DANIEL 2


1 And in the 2nd year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

The first year of Nebuchadnezzar synchronised with the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jer. 25:1), so that the second year answered to the fifth year of that king. It was a significant year as far as Jerusalem was concerned, for in that year Yahweh gave the people one last opportunity to reform.

He instructed Jeremiah to write all his prophecies in a book and read them publicly to the people. If they repented, He would save them from the impending Babylonian attack (Jer. 36:1-8). The reading took place during the fifth year of Jehoiakim which answers to the year of the dream prophecy (Jer. 36:9 cp. Dan. 1:1).

The public reading caused the people and princes of Jerusalem concern, and the latter arranged for it to be read before the king. However, when this was done, the king showed only contempt for the warning words of Yahweh. He took the scroll of Jeremiah from the scribe reading it, and contemptuously cutting it to pieces with a knife, he impiously burned it in the fire, boldly declaring that the things predicted therein would never come to pass.

That same year, in Babylon, the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar had his dream, and heeding the interpretation of Daniel, proclaimed that the God of the Hebrews is a "God of gods, and a Revealer of secrets".

In this he displayed greater wisdom and a more reverent attitude towards Yahweh than did the king sitting upon David's throne.

The Christadelphian Expositor



2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.


Magicians, astrologers and Chaldeans


— "Magicians" is chartomim in Hebrew from chert "to engrave or write". They were the scribes of Babylon, skilled in writing, and in the knowledge of the heavens. They were horoscopists (drawing magical lines or circles, and hence "to engrave"). They claimed knowledge of the occult, and practised magic (Exod. 7:11 — the same word).

"And the astrologers" — The RV renders ashshaphim as "enchanters".They were prophets who presumed to pronounce the will of heaven. It is a different word from that rendered "astrologers" in Isa. 47:13. The inscriptions found by archaeologists speak of Bab Assaput, "the Gate of the Oracle" (or prophecy), and Bib Assaput, "the House of the Oracle".

These enchanters were probably related to the worship and proclamation of prophecies which they represented as coming from the oracle, the voice of the gods they worshipped.

"And the Chaldeans" — From Kasdoyah "wanderers". The Chaldeans were a warlike, aggressive people of Semitic origin, originating from the mountains of Khurdistan, inhabitants of Urartu or Ararat who migrated southeast and settled in southern Babylonia in the area of ancient Sumer. In 731, Ukenzer, a Chaldean, made himself king of Babylon.

Though he was deposed in favour of an Assyrian, and the Assyrians ruled Babylon, in the days of Hezekiah, Merodach- Baladan, son of Baladan occupied the throne (Isa. 39:1). He was a Chaldean, as was Nabopolasser the predecessor of Nebuchadnezzar. With Babylon under the control of a Chaldean, it was natural that he would elevate members of his own race. In consequence, the Chaldeans were an aristocratic, priestly caste in Babylon.

Their proficiency in the science of astronomy, and their skilful practice of astrology established them as a special class of astrologers. It is in this sense that the word is used in the book of Daniel (Dan. 2:1,10; 4:7 etc.). The explanation of this specialised name is easily understood. Babylon, their capital, was the centre of intellectual life in all western Asia. This intellectual activity was especially, employed in the study of the stars, both scientific and as a medium of divination.

Babylon became famous as the centre of true knowledge as well as that of magicians, sorcerers, diviners and so forth. (See Unger's Dictionary). The Chaldeans, therefore, were both scientists and clergy. So exclusively did they fill ecclesiastical positions in Babylon that their name became synonymous with the priests of Bel-Marduk (Herod. I, 181, 183). These priests were esteemed as possessing outstanding wisdom (cp. Dan. 1:4).

The Christadelphian Expositor



20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed [Baruch] be the name of Elahh for ever and ever [ l'olam va'ed]: for wisdom [chochmah] and might [gevurah] are His:

21 And He changeth the times and the seasons [zmanim]: He removeth kings [melachim], and setteth up [melachim]: He giveth wisdom [chochmah] unto the wise [chachamim], and knowledge [da'as] to them that know understanding [binah]:

The Lord hath truly said by the prophet, "I have a long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself " (Isaiah 42:14).

It is now about seventeen hundred and fifty years [in 1847] since he spake by his servant John to the seven congregations in Asia Minor; and so entirely has he refrained himself from further revelation of his will, that men have at length almost generally concluded, that he has ceased to take any interest in human affairs.

They speculate upon passing events, as though they thought that mankind were formed for no nobler destiny, than to fret out a brief and crushing existence in a precarious competition for food and raiment; and to labour with asinine endurance for the behoof of those, who, by violence, avarice, and fraud, have gained the ascendancy over them.

God is not in their thoughts when they treat of the affairs of men. They deal only with secondary causes, while the agency of the great First Cause is supposed to be confined to the saving of "immortal souls" from purgatory, or from burning in liquid brimstone underneath.

"Order " at any price, is with them the chief good. They ascribe glory and honour to Satan, though he has established a despotism over the nations which rivals the mythic dominion of Pluto. Every thing dear to truth, righteousness, and liberty, must be suppressed by armed mercenaries, provided only that bank, stock-exchange, and commercial speculations, and the "vested interests" of public plunderers in church and state, be protected, and preserved intact.

Such is the pandemonianism of the world. Sin in its most heartless and hateful deformity reigns the universal despot of the nations. It is enthroned, and decorated with crowns, tiaras, coronets, and mitres; and is gathering strength by fraud, hypocrisy, and murder, for a last and final effort to crush all future endeavors to cast it out unto the earth, and its angels with it.

A corrupt and vicious press is the ignoble and servile apologist of its treachery and blood. It flatters the grim assassins of the people, the soul of whose institutions is the ignorant stolidity and cruel superstition, of a dark and iron age. Its sympathies are with profligate kings, blasphemous priests, and savage generals; while no epithet is too vile, or opprobrious, for those who, having endured to the uttermost the debasing and ruinous oppression of their destroyers, seek to break their bonds, expel them from their thrones, and to diffuse truth and science among the people.

While a Christadelphian would take no part in the armed melee, he is convinced that nothing but violence in the beginning, in order to punish and crush the tyrants, can prepare the way for the amelioration of society. This is the order, as I shall show, which God has ordained as preliminary to the setting up of His kingdom. But the conductors of the press do not understand this. It is not more corrupt and vicious than it is blind to the scriptural philosophy of the things of which it treats. It cannot see afar off, and the objects which are near it cannot comprehend.

How applicable to its scribes is the exclamation of the Lord, "O Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but how is it ye cannot discern the signs of the times! " -- signs, which are announcing to the nations with a voice of thunder, that Yahweh has aroused himself in his holy habitation; that the time has at length come when He will be still and refrain himself no longer; but that He will make bare his holy arm, and "destroy them that destroy the earth " (Rev. 11:18), or oppress mankind.

But, though the Lord hath a long time held his peace, he hath not been unmindful of his people, nor heedless of human affairs. The great incidents of history which have given rise to successive kingdoms and dominions, from the overturning of the kingdom and throne of God and of David, his anointed, in Judea, by the Chaldeans, to the present time, are but events predetermined and arranged in the purpose of God, and revealed in the "sure word of prophecy."

Not a kingdom has been established, nor a king dethroned, but it has formed a move, which has contributed to the maturity of the present crisis which will ultimate in the introduction of the kingdom of God.

... It is He to whom all things are subjected; "for He ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men" (Dan. 4:17). This is the reason why men and women with so little wisdom, or rather possessed of so much positive folly and imbecility, are able to rule the nations without "setting on fire the course of nature." [See James 3:6].

When their wickedness and stupidity become obstacles to His purpose, He removes them out of the way, and introduces other actors upon the stage. In this way, He controls and regulates the world's affairs; but in every interference He shapes the course of events towards the consummation predetermined from the foundation of the world.

Elpis Israel 3.1.



28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

Hence, the kingdom of Babylon has been in continuous existence from his reign until now, for we are now living "in the latter days." It is true, that "the House of the kingdom" has not always been the Babylon, which was the beginning of Nimrod's dominion (Gen. x. 10); it has been sometimes at one place, sometimes at another, until at length Rome became "the House" of the Great City.

Various dynasties have become the inheritors of the kingdom of Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar's, there was the silver dynasty, and the brazen dynasty, and the iron dynasty, and the clay dynasty -- five dynasties ruling over one and the same kingdom; called also, "THE KINGDOM OF MEN" (Dan. iv. 17).

This Babylonish kingdom in its latter-day manifestation, the Spirit styles apocalyptically, "that Great City Babylon;" and is the arena upon which will stand erect and complete in all its parts the entire Image, which, in these latter days, is to be smitten by THE STONE, or Angel of the Rainbow.

Now, a similar fate awaits the Roman House that in the days of Belshatzar befel the Chaldean House of this same kingdom of men. The Median father Darius, and his political son, but fleshly nephew, and Yahweh's Messiah and Shepherd -- Cyrus the Persian, besieged the Shinar House.

He dried up "the great river Euphrates" from the city; and marching their "sanctified ones" along its bed, captured the House of the Kingdom, and slew Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, with the sword (Isa. xiii. 3,17; xiv. 12; xliv. 28; xlv. l; Dan. v. 30). But in these things that were transacted against the original Babylon, there was a mystery.

Eureka 11.3.3.



The Time of the Image-Empire

One Image of divers parts, one dominion of different elements, and that the Assyrian.

...it does not exist now; nor has it at any time hitherto existed as a whole. In the days of Nebuchadnezzar, although a great dominion, his rule did not extend over Asia Minor, Greece, Italy and the West; therefore the Image, which comprehends these, did not represent to him an existing dominion, but only an empire that should "hereafter" exist, of which his dynasty, the Assyrian, should be the Head.

But when should this hereafter be? Hear what Daniel saith, "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king what shall be in the latter days." And again,

"Thy thoughts, O king, came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known unto thee what shall come to pass."

The grand object, then, of the revelation was to make known "what should be in the Latter Days"—what should come to pass then; and only incidentally to inform the king of the divinely purposed existence of certain dominions intermediate between his and that to be established by God in the latter days.

After he had gone to bed one night he appears to have been revolving in his mind what would come to pass after his decease. He was the founder of the greatest empire that had hitherto existed, and nothing was more natural than that he should be solicitous to know the fate of it. He could only conjecture. He might suppose it would exist always; and that the dying generations of mankind would be for ever ruled by his successors the kings of Assyria.

Poor pagan, what else couldst thou imagine but something like unto this! Thou didst not know that "the Heavens do rule," and had predetermined a better fate for humanity than this. Thou wert like the Absolutists and Democracy of to day, who as vainly and foolishly imagine that their nostrums will become the eternal facts of endless years to come!

But "the Heavens" condescended to enlighten thy darkness, O king, for their sakes who should make known to thee the things thou couldst not divine for thyself. Know, then, that thy dynasty, or kings descended from thee, shall not reign over Assyria to the end of its dominion. Its empire will be enlarged, and thy throne shall be occupied by the Medes, Persians, and Macedonians.

After these the Romans shall incorporate much of Assyria in their kingdom, which shall be divided; but in the latter days an Assyrian King from the north shall overflow and pass over their territory, and overthrow them. His dominion shall be great; for he shall rule over the West, Asia Minor, Egypt, Libya, Khushistan, Persia and the Land of Israel, besides his own hereditary estate.

Then shall Assyria have attained the full extent of its dominion; and like thy grandson, Belshazzar, its Golden Head, will lift "himself against the Lord of heaven," and "sit upon the Mount of the Congregation in the sides of the north." But his counsel shall not stand; for though he shall exalt himself against the Prince of princes, he shall be broken to pieces. Thus shall he come to his end, and none shall help him; and Assyria's dominion shall be no more.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

Think of how much this one revelation in Daniel 2 has meant to us in understanding and confidence and assurance. It is not for us to tremble in darkness, fearful of the future, which seems so ominous to the natural eye, as evil and ruthless men threaten the world with atomic destruction. We watch current events with keen interest, seeing the overall picture wonderfully developing, as world tensions and rivalry center more and more upon the Middle East.

Bro Growcott - Daniel, the man greatly beloved



33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

In the fourth century after Christ, it [the fourth empire] was finally divided into the Eastern Roman, and the Western Roman, empires, answering to the two legs of iron. Though divided thus, the Roman majesty was considered as one. The date of the division was A. D. 396.

Elpis Israel 3.1.



34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

THE STONE

What smote the Image in the vision? "A stone.' What breaks in pieces and consumes the toe-kingdoms? A kingdom.-See Dan. 2:34, 44.

The image is an aggregation of the Babylonian Powers of the time of the end; and the stone is the aggregation of Israel the Saints, and Messiah, constituting the kingdom" which the God of Heaven develops as the image-breaker of the crisis.

Messiah is the stone of Israel; but, as an individual, or single person, he is not "the stone" of the prophecy. In the seventh chapter, judgment is given to the Saints (of whom Messiah is one) and to their people (see vers. 18, 22, 26, 27); and thus they become the stone of Judgement.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Aug 1857



IT SHALL BE IN THE "LATTER DAYS"

  1. A totalitarian Europe under Kremlin rule
  2. Followed by an invasion of the middle east to retake Constantinople
  3. Then Jerusalem and the 'holy places' of christendom

Dan 2 Ezk 38 Joel 3 Dan 11: 40-45

The Apocalyptic Messenger



I conceive that Gog,‭ ‬the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,‭ ‬is the great embodiment of all the evils of his predecessors—the Gold,‭ ‬the Silver,‭ ‬the Brass and the Iron‭; ‬all centered in him the very personification of the wicked one...

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



We consider Nebuchadnezzar's Image the symbol of Gogue's dominion, when he, the King of the North, and of Assyria, encamps with his army, drafted from all subject nations, on the mountains of Israel on all sides of Jerusalem, and is in actual possession of the Holy City, in the latter days.

He is not the "last beast, " however. Till Gogue is broken, the lamb-horned, and dragon-speaking beast is an Iron Leg of the Image—a co-partner with Gogue, yet inferior to him, in the majesty of the Greco-Roman-Dragonic dominion of "The End."

But when the Clay is sundered from the Iron by the stroke of the Stone-power, that is, when Gogue is broken, the Western Leg and Toes, or "Beast and the Kings of the Earth," have still to be subdued. These are of the Fourth Beast of Daniel, which has to be slain, and his body destroyed in the burning flame by the Lord Jesus, his Saints, and Israel.

As to the word "reconstruction," we have used this with reference to the construct state of the image in the king's vision. It never has existed as a whole elsewhere than in the dream. In the Latter Days, however, the thing signified by the image will appear as complete in all its parts as the statute itself before it was smitten by the symbolic Stone.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, FEB 1852




In about ninety-seven years from this epoch [AD 396], ten kingdoms appeared upon the Western Roman territory answering to the ten toes. They were not all strong kingdoms. Part of them were absorbed into a new dominion, which arose after them beyond the limits of the Roman territory into which it extended itself.

Elpis Israel 3.1.



The Adventual Battle

When Nebuchadnezzar saw the Stone smite the Image on the Feet he beheld an action symbolical of the blow that overthrows the Assyrian on the mountains of Israel. That blow is only the commencement of the war between the King of Israel and "the Powers that be." The unity of the Image-empire is broken by the victory, but its elemental constituents still remain to be subdued. The Image is smitten on the feet, the members by which an union is established between all the Toes and the body of the statue.

At present the Toes are indeed in being; but they ere not yet conjoined to the feet. They require to be daubed with some "miry potter's clay" to connect them to the Iron. This uniting of them, by at best a brittle union, will be, we conceive, the result of the king of the north's overthrowing many countries, and so establishing his dominion over "Gomer and his bands" who now possess the territory of the Ten Toes.

This is smiting the toes; but not, we admit, the feet in the sense of the prophecy. The toes are smitten by the Assyrian, but not to death. They then still exist as kingdoms under reigning kings, but not independent, being like the kings under Nebuchadnezzar, and those of later times under Napoleon, who were kings of kings, as will the Assyrian be before he invades the land of Israel.

This previous subjection of the Toes to one imperial chief is necessary to the bringing of all the nations to battle against Jerusalem44 and to their encampment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

What could induce ten independent and antagonist powers to go and lay siege to Jerusalem? If a crusade could be got up for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre they might; but then they must appoint over themselves One Head, or they could effect nothing.

No. The necessity of the case is that they should all be united as kingdoms of one imperiality, that one policy may actuate them all; so that if "things come into the mind" of their Emperor. "and he conceive a mischievous purpose," they may co-operate with him to carry his will into effect.

This concert of action between the Czar and his kings being established by coming events, when he proclaims his intention to invade Palestine and to take possession of Jerusalem, the movable forces of the kingdoms under his sway will gather to his standard as they did to Napoleon's when he invaded Russia.

He marches them against Israel, and their Protector, Britain and her allies, who are prepared for the combat in the glorious land. He takes Jerusalem, and meets his overthrow at the hand of Yahweh's Anointed, the Shepherd and Stone of Israel.

By this unexpected event the Feet are smitten. It is the Stone that smites them; and as their iron is commingled with miry clay, the Feet are dismembered from the Image, which can therefore stand erect no more.

The gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, are all shivered asunder; that is, Assyria, Persia, Greece and Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya, and the Ten kingdoms, no longer constitute one united dominion under the Czar, the Head of the Dragon-empire crushed by the Woman's Seed.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

But how can this be?

Where are the dominions represented by the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron? How can they be broken to pieces together, seeing that they have been broken to pieces one after the other very many centuries ago?

... here I would remark, that the image was presented to the mind of the king of Babylon, not so much to represent a succession of empires, as to exhibit the catastrophy which should usher in the kingdom of God... well expressed by the prophet, saying,

"the God in heaven, who revealeth secrets, maketh known to the king what shall be in the latter days" (Dan. 2:28, 29).

That is, there will be in the latter days a dominion, ruling over all the countries mainly comprehended, in the limits of the successive empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome; and represented by the image as a whole; and which will be broken by a power from heaven, which will utterly destroy it, and set up an empire which will cover all the territory it possessed.

Now, there has never yet existed a single dominion, contemporary with the toe-kingdoms, and of course comprehending them in its jurisdiction, which could claim to be represented by Nebuchadnezzar's image. In order, then, to prepare for the catastrophy, the image which is now in antagonistic parts, must be confederated; in other words, a dominion must arise between the present time and the setting up of the kingdom of God, which shall rule over the toe-kingdoms, and the Turkish, and Persian, territories, till it meets the British power in the East.

The description of the dream says, that the feet were smitten; and "then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together;" thereby intimating, that the breaking of the power of the ten kingdoms would precede that of the conjoint destruction of all the other parts. That when they are conquered, the dominion of the conqueror [Gog -- Russia] will be overturned by the revelation of power from above.

Elpis Israel 3.1.




The little Stone, or kingdom of Christ, "the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel" (Gen. 49:24) is to become "a Great Mountain," or empire, after it has smitten "the destroying mountain," in its latter day manifestation, and to "fill the whole earth", (Dan. 2:34,35).

A mountain filling the whole earth will leave no room for any other mountains. To declare, consequently, that "the mountains were not found," is equivalent to saying that the empires of Turkey, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Britain and the United States, were all superseded and abolished, by the New Empire of Israel's King, then become

"the King and Elohim of the whole earth" (Zech. 14:9; Isa. 54:5).

The world to come, or future habitable, of which Paul spoke (Heb. 2:5), will admit of only one mountain,

"the mountain of Yahweh's House, to be established on the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; that all" the regenerated nations may flow into it" (Isa. 2:2).

No rival empires will be permitted to exist; for in that "economy of the fullness of the times,

" all things in the heavens or the air, and upon the earth, or the nations, will be gathered together under One Head (Eph. 1:10).

Eureka 16.12.3. (16 part iv 3)



The agency by which the millennium is to be introduced

This agency, which is premillennial, is necessary to effect a political clearance, so as to make room for "the Mountain" which is to "fill the whole earth." There is no resting place for "the Stone" even, to say nothing of the Mountain, so long as the land of Israel is in the possession of the Gentiles; and though the Stone-kingdom occupied the land, it could not become "a great mountain," it would still be restricted to the Land * promised to Christ and Abraham, so long as the existing thrones, and dominions, principalities and powers, continue to rule over the people, languages, and nations of other countries.

*Note - The Stone Kingdom becomes a great mountain means Abraham and his seed  become heirs of the world (not just the glorified kingdom of Israel)

Hence, the Horn-kingdoms of the west must be humbled; the Austro-papal empire must be destroyed; and the Dragon dominion of the combined east and west broken to pieces on the mountains of Israel; after which Assyria, Persia, Greece, and the iron-kingdoms of the west, must be subdued, and made subservient to the law of Him who wastes and overcomes them.

But before Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, Naples, and Greece—seven of the Horn-kingdoms having in them the strength of the iron—can lose their independence and become vassal-kingdoms to the Dragon;—before Austria and its papal ally—the Beast and False Prophet—can be destroyed and their territories occupied by the Dragon;—the flames of war must be kindled in all those countries.

It is the mission of the "Unclean Spirits like Frogs" to accomplish this. They have been at this work since Feb., 1848. They are at it now, and will not cease their wonder-working influence until they have embroiled

"the kings of the earth, and the whole habitable."

The governments may try to keep the peace, but they will not be able. When the war begins it will wax hot and terrible; and will not end till Magogue and Gomer and his bands become subject to the "Prince of Ros, Mosc, and Tobl;" that is, until Germany and the ten kingdoms of the west acknowledge the sovereignty of the Autocrat of All the Russias.

The war will then take its direction eastward. The embattled hosts of the Russo-Assyrian king of the north will overspread the land of Israel as a cloud.

Then will Britain and the Autocrat contend for the dominion of the east. Thus will the ambition of the latter, and the preservation of India to Britain, bring

"all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;"

and thus assembled, the Lord appears and overthrows them with a terrible defeat.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1851



The Stone which smote the Image ... filled all the earth.

This is a contemporaneous and most complete grinding to powder. Not a vestige of them remains—not even space to receive them were their existence possible; for the place previously occupied by them is taken possession of by the Conqueror [all lands] whose power is submitted to by all the earth.

The meanest intellect must comprehend what it is to grind metal to powder. It is a pounding, rasping, violent operation, by which it is broken down and comminuted into the finest dust; so that the molecular attraction being completely overcome, it is easily blown away by the wind.

This familiar process, then, of reducing hard substances to dust...give[s] the reader some idea of the manner in which the kingdom of God will "bring to an end" the Assyrian and the Royalties over which he will have established his dominion.

We have said that the kingdom of God in its beginning is a military power. By a military power, we mean, that "the King of the Jews" will set it up after the same manner that Joshua set up the Commonwealth of Israel in the land of the seven nations he subdued.

He will gather armies together, which will consist of officers and privates, armed with weapons even as the armies of the kingdoms are accoutred, whose honor and glory it will be to outgeneral and overthrow them in the name of the Lord, whose power will co-operate with them as in the days of old.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

The interpreter has determined the commencement of the image. It goes no further back than the time of Nebuchadnezzar, whose dynasty was superseded by a two-armed monarchy, in the reign of his son's son, Belshazzar, B.C. 542.

Elpis Israel 3.1.


39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee < the silver dominion of the Medes and Persians>, and another 3rd kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

Third Kingdom of brass: 

This was After 208 years, this was overturned by Alexander of Macedon, B.C. 334.

The interpreter has determined the commencement of the image. It goes no further back than the time of Nebuchadnezzar, whose dynasty was superseded by a two-armed monarchy, in the reign of his son's son, Belshazzar, B.C. 542.

This was the silver dominion of the Medes and Persians. After 208 years, this was overturned by Alexander of Macedon, B.C. 334.

His dominion exceeded that of Babylon and Persia, extending from the remote confines of Macedonia to the Indus, or as it is expressed,

"bearing rule over all the earth."

This was the dominion of "the brazen-coated Greeks," answering to the brazen part of the image. After a few years, the empire of brass was divided into four kingdoms, two of which had especial relations with the land of Canaan upon which the kingdom of the stone is to be established. These two, therefore, are alone represented in the image. They answer to the two brazen thighs; and are known in history as the Syro-Macedonian kingdom of the north, that is, from Jerusalem; and the Greco-Egyptian kingdom of the south.

The northern kingdom continued till B.C. 67, when it became attached to the iron leg; the southern kingdom, however, "continued more years than the king of the north," even thirty-seven, when it also merged into the iron dominion. From this epoch, the iron monarchy prevailed over all antagonists.

Elpis Israel 3.1.



40 And the 4th kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

First, the Lion of Babylon, or the golden section of the image; then, the Bear of MedoPersia, or the silver; third, the Leopard of Grecia, or the brazen; and fourth, the Dragon of Rome, or the iron. These are the four general phases of "the kingdom of men," from the time of Nimrod to the future coming of the Ancient of Days to supersede it by "THE KINGDOM OF GOD." 

The iron symbolizes the last...phase of "the kingdom of men... whether therefore it be a log, a band, a tooth, or a toe, if they be of iron, they are all related to the Latin section of the kingdom of men.

Eureka 13.12.



The Fourth Kingdom still exists, only in its divided form. Speaking in general terms, we may say that it has assumed three forms—one, in which it was a united dominion under one head; a second, in which it was united under two heads; and a third, in which it is disunited under two heads, and ten smaller divisions.

It has not yet, however, passed through all the forms predetermined. The fourth kingdom has yet to exist in its fourth form, which will be its last. Under this its final constitution, it will be united under One Head bearing rule over Seven dependent royalties.

This Fourth Kingdom, represented by the iron legs and ferro-aluminous feet and toes of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, endures symbolically from its union, or incorporation with the brazen thigh-kingdoms of the Macedonians, till the manifestation of the Stone-kingdom which grinds it to powder.

The One Head who rules the fourth kingdom at the crisis of its fate, and has dominion over the Toes is the Head of Gold, a king of Assyria, and prefigured by Nebuchadnezzar, who may be regarded as the first individual of the Golden Dynasty.

The king of Assyria in all ages, from Nimrod to Christ's glorious advent, is he who encloses the old Assyrian territory within the limits of his dominion. Hence, Darius the Persian, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over an hundred and twenty-seven provinces, is styled by Ezra "the king of Assyria:" and hence also the Czar, whose dominion when consummated will be vastly more extensive than Darius', is styled in prophecy "the Assyrian" and "The King."

This Assyrian king cannot be any of the ancient rulers by that name, for he is declared to be contemporary with the day when Israel shall cast away his idols to the moles and to the bats;3 when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth, and men shall be afraid of him, because of the glory of his majesty; and when He alone shall be exalted.

Here then is a long line of kings—the kings of the Golden Head, the kings of the Silver Breast and Arms, and the kings of the Brazen Body and Thighs. But these never reigned over the Fourth kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander, and the Seleucidæ were all kings of Assyria, but never of the Iron Power.

As yet the Head of Gold—"the Assyrian"—has presided over only three fourths of the Image; but it is as necessary to the decorum of the symbol—a colossal man—that he should preside over the Legs and Feet, as it is that the human head should direct the motions of all the members of the human body.

Where then are we to look for the Assyrian? None of Julius Cæsar's successors who have ruled the Iron Legs, nor any of the kings of the Toe-royalties, ever ruled Assyria, or had any claim to be regarded as the Assyrian.

The Assyrian Head of the Fourth Kingdom must be looked for in the Scythian dynasty that now, as yet indeed, only rules Assyria in part. That dynasty is the Czar's. He is the Image's Head of Gold when it stands complete upon its Feet "in the latter days, " for the Image is the symbol of the Assyrian's dominion when the Stone-power shall contend with it in battle.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852


41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

...while the toes constituted unitedly the iron dominion, they should not cleave to one another, but should be independent and antagonist kingdoms.

Elpis Israel 3.1.


42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

All that is necessary is, that there should be ten kingdoms at the time the image is smitten by the stone. And these kingdoms, I am satisfied, should be on "the earth," and not upon "the sea;" that is to say, they should be found upon the Roman continent, and not upon the islands; and that the enumeration of them belongs to the time of the end, rather than to the period of their foundation. With this view, then, I enumerate the toe-kingdoms as follows:

1. Belgium; 2. France; 3. Spain; 4. Portugal; 5. Naples; 6. Sardinia; 7. Greece; 8. Hungary; 9. Lombardy; 10. Bavaria.

...Nebuchadnezzar's image has to do only with powers occupying the area of the golden, silver, brazen, and iron, dominions; other prophecies survey the rest.

Elpis Israel 3.1.



The ten tenths of the Great City are symbolized in Daniel by the Ten Toes of the metallic image seen by Nebuchadnezzar; and by the Ten Horns seen by Daniel and John in their visions of the Fourth-Beast system of powers, commonly styled the European Commonwealth, acknowledging the Papal Supremacy.

They are the Ten Kingdoms of the Great City, situated south and west of the Rhine and Danube. Until the late temporary development of the Kingdom of Italy, and as the result of the Treaty of Vienna A.D. 1815, modified by the revolution of 1832, they were Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bavaria, Hungary, Lombardy, Naples, and Sardinia.

...Ten has been the predominant number of the papal kingdoms; and, therefore, though they may vary at times, as the vision does not follow them in all their history, they are symbolically indicated as the Ten. Of these, France is the most conspicuous in its relation to the witnesses. It is therefore styled kat 'exochen, "the Tenth of the City," which was overthrown as a Diademed Horn by the executioners of the national justice upon the king, nobles and clergy [the French revolution]-- the class-murderers of the saints.

Eureka 11.3.8.




43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.


We stand in the days of the clay and iron feet -- the day when the Europe-ruling, ancient, iron Rome is a divided and weakened mass of independent sovereignties; and we are living late -- very late, in these days -- at the end of them, in fact, as we know from other visions and many contemporary facts, such as the complete disappearance of the coercive power of the Papacy.

We stand on the verge of the catastrophe represented by the destruction of the symbolic image. We live in the era of the Lord's appearing to destroy all the kingdoms of men, and set up that one universal dominion of which there will be no end.

...Our turn has come at last: here we find ourselves at the most interesting period of the entire vision; called in the grace of God to be hearers of the joyful sound, with a view to our being "doers of the word" and heirs of the glorious kingdom about to appear. In this position, it is of the first consequence that we seek to gauge our prospective relations.

When the moment arrives at which it will become clear that the great culmination of the vision has begun -- when it is announced that the Lord is actually in the earth, the anxiety that will press itself home with overwhelming force on every mind will be,

"What is my individual relation to the crisis?" "Am I favourably connected with the great matters about to be transacted?"

It will be evident by a moment's thought that mere intelligence in the signs of the times will not be of great value in the dreadful situation. The signs of the times are valuable only as indications of the approach of something. It is the something whose approach they indicate that is the standard of our position amid the closing scenes of the Gentile times. What is that something?

Brethren and sisters, it is a kingdom of heaven that is coming; a kingdom founded upon the principles of God in contrast with those now recognized among men; a kingdom not of this world. Who will be admitted to it? Only those who belong to it in the sense of partaking of its principles, and being prepared by the present individual operation of these principles for the political enforcement of them, which is to characterize the operation of the kingdom of God.

... Hence the great question of the hour, when the Lord has come, will be, "Have I acted in harmony with the principles on which the kingdom of heaven is to be set up?" The Lord will have no use for us, unless our wisdom be according to his standard.

...The only men who will appear wise will be those who have made themselves fools and poor for Christ's sake, who have incurred reproach and poverty in the carrying out of the work he has given his servants to do in his absence, in the sounding abroad of his name, and the comforting of his brethren, and the succouring of his poor.

Bro Roberts - Nearer the crisis



The Iron Legs of the Image

The Legs of the Image are not yet conjoined to the Feet. The Legs are visible and so are the Toes; but the iron legs, feet, and toes as one conjunct dominion with its subdivisions, are not yet seen.

The Iron kingdom in distinct parts exists; but these parts at their points of opposition require to be tempered together by the plastic clay of the Assyrian potter.

The Iron or Roman kingdom was finally divided at the death of Theodosius, A. D. 395, between his sons Arcadius and Honorius; the former of whom ruled in Constantinople over the eastern division or Leg of the Roman empire; and the latter in Rome over the western. Hence they were styled the Emperors of the East and West.

The eastern leg was that now [1852] possessed by the Sultan; while the western comprehended Italy, Africa, Gaul, Spain, Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia. Noricum included part of Austria and Bavaria, and Pannonia, part of Hungary; these with Dalmatia, Dacia, and Macedonia constituted the ancient Illyricum.

But at the division, Dacia and Macedonia were assigned to the East. Britain belonged to the dominion of the Western Emperor, but is no part of the Image, therefore we say no more about it here.

The Eastern Leg is entire; but what is the condition of the Western? It is dwindled down to the attenuated jurisdiction of Austria and the Pope over parts of Italy and Illyricum: still the Austro-Papal dominion, called "the Holy Roman Empire, " is the Western Leg, which in modern times extends into countries not anciently subject to Rome.

Now, though the territories of the Two Legs stand side by side, the Leg dominions are essentially antagonistic, having no bond of union between them. But when the Image is complete the same political vitality that energizes the one must energize the other. This political union of the Legs into one dominion is indicated by the Toes being distributed on Feet united to both the Legs.

If the ten toes were adherent to one foot, and the other had none, the indication would be that the Legs would be independent dominions in the latter days, one of which was sovereign over the toes: but as it is, the Legs will be one conjoint dominion with sovereignty over the ten toes therefore they are distributed as the decorum of the symbol demands—five on each foot.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852





Where are the Feet of the Image?

... for Legs and Toes are not feet? The tibia is the leg bone, the tarsal bones are the toes; but where are the metatarsal which make the foot of the skeleton, and which unite the toes to the leg? Every one is bound to admit that they exist nowhere on the territory of the iron where they must of necessity appear for they are part of iron and part of clay.

Interpretation of "The Clay"

Now, the proposition we affirm in view of the premises is, that a power must appear upon the territory of the Legs, which shall effect such a change in the political relations of things that the Legs and Toes shall be no longer antagonistic and disjoined, but e pluribus unum, united into one.

The power that shall accomplish this is symbolized by the Feet of the Im age; and the agent by which it is effected is styled the Potter; as it is written,

"thou sawest the feet and toes part of clay of the Potter, and part of iron."

The clay represents the power incarnated in those who

"shall mingle themselves with the seed of men;"

and the Potter, the Chieftain who shall mould them into a vessel to suit his own views. His people, the wild or semi-barbarous hordes that follow him, will overspread the countries of the old iron kingdom; but this new inundation of barbarians from the north will not be like that of the fifth and sixth centuries.

Then they "cleaved to another" people. The Goths, and Vandals, and other savage tribes of the north, melted down and lost their distinctive individuality in the populations of the empire they destroyed, so that now the institutions under which they live, civil and ecclesiastical, are the same: but it shall not be so with the Potter's clay men.

They will mingle themselves with the Iron men, and blend their kingdoms into one clayey dominion, but the union will not last sufficiently long for them to cleave together under a permanently new constitution of things not contemplated in the Image; as it is written,

"they shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay."

But what is to be done with this clay fabric of the potter? Hear the decree!

"To thee, mine Anointed, will I give the nations for thy possession * * * Thou shalt break them in pieces as a potter's vessel." Psa 2: 9

Keb a vessel from the root kahlah, any thing formed or constructed by a workman. The feet of the image are as a vessel to a potter. Hear also what the prophet saith of the Assyrian who in forming the Feet

"ladeth himself with thick clay"—"Because he transgresseth by wine, a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as the grave (sheol) and as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: shall not all these take up a parable and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth what is not his! How long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!"

That this from Habbakuk doth not relate to Belshazzar, but to Belshazzar's antitype, the Assyrian, of the latter days, is clear; for the Lord saith it belongs to "the end."

The prophet saw the Emperor as he hath described him, covered so to speak, with thick clay, being invested with nations not a few, and madly bent on conquering more. But notice how the prophet saw in vision his plundering and bloody career arrested!

"Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people (Israel) shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein."

Then shall

"the Stone cry out of the wall," and "the beam out of the timber shall answer it;" for by the power of the awakened

"the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Thus "at the end the vision speaks."

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



The Post Adventual War

The moulding of the Feet out of the iron and the clay is the mission of "our sacred Russia" as it is styled by the Czar. It is this work that is on the eve of its commencement, and when it begins it will progress rapidly to its completion. The formative principle is his power which smites the nations and incorporates their kingdoms into his bipedal ferro aluminous dominion. Gog smitten on the mountains of Israel is the Feet smitten by the Stone; the consequence of which is the breaking of them to pieces.

Now, when the Feet are thus broken by the battle of Armageddon what is the condition of the disjoined metals with respect to each other? The brittle bond of union is broken, and the Iron Legs and the toe-kingdoms are disconnected from Persia, Egypt, Khushistan, Libya, &c.

Their combined forces will have suffered a great defeat; their power of resistance, however, will not be exhausted. Napoleon lost half a million of men in the Russian campaign; yet he was enabled to raise new armies from his kingdoms, and to put off the evil day of his dethronement for about two years: so after the breaking of the Feet of the Image, the pieces will prolong resistance to the Stone.

This infatuate resistance is necessary that the Stone may fall on them and grind them to powder. The fragments of the Iron kingdom are especial subjects of prophecy at this crisis, pertaining to their resistance after the battle of Armageddon. It is thus spoken of by John, saying,

"And I saw the Beast, and the Kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against the Faithful and True One that sat on the horse, and against his army".

They are met by the white horseman, styled the King of kings, who, attended by his body guards, the saints (termed

"the armies of the heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean")

encounters them with "a sharp sword," even Judah, who smites the enemy because their king is with them.52 This post-adventual war is "the breaking to pieces together" of the pieces from the Feet to the Head, and not from the Head to the Feet.

"Then (baidayin, at that very time) iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold, were ground to powder together (dahqu kachadah) and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them."

At that very time and subsequently to the smiting of the Feet. The grinding of the fragments is not accomplished by one blow in an instant. One blow may demolish the form of a statue or a limb of it, by shivering it to pieces; but it requires heavy and oft-repeated blows to reduce the fragments to powder. The post-adventual war is the grinding process in which the metals and the clay are being reduced to dust. The gold, the silver, and the brass, the dynasties of the Lion, the Bear, and the Leopard, or of Assyria, Persia, and Greece, are abolished—

"they have their dominion taken away;"

yet their nationality continues "a season and a time;" but in respect to the iron and the clay, or the body politic, dynastic, and national, as represented by the Fourth Beast which had "devoured the whole earth," it is "consumed and destroyed unto the end."

Victorious Israel shall be a third with "Egypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands," saith the Lord; but the nationalities of the Iron and the Clay will be utterly broken up and driven away by "the wind, " the fury of the war waged against them by the Saints and their people.

The war which begins with the breaking of the Feet to pieces is carried on, on every side, at the same time. This is expressed by the words "at that very time" and "together." No time will be given for the enemy to rally so as to invade the land. The war will be transferred to the countries to be subdued.

The Beast and the False Prophet, the Assyrian's dominion in the west with the Roman Bishop, whose existence he shall have sustained to the end since Austria shall have given place to the Czar—these are taken and destroyed by extraordinary and signal judgments: the remnant of the iron and the clay, not included in those symbols, as the armies of other states, are slain by the sword of Israel with great slaughter.

The False Prophet lives as Bishop of Rome until The Stone comes, and sinks him into hell with "the Eternal City." Thus the Assyrian, and "the god of guardian saints," whom he honours in his kingdom, are utterly destroyed by the brightness of Messiah's advent. The entire image is no longer an existence being superseded by the dominion of its Destroyer, which becomes as a great mountain filling the whole earth.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



Objections Categorically Answered

We will conclude this article by answering categorically our friend's questions, the testimony upon which they are predicated being contained in what has gone before. He inquires, then,

1. If the Stone is to smite and break in pieces the Toe-kingdoms what room is there for the Czar to smite them?

The smiting by the Czar will not break them to pieces, but only bring them under his dominion; while the smiting by the Stone will abolish them. The Czar's mission is to bring their armies against Jerusalem for destruction by the Stone preparatory to the overthrow of their governments.

2. Does not the adverb "then" necessarily require as a distinct event the previous destruction of the Ten kingdoms?

No; only the previous smiting of the Feet, which has a similar effect upon the Czar's dominion, that the Russian campaign had on Napoleon's.

3. How can the Kingdom be set up in the days of the Ten toe-kingdoms when they no longer exist, being all merged in the Russian Autocracy?

They exist under the Czar as Naples, Spain, Holland, Westphalia, &c., existed under Napoleon. They are ruled by kings under an emperor till subdued by Christ.

4. Why need Nebuchadnezzar's Image be reconstructed?

That it may exist in the Latter Days. It has never existed since the king saw it in his dream. Parts have appeared and disappeared; but the Feet never, and without these it cannot stand, nor be smitten.

5. Will not all the metals be broken to pieces together when all the kingdoms of the world become the Lord's?

Yes; for the simultaneous, but not instantaneous, breaking occurs in the setting up of the kingdom which acquires the other kingdoms by conquest.

6. Does not the Image represent a succession of empires?

The metals in their order do, but not the Image. There are not four images, but four metals in one image. Therefore one image of divers metals, one dominion of divers constituents.

7. If Russia is to enact so conspicuous a part in the world's future history will it not delay the advent of Christ for a long time to come?

Our calculation is that the Advent will occur in about fifteen years, a little more or less; a period which affords ample time for the formation of the Feet, and planting them on the mountains of Israel where they are to be broken.

Napoleon conquered Italy twice, though defended by Austria and Russia; also Egypt; subdued the German empire, and founded his own, in about six years. The advent may be sooner. It cannot be too soon for us; but we fear it will not be earlier than we have stated. It cannot be till

"all the nations are gathered together to battle against Jerusalem."

This is the sign of the coming of the Son of Man in power [with the immortal saints] and great glory.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom

...this rendering is varied somewhat.

"he shall set up a kingdom and a dominion." [7: 27]

This distinction evidently obtains in the original Chaldee. The word used there for "kingdom" is malchu, while that for "dominion" is malcuthahh. It is also sustained by parallel testimony as well as by a verbal difference. This may be seen by turning to the reference below, where Daniel tells us that he saw one like the Son of Man to whom there was given

"dominion, glory, and a kingdom."

It is true that "dominion" in this text is shahltahn authority or empire, and not malchuthahh; but the reason of that is that the latter is dominion delegated to the saints, which is not left to another people; while the shahltahn is dominion absolute conferred upon the Son of Man.

God intends to establish in the earth a kingdom and an empire which shall be imperishable; and that they who shall possess them at their institution shall possess them always, for the dominion "shall not be left to another people;" but the saints shall possess it, for

"the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him."

...Hear this, ye kings of the Roman earth, that your kingdoms are to be ground to powder and to be put an end to! And ye also, O ye rulers of the world, be ye absolutists or constitutional, republican or regal, ye are to have your dominion taken away; and the Saints whom ye know not, and whom ye have despised, opposed, and prevailed against, are to possess it in your stead.

Righteous is God; just and true in all his ways is the King of Saints. The world's rulers and their people are his enemies and hostile to his sons, therefore according to the measure they have meted out, so will he measure to them again.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852




Russia...will over-run all the ten kingdoms, subdue Turkey, and incorporate Persia into its empire; but that when it has reached its zenith, it will in turn be precipitated into the abyss, and its dominion suppressed for a thousand years. ... Britain...is reserved of God to antagonize Russia, as she did France, when all Europe was prostrate at the feet of "Napoleon le Grand."

...Russia will command the land, and Britain rule the sea. They will contend for the dominion of the East; but neither will obtain it.

...It is the God of heaven who pulverizes the image, and sweeps its chaffy dust away by the whirling tempest which wrecks the kingdoms of the world, and transfers them to His saints. The kingdom of the stone grinds to powder whatsoever it falls upon, and then becomes a great mountain, or empire of nations, and fills the whole earth.

Elpis Israel 3.1.



Grind to powder

...the kingdom which God is about to set up to be a military power and imperishable, and therefore invincible. The common version says, "it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms," or divisions of the fourth monarchy. The Chaldee phrase is taddik vethahsaiph. The root dahkak signifies to beat or grind small, reduce to powder; hence dak a substantive signifying small dust. We prefer "it shall grind to powder" as the rendering of taddik, rather than "it shall break in pieces," because that interpretation has been sanctioned by Jesus himself.

"What is this then that is written, The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you (Chief Priests and Pharisees) and given to a people bringing fourth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall upon this Stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."

The word in the Greek is likmeesei "to winnow grain; to scatter like chaff any thing broken fine; by implication, to grind to powder, dash in pieces, destroy." Such are the words used to express the nature of the power employed in bringing the royalties of the Fourth Kingdom to an end.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852



When the Lord has "broken to pieces together" all the parts of Nebuchadnezzar's Image -- that is, destroyed that power which bound them all together as one dominion -- the work next to be accomplished in relation to them is to subdue the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay -- in other words, the powers represented by them -- that they may become

"like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors;"

so that, being carried away by the tempest of war, "no place may be found for them," and the subjugating power become as

"a great mountain, and fill the whole earth."

But a question arises here which must be answered, or our exposition is at fault, and deficient of a very important link in the, chain of testimony which connects the kingdom of God with the foundation of the world. It is, By what means are

"the kingdoms of the world to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ"

after he has dissolved the imperial bond of union among them by the glorious victory of Armageddon?

... the nations will be subdued to the sceptre of Shiloh by the sword, and that the tribes of Israel will be his soldiers in the war.

Besides punishing them for their idolatry, and subsequent unbelief of the gospel of the kingdom preached to Judah in the name of Jesus, Israel has been also scattered among all nations, that they may be ready for the work assigned them in "the time of trouble," which intervenes between the battle of Armageddon, and their final and complete restoration at the end of forty years.

Though the dominion of Gogue be broken, the kingdoms and states which acknowledged him as their imperial chief will not voluntarily surrender themselves to another lord, any more than the populations of the old Assyrian empire did when the power of Sennacherib was broken in one night. The effect of his overthrow was only to prepare them for subjection to a more civilized and powerful ruler. In this case, the Lord used the Chaldeans for their subjugation: but in the coming strife he will use the tribes of Israel.

Elpis Israel 3.6.



The Kingdom under the New Covenant

The kingdom cannot be re-established before the resurrection of the saints; because from the nature of the priesthood and the ordinances connected with it, none can discharge the functions of it before God, who are not constituted priests

"after the power of an endless life,"

as the Lord Jesus was before them. The kingdom under the Mosaic Covenant was inherited by flesh and blood. Its kings and priests were all mortal men, men who died and saw corruption. It was "left to other people." Aaron and his sons, and David, and Solomon, and all who possessed the honour, glory, and power of the kingdom, died and left them to successors. They were physically corrupt, and inherited corruption, or that which was to be abolished.

The flesh profited them nothing. For though descended from Israel according to the flesh, though circumcised the eighth day, though priests and kings by hereditary descent, these advantages gave them no right to the eternal priesthood and royalty of the kingdom under the New Covenant, which has been dedicated by the precious blood of its immortal high priest and king.

The kingdom under this covenant partakes of the nature of its king whose blood has purified its constitution. It is incorruption—a kingdom which can "never be destroyed,"

"an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away."

If the reader understand these things, he will fully comprehend the saying of the apostle, that

"flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither can corruption inherit incorruption."

It is a physical impossibility. Can mortal men possess an everlasting kingdom, the priesthood and royalty of which are not to be left to successors? Men whose lives rarely exceed seventy or eighty years cannot hold office for ever, or even a thousand years.

Now the offices, &c., of the kingdom under the New Covenant are inheritable for not less than a thousand years, and some of them for ever. They cannot be possessed for fifty years by one set of men, and then vacated that they may be held by another set for fifty more. No, they who are promoted to them at "the Regeneration," or Restoration, will possess them always; for the priesthood and royalty are unchangeable; are non transferable—cannot be left to other people.

This being the nature of things, the immortality of the heirs of the kingdom is necessitated. The kingdom cannot exist, the administration of its internal and foreign affairs cannot be carried on, its ecclesiastical and civil ordinances will continue a theory, an unaccomplished prediction, so long as Christ sits at the right hand of God, and "his fellows," the "joint-heirs" of his glory and power, the copartners of his "joy," are sleeping in the sides of the pit wherein is no water, the unconscious, undreaming tenants of the tomb.

"Corruption cannot inherit incorruption."

The "heirs of the kingdom" are either now in a state of corruption, or corruptible. So long as they continue thus, they cannot possess the kingdom. It is folly, namby-pamby, trashy absurdity, to affirm they can. None but those "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them," would declare it.

How can they, however, utter aught else but foolishness, who are ignorant of the nature of the kingdom of God? And is it to be wondered at that the old heathens should have plunged into such unfathomable nonsense about souls and elysium, seeing that they were intensely dark upon the things of the kingdom of God?

The doctrine was the farthest possible remote from their conception, that immortality was life manifested through corporeal incorruptibility, for all those, and those only, who should by faith and practice be accounted worthy of an indestructible kingdom in the land of Israel, that should not be left to successors. They knew nothing of such a divine purpose as this, neither do the heathen of modern times, who eulogize the old philosophy, and approve the speculations of Plato on "the immortality of the soul."

They are ignorant and faithless of the gospel of the kingdom of God, in which the true doctrine of life and incorruptibility has been proclaimed; and being ignorant of this, there is no absurdity so ridiculous they are not liable to embrace.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1851



45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass [bronze], the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great Elahh hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream [chalom] is certain, and the interpretation [pesher] thereof sure.

The Stone


The "stone cut out of the mountain without hands" is easily recognisable in Christ coming forth from God, through Mary, without a human father. A mountain is a frequently recurring figure in the Scriptures for power. Out of the Eternal Power was Jesus evolved without human instrumentality.

Though in the first stage of his existence after having so come forth, he was only a weak babe, and then a mortal (though wise and miracle-working) man, and then a dead man, yet he was the nucleus of all that the Kingdom of God will be in the age to come in power and great glory.

His brethren form elements of the stone in the sense of being incorporate in him, and made like to him at the resurrection, and associated with him in the work of subduing human power (or smiting the human image) in all the earth.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1898





The idea prominently sustained throughout the book of Daniel is, as we have seen, one dominion under divers administrations, styled the kingdom of men, or of Babylon, as opposed to the kingdom of Judah, which is Yahweh's. Both these kingdoms have their times, or periods, during which their reigns are unrivalled. The two kingdoms, however, being essentially hostile and destructive of one another, it so happens that when one reigns prosperously, the other must be in adversity, or extinct. This being the case, it is obvious that the prosperity of the two kingdoms must pertain to different and successive ages, and that the practising and prospering of the one is at the expense of the others.

Now this is a truth that is self-evident to all acquainted with the history of Judah and the Gentiles, or other nations. From the celebrated Passover in the eighteenth of Josiah's reign to the present time, has been a period of calamity for the Jews; and from the first of Nebuchadnezzar's, which was seventeen years after, to the same epoch, a period of ascendancy and Gentile treading-down for the Babylonian kingdom of men. During this long interval to 1868, of about 2498 years, the stump of the Babylonish Tree, "banded with iron and brass", has continued with its roots in the earth. But when its time shall have passed over it, "the stump of its roots" will be removed; and the times of the reign of the kingdom of God will begin. -

Exposition of Daniel



Think of how much this one revelation in Daniel 2 has meant to us in understanding and confidence and assurance. It is not for us to tremble in darkness, fearful of the future, which seems so ominous to the natural eye, as evil and ruthless men threaten the world... We watch current events with keen interest, seeing the overall picture wonderfully developing, as world tensions and rivalry center more and more upon the Middle East.

Bro Growcott - Daniel, The Man Greatly Beloved



48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

But the favour of man is precarious. *

Bro Growcott - Daniel, The Man Greatly Beloved



49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

For ages, Daniel has been a reality under Christ's recognition both of him and of the Scriptures of which he forms a part; and it has pleased God in recent times to make Babylon a reality also by the excavations of Layard and others on the banks of the Euphrates.

Babylon has been brought to London in a very tangible form. In the relics and remains deposited in the British Museum, we are enabled to see with our very eyes the historic reality of a city whose existence was questioned by the sceptics of the last century. By the inscribed burnt clay tablet archives of the public offices of Babylon, we become almost spectators of the life of the city. By Nebuchadnezzar's own name-stamped bricks, that monarch is brought as it were into our presence.

When Daniel was there, Babylon was in her glory. It is advantageous to get a glimpse of that glory, in order to learn rightly the lesson of Daniel's case. We get a glimpse of it in the description of Herodotus who visited it, whose description is confirmed by the accounts of the writers who were with Cyrus, and by those of others who afterwards accompanied Alexander the Great in his conquest of the city.

The few allusions to Babylon in the Scriptures are in harmony with the statements of these writers. Babylon was great architecturally as no city has ever been since. It covered an area of something like 400 square miles. It was surrounded by a wall about 300 feet high and 40 or 50 feet broad.

The wall was surmounted by towers and pierced by gates at regular distances. Its interior was laid out in streets of great breadth and regularity-the houses well-built but not close to one another - leaving ground enough between for a year's tillage. The Euphrates went through the city, and was lined with magnificent wharves on each side.

The population was immense, and comprised people from every country, for Babylon had been the conqueror of all kingdoms, and was the centre of all traffic and the headquarters of everything honourable and important in the earth. Behold the picture, then, of this wealthy, populous and powerful city; and consider Daniel - one old man in the midst of this busy mass of human life. How did God look upon one and upon the other? We know, for He has told us.

Of Babylon he saith,

"I am against thee, O Thou most proud . . . Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have perverted thee and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and there is none beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee . . . Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly . . . Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing without inhabitant"

(Jer. 50:31; Isa. 47:10; Jer. 51:37).

To Daniel he said,

"O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee . . . thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (Dan. 10:19; 12:13).

Here, then, Babylon with its busy thriving population was nothing in the divine estimation, while Daniel was "greatly beloved."

Here is a study for us which we may find to yield lessons of comfort in our own situation when human glory spreads and vaunts itself so much, and nothing is so contemned as the hope which God has given us concerning Israel.

Bro Roberts - Daniel at prayer