Page 87 - Daniel

empires, and the time element that is provided. In general, expositors
may be divided into premillennial and amillennial positions.

According to amillenarians and some premillenarians, the kingdom of
God in Daniel 2 was introduced by Christ at His first coming. However,
this view presupposes the destruction of the image by the church in
succeeding centuries. Despite this problem, its adherents confidently
suppose it is supported by history. Leupold, for instance, while

conceding that there were many factors in the destruction of Rome,
states, “All students of history are ready to grant that the Christian
Church was able to salvage out of the wreckage of the Roman Empire all
elements that were worth conserving. But it is just as true that the
Christian Church broke the power of pagan Rome. The disintegrating
and corrupt empire crumbled through decay from within as well as
through the impact of the sound morals and the healthy life of

Christianity that condemned lascivious Rome…. Christianity was in a
sense God’s judgment upon sinful Rome.” 35

The principal difficulty is that as a matter of fact Christianity was not
the decisive force that broke the Roman Empire. The main reason was its
internal decay and the political conditions that surrounded it. Further,
Rome’s decay extended for more than a thousand years after the first
advent of Christ. In other words, the time factor was greater than the
period from Nebuchadnezzar to Christ. To have such a long period of
time described in the symbolism of a stone striking the feet of the image

and the chaff being swept away by wind simply does not correspond to
the facts of history. In view of the very accurate portrayal of preceding
history by the image, it is a reasonable and natural conclusion that the
feet stage of the image, including destruction by the stone, is still future
and unfulfilled. There is certainly no evidence, two millennia after
Christ, that the kingdom of God has conquered the entire world.

In addition, there is no scriptural evidence whatever that Christ’s first
coming caused the downfall of Gentile world power, which is still very
much with us today. Indeed, express prophecies relating to Christ’s

second advent picture just such a devastating defeat of Gentile power.
Revelation 19:11–21, which all agree is a picture of the second coming,
is expressly the time when Christ assumes command as King of kings and
Lord of lords. It is declared that at that time Christ will “strike down the