IRON

Iron nails used in the doors and gates of the house

In the scriptures there is a strong correlation between the subject of bondage and the biblical use of the metal, iron.  While often bondage carries a negative connotation, it sometimes carries a positive connotation.  Nails are used to fasten things together.  This is extremely important in houses and buildings.  There are two Old Testament scriptures in which there are references to iron nails:

1.  1 Chr. 22:3 "And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight;"

2.  2 Chr. 24:12 "And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD."

The first reference is to the building of the temple.  The second reference is to the repair of the temple.  Anyone responsible for the building of structures knows the importance of nails. 

The use of iron nails in bonding together the materials in the temple points us to the binding materials that bind the members of the Lord's church to the service of the Lord and to one another. 

The preaching of the gospel serves to bind the Lord's people to the service of the Lord in his gospel kingdom church:

1.  Matt. 16:19 "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

2.  Eph. 6:20 "For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

3.  Phil. 1:7 "Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace."

Love binds the hearts of the members of the church to one another, and binds us to the perfect ways of the Lord and his service, and binds us to serve and worship God in his way:

1.  Col. 3:14 "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."

2.  2 Cor. 5:14 "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:"

3.  Col. 2:2 "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;"

Hope binds our soul to heaven's glory world: Heb. 6:19 "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"

Faith unites the members of the church to the true worship and service of God: Eph. 4:13 "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:"          

The spirit binds us to serve the Lord:

1.  Eph. 4:3 "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

2.  Acts 20:22 "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:"
 

Rome was the iron kingdom

There is a strong correlation in the scriptures between the subject of bondage and the metal, iron. The correlation is manifest in the description of a dream that the greatest king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. This is found in the book of Daniel. God blessed the Hebrew young man by the name of Daniel to interpret the dream for the king. In the dream, the king saw an image that was set up. The description of this image is given to us in Dan. 2:31-34: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 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. 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."

It was revealed by God unto Daniel and told to Nebuchadnezzar that Babylon was the first of four successive multi-national kingdoms on the face of the earth. The gold represented Babylon. The silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire. The brass represented the empire of Greece. The iron represented the Roman Empire. Rome was, therefore, the fourth of the successive great empires on the earth. Dan. 2:40 describes Rome as follows: "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise." The promise is that Rome would be greater in extent than the three previous kingdoms, but would break and subdue the previous kingdoms as well as spread over the entire civilized world.

Since Rome was the iron kingdom and iron represents bondage, Rome was to subdue into bondage all the nations and peoples under Rome. We find the Jews to be in such a condition when the gospels were written. She had even lost the ability to administer capital punishment. In order to crucify Christ, the Roman governor had to be persuaded to do it.

Due to the iron rule of Rome, Rome lasted as a great empire far longer than the kingdoms which were before her. As great as Rome was, there was a greater kingdom that was prophesied in the dream given to Nebuchadnezzar. This kingdom is described in Dan. 2:44, 45: "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. 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 prophecy obviously pertains to the Kingdom of Heaven set up by the Lord Jesus Christ while he sojourned here in the flesh.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual kingdom with Christ as the King. Though it is a spiritual kingdom, yet through the teachings of the bible and the workings of the Holy Spirit this Kingdom of Heaven was ultimately responsible for the fall of Rome and those kingdoms that were before her, just as was prophesied unto king Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord said, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." The truth delivers us from error and from the bondage of men.