Participants: Ty Gibson and James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000006A
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00:21 Welcome friends to Books of the Book!
00:23 We are so glad you joined us 00:25 for study of the book of Daniel. 00:27 I'm Ty Gibson and with me is my 00:28 co-host James Rafferty. 00:29 It is good to be here Ty and 00:31 we are in Daniel Chapter 5. 00:32 We are dealing here with another 00:34 Chapter in the experience and 00:37 the life of a Babylonian ruler. 00:39 This time it is Belshazzar. 00:41 This chapter is really interesting because it dwells on 00:45 a different aspect of God's character. 00:47 God is a God of love and His love, that loving aspect 00:51 of God's character, the foundation of who He is, of His 00:55 Government is manifested in two different ways. 00:58 In mercy and in Justice. 01:00 Mercy and justice seemed to be opposites, but they come 01:03 together to form that character of love. 01:06 The foundational principle of love that is the essence 01:09 of who God is. 01:10 Daniel Chapter 5 James, I think is a study in contrast 01:14 in that sense. 01:15 We see in Chapter 4, the previous chapters of the book 01:20 of Daniel, the gradual, but finally radical conversion 01:24 of King Nebuchadnezzar as he comes under the influence 01:28 of God's mercy and grace. 01:30 Then we come to Chapter 5 and we have this contrast with 01:34 his son, or actually his grandson Belshazzar, who is 01:39 himself a witness to God's mercy, to God's grace. 01:44 He saw, knows the history of his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. 01:49 He knows God's influence, His mercy, His grace. 01:52 He knows it intellectually as a witness to it. 01:57 Yet Belshazzar does not respond to God's mercy, as did 02:01 Nebuchadnezzar, but in fact responds in such a way that 02:05 ultimately works his ruined. 02:06 Yes, and one of the reason of this is found right here 02:09 in the opening verses, Daniel 5:1. 02:12 "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand" 02:15 "of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. " 02:19 And it says in verse 2, "Belshazzar, while he tasted" 02:23 "the wine, commanded to bring the Golden and Silver vessels" 02:27 "which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out" 02:30 "of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king," 02:32 "and his princes, he is wives, and his concubines," 02:35 "might drink therein. " 02:37 It's no secret James, everybody knows that alcohol 02:41 impairs judgment. 02:42 The language here is, "while he tasted the wine. " 02:47 That is that Belshazzar, while under the influence of 02:51 alcohol, while under the influence of this massive party 02:56 he is holding with just drunkenness at every turn. 03:00 He is under the influence of alcohol and his judgment 03:04 is severely impaired and he begins to make decisions 03:08 that are in a sense, not even in a sense, directly 03:12 defining the God of heaven that he has witness as an 03:16 influence in Nebuchadnezzar's life. 03:18 He defines the God of heaven and enters into a state 03:22 of mind and a series of actions that are disrespectful 03:26 and irreverent and takes the vessels of the House of God, 03:30 the temple of God in Jerusalem, and he makes them a part 03:33 of his drunken feast. 03:34 Absolutely and what is interesting Ty, is the principal 03:38 we find in the Bible. 03:39 In the book of Proverbs we are 03:42 warned against partaking of 03:44 alcoholic drinks, alcoholic beverages. 03:47 Not even to look upon wine when it ferments, or changes, 03:50 because the influence that it has upon us tends in the 03:53 wrong direction and I am sure a lot of people out there 03:56 listening, myself included, who can point to the 03:59 influence of alcohol, the influence of drugs and say 04:02 I made decisions in my life, I took actions in my life 04:06 that were detrimental. 04:07 I possibly never recovered from, but they have taken my 04:10 life in a direction that I never wanted or intended. 04:13 If I wouldn't been under the influence of those drugs or 04:16 alcohol, I would have gone in a completely different 04:19 direction, it's ruined my life, it's impaired me. 04:23 I want to say to all those people right now that it 04:26 doesn't mean that God cannot recover you from that. 04:28 That is why it is so important for us to recognize, 04:31 that yes there is a place where we could make decisions 04:34 that bring us to a destiny that is not in harmony 04:37 with God's will a destiny of being lost which is what we are 04:40 going to find here with Belshazzar. 04:41 There is also a place for God can recover us. 04:44 God longs to recover us from the decisions we made while 04:48 under the influence of these drugs. 04:50 So we have here in Daniel 04:52 Chapter 5 a studying contrast 04:54 between the conversion of 04:56 Nebuchadnezzar and now the very clear rebellion, 05:01 and irreverence of Belshazzar. 05:04 And we have here a clear indication or contrast between 05:09 the affect of God's mercy and now the necessity of God 05:13 responding in justice. 05:15 So as Belshazzar is engaged in this drunken feast, as he 05:19 enters in to these irreverent actions shaking as it were, 05:24 his fist at the God of heaven, suddenly something 05:26 astounding takes place. 05:28 In verse 5, "in the same hour the finger of a man's hand" 05:33 "appeared and wrote opposite the lamp stand, on the" 05:37 "plaster of a wall of the king's palace; and the king" 05:41 "saw the part of the man's hand that wrote. " 05:44 Amazing, just out of nowhere, no doubt under the 05:47 influence of alcohol, he is doing a double take and 05:50 wondering is this real what I am witnessing? 05:54 But obviously he is not the only person who has seen it. 05:57 There are a thousand of his guests here at this feast. 06:01 They are all witnessing this blood curdling, haunting 06:05 thing that is taking place. 06:06 Imagine what you would feel, what I would feel, if all 06:10 of a sudden out of nowhere a hand, a bodiless hand begins 06:15 writing across the wall? 06:16 And he is filled with fear, and one of the reasons why 06:20 he is so filled with fear is because he does not 06:23 understand what the writing means. 06:25 So here comes this bodiless hand and it is writing these 06:28 words ME'- NE, ME'- NE, TE'- KEL, U-PHAR'- SIN 06:31 and he is trying to understand. 06:32 He has no understanding of what these words actually mean. 06:35 He knows that it is significant. 06:37 This is a supernatural event that is taking place. 06:40 Probably his conscious is awakened at that moment and 06:44 he is brought to sobriety in a second. 06:48 He is wondering what does this mean, it can't be 06:51 a positive thing, it must be fearful foreboding of the 06:54 future, but What does it all mean? 06:56 There's nothing as scary, nothing is fearful as not 07:00 understanding what the future holds. 07:02 He is so terrified in fact, that verse 6 of Daniel 07:07 Chapter 5 says, "... the joints of his hips were loosened. " 07:13 Another version says that his loins were loosened. 07:17 Some commentators say that maybe he became incontinent 07:21 at this point because he was so afraid. 07:23 So it says they are in verse 6, 07:25 "and his knees knocked against each other. " 07:28 I mean this guy was terrified. 07:30 Sin has that affect on us. 07:32 When the consciences heavy laden with guilt and 07:36 condemnation, somewhere in our hearts we know that we 07:40 are wrong and are walking contrary to the will of God. 07:44 That weight of guilt upon our conscience, it has the 07:48 potential to produce terror and fear in us when we 07:52 finally come face to face with the truth. 07:54 As you say that his conscious, to some degree, 07:57 is awakened right now and he knows he's in trouble. 08:00 He knows in his heart that something is taking place 08:03 there that is not in his favor. 08:04 It is really interesting because at this point, 08:06 Belshazzar wants to understand what the writing is. 08:10 There are probably many times in our lives, and many 08:13 times in the lives of our viewers, when we are not 08:16 interested in knowing what God has to say about our future. 08:19 We are not interested in understanding the prophecy. 08:22 Or understand this mysterious writing that comes from 08:25 heaven as we understand now, in the context of this 08:28 prophecy of this book, that this writing is from God. 08:31 It is a warning from God. 08:32 We are not interested and that is why it is so important 08:35 for us to recognize. 08:36 You see a lot of people think 08:38 that the prophecy in the 08:39 Bible is all doom and gloom. 08:41 It is written to make us afraid. 08:43 The truth of the matter is it is uncertainty about the 08:47 future, it is lacking in knowledge, and lacking the 08:51 understanding we need to be afraid of. 08:53 Belshazzar story is bringing this out. 08:55 God has not given us prophecy to scare us. 08:57 God has revealed prophecy to prepare us for what is ahead. 09:00 You look at our situation in the world today at any time 09:03 and you think we don't know what is going to happen. 09:05 We do not know what the economic future of this country, 09:08 of the world is and that is scary. 09:10 To be able to see what the future holds even if it isn't 09:13 the best, it gives a little bit of peace because it gives 09:17 us a sense of what we need to do in order to prepare. 09:21 Even if it is the worst, we can do something to prepare 09:25 for it, not knowing it all is even scarier. 09:28 That is why when the king seeks for the interpretation and 09:31 can't find one, it says verse 9, "then was king Belshazzar" 09:35 "greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him," 09:38 "and his lords were astonished. " 09:40 In other words, as fearful and afraid as he was the first 09:43 time, he was even more afraid when nobody could be found 09:46 to interpret this writing. 09:49 Just like his grandfather before him, Nebuchadnezzar, 09:53 he calls in the wise men, 09:55 the astrologers and they cannot 09:56 give the interpretation and 09:58 somehow he had to know the 09:59 history, he had to know the 10:01 history, but somehow he doesn't even think of Daniel. 10:06 His queen comes to him and says there is a man, verse 11 10:11 "there is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the Spirit" 10:16 "of the holy God;" 10:18 then the queen calls his attention to Daniel. 10:20 Immediately Daniel, of course, is called upon and 10:22 brought in before the king. 10:25 The king begins pleading with Daniel for an interpretation 10:29 of the dream, and as the interpretation comes to the 10:32 king it is not what he wants to hear. 10:35 Obviously, it says in verse 10, that the queen was 10:39 not in the banquet. 10:41 "Now the queen by reason of the words in the king and" 10:43 "his lords come into the banquet house. " 10:45 So it appears that she was not under the influence of 10:48 these drugs of alcohol and the party atmosphere. 10:51 She was not a part of that so she can still recollect, 10:55 she's still can remember, she can pinpoint to the king this 10:59 man named Daniel, when the king is out of his senses, 11:02 he has lost his senses. 11:03 He knows about Daniel, he knows the history but he has 11:06 forgotten, and this is the influence drugs 11:07 can have upon us. 11:09 He has forgotten about everything that God has wrought. 11:11 He is forgot everything that God has done. 11:12 He should know, but he doesn't know. 11:14 I love the way she identifies Daniel. 11:15 He has identified by the same terminology repeatedly 11:19 throughout the story with Nebuchadnezzar 11:21 and now with Belshazzar. 11:23 This is the one in whom is the Spirit of the holy God. 11:28 Wouldn't that be a incredible if in our daily lives and 11:32 our interactions with people who don't know and 11:36 necessarily believe in the Lord, wouldn't it be great 11:39 if we were living in such a way, with integrity, 11:44 as Daniel did, purposing in our hearts not to 11:48 defile ourselves, as Daniel purposed in his heart, 11:50 but walking in integrity. 11:52 Not just walk in integrity in any haughty religious, 11:56 spiritually superior sense because we have seen in 12:00 previous studies James, Daniel is a humble man who is 12:04 not filled with resentment and bitterness for the fact 12:08 that he has been taken as a slave into Babylon. 12:11 Then he was made a Eunuch, made to serve the king. 12:15 Daniel, in the first time we encounter his response 12:18 to his enemies, is Lord don't destroy the wise men. 12:22 King Nebuchadnezzar don't destroy the wise men. 12:25 Then again later on he is concerned that Nebuchadnezzar 12:29 see the truth but at the same time he is reluctant to 12:32 tell him the whole truth because he knows it is not 12:35 what Nebuchadnezzar wants to hear. 12:37 Here Daniel has built a reputation. 12:39 His reputation is, this is the one in whom, 12:42 this is a man in whom is the Spirit of the holy God. 12:45 Verse 12, "for as much as an excellent spirit. " 12:47 An excellent spirit, What is an excellent spirit? 12:50 Each just far surpasses the spirit of a normal person. 12:53 "And knowledge, and understanding, interpreting" 12:55 "of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving " 12:59 "of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king" 13:02 "named Belshazzar: now let Daniel be called," 13:05 "and he will show the interpretation. " 13:07 I love that, this woman is speaking as someone who is 13:10 convicted, someone who believes 13:12 in Daniel, believes in Daniel's 13:14 God and perhaps that is why she 13:16 was not part of this banquet. 13:17 Part of this party, part of coming under the influence 13:21 of these lords and these rulers who were under the influence 13:24 of alcohol and worshiping the gods of gold and silver 13:27 and brass and iron and wood and stone. 13:29 They cannot see, they cannot hear, and of course we do 13:33 the same today, we worship gold and idols, and worship silver. 13:36 We worship metal, we worship our cars, we worship our 13:39 Oscars and worship our trophies, all the things of this world. 13:43 The sports and the celebrities and technology and in 13:47 a sense we are just out of our senses as was Belshazzar 13:51 and his lords and his princes. 13:53 But this woman is within reason. 13:55 She has got her senses about her 13:56 She is intelligent and she is thinking, she is seeing Spirit, 14:00 she is seeing what is in Daniel and the true 14:03 understanding and knowledge and so she is separated 14:06 from the banquet and she is now trying to bring Belshazzar to 14:09 understand and to seek for this man named Daniel. 14:12 There is another lesson here James, that all of us need 14:14 to consider and that is if we conduct ourselves in 14:18 integrity and in mercy, even though we are believers, 14:23 all of us are surrounded with people who don't 14:25 necessarily believe. 14:27 Wouldn't it be great, if when they come to a time of need, 14:31 when they realize their need for the Lord, 14:33 that they would immediately think to call upon that 14:37 individual, that person, this individual, 14:40 because there is an excellent spirit in them and we 14:43 have witnessed in them something that attracts us. 14:46 We know they may have the answer and may be able to 14:49 direct us to the right source of 14:51 understanding and knowledge. 14:53 That is what we need friends, we need to conduct 14:56 ourselves in such a way, as believers, 14:59 that people know that they can turn to us in their times 15:03 of need and struggle and pain and don't need to be 15:06 afraid to turn to us for fear of condemnation. 15:10 As Chapter 5 of Daniel continues to unfold, 15:13 we are going to see that Belshazzar does not respond 15:17 in an appropriate way to the vision that God gives 15:21 to the hand writing on the wall. 15:22 We are going to see here also that God is good, 15:26 God is merciful and He continues to have a plan that 15:29 we want ourselves to play into. 15:31 So stay with us and we will be right back 15:33 in just a moment. |
Revised 2022-11-14