Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. Today is study #10 of Daniel, chapter 2, and we are going to read Daniel 2:31-35:

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.

I will stop reading there. This is the dream and following this, Daniel will tell the interpretation because God had shown him the dream and its interpretation. We have spoken about this in our last studies and we saw that the image’s head of gold is a picture of Satan, as Daniel said, “It is thou, O king.” The king of Babylon is a type and picture of Satan and the body of the image relates to the corporate church, as we found in Revelation, chapter 13 that the image had “life” and it could speak and it had the power to kill. All those things apply to the corporate church. It has “life” in that it is made up of people and its pastor can “speak” and it has the power to drive people out of the congregation, which spiritually equates to “killing” them.

The image of the beast came together and was built during the Great Tribulation period when God loosed Satan and Satan entered into the corporate church and took his seat as the “man of sin,” ruling the congregations of the world. The word “head” identifies in the Bible with having rule; that is why Christ is called the head of the church because He is the ruler of the (true) church. Satan was head of the corporate church he had conquered and the churches became part of Babylon.

We read that it said, “a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet.” We saw that the Lord Jesus Christ is the stone and the body of believers are also stones that grow into a great kingdom. This is what we want to look at today, beginning with Daniel 2:35:

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.

We are going to take a closer look at some of the statements made in verse 35. We have already looked at the “iron, the cay, the brass, the silver, and the gold,” all elements that come out of the ground and identify with the earth; they point to the natural-minded, unsaved people that are controlled by Satan; he is their head or ruler. Satan rules over the wicked people of the world. All people have sinned, but God saved a small remnant of the whole and left the rest in their unsaved condition and they would identify with these elements as Satan came to rule over the corporate church and the world during that little season of the Great Tribulation, but it is especially related to the corporate church. It goes on to say, in Daniel 2:35:

…and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away…

The image is intact at this point and it is in place for an unspecified period of time. When we search the Bible we find that the image made of the beast in Revelation, chapter 13 has to do with the corporate church under the rule and authority of Satan and this period of his rule lasted for 23 years. It was the time that started with the end of the church age on May 21, 1988 when judgment began at the house of God at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and it continued until May 21, 2011. The image was intact during that entire 23 years. It was not destroyed or broken in pieces during that time; it was the “head of gold” that ruled over the body, the churches and congregations of the world that God had given over to him when He departed from them. This is how Satan was able to rule over them and to shew himself that he was God. There was no breaking of the image during that time of Babylon’s rule. This is the period the Bible insists that the beast is flourishing. Satan was victorious as he ruled over both the churches and the nations of the world. The people of the world were looking at him with wonder, as it says in Revelation 13:3:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Satan received a “death blow” at the cross but at the time of the end he was loosed after spending a figurative thousand years in the bottomless pit, which is language to indicate that God had restrained him somewhat in order to establish the church age. But, then the “deadly wound was healed” and the time of the binding was over and he was loosed like he had been prior to the cross. Then it goes on to say in Revelation 13:4-5:

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

The “forty and two months” is a figure that identifies with the entire Great Tribulation period. It says in Revelation 13:6-8:

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world

This is all language of power and triumph. It is the time of the triumphing of the wicked. There is not the slightest hint that Satan is not victorious. When Babylon was conquering the nations, it came against Judah and defeated it; they destroyed the temple and took the Jews captive as they had done to many nations. It was the time of their power. They were strong and mighty. In Daniel the image was to be worshipped, as we will see in Daniel, chapter 3, and this points to the worship of Satan by all the people of the earth that were under his dominion. It was not until Babylon fell that this would change and Babylon fell after 70 years and that seventy-year period was a picture of the Great Tribulation. That tells us that the kingdom of Satan would not fall until the end of the Great Tribulation period. By God’s grace we know the duration of the Great Tribulation which ended after 23 years on May 21, 2011 and that was the point of Babylon’s fall, spiritually. That is the time when the “image of the beast” was broken to pieces and that is because it was the time of God’s judgment. The language in Daniel 2, verse 35 points to this fact when the image is broken to pieces. It is Judgment Day and that is the timing of the “image” that God permitted Satan to build of himself as he sat in the temple shewing himself that he was God and receiving the worship of the corporate churches and all the unsaved people of the earth. At the time of Judgment Day, God no longer permitted it and that is the point where God breaks the “image.” We can see that this relates to judgment because it says that once the image was broken to pieces, it “became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors.”

We can read about “chaff” in the New Testament in Matthew 3:11-12:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

The language here points to the Lord Jesus as a man who is taking care of His harvest. He has His fan and He purges His floor. He gathers His wheat into the garner (barn), so He has separated the wheat from the tares and the “chaff” represents the tares. This pictures the time after the separation of the wheat and tares which happened at the end of the Great Tribulation at the beginning of Judgment Day. God had commanded all that professed to be His people to depart out of the congregations. This served as a “test” to all those that professed to be true believers; everyone that claims to be a true believer is claiming to be a Christian. The test was God’s command to depart out of the midst of the churches; God had departed and Satan was the one that was in the midst of the congregations and, therefore, God’s people were to depart out and flee to the mountains. Only a few did. Not everyone that came out was saved, but all of God’s elect did come out – none of the elect remained. That means that all the “wheat” came out of all the churches of the world, leaving only “tares.” This was the process God set in motion over the course of the Great Tribulation, especially during the Latter Rain period when God was saving only outside of the churches. There was that separation of the “wheat and tares.” As we got closer to May 21, 2011, there were very few “wheat” in the congregations and by May 21, 2011 all the elect were safely brought out of the world’s churches and then God could bundle the tares for burning, all those that disobeyed and refused the commandment of God. Judgment Day came and they were cast into the fire. We have talked about this before, but because they stayed in the churches during the time God was saving only outside the churches, they could not have become saved during the second part of the Great Tribulation; there was no salvation in the churches.

Then on May 21, 2011 the door of heaven shut and it sealed their fate because there was no longer salvation anywhere in the world. There was some hope for people that were not part of a church or had come out of the churches and they could at least have the hope that they were in the right place as God sent forth the Latter Rain outside the churches of the world and they could hope that God may have saved them outside the churches. Even if there was no evidence of that, they could keep praying and hoping because it is a vastly different time than any other time in history; perhaps the Lord had mercy on that person that was outside the churches during the last part of the Great Tribulation when salvation was still possible. There is at least a hope, but for those that remained in the churches, the “image of the beast” was broken and destroyed. Once the time and season passed from the Latter Rain period of the Great Tribulation to Judgment Day and the final judgment of mankind, it was destruction for the entire corporate church. Here it is likened to being broken in pieces or it is likened to being bundled as tares and thrown into the fire. There is no language in the Bible that allows for an escape for those that remained in the churches.

Well, we were looking at the word “chaff” and we saw in our last study that God said in Isaiah 41:14-15:

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…

In the Bible “mountains” represent kingdoms and if we read the interpretation of the dream carefully, we see that various kingdoms are in view and it is Satan’s period of rule that climaxes with his final glorious period when he ruled over the churches and over the world (like never before) and it was the height of his evil glory. God likens the destruction of Satan at the time of the end to the destruction of his kingdom, as typified by “mountains.” Again, it says in Isaiah 41:15-16:

.…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.

Here God indicates that it is “Jacob,” representing Christ and His people, that will be like “threshing instruments” that will thresh the mountains, beat them in pieces and make the hills as chaff. They will “fan them,” and this is similar to what we read of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 3, verses 11 and 12 where the fan was in His hand and the hand represents the will of God. The people of God are in the will of God and as God opens the Scriptures and reveals a truth about His judgment program the believers declare these things and, thereby, become like “threshing instruments” that thresh the mountains or kingdoms. It was said a different way in the Gospel accounts where the Lord Jesus cursed the fig tree. Then He told the disciples, representing the elect, that they will do what He has done to the fig tree and more so, because they will say to the “mountain” to be removed and be cast into the sea and it will obey. Christ was looking ahead to the judgment program of God at the end of the world which is two-fold. First, there was the fig tree or national Israel, a type of the corporate church. When God opened the Scriptures regarding the end of the church age the “fig tree,” the New Testament churches, was cursed just as Christ cursed national Israel. The body of true believers is involved in the cursing of the New Testament churches, which is also typified by the fig tree.

But more than that, the Bible opened further information concerning the final judgment of the world or the kingdom of Satan, as typified by mountains. We only understand these things today due primarily to our vantage point of having lived through the Great Tribulation and into Judgment Day. We are still on the earth living in those days after that Tribulation and we are now able to see what the Bible is saying more clearly because we are seeing Scriptures that indicate that the elect would not be raptured before the judgment but would remain on the earth and this helps us to “fill in the blanks” regarding some of the mysteries of God and the hidden parabolic meanings that apply to our day. The Scriptures are showing us information that we are to proclaim and as we do so we are “threshing instruments” that are threshing the mountains, as it were, and casting them into the sea. (The “sea” represents the wrath of God.) We are “breaking to pieces” the mountains of Satan’s kingdom and the hills are being made “chaff” and the wind is carrying them away. They are all figures of speech to indicate the Bible’s teaching that Judgment Day has come and the wrath of God is being poured out upon the wicked as they drink of the cup of the wrath of God. It is ongoing at this time, so the language of the Bible is fitting into our present time.

Amazingly, these verses were ones that people read and misunderstood for thousands of years because they were not the end time generation and they were not the ones that would be “alive and remain,” so there were misunderstanding about the nature of hell, the nature of Judgment Day and there was misunderstanding in regard to the elect being raptured before the Tribulation. Then there was misunderstanding that the elect would be raptured before the final judgment, despite the language of the Bible that said, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Now we can harmonize these things – we were not raptured and taken out of the world prior to judgment. We will go through the judgment, just as Noah and his family had to go through the flood. It is all working to fulfill the Scriptures we are reading about here. Or, as it says in Psalm 1:4:

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

This is the same language as Daniel, chapter 2 or Isaiah 41 and similar language to Matthew, chapter 3. The ungodly are the “chaff” that the wind drives away. Then it says in
Psalm 1:5:

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

The ungodly will not “stand” in the judgment. Then who are the people in Romans 14:10?

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

This cannot be referring to the ungodly because they shall not stand in the judgment, so who are these people that are able to stand before the judgment seat of Christ? Remember what it said in Revelation 6:17:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

That is the big question. It is not whether the believers will be there, or not. They will be there, but who will be able to stand? Psalm 1, verses 4 and 5 tell us that the ungodly cannot stand in the judgment. So the Bible indicates that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The believers will all be “made manifest” before the judgment seat and we shall “stand.” Why is it that we “stand,” but the ungodly cannot? Just read about the spiritual armour that is described in Ephesians, chapter 6. The one equipped with the armour of Christ are able to “stand” in the evil day because we have the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ to protect us and it enables us to “stand” before the judgment seat. To “stand” means to abide or endure the judgment process as it runs its course to its conclusion: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” The ungodly will not stand; they will not abide and they will not endure to the end. That will be an indicator that they are wicked. They will fall during the spiritual judgment process, but at the end of Judgment Day they will be destroyed forever by annihilation. This is the teaching of the Bible. Remember what it warned in Luke 21 as it speaks of that day coming upon them unawares and it coming as a snare on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Then it said in Luke 21:31:

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

The Son of man is Christ and what is Christ doing at the end of the world? He is the judge. So the Bible is telling us that the escape is not being raptured out of the world, but the escape from these things is being able “to stand” in the Day of Judgment, but the ungodly shall not stand. They are likened to “chaff” that the wind carries away.

Let us look at one more verse about “chaff” before we talk about the “wind.” It says in Zephaniah 2:1:

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of JEHOVAH come upon you, before the day of JEHOVAH'S anger come upon you.

The day of JEHOVAH’s anger is tied to the day that will “pass as the chaff.” It is the day of anger. It is Judgment Day and the day when the wicked are like the “chaff” that the wind carries away.

The word “wind” that is used in Daniel, chapter 7 is Strong’s #7308 and it corresponds to the Hebrew word #7307. This Aramaic word, Strong’s #7308, is found eleven times and eight out of the eleven times it is translated as “spirit.” The same is true of the Hebrew word, Strong’s #7307, which is often translated as “spirit” or “breath” or “wind.” For instance, it is the word used in Genesis 1:2:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

It is also used in Psalm 51:10-11:

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

The word “spirit” is the equivalent word that is translated as “wind.” The same word identifies with the Holy Spirit or the spirit within a believer and it is the word used in Job 1:19:

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

This is referring to Job’s children that died in the house. It was a great “wind” that came from the wilderness and destroyed the house. We could translate that as great “spirit” because we know it was at God’s allowance and it is related to the will of God. The word “wind” is the same as we read in Psalm 1, verse 4, where the ungodly are like the wind or spirit which carries the chaff away.

It is the same word that is used in Psalm 11:6:

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

The word “tempest” is the word translated as “wind.” It identifies with judgment. God sends the “wind” and the chaff is carried away. Psalm 11, verse 6 is speaking of the cup of God’s wrath that is given to the wicked in the Day of Judgment. The Lord ties the wind with the “fire and brimstone” and it is coming from God and it brings destruction. When Job lost everything he was a picture of Christ who emptied himself of His glory when He entered into the world to demonstrate the atonement.

It also says in Psalm 107:23:

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of JEHOVAH, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

We have seen this picture in a few places. Jonah got on a ship in Joppa to flee to Tarshish and God raised up a stormy wind. There was a storm at sea that endangered the ship and forced the mariners to cast Jonah into the sea and then the sea was calm. That points to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to turn over the Lord Jesus Christ to the Roman authorities to be crucified – it had to happen according to the will of God. God accomplished His will by lifting His hand of restraint to allow evil men to do what comes naturally to them in their rebellion against God. God orchestrated events and He worked things out according to His perfect will by allowing the wicked to do what they do naturally. Of course, God knows what they will do if He lifts His hand of restraint. It is like we read when we read that Pharaoh hardened his heart. We know that God could have “softened” his heart, even if God did not save him and God could have caused Pharaoh to let the Israelites go after two or three plagues, but God hardened his heart because it was God’s will to destroy Pharaoh and Egypt and deliver His people. So Pharaoh was stubborn and rebellious time, and time again, until his counselors finally said to him, “Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” There was the death of the firstborn of Egypt and it was God’s purpose that all of these plagues would take place, but all that God had to do to accomplish this was to lift His hand of restraint and Pharaoh’s evil heart of stone continued to go contrary to every command of God.

God can move this way in the lives of the wicked and it is how God used Satan and King Nebuchadnezzar, a type and figure of Satan. In the Book of Jeremiah God called King Nebuchadnezzar His servant because He used him to bring destruction against Judah, the rebellious people of God, and in so doing he accomplished God’s will. That is exactly what happened at the time of the Great Tribulation when the Lord loosed Satan. Of course, God knew perfectly what Satan would do. God loosed him at the proper point of time and let him go. And not only did God let him go, but God lifted His hand of restraint from the people of the world so that they would worship the beast and God left the churches and congregations and no longer would they be held back and they would be free to act according to their own stony hearts and there would be an increase of wickedness in the world and in the church and congregations. It was all according to God’s will, but God is not the author of sin. He did not make them sin, but He allowed man to do what he does naturally and it accomplished God’s ultimate purpose to bring destruction upon the churches and congregations. We read in Jude 1:11-13:

Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Notice the language, “carried about of winds.” It is similar to the chaff being carried away by the “winds.” When God began judgment upon the churches He unleashed a “wind” that stirred up, as it were, the waves of the sea, as the wicked are like the raging waves of the sea. These statements in Jude can be found elsewhere in the Bible and this particular passage is very helpful in defining what it means that there is a stormy wind or what it means when the wind carries something away. We can come back to this passage and see that this relates to emissaries of Satan, false ministers of righteousness. As Satan comes as an angel of light, so do they. They are professed Christians and they are not truly saved and they are all part of the “storm.” Then we read in Acts chapter 27 about the ship that was wrecked, which typifies the corporate church at the time of the end. The church had gone 1,955 years without shipwreck and even though it had difficulties it was not completely shipwrecked and destroyed until the end of the church age. What caused its destruction? It says in Acts 27:14:

But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.

Finally, the storm and raging sea destroyed the ship and the people onboard made it safely to land, but the ship was shipwrecked and that was a picture of the end of the church age that God portrayed. The assault of Satan and his emissaries against the churches was the storm and raging waves that caused destruction and wreaked havoc and all the true believers were commanded to flee out of the midst or be destroyed in the judgment. That is the picture.

Regarding wind, it says in Psalm 148:8:

Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

Yes, it seems chaotic and out of control that Satan was loosed and the churches began doing insane and abominable things like holy laughter, falling over backwards and speaking in tongues. It was as though they had no Bible and they were worshipping the “sun, moon and stars” and whatever came along that was not the true Gospel, whereas the true Gospel was shoved aside. It completely destroyed the corporate church and for a time the people of God were wondering what was going on. How could this be? Is not the church the place of sanctuary and refuge for God’s people? But then God revealed His purpose and His will. And even though the destruction of the churches was ugly, tragic and extremely grievous and sorrowful, it was necessary according to the will of God. God did it. God purposed it and God brought it to pass using the wicked devices of the unsaved. He loosed Satan and He loosed His hand of restraint from the unsaved people in the churches and in the world, so the time of the Great Tribulation shook up everything. The world had been evil, but there was still some basic morality even though the churches had a number of tares within, but once God gave them up and Satan entered in everything turned upside-down. There was turmoil everywhere. And, yet, God accomplished His purpose and saved the great multitude outside of the churches.

Now we have passed through the Great Tribulation and we have entered the period of the final judgment of the world and, again, we find the “wind” is in view. In Jeremiah 51 the Bible details the judgment of Babylon, which typifies the kingdom of Satan or the kingdom of this world. It says in Jeremiah 51:1-2:

Thus saith JEHOVAH; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

This agrees with Daniel, chapter 2 and the King of Babylon’s dream of the image that would be broken to pieces. The “stone,” which is the kingdom of God, would break it to pieces and begin to “fan her” and, as the chaff of the threshing floor, it will be carried away by the wind. God would raise up against Babylon a “destroying wind” and He would send fanners that shall fan her, just as Isaiah, chapter 41 or Matthew 3, verses 11 and 12. It is the fan in Christ’s hand, the body of believers that are presently fanning her. It is after the Tribulation. The “image” was intact during the Tribulation, but after the Tribulation, the kingdom falls and it is broken to pieces. And, yet, there is a process during this time of “fanning” these broken pieces as the chaff and the “destroying wind” carries them away. If we go to Revelation, chapter 6, it says in Revelation 6:12:

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

All this language relates to the end of the Great Tribulation. Then it says in Revelation 6:13-14:

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Here, God speaks of Judgment Day and He mentions a mighty “wind” in connection with the Day of Judgment.

There is an important passage I would like to go to, but I do not want to rush through it. Unfortunately, we do not have time in this study, but, Lord willing, in our next study we will continue to look at this idea of the “destroying wind” and we will see how the Bible speaks of the wind blowing against both the righteous and the wicked – against the elect and the unsaved. That can only be because both remain on the earth to go through Judgment Day.