What are the times of the Gentiles?

And they 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.
Luke 21:24

The times of the Gentiles starts with the Babylonian captivity, way back in the book of Daniel, who longed to look into future things, and was given several visions about the world to come. Seventy weeks, declares the angel, have been determined against your people (Daniel 9:24). Seventy weeks sounds like a relatively short time until one realizes that these are weeks of years, amounting a total of 490 years. Sixty nine of those weeks of years were determined until the Messiah is “cut off”. This happened with the death of Christ on the cross, as near as we can figure it, exactly 483 years later. It is one of the most wonderful prophetic predictions of the Old Testament, and the truth of the prophecy eclipses even the best higher criticism, since the book of Daniel was in existence long before the time of Christ.

But this was a confusing passage to the scholars of that day: How could a suffering Messiah that was so evident in the Old Testament also be a reigning Messiah? The simple answer is that Jesus himself pointed to the division with his quotation of Isaiah, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”. Jesus deliberately refrains from quoting the last part of this verse, “and the day of vengeance of our God”, for he had not come to bring vengeance, but rather to offer mercy and salvation to a lost world.

The day of vengeance was to begin with that fateful seventieth week, of which Daniel himself is given the explanation that “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” In the portion of the verse I quoted, the pronoun “he” refers to the prince. The prince here, I believe, refers to the prince of the world, Satan himself. I cannot seem to get around the plain sense of the verse; it is obvious that sacrifices are once again being offered in the Jerusalem temple.

It is well to remember that Daniel wrote this in a time when the temple itself had been utterly destroyed, and that happened for the last time in 70 A.D. Daniel was talking about sacrifice in a temple that did not, in his day, exist, and was pointing ahead to a temple that does not exist today. Many Bible scholars feel that this points to a future rebuilding of the temple, for how else can sacrifices be once again stopped?

Today’s continuing crisis in Jerusalem has as its basis this non-existent temple of the Jews. On the one hand, Muslims deny that it ever existed, since their temple is built on the same site given by God to David so long ago as the site where the house of God is to be built. On the other hand, the Jews of Israel today are largely a functional atheistic people, but there remains a militant minority of devout Jews. This minority of devout Jews have a disparate and large influence over the pluralistic form of government in Israel today. They wish to use that influence to get back their temple. Christians are watching the fight between the Jews and the Muslims closely today. If God intends for the temple to be rebuilt, it will be so done, even in troublesome times.

Revelation largely, and appropriately, deals with this seventieth week. Chapters four through nineteen deal with this final week, determined against the Jews. It is noted, especially by those who believe in the Rapture (including me), that the word church is not to be found in these chapters, not once, though it is found in the preceding and subsequent chapters. Why? Because the church is not to be found in the seventieth week, a final judgment on Israel, and one which God has never intended to bring upon his church. The church is to be “saved from the wrath to come.”

This final week is a week where God pours his wrath out, both upon the world and upon the Jews, and will culminate in the Coming of the Son. It is the “day of vengeance” that Jesus so long ago refrained from announcing. At the end of the seventieth week, the times of the Gentiles will forever end, and the day of our Lord reigning on earth will begin.
God will at last make peace with his chosen people, the Jews, and Jesus will reign over the earth from the city of Jerusalem. Zechariah says of this day, “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one (Zech. 14:9). Will the Jews at last be reconciled to the will of their God? Listen to the prophet Zecharius again, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son” (Zech. 12:10).

What preparation will the Jews have for seeing this one whom they have pierced? There are two witnesses that are raised up, and are given spiritual jurisdiction over the nation of Israel for 1,260 days, or exactly one half of this last week. During the middle of the week, when they have finished their testimony the beast is allowed to kill them. After three and one half days, God will raise them even while their enemies are looking on.

What will these two witnesses do? The Bible (Rev. 11) says that they will have the power to shut up the sky so that it does not rain, which reminds us of the prophet Elijah. Did not the men of the time of Jesus’s first coming anticipate the return of Elijah? Indeed, the last words of the Old Testament, Micah, tell us “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4). And why is Elijah sent to us? Malachi again tells us specifically, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” The specific job God tasks these two witnesses with is for them to turn the hearts of his people around.

But what other powers are they given? Revelation (11) tells us that they will have the power to turn the very water of the earth into blood, and they will have the power to strike the earth with plagues as often as they want. This is a powerful allusion to Moses, and undoubtedly these two witnesses will stand against the beast just as Moses stood against the hard-hearted Pharaoh.

But this Pharaoh, or beast, will be different than his type. He will apparently be allowed to win and will bring about the death of the two witnesses. So powerful are these two witnesses that the Bible tells us that the whole world rejoices in their deaths. After three and one half days these two witnesses shall be raised again to life, being carried up to heaven even while their enemies watch.

The times of the Gentiles? The chaos and casual taking of life, the disease and misfortune of men, the wars and strivings against one another, and even death itself will begin to work backwards, as these times conclude with the second advent of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah. A new age of man will be introduced, with a new king, and his subjects, the very despised Jew of the Middle East, will rule with him. And where will we be? We will be like the wedding guests bidden in at the last moment because the regular guests refused to come, and we will be given eternal life to spend at the side of our Savior. If Paul is to be believed, we will help with the very rule of this earthly kingdom, but we will even outlast that kingdom, and will go into eternity ever at the side of our Lord. It just could not be better than that!

A final word? The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and open to all repentant peoples during this time of the Gentiles. The grace of God is offered to all who will receive it, and no man, regardless of race, creed, or sinful lifestyle will be precluded from the sacrifice that God did make on the cross, during that 69th week of Daniel. But do not think to come in your pride, for there is not one lifestyle of which he will approve, save that of the repentant sinner. Let your prayer be that of the publican, saying God have mercy on me, a sinner. We know too well the reward of the prayer of the righteous who say just as the Pharisee, thank God I am not like that sinner.

There will be no comparative scale of righteousness on that day. No grace is extended to any man on the basis of right or privilege or behavior. Instead man will be measured by the eternal standard of righteousness, and only those who are in Christ will be found to meet the standard, not at all by their own righteousness, but rather by the righteousness that is imputed unto them through their faith and belief in God. All men, regardless of race, creed, birth, or privilege, apart from faith, will be found wanting at that time, and the grace of God, boundless in its offer, will not be extended to them. Abraham, says the scripture, believed God, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness. The day of this age is drawing to a close, and may well be closed before our lifetimes end. Is it not time for you to check your faith that leads to the level ground of repentant sinners before the cross of Christ?



Notes of Relevance

As the prophets in their foreview evidently took no account of time during which Israel was to be cut off from national blessings, the present church age, which began with the cross of Christ and ends at an unrevealed time, is in no instance considered in their foreview, and the remaining moments of the prophesied time will not be counted off until this mystery age of the church has been completed.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1161-1164). . Kindle Edition.


Scofield defines the times of the Gentiles, “Summary: The Times of the Gentiles is that long period beginning with the Babylonian captivity of Judah, under Nebuchadnezzar, and to be brought to an end by the destruction of Gentile world-power by the "stone cut out without hands.”1 Clear as mud? Let me just say that the times of the Gentiles began with the captivity, and are continuing today, until the coming of Christ. Chafer is a little more clear when he defines the times of the Gentiles, “Daniel sees the entire period of the "times of the Gentiles" extending from the captivity, through 483 years to the cross, and on beyond to the dateless coming of the "Ancient of Days" and the setting up of a kingdom by the God of Heaven which shall never be destroyed. "It shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms and it shall stand for ever".”2


1. Scofield, Cyrus Ingerson (2011-10-05). Study Bible KJV - Scofield Reference Bible (Kindle Locations 55573-55575). FLT. Kindle Edition.
[Da 2:34,24,44 i.e., the coming of the Lord in glory Re 19:11,21 until which time Jerusalem is politically subject to Gentile rule. Lu 21:24]

2. Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1171-1174). . Kindle Edition


The portion of "the times of the Gentiles" following the cross, including as it does the church age, is clearly indefinite aside from the events assigned to Daniel's last "week" (cf. Dan. 9:26 with Mt. 24:6-14). This, as might be expected, is the divine method of accurately forecasting Israel's future while reserving any clear light on the sacred secret of this mystery age. There was no secret regarding the "times of the Gentiles," with the attending present position of Israel in the world; but hidden within that era is a briefer period, "the fullness of the Gentiles" (Rom. 11:25) about which nothing had been revealed.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1175-1179). . Kindle Edition.


Luke 21:20-24. "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they 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."

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Daniel 9:24

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Daniel 9:26

This began with Daniel's time, or when the edict to restore Jerusalem was sent forth, and ended with the cutting off of Messiah. This was exactly fulfilled in the 483 years (69 times 7) before Christ.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1160-1161). . Kindle Edition.

As the prophets in their foreview evidently took no account of time during which Israel was to be cut off from national blessings, the present church age, which began with the cross of Christ and ends at an unrevealed time, is in no instance considered in their foreview, and the remaining moments of the prophesied time will not be counted off until this mystery age of the church has been completed.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1161-1164). . Kindle Edition.

Notwithstanding the fact that the mystery age of the church did not come into the prophet's view, the time of the final heptad, or period of seven, was seen to be much delayed; for it was given to him to understand "what shall befall thy people in the latter days; for yet the vision is for many days."

Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1168-1171). . Kindle Edition.

It shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms and it shall stand for ever" (2:44, 45; 7:13, 14).

Chafer, Lewis Sperry (2010-09-19). The Kingdom in History and Prophecy (Kindle Locations 1173-1174). . Kindle Edition.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Romans 11:25