Daily devotion – What is the “Times of the Gentiles” that Jesus speaks of?
In Revelation chapter 6 we see the four horsemen of the Apocalypse with the breaking of the first seal on the scroll that Jesus the Lamb of God takes from His Father’s right hand from the throne of God – the title deed of earth’s redemption.
The first horse rider (white horse) appears…we know from Scripture that this is the coming Antichrist.
But there is a verse of Scripture that I want us to look at today from Luke’s Gospel that encompasses all these events occurring as well.
Jesus alone spoke of a period known as the “times of the Gentiles,” in Luke 21:24
“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 verse has often cause many to wonder about its meaning and timing. Jesus use of this phrase is the first and only time we find it in the Scriptures. Basically it predicts that Gentiles (non-Jewish) will dominate the city of Jerusalem until this period of time, the times of the Gentiles, is fulfilled.
So what does this phrase mean? Are we still in the “times of the Gentiles” since Jerusalem is no longer in Gentile control? Or, has the times of the Gentiles ended?
It is important to know that the coming Antichrist fits into the plan of biblical history. To understand this we must appreciate what the Scripture has to say about this period of time Jesus spoke of known as “the times of the Gentiles.”
Simply stated, the “times of the Gentiles” consists of the period when the city of Jerusalem has been without a king from the line of David. This began about 587 B.C. at the time of the destruction of the city and the temples, as well as the deportation of the people to Babylon. This time period continues on to the present. For the greater part of the last twenty six hundred years. Jerusalem has been under Gentile domination.
While Jerusalem had a few kings which ruled for about a one hundred year period before the time of Christ, 166 B.C. to 64 B.C., none of them were from the royal line of David!
Israel became a modern state in 1948. The city of Jerusalem came under complete Jewish control in 1967 and it is now in the hands of Jews, not Gentiles. While there is presently Jewish, not Gentile, rule over the city, there is no king ruling from David’s line. We are still in the times of the Gentiles.
This is where the predicted Antichrist enters the scene, the first horse rider introduced in Revelation 6 at the breaking of the first seal on the scroll. Once again, there will be Gentile domination over the city when the coming man of sin makes a treaty with the Jewish nation as foretold by Daniel the prophet, and then he breaks his treaty. At that time he exerts his authoritarian rule over them.
Daniel 9:27 “The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”
His oppressive domination over Jerusalem will come to an end when Jesus Christ returns to the earth. Until this amazing event occurs, we are still in the times of the Gentiles.
When Christ comes back to the earth the times of the Gentiles will be once-for-all over!
Jerusalem will again be ruled by the rightful King, the King of kings!
Amen!