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What Are the 'Time of the Gentiles' ? Is it Past or Future? Jesus in His final discourse to His disciples describes what would happen to Jerusalem following His death and resurrection. The term he used is the "Time of the Gentiles." Luke 21:24 "And they (Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." In other words, there is to come a time period when Jerusalem will no longer be overrun by Gentiles, then what is said of Israel in Scripture will be fulfilled. Even at the time Jesus spoke this, Jerusalem was under control of Roman occupation (thus they were in the time of the Gentiles). Because it is written that the people of Israel rejected Jesus Christ (Yeshua ha Maschiach in Hebrew) God decided at this time to save Gentiles, those who believe the gospel and are grafted into the new Covenant. This was done 'to provoke Israel to jealousy.' God had many times before in the past used the gentiles to judge Israel and will again, but for now they are to be a blessing. The Romans armies began to surround the city of Jerusalm in 66 AD and by 70 AD destroyed the temple and brought the people into captivity. This also led to the diaspora, the scattering of the nation that God said would take place back in Deut.29 and what Jesus said of their house being desolate. After Israel is scattered from their land in different portions, it is during this last time period God has set His favor to call Gentiles to be grafted into their covenant with Him (Romans 11). The Jews for the most part are currently blinded to the gospel as this is taking place. Therefore since they will not listen to the Word, jealousy is needed to get their attention by the gentiles carrying the gospel to them. Luke 21:23-24 “ For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” This "treading down" of Jerusalem by Gentiles has been going on for centuries. It began with Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:11) in 587-586 BC. The times of the Gentiles began when Babylon, the first of four Gentile empires (According to Daniel) began to dominate Jerusalem. This prophecy tells us of what Christ called "the times of the Gentiles." The Fourth Gentile Empire (fourth beast of Daniel 7:17) where Daniel is told that these four beasts represent four kingdoms.. This last kingdom is unique from all those that came before it. It totally subdues and crushes all that precedes it, it subjugates all the earth. It is this Fourth Gentile Empire that becomes the 10 toes (10 kings ruling together) that is identified with the ending of the Times of the Gentiles. “The Babylonians held Jerusalem, then the Medes and Persians. Alexander the Great took it for the Greeks in 333 b.c. Later the Egyptians and Syrians alternately had it until the Romans under Pompey captured Israel in 64 b.c. and held it into the fourth century a.d. In the seventh century Islamic invaders took control, to be replaced near the end of the eleventh century by the Crusaders. They held Jerusalem until Saladin (Sultan of Egypt and great Muslim warrior) retook the city in 1187. Later the Islamic Mamelukes of Egypt possessed Jerusalem. Then the Ottoman-Turkish Empire ruled for about 400 years. The Turks sided with Germany in World War I, so the Allied victors gave Britain a mandate in 1917 to administer the region.”(O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Dave Hunt 9/1/2000) The reference to the 'Times of the Gentiles' in Luke 21:24, covers a period of time: when Rome surrounded and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD under Titus. This is also referencing events that leads up to the 70 th week of Daniel which paves the way for the Second Coming of Christ. The temple is to be restored and sacrifices resumed in the latter days (Mt.24:15), in the 70th year of Daniel. The angel Gabriel told Daniel that after the Messiah has come and been "cut off" (i.e., killed, "but not for himself") the temple and Jerusalem would be destroyed again (Dn. 9:25-26). This destruction would leave the Jews for "many days without a king...and without a sacrifice..." (Hos. 3:4). Something would prevent the temple from being rebuilt! That something Jesus explained would be the Gentiles in control of Jerusalem. Dan 9:26 “ and after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off (30 ad), but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.” Jerusalem would suffer desolations throughout the time. Temporary control over Jerusalem occurred in the Maccabbean Period by Antiochus, the Syrian. (170-160 BC). The invasion by Titus Vespasian of Rome (ended in 70 AD ) these desolations would continue and escalate more after the Tribulation begins. The existence of the United Nations apparently plays a key role. A vital part of UN Resolution 181 was the declaration that Jerusalem would be a corpus separatum, never part of Israel and never under the control of Jews. Former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali tells us plianly the world's true intent toward Israel: "The Jews must give up their status as a nation and Israel as a state, and assimilate as a community in the Arab world." The Times of the Gentiles was not finished in 1967 when Israel regained Jerusalem as their territory, nor when they moved their embassy to Jerusalem in 2017. Any Jewish recapture of the city of Jerusalem is temporary, as in 1967 when the Jews again took control of part of Jerusalem. The city Jerusalem was still controlled by Gentiles though Jews are able to live in it and now call it their capital. The time of the Gentiles according to the Bible ends only with the second coming of Jesus. Daniel states that he “understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem . (Dan 9:2) The 70th year is still on hold, once it commences it will continue for 7 years until the Tribulation ends. In the beginning of Mt.24 to the middle with all the world devastation taking place Jesus says the end is not yet. Israel will build a new 3 rd Temple (Mt.24:15) but it will still be under gentile occupation. Revelation 11:2 also refers to a period of time when the Gentiles are allowed to tread Jerusalem with the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:3) being present. Rev 11:1-2 And the angel stood, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.” The ' Times of the Gentiles' mentioned in Luke 21:24 and Romans 11:25 explain that we are currently living within these 'times'. Romans 11 tells us the Times of the Gentiles will end with the final salvation predicted in Scripture (Zech. 12:10) among Jewish remnant taking place at the very end of the Tribulation. The expression by Paul 'All Israel will be saved,' refers to the national Israel that survives through the tribulation. Rom. 11:25 “that blindness in part has happened to Israeluntilthe fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”Then they as a nation will see who their Messiah is and call upon him to save. Gentiles will tread Jerusalem down until a point in time when this period will come to a sudden end because of the return of Israel’s Messiah. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full 23 number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion .” Dan.2 44-45: And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” The Gentile domination of Jerusalem and the governments of the world is removed at the Second Coming of the Messiah. Daniel 7:13-14 “ I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion.” For nearing two thousand years since the AD 70 destruction of the temple, Christ's words (proving that He is God the Messiah - Isa 9:6) have been fulfilled in history, and their continued fulfillment today is at the heart of the progression of the Middle East crisis. Control of Jerusalem is often the major issue breaking down peace talks at Camp David. Sadly, neither the Israelis nor the Arabs in their "peace" negotiations give heed to what God has decreed for His land and His city. Were the world to take the Bible seriously, temporary peace could be achieved, but alas this is not what God says how mankind will react. The tribulation begins at a certain time with the peace treaty is signed with Israel and Jesus returns exactly7 years later, as Israel finally calls out for their Messiah, Jesus. Unfortunately there are endless wrong predictions of these prophecies because the premise they started with was incorrect. These false prophecies are all part of what Jesus warned of, see that no one deceives you . ' |
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