The Gentiles Their Times And Their Fulness

by J.L. Ferguson | Category: General | Apr 1958

References in Scripture to Gentile dates are infrequent and are invariably in relation to some current event in Israel's history. Their infrequency makes theni noteworthy. The first specific Gentile date in Scripture is in Jeremiah 25. 1, " ... the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah; the same as the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

That was a momentous year for the Gentiles an ominous one for Israel. That year (Jeremiah 36.1) Jeremiah wrote, at the command of the Lord, the story of Israel's persistent pursuit of evil during twenty three years of his prophetic office (Jeremiah 25. 3). It was the climax to their back sliding history that year also there was revealed to Jeremiah the seventy years' desolation of Israel's land while her people would languish in Babylon.

In the year following, that is the fifth year of Jehoiakim, being the second of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah's servant Baruch (Jeremiah 36.9) read to the people and princes of Judah the words of the LORD in the writings of the prophet. Then Jehudi read them to the wicked king, but he could only bear to hear three or four pages, then, cutting the scroll with a penknife, he cast it into the fire which burned in the brazier. Neither the king nor any of his servants feared what he did that day (Jeremiah 36.28, 24), though three princes made intercession (verse 25). Israel's doom was now sealed and the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah (36.28) saying, "Take thee again another roll, and Write in it all the former words ... The king of Babylon shall certainly come." Israel, doomed; the word of the LORD, enduring for ever.

Meanwhile in that same second year of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2.1), equally portentous things were happening in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed the dream of the image which had the head of fine gold and so forth. The meaning of the image was conveyed to him by Daniel (who records it in chapter 2), while Daniel himself was given a somewhat similar dream (described in chapter 7), but this time the same truth was conveyed in an imagery of wild beasts.

But the two visions were one. They were a description of Gentile government from the days of Nebuchadnezzar (the head of gold or the great ferocious lion, depending on whether he be viewed from a human viewpoint or a divine) until the coming of the Son of Man.

Thus Israel lost the blessings of Gerizim (Deuteronomy 27.12), forfeiting the promises of God which would have made her the head of the nations and not the tail. And the longings of God to bless all nations through a radiant law-loving Israel had perforce to recede. In keeping with this we read the words spoken to Belshazzar: "The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty"(Daniel 5.8). Thus the sovereignty of the world passed into Gentile hands. And Israel, destined originally to be the head of the nations, went to sojourn in the reproach of the captivity of Babylon.

The times of the Gentiles, therefore, commenced with the beginnings of Nebuchadnezzar and will continue till the coming of the Lord Jesus to the earth in His power and great glory. In those latter days the ten toes of the image of Daniel 2 and the ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 will be expressed in the ten kings of Revelation 17, who "have one mind, and they give their power and authority unto the beast." "The kingdom of the world" will be "the kingdom of the beast" (Revelation 11.12), only to become later, "the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever

Thus, Daniel records in chapter 2.44, that " 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." Then Jerusalem shall be trodden down no more of the Gentiles, for their times will be fulfilled. No more shall she be termed "Forsaken" and her land no more termed "Desolate" ; but rather " Hephzi-bah" and " Beulah " - which are, being interpreted, " My delight is in her," and "Married." What a captivating picture is drawn by Isaiah and his fellow-prophets of the glory that shall be Israel's when the times of the Gentiles are complete

The seventy years of discipline in Babylon brought back part, at least, of the nation in chastened spirit, determined to see the restoration of the years of divine testimony which the locusts had eaten. But the heart of the nation was wholly set on tradition and formalism and on departing from the living God. Therefore when Messiah came they said, " This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him, and take His inheritance" (Matthew 21.88). But what actually happened was contrariwise, as witness so many of the New Testament Scriptures, for example

"Your house is left unto you desolate " (Matthew 23.88).

"The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21. 48).

"Be it known therefore unto you, that this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles... they will also hear " (Acts 28. 28).

In this way the Gentiles entered into their " fulness," described in Romans 11. By Israel's fall salvation came to the Gentiles; and Israel's loss was to prove the riches of the Gentiles. But let us not be conceited in this, says Paul. Israel's branches were broken off that we might be grafted in. Our standing is in grace alone, by faith; therefore in divine testimony we must not be high-minded, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

The fulness of the Gentiles is therefore the great period of Gentile opportunity, while Israel is in a cast-off state since Calvary in the purposes of God, and the word of the Lord is resting among, and going forth to, the Gentile nations. The fulness therefore is seen from Pentecost to the coming of the Lord to the air for His saints, and that fulness will then " come in " ; that is how Paul describes its cessation in Romans 11.25.

But " the times of the Gentiles " will continue until at the close of Daniel's seventieth week, the Lord comes to the earth, and they be fulfilled (Luke 21.24). "A Redeemer shall come to Zion" (Isaiah 59.20) or, " There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer" (Romans 11. 26). He will come to Zion in accordance with the ancient prophecies for the deliverance of Israel in the time of Jacob's trouble. Then He will send forth the rod of His most excellent strength out of Zion and bring peace to the war-scarred earth.

Thus indeed "a nation will be born in a day," when Israel will be grafted in again, and after the parched and dried up centuries will partake again of the root of the fatness of the olive tree. Ungodliness turned away-sins gone!

A quiet reflection on the coming glory of the Lord as enthroned once more on the praises of His ancient people, graphically described in Isaiah 60, and many other parts besides, will warm our hearts in these chilly days before the dawn of His coming. "He shall come as a stream pent in" for Israel's help (Isaiah 59.19, R.V.M.). What a description of the readiness of the Redeemer! For the day of vengeance was in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come

(63.4).

At that time Zion's light will have come to her, as it is written, "Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee" (60.1). But the Light that comes to Zion will also stream out from it, and nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising " (60.3).

And as we write the air seems charged with the preparations for the final affliction of cast-off Israel. In every land there seems also a sense of urgency in the hearts of children of God, as though the Rapture were imminent. Soon, the fulness of the Gentiles will come in. Soon also the times of the Gentiles will be complete. Then Israel will emerge from her long, long night of darkness and sorrow, and of that day it is written, " The LORD shall be thine everlasting Light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended" (Isaiah 60.20).

J.L. Ferguson | Apr 1958
General