Chapter XXXIV: The Great Feast

DANIEL 5.1-31

BELSHAZZAR was the last King of the Chaldeans, and though he little suspected that this was the last Feast he would ever make, the time had suddenly come when his proud reign was ended, and his enemies would be victorious.

But all this was among the hidden things of the very next day. It is only God who knows the end from the beginning, unless He makes it known to His own servants, who serve and love Him.

So it came to pass that Belshazzar made a great Feast to a thousand of his lords, and he drank wine before his lords.

While he was drinking the wine, he thought that he would show off some of the Holy Vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from God's Temple at Jerusalem.

And Belshazzar knew very well that these Vessels had been made entirely for the Service of the Great God, the King of the whole earth.

But knowing this, he went on in his profane determination to have the Vessels brought into the feast; and he and his princes, and his wives and concubines, drank wine in them, and praised their gods of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and iron, of wood and of stone.

But there fell a sudden hush on the great assembly, for without the slightest warning, there appeared the fingers of a man's hand which were writing on the plaster of the Wall, just above the candlestick of the King's Palace; and the King saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Then his face grew white with fear, and his knees trembled and smote one against another, for he could not control his terror.

So he called aloud to fetch the soothsayers, and promised, that if any one could tell him the meaning, he should be clothed in purple, and have a chain of gold, and be made the third ruler in the Kingdom.

Then all the wise men hurried in, but they could not read the writing, nor give the interpretation.

Belshazzar was very frightened. Then the Queen hastened into the Banqueting Hall, and told him not to be frightened, as there was one man in his Kingdom who could tell dark sayings, and in whom there was the spirit which, she supposed, could only come from the gods.

She little knew that this man of whom she spoke, loved and served the only True and Great God, who lives in Heaven.

So Daniel was brought in before the King, and Belshazzar asked him if he were one of the Captives whom Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem? And the King hurried on to tell him of all the gifts which he should receive, if he could tell him the meaning of the writing.

Then Daniel answered before the King: "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the King, and make known the interpretation."

Then Daniel went on to explain to the King that the God who lived in heaven had given Nebuchadnezzar a Kingdom and majesty: but when his heart was lifted up with pride, he was deposed from his throne, and he had to live with the wild beasts, till he knew that the most high God ruled in the Kingdom of men, and gave it to whomsoever He willed.

And then Daniel went on to say that Belshazzar had not humbled his heart, but had lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven, and had even taken His holy vessels to be used at the feast, and had praised the gods of silver and gold "which see not, nor hear, nor know." And Daniel added these solemn words: "And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified."

Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN—

"This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE—God hath numbered
thy kingdom and finished it."

"TEKEL—thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."

"PERES—Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."

Then Belshazzar commanded his servants to clothe Daniel in scarlet, and to put a chain round his neck, and make a proclamation that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

But in that very night, Belshazzar, the King of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius, the Mede, entered into the City and took the kingdom.

That writing on the wall, written more than two thousand years ago, contains a living lesson to all of us to-day.

It was God who sent that message to Belshazzar: "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting." For God judges every one's life. We read in the Revelation, "There shall in no wise enter into His presence, anything that defileth."

But there is another Writing, not like the one on Belshazzar's Wall—and that is in a Book in heaven, which is called "The Lamb's Book of Life."

Do you wonder what is written there?

It is the name of each one who has come to "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

Let each one of us ask God to wash away all our sins, and to write down our name in that Book of Life.

That is the writing which will mean endless happiness and joy.