Remember that the image in Daniel 2 represented the time period that is called the times of the Gentiles. Luke 21:24 says, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." You will note that the strategic characteristic that is revealed about the times of the Gentiles is that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles…until the times…be fulfilled."

My friends, it is exactly as God said it would be! Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish nation has been under Gentile control from the time of the Babylonian captivity around 590’s B.C. until our present day. That’s 2600 years.

Let me bring you up to our present day regarding authority over Jerusalem.

1. The Roman Empire eventually gave way to the Byzantine Empire (320 A.D.)
2. The Byzantine Empire yielded to the Islamic Empire in 622 A.D.
3. The Islamic Empire was deposed by the Crusaders in A.D. 1098 A.D.
4. The Crusaders were overcome by the Mamelukes (monarchy of Egyptian sultans slave soldiers) in the 1200’s A.D.
5. The Mamelukes gave way to the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1517 A.D.
6. The Ottoman Empire gave way in WWI to the British Empire in 1917 A.D.

On May 14, 1948 the nation of Israel was reborn. However, the boundaries that the United Nations established for Israel did not include her real capital, Jerusalem. Let me tell you my friends, the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and Jews is over Jerusalem! Biblically, Jerusalem belongs to Israel! However the nations of the world refuse, at this point, to admit it. They all have their embassies in Tel Aviv. In 1995 the United States Congress passed a resolution requiring that America’s embassy be built in Jerusalem by 1999. However President Clinton refused to allow it to be. Jerusalem is still "trodden down of the Gentiles." No Jewish king from the line of David rules from Jerusalem. We are still in the times of the Gentiles.

However, the times of the Gentiles could have been brought to an end in Christ’s day if the leaders of Israel would have accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah King. Turn to Luke 13:34-35 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! 35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

• A Stone & Great Mountain

Daniel 2:34-35 & 44-45 "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. 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. 44 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. 45 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."

This surely is a reference to the glorious return of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ to set up his Millennial Kingdom. He will defeat the rebellious Gentile nations. Turn to Revelation 19:11-16 "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

• The Revived Image