Outline
B
With Daniel we see that Christ the Son is the centrality and universality of God's move and that the goal of God's eternal economy is to have the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcomers, as the crushing stone to be His dispensational instrument to end this age and become a great mountain to fill the whole earth, making the whole earth God's kingdom—Dan. 2:31-45; 7:13-14; 10:4-9; Joel 3:11; Rev. 12:1-2, 5, 11; 19:7-21.
C
With Job we see God the Spirit bringing His lovers through the process of transformation by the renewing of the Holy Spirit in their seeing God to gain God and be transformed by God to carry out what is in the heart of God by becoming God in life, in nature, and in appearance but not in the Godhead for the corporate expression of God, the glory of God—Job 10:13; 42:5-6; Eph. 3:9; Matt. 5:8; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; Titus 3:5; 1 Cor. 10:31; Eph. 3:20-21; Rev. 21:10-11.
Morning Nourishment
Dan. 2:34-35 You were watching until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image at its feet of iron and clay and crushed them…And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.Job 42:5-6 I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You; therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
This great image [in Daniel 2:31-45] signifies the aggregate of human government throughout human history (vv. 31-33), from the beginning of human government in Babel (Babylon) in the land of Shinar (Gen. 10:6-12), as signified by the head, to the termination of human government in human history in the Roman Empire with the ten kings, as signified by the ten toes.
The destiny of the great human image is to be crushed by a stone cut out without hands, at its appearing (Dan. 2:34-35a, 44b-45; 7:13-14). This stone cut out without hands is Christ. Through His crucifixion He was cut by being put to death (Acts 2:23), and in His resurrection He was cut out to be, first, the cornerstone for the building up of the church and the crushing stone to destroy the totality of human government (v. 24; Matt. 21:42, 44b). (Life- study of Daniel, pp. 14, 16)
Today’s Reading
At His appearing as the stone cut out not by human hands, Christ will crush the great image from the toes to the head. This means that He will strike the ten kings with Antichrist [Rev. 19]…With Christ there will be His newly married bride, composed of the overcomers, and with Antichrist there will be the ten kings with their armies. This war will be a fighting of the earth against the heavens, of man against God. Christ will defeat and destroy Antichrist and the ten kings.When Christ comes as the smiting stone, He will not come alone. Rather, He will come with His bride…After His wedding He will come both as the smiting stone and as the One who will tread the winepress (v. 15; 14:19-20; Isa. 63:2-3). Antichrist will gather a vast number of evil, rebellious human beings around Jerusalem, thus preparing the “grapes” to be trodden in the “winepress” by Christ…Antichrist will even go so far as to say that he is God (2 Thes. 2:4; Dan. 11:36), and for his enjoyment will set up his tent between the good land and the Mediterranean Sea (v. 45). Then Christ as the God-cut stone will come with His bride to strike the toes of the image, destroying it from the toes to the head. In this way, human government will be crushed and terminated. The great human image will be replaced with a great mountain, signifying the eternal kingdom of God, which will fill the whole earth (2:35b, 44a). This means that after Christ comes to crush the aggregate of human government, He will usher in the eternal kingdom of God on earth. (Life-study of Daniel, pp. 16-18)
“I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear,/But now my eye has seen You;/Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent/In dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). This indicates that Job gained God in his personal experience (in addition to knowing God in his vain knowledge by tradition) and that he abhorred himself.
Seeing God equals gaining God (Matt. 5:8). To gain God is to receive God in His element, in His life, and in His nature. Eventually, this not only makes us one with God—it even makes us a part of God…We see God that we may be constituted with God, yet we do not have any share in the Godhead.
All of God’s redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified people will see God’s face (Rev. 22:4). Seeing God transforms us (2 Cor. 3:18), because in seeing God we receive His element into us. As we receive God, a new element comes into us, and the old element is discharged. This metabolic process is transformation. To see God is to be transformed into the glorious image of Christ, the God-man. This makes us a part of God that we may express God in His life and represent Him in His authority. (Life- study of Job, pp. 151-152)
Further Reading: Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 12