Lesson 42 - The Gentiles in History and Prophecy

• "They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." (Luke 21:24)

     The word Gentile translates the Hebrew גּוֹי goy and the Greek ἔθνος ethnos. The Hebrew word goy is used in a general sense of any ethnic group of people who reside in a known territory, and so it used to refer the descendants of Abraham (Gen. 12:2; 17:4-6; 21:18), the nation Israel (Ex. 19:6; Ps. 83:4), and others, such as the “Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites” (Deut. 7:1; cf. Josh. 23:13; Judg. 2:21, 23). However, over time, the word Gentile—both in Hebrew and Greek—came to be used in a technical manner of any people group who were not sharers of the covenant promises God made with Israel (Eph. 2:11-12).[1] Biblically, the Gentiles were generally marked by wickedness (Deut. 9:4-5), idolatry (2 Ki. 17:29), and detestable practices such as child sacrifice, divination, and sorcery (Deut. 18:9-10).

     The nation of Israel, under the Mosaic Covenant, was promised blessing by God if they obeyed His commands (Deut. 28:1-15), and divine punishment if they did not (Deut. 28:16-68). Over the centuries since their deliverance from Egyptian captivity, Israel repeatedly disobeyed God and accepted the values and practices of the nations around them (Ps. 106:33-40). Eventually, God disciplined His people, using Gentile nations (Ps. 106:41-43), and sent Israel into Babylonian captivity for seventy years (Jer. 25:8-12; cf. Ezek. 12:9-13; 17:20). During the time of the Babylonian captivity God revealed to Daniel that there would be great Gentile kingdoms that would follow Israel’s fall and which would dominate world history (Dan. 2:29-45; cf. 7:1-28). These kingdoms were the Babylonians, Medes & Persians, Greeks, and Romans. However, God would eventually establish His own kingdom on earth, and this was revealed to Daniel as well (Dan. 2:34-35; 44-45).

     The Babylonian captivity that occurred in 586 B.C. marks the beginning of what Scripture refers to as “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24; cf. Rom. 11:25), a period of time in which Israel—particularly Jerusalem—will be under Gentile dominance until the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the seven year Tribulation. “The Times of the Gentiles can best be defined as that long period of time from the Babylonian Empire to the Second Coming of the Messiah during which time the Gentiles have dominance over the City of Jerusalem.”^[2] Though God is currently accomplishing His plans in the world through Gentiles, He still has future plans for His people, Israel. This is made clear in several places in Scripture (Rom. 9:1-5; 11:1-2, 5, 25). Jesus stated, “Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). The use of the word until means the dominance of the Gentiles will eventually come to an end, and when it does, God will once again work through the Jews to accomplish His plans in the world.

 

[1] Though many aspects of God’s covenants refer to Israel alone, the Lord promised that Gentiles would be blessed through Abraham (Gen. 12:3), and this blessing came through Abraham’s descendant, Jesus. The result is that Gentiles who have believed in Jesus as Savior are partakers of the spiritual blessings of God; for Scripture reveals, “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off [from covenantal blessings] have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13; cf. 19-22).

^[2] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah : A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events, Rev. ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 21.