Twice in recent years we have watched scenes like this take place. More than a decade ago the statues of Lenin in the former Soviet Union and other dictators in Eastern Europe came down in similar fashion as forces of freedom and liberty rose up against regimes of repression. The lightning-quick advance of coalition troops through the heart of Iraq during the last three weeks has been a textbook case of military operations. It will be studied for years to come as one of the most successful advances in history. The mission was to liberate the people of Iraq from the death grip of a brutal and ruthless dictator for more than three decades. The job now appears to have been accomplished, and to put it in perspective there is no better place to turn than the pages of your Bible. To the pages of Daniel we turn to see some lessons to be learned from this scene. In chapter five we see the demise of another power in the same land occupied by modern Iraq. Babylon’s king, Belshazzar, partied in his palace while the judgment of God approached the gates of the city. Suddenly a hand appeared and wrote on the wall facing the revelers. Fear and panic gripped the crowd. What did it mean? Only one person could give the answer. Daniel, the aged and respected servant, was hurried through the streets to appear and interpret the vision. Daniel, God’s embedded representative in Babylon, went straight to the heart of the aura of denial pervading the room and the regime. He recounted the history of Nebuchadnezzar who failed to acknowledge and honor God and allowed “his heart [to be] lifted up, and his spirit . . . hardened in pride.” He was removed from the throne and his glory removed. Belshazzar, too, was guilty of the same pride. “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house 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, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified” (verses 22-23). Daniel’s interpretation speaks through the ages to any human government that reigns over people with harshness and brutality: “This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians” (verses 26-28). History shows that the Persian armies did enter the city and effected a regime change that same night, according the words of scripture. “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old” (verses 30-31). Ancient Babylon lies just 30 miles south of Baghdad. Today it is a dusty archaeological park, only an echo of its past glory. American and British troops raced past Babylon’s ruins on their way to the capital city. Today the heart of the city has fallen. Jubilant citizens toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein and tore down and burned his pictures, but there remains the task of rebuilding the country after years of misrule. Keeping the peace and building a new society will be a major challenge for a new government. May the new leaders remember the words of Daniel and govern as humble servants, seeking only the best for the people of Iraq. The statue of an evil pathological dictator has been toppled. Let it be a symbol of the time in the future when another statue, a representation of humanity’s defiance against God, will be destroyed. Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream shows the replacing of all human governments by the coming of the kingdom of God to the earth. Notice Daniel 2:34-35: “. . . A stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”