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supernatural STONE carne from
heaven, smashing the statue on its .
feet. Then the whole of the statue
broke into small pieces, and was
actually blown away by the wind–
it disappeared! Then this STONE ex–
panded miraculously and quickly
became a great MOUNTAIN- SO
great it filled the whole earth!
What did it mean?
Did
it have
meaning? Yes, because this was
God's doing. Unlike ordinary
dreams, this one was caused by
God to convey the message of
God's sovereignty to Nebuchad–
nezzar-and, because it is part of
"Thou," continued Daniel to this
human emperor, "art this head of
gold. And after thee shall arise an–
other KINGDOM inferior to thee,
and another third KINGDOM of
brass, which shall bear rule over all
the earth" (verses 37-39).
What IS a Klngdom?
Notice! This is speaking of KING–
DOMS. lt is referring to kingdoms
that bear rule over the peop/e on
earth.
lt is. speaking of GOVERN–
MENTS!
lt
is not speaking of ethe–
real sentiments "set up in the
hearts of men."
lt
is not speaking
t seems that today all
·
churches have lost the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
They preach primarily their
gospel about Jesus Christ.
of churches.
It
is speak–
ing of the kind of GOV–
ERN MENTS that bear
RULE and AUTHORITY
over nations of PEOPLE
here on earth. lt is literal.
It
is specific. There is no
misunderstanding, here,
as to what is meant by
the word
kingdom.
There is no misunder–
standing the interpreta–
tion. Goo gives his own
the written Word of God, to us
today-to reveal important facts of
the TRUE GOSPEL!
"This is the dream," said Daniel
(verse 36), "and we will tell the
interpretation thereof before the
king."
This, then, is Goo's interpreta–
tion. lt is decidedly
not
Herbert
W. Armstrong's interpretation.
Men ought never to
interpret
the
Bible. The Bible gives us Goo's
OWN INTERPRETATION! Here it is:
"Thou, O king, art a king of
kings"-he was the first real
WORLD RULER over a world empire!
" . . . for the God of heaven hath
given thee a kingdom, power, and
strength, and glory." God was re–
vealing himself to this human
world-dictator as the MOST HIGH
Ru/er over al/.
People today, like this Chaldean
king, seem not to think of God as
a RULER- as the Supreme One
who GOVERNS- as the Head of
GOVERNMENT. The Eternal was re–
vealing himself through Daniel to
Nebuchadnezzar-and through the
Bible
to you and to me
TODAY-as
a SOVEREIGN, ALL-POWERFUL,
GOVERNING
Goo who
is to be
obeyed!
September
1986
interpretation through
the prophet Daniel. The great
metallic image represented national
and international GOVERNMENTS–
real, literal KINGDOMS.
It
represented a
succession
of
world-ruling governments. First
was the head of gold. That repre–
sented Nebuchadnezzar and his
kingdom- the Chaldean Empire.
After
him- later, in time se-·
quence-was to come a second,
then a third KINGDOM "which shall
bear RULE over all the earth"–
wor/d empire!
Then, verse 40, the legs of iron
represent
afourth
world empire. It
was to be
strong,
even as iron is
strong- stronger militarily than its
predecessors. Yet, as silver is less
valuable than gold, brass than sil–
ver, iron than brass, though each
metal was harder and stronger, the
succession would deteriorate
morally and spiritually. The two
legs meant the fourth empire
would be divided.
After the Chaldean Empire
carne the still larger Persian Em–
pire, then the Greco-Macedonian,
and fourth, the Roman Empire. lt
was divided, with capitals at Rome
and Constantinople.
Now- verse 44! Read it! Get
your Bible. See it with your own
eyes in your own Bible. Here, in
PLAIN LANGUAGE, is God's explana–
tion of what the KINGDOM OF Goo
IS:
..And in the days of these
kings . . ."-it is here speaking of
the ten toes, part of iron and part
of brittle clay. This, by connecting
the prophecy witb Daniel 7, and
Revelation 13 and 17, is referring
to the new UNITED STATES OF Eu–
ROPE that is
now forming,
out of
the European Common Market,
before your very eyes! Revelation
17:12 makes plain the detail that it
shall be a union of TEN KINGS OR
KINGDOMS that (Rev. 17:8) shall
resurrect the old ROMAN EMPIRE.
So, mark carefully the
time e/e–
ment!
..
In the days of these
kings"- in the days of these ten
nations or groups of nations that
shall,
IN OUR TIME,
resurrect
briefly the Roman Empire-notice
what shall happen:
" .. . sball the God of heaven set
up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed ... but it shall break in
pieces and consume all these king–
doms, and it shall stand for ever"!
Ves, In OUR TIME!
Now bere we have described FOUR
universal world empires-the
on/y
four that ever existed! Revelation
13 and 17 show that, after the fall
of the original Roman Empire,
there would be ten revivals–
SEVEN of which would be ruled
over by a gentile CHURCH- the
"daughter" of ancient BABYLON–
a church claiming to be Christian,
but actually named by God
"MYSTERY. BABYLON the great"–
or, more plainly , BABYLONIAN
MYSTERIES!
Six of those have come and gone.
The seventh is now forming-the
last, final,
brief
resurrection of the
Roman Empire by ten European
groups or nations. These are re–
vealed in Daniel 2 as the ten toes
of iron and clay mixed.
In their days- and they shall last
but a
very
short space, possibly no
more than two to three-and-a-half
years-shaJl the ÜOD OF HEAVEN
SET UP
A KINGDOM
that shall
never be destroyed.
This, then, shall be THE KING–
DOM OF Goo!
(Continued on page 21)
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