The Times of the Gentiles
The “Times of the Gentiles” spoken of in Luke 21:24 is sometimes a puzzling period of time to understand.
It appears that this period of time started when Jerusalem was overrun by the Roman Army in 70AD and most of the people who were not killed were carried away captive into other countries, leaving only a remnant of the poorest of the people there in Jerusalem.
But by the same token it could have started when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem around 600BC and carried most of the people off to Babylon. The only difference here is that they were only held captive in Babylon for 70 years, then allowed to return to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
If “The Times of the Gentiles” spoken of in Luke started around 70AD, then it must have ended when the Jewish people returned and began a nation again around 1948. I say this because Jerusalem is no longer trodden down by the Gentiles like it is described in Luke, or is it?
Then there are those who teach that these “Times of the Gentiles” is the period of time that God has alloted for the Gentile Nations to receive salvation before He turns back to the Jewish Nation to reveal the Messiah to them, who has been hidden from them for so long.
If the “Times of the Gentiles” is God’s alloted time for the Gentile Nations to be saved, I wonder when it started, how long a period of time is it and when will be the end of it?
The Apostle Paul said in Romans 11:25 that blindness in part has happened to Israel until “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”. If this was the start of the “Times of the Gentiles”, when the blindness set in on the people of Israel and they did not accept Jesus as the promised Messiah, then it must have started when Jesus began His ministry and will not end until the blindness is removed and the Jewish people accept Jesus as Messiah.
Have you ever wondered why this blindness came about? Why the Jews never would accept Jesus in spite of all the wonderful works that He performed. I believe that it was because He came forth from the tribe of Judah instead of from the tribe of Levi and the people just couldn’t accept a Priest from any other tribe than Levi where the priests had been for hundreds of years.
One thing that just amazes me when I read about the things that Jesus did, was that the authorities in that time persecuted Him for doing what He did on the Sabbath and didn’t center their attention on the miracles that happened, proving to them that God sent Him, instead all they could see was the apparent violation of their Sabbath day.
Well, anyway, back to the “Times of the Gentiles”. I personally believe that this period of time started around the time of Jesus’ ministry, is about 2000 years in duration and will end pretty soon. If this is true, we Gentiles have just a short time to accept the Lord and be saved, if we haven’t already, and the Lord turns once again back to the Jewish Nation.
