(Daniel 2:1-48) Prophecy of Christ's Everlasting Kingdom

The Book of Revelation is the source of many fanciful eschatologic interpretations, and the Book of Daniel is its Old Testament equivalent. On his website, Nate writes:

(Dan 2: 44-45) In the time of those kings (Julias Caesar), the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom that will Never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an End, but God's kingdom will endure Forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the Rock (Jesus Christ) cut out of the mountain, but not by human hands. The Rock that broke the Iron, the Bronze, the Clay, the Silver and the Gold.
1. The head of Gold: The Babylonian's kingdom lasted 70 yrs. (606-536 B.C.)
2. The breast/arms Silver: The Persian's kingdom endured 200 yrs. (536-332 B.C.)
3. The belly/thighs of Brass: The Greek's kingdom lasted 200 yrs. (331-146 B.C)
4. The legs of Iron/ his feet of part of Clay: The Roman Empire/Roman Catholic Church lasted 1800 yrs- (146 B.C.- 2000??? A.D.)

THE ACTUAL TRUTH
In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a huge, human-like statue made up of different metals crumbled when struck at its feet by a mysterious stone (vv 31-35). It is understood symbolically to represent the destruction of four successive empires, beginning with Babylon (vv 36-45); however, since this is the only place in the Old Testament where the ages of human history are represented by metals, there have been different interpretations. This is the conventional interpretation:

The Head of the Statue (GOLD) = Babylon

The Chest and Arms (SILVER) = Media

The Belly and Thighs (BRONZE) = Persia

The Legs (IRON) = Greece

The Feet (IRON & TILE) = Alexander's divided empires ruled by the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria

Despite Nate's anti-Catholic bias, we know that the the iron and tile Feet represent Alexander's divided armies because of verse 41:

The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter's tile and partly of iron, mean that it shall be a divided kingdom, but yet have some of the hardness of iron

The Seleucids of Syria, which included Antiochus Epiphanes, tried to restore Alexander's empire through war and intermarriage, as seen in verse 43:

The iron mixed with clay tile means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage, but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay."

Indeed, in verse 44, the stone hewn from the mountain is the messianic kingdom awaited by the Jews:

"In the lifetime of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever"

It is very important to note the italicized phrase "in the lifetime of those kings". The empire symbolized by the feet of iron and clay couldn't possibly be the Roman Catholic Church because 1) there is no king of the Catholic Church and 2) the timing of the development of the Catholic Church does not precede the coming of Jesus Christ. Note also, that the Jesus takes on the symbolism of the rock in Luke 20:17, saying "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone".