“Trial By the Word”

Scripture: Daniel 5 (Selected verses)

I believe that one of the greatest gifts that we have ever received in creation is language – it blesses us in so many ways. We use it to convey thought – our hopes, our needs, the things that trouble us, the things that thrill us. We use it to express opinions and judgments and convictions, and it allows us to share them with others. We use it to entertain, to teach, to preserve, to compare, to relate. Without language – whether written or spoken or in thought – we are lost and isolated from the world.
And yet, even with language, there is still so much that we can’t convey and don’t understand. But with the help of others, and through our use of language, we can at least begin to discuss those strange and difficult to understand concepts with each other, and possibly to come to some level of awareness of their meaning for our lives.

And the understanding that language can bring to us doesn’t just bless us - it can frightens us, convict us, and even threaten to destroy us.

Read Daniel 5:1-6

Belshazzar used his gift of language to insult Almighty God, and he would quickly begin to understand his error. Not only had he used the temple treasures in a sacrilegious way, not only had he used these holy treasures to honor pagan gods, but he seriously underestimated the power of the one true God!
But this was what Babylonian kings did with the sacred relics of defeated nations. Normally, it was the captured icons and idols and images that they would trot out during banquets and other celebrations, but since Israel was not allowed to make an image of God for their worship (Exodus 20:4), Belshazzar desecrates the ritual goblets and vessels instead. It was simply a way of saying “I am more powerful than your God!”, but he was to soon discover just how wrong he was.
And while they rejoiced in the gods of their nature, the very ones that had been created by the Almighty, God appears and displays his judgment.

Have you ever wondered just how long God will wait to confront sin? How long he will allow his holy name to be ridiculed and demeaned by his created order? How long he will tolerate the paganism and sacrilege that opposes his will? Could it possibly be a Godly trait to be accepting of these things? For many, open-mindedness toward the sinfulness of the world is a good thing; many believe that we are to be accepting and tolerant of everything, and never judgmental. But scripture would have us know differently – Psalm 52 tells us that we must stop boasting of evil, to stop loving evil, and to turn our lives back to the way of the Lord. Romans 6:1-14 calls us to die to sin and to become alive to God in Christ Jesus. So the question before us today isn’t how long will God wait but rather how long can we wait? And the answer is “We can’t wait!”

And in Belshazzar’s case, God didn’t wait either. The word of God begins to come to him, but because of his faithless life, he can only comprehend the significance of the writing, but not the specifics. The word of God didn’t make sense to the king, but he knew that it was from a power beyond anything that he had ever known. Belshazzar knew that even though he didn’t understand the message, even though the words didn’t make sense to him, they were being given for a reason.
I wish the people of today had that much wisdom when it comes to receiving the word of God! We have all heard “If it doesn’t make sense, ignore it. If it offers little support for your life, then it must be for someone else.” The problem is that folks try to analyze scripture piece by piece, instead of taking it as a whole. There is a reason that we call the Bible the word of God – singular! We are to see scripture, not simply as 66 books, or as 1,189 Chapters, or as 31,101 verses – we are to receive it as a single message. It must be taken as a whole, or we will miss the entire gift.
Belshazzar was frightened enough that he wanted to know what the message meant for him.

Read Daniel 6:7-9

The message remains as clear as mud! The Babylonian scholars don’t understand the words either, and because the meaning of the words continues to be hidden from him, Belshazzar becomes even more worried. But the queen would remember what Daniel had done for the king’s father, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Hebrew prophet would be called to reveal the meaning of the words that had been written on the wall.

Read Daniel 6:13-17

Why Daniel? Why not these men who were intelligent, and gifted, why not those who had experience at this thing? The truth is that they had no faith, no connection to the God of Israel, and therefore, they could neither speak nor understand his language. But Daniel could.
As each of us grew up physically, we also grew in our language. A friend from my college days was married to a woman from Quebec, and they were raising their young son to speak both English and French. He told me that the boy, as he began to talk, would mix French and English words within a single sentence, which caused no little confusion when friends came to visit. But it was a natural and normal thing for the little boy.
When we, as adults, venture into the world of multilingualism, it usually requires a concerted effort on our part. How many of you studied a foreign language in high school or college? I took Spanish, and quite honestly, it was a disaster. I didn’t put nearly enough time and effort into learning the language, and learned just about enough to be able to order a meal when my ship (U.S. Navy) made a port call in Valencia, Spain. And today, I might be able to recall 5-6 words. A Spanish translator I am not!
The best way to learn a language is to live with someone who speaks both that language and yours fluently. Daniel knew God’s language because he spent time with him, and trusted him, and believed that the Lord would teach him all that he needed to know. And he did.

Read Daniel 6:22-31

Daniel gives the king, in no uncertain words, the reason that he doesn’t understand the meaning behind God’s words – he isn’t humble, he has taken a stand against the Lord’s ways, he has desecrated the items taken from the temple, he glorifies gods who have no power and no standing, and ridicules the one God who has all power. And the faithful Daniel brings life to the words that the Lord wrote.

Interestingly, many scholars believe that the words which were written on that Babylonian wall have a financial significance. Mene implies “counting”, Tekel means “to weigh”, and Peres means to “divide”, with Parsin probably referring to the Persians who would be at their door that very night.
Daniel tells the king that the number of days of his life are running out, that he has been weighed and judged and found wanting, and that the once all powerful kingdom of Babylon will be defeated and divided between two new earthly powers. And that night, the prophecy would be fulfilled.

Belshazzar was tried by the word of God, and he failed in the judgment. He had lived his life with the sole purpose of bringing glory to himself. He cared nothing for others. He refused to show respect and honor to the Living and True God. And because of these failings, he was kept from understanding the words that were given to him until a man of God was brought to explain them.
Is it any wonder that some people still believe that the Word of God has become irrelevant in the 21st century? Is it any wonder that some actually believe that the scriptures need to be rewritten to bring them up to the world’s standards for life? Consider the words of condemnation that Belshazzar was judged by – self-glorified; uncaring; disrespectful and dishonoring toward God; filled with self and empty of the Spirit; weighed and found wanting; divided and no longer one. Sound familiar? And the world, too, will be judged, not by some capricious standard, but by the Living Word of God.

If these words of judgment fit any of our lives, we need to make some radical and drastic changes, and it must be done quickly! Trial by the Word will not be delayed.