Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
“The Day of Judgment!”
(Daniel 5, LB)
“The Day of Judgment!”
(Daniel 5, LB)
Pastor Jerry Rice September 13, 2020
The Eruption of Krakatoa
(August 26, 1883)
“I am writing this blind in pitch darkness. We are under continual rain of pumice-stone and dust. So violent are the explosions that the ear-drums of over half my crew have been shattered. I am convinced that The Day of Judgment has come”(Written in the log book of a British ship Captain).
I. THE ____________________ (vs. 1-4).
Belshazzar the king invited a thousand of his officers to a great feast where the wine flowed freely. While Belshazzar was drinking, he was reminded of the gold and silver cups taken long before from the Temple in Jerusalem during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and brought to Babylon. Belshazzar ordered that these sacred cups be brought in to the feast, and when they arrived, he and his princes, wives, and concubines drank toasts from them to their idols made of gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone.
II. THE ____________________ (vs. 5-6).
Suddenly, as they were drinking from these cups, they saw the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the wall opposite the lampstand. The king himself saw the fingers as they wrote. His face blanched with fear, and such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.
Three Times God Writes A Message
1. A Message of God’s _______________ (Exodus 20:1-17).
2. A Message of God’s _______________ (Daniel 5:24-30).
3. A Message of God’s _______________ (John 8:2-11).
III. THE ____________________ (vs. 10-12).
III. THE ____________________ (vs. 10-12).
“When the queen mother heard what was happening, she rushed to the banquet hall and said to Belshazzar, “Calm yourself, Your Majesty, don’t be so pale and frightened over this. For there is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father this man was found to be as full of wisdom and understanding as though he were himself a god. And in the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, he was made chief of all the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers of Babylon. Call for this man, Daniel—or Belteshazzar, as the king called him—for his mind is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve knotty problems. He will tell you what the writing means.”
IV. THE ____________________ (v. 13).
So Daniel was rushed in to see the king. The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel brought from Israel as a captive by King Nebuchadnezzar?
V. THE ____________________ (vs. 18-21).
DANIEL RECOUNTS THE STORY OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR!
VI. THE ____________________ (vs. 22-31).
“And you, his successor, O Belshazzar—you knew all this, yet you have not been humble. For you have defied the Lord of Heaven and brought here these cups from his Temple; and you and your officers and wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, brass, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not praised the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! And so God sent those fingers to write this message: ‘Mene,’ ‘Mene,’ ‘Tekel,’ ‘Parsin.’
“This is what it means: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign, and they are ended.
“Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed in God’s balances and have failed the test.
“Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was robed in purple, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius the Mede entered the city and began reigning at the age of sixty-two.
“This is what it means: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign, and they are ended.
“Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed in God’s balances and have failed the test.
“Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was robed in purple, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius the Mede entered the city and began reigning at the age of sixty-two.