Not just initiated or inaugurated.

Amillennialists further try to explain that Jesus only initiated or inaugurated the kingdom during his earthly ministry. But someday He will return and finish the job—i.e., consummate it. The problem here is, what does the phrase “set up” in Daniel 2 really mean (see #1 above again) regarding the establishment of the everlasting form of the kingdom and when that would happen “in the days (time) of those kings?”

If we follow basic hermeneutical principles, it is not difficult to determine what the Hebrew word quwm (pronounced “koom” and translated as “set up” in Daniel 2:44) really means:

1. Quwm means to: “appoint, establish, make, raise up, stand, set (up)” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). According to Vine’s An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, its primary meaning is “to arise, stand up, come about . . . . It may denote any movement to an erect position.” The only qualification Vine mentions is “when used with another verb, qum [sic] may suggest simply the beginning of an action.” But quwm is not so used with another verb in Daniel 2:44.
2. Daniel uses this word nine times in his very next chapter (Dan. 3:1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 12, 14, 18). This verb describes King Nebuchadnezzar’s erection of a ninety-foot-high image of gold on the plain of Dura—i.e., he “set up” this image.
3. Nebuchadnezzar did not just begin to or only partially “set up” this ninety-foot-high image. Nor did he merely announce that he was going to do it, or only initiate it, or only inaugurateit. He finished the job. He established the image. He completed and fulfilled his plan and project. Nor did he come back later and remove an arm and a leg, or any other parts. It stood established, completed, and erect. This comparative usage and illustration is in such close proximity, contextually, that it must not be ignored or diminished.Likewise, the one, “never [to] be destroyed,” and to “endure forever” kingdom in Daniel 2:44 was “set up”—i.e., established, completed, fulfilled, and consummated—“in the days of those kings.” I suggest that this literal meaning and realization is absolutely demanded by the text. And, its eschatological and worldview implications are profound!

Further validating this above understanding is the popular dispensational-premillennial, eschatological view. Its proponents recognize this same literal meaning for the Hebrew word translated as “set up.” But then they must conceive the false ideas of “a revival of the Roman Empire” and a rebuilt temple to accommodate their yet-future fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy (John F. Walvoord, Major Bible Prophecies (Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 1991), 162-164).

Moreover, and please make special note of this fact, the reason Scripture does not use “already/not-yet” partial language is because this kingdom arrived in human history fully established in the form of human flesh (see Luke 17:20 – “in your midst” is best translation; and Col. 2:9). From there it has only increased (Isa. 9:6-7).

Sources:

1. A Once-Mighty Faith (future book – est. 2014-2015) by John Noe
2. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
3. Vine’s An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words