Teaching Daniel 5

3-5s

Theme: God is much bigger and more powerful than Kings

Aim: They realise that God is much bigger than them and those in charge of them

Intros:

• Draw some pictures in white crayon/candle on white paper - they have to paint over and guess what they are
• What's the biggest quiz - have pictures of items of various sizes. They have to choose which is the biggest. Then tell them God is bigger than all this.

Teaching:

Recap - Do you remember what happened to King Neb? He thought he was the boss, in charge of everything. But God showed him that he was not as big and powerful as he thought. God was much bigger than him.

Many years later there was another king called Belshazzar. And he forgot all about Daniel and all about Daniel's God.

He thought he would throw a party [could set a party scene with balloons and plates and empty cups - but this might be too disruptive]. At this party he decided to use the special cups which King Neb had taken from God's temple in Jerusalem.

So the special cups were brought to him and he started using these cups to praise his made up gods! How horrible and awful! Do you think God liked that? Not one bit.

Suddenly a hand appeared from nowhere. Just a hand, nothing else. [have a stiff cardboard hand with a pen attached and a large piece of paper on the wall]

The hand wrote some words on the wall but King Belshazzar couldn't understand them and he became very scared. He went very pale and his knees started knocking and his teeth started chattering.

Eventually someone remembered that Daniel was good at understanding strange things like frightening dreams and so they called in Daniel.

Daniel looked at the words and immediately understood the message from God.

'The first word,' he said, 'is "Mene" which means counting. God has counted the number of days for you to be king and that's it. Finished. [drop coins]

The second word is "Tekel" which means weighing something. God has tested you and found you're not good enough! [mime weighing]

The third word is "Parsin" which means split up, divided. God is tearing up your kingdom and giving it to someone else. [tear up a crown]

And sure enough, that night God took the Kingdom away from Belshazzar and he died.

Lots of people think that they are really important and powerful. But, compared to God, they have no power at all. God is so much bigger and more powerful than any person could ever be. God is so much bigger and more powerful than we are. And so God is in charge of us. We're living in His world and so we should live with His King, Jesus, as our King.

Craft:

• Wall picture with words 'Mene...' in white crayon. The paint over the top to reveal the words
• Make golden goblets
• Magic picture craft - http://kidfrugal.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/writing-on-wall-magic-window.html?spref=pi
• Hand craft

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5-11s

Theme: God will humble the proud and lift up the humble - Just as He did with Jesus

Aim: the proud should be afraid and the humble should be hopeful

Intro:

• Riddles - they have to complete the riddle
• Pictures from the previous 4 chapters - they have to find and put in order
• Pin 'Mene...' to the wall. They have to hit with a ball/dart/fake hand in order to turn them round. Then ask if they know what they mean.

Teaching:

Recap - what have we seen of Daniel so far? And Daniel 4 - a proud King who humbles himself and is restored.

Many years pass and Daniel and his God are forgotten. King Neb's son (maybe grandson), Belshazzar, becomes King and he decides to throw a party.

[set out party with blackcurrant juice in plastic wine glasses]

Then Belshazzar has a real brain wave! There are some lovely golden wine goblets that my Dad took from the Jerusalem temple. Let's drink out of them!

So the golden cups from the Jerusalem temple are brought to Belshazzar and all his party guests. And so they drink more and more wine out of these special cups.

What you need to understand is how awful this must have been for God's people: these were holy, special, set apart for worship of God. Not for a foreign king to use to get drunk.

And then they start using these cups to worship their made up gods of stone and wood and gold!

But, as they are doing so, suddenly a hand appears from nowhere. And the hand starts writing something on the wall. [use a powerpoint slide to have a hand writing the words].

The King turns very white, his knees start knocking [overdo his reaction]

None of his wise men can help - just like before

But thankfully King Neb's wife remembers Daniel and tells Belshazzar to ask him.

So Daniel is brought before King Bel. Bel promises to make Daniel 3rd highest in the kingdom. Daniel must have been about 80 by this point.

And he begins by explaining why this is happening. Read v18-23.

And then he explains what the writing means (this is the bit we've been waiting a long time for!)

Read v25-28 - slowly explain. The kingdom, the empire, would be taken away from Belshazzar as he did not bow humbly before the Lord God, as he should have.

So what happens? read v30.

How does this point us forward to Jesus? - we have a king who wasn't proud but, because He humbled Himself God raised Him up (Phil 2).

God is in charge of Kings and nations, Rulers and empires - He has such enormous power, so we should bow before Him and recognise how small and weak we are.

If you think you're great like King Bel, then you should be afraid!

But if you realise how much bigger God is than you, then you should be hopeful and encouraged.

Table time: (have a big piece of paper with 'Mene...' in white crayon/candle - gradually paint over the top)

Knowledge

• What did King Bel do wrong?
• What message did God send?
• What happened to King Bel in the end?

Understanding

• Why did God take the kingdom from King Bel?
• What did you learn about God from this story?
• How does it point to Jesus?

Application

• Read v23 - Could God say this of you?
• What does it mean to be humble? Would people describe you this way?
• What should our world leaders do?

Memory verse - Daniel 6:26

Pray