The prophecy concerning human government in Daniel shows that the ruling of the heavens by the God of the heavens (2:37, 44) over all human government on earth matches God’s eternal economy for Christ to terminate the old creation for the germination of the new creation and to smash and crush the aggregate of human government and establish the eternal kingdom of God.
Human government began in Genesis 10 with Nimrod, who built Babel, a prefigure of Babylon (vv. 8-10). Human government will conclude with the coming Antichrist, who will be the last Caesar of the Roman Empire. All human government from Nimrod to Antichrist has been and will continue to be under the ruling of the heavens by the God of the heavens.
In God’s economy Christ terminated the old creation for the germination of the new creation in His resurrection through His death. This was achieved in His first coming. In God’s economy Christ, in His second coming, will also smash and crush the aggregate of human government and will establish the eternal kingdom of God.
The entire world situation is under the rule of the heavens by the God of the heavens in order to match His economy for Christ. The world situation has been brought into a condition that is ready for Christ’s return. He is at the door; the time is near. This situation should cause us to wake up and realize that the world is not for us. We are for Christ, and every day we must prepare ourselves to meet Him. Then we will receive a reward from Him.
Daniel is a special book in that more than half of its prophecies concern the Gentiles. Through this book, we can fully understand how the history of human government under the Gentiles is closely related to God’s economy and the history of God’s people. Daniel 2 concerns the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. Chapter 7 concerns the vision about the four beasts out of the Mediterranean Sea. Chapter 8 concerns the conflict between the ram and the male goat. Chapter 11 concerns the king of the south and the king of the north. The great human image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream signifies the aggregate of human government throughout human history. The head of gold signifies Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar; the breast and the arms of silver signify Medo-Persia; the abdomen and thighs of bronze signify Greece, including Macedonia; and the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay signify the Roman Empire with its last ten kings. This great human image will be crushed by a stone cut out without hands. The stone that strikes the image will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. Daniel also saw four beasts. These four beasts correspond to the four parts of the great image. Daniel also saw the vision of a ram and a male goat with its successors. The ram signifies Medo-Persia, and the male goat signifies Greece and Alexander the Great. The male goat broke the two horns of the ram, threw him to the ground, and trampled him. However, once the male goat became strong, the great horn was broken. In the place of the great horn, four conspicuous ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of the four horns came forth a little horn. This little horn signifies Antiochus Epiphanes from Syria, and also refers to the coming Antichrist. Antiochus Epiphanes grew great and high as the host of heaven, he caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and he trampled them. Eventually, however, he was broken, yet not by human hands. The prophecies in Daniel concerning human government show that the ruling of the heavens by the God of the heavens over all human government on earth matches God’s eternal economy for Christ to terminate the old creation for the germination of the new creation and to smash and crush the aggregate of human government and establish the eternal kingdom of God.