The Spiritual Kingdom

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…
As in the symbolical language of the prophetical writers, we have an earthquake for a revolution, a mountain for a kingdom, a star for a prince, a forest for a great city, the treading of the wine-press for desolation and slaughter, and a censer with incense for the offering of prayer; so, in our text, we have the four great empires of the world, like the four ages of the poets of ancient Greece and Rome, represented by the precious and useful metals — gold, silver, brass, and iron; while the enduring empire of the Messiah is expressed by the mountain-stone — that stone which the builders of worldly empires, and of worldly policy, despise. The empire of the Messiah differs from all the others in its nature, origin, extent, and duration. Its spiritual nature our Lord himself signifies, when He says that "His Kingdom is not of this world." This empire "shall never be destroyed." Corruption, it is true, in the west, and delusion in the east, have marred both the beauty and extent of the present visible kingdom of the Messiah. But notwithstanding these, we must not falsely estimate either the extent or purity of the Kingdom of Christ. Wherever, therefore, our varied lot of life may be placed by the disposal of providence, whether under our native skies, or in lands the most distant from our own; let us all so live as it becomes the subjects of that empire which shall survive in glory when all earthly empires shall have passed away.

(T. Aitken, M. D.)