Is humanity destined to forever suffer under the weight of corrupted governments?
Praise God, our heavenly Father has not left this long-pondered-over question unanswered! The Almighty’s response to the problem of evil as it relates to failed human governments was at last given to, of all people, the head of the most powerful government of its era—Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (605–562 BC). God provided the world His answer via a dream imparted to Nebuchadnezzar, one that the young prophet Daniel interpreted and recorded for us in Daniel chapter 2.
The prophet divulged that the troubled king had marveled at a massive statue forged in the shape of a man. The statue’s head was molded out of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, it stood erect on two legs of iron, and its feet were comprised of a mixture of iron and clay. And, to his utter amazement, the king also witnessed a stone—described as “cut out without [human] hands” (verse 34)—careening like a meteor out of the sky to strike the statue at its feet. The great statue was subsequently obliterated, and its dust blew away in the wind. Suddenly, the sky-felled stone grew into a mighty mountain, until it filled the entire earth.
Daniel credited God alone for the revealing of what King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed, as well as what the dream had meant—the prophesied end of all human empires. The prophet himself would later experience two of his own God-given visions that would reiterate this prophecy. The first was the vision of the four beasts as recorded in Daniel 7, and the second was the vision of a ram and a goat in Daniel 8.
When we lay these three messages from God side by side and compare them, we learn that the statue represented four temporal human kingdoms followed by a fifth divine kingdom. The head of gold, corresponding to the lion (7:4), explicitly identified Nebuchadnezzar to be that head as king of the Babylonian Empire. The chest and arms of silver, corresponding to the bear (7:5) and the vision of the two-horned ram (chapter 8), represented the Medo-Persian Empire, which would decades later conquer Babylon. The belly and thighs of bronze, corresponding to the leopard (7:6) and the shaggy goat (chapter 8), represented the supplantation of the Medo-Persian Empire by Greece and its division after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
The legs of iron, corresponding to the composite beast (7:7, 19), would come to be identified as the Roman Empire. Rome’s final, divided, weakened condition was represented by the two feet comprised of a mixture of iron and clay. The ten toes corresponded to the ten horns (7:24), indicating the final form of earthly human government would divide the world into ten regions, each one ruled by a powerful king.
Daniel also noted the metals that formed this behemoth statue increased in strength going from head to toes while, oddly, at the same time, they decreased in value. Jewish historian and theologian Arnold Fruchtenbaum explained that the Babylonian monarchy was known for its valuable gold and a king who stood above the law, the Medo-Persian monarchy for its love of silver and a king who was subject to the law, the Greek kings forged in brass held to no central dynastic or royal right to rule, and Rome tread fiercely as if iron but existed as a republic led by an imperial form of government. The visions presented the power of each successive human government as growing less centralized, until the final one would comprise a power-sharing arrangement among ten kings and one “little horn” who would rise to rule the entire world, but only for a brief time (Daniel 7:8; 8:9-12).
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision foretold how a day would come when human governments, in all their forms, would be wiped away by the arrival of that stone not cut by human hands. Dr. Fruchtenbaum emphasized the fact that the stone that came from the sky denotes a divine origin, with mountains in the Bible often symbolizing a king, kingdom, or throne.
So, in summary, Daniel had prophesied that a divine ruler would burst from the sky at the speed of a streaking meteor to obliterate all human governments and to establish His illustrious kingdom—one that will encompass the entire earth. And when can we expect this ending of human government to occur?
As for the timing of this coming divine kingdom, Jesus Christ said this event would occur after the trampling of Jerusalem by the Gentiles has ended and “the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24-28). The “times of the Gentiles” is that long period of history from the Jewish exile by the Babylonian Empire in 586 BC to the second coming of the Messiah, when Christ will personally liberate the city of Jerusalem, thereby ending the Gentile nations’ influence over that city.
Because the return of the Messiah will end the “time of the Gentiles,” this coming divine king must be that metaphorical stone that smote Nebuchadnezzar’s statue representing human governments and blew the remains away like dust. That means the end of Gentile rule can be achieved only by the second person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ Himself proclaimed that when He returns to the earth, it is He who will “strike the nations” (Revelation 19:15). And once that great deed is accomplished, the Messiah will establish His eternal and universal kingdom (Revelation 20-22).45 On that glorious day, governments under human control will at long last become a relic of the past, replaced forevermore by Christ’s kingdom. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Resource
To learn more about Jesus Christ’s coming Millennial Kingdom and what life will be like living in it, order Dr. Nathan Jones’ book, The Coming Millennial Kingdom, published by Harvest House Publishers! To order a print copy, visit Lamb & Lion Ministries’ store. To order an e-book and audiobook, visit Amazon.
