Amadeus, I thought that I would comment on what you said quoted above. There are two passages that need to be considered in the Dan_2 prophecy of the statue, and they are: -
Daniel_2:34-35: - 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel_2:44-45: - 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold — the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.
It is important the imagery contained in these two passages. The stone that "was cut out without hands" and "was cut out of the mountain" is the foundational truth that "
Jesus is the Son of Living God." Jesus told Peter that, "
on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
Now the "foundational" stone we are told becomes a great mountain, where the "mountain" is the "religion" (for want of a better word) that the disciples of Christ adopt within the "church" that Christ intends to build. The same term is used in the Old Testament end time prophecies, where God States that He will teach the Israelites that He gathers to Himself on the Mountain(s) of Israel, i.e. the concepts of being righteous before God, or to put it another way, the religion of Israel. In the Daniel_2 passage, God also stated that at the time that the foundational stone comes down out of heaven that He will in the days of those kings, which are crusted by the rock that comes down our of heaven, He will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed and this kingdom will not be eft to other people, but it will overcome the other kingdoms breaking them into pieces and consuming them.
If we do not see the metaphorical language used in the above, then we will not make much sense of what is being described in this prophecy or understand the timing of when the Rock will come down out of heaven.
I liked your expressed thoughts in the question that you raised, and the idea that the mountain is the Church etc. however I wonder if the intended meaning is simpler and more in line with what I am suggesting.
Shalom