Scriptures and Footnotes...

Daniel 2:36-40,44

"This was the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king. You, O king[1], are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. And after you there will arise another kingdom[2] inferior to you, then another third kingdom[3] of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom[4] as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in the days of those kings[5] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom[6] 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."

_______________________________

[1] King Nebuchadnezzar. The kingdom of Babylon was a world ruling empire for 70 years; and as Daniel points out, this kingdom was given to Nebuchadnezzar by the Lord Himself.

[2] It was the Medes and the Persians who succeeded the reign of Babylon. Their reign lasted about 200 years.

[3] Through Alexander the Great's conquest of the world, Greece became the new world-ruling empire.

[4] The fourth kingdom that Daniel speaks of is Rome, which ruled in an undivided state for about 500 years.

[5] The "days of those kings" is referring to the Roman period.

[6] It would be during the Roman period that God's kingdom would be established on earth. As we see in the Gospel, Jesus and John the baptist both lived during this period and taught that the "kingdom was at hand" (Matt. 4:17; Matt. 3:2). It was so near that it was to come during the lifetime of some of those whom Jesus addressed while on earth (Mark 9:1); and as we saw in yesterday's Scriptures and Footnotes, it is in that kingdom where Christians have been transferred (Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:9); and the kingdom is what they compose (Rev. 1:6), for it is synonymous with the church. Acts 2 shows us the actual beginning of the church (or the kingdom).