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Guest (Male): And just as surely as prophecy has been fulfilled in the past, so prophecy has been fulfilled and will be fulfilled in the future. Why does God give us prophecy? For two reasons.

This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, a series in the book of Daniel, week two, part two. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up-to-date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Well, welcome back. We're on another study in the book of Daniel. You'll notice that I'm not in a familiar environment for you. My wife and I are traveling for some appointments and we are in California. California has been rain-soaked. You may have read about some of the flooding in San Diego and some of the flooding in Los Angeles and further north, but we are between San Diego and Los Angeles and where we're staying is on high ground so we are doing just fine. Thank you for joining us again for this Bible study on the book of Daniel.

We're in Daniel chapter five tonight. You'll remember that in Daniel chapter one, we found that Daniel was taken into captivity as a young man, brought to the lavish city of Babylon. Babylon was the leading ruler of the world at that time. Nebuchadnezzar attacked Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, the king of Babylon, attacked it in 605 BC, attacked it again in 587, and Babylon dominated the world. Jews were brought into captivity to Babylon.

And so Daniel one begins with a great defeat for the true God, but Daniel purposes in his heart to serve God, and the chapter ends with a great victory for the true God. So in Daniel chapter one, God is revealed as the one who turns defeat into victory. Often we have defeats in our own lives, and God can take those defeats as we give our lives into his hands and turn them into victory.

In chapter two, you remember we had the dream of the great king and King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of an image: head of gold, breasts and arms of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay, a rock cut out without hands that smashes the image. That Daniel chapter two, the great theme is the God who reveals the future. And if God knows the future of the nations and God can reveal the destiny of the nations, he knows our future too and we can be safe in his hands.

In Daniel chapter three, the king in rebellion against God sets up a golden image and he commands all of his citizenry to worship that image. But in Daniel chapter three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not bow down. They're thrown into the fiery furnace. Miraculously, Jesus enters into the flames of their life and protects them. So in our life, when we go through the flames, when the journey is long and the mountain is high and the road is rough and we go through the flames of life, Jesus is there with us.

As he was with the Hebrew worthies in the flames, we're never alone. I love the old song "Just When I Need Him Jesus is Near, Just When I Falter, Just When I Fear, Just When I Need Him Most." And then in chapter four, it's the only chapter in the book of Daniel not written by Daniel. It's written by Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar loses his kingdom, wanders around with the royal beasts, but then he looks to heaven, reminds us of Isaiah 45 verse 22, "Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else."

So in chapter four, the king who becomes a beast wanders around on all fours, grunting like a beast, looks to heaven and he's restored to his throne. So we in our fallen natures, as Jeremiah 17:9 says, "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it," as we come to Jesus and we open our hearts to him and look to Christ, he robes us with the robe of righteousness, takes us and places us upon a throne, puts a royal diadem upon our heads and puts a scepter in our hands. In Christ, through Christ, because the righteousness of Christ, we too can reign as kings with God and priests forever and ever.

Daniel one, the God who turns defeat into victory. Daniel two, the true prophet who reveals the future that we can trust him. Daniel three, he is the priest, the deliverer who leaps into the flames of our life. Daniel four, he's the ruler, he's the king that one day will rule upon his throne. So we come now to Daniel chapter five. Do you have your Bible? Well, you know what, before we go into Daniel chapter five though, let's look at a few questions because I did have a couple of questions that came in.

Incidentally, if you have any questions, we'll put on the screen where you can write in for your questions. You can write in to info@hopelives365.com. Write in your questions. They may be on the book of Daniel, they may be Bible questions. So here's a couple questions. Here's David from Maryland. "There were three righteous men thrown into the flames, that's in chapter three. Then another glorious one joined them. Could that represent the proclamation of the three angels' messages in Revelation 14 and then the great mighty angel in chapter 18 declaring Babylon is fallen?"

David, I do think there's a correlation with Revelation but I don't think it's that particular one. We have three men in the fiery furnace. They're standing in the flames of life. So I don't think each one of them represents one of the three angels. Then we have the third angel coming to protect them. In the book of Revelation chapter 18 when the fourth angel comes, when the angel comes to protect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery flames, yes, he was protecting.

But when you look at the fourth angel that joins his ministry with the three angels of Revelation 14, you look at Revelation 18, the earth is filled with his glory and the earth is brightened with the glory of God, the character of Christ. So there is a final proclamation there that I think is somewhat different than the angel who protects Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery flames. But here's where I think the connection is.

Nebuchadnezzar passed a universal decree that anybody who didn't worship the image should be thrown into the fiery furnace. So it was a universal death decree to violate the commandments of God, namely the first and second commandment. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me and thou shalt not bow down to any graven image." So here is a universal world leader who passes a universal decree that anybody that doesn't worship in a certain way should be killed.

The three angels' messages warn us against something very similar. They warn us indeed that there will come a time when the beast power will rise, church and state will be united and worship once again will be compelled. I think that's where the parallel is. And just like the angel protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so Christ will protect us in the last days. Hope that helps. There's another question that has come in too. It says, "King Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter four, the seven times period, is it literal or symbolic?"

It is a literal seven-year period that was fulfilled upon King Nebuchadnezzar. Some people want to take the seven times or the seven years, make them prophetic, multiply seven times 360, come out with 2520 and apply that to end events. The reason that that can't be done is a couple fold. One, chapter four is in the historical section of the book, not the prophetic section. Secondly, in Daniel 4:28, it says, "all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar." In other words, it was fulfilled. Daniel 4:33, "the very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar." So in chapter four, it is very, very clear that the prophecy was fulfilled.

If you have any questions, again, send them into us. I'll be happy to answer them for you. Again, where do you send them? You send them to info@hopelives365.com. Some have asked too how can they get the study guides for this series. If you want the study guides, you can send to hopelives365.com/weeklybiblestudies. Study guides for Daniel: hopelives365.com/weeklybiblestudies.

Now, a little background in Daniel chapter five. How old do you think Daniel was when we come to Daniel chapter five? How old? Well, are we guessing? No, we have pretty good information. You remember in Daniel chapter one when Daniel was taken captive, the Bible says in Daniel chapter one and verse four, it talks about those who were taken captive and it says young men in whom there was no blemish, good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand. Young men. The word there for young men is a word that is like teenagers, but not young teenagers, not 13 or 14.

How do we know that? Well, it says that they were gifted in wisdom, they possessed knowledge, they were quick to understand, so they had some educational background. Most authors understand that Daniel was about 17. So if Daniel is 17 or thereabouts in chapter one, and there's a 70-year captivity that Jeremiah predicted upon Babylon, and if in chapter five the Medes and the Persians end that 70-year captivity, so you'd have 70 years of captivity, Daniel is 17 when he goes into captivity, so he's about 87 years old.

The young king Belshazzar here, the Babylonian king, is about 36 or 37. So what we're going to see here is a young upstart, young king who wants nothing more than parties and pleasure and thrills. Babylon was a sex-centered, morally twisted, and defiled degenerate in that palace. And as we're going to see there, this great party, you're going to see the contrast between the foolishness and the folly of a young king who's obsessed with pleasure and Daniel, a man of God who's been in that kingdom guiding empires.

He's been there with Nebuchadnezzar, been there with Nabonidus, been there throughout the empire. He has guided over 70 years the Babylonian empire, giving his wisdom. So you're going to see a man of faith, a man of prayer, a man of confidence in God, a man of deep trust in God. And we're going to contrast him with Belshazzar, a weak, vacillating, pleasure-centered king. So let's go, let's jump right into our chapter.

Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence his life-changing truths with others. You can support this mission and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Daniel chapter five, verse one. "Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand his lords and drank wine in the presence of the thousand." Well, he tasted the wine. Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords and his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Now notice, this is some drunken feast, the wine is flowing, everything to tempt the eye and delight the taste is upon the table.

Long-robed Babylonian statesmen hold close finely gowned, perfumed Babylonian women. The dance floor is gyrating with the music of Babylon. The wine is flowing, conscience is at half-mast, and Belshazzar says, "Bring me the goblets, bring me the vessels that we took out of the temple of Jerusalem that my father took there." Now notice one thing here, it says Nebuchadnezzar's his father. We know that Nabonidus was his father. Is that a mistake? Not at all. In Hebrew culture, remember the Bible says Jesus is the son of David? Not lineage. So often the Bible uses the term loosely, relative of.

So you've got what's the genealogy? First you have Nabopolassar, son is Nebuchadnezzar. Then you have Nebuchadnezzar, son, one of his children, Nabonidus. Then Nabonidus, and he had other sons too, then Nabonidus gives birth to Belshazzar. So really, Nebuchadnezzar's the grandfather, but the term in Hebrew is used loosely here. But here's the point, they're drinking, his mind is besotted, and in an act of utter rebellion against God, in an act of defiance against God, he says, "Bring the sacred vessels. The vessels that were used for the worship of the Most High, the vessels that were used in the sanctuary with the Shekinah glory of God. Bring those vessels."

And they bring them. And the Bible says, verse three, "Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem and the king and his lords and his wives and his concubines drank from them. Can you imagine that? They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron and wood and stone." Here, the sacred vessels that were used to worship God were brought into this feast of drunken debauchery with these immoral scenes, these sacred vessels.

And they worshipped the gods of gold, silver, wood, and stone. This is the act of ultimate defiance. God has mercy, God is gracious, but there comes a point where human beings can go beyond the mercy of God. We saw that in the days of the flood. Let's go back to Genesis chapter six because we see a repeat of that here. Genesis the sixth chapter. There was a time that all society went beyond the mercy, the grace, the goodness of God.

Genesis chapter six, we're looking there first at Genesis chapter six, verse five. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And verse 11, "The earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence." So in the days of Noah, society filled the cup of its iniquity and stepped across the line from God's mercy to God's judgment.

We see the same thing in Sodom and Gomorrah. An immoral, pleasure-centered society. They step over the line. In Noah's day, the rains fell. Sodom and Gomorrah's day, the fire fell. And we see the same thing in Babylon. There comes a point where human beings can exhaust God's mercy. They can turn their back on God's love. They can resist the claims of the Eternal One. God had did everything he could to reach the society in the days of Noah. God did everything he could to reach society in the days of Lot. God did everything he could to reach Babylon.

In fact, in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, he revealed himself and Nebuchadnezzar accepted the true God. But Belshazzar did not. He went further and further and further away from God until he took those goblets out and that was the last act of defiance. You know, there's a last feast, a last night, a last party for every human being on earth. If Jesus does not come, every one of us will have that last night.

And that's why Christ is appealing to us now. That's why Christ is moving upon our hearts now to make an eternal decision for him, to leave nothing, nothing between us and our Savior. I love that old song, "Nothing Between My Soul and My Savior, Not of This World's Delusive Dream." So we go back. They're drinking wine, verse four, praising the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

But in the same hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Notice, it writes against the lampstand. That lampstand that was in the sanctuary of God, that lampstand that illuminated the ancient sanctuary and the ancient temple, that lampstand that represented the light of Christ's love, the light of his grace, the light of his word. That lampstand is brought into a pagan banquet hall and God says it's enough.

God says the cup of iniquity has been filled and God's mercy now becomes God's judgment. The king's countenance changed, verse six. His thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his hips were loosed and his knees knocked together. And the king cries aloud to the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers. The king spoke saying to the wise men of Babylon, "Read this writing and there'll be clothed with purple and a chain of gold around your neck, you'll be the third ruler in the kingdom." Why third ruler? Why third ruler? Nabonidus was the first ruler, the father of Belshazzar.

But you know what? He didn't like ruling too much and so as a result of that, Nabonidus built a palace far up the river Euphrates in Tayma and in he was natural history, I kind of like to say he liked to chase butterflies, and he said to his son Belshazzar, "You rule." So Nabonidus first, Belshazzar second, and then third ruler in the kingdom would be the one who can interpret the dream.

But notice what it says, he brings in the Chaldeans, the soothsayers, all the psychics, the astrologers. We saw those guys before, didn't we? Daniel chapter two, they come in. King Nebuchadnezzar says, "Tell me what I dreamed and what does it mean." Astrologers, Chaldeans, soothsayers, magicians say, "We don't know, we can't tell you what you dreamed." He said, "You're not fooling me. If you can't tell me what I dreamed yesterday, how can you tell me about tomorrow." Daniel comes in, interprets the dream. King Nebuchadnezzar knew.

But then, chapter four, king brings them in again. He says, "I'll tell you the dream that I had about the tree. What's about this tree that was cut down?" Chapter four. They say, "We don't know." Daniel comes in again. See, it's very fascinating to me that the Babylonian kings often did not learn. They did not learn the folly of trusting human wisdom. They did not learn the folly of psychic seers.

It's unfortunate today that many turn to astrology columns. There are 3000 astrology columns in newspapers across America. Many people go onto the internet looking at astrology. Some people go to psychic seers to get the future, but they let men and women down in Daniel's day and they will let you down today. There is no wisdom except Satanic wisdom in the magicians, the astrologers, the soothsayers.

I love what it says in James 1:5 where God says, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him come to me, that upbraideth not and giveth to all men of liberally." If you're lacking wisdom, if you need some decision, God invites you to come to him, to seek his will for any decision you need to make in your life.

The handwriting is on the wall. It can't be read. They don't know what it means. All the king's wise men came but they could not, reading verse eight, they could not read the writing or make known the king its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled. His countenance was changed. His lords were astonished. So just imagine, he's shaking, he's shaking. They put down the wine cups now. The hands that have been embracing Babylonian women fall limp. Every eye is looking upon that wall. Every eye is looking upon that writing upon the wall, that this is mysterious writing, written with this finger of fire indelibly upon the wall.

Their knees are knocking. Their stomach is in knots. Sweat's pouring down their face. They sense something serious. They sense that this is an omen, a dark omen, but they don't know. The king is angry. He's angry because the astrologers, the magicians, Chaldeans could not interpret the dream. So King Belshazzar was troubled, verse nine. His countenance was changed. His lords were astonished.

The queen, because of the words of the king and the lords, came to the banquet hall. Now she wasn't there. Why? Because she was a noblewoman. Who was she? Most translations say the Queen Mother. This was Nebuchadnezzar's mother. She knew that when Nebuchadnezzar was out eating grass, Queen Mother knew that Daniel was preserving the kingdom.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: I get a sense that judgment's hanging over our world. That we live in a world very much like ancient Babylon. A world that is saturated with pleasure, a world that is filled with materialism, a sex-centered, thrill-jaded world that's going crazy over the things of time rather than the things of eternity. I get a sense that we're living in a world that has drifted further and further from God. When right has become wrong and wrong has become right. When truth is mocked and ridiculed and scoffed at.

Where error is accepted as the norm and where unrighteousness is considered righteousness. Where people say there is no truth. I get a sense that the grains of sand are running out of the hourglass of time. I get a sense that the cup of iniquity is being filled. I get a sense that we're living on the verge of the eternal world, that God is appealing to us to make eternal decisions for Christ, eternal decisions for his kingdom. "Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

Now it's a very interesting thing. God had predicted the Persian ruler that would overthrow Babylon 150 years before his birth. Every single prophecy of God will be fulfilled. Let me end by asking you this question. Are you right with God tonight? If judgment fell on your house, if judgment fell in your life, would you be right with God? Is there something you need to surrender? Is there some area in your life that's not right? Why don't you talk to God right now? May God bless you is my prayer. Until next time. See you then. Goodbye.