Have you ever felt like the culture is throwing a massive "drunk-fest" using the very things God calls holy, completely oblivious to the fact that the clock is seconds away from striking midnight? In this message on Daniel 5:1–31, Michael Rowntree explores the final hours of the Babylonian Empire, where King Belshazzar commits the ultimate act of defiance: turning the sacred vessels of God’s temple into "red Solo cups" for a blasphemous party. Rowntree shows how God interrupts this "flex of royal power" not with a blazing fireworks show, but with a single, terrifying finger writing a verdict on the palace plaster. This sermon warns that while we might ignore the "inherited revelation" of those who came before us—the stories of God's work in history—God holds us accountable for the light we’ve been given, reminding us that every empire is ultimately numbered, weighed, and found wanting. Yet, he reminds us that God’s prophet outlasts every tyrant. While Belshazzar offers Daniel "third place" in a kingdom that won't survive the night—a tragic comedy of worldly promotion—Daniel remains a witness to the only Kingdom that is truly eternal. This invites us to stop using our "borrowed breath" to praise breathless idols and instead honor the God in whose hand is our very life and all our ways.
