The agency that the Almighty God Jehovah will use in bringing about that worldwide destruction was pictured in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as a “stone” that was cut out of a mountain without the aid of human hands. Hence, the “stone” must picture something that is produced by the Creator, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. What the “stone” symbolized He inspired Daniel to explain, saying:

⁷¹ “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people [as successors]. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite; forasmuch as you beheld that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold.”​—Daniel 2:44, 45.

72, 73. (a) What is the “mountain” from which the “stone” is cut without hands? (b) The “stone” itself represents what, and what is taking place in connection with it now?

⁷² As the “stone” pictures a kingdom that the God of heaven sets up, the “mountain” must picture the source of kingdom power and authority, namely, the Universal Sovereignty of the King of Eternity, Jehovah God. The stonelike kingdom thus becomes a subsidiary part and agency of His universal sovereignty. It is his Messianic kingdom in the hands of his only-begotten Son, who became the Lord Jesus Christ. (Daniel 7:13, 14)

In reaching the climax of his account of the dream “image” that pictured the succession of political superpowers of world history, from the Babylonian Empire to the Anglo-American Dual World Power of today, Daniel went on to say:

“You kept on looking until a stone was cut out not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of molded clay and crushed them. At that time the iron, the molded clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them. And as for the stone that struck the image, it became a large mountain and filled the whole earth.”​—Daniel 2:34, 35.

2. What was symbolized by that “stone”?

² There can be no other explanation of the matter. That “stone” symbolized the Messianic kingdom in the hands of the anointed Son of the Sovereign Lord of the universe, Jehovah God.

This Messianic kingdom is the one that is cut out of the “mountain” of Jehovah’s sovereignty without help of human hands.

5. (a) When was the symbolic “stone” cut out of the mountain? (b) When the “stone” was cut out and sent on its way against the symbolic “image,” what time period began for this wicked earthly system of things?

⁵ When was this royal “stone” cut out and sent on its way against the symbolic “image” of earthly world powers? It was “cut out” at the end of the Gentile Times about October 4/5, 1914, when Jehovah, the King-Maker, installed the resurrected Jesus Christ as empowered King in the heavens. (Luke 21:24; Psalm 2:1-6; Revelation 11:15; 12:5-10) Then it was that the prophetic words of Psalm 110:2 applied to the installed Jesus Christ: “The rod of your strength Jehovah will send out of Zion, saying: ‘Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.’” For that reason the “time of the end” began for this wicked earthly system of things. (Daniel 12:4) Correspondingly, the things foretold by Jesus Christ to happen during the “conclusion of the system of things” have been taking place since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.​—Matthew 24:3 through 25:33.

6. (a) What is significant about the fact that the stone strikes the image “on its feet of iron and of molded clay”? (b) When does this stone strike the symbolic “image”?

⁶ The fact that, in the king’s dream, the stone strikes the manlike image “on its feet of iron and of molded clay” is significant. It shows that the Messianic kingdom of God strikes the real world-power “image” in the days of the Seventh World Power, the Anglo-American Dual World Power, in the final days thereof. This is the time when human rulerships of this world are divided between the imperial ironlike governments and the radical claylike governments. The two kinds do not mix. The symbolic “image” is not struck at the beginning of the now imminent “great tribulation,” at the time when religious Babylon the Great is destroyed. Rather, it is struck thereafter in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. (Matthew 24:21, 22; Revelation 7:14; 16:14, 16; 17:1-18; 18:20​—19:3 through 19:3) It is then that the worldly nations, no longer under the religious influence of Babylon the Great, stand unitedly in outright, declared opposition to the Universal Sovereignty of Jehovah God and his Messianic kingdom.

7. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, is the “stone” shown as striking and crushing rulers in the spirit realm?

⁷ Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dream does not show the “stone” or the Messianic kingdom as striking against political enemies in the invisible spirit heavens, such as the spirit “prince of the royal realm of Persia” and the spirit “prince of Greece.” (Daniel 10:13, 20) The royal “stone” strikes at something earthly, visible, human, namely, the political governments of this world, whether imperial, democratic, radical, socialistic or communistic.

8. Similarly, in Revelation chapters 17 and 19, against whom and what is the royal “stone” shown as fighting?

⁸ So, too, Revelation 17:12-14 reveals the royal Messianic “stone” as fighting against the militarized representatives of the Eighth World Power, the United Nations, then rid of any domination by Babylon the Great: “These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them.” Likewise, the detailed account of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon as given in Revelation 19:11-21 reveals that the royal Messianic “stone” moves in warfare, not against spirit forces in the invisible heavens, but against the worldwide political system on earth, with all its human rulers and their armies, and henchmen.

9. How will all this warfare affect the inhabited earth?

⁹ This warfare results in the worst time of distress that the inhabited earth ever experiences. In foretelling this, Daniel 12:1 says: “And during that time [of the end] Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people [Daniel’s people, Israel]. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time.”

10. (a) At the climax of the “day of Jehovah,” what will happen to the symbolic “image”? (b) When is it that Satan and his demons are to be chained and hurled into the abyss?

¹⁰ Then it is that the final part of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is fulfilled, that the “stone . . . crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold.” These substances were, “all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them.” (Daniel 2:45, 35) That is the climax of the “day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” That day is the “day of Jehovah, through which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt!” Also, the “earth and the works in it will be discovered [as combustible].” (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12)