The great statue in Daniel describing human history and government
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Daniel Chapter 2:
2:31 You, O king, were watching, and there was a single great image. This image, large and its brightness surpassing, stood opposite you; and its appearance was frightful.
2:32 Concerning this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its abdomen and its thighs of bronze,
2:33 Its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
2:34 You were watching until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image at its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once, and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
This passage is about a statue. If we start from the surface of the statue, according to the dream revealed to the king, we see a statue with a gold head, silver shoulders, brass abdomen, iron legs, and feet mixed with iron and clay. It's very interesting to look specifically at the gold and the clay, as they are two symbolic elements in the Bible. Gold typifies God. Clay typifies man. Then, in between them the other elements are considered the progression of human history. When you talk about any human government, it is always personified. In this case, the Bible used four major elements as symbols of empires that hold the most powerful administration to control human destiny. However, I want to bring to your attention the end of the statue that signifies the coming to the end of collective human history: the clay mixed with iron. There is a nature here that is revealed by the symbols. The clay invaded the iron—it changed the integrity of the metal—the iron was intruded by the clay. Basically, the integrity of the metal was challenged and changed by the clay. It is an unchangeable fact that the Bible is so precise regarding prophecy; it reveals how the world will end in this way, according to the symbolization of the statue. So how will the old world end? When you see clay invading iron, it will be the closing, the end of time.
In history, the human government always proclaims that it can replace God. Like the statue, it comes with a very good presentation, like the gold head. The place of administration is the head. Look at the human body. The head in the human body controls everything as the administration of the body. The finger doesn't think; the head thinks and then the finger moves. So human history, like the human statue in Daniel, comes from a self-proclaimed glorious beginning, which is a declaration that it is the headship in human history, an imitator of the real gold [see tower of Babel, Genesis ch.10]. We start with a glorious beginning and end with clay and dirt, which will be the end. Just look at today. As humans, it doesn’t matter what country you come from, either communist or democratic. For example, here in America we are very democratic, freedom-focused, fighting for human rights. But it doesn't matter. Regardless of which country you come from, you're all under that statue [human government]. The end time scenario in the Bible gives us a very precise understanding that when clay is introduced into this statue, the ending of the entire statue becomes nothing [Dan. 2:34-35]. Remember the ending: human history disappears. I want you to pay attention to all these elements of the statue. It doesn't matter whether gold, or brass, or silver, or iron, or clay. In the end, none of these substantial elements or properties will exist; they will become like nothing, just like chaff. According to the Bible, the chaff is a shell of the real thing. This is something to pay attention to.
In the end, for human history, there is nothing that can sustain human beings because of the lack of substance. The substantial elements or essence has been replaced, according to the Bible, by a great Mountain. If you read the Bible, there's only one mountain in God's eyes that's considered a mountain. Read the Bible. Even though the world is rapidly changing, you don't have to be shaken. We should go back to the Bible. This has all been predicted. Don't worry about whether there will be a World War IV or World War V. You should worry about your salvation today. Don't worry about this country, and don't worry too much about China either. It's not your business. We are not called to criticize these people— we are called to be saved. Reading those elements of the vision of the statue should be a great warning to us to say, “Lord, save me today. Save me from all the gossiping. Save me from all the fashion, trade, commerce, work. Lord, if these elements are not powerful enough to awaken me, then, what will? I don't want cancer to hit me or a broken marriage or crisis to awaken me.” I want to say to the Lord, “I can be awakened today.” Now is the time. If we have true understanding of the signs of the times as revealed to us in these days through the Bible, we should return to the true Source of all administration, our precious Lord, to prepare for His coming.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering 10/11/2019, not reviewed by the speaker.)
