Last time we left off, Nebuchadnezzar had been humbled and proclaimed the living God as the one true God. Now his grandson, Belshazzar, is king. He was proud, and he loved to throw huge, fancy parties. One night, he decided to throw the biggest party yet, a party for a thousand of his most important friends and lords.
There was music, laughter, and mountains of food. Everyone was having a wonderful time. But then King Belshazzar had an idea that would turn out to be a very bad one.
"Bring out the golden cups!" he shouted.
But King Belshazzar didn't care about that. He wanted to show off. So the golden cups were brought out, and the king, his lords, his wives, and everyone at the party began drinking from them, laughing and praising their own gods. These gods were made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Just statues. It was incredibly disrespectful.
The very first commandment says: “You shall have no other gods before me. It's easy to say, "Well, at least I don't have any statues or idols that I worship." But do you know that anything we put before God is an idol? Even good things, or even ourselves.
And then, right in the middle of all the noise and laughter... everything stopped, and a hand appeared.
It wasn't attached to an arm. Not attached to anybody. Just a hand, floating in the air, and it began to write.
The hand moved slowly across the palace's plaster wall, leaving strange words behind it, glowing where the candlelight touched them.
The music and the laughter stopped. Every single person in that room turned to look, and every single face went pale with fear. King Belshazzar's knees literally began to knock together, he was so terrified. He watched the hand finish its writing and then... vanish, as if it had never been there at all.
But the words remained on the wall.
"Someone get me my wise men!" the king shouted, his voice shaking. "Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in royal purple, given a gold chain to wear around his neck, and made the third most powerful ruler in the whole kingdom!"
All the king's wise men, magicians, and fortune-tellers came rushing in. They stared at the strange words. They scratched their heads. They mumbled to each other. But not one of them could read it, and not one of them could explain what it meant. King Belshazzar grew more and more afraid. His face grew paler. His guests began to whisper nervously among themselves. Just then, the queen, the king's grandmother, who remembered something from long ago, walked into the banquet hall after hearing the commotion.
"Your Majesty," she said calmly, "don't be so frightened. There is a man in your kingdom who has a very special gift. Years ago, your grandfather, King Nebuchadnezzar, discovered that this man has the spirit of the holy gods living inside him. He is full of understanding, wisdom, and insight — like nobody else. His name is Daniel. Send for him. He will tell you what this means."
So Daniel was brought before the king. Daniel was an old man now. He had lived in Babylon for many, many years, ever since he was just a boy, and he had always stayed faithful to God, even while serving many, many kings.
"Are you Daniel?" the king asked. "I've heard that you have the spirit of the gods in you, and that you're full of wisdom. My wise men couldn't read this writing or tell me what it means. If you can do it, I'll give you purple robes, a gold chain, and you'll become the third-highest ruler in my kingdom."
Daniel didn't care about the rewards at all.
"You can keep your gifts," Daniel said boldly. "Or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for you and tell you what it means anyway."
Then Daniel looked the king straight in the eye and said something the king was probably not expecting.
"Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, a mighty kingdom, great glory, and honor. But when he grew proud in his heart, God humbled him until he learned that God, not any human being, is truly in charge of every kingdom on earth.
Daniel was talking to Belshazzar, but he is also talking to us. Jesus said in Matthew 23:12: "For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." And James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." Humility is very important with God. It means that we place God where He belongs in our hearts. Way, way, way above everyone and everything else. The Bible, in Proverbs 16:18, says that pride comes before a fall. Out of all the stories in the Bible, this one about Belshazzar's pride illustrates Proverbs 16:18 perfectly.
David continued, "But you, Belshazzar, even though you knew all of this, you have not humbled yourself. Instead, tonight, you set yourself up against the Lord of heaven! You had the cups from His holy Temple brought here, and you drank wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, gods that cannot see or hear or understand anything at all! But you did not honor the God who holds your very breath and your whole life in His hands.
"That is why He sent the hand to write these words."
Then Daniel read the mysterious writing aloud:
"MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN."
And here is what it meant:
"MENE: God has counted the days of your kingdom, and it has come to an end.
TEKEL: You have been weighed on the scales, and you have not measured up.
PARSIN: Your kingdom is being divided up and given to the Medes and the Persians."
The room was silent. But true to his word, King Belshazzar ordered that Daniel be dressed in purple robes, given a gold chain, and announced as the third-highest ruler in the kingdom.
That very night — that same night — everything Daniel had said came true. The city of Babylon was attacked, and King Belshazzar was killed. His kingdom did not last one more day. Power passed to a new king, a Mede named Darius, just as the writing on the wall had foretold.
So no matter how powerful or proud someone becomes, nothing is hidden from God. Every kingdom, and every person, ultimately answers to Him. Being honest, humble, and faithful (like Daniel was, even in a scary moment) matters far more to Him than gold or fancy titles.
