What is The Times of the Gentiles?
In Luke 21:24, Jesus speaks of future events, including the destruction of Jerusalem and His return. He says
“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 by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
A similar phrase is found in Romans 11:25, which says, “A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Does the Bible tell us what the phrase “times of the Gentiles” means?
The context above already has a hint, “that Israel shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away as captives into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
Could the Times of the Gentiles coinsides with the times of Jacob’s trouble? It seems possible. The fall by the edge of the sword upon Jerusalem could occur when the house of Judah is again taken into captivity under Ezekiel 4; when Exekiel was made to bear the iniquity of Judah for forty years; where Judah shall bear his iniquity for forty days, for God have appointed them a day for a year.
A narror context is in Jeremiah 30:6-8
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
8 “‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more be served by him.
Israel incorporates the house of Jacob; it’s also the times of Jacob’s trouble. The house of Judah had already returned to the State of Israel, but the house of Israel hasn’t returned. That’s about to change.
There is a parallel Scripture in Ezekiel 36: “the mountain of Israel” this prophecy is concerning the desolations of the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;
— shoot forth your branches; that is, the trees that grew upon them should; the vines, and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains; these are their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (US); Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Virgin Islands (UK); Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion (France).
For an answer, lets go into the Old Testament, where this phase originated.
Ezekiel 30:3 “For the day is near; even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the Gentiles” (NKJV, JUB).
The times of the Gentiles could also coincide with the iniquities of the hiouse of Israel for 190 years and the house of Judah for 40 years as given by the Septuagint version of Ezekiel 4:
5 For I have appointed thee their iniquities for a number of days, for a hundred and ninety days: so thou shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Israel. — start with the 10 tribes but end with the full house of Israel; all 12 tribes: end of the 190 years
6 And thou shalt accomplish this, and shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Juda forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Ezekiel 4:4-6 Septuagint. — after the start of the 10 tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years, the house of Judah; 3 tribes join in for 40 years
9 Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and bread-corn; and thou shalt cast them into one earthen vessel, and shalt make them into loaves for thyself; and thou shalt eat them a hundred and ninety days, according to the number of the days which thou sleepest on thy side. Ezekiel 4:4-9 Septuagint. — from the start with 10 tribes and ends with the full house of Israel: 190 years: why the difference? Perhaps Judah had undergo numerous pogroms and cleanings whereas Ephraim has none since the day when went captivity and into apparent oblivion
We’re now in the Hebrew year 5782 and we’ll need another 217 years to usher the Divine Plan into the 7th Millennium as we believe. Of course, this is on the assumption that God’s oracles have been accurately kept since the day Adam was created as the Orthodox custodians claim.
If we add 217 years to the Gregorian calendar year 2022 we’ll come to 2239 when the 7th Millennium starts. Working backward 190 years will bring us to the Gregorian year 2049. So could the year 2049 be the start of the house of Israel’s “iniquity?” — “thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them;” Ezekiel 4:13 in captivity to start the 190 years?
Japheth
The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim 