Everyone has heard the story about the writing on the wall. But if you haven’t, I will refresh your memory briefly. We are dealing with Nebuchadnezzar’s son. He was obviously king after Nebuchadnezzar, but for some reason he had not learnt about God like Nebuchadnezzar had – and with all the wealth available to him he got a bit bored, and decided to throw a massive party. His first problem was that he invited all the lords and everyone over to get drunk, but a much greater problem was that the cups and vessels he used to do this were the ones from the Temple in Israel. It was Nebuchadnezzar who had taken all of these, in his conquest of Israel, but he had just stored them somewhere safe. Now his son was going to mock God by drinking from His sanctified cups. Well, God would have none of this, and so to reassert His power and sovereignty, God sent a disembodied hand to write on the wall in front of the whole party. This made everyone uncomfortable, not least of which the king (whose name by the way, was Belshazzar). In fact the king was so scared that verse 6 says that:
‘...the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.’ (Daniel 5:6b)
Now that takes some scaring! I guess you’d be fairly scared too, if a hand without any arm suddenly appeared in front of you. Neither a pretty sight, nor a familiar one.
The thing about the writing on the wall was, no-one could read it. Even the astrologers and wise men could not read the words, nor interpret their meaning. So, you guessed it, Daniel comes into the picture. He reads the words as ‘Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin’ and each word had a meaning:
‘This [is] the interpretation of [each] word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;
TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting;
PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."’ (Daniel 5:26-28)
Needless to say, Belshazzar’s reign was at an end – and that very night, he was slain, and the kingdom passed to Darius the Mede (at 62 years old!).
So what shall we take away from this incredible story? What can we learn that can help us? Well, to me it is a reminder: a reminder that our lives aren’t inherited from our parents. We read:
‘O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor... But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.’ (Daniel 5:18,22)
What our parents were, is not necessarily what we are, and their achievements and failures do not count for us. Nebuchadnezzar had been a great man of the world, and became a man of God, by the grace of God. But his son was an idolater, and a mocker of the true God – and what’s more, there are no earthly achievements listed for him (other than succeeding his father on the throne!). This should re-emphasise for us the importance of owning our faith and our lives, and living them for God. Do not rely on the faith of your parents or those who lead you (eg. Your pastor, grandparents, schoolteacher), but instead have a relationship with Jesus that you own and is between you and Him. On the other hand, for those with kids, and those who will have kids one day, it reminds us that it is very easy for the child of one who is a great person of God to deny Him and go their own way. Never believe that just by acting your normal Christian life and seeing your kids grow up in Sunday School and the church that they will magically grow up as Christians – they must be taught by both word and action and saturated with the Gospel. And then they must make their own choice.
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