54. Writing on the Wall: Daniel and the Faithful God Part 6

[00:00:04] G'day everyone. Have you heard about the Stories of a Faithful God Kids Club? Each week in the club, a new video comes out where we learn great things about Jesus. We have lots of fun too with puppets, cream pies and other zany things. There are lots of great bonus episodes for adults as well. When you join the club, you can have a 7 day free trial to see if it's right for you. So come on, give it a go!

[00:00:31] Follow the link in the show notes or go to patreon.com and search for Stories of a Faithful God.

[00:00:47] Thanks for listening to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. To find out more, get in contact and to sign up to our newsletter, visit faithfulgod.net. That's faithfulgod.net.

[00:01:07] G'day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. Dave here.

[00:01:13] When you're learning things, sometimes you learn the hard way. When I was three, I was sitting on the edge of a pool and I saw a bee in the water. I wanted to help it, so I picked it up. And wouldn't you know it, the bee stung me. I learned a hard lesson that day about not picking up bees.

[00:01:35] Have you ever learned a lesson like that? Maybe you've been burnt when you touched a hot oven and you think, oh, I never want to do that again.

[00:01:43] Maybe you fell out of a tree and broke your arm and had to learn a better way to climb it.

[00:01:48] Maybe you played with a Tyrannosaurus Rex and it bit your tail off and you had to learn how to train your dinosaur before playing with it.

[00:01:56] Um, maybe not that one. But some lessons you learn the hard way. Sometimes, someone else learns the hard way and you get to learn the easy way.

[00:02:07] Like, you see someone else getting stung by a bee and you learn not to pick up bees. That's much easier than learning the hard way.

[00:02:16] In fact, it's wise to learn lessons from what happens to other people.

[00:02:21] The opposite of wise is being foolish. It can be really foolish if you have a chance to learn a lesson and you just refuse to learn.

[00:02:32] Like if you see people being eaten by their pet dinosaur and you say, oh, that'll never happen to me.

[00:02:38] But when you get a pet dinosaur, you get eaten just like everyone else.

[00:02:44] In today's story, there's someone who had lots of opportunities to learn the easy way.

[00:02:50] He would have been really wise to learn the easy way just by watching someone else.

[00:02:57] Unfortunately, he was a fool.

[00:02:59] I wonder if you'll be wiser than him.

[00:03:03] Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

[00:03:09] At the end of our last episode, King Nebuchadnezzar had learned a really important lesson.

[00:03:33] He'd thought that he was such a great and powerful king because of all his own work.

[00:03:39] He learnt, though, that God, the Most High God, the only true God, is the one who gives greatness.

[00:03:47] He'd given it to Nebuchadnezzar and he could also take it away.

[00:03:53] Nebuchadnezzar realised that, instead of talking about how great he is, he needed to tell everyone

[00:03:59] how great God is.

[00:04:03] Nebuchadnezzar died when he was an old man.

[00:04:05] And now, there's a new king on the throne of Babylon, King Belshazzar.

[00:04:11] Belshazzar should know all the lessons that Nebuchadnezzar learned about God.

[00:04:17] Unfortunately, he seems to have ignored all those lessons.

[00:04:22] One night, Belshazzar gives a big banquet, a big party, for a thousand important people

[00:04:30] in Babylon.

[00:04:31] At the party, they drink lots of wine.

[00:04:34] That's a grown-up drink that it's okay to drink a small amount of.

[00:04:37] But if you drink too much, you start making foolish decisions.

[00:04:43] And Belshazzar wasn't that wise to start with, so this isn't going to go well.

[00:04:50] As the party goes on, Belshazzar wants to show off to all his guests.

[00:04:55] He tells the servants to get some gold and silver cups, the ones that Nebuchadnezzar had

[00:05:01] stolen from God's temple in Jerusalem.

[00:05:05] Nebuchadnezzar had done that before he knew anything about God.

[00:05:08] He'd put them in the temple of his God because he thought that his God was more powerful than

[00:05:14] Judah's God.

[00:05:16] Later on, Nebuchadnezzar learnt the truth about God.

[00:05:20] But Belshazzar's ignored that lesson.

[00:05:23] He and all his guests drink from God's cups.

[00:05:26] And they start praising their own gods.

[00:05:29] They're fake gods that don't have the breath of life in them.

[00:05:32] They're just statues made out of gold and silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone.

[00:05:40] Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hand appears in mid-air and starts writing on the wall.

[00:05:53] Belshazzar freaks out.

[00:05:55] His face turns white, his knees knock together, and he even wets his pants he's so scared.

[00:06:04] When the hands finished writing, the king calls for all the wise men and magicians to come and

[00:06:10] read the words, just like Nebuchadnezzar had asked them to explain his dreams.

[00:06:15] Belshazzar offers them a really massive reward.

[00:06:18] He says in verse 7 of chapter 5,

[00:06:21] I'll give a reward to anyone who can read this writing and explain it.

[00:06:25] I'll give him purple clothes fit for a king.

[00:06:28] I'll put a gold chain around his neck.

[00:06:31] And I'll make him the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

[00:06:36] Whoa!

[00:06:37] That's huge!

[00:06:38] Imagine being made the third most important ruler, just for doing some reading.

[00:06:44] That'd get you doing your reading homework, don't you think?

[00:06:48] There's just one problem.

[00:06:50] For some reason, the wise men can't read this particular writing.

[00:06:56] That makes Belshazzar freak out even more.

[00:07:00] His face becomes even more white, and his party guests are all really confused.

[00:07:06] There must have been a lot of yelling and screaming going on, because the queen, who isn't at the

[00:07:12] party, comes in to find out what all the fuss is about.

[00:07:16] She works out a solution really quickly.

[00:07:18] She realizes that Belshazzar hasn't invited the wisest man in the kingdom to come and help him.

[00:07:26] This is what young kings sometimes do.

[00:07:28] When they become king, they get rid of all the old guys and bring in new people to help them.

[00:07:34] But if Belshazzar had learned the important lessons from Nebuchadnezzar,

[00:07:38] he never would have gotten rid of Daniel.

[00:07:41] The queen says to him in verse 10,

[00:07:43] My king, live forever.

[00:07:46] Don't be afraid.

[00:07:48] Don't let your face be white with fear.

[00:07:50] There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him.

[00:07:56] In the days of your father, this man showed understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.

[00:08:01] He was like the gods in these things.

[00:08:04] Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, put this man in charge of all the wise men.

[00:08:08] He ruled over all the fortune tellers, magicians, and wise men.

[00:08:13] The man I'm talking about is named Daniel.

[00:08:16] The king gave him the name Belteshazzar.

[00:08:19] He was very wise, and he had knowledge and understanding.

[00:08:23] He could explain dreams and secrets.

[00:08:26] He could answer very hard problems.

[00:08:28] Call for Daniel.

[00:08:30] He'll tell you what the writing on the wall means.

[00:08:34] Do you see how foolish Belshazzar's been?

[00:08:37] He's ignored God.

[00:08:39] And he's ignored the man who helps you know what God's saying.

[00:08:43] Craziness.

[00:08:46] Well, someone goes out and finds wherever they've shoved Daniel.

[00:08:50] And they bring him in to see the king.

[00:08:52] And Belshazzar makes the same offer to Daniel that he has to all the other wise men.

[00:08:58] In verse 13, he says to Daniel,

[00:09:01] Is your name Daniel?

[00:09:02] Are you one of the captives my father the king brought from Judah?

[00:09:06] I've heard that the spirit of the gods is in you.

[00:09:08] And I've heard that you are very wise and have knowledge and understanding.

[00:09:13] The wise men and magicians were brought to me to read this writing on the wall.

[00:09:17] I wanted those men to explain to me what it means, but they could not explain it.

[00:09:22] I've heard that you are able to explain what things mean.

[00:09:25] And you can find the answers to hard problems.

[00:09:29] Read this writing on the wall and explain it to me.

[00:09:32] If you can, I'll give you purple clothes fit for a king.

[00:09:36] And I'll put a gold chain around your neck.

[00:09:38] And you'll become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

[00:09:44] As big as this gift is, Daniel doesn't want it.

[00:09:51] Uh, Daniel?

[00:09:53] Do you know how big a deal this is?

[00:09:56] Third highest ruler in the kingdom!

[00:10:00] Actually, Daniel does know.

[00:10:02] In fact, he knows that as a gift, it's completely and utterly worthless.

[00:10:08] But you have to keep listening to find out why.

[00:10:11] He says to Belteshazzar,

[00:10:13] Keep it, or give it to someone else.

[00:10:16] But I'll still tell you what the writing says.

[00:10:19] Before he does, though,

[00:10:20] he wants to remind Belshazzar about the important things that Nebuchadnezzar learned.

[00:10:25] The important things about God that Belshazzar's been ignoring.

[00:10:30] They're the things we've been talking about in the last few episodes.

[00:10:34] In verse 18, Daniel says,

[00:10:37] My king, the Most High God made your father, Nebuchadnezzar,

[00:10:43] a great, important, and powerful king.

[00:10:47] God made him very important.

[00:10:49] So all the people, nations, and those who spoke every language were very afraid of Nebuchadnezzar.

[00:10:56] If he wanted a person to die, he put that person to death.

[00:11:00] And if he wanted a person to live, he let that person live.

[00:11:05] If he wanted to promote a person, he promoted him.

[00:11:08] And if he wanted a person to be unimportant, he made him unimportant.

[00:11:14] But Nebuchadnezzar became too proud and stubborn.

[00:11:18] So he was taken off his royal throne.

[00:11:21] His glory was taken away.

[00:11:23] Then Nebuchadnezzar was forced away from people.

[00:11:26] His mind became like the mind of an animal.

[00:11:29] He lived with the wild donkeys and was fed grass like an ox.

[00:11:33] He became wet with dew.

[00:11:35] These things happened to him until he learned his lesson.

[00:11:38] The Most High God rules over the kingdoms of men.

[00:11:43] And the Most High God sets anyone he wants over those kingdoms.

[00:11:49] Why is Daniel saying all this?

[00:11:52] It's because Belshazzar should have learned his lesson.

[00:11:55] These things weren't a secret.

[00:11:58] Do you remember in the last chapter, Nebuchadnezzar wrote a letter to the whole world about what God had done.

[00:12:04] So Daniel says to Belshazzar,

[00:12:06] But Belshazzar, you already knew these things.

[00:12:11] You are a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar.

[00:12:13] But still you have not been sorry for what you have done.

[00:12:17] Instead, you have turned against the Lord of Heaven.

[00:12:20] You ordered the drinking cups from the temple of the Lord to be brought to you.

[00:12:25] Then you and your royal guests drank wine from them.

[00:12:28] Your wives and your slave women also drank wine from them.

[00:12:32] You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone.

[00:12:38] They are not really gods.

[00:12:40] They cannot see or hear or understand anything.

[00:12:44] But you did not honour God.

[00:12:46] He is the one who has power over your life and everything you do.

[00:12:51] So God sent the hand that wrote on the wall.

[00:12:57] Belshazzar's been a fool.

[00:12:59] He should have treated God properly.

[00:13:01] He should have treated him as the most high God who rules over everything.

[00:13:07] But instead, he's been worshipping fake gods.

[00:13:20] So what's God written on the wall?

[00:13:23] Daniel says there are four words.

[00:13:25] The words are

[00:13:26] Mene,

[00:13:28] Mene,

[00:13:29] Tekel,

[00:13:31] Parson.

[00:13:33] That's all pretty clear, isn't it?

[00:13:41] Okay, okay, not so clear.

[00:13:43] Thankfully, God's told Daniel what the words mean.

[00:13:47] The first word is Mene,

[00:13:49] and Daniel says that it means

[00:13:51] God has counted the days until your kingdom will end.

[00:13:57] Have you ever heard the saying,

[00:13:59] Your number's up?

[00:14:00] It means your time has come to an end.

[00:14:02] And that's like what God is saying here.

[00:14:05] The fact that he says it twice,

[00:14:08] Mene,

[00:14:08] Mene,

[00:14:09] means that it could be happening really soon.

[00:14:13] Belshazzar's kingdom is coming to an end.

[00:14:16] The next word is Tekel.

[00:14:19] Daniel explains to Belshazzar,

[00:14:21] You have been weighed on the scales and found not good enough.

[00:14:27] Do you have scales for weighing things at home?

[00:14:30] Maybe in your kitchen or bathroom?

[00:14:32] Well, God's saying that he's weighed Belshazzar on scales.

[00:14:36] Not to find out if he's been eating too much.

[00:14:39] God's actually weighing how much goodness is in Belshazzar.

[00:14:43] And there isn't nearly enough.

[00:14:46] That's why his kingdom is coming to an end.

[00:14:49] The last word is Parson.

[00:14:52] It means something like divided or chopped up.

[00:14:56] Daniel says that God's saying to Belshazzar,

[00:14:59] Your kingdom is being divided.

[00:15:02] It will be given to the Medes and the Persians.

[00:15:06] The Medes and Persians are starting a new massive empire together.

[00:15:10] And their empire is about to swallow up the Babylonian Empire.

[00:15:15] So, if you put all the words together,

[00:15:18] Belshazzar's kingdom is about to come to an end

[00:15:21] because Belshazzar isn't good enough.

[00:15:24] The kingdom is going to be given to the Medes and the Persians.

[00:15:28] Do you see why Belshazzar's gift is useless?

[00:15:31] What good is it to be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom

[00:15:35] if the kingdom is about to be destroyed?

[00:15:38] If only Belshazzar had learned the lesson from Nebuchadnezzar.

[00:15:41] If only he'd treated God properly.

[00:15:44] If only he'd accepted that God is the greatest and shouldn't be ignored.

[00:15:49] Even now, having heard that,

[00:15:52] Belshazzar could ask God to forgive him.

[00:15:55] He could ask God for mercy.

[00:15:57] God loves it when people do that.

[00:15:59] He always says,

[00:16:01] Yes, I'll forgive you.

[00:16:02] If people really turn away from their sin back to him.

[00:16:05] It's like Belshazzar is about to fall off a cliff

[00:16:08] and this is the very last chance he has

[00:16:11] to grab hold of someone's helping hand.

[00:16:15] But instead,

[00:16:16] he ignores everything Daniel said.

[00:16:20] He doesn't turn back to God.

[00:16:22] He gives Daniel the reward,

[00:16:25] not even thinking about what a useless reward it is.

[00:16:29] Verse 29 says,

[00:16:42] So foolish.

[00:16:45] Do you know how much time Belshazzar has before his kingdom is taken away?

[00:16:52] None.

[00:16:53] Not anymore.

[00:16:55] He's missed his last chance to turn back to God.

[00:16:59] Verse 30 says,

[00:17:01] That very same night,

[00:17:03] Belshazzar,

[00:17:04] king of the Babylonian people,

[00:17:06] was killed.

[00:17:08] A man named Darius the Mede became the new king.

[00:17:11] Darius was 62 years old.

[00:17:17] Belshazzar was a fool.

[00:17:20] He had so many opportunities to learn the truth about God.

[00:17:24] God even kindly gave him one last chance to turn back to him.

[00:17:28] But he just kept ignoring God.

[00:17:32] If you're listening to this podcast,

[00:17:34] you're learning lots of things about God.

[00:17:37] In fact,

[00:17:38] for many of you,

[00:17:39] you probably go to church,

[00:17:40] your parents read the Bible with you.

[00:17:42] You have lots of opportunities to learn about God the easy way.

[00:17:48] Don't be like Belshazzar.

[00:17:50] Don't ignore all those lessons.

[00:17:53] God is really real.

[00:17:55] Jesus really is the king of the world.

[00:17:59] Listen to him.

[00:18:00] Learn from him.

[00:18:02] And learn to live his way.

[00:18:04] He's the best.

[00:18:07] Back in Babylon,

[00:18:09] there's a new king in town.

[00:18:11] This new king,

[00:18:13] King Darius,

[00:18:14] is he going to be any better at trusting God?

[00:18:17] Will Daniel be able to help Darius know God?

[00:18:21] And how hungry are Darius' pet lions?

[00:18:25] Well,

[00:18:26] that's a story.

[00:18:28] For next time.

[00:18:42] Hey,

[00:18:43] I want to do a big shout out to Rachel,

[00:18:45] Martin and Allura.

[00:18:46] They got in contact and told me how much they've been enjoying the show.

[00:18:50] They listen while they're driving along slowly in Sydney traffic.

[00:18:54] Thanks for listening guys.

[00:18:55] And thanks for getting in contact.

[00:18:57] Everyone,

[00:18:58] don't forget about our stories of a faithful God kids club.

[00:19:02] There are a bunch of fun bonus video episodes with puppets and crazy stuff,

[00:19:07] plus lots of great things to learn about Jesus.

[00:19:10] I'd love to have you join.

[00:19:12] The episodes go for about 10 minutes and they come out once a week.

[00:19:16] It also helps me produce these episodes as well.

[00:19:20] Keep trusting Jesus.

[00:19:21] Bye for now.

[00:19:28] Thanks for listening to this episode.

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[00:19:32] then please help Dave to keep it free for others

[00:19:34] by making a donation at faithfulgod.net.

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