Hinsdale Covenant Church
10.27.24 - "Daniel: The Hand of God" - Joy Lawrence
Thank you, Stephanie and John, and thank you too, Johnny Cash. We're having some help today with the sermon. We've been in this series on Daniel. Some of the narratives are kind of long, but actually it's very dramatic, and so I invited several people to help me read today. As we read in Daniel chapter 5, we're going to read the whole thing, so you do not have to stand. Different people are reading different parts. I'll be reading the narration. Evelyn will be reading the Queen. Albin will be Belshazzar and Colin will be Daniel. So let us hear the word of the Lord together. King Belshazzar made a great festival for 1,000 of his lords, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the vessels of gold and silver that his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the vessels of gold and silver that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drink from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace next to the lampstand. The king was watching the hand as it wrote. Then the king's face turned pale and his thoughts terrified him, his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the diviners, and the king said to the wise men of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me its interpretation, "shall be clothed in purple, "have a chain of gold around his neck "and rank third in the kingdom." Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar became greatly terrified and his face turned pale and his lords were perplexed. The queen, when she heard the discussion of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall. The queen said, "Oh, King, live forever. "Do not let your thoughts terrify you "or your face grow pale. "There is a man in your kingdom "who is endowed with the spirit of the holy gods. "In the days of your father, "who is found to have enlightenment, understanding, "and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. "Your father, King Nemecanesur, "made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, "chaldeans, and diviners, "because an excellent spirit, knowledge, "and understanding to interpret dreams, "explain riddles and solve problems "were found in this Daniel, "whom the king named Belshazzar. "Now let Daniel be called "and he will give the interpretation." Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, "So you are Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, "whom my father, the king, brought from Judah. "I have heard of you that a spirit of the gods is in you "and that enlightenment, understanding, "and excellent wisdom are found in you. "Now the wise men, the enchanters, "have been brought in before me to read this writing "and tell me its interpretation, "but they were not able to give me "the interpretation of the matter. "But I've heard that you can give interpretations "and solve problems. "Now if you are able to read the writing "and tell me its interpretation, "you shall be clothed in purple, "have a chain of gold around your neck "and rank third in the kingdom." Then Daniel answered in the presence of the king. - Let your gifts be for yourself or give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and let him know the interpretation. O king, the most high God gave your father, Nebuchadnezzar, kingship, greatness, glory, and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed those he wanted to kill, kept alive those he wanted to keep alive, honored those he wanted to honor, and degraded those he wanted to degrade. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he acted proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne and his glory was stripped from him. He was driven from human society and his mind was made like that of an animal. His dwelling was with the wild asses. He was fed grass like oxen and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven until he learned that the most high God has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals and sets over at whomever he will. And you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled your heart. Even though you knew all this, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels of his temple have been brought in before you and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know. But the God in whose power is your very breath and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honored. So from his presence, the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed. Mené, mené, tekel and parson. This is the interpretation of the matter. Mené, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then Belshazzar gave the command and Daniel was clothed in purple. A chain of gold was put around his neck and a proclamation was made concerning him that he should rank third in the kingdom. That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years old. The word of the Lord. Thank you all for reading this morning. So last week, when we were in Daniel chapter four, we heard about King Nebuchadnezzar, how he had this weird dream. And then it comes true when he acts like an animal for a certain length of time. We don't actually know how long. But how, at the end of this certain length of time, he comes to his senses and prays to God and recognizes who God is. This is a great ending for Nebuchadnezzar 'cause Nebuchadnezzar is a really bad guy. We didn't talk about this very much. If you're curious, read Jeremiah 39 and 52 for evidence. Real bad guy. Real bad guy by the word of God and experiencing God in his life, he changes and turns to God. It's a wonderful story of hope even for us today. May it be so. But now in Daniel chapter five, we've sort of fast forwarded some 30-something years. And there's a new king we read about. Belshazzar is actually Nebuchadnezzar's grandson calling a grandson son in the Bible is pretty normal. We think about how Jesus is called the son of David. He's not the son, there's many greats in between, right? And so Belshazzar's dad, Nebuchadnezz, he goes out of town on a regular basis to other places. And so he's gone out of town on extended business and left his son, Belshazzar in charge for a while. He's king for a time and he's pretty young. And so he does what any young man might do when he's left in charge while dad's out of town. He throws a party. It's kind of a movie trope, right? That we're familiar with. And that sometimes happens in reality, right? Kids partying while the parents are gone. And although in the ancient Near East, it usually does not involve using the roof as a diving platform for the pool, but it does get pretty rowdy. Belshazzar pulls out all the stops. He invites everyone who's anyone, thousands of nobles that the text says. And he drinks wine with them, a lot of wine. And sometime into the wine, he decides to really impress the guests and get out his granddad's war trophies, those silver and gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of Yahweh. And he passes them around to all his friends and they drink wine out of them. And as they drink wine, they toast to the God of gold and silver and bronze and wood and iron and stone. And maybe, if you've read Daniel closely, all these elements might remind you of a statue that was made out of these elements in Daniel chapter two. Think this is a literary illusion. But this time, rather than simply being the material from which a statue is made, the king is in possession of the material. He owns it. As David Helm writes, the king was declaring to everyone that with his hand, he had a firm grip on God. He owned Yahweh, one can almost imagine him pounding his gop lit down on the table and wiping his mouth dry and asking for another. Yahweh, that God of the Hebrew people, he is so small, I can hold him with one hand and drink out of him. But we know, as readers of the Hebrew scripture, that God is not and has never been confined to a point in creation. God is not in a cup or a rock or a statue or a building. God is infinite. God is omnipresent. God is everywhere. And God is all powerful. A human being can't put their hand around God. And so God decides to make himself known at this party, even though he wasn't invited. I wonder how long it took the crowd to see the disembodied hand. Wonder how slowly it wrote, how quickly the ruckus died down. Everyone watching, it was nighttime and the text tells us that the hand was next to the lamp stand. So it's lit up, spotlights on the hand, everyone sees it. And as soon as the king sees it, immediately he is filled with foreboding. The blood drains from his face. The next thing in Hebrew it says is that, or in Aramaic it says that his loins get weak. Some interpret this as that he soils himself. He is scared. His knees knock together. He's a mess and it makes sense. And just like all the other stories of Daniel, the king's wise men can't make heads or tails of the message, but then the queen, and this is not Belchazar's wife, this is probably his mother, remembers Daniel. And so they summoned Daniel to interpret the riddle. And Daniel at this point is quite old. He's probably around 80 years old. So here he walks into this party that originally he wasn't invited to, or at least he wasn't at. He walks in slowly, observing the party that has suddenly taken a bad turn, and he looks at Belchazar trying to keep it together and failing, and he tells the king a bedtime story about the king's grandfather, about Nebuchadnezzar. How Nebuchadnezzar had been a great king with limitless power. He reminds him saying, whatever he wished he killed, and whomever he wished he kept alive, but when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he acted proudly, he was put down off his kingly throne, and his glory was stripped from him. And then Daniel contrasts grandson to granddad. Nebuchadnezzar learned that the most high God has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals and sets over it whomever he will. But Belchazar, he hasn't learned. He hasn't humbled his heart. He's done the opposite. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, he stayed in a place of pride and against, that's the first word of verse 23, against the Lord of heaven, you have lifted yourself up. In trying to put his hand around God. In praising the created thing, rather than the creator, Belchazar is going to receive God's judgment, and the writing on the wall is the riddle, God's riddle, to communicate that to him. So, the riddle. Menet, menet, tekel, and a farson. These are Aramaic words with a kind of wordplay going on. They do have a literal meaning that people would have known. So, menet is a measure of weight. It's a mena. Tekel is also a measure of weight. It's a shekel. Tekel is 60 mena. And a farson, or farson, is to break into two or divide. That's the literal meaning of the words that everybody would have known. But when Daniel interprets it, he looks at the root letters of the words, kind of like the consonants, and communicates this meaning as John Golden Gay Translates, mena. God, can you go back? Thanks. God counted out mena. The days of your kingship and handed it over to mena. Tekel, you have been weighed tekel on the scales and found deficient, and a farson, a half. Your kingship has been broken in half, Paris, and given to Medea, the Medes, and Persia, the Persians. As Johnny Cash translated, you've been weighed in the balance and found wanting. And this is the judgment that Belchazar is receiving. Now, unlike some of the other moments of Daniel's interpretation throughout the book, guess what? No one has to wait for this to happen. We read that night, Belchazar the King was killed, and Darius the Mede acquired the kingship at the age of 62. Why 62? Well, two mena and one shekel, 62 mena. There's some nice prophetic irony going on in the text, and there's more irony when you learn about the cultural historical context. As the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, "Belchazar's party happened while the city of Babylon was under siege by the Persians. The very night of the party, they finished diverting the Euphrates River into a swamp so that the army could march into the city in the shallow river water." This was a necessary way in. The walls were 22 feet thick and 90 feet high. And here's Belchazar, praising the gods of gold and silver and bronze, while the army is entering the city and Babylon falls. There's a lot of irony in this story. But what can we learn from this? Besides like the cool things in the text or the prophetic irony? You know, one thing that really stuck out to me is I've spent time in this text and in Bible study with other people about it. There's a big theme in this story, but throughout Daniel, and it is the theme, the imagery of a hand, hand. This is a word that is repeated throughout the story of Daniel. And I just want to look at how it uses the word hand in different places in our story today and stories preceding it. So here's some things we see human hands doing. Verse chapter one, verse two. "The Lord gave King Jehoiakim of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar's hands." Well, we see Nebuchadnezzar's hands there, but actually God's the active one, right? God's doing it. So Nebuchadnezzar's hands are there, but they're kind of passive. And then in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two, there's a stone that comes out of the earth and it's described as a stone was cut out, not by human hands. Well, it seems like it was cut out by some hands, but not human hands and the stone. If you don't remember, it comes out of the ground and it destroys the statue, representing all these empires, but the stone isn't cut out by human hands. So whose hands? Maybe God's. I think that's what it's saying. Well, I guess that's not people's hands either. So then in chapter two, verse 37, when Daniel interprets this dream of Nebuchadnezzar, he says, "You, O King, the King of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might and the glory into whose hand he has given human beings wherever they live, animals, birds, he continues all the things that have been put into Nebuchadnezzar's hand." Well, there's Nebuchadnezzar's hand, but again, it's passive. It's receiving the action of God. God did this one too. God gave Nebuchadnezzar humanity, the power over the created world. So yeah, human hands, but God did it. And then chapter three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, verses 15 and then 17. Nebuchadnezzar asks the three friends, "Who is the God who will deliver you out of my hand?" And they reply, "If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and out of your hand, O King, let us deliver him. Let him deliver us." So again, God can snatch Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. And then the chapter we read last week, chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar makes a confession. There is no one who can stay God's hand. He names it, no one can stop God's action. Nebuchadnezzar has learned that. And unlike his grandson, Belchazar, he knows he can't put his hand around God. God's hand has far more power than anything we can do or imagine. And when Belchazar grasps that Holy cup, as Daniel says, "Belchazar has exalted himself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels of his temple have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know. The God in whose hand is your very breath, and to whom belong all your ways. You have not honored." And so what we see in these texts and then the story, which the book of Daniel tells us over and over and over again is that we humanity, kings and regular people alike, we like to think we have control over things. We like to think we can hold things in our hand and own them, we like to think we did it. Like Nebuchadnezzar, like Belchazar, we own it, we conquer it, we rule it. But throughout this book, there's actually another power behind us allowing us to have it, allowing us to win or lose, keeping us alive, holding our breath in his hand. This is God. And so the question, the book of Daniel asks, isn't really, is God in charge? That's a given. God is in charge. As God himself says, the most high has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals and gives it to whom he will for verse 32. God's in charge, God is powerful. The question Daniel asks rather is, what's our response to this truth? How do we live in response to the reality of God's reign and rule? How do we accept that every single moment, every single day of every single one of our lives, our very substance is a gift of God? Every win we have, it's not us. It's God, our life, our breath, the empires, the nations, it's in the hand of God. Contra to Belchasar, we can't hold God in our hands. We can only be upheld by God. And when we think we can, perhaps God's hand is going to show up and tell us otherwise. I actually believe every single person experiences the hand of God. But our question is, how, how will you, will I experience God's hand? I mean, even Belchasar who did not affirm the reality and live an obedience to Yahweh, he experienced God's hand. The question is really, what side of God's hand will you be on? How will you position yourself? Relate yourself to the hand of the creator of the universe. In her book, and I'm, I'm not necessarily, this is a big thick theology book that I'm not necessarily recommending, but I want to show the cover. The book is called The Crucifixion, Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge. And her cover image, this stained glass window, was a gift from the people of Wales to the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 after the Klan bombed the church, killing four black girls. And in this image, you see the work of Jesus on the cross in the position of his outstretched hands. One is open, it's receiving, it's inviting. The other is cutting off, ceasing, stopping, you see that. And this is a picture of the work of God in Christ. In Jesus Christ, we can be weighed in the balance, measured and found complete in Christ. Jesus opens his hand and receives us into himself, taking the consequence of our sin and his death so that we can be fully received into the life of God. That's the open hand. That's the hand that holds our breath, the hand that directs us, the hand that gives us the areas of life in which we rule and reign with God. But then there's the other hand. The one that shows up on the wall with a word of judgment, the one that weighs and judges, the one that cuts off sin. Because when we resist Christ's open hand of invitation, we will experience his hand of judgment. God's love resisted is felt as wrath. That's a quote from the book. And Daniel invites Belshazzar to change when he confronts him. He says, "You, Belshazzar, his son, "have not humbled your heart, "even though you knew all this. "You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven." Belshazzar knew what God had done in the life of his grandfather. He knew of the spiritual transformation his grandfather had experienced, but instead of submitting to God's hand, he tried to control God with his own hand, weighed in the balance and found wanting. And he died. So let's learn from Belshazzar. Let's learn from Daniel. And I have a few points just of application as we finish today. So even though my friends, we live in a post-enlightenment democratic society, we want us to remember that God is still sovereign. God has the times and seasons in his hand. As Daniel proclaims in chapter two, verse 20, God changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. And when we trust in the sovereignty of God, when we trust the kingship of Jesus above all human authority, guess what? You might start to care less about politics. You might start to care less about politics because you start to trust God in Christ more. Now I am not saying don't be involved and don't care at all, but what we see happening in our society is that politics have become religion. People put their trust in political leaders and then they become antagonistic to those with whom they disagree. But putting our trust in political leaders is not biblical. It's in scripture in Psalm 146. We are instructed, do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth. On that very day, their plans perish. Happy are those whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord, their God, who made heaven and earth. God is sovereign, he's good. Hope in God. And even when things are bad, sometimes they're bad. Even when the bell shazars of the world to spoil what is sacred, guess what? God is at their party. He's gonna show up sometime. Don't despair over current events. Hope in God. That's our first point. Second point, this is a reminder to all of us that we have less control than we like to think. Now I do believe in human participation in God's work and God's world. God has created us to work and to do good. And I firmly believe it. But we have to remember that this is not a cosmic call. It is a local call. And it's limited by space and time for each of us because we're limited by space and time. God has called each of us in our household, in our church, in our neighborhood and school and work to recognize that in those realms, we have been given some authority by God and we are to steward it well. But this is not a cosmic call. When I was a kid, there is this sort of mantra, like go out and change the world, kids. Go out and change the world. That's a cosmic call. A human can't do that. One human has already changed the world and it is Jesus Christ, right? He has already started and he's going to bring it to completion. And so instead, each of us can participate in bringing change to the realm of influence that God has put into our hands. And so I want to do a good job with that realm of influence that God has given me and trust in God for the rest. And you can take this as a guideline for your life. And if you do, I think you'll be more happy. We are less in control than we like to think. Cosmic destiny is in God's hands, not ours. Praise Jesus. Just participate in the ways that God has invited you and called you. And then third, and this is really where we're going to end today. I want you to meditate on, I want to encourage you to meditate on and recognize God's hand in your own life. You know, the entire Bible, not just the book of Daniel, is full of references to God's hands and how we're called to relate with God. Here's just a few of them how they show up. In Isaiah 41 1, we read that God holds us up with his hand. God says, "Do not fear for I am with you. "Do not be dismayed for I am your God. "I will strengthen you and help you. "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." That's one of the things. God holds us and supports us in his hand. And then also God's hand gives us our good work to do. In Ecclesiastes 2.24, a person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too I see is from the hand of God. God's hand has given us our work to do. Third, God's hand sustain all living creatures. Job 12, 10, in his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all humankind. And then finally, God's hand lifts us up when we humble ourselves, humble yourselves therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he might lift you up in due time. So my question for you is, what is your relationship with God as it applies to his hand? Sometimes I probably like all of us. I would be sort of overwhelmed with anxious feelings. Sometimes right before I want to go to sleep. And for years I've imagined God's hand out, God's hand is real big and I'm real small and I'm here in the hollow of God's hand. God is holding me and sustaining me up and I'm safe. So I invite you while Ruth plays some music just to meditate on these verses and your relationship with God as it applies to his hand. Where are you? Let's take a moment to meditate and pray in silence. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) I invite to continue meditating on God's hand, and we'll be able to do this as you stand, and we sing our closing hymn. This will be a melody that you might be familiar with. The words are not in our hymnal, they'll be on the screen, but this hymn is called "My Times Are In Thy Hand". [BLANK_AUDIO]
From Daniel 5