last week so that he wouldn’t possibly come under attack by King Nebuchadnezzar or even be put to death. But instead he spoke hard truth. Exactly what God said he should say.
That Nebuchadnezzar was going to be judged. He was going to be tried for seven years. He was going to be like an animal. And the whole point was because God’s grace could show in the life of Nebuchadnezzar and he would be transformed by his experience of understanding what a prideful, wicked, evil man he’d been and that only God was worthy of praise, not Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel spoke hard sentences. And Nebuchadnezzar realized who God was.
Today you have people that will not speak hard sentences. You listen to men who claim they’re Christians and they fawn over people who hold high positions in Roman Catholicism or hold positions in Mormonism or hold positions in false teaching churches that are the New Apostolic Reformed Church which does not preach the gospel of this book. It preaches a different gospel.
They will not speak against them because they won’t say hard sentences. There are ministries that are known as discernment ministries yet they won’t speak hard sentences. If you go out to Hobby Lobby today and look at their Christian book section because they claim to be a Christian based store and they have a Christian book section.
Amir Zarfati has written some books about the last days. My wife was out at Hobby Lobby and she looked to see if she could find his latest book. She said she found it but it was down on the bottom shelf kind of way out of the back.
Hard to find. But there was a whole wall of one of the areas of this book place that was all the Jesus Calling series and books for children and teenagers and adults. And the Jesus Calling, you know that woman who wrote that book? You know where she got the wisdom and insight to write the book? A spirit guide that she said was Jesus. And Jesus gave her special insight. My Bible tells me the Bible is finished. I don’t get special insights from Jesus.
I’m not an apostle. That’s what NAR people believe. And yet you’ve got people today unwilling to speak hard sentences to them. But embrace them. Many people think today that there’s revival that’s going to occur in America. I pray that revival does occur.
But you know what revival is at the center of revival? Men like Daniel that call people to repentance.
I grew up in a church that came out of, it was a free Lutheran church, its roots were Lutheranism. But the church I grew up in preached the second coming of Christ, preached the rapture, preached the need of having a personal relationship with Jesus, preached the fact that every man, woman and child needed to hear the gospel so that they could give their hearts and make their decision and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And the decision needed to be made by them. It could not be made by their pastor, could not be made by their baptism, could not be made by their confirmation, could not be made by their wife or their husband or their children. That’s what I grew up learning. I actually called them the schizophrenic Lutherans, because they still held on to infant baptism and confirmation. But they did preach a lot of the right things.
I know people that came out of it, were in those churches that heard the same teaching that I heard, who today are confused. They’re confused about the rapture. They’re confused about whether God preordained some to go to heaven and some to go to hell. They’re confused about how much we have to share the gospel. Why? Because they’re listening to false teachers who say they’re Christian.
Belshazzar had the bowls and the gold and the silver instruments from the temple. Daniel could have come in and said, Oh, I see you’ve got the temple instruments, let’s join the party. No, he was making a mockery of God. And Daniel came in to speak hard sentences.
13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? 14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. Daniel 5:13-14
I want you to see what even the pagan co-regent king sees in Daniel and hears.
Light. I have been told that light and wisdom and understanding are found in me. Do people look at you and say, I see light and wisdom and understanding.
And then because they’re a believer in Christ, they understand what it really means to be a Christian. That simply because you’ve got a whole bunch of people together and they’re having a giant worship service, a memorial service, and they get up and give testimonies and they hold up prayer beads or they talk about their faith in God and they’re a Mormon, not much light to be seen there. In that memorial service, I don’t know if you observed it, but between two people that said they were Christians that were not Christians, they placed a Christian pastor who gave a tremendous gospel message in the eight minutes he had, but it followed the guy who stood up and said, I’ve never been so close to God as I am now and holds up the rosary.
And I forget exactly who it was that followed him, but it was somebody else that had a false gospel. But what’s sad is you had a whole thousands of people there, many of whom claimed to be Bible-believing Christians that could see no difference. Daniel walks in and the light is evident.
He’s looking and you can about imagine what he felt like. He felt probably sick to his stomach as he saw the desecration of the instruments of the temple, the very thing that was to be worshiping the God that he loved, that gave him the light and the wisdom to share.
15 And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: 16 and I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. Daniel 5:15-16
I don’t think Daniel really wants to be the third ruler of a kingdom that’s going to be defeated and destroyed and about as soon as he gets off the podium.
Daniel’s Courage to Speak the Truth
17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. Daniel 5:17
I want you to see Daniel’s response. Daniel didn’t care what Belshazzar would offer to him. And he wasn’t concerned about anything that he would offer him because it was all in a dead kingdom. But it wasn’t going to stop him from speaking the truth. What was sad to me is a lot of people that claim to be Christians that were close to Charlie Kirk in his organization are fawning over others who are not believers simply because they say they are.
Part of it may be that there is such a lack of knowledge and such deception that’s occurred in the church today they don’t know the truth from heirs. But how can you have revival? How can there really be revival if we don’t know the wickedness and deceitfulness of our own hearts and come before the Lord crying out to Him, Help me!
18 O thou King, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and a majesty and glory and honor. I want you to see Daniel and say, The God of heaven, no, the Most High God. Daniel 5:18
He does not mince words. He speaks hard sentences.
19 and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: Daniel 5:20
Daniel is restating the testimony that Nebuchadnezzar gave in his own words that we studied last week. And he’s saying it to his grandson.
21 and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. Daniel 5:21
What We Can Learn About Bold Faith Today
I want to tell you how many of those 300,000 people that we’re meeting for memorial service would make that statement. That the Most High God ruleth over the affairs of men. Do we believe that he does? And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this. He’d evidently been told, but he had so ignored it, he didn’t even know who Daniel was. He forgot. I want to tell you something. God has brought great awakenings to America on two occasions. Both times it was before there would be some of the most trying things that would be faced on our land. The first great awakening came before the war of independence with England. It came about 10 years prior to that.
It was brought during the preaching of the Wesleys and George Whitefield. When they preached, literally to give you an example of the difference between the revival today and the revival when it’s really of God. During George Whitefield, George Whitefield would oftentimes preach outside and God had given him a marvelous voice. It was said that his voice was so amazing, he would preach to 10,000 people outside without amplification. Didn’t have microphones back then, didn’t have all the equipment back then. But he was so powerful, he had such an amazing voice that God had given him, that if you were standing in front, you would not feel that he was yelling at you, but yet you could be standing in the back and you’d hear him.
There came a man one day to one of Whitefield’s meetings. His full intent was to cause all kinds of trouble. He was a man who didn’t believe God and he was going to prove that the God of George Whitefield was no God at all. He was going to mock this God while George Whitefield preached. Whitefield started to preach and this man began to mock God and mock George Whitefield. George Whitefield continued to preach and he looked at this man and he began to preach and the Spirit of God came down on that man. He began to tremble, he began to weep and he began to quit mocking God, to cry out to God to save him. I don’t see anybody crying out to God to save him.
I see people who believe in a different Jesus, a different religion, that continue to promote the different Jesus but say because everybody’s buying the books, because everybody’s going to the meetings, there’s revival. Where is the brokenness? Where is the transformation of character? Where is the hard speech? It doesn’t exist.
Daniel continues,
22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 23 but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 24 then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old..
While this was going on, do you know what was happening? As that hand was writting on the wall proclaiming what was going to happen to the Babylonian kingdom. Belshazzar felt very comfortable in the city of Babylon. The walls were impregnable. It was said you could drive a number of chariots around the top of those walls at one time because they were so thick. They were impossible to get through. But what had happened is the Medes and the Persians had discovered that the Euphrates River was running right through the city of Babylon. They had diverted the river on one side of the city where it was flowing from so that it ran around the city and it dried up the river bed that went under the city.
So while they were having their party celebrating the fact that their gods of gold and silver and wood and everything were able to give them such power and authority, the Medes and the Persians were coming in underneath the city and were going to be up taking them captive in but just a few minutes. The difference between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. One had the instruments of God and placed them in trust.
He didn’t use them. And he came to the point that he worshipped the true and the most high God. But his grandson desecrated those vessels mocked that God and received the full judgment.
How to Apply Daniel 5 in Our Live
Pray for America. I’m concerned. We think we’re something we’re not. We think we’re Christian nation when we don’t know the difference between what it is to be a true Bible believing born again Christian and someone who just names the name of Jesus and has a total different Jesus a different God and we embrace like we’re all one. And we worship many gods.
Let’s just close in prayer. Father, I pray that you just help us to understand the seriousness of the hour. Lord, we do pray for revival. We pray that you touch hearts of your people. We pray that they would have discerning spirits. Lord, we pray that they would not be misled by the wolves that come in sheep’s clothing and the deception of the deceivers and the liars that come presenting a different gospel. Lord, you’ve warned us through the writings of Paul, through the writings of John, through the writings of James. You’ve warned us through the writing of Jude. You’ve warned us and given us examples of your people throughout history who were walking with you but then were deceived and the deception became so great that they worshiped false gods and didn’t even realize the foolishness of their worship. Lord, help us to be like Daniel. To walk in your wisdom because we fear you. To apply that wisdom and knowledge. To be willing to say hard sentences, proclaim truth and not desire the things of this world.
This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.