Great and Glory - Christ's Reading of Daniel 5

“King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand” (Daniel 5:1).

GREAT. He was thinking great—a great feast. Thousands. Red wine. Gold. Lots of gold—even from the golden vessels of temple of the Jews. A sacrilege? Nothing was too great a sacrifice for his greatness, his great feast. He’d invite his lords, his concubines, praise his gods, for his feast, his enjoyment.

Immediately…. Divine judgment. “And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart… but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you …but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored" (Daniel 5).

Hundreds of years later…. A young Jesus sits in the synagogue, listening to the rabbis read Daniel 5, and he sits and mediates on it. This is his Father’s letter to him.

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:27-29).

GLORY. He had all things. All things. He had glory, power, majesty, paradise. But he treasured something more—the fear of the Lord, the intimate knowledge of God the Father, more precious than rubies (Prov. 3:15). Instead of boasting, he emptied himself. Instead of trying to curry the lords’ favor, he sought to do the will of his Father alone, and made himself a servant.

“Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end….

                Instead, True King.

                Instead, True kingdom without an end.

Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting….

                Instead, True King, True Fullness of God.

Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:26-28).

                Instead, True Head of a united people.

                And he will bring true judgment against all the opponents of God.

“…for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end…. and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Daniel 6:26, Luke 1:33).  

And because the True King of glory gave up his glory, and because instead of the cup of wine he drank the cup of God’s wrath, he can host the true banquet—in his Father’s glory, where he is the Bridegroom, the Celebrated One, in a city of gold, in the true temple in the presence of the Lord of glory.

“And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God’” (Revelation 19:9).

And because he drank the bitter cup of wrath, we can be invited to the true banquet—the invitation is extended to those who follow his steps and humble themselves, casting themselves in their poverty on the riches of his grace. Only when we admit we are naked and in rags, can we allow him to dress us in proper wedding clothes. When we admit we have no food and drink, can we eat of his free gift, offered to all who are thirsty.

As the rabbis droned Daniel 5, on these things Jesus must have meditated--on greatness and glory, feasts and messianic banquets, the measure of a true king and his calling, the world and its perspective of power, and his true kingdom, and his cup so that others might come to the heavenly banquet.