And that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
The Image Destroyed
Looking at the image as a whole, notice:
I. ITS UNITY. Four successive empires were not represented by four colossal images, but by one. The figure stood entire to the end, the brightness excellent, the form terrible. The image was the symbol of human power in its highest manifestation, an imperial despotism all but commensurate with the inhabited world. The dynasties, differing in form, were, nevertheless, one and the same in spirit and genius--particularly in alienation from the life of God--and, therefore, in hostiliy to His Kingdom. This need not have been the case. Civil government may be a reflection of the Divine government. It may be rooted in Divine principles. It may be administered in the fear of God.
II. ITS MAJESTY. Just as there may be a certain majesty in mere intellect, apart from its consecration, so may there be in an empire over men, notwithstanding its prostitution to sinful ends. Man was made in the image of God. The dominion of man over nature, over other men, is a shadow of Divine dominion. Of this dominion the image of a human form was a fit symbol; but the image was not of a mere man, but man in colossal majesty. No particular form of government can claim to exist as exclusively of Divine right; but government of some kind, government in the abstract, magistracy of some order, is undoubtedly Divine.
III. ITS WEAKNESS. There is grandeur in this image of worldly power; but the colossus of metal stands on weak feet of clay. It may have been God’s intention that we should note this--how all things human deteriorate unless redeemed from corruption by the saving power of religion. This is as true of government in general, and of particular dynasties and races of kings, as of anything else whatever. Then we may expect Divine intervention to save society by the quickening and regeneration of its members. The process of deterioration is not inevitable. (H. T.Robjohns, B. A.)
The Spiritual Kingdom
As in the symbolical language of the prophetical writers, we have an earthquake for a revolution, a mountain for a kingdom, a star for a prince, a forest for a great city, the treading of the wine-press for desolation and slaughter, and a censer with incense for the offering of prayer; so, in our text, we have the four great empires of the world, like the four ages of the poets of ancient Greece and Rome, represented by the precious and useful metals--gold, silver, brass, and iron; while the enduring empire of the Messiah is expressed by the mountain-stone--that stone which the builders of worldly empires, and of worldly policy, despise. The empire of the Messiah differs from all the others in its nature, origin, extent, and duration. Its spiritual nature our Lord himself signifies, when He says that “His Kingdom is not of this world.” This empire “shall never be destroyed.” Corruption, it is true, in the west, and delusion in the east, have marred both the beauty and extent of the present visible kingdom of the Messiah. But notwithstanding these, we must not falsely estimate either the extent or purity of the Kingdom of Christ. Wherever, therefore, our varied lot of life may be placed by the disposal of providence, whether under our native skies, or in lands the most distant from our own; let us all so live as it becomes the subjects of that empire which shall survive in glory when all earthly empires shall have passed away. (T. Aitken, M.D.)
Reserve Power of Christianity yet to be Manifested
All the oxygen breathed into our lungs is not at once expended again. By the complex processes of our human system, no remotest corner of the body but is supplied with this element of the air against such uses as may require it throughout a future more or less extended. Vigour of body, vigour of mind, vigour of soul, are but other expressions to denote the sum of energies which are in reserve in the respective realms of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. Christianity’s power, even at present, it is not possible to estimate, and never will be known unless we can know the reserve of soul which God’s heavenly grace has stored in His children’s hearts. In the final conflict between good and evil, this reserve will doubtless be called upon. Thus, against that day, let us preserve and reserve His grace. (Quiver.)
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