29Then Belshazzar said and they clothed to Daniel [with] purple and the necklace of the gold upon his neck and they proclaimed about him that he was the third ruler in the kingdom. 30In that the night Belshazzar was slain, the king of the Chaldeans, 31and Darius the Mede received the kingdom as a son of sixty and two years.
Before I leave this chapter, I’d like to record what I think is one of the big takeaways we all should gain from this account in our Bibles. As with this entire book, we need to keep coming back and reminding ourselves, this is NOT Israel. We are not “at church.” We are in Babylon, the city that symbolizes the very pits of immorality and rebellion against God. At minimum, we should at least acknowledge this as a place that has very deliberately chosen to ignore the Lord and “go their own way.”
The connection for you and me is that this is our world too. Your workplace, your school, your country may not be as morally bankrupt as Belshazzar’s Babylon, but, one way or another, it shares all the same self-destructive obsessions. How does the chapter begin? With Belshazzar enjoying literally everything this world holds dear. Here we have an unthinkably rich man who can personally throw a party and invite 1,000 other men to it. He is the king, the boss, so they all do him obeisance and act like he’s some kind of god. He can bark out any command and they’ll all run to oblige him. He can drink all the liquor he wants and he has a whole harem of beautiful wives and concubines to pick from before the night is over. He answers to no one. He is the master of his own fate. He has no need of God and, in fact, can mock at Him and at the very prophecies that have been spoken against him.
What a life! Is not this exactly the world people want to create? Our business decisions are our own, we think. We can teach anything we want in our schools. We can legalize abortion and any other practice that suits our mood. We not only don’t need God, we can mock at anyone or any belief of those who do. That’s what Belshazzar thought. That’s what people today think. The plain fact is that you and I live in the same world we’re seeing here in Daniel chapter 5.
But is all of this true? Are we the masters of our own fate? Is it okay to ignore God? Belshazzar thought so. Our companies, our schools, and certainly our government thinks so. Is it okay? Daniel steps in and says no.
But wait a minute! This isn’t “at church!” This isn’t even in a nation that has ever pretended to acknowledge God. We might think, of course, Daniel should acknowledge God. After all, he’s a Jew, a descendant of Abraham. Belshazzar and his whole court are ignorant of the Bible. They didn’t “grow up in church.” Surely God doesn’t care what they do, does He? Does He even know about it? He doesn’t really care what goes on at your company, does He? He’s not paying any attention to your boss or the Board of Directors who run it all, right? The Lord spends His time thinking about your church, right? He really has nothing to do with what goes on at your job, right?
What would this chapter teach us?
God knows. God sees. God cares.
And this isn’t about “religion.” This is about reality.
The opening verses of this chapter actually describe people living in a delusion. Belshazzar and the Babylonian people think “this is it.” They think they have succeeded. They think they “have it all.” They can all get drunk, mock at God, enjoy themselves, then get up tomorrow and do it again.
But ponder for a minute—from the moment the fingers appear and then all that Daniel says—reality comes crashing down on their party. The fact is they are NOT the masters of their fates. The fact is there is a God and they ARE accountable to Him. Every one of them. Babylonians, Jews, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers—the truth is we are all accountable to the God of heaven, regardless of our “religious” background (or lack thereof). What happens to Belshazzar in front of his entire court is only a foretaste of what will happen to every human being. MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN. “You’ve been weighed in the balances.” Belshazzar heard those words in this world. Everyone has an appointment to hear them at least in eternity. “So then, every one of us shall stand and give account of themselves to God” (Rom. 14:12). “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the Throne, and the books were opened…and the dead were judged according to what they had done…” (Rev. 20:12).
Read again Daniel’s words and realize he is faithfully speaking for the Lord Himself. What does he say? God worked in Belshazzar’s grandfather’s life. Belshazzar knew it and God knows that he knew it. Belshazzar has not humbled himself and all the while, God knew he hadn’t. God saw when he called for the temple vessels and desecrated them. God knew that Belshazzar “did not honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways.” God sent the hand that wrote the inscription. And God has weighed you in the balance and found you lacking.
Reality.
To live in this world, like Belshazzar, and imagine you can ignore God is to live in a delusion. Though you gain “it all,” and seem to have “succeeded,” just like Belshazzar yet there will come a day when reality comes crashing down on your party.
If you and I would read Daniel chapter five, we must realize the choice is ours—to be a Belshazzar or to be a Daniel, to ignore God and do it “my way,” or to welcome Him into my life and live everyday very deliberately in His presence.
At work. At school. In government. In the privacy of your own home. As you mow the grass or change your baby’s diaper. For people who acknowledge Him and also for those who ignore Him. God knows. God sees. And God cares.
Once again, this is not about “religion.” It’s about reality.
May you and I, like Daniel, choose reality.
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