Daniel 5:25-28 — And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

For many people, this should be a very frightening scripture.

A good translation of the words which Daniel (and no one else) could read is “numbered, numbered, weighed, divided”. The words are mysterious on the face of it, but they are ominous when interpreted by Daniel.
“God hath numbered thy kingdom and ended it”. God knows how many days He allocated to your kingdom, the days have been counted and your kingdom is ended.
“Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting”. Either, you yourself have been weighed against the weight of God’s expectation and you’re a lightweight, or your good deeds have been weighed against your bad deeds — weighed and outweighed.
“Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians”. And that very night Belshazzar died and the kingdom went over to Darius the Mede.
So much for the interpretation — but why do I say that this should be a very frightening scripture for some people? It is because I believe that there will be a critical time of judgment in every life and that for some of us, the judgment may be fatal. Belshazzar had his court drink out of the sacred vessels of the temple. He arrogantly despised God, and justice followed swiftly and certainly. There are more and more people today who think that God can be ignored, or treated casually, or insulted. They should know that justice may be delayed. But when it comes it will be swift and certain.
Belshazzar did not see His judgment coming. He was in party mood. He “made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. … They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” (Daniel 5:1,4) We live in an increasingly hedonistic world. More and more people have the gaining of material wealth as their highest objective. What is that if not praising “the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”?
It’s hard, perhaps, to see yourself as an oriental King. But I think I know a few Belshazzars, and I hope they wake up before they are weighed up … And found wanting!