In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, there is a statue representing four consecutive kingdoms. In order, they are the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman empires. The iron legs represent the Roman empire but why are the feet part iron and part clay? We read about that in the book of Daniel:
And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. (Daniel 2:41-43)
Daniel describes the Roman kingdom as being divided. Indeed, the Romans allowed some nations to have semi-autonomous rule. Not the least of those was Judea. History shows us that there was some intermarriage between the Romans and the Jews. However, there was significant tension between the two. You could say, they did not mix.
Using clay in the statue’s feet to represent the Jews, fits the image of God as a potter molding His people to His liking. This analogy is laid out in Jeremiah 18 and is covered by Isaiah as well. That passage is in Isaiah 29, and it’s quoted by Jesus in Matthew 15:8-9 while speaking to Pharisees and scribes. The apostle Paul refers to Isaiah’s passage in Romans 9:20-21. The clay is a biblical theme. If we accept the clay as representing the Jews, we can leave the feet attached to the legs. And if we leave the feet of the statue attached to the iron legs of the Roman empire, we have a good analogy for the days of Jesus who is the stone that struck the statue:
As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:34-35)
Because the stone struck the feet and the whole statue came down, we must keep the feet attached to the legs. Jesus is the stone. He is often referred to as the Rock or the stone that the builders rejected. Jesus struck that statue with the establishment of His own kingdom which started small and is growing to fill the whole earth:
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. (Isaiah 9:7)
In this passage, Isaiah tells us when that kingdom started, “For to us a child is born . . . and the government shall be upon his shoulder . . . from this time fourth and forever more.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)