Times of the Gentiles (5) - Season End

Jesus gave a clear way of knowing when the Times of the Gentiles are ended.

Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Matt 23:38-39).

The sign of that marks the end of the season is Jewish people blessing Christians who have come to share the gospel of Jesus. This has not happened yet, so we are still in the Times of the Gentiles (Blessing Christians is not the same as taking money from Christian nations to buy weapons).

The times of the Gentiles will come to an end when the sorrows of the Jews are complete. Satan’s last legal authority on earth will be gone, so his ability to do evil will be severely curtailed, leading to a rapid decline in evil. Once Satan has lost his right to work in the world, God will be free to pour out his Spirit and bring the Kingdom to its promised fulfilment. The Jews will welcome the gospel and the season of the Kingdom will begin.

Christians often say that God is doing a new thing. We should be careful about making this kind of statement. A new thing will not happen on earth, unless something changes in the spiritual dimension. The ascension of Jesus changed things in heaven, so it resulted in a new thing on earth (Pentecost). Since then, God has mostly been doing the same thing. However, the end of the judgement of Israel does represent a change in the spiritual dimension (Dan 7:26), so it will produce a "new thing" on earth.

The final years of the Times of the Gentiles will be marked by terrible trouble and distress, as the devil strikes out in a last desperate attempt to retain the power that is slipping from his grasp. At the same time, human governments will seize unprecedented political power in order to build paradise on earth. Their efforts will fail dramatically during a season of distress. Faith in political and military power will be totally shaken.

The Time of Distress is a sub-season that runs in parallel to Times of the Gentiles as they draw to an end. These seasons end together with the Fullness of Israel.

The release of the Four Horsemen of Revelation is the epochal event that marks the beginning of the Times of Distress.

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Times of the Gentiles (4) - Too Long

During the Times of the Gentiles.

• The people of Israel are scattered among the nations.

• They will be hostile to the gospel.

• The church will not reach its full capability

• The Holy Spirit is constrained.

• Satan has a legal right to be active in the world, despite his defeat.

• The world will be dominated by strong political empires.

• The Kingdom of God rises and declines, but does not come to fulfilment.

The Times of the Gentiles has gone on much longer than God intended, because:

• The people of the world continue to put their faith in political power for security and prosperity.

• Human government is seen as the solution to every problem.

• The Jews continues to resist the idea that Jesus is their messiah.

• Christian witness to the Jews has mostly been defective.

• Christians have encouraged Israeli militarism.

• Christians have been better at persecuting the Jews than demonstrating God’s love for them.

• Christians trust in political power, military force and economic riches.

• Most Christians have been unwilling to suffer through times of distress by taking up the cross and following Jesus.

Times of the Gentiles (3) - Truncated Church Constrained Spirit

At the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles, the Roman Empire scattering the Jewish people to the nations across the earth. For people who loved their land, this was like being in "a desert", but it is also a safe place. God keeps his people safe in exile during Times of the Gentiles.

During the Times of the Gentiles, most of the Jewish people will be unable to receive it because their hearts are hardened. They are reluctant to recognise him as their Messiah, so the church is filled up with gentiles. The gentile nations dominate the world.

The church is truncated because the Jewish people have hardened their hearts against Jesus and are missing from his body. A church without the chosen people is incomplete. With part of the team missing, the church is ineffective.

During the Times of the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit will be constrained by lack of faith, and be unable to operate to his full potential. When this season ends, the Holy Spirit will be able to speak and act effectively on earth.

The church cannot not reach its full potential during the the Times of the Gentiles, because the Jews are missing. That has been the story for the last two thousand years. Towards the end of this season, the church will come under extreme pressure from the world, but God will pour out his Spirit in preparation for launching the age of the Kingdom.

Power without suffering always fails. During the Times of the Gentiles, the church uses spiritual power to control the political powers, in the same way that Elijah attempted to control King Ahab. It tries to advance the Kingdom of God by imposing Christian laws on the rest of society. This strategy fails, because God intends his church to pursue the cross, not power.

Towards the end of the season, the political powers will persecute the church so severely, that it appears to be dead. The people of the world celebrate joyously, because a minor irritant is gone, but God has a surprise for them. When the church seems to be dead, he breathes the life of the Spirit into it and raises it up to victory.

A radical church that has survived underground and prepared while not one has notices will burst onto the world stage, knowing that in Christ, it is seated at his right hand of the Father in heaven. The people of the world will be shocked when they realise that church is not dead, just different and far more powerful.

A detailed study of these themes can be found in Time Times and Half a Time, with apologies for a few numerics.

Times of the Gentiles (2) - Characteristics

This disobedience of the Jews has consequences throughout the world. When Jesus died upon the cross, the devil was totally and fully defeated. He was cast out of heaven and can only continue to function on earth, if he can deceive people into rejecting the gospel (Rev 12:13). However he does have one last legal right on earth. The judgement of the Jews gives Satan the right to do evil against them (Matt 23:39).

Since the Jews had been scattered among the nations, he has been able to work in most nations. Whenever, Satan wants to do great evil in a nation, he incites it to attack the Jews and then he has a greater authority to do his work. For example, Satan incited both Hitler and Stalin to attack the Jews, which enabled him to do great evil through these men.

During the Times of the Gentiles:

• The Jews are scattered among the nations for their safety.

• They continue to resist the gospel.

• Evil is unrestrained

• The world is dominated by political power.

• Human government will be unrestrained.

• The church is constrained by lack of faith.

• The Holy Spirit is held back, because he will not go where he is not invited.

This is why the battle has been so hard for the last two millennia. Part of the team is missing. The church is not complete, so it has been functioning at half power.

Times of the Gentiles (1) - Jesus Warning

Jesus named the season when that would follow the Last Days, when he prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem.

There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the Times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21:23-24)

Jesus called this season the “Times of the Gentiles”, because its defining feature is Jerusalem being trampled by the nations.

In the previous verses, Jesus clearly described the epochal event that would begin the Times of the Gentiles.

There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations (Luke 21:23-24).

The Roman armies invaded Israel and destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. The Jewish people were taken prisoner and scattered among the nations. This event marked the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles.

The epochal event that ends this season has not yet occurred, so we are still living in the season called the Times of the Gentiles.

Paul explains the reason for season in his letter to the Romans.

Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the fullness of the nations has come in (Rom 11:25).

During the Times of the Gentiles, most Jews are hardened to the gospel, the church is dominated by gentile Christians and Jerusalem is ruled by gentile armies. Only a few Jews have found peace through Jesus, and Jerusalem has no peace.

Paul describes Israel as a disobedient nation (Rom 10:21). Although a few have been saved, the nation as a whole is shut off from God. They are enemies of the gospel (Rom 11:28) committed to disobedience (Rom 11:31) and broken out of the vine (Rom 11:17).

During the Times of the Gentiles, the majority of Jews are absent from the Kingdom, because their nation has rejected the Messiah and is under judgment. The Kingdom cannot come to fulfilment until the judgment of Israel is complete.