When Did the "Gentile Times" Begin?

By Frank J. Toth

In one of the Watchtower Society's most recent books, What Does the Bible Really Teach?, there is a discussion of Luke 21:24 on pages 215-218. The Society quotes that verse in this way: "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations ['the times of the Gentiles,' King James Version] are fulfilled." Then the Society states on page 216 that "Jerusalem was thus a symbol of Jehovah's rulership."

But let's look at the context to see if Jesus meant "Jehovah's rulership" or the rebellious city of Jerusalem.

“Furthermore, when you see JERUSALEM surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of HER has drawn near. Then let those IN JUDEA begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those IN THE MIDST OF HER withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into HER; because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled. Woe to the pregnant women and the ones suckling a baby in those days! For there will be great necessity upon THE LAND and wrath on THIS PEOPLE; and THEY will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and JERUSALEM will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled." (Luke 21:20-24)

Was "Jehovah's rulership" surrounded by encamped armies, or was it the rebellious city?

Was "Jehovah's rulership" desolated in A.D. 70, or was it the rebellious city?

So then, was "Jehovah's rulership" trampled on by the Roman armies, or was it the rebellious city?

The Society says that the "appointed times of the nations" or "Gentile Times" began long before Jesus was born. But Jesus spoke of those "times" as future. He said "they WILL fall by the edge of the sword." They WILL "be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem WILL BE trampled on by the nations." If Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that the Gentile times were in progress as he spoke, he would have said these things were already going on and that they would continue. Clearly, he believed that the "Gentile Times" would begin when Jerusalem was destroyed and her people were scattered all over the world. There are Jews in Jerusalem today, but not in the old part that Jesus was referring to, where the temple was located. The Muslims who control the most sacred part of Jerusalem will not allow any Jew to step on that soil. So the "Gentile Times" are continuing, and they did not end in 1914 as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim!

Jesus said the "Gentile Times" were coming "for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled." He said there would be "wrath on this people." In Luke 19:43, 44, he also said, "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE DAYS OF YOUR VISITATION." (Luke 19:43, 44)

God sent the "Gentile Times" to punish the people who were living in Jerusalem when Jesus walked the earth, to express his wrath against them, because they rejected his Son. How very wrong the Watchtower Society is for saying that ancient disobedient Jerusalem represents "Jehovah's rulership"!

In an absurd way, the Watchtower Society compares the " Gentile times" to the "seven times" of Daniel chapter 4. On page 217, the book What Does the Bible Really Teach? states: "The account in Daniel chapter 4 holds the key to knowing how long that period would last. It relates a prophetic dream experienced by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He saw an immense tree that was chopped down. Its stump could not grow because it was banded with iron and copper. An angel declared: 'Let seven times pass over it.'-Daniel 4:10-16."

What did the king's dream mean? The Society answers: "So the chopping down of the symbolic tree represents how God's rulership, as expressed through the kings at Jerusalem, would be interrupted."

But is that God's answer as expressed through Daniel whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar? Absolutely not! “Belteshazzar was answering and saying, ‘O my lord [Nebuchadnezzar], may the dream apply to those hating you, and its interpretation to your adversaries. The tree that you beheld, that grew great and became strong and the height of which finally reached the heavens and which was visible to all the earth, and the foliage of which was fair, and the fruit of which was abundant, and on which there was food for all; under which the beasts of the field would dwell, and on the boughs of which the birds of the heavens would reside, IT IS YOU, O KING, because YOU have grown great and become strong, and YOUR grandeur has grown great and reached to the heavens, and YOUR RULERSHIP to the extremity of the earth. ... And YOU they will be driving away from men, and with the beasts of the field YOUR dwelling will come to be, and the vegetation is what they will give even to YOU to eat just like bulls; and with the dew of the heavens YOU YOURSELF will be getting wet, and SEVEN TIMES themselves will pass over YOU, until YOU know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that to the one whom he wants to he gives it.' ... All this befell NEBUCHADNEZZAR the king." (Daniel 4:19-22, 25, 28; see also verses 31, 32.)

So, according to God's interpretation of the dream, the one without rulership would be Nebuchadnezzar, not God. Nebuchadnezzar would be without his sanity and throne for seven "times" (years or seasons). The tree therefore represented HUMAN rulership, not "GOD'S rulership" as stated by the Watchtower Society! 

Giving a bizarre twist to several passages, as if something like the Davinci code was interwoven throughout the Bible, the Society interprets the "seven times" of the king's dream to be 2,520 years that stretch from 607 B.C. to A.D. 1914. The Society says near the end of page 217: "The period ended in October 1914. At that time, 'the appointed times of the nations" ended, and Jesus Christ was installed as God's heavenly King.'--Psalm 2:1-6; Daniel 7:13, 14."

Whose interpretation, then, is the Watchtower providing? Certainly not God's! Then whose? I leave it to the reader to answer.

 

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