SOUTH DONCASTER COMMUNITY CHURCH

I wonder if you’ve heard the story of the huge ship that was cruising along quite happily one day, when by Morse Code it received a message, 'ATTENTION AHEAD, MOVE 5° EAST.' Well there was an admiral onboard and he was rather insulted so he replied, 'WE WILL MAINTAIN OUR COURSE.' Well after a pause a reply came back, 'I INSIST YOU MOVE!' Well now the admiral was furious, 'THIS IS THE FLAGSHIP OF THE NAVY, YOU MOVE!' Seconds later the message came back, 'I AM A LIGHTHOUSE, YOU MOVE!'

What we saw last week in chapter 4 and what we’ll see this week in chapter 5 of Daniel go together, because they show us two kings who are set on a course of proud opposition to God. If you’ve been here the last few weeks as we’ve looked at chapters 1-4 you will have seen how King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon repeatedly received loving warnings from God to turn aside and avoid God’s judgement, and eventually last week we saw Nebuchadnezzar finally bow the knee to God, 4:37.

Today our attention turns to Belshazzar. Just like Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar also receives a loving warning to turn from his ways and avoid being smashed on the rock of God’s judgement. But as we’ll soon see Belshazzar completely ignores the loving warning of God and continues to set his course in opposition to God, the one who is ultimately in charge, the one who has total authority over us and the world and he rightly will not stand rivals.

This morning we are going to notice The Great Sin, and then God’s loving warning and God’s powerful Judgement.

The Great Sin is Pride v1-4
What would society say is the greatest Sin? Yet the Bible says the greatest sin Is Pride. 'Surely not though,' says society, 'Surely paedophilia, murder or genocide is the greatest sin.'But the Bible, God’s word, is clear;

Pride is the greatest sin, because Pride is the complete anti God state of mind. As I look down on others, I can’t look up and see God. And if I am at the centre of life, if I am the great one, then God is inevitably kicked off his throne. I might not say that I reject God, but my actions show I do. And that is the essence of sin.

We see this portrayed for us by Belshazzar. Belshazzar’s pride, his sin, is blatant. Just look at what he does in v1-4. The scene is a great party that Belshazzar has thrown for the elite of Babylon. You can imagine the great banqueting hall of the palace in Babylon, it’s full of laughter and revelry as the wine flows, and everyone is having a great time.

And then Belshazzar gives an order, v2. We see back in chapter 1 how King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Judah, the people of God, and carried off the articles from the temple, as trophies of war. They were kept in the temple of Babylon to show how Babylon had not just conquered Judah but also apparently defeated the LORD God.

And now Belshazzar is using these goblets, meant for use in God’s temple, at his drunken party. His actions say to his guests, 'look at me, look how much greater I am than God, look, I can use his goblets to get wasted and nothing happens.' So growing in confidence, the drunken revellers go one step further, for as they drink from the goblets of the living God they praise the fake God’s of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.

In all his actions, Belshazzar is saying to God, 'Come on then God, what are you going to do about it?' By his actions he dismisses God as powerless and weak. Belshazzar’s the great one, and God, well if he really does exist he’s a ‘nobody’, because his people had been conquered and now Belshazzar is getting drunk from his goblets.

In all his actions, we see Belshazzar’s pride, his sin. He is deliberately provoking God, he is setting himself up against God. And in our society today we see that same attitude to God. He’s dismissed as out of touch, an old fuddy duddy with no power. His name is used as a swear word. His words, the Bible, are rejected as irrelevant to our modern world. And his son is relegated to just a moral teacher from the past, dead and buried.

As individuals God is pushed right out of the way, so that he can’t interfere, and we’ve set ourselves up in our pride as the all powerful ones living our lives with no concern for his ways, just doing what we want when we want. And our society suffers as a result.

Belshazzar’s sin, his pride is great and so we might say, 'But I’m not as bad as all that,' Yet in each of us, is that same anti God state of mind, by the way we live our lives we say, 'I am greater than God.' The greatest Sin is Pride, and each of us in our different ways, is guilty of it.

Having seen the greatest Sin of Pride, we’re now going to turn and see two great truths about God!

God’s Loving Warning & God’s Powerful Judgement v5-31
I don’t know if you’ve ever been at a party when someone unexpected has gate crashed the party but it usually brings things to a sudden halt. Belshazzar’s party is well and truly crashed in v5, but this gatecrasher is none other than the living God of the Bible.

From the drunken laughter and revelry of v4, to the shock and silence of v5. In a flash the mood of the party has changed, as v5, Everyone’s eyes are transfixed as these fingers engrave the wall of the palace, just as an undertaker engraves a tombstone.

V6, Belshazzar who a moment before was drunkenly ridiculing God now doesn’t look quite so brave and impressive. The great king of Babylon is now a snivelling wreck who is so scared his knees knock in comic fashion, but no one at that party is laughing as God declares his verdict on Belshazzar.

It’s an awesome picture of the reality of God’s power. In a moment the king of the greatest empire on earth has be turned from a proud and boastful ruler to the most pathetic, powerless figure as God announces his judgement on Belshazzar. Such is Belshazzar’s lack of power that the greatest wise men of Babylon can’t even read the writing or tell him what it means, v8. It takes Daniel, God’s man to tell the king the bad news.

The utter darkness of chapter 5 might lead you to ask, where is God’s love in all of this?

As Daniel begins to explain to the King in v18, we see God’s love for Belshazzar. V18-19. God had not remained silent; he had given Belshazzar countless loving warnings as Daniel reminds him. Time and again through the life of his father Nebuchadnezzar, God had been warning Belshazzar about what would happen if he did not humble himself before God, what would happen if he continued to set his course against God.

God had made Nebuchadnezzar the greatest king in the world, and made his empire larger than any before. All that Nebuchadnezzar had, all that he had achieved had been given to him by God. But then, v20-21 as we saw last week..."with the dew of heaven."

When Nebuchadnezzar became arrogant and proud forgetting God, God brought him crashing down. And look at v22, probably the most telling verse in the whole chapter!Belshazzar knew all this, he had grown up in the royal palace, he might well have been one of the crowd who gathered around the fiery furnace, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came out unharmed. He knew what God could do; he’d seen what happened when God made his dad like a wild animal when his Dad had gone up against the one true God.

He’d have seen his Dad in his later years come to worship the one true God, and no doubt time and again his Dad would have reminded Belshazzar, ,God is v21b.

Yet v22, despite all he had seen, all he knew, Belshazzar has chosen his way not God’s way, he has continued to sin. He has set himself up against the Lord of Heaven. Despite all he saw during Nebuchadnezzar’s life, he thinks he’s greater than God, v23b, "You did not honour".

God has been lovingly warning Belshazzar all through his life, 'Change course, humble yourself before me; don’t set yourself up against me.' He has been giving Belshazzar a way out, but Belshazzar has ignored it, and now God’s judgement has come.

Just as the lighthouse repeatedly warned the ship to change course to avoid destruction so God warns us, 'don’t keep going against me, change course today.' Perhaps he’s been warning us for many years, maybe through what our family has been saying, or through the way a Christian friend has lived so differently, or what we’ve been hearing here at church over the weeks and today.

He urges us to change course, to humble ourselves before him. And wonderfully he lovingly offers us a way back, through his Son Jesus Christ, who demonstrated God’s love as he died on the cross, there taking the judgement for all those who will humble themselves, change course and come back to God and ask his forgiveness.

Belshazzar had time and again ignored God’s loving warning to him, and so there comes a point where God says 'Enough!' And so we see God’s Powerful Judgement V26-28, 30-31, In one night God delivers his verdict and powerfully brings about his judgement. Belshazzar is finished, he is guilty because he has set himself up against God, lived as if he and not God is the great ruler and king, and God will not allow rivals.

The idea of God’s judgement is not one that people want to hear, but if we are being true to what God is saying about himself, then we can’t ignore it. Christians like Daniel must resist the urge to water it down! God is the all-powerful one, he alone is rightfully king, and if we set our course against him, we will be wrecked on the rocks of his judgement.

Despite all Belshazzar’s bravado and pride God was still the ruler, he was still in charge, he is the all powerful, and because he is so pure and right he cannot allow sin to go unpunished and so he must judge. No matter what we might want to think, we cannot get rid of God, we might live as if he is not there, as if he is not the all powerful judge but he is, and one day, just as with Belshazzar, he will call us to account, for what we have done.

So what implication does Daniel 5 have for us? Firstly an Encouragement to the Faithful. The message for the Christian from Daniel 5 is take heart, your God reigns, he is the real King, the all powerful, his kingdom lasts forever, it will never be destroyed.

We’ve seen so far in the book of Daniel that the Christian life is not plain sailing; there may be great obstacles and difficulties ahead. But through all of that, remember that God rules, Christ has won the victory, it may not seem like that this week, but one day everyone will see.

Secondly a Warning to the Proud. This chapter shows us quite clearly God’s judgement on those who reject his rightful authority over them. Judgement will come, and we do not know when. Belshazzar could testify to that, as he dismissed God’s judgement and kept on partying and bestowing his worthless rewards on Daniel, God was handing him over to the army of the Medes and the Persians, v30-31.

Chapters 5 is the stories of a person, who went up against God, setting his course in proud opposition to God. He received a loving warning from God to avoid being wrecked on the rocks of God’s judgement. But paid no attention. God is in charge, his authority is unshakable, he is the all-powerful rock, and we will either come crashing into his judgement or we will build our lives on him as we submit to him and his son Jesus Christ.

Daniel