What is the "monster of time?"

The “Monster of Time” (Daniel 2) refers to a dream that the great Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar once had. He dreamed of a monster with a head of gold, chest of silver, belly of brass, and legs and feet of iron and clay. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know what this dream meant. His court advisors would not tell him. Many were afraid to do an interpretation since it might mean death for the interpreter if the King did not agree with the interpretation. Daniel successfully interpreted this vision for the king. I say successfully, since Daniel survived and the king was happy. The interpretation followed a sequence of time in which the monster depicted represented the evolution of kingdoms that would supplant Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. The following is the interpretation of the monsters parts:

1.The head of gold - The Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar.
2.The breast and arms of silver - Persian Empire.
3.The belly and thighs of bronze - Greek Empire.
4.The legs of iron - Roman Empire. This is the kingdom Daniel said would be divided into two parts. The first Roman Empire is represented by the legs of iron. The second part of this kingdom, the revived Roman Empire, is represented by the feet and and toes made part of iron and part of clay.
5.The stone which destroyed all the other kingdoms - the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ.

One can only reflect ruefully that even 6000 years ago, time was a sort of monster. A monster that holds the past, present and future in its gruesome appendages to do with as it chooses.

This metaphor of time as a monster elicited my own vision of a “monster of time.” In my vision, time is a giant alarm clock. It has four hands. In one hand, it holds a scythe to strike your head off if you are late. In a second hand, it holds a set of rules to remind you of your obligations to friends, family and society. In it’s third hand, it holds a coffee and donut, which you will need to start the day. Finally, in its last hand, it holds an “endless” backwards mirror, in which you can see how you looked today when you awoke and how you looked yesterday and the day before and the day before. Of course, age incrementally each day until finally one day there is no vision in the mirror to awake.

Have you ever thought of time as a monster? What would your vision of the “monster of time” look like? There are an endless number of visions for time, see if you can create one that reflects how you live time or perhaps how you would not like to live time.