OUR GOD REIGNS
Week 5: The Handwriting on the Wall (Daniel 5)
“This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and
brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES,
your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (vv. 26-28).
THE HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL
Did you know that there are about 250 phrases in the King James Bible that are used today in the
English language. “No other book, or indeed any piece of culture, seems to have influence the
English language as much as the King James Bible. Its turns of phrase have permeated the
everyday language of English speakers, whether or not they’ve ever opened a copy.”1
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“By the skin of your teeth” (“I am escaped with the skin of my teeth,” Job 19:20 KJV)
“Drop in a bucket” (“the nations are as a drop of a bucket,” Isa. 40:15 KJV)
“Go the extra mile” (“whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain,” Matt.
5:41 KJV)
“How the mighty have fallen” (“how are the mighty fallen,” 2 Sam. 1:19 KJV)
“Wit’s end” (“They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s
end,” Ps. 107:27 KJV)
“Sour grapes” (“The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on
edge,” Jer. 31:29 KJV)
“Feet of clay” (“his feet part of iron and part of clay,” Dan. 2:33 KJV)
“The handwriting is on the wall” (“In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand,
and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace,”
(Dan. 5:5 KJV)
When we say, “The handwriting is on the wall,” we mean that it looks like something bad is about
to happen. [Give an example.] In Daniel 5, the handwriting on the wall foretold that something
bad would happen to a man filled with pride. His name was Belshazzar.2
[Read Daniel 5:1-6, 17-31.]
PARTY CRASHER
Belshazzar throws a huge party. History tells us that while Belshazzar was partying, the Persian
“King James Bible: How It Changed the Way We Speak” (bbc.com).
For many years, skeptics didn’t believe that Belshazzar was a real person. “Today we have abundant textual witness
[e.g., the Nabonidus cylinder] to the fact that he was the son of Nabonidus. More than that, Belshazzar was coregent
and actually in charge of Babylon during his father’s ten-year absence from the capital city, thus explaining the
reference to him as king” (Tremper Longman III, Daniel, 135).
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army was outside the walls of Babylon. Belshazzar realizes that his life could suddenly come to
an end.
What happens when people realize that their lives will soon come to an end? [Talk about the
brevity of life.] They feel the need to do something that will make their lives significant. [Talk
about how people can go through a mid-life crisis.] People try to gain significance in three things.
(1) People try to gain significance in achievement. “If I could do something great….” At
Belshazzar’s party were symbols of Babylon’s power: “the vessels of gold and silver…
taken from the temple in Jerusalem” (v. 2).
(2) People try to gain significance in romance. “If I could find someone who would love
me….” At Belshazzar’s party were his wives and concubines.
(3) People try to gain significance in religion. “If I could gain acceptance with God….” At
Belshazzar’s party, he “praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone”
(v. 4).
God crashes Belshazzar’s party! “The fingers of a human hand” appear and write on the wall of
the king’s palace (v. 5)! And Belshazzar is filled with fear (v. 6).
FOUND WANTING
Belshazzar was a man filled with pride. He had not learned from the example of Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel says to him, “And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew
all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven” (vv. 22-23).
Daniel interprets God’s handwriting on the wall: “MENE, God has numbered the days of your
kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found
wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (vv. 26-28). God’s
message to Belshazzar: “You’re not a man of significance.” God had “weighed” (i.e., judged) him
and Belshazzar was “found wanting.”
Our days are “numbered.” When we are “weighed” by God, our sin causes us to be “found
wanting.” And our “kingdom” (i.e., all of our possessions) will one day be divided and given to
others. How can we gain significance? Our lives gain significance when we humbly confess our
need for God’s grace.
The only man who was never “found wanting” was Jesus. And He died for me—I’m significant to
God! God loves me! When we put our trust in Jesus, we are given his righteousness—we are no
longer “found wanting”! We become a children of God—that’s significance!