Lesson 18: Prophecy Told and Fulfilled

Daniel 5:17-31
17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.
18 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty.
19 And because of the greatness that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled.
20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.
21 He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom He will.
22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,
23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of His house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
24 “Then from His presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.
25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.
26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;


27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;
28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.
31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel was about 90 years old by this time. King Nebuchadnezzar has died, and, as we know from history, Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, is the temporary ruler while his father, the King, is away. Daniel scolds him for knowing the truth from Nebuchadnezzar but defiling the things of God anyway. God wrote the judgment on the wall where the party was happening so everyone could see and understand when Daniel interpreted the words. It happened just as God said through Daniel a few hours later.

God foretells the future. Sometimes He tells it in great detail. In Isaiah 44:28-45:1 God names Cyrus as the man who would rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after the captivity in Babylon. This prophecy was written about 170 years before this event in our verses above. From history we learn that Cyrus the Great was the ruler of the Medo-Persian empire, and that Darius was very probably the leader of the army that invaded Babylon and who was then given command of the city with Cyrus being his king.

*What does Bible prophecy mean to your life?