The Rock is indeed Christ, but the destruction referred to here is at His second coming, when He literally destroys all those powers whose philosophies, and predominant pagan religious elements were inherited by the sea beast of Revelation 13. All elements of the statue were destroyed at the same time.
“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. ”
Daniel 2:45 KJV
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It is true that the Rock struck the Statue on the feet, which was the foundation and chronologically, the current administration of the mystery of iniquity, the man of sin, the antichrist of the Revelation 13 sea beast that had inherited the philosophies, the principle pagan elements of the previous powers. This was prophecied elsewhere, that when the literal local empires were destroyed, they would yet continue a while albeit in another form
Ok,I am going try and respond to your comments ..... hopefully, they might make sense to you .... but they will not be in line with your interpretations.
First, the "Stone" in 2:34 is indeed the Messiah, but unlike EVERYONE'S interpretation, this represents Jesus at His first coming. He is the One that is only referred to as the "Stone." God the Father, in Daniel, is never referredt to as the "Stone." He is referred to as the "Ancient of Days," or the "Mountain," (Stone cut out of the Mountain).
Verses 2:31 - 35 represents the "Dream sequence" of verses that Daniel will provide to Nebuchadnezzar. These short verses establish the "structure" or the borders and boundaries (internal and external), the restrictions, guidlines, actors, time periods, where all of the verses in all 12 chapters will be found to take place. In these few verses, God will establish His "big picture," namely, the 4 and only 4 kingdoms that He will call out of the earth or the sea. He will identify the only two actions found in these verses: Verse 2:34 represents the Stone (Jesus) who will arrive at the end of the 4th beast kingdom of pagan Rome. This is also the last week in the 70 weeks of years prophecy that describes His God given mission (9:24) and all the events that will take place as a result of His first coming.
Verse 2:35 represents the return of Jesus at the end of time when He will gather in the harvest. Thus, within 2:35, we will find the mention of the "threshing floor" scene, AND, now we find the Stone (Messiah) has become a great mountain and filled the whole earth. His church began at the cross and it would be another 2000 years when His Word and Testimony would go throughout the world.
So that is the big picture or formal structure that will be followed throughout the Book of Daniel. God will clearly use different symbols and provide additional characteristics to or within these 4 kingdoms, but these borders and boundaries and restrictions will never be breached. Meaning, each kingdom has its own mission to accomplish within God's plan of salvation, it's own set of actors and events and its own time period before it is turned over to the succeeding kingdom.
Verses 2:36 - 45 represents the "interpretation sequence" verses. These are NOT a continuation of events that will take place after verse 2:35. There are many chapters (mostly Hebrew) that are not presented in chronoligical order. Verses 36 - 40 is a recap of the 4 and only 4 kingdoms that God will call out within His prophecy. And for those who contend there is more than 4 kingdoms, you should note that in Chapter 2, Daniel mentions twice the exact number of kingdoms... there is absolutely no mention of a 5th or 6th, etc. Many attempt to separate the feet from the legs of iron but that is not mentioned, hinted or implied whatsoever. However, they have done so to fit their narrative of a 5th or more kingdom coming at the end of time. We should not add or subtract from His Word and whether you like it or not, God only gives Daniel the 4 kingdoms that will come out of the earth or sea.
Verses 2:41-45 represent the "details" of the "interpretation sequence" verses that speak
ONLY to the 4th kingdom. God does not spend any "ink" on the first three kingdoms within the "interpretation sequence" verses. The 4th kingdom is where He wants us to focus our attention on ... This will be found in the coming Hebrew chapters as well but it will be even more pronounced. God will quickly get the first three kingdoms out of the way to reveal the most important prophecies that take place within the 4th kingdom - and of course, this includes His arrival, crucifixion, the set up of His church, the demise of pagan Rome, the appropriation of His church by the little horn.
So, the "Stone" (Messiah) will symbolically strike the feet of the 4th kingdom beast. This refers to His first coming where He will go to the cross. As a result of His sacrifice, He will symbolically separate the iron (Rome) from the clay (His people) that have been under the Roman Empire and their control. The Jews expected to see their Messiah arrive and physically destroy the Romans and establish His kingdom, however, this was not God's plan. Instead of a military means, Jesus would separate those of His people who would accept Him as their Messiah. Within these verses they will be referred to as "pottery clay," because God will mold them as He chooses to do His will. Those Jews who would reject Him would be referred to in these verses as "ceramic" clay, because they were hardened and God could not or would not mold them to spread His Word and Testimony throughout the Roman Empire.
The verses in 41-43 are / were extremely difficult to unpack and after many, many attempts to interpret these verses, it was only after it was discovered that it could only be properly interpreted when 2:34 represented the Messiah's first coming. He did not come to destroy but to divide, and He indeed divided His people into either the pottery or the ceramic clay. Not only do these verses reflect the "setting up" of His earthly church but it reveals the changes in His church that will take place over the coming 500 years.
Without trying to go into the details for each verse, one can or should be able to see the transitions and changes that will take place within the 4th kingdom (only) after the cross. Before the cross (33) the 4th kingdom is identified as legs of iron with feet partly of iron and partly of clay. But in these interpretation verses (after the Messiah strikes the feet and separates the iron from the clay), you will see the kingdom will come to be identified as a "divided" kingdom. This divided kingdom is now identifie as "partly clay and partly iron." Meaning, the iron kingdom of pagan Rome which was dominate in iron with some clay within its feet) would be replaced by a kingdom that now is shown to have the clay in the superior position to that of the iron. This is the result of the tremendous growth of the Christian church. It began with the disciples (pottery clay) and then they were tremendously successful in conventing hundreds of thousands of Gentiles to Christianity. As pagan Rome declined (iron and clay), it would be eventually replace by papal Rome (clay and iron). The Gentiles would come to dominate the Christian church yet they would still keep / use the iron component of pagan Rome to come to and retain their power. This can easily be seen to start to take place at the time of Constantine when Christianity will soon become the religion of pagan Rome. Thus, the Christian Church will still have the "iron" within it - it would continue to use whatever military power of pagan Rome necessary to gain and keep control of the empire (now the papal Roman empire).
This is long enought but before I respond to your next comments, I would ask you to consider the above and let me know thoughts.
“As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. ”
Daniel 7:12 KJV
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...as a united spiritual power of the last days and a composite of those four pagan empires. That final structure, the sea beast of Revelation 13, the mixture of clay and iron, is the union of church and state, Babylon riding the beast, today seeking rulership over the world. She will, along with the remnants of pagan philosophy and error, be destroyed utterly at the second coming.
“
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. ”
Daniel 2:35 KJV
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