The Times Of The Gentiles

by J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Category: The Finger Of Prophecy | May 1970

As these subjects in the field of prophecy develop, considerable prominence will necessarily be given to the nations of the world as distinct from Israel. At this point then it will be useful to consider what the Lord meant when He referred to "the times of the Gentiles". He said, "But when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand.... And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21.20-24).

This is the only reference in Scripture to the expression "the times of the Gentiles". The Greek word translated "times" signifies a fixed or definite period. God's great programme for the Gentiles (that is, the nations of the world other than Israel) covers a period of time which is fixed by divine decree. It is the period of the treading down of Jerusalem under Gentile domination. It extends from the days of Nebuchadnezzar till the day when the Son of Man returns in power and great glory for the deliverance of the Holy City, as seen, for example, in Zechariah 14.

There have been nations on the earth since the growth of the families of Noah's sons. Their beginnings are described in Genesis 10. They are mentioned from time to time in the development of Bible history, invariably in relation to Israel. No specific reference, however, is made at any stage to the actual date of contemporary history in the case of any particular Gentile ruler until Jeremiah 25.1, which reads, "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah; the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon".

This verse is of profound significance. It is the first recorded Gentile date in Scripture, indeed the only place where the chronology of Jew and Gentile are linked together by specific date. The first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. In that year took place the first of the three carryings away of Judah into captivity, in the sovereign purposes of the Most High. The treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles had begun. Using the king of Babylon as the rod of His anger He had begun "to work evil at the city which is called by My Name" (verse 29), and such is the prophetic sweep of Jeremiah 25 that it finally has in view a like judgement falling on all the nations of the earth, with the king of Babylon in a coming day drinking the cup of divine fury last of all (as touching which judgement we find much food for thought in Revelation chapters 17-19).

So the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was the beginning of the dominion of Gentile power over Israel, the beginning of the times of the Gentiles. Israel was going rapidly into national disgrace and captivity. Her glorious capital city, symbolizing the entire nation, would never again be free of Gentile domination, until the times of the Gentiles would be complete.

The sequence of this unbroken Gentile rule over Jerusalem was outlined in symbol in a dream which the God of heaven gave to this Gentile ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, in the second year of his reign. The account is given in detail in Daniel 2. It was an image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet partly iron and partly clay. Through His servant Daniel God also provided the interpretation of the dream.

A like message was conveyed also by God to Daniel in a dream in the days of Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar. This time it was of four great beasts which came up out of the sea. The details are in Daniel 7. Firstly the lion with eagle's wings, then a bear, next a leopard and finally "a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and strong exceedingly". It had iron teeth and ten horns. Again Daniel received the interpretation.

The meaning of the two dreams was one; they both viewed the passing down of world power through the Gentile nations, the first dream from the human standpoint, the second from the divine. They traced it right through from the days of Nebuchadnezzar till the Son of Man will come and smash Gentile might with the sheer glory of His appearing. That, then, is the period of the times of the Gentiles.

For those who are not instructed in these matters it may be well at this point to set out the sequence of Gentile power, as depicted in the God-given dreams, and as confirmed thus far in the history of the intervening centuries.

First - the head of gold (or the lion with eagle's wings) represented the Babylonian empire, and in particular Nebuchadnezzar, its despotic ruler. He was an absolute monarch, in the strictest sense. Daniel said of him, "All the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him; whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down" (Daniel 5.19).

Second - the breast and arms of silver (or the bear). Much has been written as to the relative values and specific gravities of gold and silver and the metals which follow, but suffice it here to say that, by common consent, the Medo-Persian empire (the two combined nations corresponding to the two arms) which succeeded the Babylonian, carried the inferiority in autocratic rule which the change from gold to silver had predicted. And Daniel records the passing of world power from one empire to the other from a divine standpoint rather than a military one when he records that "In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom" (Daniel 5.30,31). The kingdom had passed by divine authorization, in the succession of Gentile dominion.

Third - the belly and thighs of brass (or the leopard) symbolized the peculiar glory of Greece.. In this case the succession was not only predicted but was also actually named by Daniel in chapter 8, many long years before the happening, with a fascinating account of how, following the death of Alexander the Great, his empire would be divided among his four generals (verses 21,22). Again, what is prophecy to man is simply history to God.

Fourth - the legs of iron (or the fourth beast), strong, crushing iron, graphically portrayed the might of the Roman empire, before which the Grecians completely collapsed, and the then known world came so effectively under the authority of Rome that in Luke 2.1 we read of Caesar Augustus decreeing that all the world should be enrolled. In due course, historians record the division of the Roman empire and the establishment of two great centres, Rome for the West and Constantinople for the East-the two legs seen in the vision.

Fifth - partly iron and partly clay. But although there is historical counterpart to the two legs of the image, nothing has as yet gone down in the annals of history corresponding to the two feet with their ten toes. This is the one part of the prophecy which history has not as yet confirmed. The former Roman empire awaits a future manifestation when its crushing, ruthless iron will be mixed with clay, when it will be presented to the nations of the world in ten areas of government rather than in the former two. With this kingdom, referred to in Revelation 13 and 17, we shall deal more fully when we consider later the subject of the grouping of the nations.

Between the fall of the fourth empire and its revival in another form (for the iron is common to both) there is one of those time gaps with which the student of Scripture is familiar. Another and deeply significant gap is the undefined length of time between the close of Daniel's 69th week and the opening of the 70th. With the close of the 69th week, the Lord Jesus, Israel's Messiah, was cut off and the period of the fulness of the Gentiles began, referred to Romans 11.25, and not to be confused with the times of the Gentiles.

In this dispensation of grace, Christ is building the Church which is His Body and His disciples are given the privilege of gathering in churches of God in obedience to the Faith that they may form a spiritual house for God to dwell in. But following the rapture of the Church, either immediately or after such preparatory time as the Lord may decree, Daniel's 70th week will commence and run its memorable course. Then in the days of the kings of the iron-clay confederacy of that period, the Son of Man will come and like the little stone which smashed the image, He will put an end to Gentile rule and set up His own glorious kingdom. And as touching Israel, "the days of thy mourning shall be ended" (Isaiah 60.20).

We have considered thus in a cursory way the development, or degeneration of Gentile power in the times of the Gentiles. We now make a brief reference to Israel in the years of her subjection. The opening paragraph in "A nation reborn", a pamphlet published recently by the Education Department of the Jewish National Fund, reads as follows: "In the year 70, Jerusalem was captured by the Romans and the Temple destroyed. With the loss of national independence and the subsequent dispersion, the Jewish people began to hope and pray for a Return to Zion. During the centuries which followed, Jewish communities, though small in number, continued to exist in Palestine. Their numbers were reinforced from time to time by Rabbis, students and other settlers, who, in spite of hardships and discouragement returned to the Land to study there, or just to die there. The vision of the Return never faded from the heart and mind of the Jewish people. Poets, such as Hehuda Halevi (12th century), gave poignant expression to these hopes".

From the beginning of the 19th century, movements to promote the resettlement of Jews in Palestine began to develop in Central and Eastern Europe. Growing interest in the visionary ideals of Theodor Herzl resulted in the First Zionist Congress at Basle, Switzerland, in 1897, when the Basle Programme, unanimously adopted, was: "To create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law". Great impetus was also given by Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1927), who was dedicated to the idea of reviving the Hebrew language. In 1910 he began to prepare a modern Hebrew dictionary and soon afterwards a generation was born which spoke Hebrew as its mother tongue.

On 2nd November 1917, the famous Balfour Declaration was written. "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object

Then came the victorious entry by General Allenby into Jerusalem in December 1917 and the city was delivered from 500 years of Turkish rule, but was still not available to Israel. So the immigrant Jews began to return to the Land. In the 40 years before the State of Israel was established on 14th May 1948, it was estimated that some 500,000 immigrants had returned. But in the first 40 months after statehood some 700,000 came from 74 lands. They came to a land which was greatly carved up, much of the old territory and part of the Holy City being part of the Kingdom of Jordan. Then came the 6-day war, and on 6th June 1967, after the lapse of centuries, the entire city of Jerusalem passed again into Israel's hands.

The Lord Jesus said: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled". Some view this prediction as referring to the time when the Holy City will be trodden under foot by the man of sin for the 42 months of Revelation 11.2. We respect their view for a case which doubtless with considerable skill they could argue. The more generally accepted view, however, is that the setting of the Lord's words is the A.D. 70 destruction of Jerusalem, in the days of vengeance of which the prophets had spoken and which were envisaged in the Lord's parable of the burning of the murderers' city in Matthew 22.7 and from the destruction by Titus, Jerusalem would remain trodden down by world powers until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Did then the treading down of Jerusalem cease on 6th June 1967? Even as we write the position of Jerusalem lies at the heart of fierce international dispute. Israel is determined not to give it up. Other and important nations disagree. There is a cloud over the Holy City, and it is not the canopy of Isaiah 4.5. Certain Gentile nations are still in hot pursuit of at least a portion of it. It may well take the Covenant of the Roman prince (Daniel 9.27) to secure the city in its entirety to Israel, but even in those circumstances it would be in terms of a covenant with the Gentiles. Not till the Stone of Daniel 2.45 comes, the Lord Jesus Christ, will the city secure its abiding release under the benign rule of Messiah. Gentiles will tread down the city no more-the "times of the Gentiles" will be complete.

As we ponder present-day Jerusalem, the miracle city, we marvel at the rapid unfolding in our own day of the eventful happenings which must inevitably precede the great prophetic fulfilments of the terminal years. And reverently, appreciatively ponder our Lord's words: "Even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors" (Matthew 24.33).

J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | May 1970
The Finger Of Prophecy