Dan 2:31-35 "You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
We know from the verses which follow that this refers to the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and revived Rome, but I would like to look at this from a different and personal perspective. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). So how can we apply this personally?
First is the head of gold, our own bright ideas and plans for our lives. Our own creativity and mental capabilities. We all want to control our own destiny, but it is not in man to direct his way (he can choose a path, but the path takes him where it goes). God wants to destroy our plans and establish His far better ones in their place. Our thoughts are not His thoughts, and He desires us to surrender our thoughts to Him.
Second is the breast of silver, which compares to our affections (after all, the heart is there). Are our affections on the things of this world? If we love this world the Love of the Father is not in us. Our affections should be set on those things above, where Christ is.
Third is the middle and thighs of bronze, this speaks of motives (Hebrews viewed the kidneys as the source of motive, see Psalm 7:9). What are our motives for what we do? Even good deeds are evil if they proceed from corrupt motives. We should not seek the praise of man but of God. God desires to revolutionize our motives for the deeds we do.
The legs of iron could refer to our own stubborn way of doing things - an inflexibility and insistence on our own methods and traditions. God wants us to be willing to yield to His leading even when it contradicts our cherished traditions (but not His Word).
The feet of iron mixed with clay - these are our inconsistencies and good but short lived intentions. We try to serve God in our own strength and we fail. When God's Kingdom comes it destroys all confidence in our own ability and leaves us wholly dependent on Him (Phil. 3:3).
Christ personally comes to each of us and as we allow Him to work like the stone in the vision, He will demolish these Kingdoms in our life and establish His own in us. These things are blown away like chaff, because they have no real substance. His Kingdom will endure forever. It has substance, and when it fills us and replaces these other Kingdoms we too will have an enduring substance. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.(Psalm 125:1). Praise God!
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