The subject of the kingdom of God during the New Testament era is one of great discussion. Old Testament prophecy promised a kingdom under the reign of the Messiah. When did the prophets indicate the establishment of this kingdom? What does the New Testament offer on this subject? Is it now established or is it something to happen in the future? This search for answers begins in Isaiah. We read the following in Isaiah 2:1-4:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Note first Isaiah’s reference to the “last days.” The last days are a reference to the Christian age. Peter, quoting from Joel 2, stated those present that day were witnessing the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy which said would “come to pass in the last days” (Acts 2:17). The last days of Isaiah would also refer to the Christian age.
What did Isaiah write would happen in the last days? He wrote, “the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains.” What is meant by mountain? Unless the context indicates a literal mountain, the reference is to a government or seat of government. Jeremiah, referring to Babylon, wrote, “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain” (Jeremiah 51:25). Babylon was a destroying mountain which would become a burnt mountain. The Lord’s mountain, or kingdom, will be “established in the top of the mountains” or above all other nations. This was to occur “in the last days.”
Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream sheds addition light on the establishment of the Lord’s mountain or kingdom. The king had dreamed so God could “made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (Daniel 2:45). The dream involved an image with a head of gold representing the Babylonian kingdom (2:32, 38). The chest and arms of silver represented the kingdom which was to follow Babylon, the Medes and Persians, (2:32,39). This kingdom would be followed by a third kingdom represented by the belly and thighs of brass, Greece (2:32, 39). A fourth kingdom was then represented by legs of iron with feet of iron and clay mixed, Rome (2:33, 40-43). A stone cut out of a mountain without hands then struck the image on the feet destroying the image and growing to fill the earth (2:34-36, 44,45). This signified that,
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 (2:44,45).
God revealed through Daniel that the kingdom, or mountain, would be established during the period of the Roman kings. Christianity began during the period of Roman rule (see Luke 2:1; Acts 11:27,28). Daniel stated the interpretation was sure, certain. Lord willing, more next week.
—Denny