Daniel 2:44, commentary and pictures

In the days of the kings represented by the divisions of Rome, when it has divided into the ten kingdoms shown by the ten toes, the God of heaven will set up His own kingdom. That kingdom will never be destroyed nor left to another people, but will stand forever after breaking in pieces and consuming all the earthly kingdoms pictured by the gold, silver, brass, iron and clay, filling the whole earth. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome each had its day of testing and then fell because pride, corruption and trampling of God's law ruined them, while God as ruling power removed and set up kings to fulfill His purpose. The kingdom is Christ's kingdom, founded on Him as the Living Stone cut out without human hands, supreme above all earthly magnificence and upheld by God's own power against Satan, whose empire and rule it contests and ends. Its full establishment remains future, for it was not set up at Christ's first advent before Rome divided, and its nearness in the closing work of earth's history calls for faith in Christ's soon coming in the clouds to overthrow every earthly authority and gather His people.

Dream Setting and Revelation

The verse stands in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's forgotten dream, which he awoke unable to remember and demanded his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans both tell and interpret under threat of being cut in pieces. They confessed that no man on earth could show the matter. Daniel asked the king for time, then with Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah sought mercies of the God of heaven concerning the secret, and the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Daniel then brought the dream fresh to the king's mind and gave its certain interpretation, declaring the remarkable events to transpire in prophetic history. The meaning came from God, and by revealing it to Daniel He spared the lives of Daniel and the other wise men, giving it through Daniel to help the king out of his difficulty, many years before Belshazzar's feast.

God required the forgotten dream in order first to silence the wise men of Babylon. By that requirement He proved their scientific power unable and exposed human wisdom as folly. He did so to display the superior wisdom of those who worship Him. His purpose was to lead princes and people away from broken cisterns to the living fountain by the divine science of eternity.

This revelation of the glories of the eternal world and the treasures of eternity in heaven was opened to Hebrew captives who felt themselves exiles and strangers in a strange land and knew God was their only dependence. It was not shown to those charmed with the splendor of Babylon, and God still reveals eternal things to those who refuse to be charmed by things of time and sense and who come out from the world and are separate while faithfully doing their assigned duties. It was given when Israel was in captivity with the Temple destroyed and the Temple service suspended. Religion had centered in the ceremonies of the sacrificial system, outward forms had become all important while the spirit of true worship was lost, services were corrupted with heathen traditions and practices, and in performing the sacrificial rites the people did not look beyond the shadow to the substance nor discern Christ the true offering for sin. God brought the captivity and suspended the ritual service so that outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, to purge principles and practice from heathenism, to cause ritual service to cease so that heart service might be revived, and to remove outward glory so that the spiritual might be revealed. In the land of captivity, as the people turned unto the Lord with repentance in humiliation and distress without the outward representation of His presence, He manifested Himself unto them with light shining into minds and hearts, giving visions to His prophets that unfolded the overthrow of the oppressors of God's people, the coming of the Redeemer, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom in which the stone cut without hands decisively destroys and replaces the earthly kingdoms symbolized by the metals.

The prophecy reveals in figures and symbols what will happen to the kingdoms of men, covering the history of this world till the close of time. Its events are figuratively presented and unfold in historical order toward the close of earth's history, including the mingling of iron and clay in the great image. It was taught to Daniel to read and to record for coming generations by the spirit of prophetic power, because Daniel clung to God with unwavering trust, firmness, self-denial, and purity of motive while learning the duties of court life. Its prophetic landmarks must be guarded and its symbols correctly applied.

The prophecy is not an unintelligible mystery given to confuse honest seekers. Important matters revealed through prophecy, including matters concerning salvation, are plain to those who study God's word with a prayerful heart. It cannot be rightly understood through worldly learning alone, but requires discernment from God and a heart open to His word. The failure of Babylon's wise men to explain the dream represents learned people who lack that discernment and therefore cannot understand prophecy, so that truth may be brought to kings and other learned people without being received by them unto eternal life. Contrary to the popular belief that the prophecies of Daniel are mysteries and cannot be understood, this prophecy can be presented in familiar form so simply that even children listen, are pleased, are interested, understand the subject and explain it, and through them parents and grown people are led to sit down and study it. That study, fulfilled with wonderful exactness in the record of history as a testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures and an anchor for faith amid rationalism and skepticism, leads to positive faith and to the belief that the coming of the Lord is at hand, a solemn and important truth to be brought before the people.

Earthly Kingdoms in Succession

The night vision of the image represents the kingdoms of the world in succession, with the head of gold as Babylon, the breast and arms of silver as a second kingdom succeeding it, the sides of brass as a third, and the iron and the iron mingled with clay in the feet and toes as a fourth kingdom and its divisions, including Medo-Persia and the kingdoms that followed and the vast empire of Rome that crumbled into pieces. Babylon was shown as the first of four great world-moulding empires arising before the close of human rule, and Daniel stood within it when it seemed too strong and far-reaching to lose its scepter yet foretold that despite its magnificence it would pass away. The second kingdom would be succeeded by a third, and a fourth would arise more fierce, determined and powerful than any before, strong as iron to subdue and break in pieces and break all the nations of the world.

Each empire was given its day of greatness and power and its period of trial and testing whether it would exalt the one Ruler, the only true God, and when proved by obedience or disobedience and failing to do so its glory faded and its power departed and it was superseded and succeeded by another. The crown passed successively from Israel to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, and remains removed until He comes with rightful claim to whom God gives it. This succession was traced hundreds of years before the peoples came upon the stage of action, with nations arising at the predicted time to fill their appointed place, to abase human pride and bring human glory to nothing.

The metals becoming less pure and valuable from the head downward signifies that nations and also religion decrease in value and deteriorate in moral value and grow weak morally and spiritually in proportion as they separate more and more from God, make void His law, cast Him off, fail to keep His fear before them, and transgress until rulers can no longer understand His warning. That increasing immorality and deterioration shows the result of forgetting God, so that appeal must be made to men who honor the living God for wisdom and explanation of the mysteries of providence, and the same account shows the approach of the end. Sin is what ruins nations.

Babylon passed away because in prosperity she forgot God and ascribed honor and glory to human achievements, and the Medo-Persian kingdom was visited by the wrath of God because His law was trampled under foot. The kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt, sinking lower and lower as they forgot Him. The fourth kingdom strong as iron subdued and broke all nations, and the divided crumbling toes represent the present divided earthly powers which will not unite or endure.

The succession declares that God is the ruling power in the affairs of this world who changes the times and the seasons and removes kings and sets up kings to fulfill His own purpose, who rules over earthly kingdoms and is more powerful than their rulers. He brings down one mighty ruler and raises another while human power and glory are frail and short-lived and human glory is brought low, for God alone is great, and He maintains His work against human pride. Nations one after another arise at the predicted time and fill their appointed place unconsciously witnessing to truth they themselves knew not the meaning, for God reveals the future through His prophets long before it happens and carries out His purposes through rulers even when they think they act on their own plans, and the voice of God heard in past ages still sounds down the line from century to century while the centuries have their mission and every moment has its work.

Nebuchadnezzar was warned that his kingdom represented by the head of gold had been given him by God for God's glory and would end, but pride led him to imagine his own kingdom would become greater and more powerful and extensive instead of recognizing that God's kingdom would endure forever. He read the interpretation in accordance with his own idolatrous mind and distorted its meaning to glorify himself and Babylon, claiming eternity and indestructibility for Babylon by making an image entirely of gold representing the excellence of Babylon and especially the king, and turning the revelation into an occasion for image worship to convert all nations to its worship. The prophecy against Babylon was fulfilled when the fall of Babylon came at an hour of feasting and revelling, showing Jehovah more powerful than earthly kings and that earthly rulers are below the living God who delivers His faithful servants.

God's Everlasting Kingdom

In the days of the kings represented in the dream, during the last divisions of Rome when Rome has divided into the ten kingdoms represented by the ten toes, the God of heaven will set up His kingdom. That setting up follows the kingdoms represented by the image, including the divided kingdom of iron and clay. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome have already had their fulfillment, but this final destruction of the image and establishment of God's kingdom remain future.

That kingdom will never be destroyed and will never be passed or left to another people. God's own people will inhabit it forever, and it will stand forever. Its laws are pure and excellent.

Like the stone cut from the mountain without human hands, it will break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms represented by the metals. It will overthrow and replace the earthly kingdoms, and the dream and its interpretation are certain. It will triumph and fill the whole earth, cover the whole world, and succeed every other kingdom. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, it is not a human kingdom established to take God's place, but the kingdom of the Prince of heaven that will fill the whole earth and stand forever.

The kingdom is the kingdom of Christ Jesus the Living Stone and Prince of Heaven. It is a new kingdom to be set up among men, presented by Christ as fresh manna to the hungry soul, given again in its original freshness and beauty and represented by things of nature and experience to show its spiritual and heavenly nature. Its character is unlike the fierce beast-like earthly powers that rule by ascendancy of physical power, for its ensign is a lamb, banishing every carnal weapon and every instrument of coercion, established to uplift and ennoble fallen humanity. Through His own power God maintains it against all the power and craft of Satan, and by it Jehovah is exalted as Ruler over all monarchs and kings of earth.

It is supreme above all earthly kingdoms and earthly rulers. All worldly magnificence and power are insignificant before God, and earthly kingdoms, nations, monarchs, statesmen, counsellors, great armies, and all worldly glory are as the dust of the balance beside that kingdom. God has a reckoning to make with every nation, in which every kingdom is to be brought low and all human authority is to be made as nothing, while Christ is recognized as King of the world and His kingdom is exalted.

Earthly rule is temporary, and no earthly empire however powerful lasts forever. The image represents human kingdoms, and its metallic divisions represent four great world-moulding empires that arise before the close of human rule, with Babylon as the first. The vision of the great image taught Nebuchadnezzar that Babylon and the kingdoms that follow it will eventually be superseded and will not stand forever. The dream reaches to the close of time and showed Nebuchadnezzar the part his kingdom had in relation to God's kingdom.

The kingdom is God's treasured possession and peculiar treasure, whose principles test and purify its subjects and fashion them after God's image and shape them in God's image. It is also present within people when Christ rules their hearts, shaping their principles and conduct. Its principles can be learned in this life, preparing people to enter into its possession with Christ at His coming. As people choose sides and conflict continues, the Lord will appear and establish His everlasting kingdom.

Jesus will take possession of the kingdoms of the world and establish His kingdom under the whole heavens. He will judge among the nations and rebuke them, and wars will cease throughout the earth. The crown passes successively from Israel to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, and remains removed until the one with the rightful claim comes, to whom God gives it.

Timing and Future Fulfillment

Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome have already met their prophetic fulfillment, but the final smiting of the image and the setting up of God's kingdom remain future. The stone that strikes the image is that kingdom, to be established in the days of the kingdoms represented by the ten toes after Rome has been divided into ten kingdoms. It was not established at Christ's first advent, because Rome had not yet been divided into the ten kingdoms.

The prophecy has been fulfilled with wonderful exactness in the record of history, in a connected literal chain of rise and fall of kingdoms ending with God's kingdom. That exact fulfillment testifies to the inspiration of Scripture and anchors faith amid skepticism and rationalism. Together with the signs of the times it gives tangibility to faith in the second coming, making a deep impression even on those who have been interested but had no definite idea when the prophecies are fulfilled. It is no unintelligible mystery but can be understood and presented so plainly that study leads to positive faith and to belief that the coming of the Lord is at hand.

The prophecy pictured the glory of the Messiah's reign over a kingdom that succeeds all earthly kingdoms and stands forever. It helped sustain hope for His coming, though many expected Him as a mighty prince who would establish a kingdom in Israel and deliver the nations.

In the closing work of earth's history God will soon establish His kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Its events are in process of fulfillment in the last days and will soon be complete, exalting the God of heaven and His law rather than human agents, for He brings down one mighty ruler and raises another while human power and glory are frail and short-lived. The stone cut out without hands will smite the image upon the feet, ending the present divided, crumbling, uncertain kingdoms that will not unite or endure. They now stand ranging under their banners, watching jealously over one another, drilling soldiers and preparing for war, and their increasing wrath, tumults, fierce riots, labor unrest, rending apart of kingdoms in Europe, and dissolution of earthly things are signs that the great day of God is near, when all earthly things will be dissolved and the Lord will be a refuge and defense for His waiting people. That solemn truth can be presented in familiar form so that even children listen with pleasure and interest, understand and explain it, and through them parents are led to study. Its nearness makes the present urgent to prepare by developing pure heavenly character and working earnestly to save souls before the end.

Christ will come from heaven to earth to overthrow every earthly authority and power and establish God's everlasting kingdom. He will appear in the clouds of heaven with power to save and gather His people to Himself when Satan's reign ends. He will set up His kingdom when the four angels let go, after the latter rain has fallen upon the pure as it fell formerly. His coming is very soon as the world enters scenes of calamity where unseen satanic agencies work to destroy human life, but those whose life is hid with Christ in God will see His grace and salvation.

The manner in which the kingdom is set up proves it is not set up by the Jews returning to Jerusalem and that Christ's second coming is not invisible. As prophecy is fulfilled and the world's last-day wickedness and corruption become evident, faith in Christ's final triumph should grow and give courage for the work ahead.

Christ the Stone Defeats Satan

The God of heaven will set up the kingdom upon the earth by the Prince of Heaven. It will not come with earthly triumph and worldly honor and display. When established it will embrace all the kingdoms of the world.

Its coming contests Satan's empire over the world, disputes his claimed dominion and right to it, and breaks his power. Then his rule and his power and glory cease, and he receives retribution for the sins he introduced into the world and for the misery he brought upon man. Satan claimed the earth as his dominion and knew this prophecy, and he knew that everything concerning his prosperity depended on his success or failure in overcoming Christ with his temptations in the wilderness.

Christ is the stone that breaks in pieces all that opposes him. As a rejected stone bears abuse from workmen, He humbly bore rejection and passively bore abuse from sinners, then was exalted as head of the corner. He will rise in life and power to bring judgment on those who despised and rejected Him, and when He visits the wicked His judgment reaches beyond the Jews to all who refused God's gracious benefits, the rejected stone becoming an avenging mountain that falls upon and crushes them. For the unbelieving Jews who rejected the Son of God this meant destruction of their city and temple and the breaking and scattering of all their glory, and the same fate belongs to all impenitent rejectors who do not accept Christ as Redeemer. The only safety is to build upon the right foundation, since hopes built on untested foundations will totter and fall with the structures upon them.

Study and Present Application

The symbolic revelation to which the verse belongs was given to show the king and the people God's purpose for the nations and the important events of the future. It was meant to spread the knowledge of God, yet it could be rejected, misinterpreted and misapplied to glorify human power and so hinder that purpose. The kingdom the God of heaven sets up is a new kingdom to be set up among men, presented by Christ as fresh manna to the hungry soul. He gave its truth again in its original freshness and beauty, representing its spiritual and heavenly nature by things of nature and experience.

The Lord God of heaven will soon establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and its nearness makes the present urgent for preparation by developing a pure, heavenly character and working earnestly to save souls before the end. That kingdom will triumph and fill the earth, and the stone cut out of the mountain without hands represents this coming triumph. Using resources to spread the truth through gospel ministry helps plant its message throughout the world. Christ is coming to establish His kingdom on the earth, and His coming is very soon as the world enters scenes of calamity where unseen satanic agencies work to destroy human life, while those whose life is hid with Christ in God will see His grace and salvation. Therefore tongues must be sanctified to glorify Him and work must be done as never before, making openings for the truth and improving every opportunity to draw souls to Christ in season and out of season. The stone is instinct with life and grows as it is rolled by an invisible hand, and sanitariums are given opportunity to set that work in operation. That mystic stone is to be set in motion through medical missionary work where it is greatly needed, as in the Southern field.

The kingdom set up by the God of heaven is eternal victory, into which Christ the Prince of heaven conducts humanity. Having taken humanity upon Himself in great condescension and sacrifice to secure the happiness of the whole human family, He stands voluntarily at the head of humanity and leads onward to that everlasting kingdom all who receive Him, to whom He is everything. Every son and daughter of Adam is given opportunity to enter it by changing leaders, leaving the prince of darkness and enlisting to serve Christ under His banner. While God's people and those opposed to Him stand in conflict, the Lord will appear and establish an everlasting kingdom. That conflict is the collision of two parties, the people of God united in unity with Jesus Christ against those united under Antichrist against God, when the Lord will appear and shine before His ancients gloriously and will set up a kingdom that shall stand forever. The everlasting kingdom comes when God's people understand their position in this world's history and are pressing together with ears open and hearts softened and subdued. To have part in that kingdom the kingdom of God must be within now, shown by having the attributes of Christ, by making appetites, passions, habits and circumstances servants and not rulers, and by practicing self-denial and self-sacrifice after the example of Christ, John the Baptist, Daniel and the three worthies.