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00:00Can you imagine a world with no fear, no disease, no pain or worry?
00:07Such a world is coming.
00:10In The Coming Golden Age, 31 Ways to Be Kingdom Ready, Dr. David Jeremiah takes you on a fascinating
00:16tour of this prophetic period where Christ rules the earth for 1,000 years.
00:22Request The Coming Golden Age by Dr. Jeremiah when you contact Turning Point today.
00:30Is the handwriting on the wall predicting the ultimate demise of the world in which
00:55we live?
00:56And if so, what is it saying about our future?
01:01To understand the purpose and power of God's prophetic messages, we must look deep into
01:06the Word of God.
01:08And what better place to examine these scriptures than from within the walls of the Hall of
01:13Prophecy?
01:15Together, let us journey back to the Old Testament book of Daniel.
01:35King Belshazzar, now the ruler of Babylon, couldn't see the warning that was apparent
01:40to others because he was engrossed in his sinful ways.
01:46A feast of excess, a feast of decadence, a feast of godlessness, a feast of carelessness
02:06and blasphemy.
02:08The revelers at Belshazzar's banquet seemed to be in good hands until the hand of God
02:15made an appearance.
02:33Stunned and bewildered, a cry went out for the man of God to interpret the handwriting
02:38on the wall.
02:41Daniel, now in his twilight years, a man who continued to stand up for God since the days
02:49of his youth, was once again called upon to deliver an unhappy and unwelcomed message.
03:08Now, I'm no handwriting expert.
03:39But I do know this.
03:42History is littered with the corpses of nations that would not honor God and nations today
03:48that are in the death throes as their God-given life slips away because of ungodliness.
04:05So what was this mysterious messenger of God to Babylon and perhaps to us today?
04:12The fingers of God, an agent of Babylon.
04:28What does God expect from His followers living in today's culture?
04:32How can we stand up for Him?
04:34In Dr. David Jeremiah's book, Agents of Babylon, you'll find that the answer can be found in
04:39the life of one of Scripture's greatest heroes, Daniel.
04:43Why Daniel?
04:44Because the culture of his day is surprisingly similar to the culture of today.
04:49And he not only survived, but thrived by standing up for God in the midst of it.
04:54Discover how you can also reflect God's grace and love as you live for Christ in today's
04:59culture in Agents of Babylon, yours when you give a gift of any amount.
05:04If you give $70 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will send you the Agents of Babylon DVD study set
05:10containing the Agents of Babylon book, complete teaching series on DVD, correlating study
05:15guide and the stand-up bookmark, plus a bonus DVD containing Dr. Jeremiah's live reading
05:22of the Agents of Agents and the Agents of Babylon highlight episode, including the opening
05:27hall of prophecy segments you've seen on Turning Point Television.
05:31Order the Agents of Babylon book or study set when you contact Turning Point today.
05:50The story begins in the massive banquet hall of Belshazzar's palace as he is hosting a
05:56feast for more than 1,000 attendees.
05:59Meanwhile, outside the walls of Babylon, the Persian armies have laid siege to the city
06:05and Cyrus was about to execute his plan for an invasion.
06:10So the story begins in the first verses of the fifth chapter.
06:13First of all, Roman numeral one, the feast of Belshazzar.
06:17Belshazzar the king made a great feast for 1,000 of his lords and drank wine in the presence
06:23of the 1,000.
06:25This wasn't a little small party.
06:27This was a huge party.
06:31Now we notice in the first verse the sensuality of the feast.
06:36Belshazzar the king drank wine in the presence of the 1,000.
06:40Now that sounds just like an incidental descriptive word that means nothing, but it means a lot.
06:48Belshazzar was not hosting a dignified royal state dinner.
06:51This was a drunken party, and he violated royal protocol by drinking with his lords
06:57and inviting women to the feast.
07:00In most ancient Near Eastern cultures, men and women had very little public interaction
07:06with each other and were customarily separated on social occasions, and if you'll read carefully
07:12the book of Esther, you will see an illustration of that.
07:16When this protocol was violated, it usually meant that sensuality was involved.
07:22Ancient kings didn't drink wine at banquets in order to maintain an aura of authority
07:27and self-control in the presence of their subjects, so this night in the banquet hall
07:32of Belshazzar was a night of sensuality, but it was also a night of sacrilege.
07:37The sacrilege of the feast is given to us in verses two through four.
07:42The Bible says that while Belshazzar tasted the wine and gave the command to bring the
07:46gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple and which had been
07:51in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink
07:56from them.
07:57And they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of
08:00God which has been in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, his concubines drank
08:05from them.
08:06They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
08:12And Belshazzar and his guests guzzled down drink after drink as they lifted up these
08:16holy vessels which were created for the worship of Jehovah, and they did it to mock the God
08:21of heaven and worship their own pagan deities.
08:25The sacrilege of the feast.
08:27Now let me add one with apologies, the stupidity of the feast.
08:33When Belshazzar held this licentious feast, he was well aware that the armies of Cyrus
08:37had amassed around his city.
08:40How could he and the Babylonians have been so naive to utterly ignore this threat to
08:44their city and their safety?
08:47Belshazzar didn't know it, but he was celebrating his own funeral.
08:52The feast of Belshazzar, the fingers of God.
08:55Notice verses five through nine, the supernatural sign.
08:59Daniel 5.5 says, in the same hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite
09:04the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the
09:10part of the hand that wrote.
09:14I'm sure that you know that for hundreds of years, we have borrowed well-turned phrases
09:18from Scripture to express everyday things.
09:21One of the best known of all of these phrases is the handwriting on the wall.
09:26Well, that phrase comes right from Daniel chapter five.
09:29This is a Bible phrase where God's prophetic message is written by supernatural fingers
09:34for everybody to see.
09:38Notice not only the supernatural sign, but the sobering significance.
09:42Verse six, the king's countenance changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the
09:47joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.
09:51It wasn't what was written on the wall that terrified Belshazzar.
09:56He didn't know what was written on the wall anyway.
09:59He didn't know what it meant, but what terrified him was being in this palace and watching
10:03during this feast as a disembodied hand is writing a message on the plaster wall behind
10:10where the king was.
10:12Someone I read has summarized this by saying, this was one of the fastest examples of sobering
10:18up in human history.
10:21Now, while all this is happening, according to verses seven through nine, there's a simultaneous
10:26summons.
10:27The king cried aloud saying to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and
10:31tells me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around
10:35his neck and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
10:38Now all the king's wise men came, but they could not read the writing or make known to
10:41the king its interpretation.
10:43Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled and his countenance was changed and his lords
10:47were astonished.
10:50Belshazzar along with everyone else who was in attendance could read the letters that
10:53formed the writing on the wall.
10:55These were Aramaic letters, the common language of the day, but they could not make sense
11:01of the words of their message.
11:04So Belshazzar cried out for his wise men to tell him what the words said and what they
11:08meant.
11:09A few verses earlier we're told that when Belshazzar saw the writing on the wall, his
11:14thoughts troubled him.
11:15Verse six, now when he can't understand the writing on the wall, we are told that he is
11:20greatly troubled.
11:22Verse nine, the fame of Daniel then is Roman numeral three.
11:28Belshazzar had heard of Daniel's ability to interpret dreams and visions.
11:32Daniel's amazing prophetic gift was still the stuff of legend in the royal courts, even
11:37though it had happened many years before.
11:41The recollection of the queen is given to us in verses 10 through 11.
11:45The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall.
11:50The queen spoke saying, O king, live forever.
11:53Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change.
11:57In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were
12:02found in Daniel, and King Nebuchadnezzar made him chief of the magicians of the astrologers
12:08of the Chaldeans and the soothsayers.
12:11Now here's what happened.
12:12When the king's wise men admitted that they couldn't interpret the handwriting on the wall,
12:16the astrologers didn't know what these words meant.
12:20Belshazzar was told to summon the queen.
12:22His counselors came and said, we need to get the queen in here.
12:25Now we know this is not Belshazzar's wife because his wives are already with him.
12:29They're in the drinking party.
12:30The queen is not really his wife.
12:32It's the queen mother.
12:33It's the wife of Nebuchadnezzar.
12:36In the Aramaic language, the words father, mother, grandfather, grandmother are not easily
12:41understood.
12:42The same word for all of the different people only are able to be interpreted by the context
12:47in which they appear.
12:49We know who this woman is.
12:50This is Nebuchadnezzar's wife.
12:52Nebuchadnezzar is dead.
12:54She is alone, and she is summoned by Belshazzar's friends to come to this feast.
13:00And she arrives, and she makes the recommendation.
13:02The recommendation of the queen is in verses 10 through 12.
13:07The queen spoke, saying, now watch what she says, there is a man in your kingdom in whom
13:12is the Spirit of the Holy God.
13:15In as much as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving
13:19riddles, explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belshazzar.
13:24Now let Daniel be called, and he will give the king the interpretation.
13:29The queen knew Daniel, and it says here that she knew he was a man in whom was the Spirit
13:35of the Holy God.
13:38What a reputation.
13:40And the queen described Daniel like he's described, I think, seven or eight times in
13:44this book, a man in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God.
13:48Let me just tell you this, and we'll touch on this later.
13:50If you're a man or a woman in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God, when the crisis comes,
13:56you will probably be called.
13:59Isn't it interesting how that works?
14:01When issues happen, people don't go for the drinking buddies.
14:05They go for the person in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God.
14:11Now the king requests that this happen, verses 13 through 16.
14:15Daniel was brought in before the king, and the king spoke and said to Daniel, are you
14:19that Daniel who was one of the captives from Judah, whom the king brought from Judah?
14:24I have heard of you.
14:25Here it is again.
14:26I have heard of you, Daniel, that the Spirit of the God is in you, and that light and understanding
14:31and excellent wisdom are found in you, and I have heard of you that you can give interpretations
14:36and explain enigmas.
14:37Now, if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you should
14:40be clothed with purple, have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler
14:43in the kingdom.
14:46Daniel walks into that scene, and he sees these vessels which had been sanctified for
14:51the worship of Jehovah God, desecrated by an inebriated pagan king, and Daniel must
14:57have wept.
14:58His heart must have been broken.
15:01And the Bible says that Daniel responded, the faithfulness of Daniel.
15:06Daniel knew his role.
15:08He didn't come there to argue with the Babylonians or get in the face of Belshazzar.
15:13He came to stand up and speak for his God.
15:17He did several things.
15:18First of all, he refused the king's gifts.
15:21Verse 17, Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be to yourself.
15:28That's a really nice way to say what he said.
15:32Let your gifts be to yourself and give your rewards to another.
15:37And I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.
15:43I'm sure you're familiar with the term quid pro quo.
15:47Quid pro quo means something for something.
15:51You give me this and I'll give you that.
15:53To avoid any semblance of quid pro quo, Daniel refused the king's offer of gold and all of
16:00his positions because Daniel worked for God.
16:03He didn't work for gold and he worked for the king of heaven, not the king of Babylon.
16:09So he wouldn't take what the king wanted to give him.
16:11He refused the king's gifts and then he reviewed the king's history, his heritage.
16:16O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom and majesty, glory, and honor.
16:22But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from
16:28his kingly throne and they took his glory from him.
16:31And he was driven from the sons of men.
16:33His heart was made like the beast and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys.
16:37And they fed him with grass like oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till
16:41he came to know that the most high God rules in the kingdom of men and appoints over it
16:47whomever he chooses.
16:50This account that Daniel made was a preamble for what Daniel said next.
16:55He pointed his finger at Belshazzar and he said to Belshazzar, Belshazzar, you have fallen
17:00into the same category as your grandfather.
17:03How often is that true?
17:06Is it not that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children?
17:11So Daniel is going to rebuke Belshazzar.
17:14This stands as one of the more famous rebukes in the Bible, almost right alongside of the
17:20rebuke that Nathan gave to David in that story.
17:24Listen to what he does.
17:25First of all, he charges this wicked king with premeditated sin.
17:31Watch this carefully.
17:32Verse 22, you, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, watch this, although you knew
17:41all of this.
17:42Belshazzar had had an incredible opportunity to learn from the experience of his grandfather.
17:47He knew everything that happened to him and yet he premeditatedly did what he did.
17:52That's the first thing Daniel told him.
17:54Secondly, he charged him with profane sacrilege.
17:57Verse 23, he said, you've lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
18:02You have brought the vessels of his house before you and you and your lords, your wives
18:07and your concubines have drunk wine from them.
18:11Thirdly, he charges him with pagan sacrifice.
18:16You have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do
18:21not see or hear or know, and the God who holds your breath in his hand and owns all your
18:26ways you have not glorified.
18:30Everything Belshazzar had, like everything we have, is from God.
18:34The Bible says every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the father of lights
18:39with whom there is no variance or shadow of turning.
18:43Belshazzar didn't have anything that he owned himself.
18:46God had given him his kingdom just as he had given the kingdom to his grandfather.
18:51But instead of worshiping the living God out of gratitude, Belshazzar chose to worship
18:55dead images.
18:59Daniel said to him, Belshazzar, the living God, the real God worthy of your worship holds
19:04your very breath in his hands and you have decided to profane him.
19:12And then Daniel got to the point and revealed the king's message.
19:17Verses 24 through 29.
19:21Verse 25 says, mene, mene, tichel, eupharsin.
19:26Let me break up the seriousness of this moment and remind you that some wags have over the
19:31years said these words mean money, money, tickles the parson, and that's not what these
19:36words mean.
19:37I just thought I'd throw that in.
19:40I had to get rid of that somehow.
19:42Mene, mene, tichel, eupharsin.
19:47These are Aramaic words.
19:49The first word is repeated for emphasis.
19:52There were terms for measuring, terms for quantity, accounting words in essence.
19:57The first word mene is the word for numbered.
20:01Belshazzar had been measured and counted and scrutinized and numbered, numbered, numbered,
20:09it says.
20:10Tichel means weighed.
20:13Belshazzar had been weighed according to God's standards of righteousness and he had been
20:17found to come short.
20:20And the word pharsin means divided or halved.
20:24The Babylonian kingdom had been measured.
20:27It had been weighed.
20:28It had been found short and it was going to end and it was going to be given to the Medes
20:32and the Persians that very night.
20:37And then we have the fall of Babylon, which is recorded for us in verses 30 and 31.
20:42That very night, listen to that, that very night, which very night?
20:46The very night that the prophecy was made.
20:49That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain and Darius the Mede received
20:55the kingdom, being about 62 years old.
20:59It was the night of October the 11th, 539 B.C.
21:04The Medo-Persian army slipped beneath the wall of Babylon and put Belshazzar to death.
21:10Babylon had fallen to its enemies.
21:12Babylon is fallen, is fallen.
21:15Daniel 4 marked the end of Nebuchadnezzar.
21:19Daniel 5 marked the end of Babylon.
21:22The head of gold on the Colossus has been defeated by the chest and arms of silver.
21:27Babylon was absorbed into the inferior empire of the Medes and Persians.
21:33Now as we wrap our minds around this story today, I know you're thinking, well, that
21:38sounds like a lot of stuff that's going on in our country.
21:41We think we're invulnerable.
21:42It doesn't matter what we do or how we live or how we profane God.
21:46God, he's not going to bother us.
21:50Well, Babylon's a pretty interesting story for us to be reading at such a time as this.
21:56That night Babylon was defeated, but Daniel walked right out of Babylon and became a leader
22:03in the Persian empire.
22:05The godly people who love the Lord will not be touched by the disaster that hits the world.
22:10They will be taken to heaven ahead of time.
22:13But the judgment will come when God says it's time for it to come.
22:18So let me ask you, what do we take from this?
22:20And let me give these to you real quickly, three things.
22:24First of all, as I read this, maybe this is for me, but it's for some of you too.
22:30Don't ever think God is finished with you.
22:33Number one, don't ever think God is finished with you.
22:36Did you know that Daniel was no longer serving Babylon in an official capacity as far as
22:40we can tell?
22:42The whole younger generation had forgotten about Daniel, but God kept him alive for this
22:47moment and Daniel gave a message that no other one could ever have given.
22:51He delivered a truth that no one in his generation could have delivered.
22:55And whatever your stage in life may be, stay ready to serve when your moment comes.
23:01That's what I'd say to you.
23:04Number two, don't worry too much about fame and fortune.
23:08This world is passing away.
23:10What an illustration from Daniel.
23:11He said to the king, I know what my values are.
23:14I'd rather be right with God than have your robes and your chains and all of your prestige.
23:20Number one, don't think God is finished with you.
23:22Second, don't worry too much about fame and fortune in a perishing world.
23:25And thirdly, don't neglect passages about God's wrath and judgment.
23:31Hear my heart on this one.
23:32I like to be positive as much as anyone, and I think the vast majority of what we do and
23:36say in this church is very positive, but the Bible also is filled with reminders that there
23:42will be a reckoning, a time of judgment.
23:47Let's ask God to give us the courage to warn our world as the opportunity comes that we
23:52only have a short time before God is going to judge this nation.
23:57If we do that, we will make a difference.
24:00My responsibility is not to stand down.
24:04That's cowardice.
24:07Not to stand aside.
24:09That's compromise.
24:11Not necessarily even to stand against.
24:13That's contention, and sometimes it can be competition.
24:17My job and your job is to stand up.
24:20That's courage, and that's conviction.
24:25Dr. Jeremiah will return in a moment to close today's program right after this.
24:35Revelation is not the only place in God's Word where end times prophecy can be found.
24:41In his book, Agents of Babylon, what the prophecies of Daniel tell us about the end of days, Dr.
24:46David Jeremiah travels back to explore the Old Testament book of Daniel, teeming with
24:51prophetic markers and visions.
24:53The prophecies found therein reveal not only a glimpse of the future, but also a full picture
24:58of God's power in the past and present.
25:02Agents of Babylon explains how the fulfilled prophecies of Daniel give us confidence to
25:06live for God in today's world and prepare for what is yet to come.
25:12Agents of Babylon is yours when you give a gift of any amount in support of this program.
25:16If you give $70 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will send you the Agents of Babylon DVD study set
25:22containing the Agents of Babylon book, complete teaching series on DVD, correlating study
25:27guide, and the standup bookmark, plus a bonus DVD containing Dr. Jeremiah's live reading
25:33of the Agents of Agents and the Agents of Babylon highlight episode, including the opening
25:39Hall of Prophecy segments you've seen on Turning Point Television.
25:43Order Agents of Babylon book or study set when you contact Turning Point today.
25:50And now with one last word for today's program, here is Dr. Jeremiah.
25:56Do you sometimes feel that today's culture behaves much like the guests at Belshazzar's
26:01Feast, a drunken celebration of sensuality and depravity?
26:06If that's true, then this world desperately needs more Daniels.
26:11The question is, will you be one of them?
26:15Daniel's spiritual strength, eternal perspective, and godly wisdom enabled the Lord to use him
26:22in a mighty way in His world.
26:24And the same qualities are available to you in our world through a growing, dynamic faith
26:29in God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
26:33You will inevitably encounter tests to your faith in your daily life.
26:38Are you prepared for them?
26:39Well, I'd like to give you two free resources to help strengthen you in your Christian faith.
26:46One is our booklet, Your Greatest Turning Point, and the other is our monthly devotional
26:51magazine, Turning Points.
26:53They're yours at no charge when you contact us at Turning Point.
26:58David Jeremiah and Turning Point are making a global impact for the kingdom of God, but
27:03we can't do it alone.
27:04That's where Bible Strong Partners come in.
27:07Bible Strong Partners form the foundation of Turning Point, allowing Dr. Jeremiah to
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27:16In return, we want to support your faith with special and exclusive resources.
27:21To become a Bible Strong Partner, go to davidjeremiah.org slash Bible Strong today.
27:28Join us next time on Turning Point.
27:30Sometimes God doesn't want to take us away from our problems.
27:34He wants to show us His strength in the midst of our problems.
27:37He wants us to be stand-up people who stand up in the secularism of our day so that we
27:42can be a testimony to the world around us.
27:46Join us next time for Dr. Jeremiah's message, The Lion King, here on Turning Point.
27:59Dr. David Jeremiah is delivering the unchanging Word of God every month to more than half
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