The focus of interest in Nebuchadnezzar's dream is in its closing point. The vision of the succession of the four Gentile world-powers, symbolized by the head, the arms and chest, the belly and thighs, the legs and feet of the statue, is introductory, leading up to the final event which God wanted to set before the king's mind (and ours). What God would do in "the latter days" (Daniel 2:28)--that is the real center of the prophecy. When the fourth and last of the world-powers comes to its final development, when the iron is mingled with potter's clay, in the feet and toes of the statue, then is the stage set for the great last act, which puts an end to "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24).

      The times of Gentile world sovereignty began with Nebuchadnezzar's assumption of world-empire and has continued until now. For the rock that descends from on high does not smite the statue on its head, or its body, or the legs, but upon its feet, crushing the feet and toes, and utterly demolishing the whole statue, with all that makes up its substance and power. The broken fragments, small as the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, are carried away by the wind, "so that not a trace of them was found," and the rock which smashed the statue becomes a great mountain, filling the whole earth. The Divine interpretation of this stupendous event is given in verse 44:

"In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever."

      Much effort and ingenuity has been devoted to the task of showing that this was fulfilled in the establishment of the church on the day of Pentecost. But certainly "the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." The prophecy and its alleged fulfillment do not correspond. True, the Lord Jesus Christ is God's rightful King who ascended to heaven and sat down on God's right hand, angels, principalities, and powers being made subject to Him; having all authority in heaven and on earth; and God put "all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, . . ." (Ephesians 1:22-23). This one should not merely "admit," but boldly and gladly avow and declare.

      Moreover it is to be stated that all who are in the church are in His kingdom; for it is written that He has "rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13). But here the correspondence ends. The kingdom to which we belong is above. Our citizenship is in heaven, from where also we wait for a Savior (Philippians 3:20).

      The Roman empire, the fourth and last of the Gentile world-kingdoms, was indeed in existence when Christ sat down on God's throne in heaven, and when the church was established on the day of Pentecost. But there was no development corresponding to the two legs, or iron feet mixed with potter's clay, or ten toes (shown in the 7th chapter to signify ten kings of the end-time, under the sovereignty of the fourth beast, the fourth Gentile world-power).

      There has been plenty of research and effort to try to show a ten-fold division of the Roman Empire at the time when the church was established [but such efforts have failed, Ed.]. The statue felt no shock or tremor. If it be said that the demolition was meant to be a gradual one, extending through centuries till the fall of Rome--then to fit the prophecy, it should at least have begun with the event of Pentecost. [8]

      Did the Roman empire begin to go to pieces and disintegrate from Pentecost onward? Far from it. It not only maintained its status for long afterward but continued to grow in power and territorial extent, reaching its widest expansion in the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan, almost a hundred years later. In the days of Constantine (A. D. 320) a twofold division of the empire began to appear.

      When the Roman empire at last did fall it was not by any supernatural stroke of judgment but in the common course of human events, in simple, natural consequence of those ordinary laws and causes that account for the rise and fall of kingdoms. The western division of the Roman empire succumbed to barbarian invaders in the fifth century A. D.; the eastern, similarly, about 1,000 years later. Even then it was not broken up into small rubbish as the clear statement of the prophecy would demand, but into big, sizeable fragments, constituting smaller sovereignties, which, peculiarly, have to this day kept Roman names, titles, customs, insignia, systems of government, forms of administration of justice, militarism, and even a kinship of language. The Roman power in fact did never entirely pass away, but has been more or less in abeyance, showing at various times signs of reviving. Its final form, symbolized by the feet and ten toes of iron with their admixture of clay has never as yet been reached.

      Nor has there been anything that would answer to the descent of that Rock which was cut out of the mountain without hands, or its effect upon the statue and its own subsequent growth.

      Various theories have been advanced by those who try to make the prophecy agree with something that has happened in the past. According to some purported explanations it would seem that the Rock should have peacefully nestled down at the statue's feet, and penetrated the statue with the gentle influence of the gospel. Or we should read that the rock had come down to the statue's feet, and by steady growth had crowded the statue off the scene.

      But the prophecy presents a very different picture. What was revealed in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, was not a peaceful penetration of the Gentile world-kingdoms by lofty principles and teachings from above, but a catastrophic execution of judgment from on high.

      In fact the Rock and the statue never exist side by side.

      When the one comes in the other goes out. And the subsequent filling of the earth by the rock, which becomes a great mountain, is not, as some have fancied, a picture of world conversion, as though all the world were to be absorbed into the church (an outlook contrary to all that is held out to us in the scriptures) but a thing that corresponds exactly to the sequel of the destruction of the fourth beast in Daniel 7 (which will be a theme of a future study) and the announcement in Revelation 11:15, when the seventh trumpet sounds:

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever,"

and, as in Daniel 7:27:

"Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him."

      This manifestation of Christ's kingdom evidently awaits its future accomplishment.

      What emotions gripped the Babylonian Monarch's heart as Daniel reconstructed before his vision his lost dream, we can only imagine. This indeed he knew--that it was indeed his dream; and as little could he now doubt the truth of the interpretation of it. This was a message from God--Israel's God. It must have been evident now to Nebuchadnezzar that only because their God had given Israel into his hand he had been able to conquer them. [9]

      Also the kingdom, though given into Gentile hands, would not be held by them for ever; but that the Gentile world-power, of which he, Nebuchadnezzar, was the first representative, would, at last go down under the stroke of God's judgment.

      Overwhelmed and humbled by the vision of the Divine Majesty, the king "fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense." Yet not to Daniel as a man: it was the God of Daniel, whom the king sought to worship, through these honors done to Daniel as His servant and spokesman. For he said unto Daniel, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery."

      He then promoted Daniel to the highest place in Babylon, and, by Daniel's request, the three companions also obtained high executive positions as "over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king's court."

      "In the days of those kings." (V. 44.) What kings are meant? Not the kings that ruled the four successive world-powers--for they were not contemporary. Evidently kings that rule in the fourth world-kingdom. As indicated by the toes, there are ten of them. This is more fully shown by the "horns" in Daniel 7:24; also see Revelation 13:1; 17:12; 19:19.

      What Stone is this? Many scriptures refer to Christ as the Stone. See esp. Genesis 49:24 and Matthew 21:42. But note also that "it"--i. e., the kingdom that God sets up, breaks in pieces, and consumes all those kingdoms. (Daniel 2:44.) Consider Revelation 17:14; 19:11-14, 19. Does the King Himself in and with His kingdom (in which we now hold citizenship, Philippians 3:20) descend to execute the stroke of judgment upon the final world-power?

      It is not said that the statue is destroyed so that the kingdom of God might come into existence. The kingdom exists before, and the destruction of the Gentile world-power is its first open act.

      Whirling dust. A number of passages use such a comparison; and all of them appear to have reference to this event of Daniel 2:35. See Isaiah 17:12-14; Psalms 83:4, 12, 13; Revelation 19:19 ff also bears on this. [9]

      What the prophecy foretells is not the rise and spread of a "spiritual kingdom" in the midst of earthly kingdoms, but the establishment of a kingdom which "will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms."

      Nebuchadnezzar's Praise of God. The three things which he says of God in Daniel 2:47 (though of course, Nebuchadnezzar had no knowledge of the three Persons in the Godhead) beautifully designate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

      The effect of this--as to the lot of the captives. Would this episode tend to create a favorable attitude toward the Jews on the part of the Gentile ruler? Comp. Psalms 106:46. There is more of this to come. Does God take notice of how the Jews are treated even in their cast-off state? Would Psalms 121:4 apply still now? May there be a warning in this to present Gentile potentates?

      The effect on the Jews. Of course they would all hear of this sooner or later. Would it not tend to make them heartily ashamed of their past idolatries?--that they had given up their God for idols of the nations?

      "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men." See Acts 1:24. The word in the original is "kardiagnostes"--"heart-knower." He knows us also--the deepest secrets of our hearts are laid bare and open before Him. (Hebrews 4:13.) He knows us better than we know ourselves. He could not know us better or be more interested in any one of us if no other human lived. Consider Psalms 139. Yet, though He knows us--He loved us notwithstanding all.

[LOD3R 8-10]