Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. This is study #9 of Daniel, chapter 2, and we are going to read Daniel 2:31-45:

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out 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 threshingfloors; 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. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we saw that the image King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed was of the New Testament churches and congregations. It says in Revelation 13:14-15:

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

These three things identify with the New Testament corporate church. It had “life.” The church is a living organism made up of people that are physically alive. The church also has the ability to “speak,” as every Sunday the pastor steps into the pulpit to speak to the congregation. And the church also had the ability to “kill,” spiritually, as we read in John 16. When someone is driven out of the congregations, it is as though they are killed. All these things identified with the corporate church. Remember what it said in Daniel 2:38:

… Thou art this head of gold.

Satan ruled the churches during the Great Tribulation. The “head” is the leader. In Judges, chapter 11, when they wanted Jephthah to go before them in battle, it said in Judges 11:8-11:

And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and JEHOVAH deliver them before me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, JEHOVAH be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before JEHOVAH in Mizpeh.

There are other verses that are similar. For instance, we read in 1Samuel that the king is the “head.” The head is the ruler and that is why Christ Jesus was the head of the corporate church. He was the ruler there as long as the Spirit of Christ was in the midst of the congregations. Jesus is also head of the eternal church, the head of all those that truly saved, the body of Christ. The eternal church can never lose its “head,” but the corporate church can lose its “head.” And when the church age ended at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the Holy Spirit came out of the midst of the congregations and the churches lost their “head” or “ruler.”

Regarding John the Baptist, we read in Mark 6:28-29:

And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

The Greek word translated as “corpse” is the Greek word “pto-moh” It is a word that identifies with a “headless body.” John’s head was separated from his body and it was given to the damsel who, in turn, gave it to her mother. The disciples of John came and took up the rest of John’s body, the corpse, which is called “pto-moh.”

This Greek word “pto-mah” is used only five times in the New Testament. It is used in Matthew 24:28: “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” It is also used three times in Revelation 11:7-8:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

There times the word translated as “bodies” is use in regard to the “two witnesses” that are lying dead in the streets. Their “bodies” is the “pto-mah.” It is a “headless corpse” because it refers to the condition of the churches once the Spirit of Christ had departed out and they, therefore, no longer had a “head.” The churches and congregations of the world became “headless” and that is why they are dead, spiritually. They have no head. And, yet, it was the beast of Revelation 13 that overcame them. He had an image made to him. It is the beast that is really in view in Daniel, chapter 2 in regard to Nebuchadnezzar and his dream: “and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.” The corporate church was remade into the image of Satan who is the beast and he became the “head” because he ruled. We do know the Bible tells us that Satan, the man of sin, took his seat in the temple shewing himself that he was God. To “sit” in the Bible points to ruling, like a king. He was ruling and, therefore, he became their “head,” so the head was Satan and the body was the professed Christians in the churches and congregations.

In Daniel 2 we read of the description of the rest of the image of the beast, as it says in Daniel 2:32:

This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

Five elements are mentioned: gold, silver, brass iron and clay. All these elements come from the ground and, therefore, they are earthly or fleshly; it points to the natural-minded people that are the professed Christians that populate the world’s churches. They are this “image” that is made to the beast.

Let us look at some of the other elements listed here. We read of “iron” in Job 28:1-2:

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.

Here, the “iron” is “out of the earth” and so is the “brass.” It comes from stone and stone is part of the earth. It indicates that someone is of the earth or the “natural man” that is of this world. Remember what Christ said of those He has saved? He said in John 15:19: “But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” We are not of this world any longer because God has saved us.

Speaking of His people Israel, which pointed to the members of the apostate churches, it also says in Jeremiah 6:28-30:

They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because JEHOVAH hath rejected them.

Historically, we find that God is referring to His rebellious people in Israel, but it points to the apostate New Testament church, and He called them “brass and iron” and “reprobate silver,” three of the items we found listed in Daniel 2, verse 32, as part of the image of the beast.

Of course, in regard to the “clay,” man was made of the dust of the ground. God is the “potter” and man is the “clay.” The latter is an Aramaic word for “clay,” but it is the same idea. It is mankind, the clay that comes from the ground. And, here in Jeremiah, chapter 6, the Lord likens the unsaved that profess His name to the natural elements that come forth out the earth.

Let us just go to one other place, in Ezekiel 22:18-22:

Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I JEHOVAH have poured out my fury upon you.

Here, again, we see some of the same elements listed in the dream, but it is used of people that God will gather in the midst of Jerusalem. The Jews or professed people of God will come under the wrath of God and be “melted,” a figure the Lord uses to emphasize His wrath.

Let us go back to Daniel, chapter 2. It goes on to say in Daniel 2:34:

Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

This is interesting that in the king’s dream he saw this stone that was cut out, but “without hands.” It would have been cut out of the mountain side or from an enormous rock and, yet, it was cut out without hands. Then this stone “smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.” We are helped in our understanding because God tells us at the end of verse 35: “and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Then God goes on to explain this in verse 44 and it is as if Christ is speaking a parable and then He explains the parable, just as He does in the Gospel accounts. So since God provides the explanation, there is no point in not reading it, as it is explained in Daniel 2:44-45:

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter…

Here, we see some validation and confirmation concerning the spiritual type and figure we have seen before in the Bible: mountains point to kingdoms. The “stone” became a great mountain and the interpretation is that the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will consume all the other kingdoms. Then verse 45 tells us that the “stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,” and that stone became a mountain that represents the kingdom of God. We have that interpretation. The language of being “cut out of the mountain without hands” is very significant. Let us go to Mark 14:57-58:

And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

Even though these men are false witnesses, they are saying something the Bible does say. For example, in order to understand what God means when He says that something is built “without hands,” we know that a temple made “with hands” would indicate that it is the work of man because man uses his hands to fashion and form something; he builds with his hands. It is his “work.” But the temple of God (the spiritual temple) that is made up of all those He has saved is a temple built “without hands” or without the work of man. It is a temple that God built. Christ is the architect and builder of this spiritual building and it is said to be made “without hands.”

Let us go to Colossians 2:11:

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands…

This is a synonymous picture. In the Old Testament God commanded that His people to be circumcised, so the act of circumcision was instituted and faithful Jews were to circumcise their sons and it was done “with hands.” It was a physical act that was a “work.” God commanded it and men responded with the circumcision by man’s own hands. However, God spoke in Deuteronomy of the “circumcision” of the heart, which a man cannot physically do or he would die. It was language that pointed to the point at which a person receives a new born-again soul in salvation and only God can perform that circumcision of the heart as He grants the sinner his new resurrected soul. It is the “circumcision made without hands.”

It is the same thing as building the temple. You can build a temple with hands, as they did Solomon’s temple. Yes, I know they cut the stones away from the temple site, but it was still men that worked with their hands in doing that, but then they did bring the stones to the temple and place them in place, so no hammer or chisel would be heard there. This pointed to the fact that no work was to be performed on the spiritual temple God was building and, yet, it was a temple made with hands. The outward physical type was something that was made “with hands,” but it points to the spiritual fact that God’s salvation is performed “without hands.” No man is justified by works, as Galatians 2, verse 16 tells us, so it is not by our hands, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. The spiritual house of God is made “without hands,” whose house are we. That is the house Christ is set over and that house is not constructed through the works of man and that means that no one can do the least bit of work in salvation, like “I accept Christ,” or “I believe,” and so forth. God will not permit that.

Another verse that helps us is 2Corinthians 5:1:

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle…

What is our “earthly house”? Is it our physical body? In one sense, that could be true, but remember what God says in 1Peter 4:17:

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God…

This is a reference to the judgment that began on the churches at the end of the church age and at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. God called the corporate church the “house of God.” It is an earthly house, as Galatians, chapter 4 tells us that there are “two Jerusalems.” There is “Jerusalem which is above” that points to the heavenly house, the eternal church and there is “Jerusalem which is now,” which points to the Jerusalem of this earth, the corporate church. They are the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics and all the other denominations that have buildings on the street corners of the earth; that is, they are “Jerusalem which is now” or “Jerusalem below” that is the earthly house.

In 2Corinthians, chapter 5 God is going to go on to make an important statement concerning these two churches. Again, it says in 2Corthinthians 5:1:

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

We can know without any question that this statement refers to the “two Jerusalems” or “two churches,” the earthly and the eternal church. The eternal church is comprised of the elect and it is the house “not made with hands.” With the earthly church, the implication is that it is “made with hands.” It points to man’s works.

Why are the corporate churches comprised of almost two billion professed Christians? How did they get filled with so many unsaved people? It is because the churches developed works gospels in church, after church, after church. They are saying to people, “Here are the works of your hands that you can perform that will save you and bring you into the kingdom of God.” They are things like accepting Christ, becoming water baptized, maintaining membership in good standing or partaking of the Lord’s Table. In the evangelical churches, you have to “believe.” Even if they pay lip service to election, they claim it works itself out in your (work of) believing. But all of these things are the works of man’s hands and it is what now forms the “earthly house,” the “house of tares.” It is a house of professed Christians that have all come together, but at the same time they were forming the image of the beast during the time of the Great Tribulation and they have made their own house – it is a house made by man. That is why it is called an “earthly house of this tabernacle.” Again, it says in 2Corinthians 5:1:

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved…

The Greek word translated as “dissolved” is Strong’s #2647. It is the same word that we read back in Mark, chapter 14, when we read about the false witnesses that stood up. It says in Mark 14:58:

We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

The word “destroy” is the same word that was translated as “dissolved.”

It is also the same word that is found in Matthew 24:1-2:

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

The two English words translated as “thrown down” are a translation of the word translated as “dissolved” in 2Corinthians 5, verse 1. So we have properly understood Matthew 24, verse 2 to indicate that when God would end the church age, He would completely destroy the corporate church, meaning there would not be “one stone upon another.” The church age is over. There is no question about this in the Bible. It is an absolute declaration from God to His people. There was a church age, but the church age is now over and it will never come back again. Therefore, God’s people avoid the churches “like the plague.” We want nothing to do with them. It is the last place the child of God would ever want to be. A child of God would not go there to worship. If anyone goes to church, who do they go to worship? They are certainly not going there to worship God because God’s Spirit has left and the churches were remade in the image of the beast. And even though Satan has been deposed and put down from all rule, the churches remain in his image, which is comprised of lies and deceitful teaching. Therefore, the true believer will never enter again into the churches and that is what God is saying when He says, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” It is “dissolved.”

It is also the same Greek word found in Luke 21:5-6:

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

We have this same word in 2Corinthians, chapter 5. It is the word translated as “dissolved” and it is used three times in relationship to the temple. In Mark 14, verse 58, it is translated as “destroy” and in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 it is translated as “thrown down,” but in each case it involves the destruction and judgment upon the corporate churches. So the verse becomes very clear, if we make this substation: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were thrown down, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Do you see what God is saying? He is talking to the elect and telling them that the earthly house or the corporate body is not the true church. We belong to another “city” or another “heavenly body” that is eternal in nature. We belong to the eternal church.

This understanding is what set apart the child of God from the professed Christian at the time the Lord made known that the church age was over and His people were to depart out. For the natural-minded people, they only had membership in the earthly Jerusalem and they really knew nothing about the heavenly Jerusalem because they have no membership there, so the earthly association with the corporate church was everything to them – it was as though you were asking them to “lose their salvation” by coming out of the churches. That was the fear that the leaders of the churches pressed upon the people and they truly feared it, just as the Israelites of old feared being put out of the synagogue – that was their only identification with the kingdom of God.

On the other hand, God’s elect belong to the house “made without hands.” It is not their own work (of salvation), but it was through the building of God. God saved them. God translated them from darkness into the kingdom of light and made them part of the Jerusalem above and, therefore, they were able to be willing to obey God and whatever He commanded. We may have lost our earthly house and we no longer have an earthly house, but it was “nice while it lasted.” For 1,955 years it was a blessing to have a place where the child of God could go and where the Bible was lifted up, but if our earthly house of this tabernacle was thrown down (and it has been), we still have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is our security – we are not insecure concerning membership in an earthly church. They can call us “heretics,” or whatever they want to call us, but it does not bother us in the slightest because it was only an earthy house. They are expressing man’s judgment and those things are like “water off a duck’s back” to a child of God. It does not disturb us in the least.

Let us go back to Daniel 2:34:

Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands…

The stone became a great mountain, the kingdom of God. The word “stone” (singular) leads us to think it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and, of course, He is the essence of the kingdom of God. He is the power and the glory. He is everything to the kingdom of God and the believers are only a part of the kingdom because of what Christ has done for us. It is His work of faith that saved us. Christ is in view, but so are the believers. We must remember that Christ is the Promised Seed, but we are also Abraham’s seed in Him, so we can see the close relationship we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the stone that became a great mountain or great kingdom, but we are the kingdom and we become part of that “stone.” For instance, remember what Jesus said to Peter in John 1:42:

And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

Believers are likened to stones.

It also says in 1Peter 2:4-5:

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Christ is a living stone. Likewise, we are living stones. Here, the stone in the first instance refers to Jesus, but it is also the body of Christ, the body of believers. It is that stone that is cut out without hands. We become the house of God, the house not made with hands. It is synonymous with the kingdom of God.

We are this stone and notice that it says, in Daniel 2:34:

… which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

We have already learned that the image is Satan. Satan is the “head” and the rest of the image is the corporate church, that earthly house that God threw down. And, yet, it physically remains. The physical body of the corporate church is still around because it was a spiritual judgment that came upon them, but they are still present on our street corners. The churches form the “image of the beast” and the stones made without hands “smote the image upon his feet.”

Does the corporate church have anything to do with “feet”? Yes, they do, because when the churches were being used of God to carry forth the Gospel, the Bible tells us that those that go forth with the Gospel are likened to the feet of Christ: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” When the stone (Christ and His people) smote the image upon his feet and broke the iron and clay to pieces, what picture is being portrayed? We know that during the approximately last ten years of the Great Tribulation, God brought forth the information that the church age had come to an end and the Spirit of God had departed out of the midst of the churches of the world and, therefore, there was no more salvation taking place in the churches.

The churches were extremely mad to hear this and they did not like being told that Satan, the man of sin, was ruling in their congregations because God’s Spirit had left them. They had no salvation going forward, but if they did not come out of the churches it was an indicator that they were not truly saved. God was urgently commanding His people to come out and flee to the mountains and depart out of the midst of Judaea and, yet, the professed Christians refused to obey, indicating that they were unsaved and tares. The ministry or “feet” of the churches was impacted as God’s people began to share this information worldwide; it was not “done in a corner.” It was broadcast over the electronic medium, day after day for many years. The church age was over. There is no salvation and no blessing of God in the churches any longer and it was time to get out of all churches, no matter what church it was. We have passed the point of arguing: “This does not apply to my denomination,” or “Your denomination is apostate.” It no longer matters because God’s Spirit left them all and the true believers departed out. This destroyed the outreach of the world’s churches insofar as their ability to deceive God’s elect and their evangelism was destroyed. It was completely destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ and His people.

It was Christ, the Word, who opened up these things to the understanding of His people and the people declared it. Thus, the “stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.” The stone smote him first upon his feet that were of “iron and clay.” They were not of God. They were professed Christians only that had taken upon themselves the name of Christ. God had not bestowed that name upon them through salvation, so they became part of the “image of the beast” that was broken in pieces. It says in Genesis 6:35:

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 threshingfloors; 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.

This moves progressively into the Day of Judgment, but let us just look at this “stone cut out without hands” that first destroyed the feet of the beast and then the whole image. Go to Isaiah 41, where God is speaking to Jacob, His elect. It says in Isaiah 41:14-16:

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith JEHOVAH, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in JEHOVAH, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Remember that a “mountain” can represent a kingdom. The word translated as “beat small” is a translation of the word translated as “broke in pieces.” The Aramaic is used in Daniel, but it is very close to the Hebrew. It is Strong’s #1855 and #1854, so it is, for all intents and purposes, the same word. We can see the similarities in this passage to what we are reading in Daniel 2, verses 34 and 35. There is the “threshing” and the “breaking in pieces” and the wind carrying them away as chaff, and so forth. So, we have evidence that it is God’s elect (the stone made without hands) that is involved in this process.

Speaking of the elect, it also says in Micah 4:10-13:

Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there JEHOVAH shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of JEHOVAH, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto JEHOVAH, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.

Going forth out of the city is akin to departing out of the churches and going into Babylon is a picture of going out into the world. The daughter of Zion is God’s elect that went into Babylon and God saved all His elect in the world and then He used His people as threshing instruments to “beat in pieces” the inhabitants of the earth. The inhabitants of the earth are the unsaved in Satan’s kingdom as he ruled over the corporate church and the nations (Babylon). So we see in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation that God is letting it be known that the beast will have an end and God’s kingdom will reign supreme.