Did you know that the “Roman identity” of the New Testament
Church was foretold in the Old Testament? If we understand the Jewish prophets,
we will see that the Church of Jesus Christ would necessarily be “Roman.”
It relates to a vision found in the second chapter of
Daniel. This chapter describes a dream of Nebuchadnezzar about an enormous
statue composed of four different materials. First, the head was of gold.
Second, the chest and arms were of silver. Third, the belly and thighs were of
bronze. Fourth, the legs and feet were of iron and clay. According to the
vision, a stone will be hewn from a mountain without human hands and cast into
the statue. This small rock smashes against the statue’s iron and clay feet,
which causes the entire statue to crumble. Then the small rock becomes a great
mountain and fills the entire earth.
Daniel interpreted the dream in the following way. First,
the golden head was Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Empire. Next, an inferior
kingdom would then follow the Babylonian Empire, as silver is inferior to gold.
Then, a third kingdom would arise inferior to the second kingdom, as bronze is
inferior to silver. Lastly a fourth kingdom would arise that was different than
the previous three. As for the small uncut rock cast down from Heaven, Daniel
explains:
And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty
be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and
bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever; just as you saw that
a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in
pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God
has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and
its interpretation sure (Dan 2:44-45).
The stone from Heaven in the days of the Fourth Kingdom
signifies that “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be
destroyed.”
Looking in back in time, we understand the prophecy as corresponding
to the following historical chronology when heathen kingdoms ruled over the
Jews:
- Babylonian Empire (ca. 587-539 B.C.)
- Medo-Persian Empire (ca. 539-331 B.C.)
- Greek Empire (ca. 331-168 B.C.)
- Roman Empire (ca. 63 B.C.-A.D. 70)
It was in fact in the days of the Fourth Kingdom, the Roman
Empire that God established His Messianic Kingdom:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be enrolled…And Joseph also went up from Galilee,
from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called
Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled
with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the
time came for her to be delivered (Lk 2:1-6).
It is also common knowledge that Christ was crucified under
Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. From a historical point of view we
see that the Rock of Ages came crashing into the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of
Christ began precisely when Daniel predicted—during the era of the Fourth
Kingdom, the Kingdom of Rome.
It is important to note here that the Four Kingdoms of the
Gentiles also began to anticipate a Messiah in their own way. Ezekiel and
Daniel called King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon “the King of Kings” (Ezek 26:7;
Daniel 2:37), a title given subsequently to Jesus Christ. Isaiah called King
Cyrus of Persia “the Messiah” (Isaiah 45:1), a surprising use of the term for a
Gentile king! Alexander the Great of Greece united the Mediterranean world, had
himself proclaimed the “Son of God,” and died at the age of thirty-three. The
Greco-Syrian ruler Antiochus IV later ruled the Promised Land, desecrated the
Temple, and in turn became a type of the False Messiah or Antichrist. But it
was Rome that was the final “kingdom” and it was inherited by Christ and His
saints.
As we see in Daniel 2, “[Rome's] sovereignty shall be left
to another people” and it would happen through the introduction of a stone or
rock – a Petros or Peter!
God Bless
Nathan
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