The Beginning of "the times of the Gentiles"

[BanjoPicker]

This means the dispensation or administration of the Gentiles, as the rod of chastening upon Israel, to further God's purpose concerning them. It began with Israel's first oppression by the Gentiles in Egypt, and it continues with the history of Israel through this dispensation of Grace. It ends at the return of the Messiah in glory when He will deliver Israel from the Gentiles and exalt them as the head of all nations in the Millennium and forever (Lk. 21:24; Rev. 11:1, 2).

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Door of Mercy Always Open to Gentiles

This dispensation of the Gentiles is mentioned only in Luke 21:24 and referred to in Rom. 11:25 as "the fulness of the Gentiles." The fulness of the Gentiles, is often taken to mean that a time will come when God will no longer save Gentiles, but will give salvation only to the Jews. Such a doctrine is not once mentioned in the Bible.
During the future tribulation both Jews and Gentiles can and will be saved.
Peter said that during this time God would "pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh . . . . And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:16-21). This is to be during the time when God is to "shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord," and certainly this is during the tribulation. John predicts that " a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" would be saved and come "out of the great tribulation" (Rev. 7:9-17).
These and many other Scriptures prove that the Holy Spirit will never be taken out of the world and that the door of mercy to the Gentiles will not be closed during the tribulation, or at ant other time. Such a doctrine is foreign to the Being and justice of God and contrary to all Scripture.
In the time of the salvation of the Jews, God made provision for the salvation of the Gentiles, so in this time of the turning of God to Gentiles, He has made provision for the Jews to be reconciled to Him, "For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no differences between the Jew and the Greek: For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:11-13). The gospel has always been and always will be to "the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16). Paul said, "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles. . . . and have been all made to drink into the Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:12, 13).

 

[BanjoPicker]

Salvation is for all men and for all ages, and whether Jews or Gentiles are saved in any age is determined by their acceptance or rejection of salvation and not only by God's choice in the matter. God wills for all men to be saved, and if it were entirely up to Him all men would be saved, but because men also have a choice and a part of their destiny, all men are not saved. The central theme of the gospel is that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life" Jn. 3:16. Mark wrote, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be da-med" Mk. 16:16. Paul said of God, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" 1 Tim. 2:4-6. Peter taught the same thing of God when he said, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" 2 Pet. 3:9.
The term "the fulness of the Gentiles" therefore, could not mean that God will some day cut off Gentiles from salvation and that God will become a cruel tyrant, da-mning the souls of men in eternity regardless of what those men would desire to do about their own destiny. This term means the same as "the times of the Gentiles" and has nothing to do with the salvation of the Gentiles, but to the political domination over the Jews by the Gentiles, off and on, from the Egyptian bondage to the second coming of Christ.
The word "Gentiles" simply means nations, heathen, the non-Israelites. Anybody who is not a Jew or of the tribes of Israel who came from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob is a Gentile.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The flood ended all the different families of the Earth. All men on Earth today came from the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, Japheth, as recorded in Gen. 10; 1 Chron. 1. Before Abraham the whole race was made up of Gentiles or nations of various kinds of people. From the call of Abraham God began a new race, and He began to deal with the human family as made up of two parts, which would be known today as Jews and Gentiles. When the New Testament Church was started, God dealt with the human family as being made up of three classes: the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church of God (1 Cor. 10:31, 32). The church is being made up of both Jews and Gentiles who make one body in Christ by the Gospel (1 Cor. 13:13; Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 2:11-22; 3:6).

 

[BanjoPicker]

The term "the times of the Gentiles" refers to the time Israel's history as a nation when she has been oppressed, more or less, by the Gentiles, whether she was in the land or not. It means the political domination of Israel as a nation by the Gentiles. If it refers to the domination of Israel while in their land only, then "the times of the Gentiles" could not be from the fall of Jerusalem as by Babylon or Rome to our day, for the Jews have been out of their land most of this time. The term must be understood in connection with the Gentiles oppressions of Israel throughout her history, from the first oppression of the Jews by the Gentiles, whether in their land or not.

The whole length of "the times of the Gentiles" has already been over 3,700 years and will continue until the second advent of Christ, who will deliver the Jews from the Gentiles under the Antichrist and set up an earthly kingdom over them forever (Zech. 14; Lk. 1:32, 33; Rev. 11:15; 19:11-21; 20:1-10; Dan. 2:44; 7:13, 14, 18, 27; Isa. 9:6, 7).

 

[BanjoPicker]

It is generally taught that "the time of the Gentiles" is 2,520 years, based upon human theory about the "seven times" of Lev. 26, where God predicted that when Israel sinned He would punish them "seven times" for their sins. It is believed that a prophetic year is 360 days long and that one can make a day mean a year any time one wants to, so a year of 360 days is made a period of 360 years. Seven times 360 years would make 2,520 years.
Many men teach that these 2,520 years began with the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar about 606 B. C. One can stretch 2,520 years over a period of 2,520 years so when they are started at a certain date in the past, they will naturally end at a certain date 2,520 years later. This why we have so many endings for "the time of the Gentiles." We have in modern books of prophetical students such dates as 1914, 1917, 1918, 1925, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1945, 1948, and others for the ending of the "the time of the Gentiles." It certainly stands to reason that all these dates cannot be right. It is equally clear from Scripture that there is no definite date stated in the Bible for the end of "the times of the Gentiles," or someone would have found it by now. That the Bible does not teach such a false the theory of 2,520 years as the whole length of "the times of the Gentiles."
The expression "seven times" is used twenty-three times in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for "times" is paham, meaning a stroke It does not, in any one place, mean a set period of time as does the Hebrew word Iddawn used in Dan. 2:21; 4:16; 23, 25; 7:25; 12:7. Even if this latter word was used in Lev. 26 there would be no foundation for this theory.

 

[BanjoPicker]

If the word "time" means a period of 360 days it cannot also mean 360 years. There is no authority for anyone to change a day to a year in any passage as he pleases. God knows the difference between the words "day" and "Year" and if He said days in a Scripture He meant days, and if He said years He meant years. Just because God commanded Israel to wander in the wilderness forty years according to the number of days the spies were in Canaan Num. 14:33, 34 and because God appointed years according to the same number in the case of Ezekiel Ezek. 4:5, 6, we need not conclude that in every place in prophecy days mean years and years mean days. In these passages days meant days and years meant years for the spies were in Canaan forty days, not forty years, and so it will always be with these words in the Bible just as it is with the same words when use outside of the Bible. If it is biblical to make days and times mean years whenever we please just to prove some human theory, then let us be consistent and do this with all passages where these words are found.

If "seven times" means 2,520 years in one passage, it certainly means it in all passages unless it is stated otherwise. If we did this with some Scriptures, we would have Jacob bowing down to Esau for 2,520 years Gen. 33:3, the Jews sprinkling blood of their sacrifices 2,520 years during each day Lev. 4:6,17; 8:11, the cleaning of each leper for 2,520 years Lev. 14:7, 16, 27, 51. Israel marching around Jericho 2,520 years on the seventh day Josh. 6:4, 15, Elijah's servant looking for rain for 2,520 years 1 Ki. 18:43, and the resurrected child sneezing for 2,520 years 2 Ki. 4:35.

It may be objected that these are historical facts and we are not to give "seven times" a meaning of 2,520 years except in prophetical passages. But we answer that this is just a ridiculous, for would have Naaman dipping himself in Jordan for 2, 520 years, for the prophecy was that if he should do this seven times he would be clean 2 Ki. 5:10-14, and Nebuchadnezzar being a maniac for 2,520 years, for the prophecy was that he would be one for seven times Dan. 4:16, 23, 25. Try this with other prophetical "times" Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:14.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The expression "seven times" is used in Lev. 26 four times, and if one "seven times" means 2,520 years, then the other three, also mean the same length of time. Four times "seven times" would mean 10,080 years Israel was to be punished for each "seven times" was additional to the others. For example, in Lev. 26:14-17 God said He would send eight different plagues upon Israel if they broke His covenant. These were to be before the first "seven times" and it would naturally take some time for these eight plagues, so "the times of the Gentiles" must be longer than 2,520 years even if the first "seven times" means the length of time.

 

[BanjoPicker]

After promising these eight plagues God said, If ye will not YET for all this [the first eight plagues] hearken unto me, THEN [after the period consumed by these plagues] I will punish you seven times MORE for your sins. . . .If ye walk contrary unto me [after the first eight plagues and the first 2,520 years] . . . I will bring seven times [a second 2,520 years] MORE plagues upon you . . . If you will not be reformed by these things [the first eight plagues and the first two, seven-times or 5,040 years] but will walk contrary unto me, then will I . . . punish you seven times [a third 2,520 years] for your sins . . . If ye will not FOR ALL THIS [after the first eight plagues and 7,560 years] hearken unto me . . . THEN I will . . . chastise you seven times [a fourth 2,520 years] for your sins (Lev. 26:14-31).
It is clear from Lev. 26:27-39 that the whole four, seven-times punishment was to be before Israel was to be scattered among, the nations, and anyone knows that 10,080 years did not go by before this. Thus it is clear that the 2,520 years theory of the whole length of "the times of the Gentiles" based upon one of four "seven times" of Lev. 26 is a false one and proves nothing as to the length of the dispensation of the Gentiles.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Could not the phrase "seven times" express severity of punishment instead of meaning 2,520 years this certainly would make better sense, and it would be more scriptural. When one hears of parents say to children, "I will whip you seven times harder than I did yesterday," They certainly did not believe any parent would beat a child for 2, 520 years. Such a statement is merely a figure of speech expressing severity of punishment, and that is all God intended to express in Lev. 26. He wanted Israel to know that if one punishment would not correct them and bring them to repentance, He would bring more severe punishments upon them until He would have to abandon them to captivity among the nations.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Just because there has been about 2,500 to 2,600 years from Daniel to our day is no proof that "the times of the Gentiles" are 2,520 years long. Neither does the fact that Daniel pictured Gentile oppression of Israel from his day to the second advent of Christ prove that he saw all the length of "the times of the Gentiles" and that these times started in his day. Daniel merely predicted the oppressions of the Gentiles from his day on. He did not live back in Egypt to predict the whole length of "the times of the Gentiles." He could not have foretold what was already history concerning Gentile oppression of Israel before his day.

 

[BanjoPicker]

John, in Rev. 17:8-18, predicts events concerning the beast, or the eighth and last kingdom that will oppress Israel in "the times of the Gentiles." He explains that the time seven heads on the beast are seven kingdoms that precede the eighth and last kingdom that will fight against Christ at His second advent. He said that five of these kingdoms had already pass away before his day, that one was in his day (the sixth, or old Roman Empire), that the seventh was yet to come between the sixth and eighth (the revised Roman Empire made up of ten kingdoms, as foretold by the ten toes on the image of Dan. 2:40-44, and the ten horns of Dan. 7:7, 8, 23, 24; Rev. 13:1-8; 17:8-17. and that the eighth would be the last kingdom on Earth before Christ comes to the Earth. The five that had passed away before John's day were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. They are the only empires that oppressed Israel before John's day that could be referred to.

 

[BanjoPicker]

We know that the Gentiles oppressed Israel in Egypt a much longer period than did Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, for when Moses was born Israel was being oppressed, and the law was to kill all the male children. He was eighty years old when he led Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Israel was in Babylon only seventy years Jer. 25:11. What would this oppression of Israel be called if not "the times of the Gentiles"? Then after this kingdom oppressed Israel off and on for hundreds of years, the Assyrian Empire oppressed Israel and took the ten tribes, captive. This was 133 years before Babylon took the two tribes, captive. What was this but "the times of the Gentiles"? It is, therefore, human theory that "the times of the Gentiles" began with Nebuchadnezzar. The fact is, they had already been going on for about 1200 years by the time Nebuchadnezzar.

 

[BanjoPicker]

If the whole length of "the time of the Gentiles" were to be 2,520 years, then they have ended long ago. For 2,520 years of 360 days each, as a year is supposed to be by this theory, make 907,200 days. From 606 B. C., when Judah was taken to Babylon, at which time, according to most prophetical scholars, "the times of the Gentiles" started, to 1948 A. D. there have already been 2,554 years of 3651/4 days which is a much longer period than 2,520 years of 360 days each. This makes 23,748 days difference between the two periods. Reduce the 2,546 years of 3651/4 days to years of 360 days each and we have about seventy more years of 360 days each over the 2,520 years so that the 2,520 years of 360 days each ended in 1878 A. D. or about seventy years ago. This is long before any modern prophetical student has "the times of the Gentiles" coming to an end.