Daniel 2:40-45 (KJV)
40 And the fourth 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
There are few things, if any, related to the history of human events and how God views them, than this portion of Scripture, and the verses immediately preceding them. It clearly states not only the period of time when the promised Messiah would appear, but what His appearance meant to the nations.
Some think this is only a reference to what Jesus Christ would do to the Roman Empire over time once He appeared, but my thesis is not only is this a reference to Rome, but to all of those nations or groups of nations that attempt to become world empires. Once Jesus Christ revealed Himself as man, that would no longer be allowed. History itself bears this out, as empire after empire rises and falls, while the eternal Kingdom of God continues to rule from heaven.
All of the second chapter of Daniel needs to be read to get the full gist of what is being revealed, but these scriptures above are enough to reveal the idea.
In verse 44, the issue doesn't only refer to the four kingdoms listed up to Rome, and then the kingdom of God is finished doing its work once Rome was allegedly conquered by Christianity. Rather, it's a reference to the purpose of God for all of history concerning the nations, that they shouldn't rise up in a manner that attempts to control and dominate the world. This is a Satanic aspiration; one that has no place in the hearts and minds of men, even though the temptation by the evil one is ever there for man to grab hold of if he wishes.
The implications of this are enormous. God, once His son, who is the only true King of kings and Lord of lords, ushered in the germination of the kingdom of God on earth, He no longer allows nations the luxury or goal of attempting to dominate the earth as some nations leading up to Rome had done before the appearance of Jesus.
From that moment on the earth was required to operate under the rule of the kingdom of Heaven, meaning the heavenly nature of Jesus Christ was to be embraced and permeate the people, which in turn would rule from a heavenly perspective; or based upon the very person and will of Jesus Christ, who was an exact representation of His Father.
What that means is there should be a total freedom where people are allowed to choose their own destinies, as far as nations go, and there should be all sorts of nations being born and dying throughout history. Now that has happened, although primarily from wars. I'm talking about voluntary creation of nations here, not nation building as the U.S. has partaken of.
There is nothing better I would like to see, as far as the U.S. goes, than to see it break up into all sorts of smaller nations. The idea of America is now over, whether people realize it or not, as what it was once in the past is no longer in existence; although there are pockets of it in certain regions of the country.
Now I'm only using America as an example here. I believe that should be the case for any region of the world that wants to take on nationhood.
I know that some people that equate America with Christianity will almost consider this heresy, but the fact is the Holy Scriptures clearly state the kingdom of God will smash those attempting to build empires on the earth. His is the only kingdom, and all nations, no matter how many there are, are required to submit unto the principles of His kingdom.
Jesus, as far as ruling and reigning on the earth goes, is primarily interested in cities or localities. You can see this in the way the church grew after Pentecost.
To give you an idea of how Christ has no interest in a world kingdom or center on earth, look how it wasn't a problem for Him to destroy Jerusalem, which was considered by the Jews and many others as the center or religion in the world. Even though the church was flourishing there, eventually it was driven out not long before the destruction of Jerusalem, and believers spread all over the world from that time on.
The point is, Jesus was ruling from Heaven, and while always building on the earth, has no interest in building Tower of Babel, which He of course ended by confusing the languages, resulting in the many races now seen on the earth.
Interestingly, as I write in 2014, there has been a growing discontent with the idea of empire, whether world or regional, and a number of secessionist movements are underway. If it's time for the breaking up of more countries and alliances with the goal of dominating the world, it couldn't happen soon enough. I'm not saying the time is here, but the idea has taken root, and I believe ultimately that idea has come from Jesus Christ Himself.
What is at issue isn't necessarily the geographic area under governance. For example, Mongolia is huge geographically, but has very few people in it. No matter what its size, it simply doesn't have the capacity to do much world governing, although on a smaller scale, its government is overreaching with the Oyu Tolgoi mine, which it has an ownership in. That is a not towards the inner evil in man to always use the government to control resources and the idea of a free market.
When the Scriptures above refer to breaking these empires to pieces, it's not necessarily a reference to total destruction, but to the influence of the kingdom of God in generating the desire within the hearts of man for self-rule under the principles of almighty God. Breaking them to pieces, I'm sure, is a reference to decentralization of power, and the goal of Jesus Christ to have people focus on local rule.
Obviously there are all sorts of things to work out with that. There has to be enough resources or industry for a small nation or city-state to generate productivity to the point of being self-sufficient. There is also the interesting probability of a wide range of trading partners specializing in specific goods or services to help the small nations to survive and thrive. That's of course the practical side. When man obeys God, He will bless in a way that He'll give us the wisdom to figure all of these challenges out.
This is an extremely brief introduction to my thought on this. If you were to read the second chapter of Daniel in light of these thoughts, you'll find the implications so staggering, that you'll either block it out of your mind, or enter a spiritual and intellectual pursuit that could easily take up several human life spans, as the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ works to permeate the world will all that He is. That's what the end result of the eternal purpose is, that we should be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, that God may be all in all.
That will be worked out practically on this earth, although never perfectly.
For now, I believe we need to pray that God will continue to work to fracture and decentralize the governments of the world and the nations, so we can get a better chance at freedom and working at local levels in a way that reflects the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which is being worked out perfectly in heaven. We are called to pray that the same perfect kingdom and will of God is expressed in the earth.
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