Daniel 4-5

Today we are going to take a look at Daniel chapter 4 and a portion of Daniel chapter 5. So if you want to begin turning over there. I want to go through some background before we actually get into the verse by verse. Daniel chapter 4 and Daniel chapter 5 has an overall theme the section will be covering today. And the overall theme relates very much to you and I as modern Christians. The themes, actually a dual theme, is the deep need for humility. We heard some of that in Mr. Christiansen's sermonette earlier. The deep need for humility. To me that's always been one of the great building blocks for any Christian is humility. How can we grow and become more like Christ if we're not teachable, if we're not humble. But secondly, a second theme that we're going to see in these two chapters is there's coming a time of judgment. Nebuchadnezzar is going to find judgment coming upon him. We're going to see the whole Babylonian Empire is going to find judgment coming upon them in chapter 5. And so there's a time for judgment.

Chapter 5 has the famous handwriting on the wall discussion. And of course, brethren, as you and I take a look at the Scriptures, we always take a look at the Scriptures in terms of how they relate to us. And one of the things we need to ask ourselves as you and I go through our walk with God, as God is showing things to us via sermonettes and sermons, Bible studies, our own personal studies, what we read in the church's literature and so forth, when we see things that are corrective for us, do you and I as individuals, do we see our own personal handwriting on the wall? Do we see it? Do we act on it? Now in terms of a timeline here in the book of Daniel, different commentators, different scholars will give you different timelines. The church uses quite frequently the Bible knowledge commentary, and according to the Bible knowledge commentary, what we're about to read in chapter 4, takes place in about the 35th year of Nebuchadnezzar's rule. Again, we're not going to base our salvation on any of these dates. These are general ideas, but they think it's the 35th year of Nebuchadnezzar's rule, about 570 BC. This would be about 30 years after what we read in chapter 3. So time has marched on. 30 years after the burning fiery furnace, and at this point scholars believe that Daniel is about 50 years old. 50 years old. What we're gonna see in chapter 4 is a subject of pride. It's one of the worst evils on the face of the earth today.

It's one of the oldest evils in the universe, beginning with a being by the name of Lucifer. Lucifer, who became Satan, loves. Pride. It's one of his greatest spiritual weapons. He uses it very effectively. The Prince of the Power of the Air loves to broadcast into our hearts and minds this spiritual poison.

Loves us to think about our social status, our achievement, our education, our talent, perhaps our salary, if we command a great salary, our bank account, the kind of house we live in, the kind of car we drive, all the various things that people look to in a physical society. Satan just loves to have us trying to keep up with the Joneses. Now, you combine that with what we're going to see about judgment, and it's going to be very interesting as we work our way through these chapter and a half, approximately.

As I've mentioned to you before, Daniel chapter 4 is unique. I believe in all of the Scripture, in all the Bible, I believe it's the only chapter. I could be wrong on this, but I believe it's the only chapter written by a pagan. God inspired it. It's the inspired word of God. But Nebuchadnezzar writes this. This is his narrative. This is something that he learned, and he wants the rest of the world to learn through what he went through.

So that having been the case, let's take a look now starting in chapter 4 of Daniel, verse 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell on all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. So here what we see at the very beginning is a proclamation. It's a proclamation. It's a document that Nebuchadnezzar says he's writing. He's writing to all of his empire. Verse 2, I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.

Well, not only did he think it was good, in one sense that's meaningless other than for him, but God thought it was good. God wants us to take a good long look at this and learn from this. I thought it was good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. How great are his signs! How mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is from a generation to generation. And of course, remember as a man who's writing this, Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold.

He's running the Babylonian Empire. He is a man used to rule. And yet he realizes here, as it says in verse 3, that his kingdom, God's kingdom, is an everlasting kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, Babylon, is only going to last for 87 years. Of the four major world-ruling empires that we see in the book of Daniel, this is the shortest. It's the most prestigious in a sense. It's the golden one, but it only lasts 87 years.

It says, in his dominion, God's dominion, is from a generation to generation. Well, Nebuchadnezzar's dominion wasn't anything like that. So we see immediately that Nebuchadnezzar is learning something about his pride. He's learning something about his vanity. And we're going to read more about that as we continue to go through the narrative here. Nebuchadnezzar probably is also writing this to explain why he was absent from public service for seven long years.

For seven years, one of the greatest rulers of all time was basically missing in action. People have asked, well, who was ruling the government? Well, there were a number of people that were under him. I'm sure they were continuing to take care of the daily business of the government. They probably each thought that any day now he'll be well. And so we don't want to do anything that's going to upset him. And of course, after year and year and year past, they're probably wondering, well, is he going to return?

Is he going to be okay? But again, they were concerned that whenever he did come back, if he did come back, that if they weren't doing things properly, their heads would roll. Okay, let's begin now in verse 4. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, flourishing in my palace, and a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed, and the visions of my head, troubled me. So here we begin to see the king sharing this encounter with him. He was very concerned about what he was seeing. It was very disturbing to him about what he was seeing.

And what we're about to see is a picture of himself that God is discussing with him. Verse 6, therefore I issued a decree to bring all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me that interpretation of the dream, make known the interpretation of the dream.

You know, some people never learn. In chapter 2 and in chapter 3, he talked about the greatness of God. He talked about how the other people couldn't come and give what the dream was in chapter 2, and then the interpretation. He finally had to rely upon Daniel. Well, you know, at this particular point, he's still not relying upon Daniel like he should, so he's not learning. In his pride and his ego, he wants to go to his people, his wise men, his counselors, as opposed to going to the counselor of God.

Now again, brethren, let us learn a lesson there. There are times in our life when we all need help. We all need counseling at times. I remember the day that I was talking to my regional pastor. I drove from my house in Michigan to his house in Cleveland, Ohio, and I was discussing the fact that I thought I was going to be going through a divorce.

And I spent five hours on his couch talking about all of my issues, holding nothing back to my boss about what was happening in my life. And, you know, he gave me some wise counsel. As it turned out, it takes two parties to make a marriage work, and it didn't work after 29 years. But I realized the point I needed to get counsel, I went for counsel. And I just say that, brethren, because there are times when we in the church, we need it, and we sometimes think, you know, I don't want to go to get counsel.

I'll take care of it by myself. Many times, brethren, the reason we're in the problems we're in is because we have been taking care of it by ourselves. And our way of taking care of it doesn't work. So just a thought here in passing. Verse 7, then the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the Suites came in, and I told them the dream. A little different than last time. He tells them what the dream is here. But they did not make known to me its interpretation.

But at last, and brethren, let's make sure this is not us. We turn to God or one of His ministers at last. But at last, Daniel came before me, his name Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God. And here we've got some some ego here. We're gonna name this fellow after my God. And Him as the Spirit of the Holy God. So here's this individual, a world-ruling emperor, a very bright man, I'm sure, a very astute man.

You know, and he sees on the one side that there's something special about this guy. There's something special about Daniel. But he's not willing to get rid of his other way of life, his other way of looking at things, and his old counselors. I told him a dream before, and I told a dream before him, saying, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you.

Explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen and its interpretation. So he wants them to, you know, go to this man of God and to get some answers. Brethren, don't wait till the last.

When you need some answers, come. Whether it be to me, or to Mr. Morrison, or whoever that you can go to. And I never mind people, let's say you've got an issue, a marital issue. I never mind people going to a professional counselor. I do that kind of work, but if you want to go to somebody who you feel is more independent, go and get the help you need.

But I want to point out something else about verses 8 and 9. Here we've got Nebuchadnezzar, and he knows Daniel has the Spirit of God working in him.

He's different. And brethren, the people of the world know you are different. They know there's something about you, not just because you worship on a Saturday, or not because you take your time off in a funny time of the year in September or October. But they see the way you talk. They see the way you live your life. And they realize you are different. And we want people to realize we're different.

Think about the commandment that says we should not take God's name in vain. That's not just something that deals with our speech in terms of the name of God or name of Jesus Christ. We are the sons of God, daughters of God. We are the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. We take on the God family name. Every place we go, we are a Christian. We are one of Christ's. And we want to uphold the family honor. We want to uphold the family name because people realize we're different. And just as Daniel was able to help this man, there may be opportunities for you to help those in your circle of influence. Okay, starting here in verse 10, we begin to see what this dream is all about. Verse 10. These were the visions of my head while on my bed. I was looking behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. And the tree grew and became strong. Its height reached to the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beast of the field found shade under it. The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. So the first thing we're seeing here is Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. Verses 10, 11, and 12. Now, what God is wanting him to understand is the greatness of this golden kingdom of his, this Babylonian kingdom, the greatness of that kingdom was given to him by God. Was not given to him because he was such a sharp guy, because he had such great business acumen, because he was such a great general or leader of men. I think this is one of the reasons God took his mind from him. You think your mind did all this? I can take that mind away. And so here's what we see happening in these three verses. Let's continue on. Verse 13. I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. This watcher may well have been Gabriel, the archangel. His job is to bring messages. And he cried aloud and said, Thus, so here is this watcher, a holy one, giving a message. Chopped down the tree and cut off its branches, stripped off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Let the beast get out from under it and the birds from its branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump and roots in the earth. Bow with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven. Let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth. So here in verses 13, 14, and 15, we see where this great kingdom is going to come to an end.

It's going to come to an end. But not entirely in Nebuchadnezzar's time. Notice verse 15, Nevertheless, leave the stump and roots in the earth. That stump is talking about Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, as we're going to see in a moment, as you understand and know, he's going to have insanity for seven years. But after those seven years, God's going to return him to his kingdom. Babylon will move forward for a few more years. So it's not going to come to a crashing end in his lifetime. There's going to be a stump. He's the stump. It's roots in the earth. And of course, that has significant meaning that those roots actually last until our day today in the sense of the Babylonian mystery religion. Okay? So here we see something here that's very, very important. Verse 16, Let his heart be changed from that of a man. Let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him. So here we go from a discussion about a tree to a discussion about a man. We're talking now very specifically about Nebuchadnezzar. We realize that seven times shall pass over him. Biblical language for seven years. Seven years he's going to have the heart of a beast. Interesting. You don't conquer all that you conquer as he did by having a soft, compassionate heart. Nebuchadnezzar had the heart of a beast. He ripped people apart. He ripped cultures apart. He subjugated people. He destroyed families so he can gain what he wanted to get as a ruler. Well, now the tide is going to turn. Now he is going to have that same heart given to him, and he's going to be treated very disrespectfully. As man will look at him, but God is dealing with him properly.

Verse 17. This decision is by the decree of the watchers, those holy ones that watch at all times, the angels of God, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, God the Father and Jesus Christ, in order that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men gives it to whomever he will and sets over it the lowest of men. And remember, brethren, verse 17, that's one of the main themes of the entire book of Daniel, that God gives rulership to whoever he wills. He's the one who pulls the strings. He's the one who works behind the scenes. It is God who put Donald Trump in power. Now, it may be Donald Trump who takes Donald Trump out of power, based upon what he's saying these days, but God put him in position for reasons. For reasons. And of course, as we know where we're at with prophecy, I think some of those reasons are becoming more and more evident. Verse 18. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation. But you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you. So again, Nebuchadnezzar emphasizes, he re-emphasizes, his belief in the power of the great God. Now, he may only believe that the great God is one among many. He's not converted or anything like that. But he understands that Daniel is somebody special, and that he has special abilities that his own wise men do not have. Again, this speaks to how the world will look at us. How we want the world to look at us. We want the world to be able to come and ask us questions. We want to be able to give a reason for the hope that is within us. We don't want to hide. We don't want to put our light under a bushel basket. We do these things now for our glory. We do these things for the glory of the great God. Verse 19. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time, and his thoughts troubled him. Different scholars have different takes on this. Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrote, that Daniel stood there for an hour. Mute. Thinking about what all this meant, how was he going to proceed? How was he going to explain this to the king? So, yes, he was astonished for a time. His thoughts troubled him. He was waiting for God to inspire him. So the king spoke and said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you. I mean, he saw it. He saw, here's a man. Nebuchadnezzar is probably thinking in his mind, this guy knows. He knows the answer to all this, and he's afraid to discuss it with me. But Nebuchadnezzar wants the truth. He was a mighty man. He wasn't a coward. And he wants to know the truth. Belteshazzar answered, Daniel answered, My Lord, may the dream concern those who hate you and its interpretation concerning your enemies. So here we see Daniel trying to be a little diplomatic, wishing it were not so. And you know, brethren, this may speak to the fact that after 30 years in his service, Nebuchadnezzar's service, Daniel doesn't agree with many things that this man does. Doesn't agree with his religion. Doesn't agree with his approach.

But there probably were aspects of Nebuchadnezzar's life that Daniel came to admire. He came to like him.

Just like you and I could admire certain ones. They're not in the church, but we could like people and admire people in the world for various character traits they have that are very worthy.

I think Daniel was in that same situation. Verse 20, The tree that you saw which drew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely in its fruit, abundant in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwell, and whose branches the birds of the heaven and they had their home, it is you, O King, who have grown and become strong. For your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens and your dominion to the end of the earth. So here, you know, again, we see, you know, the Bible interpreting itself. The mighty tree representing the king in his kingdom. Verse 23, And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze and the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven. Let him graze with the beasts of the field until seven times pass over. This is the interpretation, O King, and this is the tree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord the King. So Daniel wants to, wants to realize what that is, what's about to happen is not any disease, it's not any fluke, it's not any, oh, it's just a matter of circumstance. This is by the hand of the great God. Nebuchadnezzar thinks his hands are all powerful, all mighty, but he's going to realize that that is not the case. He is not the master of his own destiny. His life is very much in God's hands. Verse 25, They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, they shall make you make you eat grass like oxen, they shall wet you with the dew of heaven, seven times shall pass over you, till you know the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. So for a second time, for emphasis, we see how the theme of the book is brought out, that God places who he wants to in leadership capacities, leading different nations.

Verse 27, Therefore, O King, let my advice be acceptable to you, break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.

Interesting. Interesting. He tells the king time to repent. Time, you know, you've done all these things to the nations around you. You've subjugated people. You've acted viciously. You've hurt so many. But now you have an opportunity to be a kind ruler, a benign ruler, the empire that God has given you, you can use for the benefit of the people you rule over. And if you do this, if you turn from your way, then maybe God will give you the length of life. Maybe God would have increased the length of his empire.

Verse 28, All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he was walking about in the Royal Palace of Babylon. Please note, please note, he receives this dream. Nebuchadnezzar receives this dream. Daniel tells him what the dream means, what's going to happen to him if he doesn't repent. What does God do? Does God five minutes later give him insanity? No. God gave him 12 months to think things through. 12 months to think things through. 12 months to grasp what God had given him. You know, brethren, this is something, again, for us to ponder as Christians that our God is a loving God. He's a merciful God. He's a God full of grace. And as he shows you and I things, he gives us time to think it through. He gives us time to come to understand. But there also comes a time when enough is enough. And he has to act.

Especially if we don't take the admonition that we've been given. There comes a time when enough is enough. So one year later, verse 30, notice his frame of mind. Verse 30, the king spoke saying, is this not this great Babylon that I have built for our royal dwelling by my mighty power, and for the honor of my majesty? He wasn't getting it. Pride, vanity, arrogance.

Notice one year later, verse 31, while the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you.

Enough's enough. Your word, your pompous words, they came before God's ears, and God is gracious, and God is merciful, but God is also a God of judgment. The God of judgment.

Verse 32, and they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, who gives it to whomever he chooses. So again, one year later, these things are addressed back to him. Verse 33, that very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, a grass like oxen, his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird claws. If you're the kind of person who does nails for a living, this guy walks into your shop. You say, next chair, please. You don't want him anywhere. You don't want to do his fingernails. You don't want to give him a mani-pedi. You don't want to try to cut his hair. He's probably this awful-looking smelly thing. But again, God told him this was going to take place, and God is a God who judges. Again, brethren, let's remember that.

Let's remember that. As you and I go through our lives, none of us be mistaken. God gives us time with His grace and mercy, but there is a time for judgment for all of us.

Verse 34, At the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever.

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. So these are words where He is speaking, condemning His own thinking. He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of all the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, What have you done? At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor, my splendor returned to me. Still a little more to work on there. Still a little more to work on there.

My counselors and nobles resorted to me. Incidentally, these are probably the people who ran the kingdom for those seven years. His counselors and nobles. I'm sure they also included Daniel and all that with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. My counselors and nobles resorted to me. I was restored to my kingdom, and the excellent His Majesty was added to me. So again, He was the stump. God didn't say He was going to remove the kingdom from during His life. He was going to be given an opportunity to live and to understand.

Verse 37, Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to put down.

Those who walk in pride he is able to put down. So here we see a whole chapter of the Bible written by a man who was a pagan and lots of lessons for us to learn there. Okay, we come to chapter 5, and I'm not going to go through all of chapter 5. I don't have time to go through all of chapter 5.

I'll probably go through about half of it. Again, this is the famous handwriting on the wall chapter. It is in this chapter that the mighty Babylonian Empire comes to an end. And as I made mention when we were starting the sermon today, we need to make sure that when God puts the handwriting on our wall, that we see our own personal handwriting on the wall and do something about it. A little more background now. Again, according to scholars, another 30 years have passed from chapter 4 to chapter 5. Daniel is now in his 80s. He has been retired for a while.

Major events are transforming the region. 11 years prior to chapter 5, King Cyrus II of Persia began gobbling up a lot of little kingdoms. They are now known as the Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. Or most of them will be known as the Persian Empire. Right now, as of the beginning of chapter 5, all that is left for the Persians to conquer that is in their sight that they want is Babylon. They want to tuck Babylon into the empire. But humanly speaking, that will look like a really tough nut to crack. In our Bible reading program online, they quote historian Walter Kaiser Jr. who talks about the archaeologists who have done work on ancient Babylon. Ancient Babylon, brethren, according to the archaeologists and the scholars, was nearly two-thirds the size of present-day New York City. Nearly two-thirds the size of New York City. It was surrounded by three walls. Note what the excavators have found. The outer wall, and I don't know all that took place before you got to the first wall, but the outer wall was a brick wall 22 feet thick. 22 feet worth of brick and stone and masonry and rubble and all sorts of things they poured into the middle of that. 22 feet thick. After that first wall, there was a space of 40 feet until you came to a second wall.

That made a really good killing zone. If you happen to breach, and how long would it take to breach a wall like that, but if you're able to breach that outer wall, then you came into this 40-foot wide inner area, which was a great killing zone because there was another wall facing you. And that second wall was 25 feet thick. It was thicker than the first. 25 feet thick.

And then after that, they don't give the space between the second and third wall, but the third wall was 12 feet thick. So here you've got these three walls, and the third wall was wide enough where two chariots could ride side by side over the top of the third wall. Now, every 160 feet, the walls were topped by watchtowers. There were 360 watchtowers and all, reaching a height of nine stories. You want to attack this thing? Nine stories of masonry, three walls, a city the size almost of New York City. Babylon had a multi-year food supply because back in those days, sieges were very common. So they had a multi-year food supply.

They had the mighty Euphrates River running right through the middle of town.

Plenty of water, plenty of food, plenty of, you know, great army, great walls. They thought they were no problem. Okay, that's background. Let's get into chapter five. Chapter five, verse one. Chapter five, verse one. Belshazzar, the king. Now, Nebuchadnezzar is gone.

We don't know whether Belshazzar is his son or his grandson. It's a little hard to tell by the way they discuss this. The biblical terminology for sons and what have you. But he was a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. Now, the Persian army is camped outside the walls.

Belshazzar, who is known in history as being a very bad ruler, probably thought the best way for him to uphold the morale of the people was to have this party, you know, this drunken party, which he was going to throw. He throws it for a thousand of his lords, you know, the various rulers in the city. They all came to this party, probably brought their wives, and it was, you know, quite the spectacle. Verse two. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar, and again, father or ancestor, as the margin says, and we're not quite sure of the relationship. Different ones think it differently, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple, which had been in Jerusalem.

Not a wise thing to do, you know, thumbing your nose at God, taking the things that had been stolen from the temple in Jerusalem, and now you're going to have this drunken orgy sort of a thing.

And, you know, and we're going to see what takes place. And the king and the lords and his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God, which had been in Jerusalem. And the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines drank from them. And they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. So not only were they using the things that belonged in the holy temple of God, they were using those things to toast pagan deities.

Pagan deities! Again, not so smart. And they're going to pay a price, and they're going to pay a price this very day. Verse 5. In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw part of the hand that wrote, he saw part of the hand that wrote, he had a false sense of security with those walls.

Brethren, do you have a false sense of security with the walls in your life?

There are times in our lives as human beings where we erect walls.

We don't want people to hurt us emotionally. We don't want people to hurt us in these various ways mentally. And so we have these walls that we erect, too. And we kind of go behind those walls, and we think we're secure. But that's a false sense of security. 6. Nothing made of flesh is secure. Nothing made of our minds is secure.

Chapter 4 should have taught people that.

So here we see the handwriting on the wall. He saw the handwriting on the wall. Do you and I see the handwriting on the wall when God wants to get our attention?

Verse 6. Then the king's continents changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened, and his knees knocked against each other. He physically was a mess.

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold around his neck, she shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Now either he's a really big liar, or he's giving all sorts of things he shouldn't be giving out.

But it shows he's a bad ruler. He's going to throw money at the problem.

Money doesn't solve the problem. Repentance would solve the problem. Being close to God would solve the problem, but money's not going to solve this problem.

In your notes, you might want to jot down Hebrews 10 and verse 31.

I'll read it for you. Hebrews 10 verse 31.

It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Verse 8.

Now all the king's wise men came, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king its interpretation. You know, if it were me, after seeing what was happening with Nebuchadnezzar and now this gentleman here, I think I might fire all those guys. They've not been too handy, have they? They've not been really able to come up with a lot of truth. Well, they couldn't come up with truth because they were led by the false gods.

Then king Belshazzar was greatly troubled. His continents was changed, and his lords were astonished. So now word has reached the queen. The queen now takes matters into her hand.

The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, O king, live forever. Long live the king. Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your continents change. Basically, it is thought that this probably was maybe...it could have been either his mother or grandmother, the queen. She knew probably Nebuchadnezzar. She knew what a real ruler should be. Belshazzar wasn't a real ruler.

He was under the same cut that Nebuchadnezzar was. History bears that out. And so basically, here she comes into the room. She's got an idea, but she basically wanted to grab the king here and say, look, straighten up. Act like a king. You're the king of Babylon.

The whole world is bowed down to this kingdom. So straighten up. Verse 11. Now, that's what she says now. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God, and in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your ancestor, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. So she says, these guys are worthless. Let's go someplace that makes...let's go to somebody who can have some answers here. Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, who in the king named Balthus Shazar. Now let Daniel be called, and he'll give it the interpretation. So for all this thousand people who comes up with the best idea, one of the ladies, right? One of the ladies. Verse 13, then Daniel was brought in before the king.

Now Daniel, again, one of the reasons the king may not have thought about him off the top of his head is Daniel basically is thought to be in retirement. He's in his 80s.

We don't know how long he probably was in retirement. He still had a a visible position, but he wasn't called upon very often. Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Are you that Daniel? So we see here he has such a doesn't not very familiar with him. Are you that Daniel, who is the one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from from Judah? I have heard of you that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.

Now the wise men, the astrologers, have brought in before me, have been brought in before me, that they should read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of you that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you should be clothed with purple, have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Daniel's 80 years old. He never cared for this. He doesn't care for it now. And notice what he says here in verse 17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your words to another. Yet I'll read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. Now basically what is Daniel saying?

Daniel is saying something that we've been saying as a church for generations, that we give the truth of God out free of charge. We don't charge for anything. You want literature? It's yours. You want all of it? You can have all of it. No one's going to ask you for any money. Christ, when he was sending out his disciples, told them not to sell the gospel. And so we see a tried and true principle Mr. Armstrong saw this generations ago, and we have lived by this to this day.