The Constant Church of God presents clear answers to your questions, directly from the Bible!

What did Jesus mean when He said “the times of the gentiles”?

When did those times begin?

When will they end?

What does the Bible say?

Please open your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 21 and verse 24.

24 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.

When we avoid personal opinion and speculation and let the Bible interpret the Bible, we can understand exactly what Jesus Christ meant.

He — and only He — proclaims what will happen in the future with perfect accuracy.

Let’s first identify WHO gentiles are.

Gentiles are people who did not descend from the patriarch Jacob, who was later renamed Israel by God.
So gentiles are non-Israelite nations.

In Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had this dream which troubled him.

He wanted to know what it meant. But all of the magicians, the astrologers and the sorcerers could not tell him.

In verse 31, Daniel — under inspiration of God — revealed that Nebuchadnezzar saw a great image with a head of gold; chest and arms of silver; belly and thighs of bronze; legs of iron; and feet with a mixture of iron and clay.

In verse 36, Daniel explained that the image represented FOUR successive, world-ruling GENTILE empires that would dominate the world.

In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel had a dream. He saw FOUR beasts come up from the sea, one after the other.

The first was like a lion with eagle’s wings; the second, like a bear with three ribs in its mouth; the third, like a leopard with four heads and four wings; and the fourth beast was so terrifying and exceedingly strong he could not describe it.

These four beasts depicted the same FOUR gentile kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

FOUR successive, world-ruling empires — rising from the Mediterranean Sea — that Bible history believes dominated the world.

The Babylonian empire was the first. It existed from 625 to 538 BC.

The Medo-Persian empire, founded by Cyrus the Great around 539, 538 BC, was the second.

The third gentile superpower was the Greco-Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great from about 331 to 168 BC.

The fourth empire was the Roman Empire which dominated the world from 31 BC until it fell in 476 AD.

The Roman Empire expanded and absorbed the territories of those three other kingdoms that preceded it.

It became extremely powerful, embodying the strongest military characteristics of the kingdoms preceding it: the royal splendor of Babylon; the massive size and numerical military power of the Persians; and, the swiftness, the cunning, the cruelty of Alexander’s Greco-Macedonian forces.

At its peak in 117 AD, the Roman Empire stretched across three continents — Europe, Asia and Africa — encompassing an area of almost 2 million square miles with an estimated population of 60-70 million people.
Approximately a quarter of the entire world’s population at that time.

In 63 BC, the Roman general Pompey the Great captured Jerusalem.

And in 6 AD, the whole of Judea or Palestine — with its capital at Jerusalem — became a Roman province administered by a Roman procurator or governor.

In 66 AD, the Jews rebelled against their Roman rulers.

The Roman Emperor Vespasian dispatched 60,000 to 80,000 soldiers led by his son Titus who brutally and mercilessly put down the uprising.

Jerusalem was demolished and the temple destroyed.

The Jews were massacred, taken captive as slaves or scattered to various areas of the vast Roman empire.

Turn now to Revelation chapter 13.

The apostle John, in the island of Patmos, sees this vision from God.

Revelation 13 and verse 1.

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

The beast John saw was a composite, a combination of the four gentile kingdoms in the book of Daniel.

This beast represents the final, end-time revival of the Roman Empire.

Bible prophecy is dual.

There is a preliminary fulfillment which is merely the type or forerunner of a second, which is the final climactic fulfillment occurring in the time of the end.

The destruction of Jerusalem was merely a forerunner of a great national invasion and captivity yet to take place.

The more terrible fulfillment, the climactic, earth-shaking major event of this prophecy, is yet to happen.
Very soon now!

In our generation!

At which time, Jerusalem will once again be trodden down by the gentiles.

This future event marks the beginning of the times of the gentiles.

In Revelation chapter 16, the Russian army and its Oriental allies cross the Euphrates River to confront the European forces at the plain of Megiddo.

And just as world war III is about to erupt in a nuclear holocaust threatening to extinguish ALL life on the earth, Jesus Christ returns.

He will thoroughly crush that gentile alliance — the Europeans, the Russians, the Orientals — that comes up to fight against Him.

He will deliver Jerusalem from the gentiles.

The returning Warrior-King Jesus Christ will put an end to the times of the gentiles.

Never again will the gentiles tread down and trample on — desecrate and profane — Jerusalem, God’s holy city!

This is Ross Abasolo with the Constant Church of God.

Join us again next time to hear more about what the Bible actually says!