t without
hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay,
and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the
chaff of the summer threshing-floor; and the wind carried them away,
that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image
became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2:34-35).

This being a Divinely interpreted prophecy as to the extent and ending
of the present Gentile age, it should be noted that the Stone (Christ)
strikes the image (the world power) with one destructive blow, and at
the time when it has become fully developed. The blow is struck on the
part of the image which is last formed. The great image is thus
instantly and violently broken to pieces and is even blown away "like
the chaff of the summer threshing-floor." In like manner, according to
this prophecy, the whole Gentile rule will suddenly be broken and will
vanish.

It should also be noted from these symbols that the Stone does not
"become a mountain and fill the whole earth" until the great image has
been scattered to dust. From this it is certain that there can be no
development of the Kingdom of Christ on the earth before the final
breaking of the kingdoms of the earth. This same order is recognized
throughout all prophecy. The king suddenly returns as lightning shining
from one part of heaven to the other; Satan is violently seized and cast
into prison; and a nation is born at once. The second Psalm connects the
kingly reign of Christ--the time when He is set upon the holy hill of
Zion--with the time when He shall claim the nations of the earth and
"break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces as a potter's
vessel." Also in Matt. 25:31, "when He sits on the throne of His glory"
the "blessed of the Father" are called to enter the kingdom prepared for
them from the foundation of the world. And in Rev. 12:7-12, where Satan
is cast out into the earth and the execution of his sentence is begun,
the announcement is made by a great voice in heaven, "Now is come
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of
His Christ." There is no evidence of a gradual process here; all is
sudden and decisive.

Again, this age is not the coming earthly kingdom for nowhere are the
promised conditions of that kingdom now to be found. The Old Testament
prophecies contain long and detailed des