The Stone Kingdom

When seminars on Daniel 2 are conducted, the statue from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is usually shown in a graphical form, similar to the one below.

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(taken from the internet)

Various metals (gold, silver, bronze, iron) represent dominions, but can easily be misread for existence. When considering the last kingdom, students usually assume that the first 3 kingdoms are long gone.

So far I have never participated in a seminar where the presenter would draw attention to the fact that when the last kingdom became a superpower, all 3 previous kingdoms still existed, as shown below. Why?

Common sense dictates that a kingdom that does not exist for some time may not become a superpower, or that after the dominion is taken by another kingdom it still exists. It just does not disappear! The chart below shows that all kingdoms exist regardless of which of them is a superpower at a particular time.

Because the attention is never drawn to the fact that all 4 kingdoms are destroyed completely when the Stone strikes the stature and fills the whole earth, it is assumed that the Stone crushes the stature at the second coming of Jesus. However this assumption introduces errors.

There are many more people who have ever belonged to the 4 earthly kingdoms and passed away by now than those who remain alive. If only the living ones were to be considered when the stone strikes the image, the statue should still stand with only toes being destroyed. Yet the Bible clearly teaches that the Stone destroys the whole statue. The assumption above results in teaching that does not agree with the Bible.

If the Stone struck the statue at the second coming of Jesus, the Stone kingdom would be inhabited by demons for a 1000 years, and this monster would be called ‘eternal kingdom of God’! To me it does not make sense.

The Stone would have to remain dormant for a 1000 years, the resurrection would restore the majority of people who have ever belonged to the 4 kingdoms, the statue would have to collapse without any known reason and after standing without toes for a 1000 years, and only then the Stone could fill “the whole earth.”[1] Is it what the Bible teaches? My answer is ‘no.’

I will do a proper analysis of the book of Daniel and only then use it as a base for understanding of other prophecies. This concept is agreed on by Adventists, but is ignored in several cases, especially in relation to eschatology.

A better interpretation of Daniel 2

The stone struck the image at its feet and all 4 kingdoms that composed the statue were destroyed at the same time.[2] In addition, the sequence of the kingdoms being destroyed is described in the reverse order to their coming to power — iron, bronze, silver, gold. [3] It is clear that all 4 earthly kingdoms existed at the time of the stone striking the statue.

The destruction was complete, because not even a trace was left after the 4 earthly kingdoms.[4] The stone kingdom then encompassed the whole earth.[5] For Daniel, it could take place only when God would create new heavens and a new earth,[6] as prophesized by Jeremiah, about 100 years earlier.[7]

Daniel did not know anything about the first, second or third coming of Jesus to our planet, therefore the time of the beginning of the stone kingdom, which marks also the end of the 4 earthly kingdoms, I will call the New Earth. Most commentators call this time the second coming of Jesus, which is a great assumption and still should be proved (if anyone can). I will demonstrate that the assumption is false.

Where is the Millennium?

The concept of “a new heaven and a new earth” referred to by Isaiah,[8] Peter,[9] or John[10] is not associated with the Stone kingdom of Dn2,[11],[12] therefore I need to show that it is the same event.

The period of 1000 years (Millennium) begins with the first resurrection, the resurrection of the righteous, and ends with the resurrection of the unrighteous.[13] The number of the unrighteous will be many times higher than the current population of the earth, because it will consist of all people who have ever lived on our planet in 6,000 years of history. This will be the first and the last time when all people of all 4 kingdoms will exist together,[14] and this is the only time that fulfils all conditions described by Daniel:

1. All 4 kingdoms exist together (at the second coming of Jesus only remains of the 4 kingdoms exist).
2. All 4 kingdoms are completely destroyed and no evidence of their existence is left (all evidence of their existence is visible throughout the Millennium).
3. The Stone establishes the fifth kingdom on earth when the first heaven and the first earth passes away, and God creates a new heaven and a new earth (cannot be established when the earth is exclusively occupied by Lucifer and presumably all demons.[15]

Please note that the second coming of Christ is not mentioned in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, because the dream is not concerned with God’s people or them being taken to “the Father’s house,”[16] or the unrighteous being destroyed at the beginning of the Millennium. It is concerned only with all 4 kingdoms being completely destroyed by the Stone, all the evidence of their existence being removed, and establishing of an eternal kingdom on the entire earth in place of all 4 kingdoms.

This is a better interpretation of Dn2 and it is ready to become “the foundation upon which all other prophecies in Daniel are built.”[17] The results will of course be different to the traditional understanding, but they will better reflect the truths revealed to us in the Bible.

For those who would like to view all graphs in details, please open this file.

[1]      But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dn2:35nasb

[2]      Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dn2:35nasb

[3]      Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dn2:35nasb

[4]      Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. Dn2:35nasb

[5]      But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dn2:35nasb

[6]      For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Is65:17nasb

[7]      Isaiah prophesized in the years 740–701bc.

[8]      For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Is65:17nasb

[9]      But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2P3:13nasb

[10]     Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. Rv21:1nasb

[11]     In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Dn2:44nasb

[12]     Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dn2:35nasb

[13]     and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Rv20:4–5nasb

[14]     And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne . . . And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Rv20:12–13nasb

[15]     And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Rv20:2–3nasb

[16]     In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. Jn14:2nasb

[17]     Pamphlet 4, page 1, Prophecy Seminar, Copyright 1989 and 1994 by Seminars Unlimited.