Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110206.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Daniel: Hope And Direction In A Troublesome World
F. Aligning With God's Word For Blessing Amid World Upheaval
(Daniel 5:1-6:3)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    We need insight on handling world upheaval today:

    (1) On February 1, 2011, 500,000 Egyptians flooded the streets of Cairo to protest President Hosni Mubarak's rule. This unrest was of great concern to the United States, for Egypt controls the Suez Canal through which flow significant oil shipments to the Western world, so the closing of the Suez over political unrest could drastically raise the price of oil in the West, creating big problems for us as we try to dig out of our greatest recession since the Great Depression ("What the uprising means for the U. S.," USA TODAY, 1/31/2011, p. 2A).

    (2) Egypt's uprising was sparked in turn by a crisis in Tunisia that began when Mohamed Bouazizi, an educated man who had been forced to earn a living only as a fruit vender, committed a protest suicide on December 17, 2010. He was publicly slapped in the face by a female government inspector, a horrible humiliation for a man in that culture, so his frustrations spilled over, and he doused his body with gasoline and ignited it as his only way to protest an oppressive regime. The frustration of a nation that had been building for decades exploded over this incident, inflaming other oppressed people in the Middle East to denounce their rulers as news of the crisis spread over the Internet. (nytimes.com/2011/01/22, Karee M. Fahim, "Slap to Man's Pride Set Off Tumult in Tunisia"; mediolana.wordpress.com/2011/01/14, "The Tunisian education system: the cause of the Jasmine Revolution?")

    (3) On top of all this, an article on finance.yahoo.com ("Ready for Splash Crash, the Ultimate Market Meltdown?", 2/3/2011) claimed that due to the "interconnectedness of high-speed (Internet) trading platforms . . . (g)eopolitical disturbances such as those in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the Middle East . . . could trigger the Splash Crash,' sapping liquidity from trading systems and causing havoc among various markets."

    (4) This all leaves many investors uncertain as to where to put their money today, so many of them hoard it, putting further pressure on the financial systems of the world. This pressure is so great, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake announced last week that the Fed is not going to raise interest rates for a long time!



    Accordingly, we ask, "In view of the potential of world upheaval, what would God suggest we do in facing it?!"

    Need: "How does God suggest we face world upheaval today?!"

  1. The Daniel 2 dream forecasting the "Times of the Gentiles" from Daniel to Christ's Kingdom is typified as an image with its various anatomical parts that depict consecutive empires, Daniel 2:37-41.
  2. Daniel 5 describes the UPHEAVAL in the SHIFT from Babylon to Medo-Persia, and how Daniel was blessed in it for obeying God's Word as guidance for believers in history who face such upheavals:
    1. When Nebuchadnezzar died, Babylon experienced "deterioration, intrigue, and murder" until Nabonidus took the throne and established Belshazzar his son as his coregent, Bible Know. Com., O. T. , p. 1344.
    2. The feast Belshazzar hosted in Daniel 5:1 occurred as the Persian army besieged Babylon, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T. It was thus held to honor Babylon's idols (Daniel 5:4) that were brought into the city due to impending war, Zond. Pic. Enc. of the Bib., v. One, p. 446.
    3. Belshazzar hoped that exalting his gods would gain their help over his foes, especially as he exalted them over other the gods of other lands.
    4. However, he made a colossal blunder in exalting his idols over the True Creator God of Israel as revealed in Daniel 5:2-6:
      1. Belshazzar tried to demean Israel's True God, bringing to his feast the gold and silver vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from God's temple in Jerusalem to use in extolling Babylon's idols, Dan. 5:2-4.
      2. Exodus 20:1-3 shows God would not be pleased with this, so on the wall by His candlestick, His fingers wrote a message, Daniel 5:5a! The typology of the tabernacle indicates this gold candlestick symbolized God's written Word, so this writing would signal to the Hebrew Daniel that God had a written message for those present!
      3. This event also held threatening connotations in Babylonian culture, so Belshazzar was terrified upon viewing it, Dan. 5:5b-6:
        1. The way and timing of the handwriting recalled the "writing of heaven" the Babylonians held was to be omen, i. e., a prediction of some future good or evil event, Ibid., v. Four, p. 184.
        2. Also, the words in the message on the surface depict coins, and such words were used as symbols in certain omen texts! (Ibid.)
        3. This omen occurred near the candlestick of the God Belshazzar was then dishonoring, so Belshazzar's knew God was leveling a threat at him in answer to his effort to demean the God of Israel!
    5. Thus, a panicking Belshazzar cried out for his men to explain the writing, but no one could do so until Daniel was called, Daniel 5:7-12.
    6. The king offered Daniel great gifts and promotion if he interpreted the handwriting (Dan. 5:13-16), but in view of Belshazzar's sins, Daniel refused his rewards, but offered to interpret the message, Daniel 5:17.
    7. Seeing the sacrilege done against God's temple vessels and furniture, and thus aware that the message on the wall near God's candlestick addressed Belshazzar's sin, Daniel told him that for not honoring Israel's God like his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had learned to do under trial, God was about to punish Belshazzar, Daniel 5:18-24.
    8. In Daniel 5:25-28, Daniel then explained God's Word of judgment on Belshazzar in the message of the handwriting on the wall (as follows):
      1. "Mene, Mene" - Mene was a weight of 50 shekels, a derivative of the verb, menah, "to number, reckon," Ibid., Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 1346. The repetition of the verb menah signals emphasis, so God had surely numbered Belshazzar's days as king, implying that He was certainly about to end his reign over Babylon! (Ibid.)
      2. "Tekel" - A tekel was a shekel, from the verb teqal, "to weigh" (Ibid.), so God had evaluated (weighed) Belshazzar as a ruler and found him to be lacking, or unacceptable to continue as ruler, Ibid.
      3. "Upharsin" - "u" is the conjunction "and", with "pharsin" (pasin) being a noun that means a half-mina (25 shekels) as derived from the verb peras, to "divide," Ibid. A change in the vowels of peras gives the word Paras, or "Persia" (Ibid.), so God would divide Babylon among the Medes and the Persians, Daniel 5:28; Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations, 1963, p. 86-87.
    9. Belshazzar rewarded Daniel, making him the third ruler in Babylon, risking Daniel's life were the enemy to invade the city! (Daniel 5:29)
    10. However, the invaders that night diverted the Euphrates River that ran under the city wall and marched into Babylon and took control of it without a battle, Ibid., p. 1347. Belshazzar was slain in the upheaval (Daniel 5:30), and Darius the Mede took control, Daniel 5:31. Yet, in all of this, God preserved Daniel, and even promoted him in the new Medo-Persian empire since he had heeded God's Word, Daniel 6:1-3!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior to obey God, John 3:16; Acts 17:30. (2) Then, may we honor God and obey His Word above what this evil world offers that He might cause us to flourish in continuing to do His will even in times of world upheaval!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 One of the most telling ways to discern a believer's devotion to doing the will of God as revealed in Scripture like Daniel did is to see how he handles his money during times of world upheaval.

We have previously noted that God's Word in Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 tells us to invest (1) aggressively, or boldly (11:1a - "Cast they bread upon the waters") for the (2) long-term (11:1b - "thou shalt find it after many days"), (3) being sure to diversify the investment well (11:2-5 - "Give a portion to seven and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth . . ."), and (4) to add faithfully to the initial investment (11:6 - "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand . . .").

Obviously, being diversified means we must keep enough cash on hand for short-term needs, but diversification includes spreading our investments around as we do not know the future, Eccl. 11:2-5.

Right now, investing in stocks seems hard for many in view of the world's unrest. However, famed investor, Warren Buffet, wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times in the 2008 market drop ("Buy American. I Am.", October 17, 2008), noting: "During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom April 1942, well before Allied fortunes returned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank." Thus, he observed, "I've been buying American stocks . . . if you wait for the robins, spring will be over."

Since Mr. Buffet wrote this article, the stock market has significantly risen, and he has profited substantially!

We are best investing boldly for the long-term, diversifying our investments, and faithfully adding to them, just like God's Word directs. We are best obeying Scripture in times of upheaval and seeing God take care of us.

May we like Daniel heed God's Word rather than heeding this evil world's thinking and values, using our resources to further His eternal Kingdom. We will see God supply all we need to fulfill His calling for us even in times of great world upheaval!