It is a painful, and sometimes fearful, thing to be judged and punished in life. Do you remember what it was like when you were first arrested and cuffed up? I’ve had nightmares where I recklessly broke the law and am being pursued by the police and know that I cannot escape justice. Even if I allude the law, I know I have wounded my conscience and my testimony as a Christian. It is a terrible feeling, to feel I have betrayed my God and ruined my reputation as a Christian. It’s only relieved by waking up in a sweat and giving thanks that it was only a bad dream.

This year, Aaron Hernandez, a promising wide receiver with the New England Patriots, was convicted of murder. This week, after a lifetime of huge success and wealth as a comedian, Bill Cosby was criminally indicted for sexual assault, after a withering series of exposés and allegations. “How the mighty have fallen!”, King David lamented over the death King Saul and his dearest friend, Prince Jonathan. This past month, the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram was finally scattered into hiding. We also can anticipate the end of the so-called Islamic Caliphate called ISIS or Daesh. They have aroused the wrath of nations by their cruel beheadings of captives, and their sponsoring of murderous attacks in Paris, Libya, Syria and Iraq.

Jesus the Messiah, King of kings, is also Supreme Judge of the World. He ordains the rise and fall of kingdoms, and sadly our own destinies when we stray into wickedness. But through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have a guaranteed right to appeal to God for mercy and receive His forgiveness, even if we must suffer chastisement for doing wrong.

Romans 2:4 says “The kindness of God leads you to repentance.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Judah’s sorrows led to her repentance from idolatry and return to Israel’s God. Babylon’s sorrows from refusing to honor God led to her demise. This sorrow is the fate of all who live solely for themselves and give no heed to God and His claim on our life. It is the sorrow of those who refuse to learn the truth about life from God’s perspective, which is clearly revealed in the Bible.

Scripture teaches, in 2 Peter 1:3-4 that God’s “divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and excellence. For by these he granted us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them we might become partakers of the divine nature, and escape the corruption that is in the world by lust.” If we reject the knowledge of God and despise His promises to us, we cannot partake of His divine nature and will not escape the corruption of lust in the world. That is what it means to be lost in sin and darkness – a soul that is headed to hell and doesn’t recognize it or care before it’s too late.

Please turn with me to Daniel 5. We’re continuing the series on the book of Daniel. Daniel has been called the apocalyptic book of the Old Testament, because in many respects it is a precursor to the final book of the Bible, Revelation. In this chapter we read of the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon became a rising power under King Nabopolassar, starting in 626 BC, and reached its height under his son, Nebuchadnezzar II. Now in 538 BC, the empire that had conquered the kingdom of Judah and took her people captive, destroyed the holy temple in Jerusalem and robbed all the temple vessels was about to receive its recompense from God.

God accomplished His purposes for punishing Judah for its persistent idolatry and compromise with pagan worship. Godly prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and political leaders like Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, solidified the Jewish people in Babylon’s renewal as God’s chosen people. The people agreed that their exile was due to their rebellion toward God; and they rejected idolatry altogether in their social life. The Jewish people genuinely repented of their idolatry and never again practiced idolatry, child sacrifice or any pagan religious practices.

The sorrow that produces death is what the great city of Babylon faced on its final night. For seventy years, Babylon had dominated the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, and become the wealthiest city in the known world. But to the East, an alliance of the Medes to the north and the Persians to the South relentlessly threatened Babylon’s grip on Mesopotamia. The Medes were the ancient ancestors of modern-day Kurds in Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. And the Persians are the ancestors of modern-day Iran. By 539 BC, the army of Cyrus the Great had crushed the army of Babylon at the Battle of Opis, and laid siege to Babylon. Even so, Babylon had the tallest and widest walls of any city in the world; and its ruler considered the city impregnable. It was at this time that Babylon held a major religious feast. Reading in Daniel 5:1-4:

Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. ² When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. ³ Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Even though his city was under siege, Belshazzar, the son of Emperor Nabonidus, chose to have a feast with thousands of the nobles of Babylon. In a brazen act of arrogance, he ordered that the gold and silver vessels of Jerusalem’s temple be brought out to offer toasts to the gods of gold, silver and other metals and substances. His low regard for Israel’s God was revealed in this sacrilegious act, and Belshazzar understood the insult to Israel’s God implicit in it. His great predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, had never done this, especially after repeated prophetic reproofs given through Daniel and his three friends. Yet this act was supremely ironic in that it triggered God’s final judgment upon Babylon, which had confiscated these vessels as a demonstration of their high god Marduk’s superiority to Yahweh, God of Israel. But these vessels became a poison chalice for Babylon, and the very instruments of divine judgment. Reading verses 5 and 6:

Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. ⁶ Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together. 

God directed an angel to write an inscription in sight of the king, but only his hand was visible. Belshazzar instantly recognized this hand as a supernatural source, and sensed that it spelled doom to him for his blasphemy. He became so terrified that his knees knocked together. The ominous phrase “the handwriting on the wall” that spells doom for its recipient came from this event. Reading verses 7-9:

The king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸ Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his face grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed.

While Babylon was under siege, and about to fall, King Belshazzar made a meaningless offer of costly honors to the interpreter of the handwriting to third ruler in the kingdom! Belshazzar had praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood; but ironically, at the moment of his doom, these dead objects were all he could offer. Once again, all the conjurers and wise men of Babylon were unable to read or interpret the words on the wall. Neither the king’s power, nor wealth, nor council of advisors were of any value in the face of divine judgment. Continuing in verses 10-12:

The queen entered the banquet hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale. ¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners. ¹² This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.”

How ironic that the queen knew Daniel had a divine spirit, which she errantly attributed to “the holy gods”, but her husband Belshazzar was arrogantly heedless of him. Daniel’s feats in saving the wise men of Babylon and advising King Nebuchadnezzar were legendary in his kingdom. Yet Belshazzar had shunted Daniel aside as a royal advisor for his own coterie of yes-men. The queen urged him to summon Daniel to give the interpretation, which ironically, would seal his doom. Reading again in verses: 13 through 24:

Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴ Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you. ¹⁵ Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message. ¹⁶ But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.”

¹⁷ Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. ¹⁸ O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. ¹⁹ Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him; whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. ²¹ He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes. ²² Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, ²³ but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified. ²⁴ Then the hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out.

King Belshazzar’s great sin was in failing to learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation into madness for his arrogant pride before God. Belshazzar and all the nobles of Babylon knew of Nebuchadnezzar’s bout with insanity, and that the king later confessed his hubris that instigated it. The king had also honored the God of Israel, and declared God’s dominion. But this happened decades earlier, and Babylon had ignored the king’s final warning: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

Belshazzar’s brazen act of praising material things as gods and using the temple vessels to do so, was an insult toward the King of Heaven. Proverbs 16:18 warns that “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Belshazzar is an example for each one of us, when we take our eyes off of God and only focus on self-gratification and success.

God doesn’t mind people enjoying their wealth and good parties now and again. But when this is all that you live for, self-indulgence becomes a form of spiritual idolatry – of letting worldly pleasures control your life. Celebration is part of the happiness of life that God has given us. The Bible exhorts us: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

It is how we enjoy life that separates the godly from the worldly. My wife and I went to a New Year’s Eve party with Christian friends. There was good food and non-alcoholic drink, good conversation and a joyful atmosphere. We closed the evening by sharing a scripture and reflection on what we hope for in 2016. These celebration times anticipate the greatest party of all, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb that will take place right after Jesus gathers the whole Church in heaven and on earth to Himself.

Closing chapter five, starting from vv. 25: “Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’ ²⁶ This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. ²⁷ ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. ²⁸ ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. ³¹ So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

The inscription on the wall, “Mene, mene, tekel upharsin” was indecipherable to the Babylonians. There are a few possible explanations for this. 1) The script used on the wall was not Aramaic but another alphabet known only to Daniel. 2) Some Talmudic scholars believed that the letters were transposed, or set vertically, and confused the Babylonians. Or 3) it could be that the words conveyed a double meaning that only Daniel could connect to give its true meaning. “Mene mene” may refer to the mina, a weight used to measure money, and mene mene has a dual meaning of both “numbering” and “finish”. Tekel could be a pun for “weigh” and “light”, implying that Babylon was weighed and found with little precious gold, or worth, in it. Upharsin can mean both “Persian” and “divided”.

When Cyrus laid siege to Babylon, he knew that the city’s walls were too high to be scaled and too wide to be breached. A branch of the Euphrates River ran through the city under iron gates; so they had a permanent supply of water. Cyrus, therefore, diverted the Euphrates river around the city, causing the water level to drop. They waited until the night of a major feast when the Babylonians were distracted and sent his army through the river bed, under Babylon’s walls and conquered the city easily.

Scripture uses Babylon as a metaphor for the nations’ rebellion against God. In our first national call to prayer and Thanksgiving in November 1789, President George Washington stated, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” When nations fail to honor God they become captive to national iniquity which leads to corruption, civil war and sometimes conquest by other nations.

In Isaiah 14, the King of Babylon became a metaphor for Lucifer, who exalted himself into thinking he could be like God, and fell to become Satan, the oppressor. Satan, in turn, lured a third of the spirits of heaven, and then humanity into thinking they could be like God, knowing good and evil. Instead, we have fallen into evil, and our appreciation of goodness is all too easily compromised by our selfishness.

In Revelation 17, we see a blasphemous woman writing a scarlet beast, and drunk with the blood of the saints, with a name on her forehead, “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” Some view this as a metaphor for the Roman Empire, which was persecuting the early Church in John’s day. Others see Babylon as the future capital of the Antichrist. Some have ascribed this to New York City or the world’s economic order. I prefer to see Babylon as a metaphor for all ungodly powers who persecute God’s people. Revelation 18:1-3 says:

After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. ² And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. ³ For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”

We live in a country and a world that has seen unprecedented prosperity and commerce. We depend upon the economy of our land for our livelihood, and we should pray for the peace and well-being of America. But our nation has tolerated wickedness in our culture and has turned its back to God by enshrining secular humanism as its basic ethos. We have minimized the meaning of the words engraved on our money, “In God we trust.” Consequently, we cannot accuse God of injustice if calamity should ever befall this land. I believe it is only for the sake of the God-fearing in our land that God withholds His hand of judgment; but judgment will come at its appointed time.

Revelation 18 declares the fate of this future Babylon: “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, ¹⁰ standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.”

By contrast to idolatrous Babylon, the Jewish remnant in captivity committed themselves to a path of moral righteousness and adherence to the law. They later coalesced under the godly influence of leaders like Zerubbabel the governor, Yeshua the high priest, prophets like Haggai and Zechariah, and then under the governor Nehemiah, Ezra the priest and the prophet Malachi. The religiously zealous Jews came to be known as the Pharisees. The term Pharisee, which means “set apart” or “holy”, reflected their desire to live morally and religiously clean lives, consecrated to God. They hoped that adherence to God’s law would usher in the promised prosperity and triumph of Israel, as promised by their prophets.

The period following the exile from Babylon was perhaps the greatest religious and social reform movement in Israel’s history. It set a high tone of godly, moral excellence that sustained the Jewish people and protected their identity for centuries as God’s chosen people under three increasingly wicked empires: Persia, Greece and Rome. Even though the Pharisees eventually became encrusted with legalism, in the sixth century BC their leadership was essential for the preservation of Jewish identity; their will to live separated lives kept the Jews from intermarrying and being assimilated with the surrounding peoples and forever losing their identity as God’s chosen people.

The humiliation and repentance of the Jewish exiles in Babylon is a great historical type for all of God’s people who come to repentance through faith in Jesus Christ. In these last days, as we approach the time of Christ’s return, we must pay heed to our hearts, that we are not becoming captive to what Jesus called “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth” that choke the word of God in us.

When we dabble in sin, we reap a craving for more sin until it finally takes over our lives and clouds our rational thinking. Addictions begin with an attitude of self-indulgence and a willful daring against our better moral judgment, by partaking time and again in addictive substances. The consequence of habitual sin is the captivity of our conscience to sin that becomes iniquity; and iniquity always leads to loss and the death of our integrity and sense of uprightness. Like Babylon, the captive soul collapses in cold unbelief, the death or friendships and marriages, and finally physical death and spiritual death, which is hell.

The spirit of Babylon always tries to encroach on the hearts of God’s people. We resist that spirit by glorifying God and giving Him thanks for all that we have and do. When you trust Jesus fully as Lord, Babylon can never get its grips on your soul. John the Apostle assures us, “If we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another; and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin…. [And] if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Stay in communion with Christ in your hearts and in fellowship with God’s people. Humbly confess your sins when you become aware of them to keep your conscience clean and your spirit out of Babylon.

So I would ask you today: Have you surrendered your heart and your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? He wants more than just your mental belief or assent. He wants a faith that is grounded in the truth of His word and what Jesus Christ has done for you through His death and resurrection. He wants you to trust Him fully, because apart from Him we cannot live the Christian life as God intended. Apart from Him, we have no life at all in His Spirit.

Are you willing to fully trust Jesus today as your Savior and your Lord?