| News and Views | July 1941 |
The Times of the Gentiles
ONE of the news items of the last month aside from war, which found its way to the front pages of the world’s papers and was given great prominence over the radio, was the death of the former Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. While the Kaiser has been a back number for years as far as any political influence has been concerned, yet his death was given prominence in the news channels of the world because of his dramatic connection, with the first world war of 1914-1918. One prominent radio news commentator, in reporting his death, said that the Kaiser was the last ruling monarch of Europe who was imbued with the spirit of the divine right of kings.
For students of prophecy this statement opens up a wide field for thought and study. The prophetic importance of what is happening in the world today is associated with it. When we realize all of what is involved in it from God’s standpoint, it helps us to realize more than ever that we are living in the end of the age, and that the establishment of God’s ruling house, of which His Son is the Head, is near at hand.
The European order of things which existed until 1914 and there began to be destroyed, was associated prophetically with what the Scriptures speak of as the “Times of the Gentiles.” Jesus used the expression “Times of the Gentiles” as descriptive of a period during which “Jerusalem,” that is, the Jewish race, would be “trodden down” by non-Jewish or Gentile races. The Master’s reference to this period of time constitutes a portion of His reply to questions the disciples had asked Him concerning events that were to be associated with the end of the age, and the time of His second presence. His complete statement on the point reads, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”—Luke 21:24
In this prophecy Jesus seems clearly to associate the ending of “the times of the Gentiles” with a period in which there would be great “distress of nations with perplexity,” and when men’s hearts would be “failing them for fear, and for looking after those things coming upon the earth”: which prediction is now in process of fulfillment. (Luke 21:25,26) In verses 28 and 31 of the same chapter, the Master assures us that when we see these things “begin to come to pass” we are to know “that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”
Obviously, therefore, to the student of prophecy who is now looking for and praying for the coming of God’s Kingdom, the length of the period referred to by Jesus as the “Times of the Gentiles,” and the approximate time of its ending are important factors in discerning the “Signs of the Times.” There are students of the Bible not a few, who agree that the “Times of the Gentiles” is a period of 2520 years. (See Volume 2, Studies in the Scriptures for details as to the method of computing the length of this period.)
The time measurement of this prophecy is clearly shown in Leviticus 26:18-28; where the Lord speaks of the final punishment that would come upon the rebellious people of Israel, describing it as a period of “seven times.” The language of Ezekiel 21:25-27 seems to indicate that the events here described as beginning, mark also the beginning of this special time of punishment upon Israel. The punishment mentioned is pronounced with such a degree of finality, that the reader is impressed with the thought that this indeed must be the beginning of the special time of trial upon Israel which, as the prophet declared, was to continue until “He comes” who has a sovereign right to rule all nations. We quote:
“And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord God; remove the diadem, and take off the crown: This shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give him.”
Zedekiah, Judah’s Last King
These words of the Lord, spoken to the Prophet Ezekiel, were addressed to Zedekiah, who was the last of Judah’s kings. Zedekiah was taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 606 B.C. is the date most generally agreed upon as the year when this event occurred. (Jer. 25:12; II Chron. 36:21,22; Dan. 9:2; Zech. 1:12; Job 7:5) If this be the correct date for the over throw of King Zedekiah, and his overthrow does indeed mark the beginning of this long period of 2520 years of “Gentile Times,” it means that 1914 A.D. marks the end of the period.
It is not our purpose to here make a detailed examination of chronological data pertaining to the period marking the beginning of these “Times of the Gentiles.” It is becoming more and more evident that the date, 1914, suggested in Studies in the Scriptures, is the correct one. The events now transpiring furnish the best proof of just where, chronologically, we are living in relationship thereto.
For many years prior to 1914, that date had been looked upon by students of prophecy as marking the full end of the Times of the Gentiles, and, naturally, these looked forward to its coming with keen anticipation. It was expected that this date would be marked by a great “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation,” resulting finally in a complete overthrow of all humanly constituted governmental authority, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God through which the “desire of all nations” was to come.
The year 1914 opened up without much evidence of immediate and precipitate changes impending. Indeed, to start with, it was rather a quiet, uneventful year. Bright hopes for continuous international peace seemed to fill the hearts of the world’s statesmen with an unusually optimistic outlook for the future. The rulers of the world were proclaiming “peace and safety,” when suddenly, as a thunderbolt from a clear sky, things began to happen, the results from which the world has never recovered.—I Thess. 5:1-4
It was there that the first “world” war of all history began. This proved for thousands to be satisfactory confirmation of the fact that the Times of the Gentiles had indeed ended, and that therefore the Gentile kings of earth had had their day. Because of the limitations of finite minds, prophetic students are often prone to expect too much to happen in too short a time. When the first world war came to an end therefore, and a patched-up peace was brought forth at Versailles, resulting in a number of years of partial normalcy, the question was raised as to whether or not 1914 did actually mark the end of the Times of the Gentiles.
Revolutionary Changes
But before we decide that 1914 was not the prophetic date that many supposed it would prove to be, simply because the march of events has been slower than expected, let us look, not at the fact that there are still organized governments in the world, but at the nature of those governments compared with most of those that existed at the outbreak of the first world war. Let us remember also, that the Jew, whose destiny is vitally associated with the “Times of the Gentiles,” has been brought out from centuries of comparative obscurity into great prominence in the daily news of the world.
The Jewish position in the world since the close of the last war has been in many respects a paradoxical one. Palestine, in large measure, was opened up to them. Approximately 300,000 returned there and made large sections of that formerly barren country to produce like the Garden of Eden. But on the other hand the newly formed governments in Europe that had been brought into being as a result of the war, have bitterly persecuted the Jew. This paradox has not only focused public attention upon this historic people, but it also is seen to be in fulfillment of the prophecies relating to what they should expect following the close of the Gentile Times and in connection with their restoration to divine favor and to their home in the Holy Land.—Jeremiah 30:1-11
So marked have been the changes since 1914 along almost every line of human endeavor, national, social, political, and religious, that practically all writers of note customarily refer to that date as a dividing time between two distinctly separate and different eras; sometimes described as the pre-war and post-war worlds. Now, since the outbreak of the second world war, it is becoming more and more evident that practically nothing is to be left of the old order of things. Already, the world is looking forward to a new order, and it is for the privilege of dominating the policies of this new order that the nations of the earth today are struggling.
FOR WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK?
The fact that the year 1914 stands out in history as marking the beginning of such epochal changes as mankind has witnessed since, and is still witnessing, is we believe sufficient reason for studying these changes more carefully, in the light of God’s Word, that we might, if possible, get a better insight into the manner in which the prophecies pertaining to the end of the age are now being fulfilled by the ever-changing scenes of national, political and religious activities, so characteristic of the last quarter of a century.
That all humanly constituted governmental authority in the earth must be set aside prior to the full establishment of the Kingdom God, is, we believe the undisputed teaching of the Bible, but, does this necessarily mean that such a complete dissolution of all Gentile kingdoms should be expected to immediately follow the ending of the “Times of the Gentiles”? To be sure that we have the proper answer to this question, it is necessary to consult the Scriptures as to just what is implied by “Gentile Times.”
First of all, let us ask the question, did the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles mark the beginning of the existence of Gentile nations? No! Powerful Gentile nations existed for centuries prior to the beginning of the Gentile Times. Obviously, then, if the beginning of Gentile Times did not mark the beginning of Gentile nations, then we should not necessarily expect that when the end of the “Times of the Gentiles” is reached, it would mean the immediate destruction of all Gentile nations.
As we have already seen, the “Times of the Gentiles” began when the King of Babylon subjugated the Kingdom of Israel to Babylonish rule, and took captive the King, Zedekiah. That the God of heaven was taking action in this, and instituting a new order of governmental authority in the earth, is evident in the inspired prophecy of the second chapter of Daniel. This prophecy is based upon King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw an image like unto a man. Its head was of gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, and its feet and toes, partly iron and partly clay. In explaining the significance of this image, Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, the representative head of the Babylonian Empire, that he was the “head of gold.” Babylon, as a kingdom, had existed long years before this, but now, under Nebuchadnezzar, something took place that God saw fit to illustrate by this head of gold. What was it? Daniel explains. We quote:
“This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, oh king, art a king of kings for the God of heaven has given thee a kingdom, power, strength and glory, and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.”—Daniel 2:36-38
Daniel’s interpretation of the king’s dream should be carefully noted. The head of gold, according to the prophet, represented the Babylonian empire through its ruler, Nebuchadnezzar; but not merely as a powerful kingdom, but as exercising its authority by divine permission—“God … has made thee ruler over them all; thou art this head of gold.” Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon before this, but now he was represented by the head of gold because God had given him the right to rule.
“After thee shall arise another,” Daniel explains. This second kingdom was represented by the breast and arms of silver. The same interpretation must hold true with this second kingdom, namely that God also gave it to have dominion. Daniel continues his interpretation of the dream until he brings before us in succession, four kingdoms—not merely kingdoms however, as such, but kingdoms that the God of heaven had given to have dominion.
Students of prophecy are in general agreement that the fourth of these kingdoms mentioned by Daniel, was Rome. Rome was in the saddle during the period of the early church, and concerning her authority, the apostle says, “The powers that be are ordained [margin, ordered] of God.” (Rom. 13:1) Evidently Paul understood Daniel’s prophecy to mean what we have outlined above, namely that the successive empires of earth represented by the image had divine sanction to rule.
THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS
Before the overthrow of the last King of Judah, Zedekiah, God looked upon the kingdom ruling over His chosen people as representing Him in the earth. Of Solomon it was written, that he “sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David, his father. (I Chron. 29:23) But with the overthrow of Zedekiah this arrangement was suspended—“It shall be no more,” the prophet said, “until He come whose right it is.” We are not to suppose; therefore, that the divine authorization given to Gentile kingdoms following the overthrow of Zedekiah, was the transfer to them of that divine supervision and responsibility which God exercised on behalf of Israel, and which will again be exercised through the Messianic Kingdom arrangement.
Nevertheless, a certain grant of power or authority, was given to Babylon, through Nebuchadnezzar, so that in a limited sense, it could be said the he ruled by “divine right.” While the typical kingdom of God was intact and operating through Israel, all other authority in the earth was quite without divine right; but now that this theocracy had been suspended, “until He come whose right it is,” God gave a certain succession of Gentile powers the right to rule, not as His representatives, but without His interference—except when their activities might tend to prevent the outworking of His plan.
This divine authorization of Gentile rule is aptly illustrated in Nebuchadnezzar’s image. It was in the form of a man and thus symbolized permission for man-made governments to exercise dominion, and to hold the affairs of the world in a more or less orderly condition, as a sort of interregnum, “until He come whose right it is.” This particular succession of Gentile powers was not now to be looked upon by God as rebel kingdoms. Their authority over the people was by His sanction; and where constituted government was needed for the outworking of His own plan, He would work through them.
Furthermore, and as we have already seen, the period during which this divine authorization was to last, was also to be a time of punishment of God’s own people, Israel. Hence, during the legal tenure of their office, God would not interfere with the manner in which they dealt with the Israelites. The Israelites, God’s own people, were to be subject to these Gentile powers by divine decree. They were to be “trodden down” by the Gentiles, “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that throughout the entire period of the Gentile Times, the Israelites would be continuously and bitterly persecuted, but merely that they were to be a subject nation, with no divine right to expect favors from their captors.
That King Nebuchadnezzar would pass on to his successors the information given to him by Daniel concerning the divine authorization of the Babylonish dynasty, there can be little doubt. The fact that later God had a special work for Cyrus, of the Medes and Persians, would implant still deeper in the minds of the successive rulers the thought that God was, in some way, back of their kingdoms. And so the idea would naturally come on down from one king to another and from one dynasty to another, changing in form as the rulers placed their own interpretation upon what it meant.
It is not surprising therefore, that when we look into the pages of history covering the Middle Ages even on down to the period immediately preceding the first world war, that the four principal ruling families of Europe (the legal inheritors of the authority that once resided in Rome, and which in turn had come all the way down from Babylon), should still be claiming to rule by divine right. Viewed from the standpoint that divine authority to rule was originally given to Nebuchadnezzar, head of Babylon, the late Kaiser was partially justified in his claim that he was ruling by divine right. However, as an idea of any kind usually becomes distorted as it is passed on from one to another, so God’s authorization of Gentile kingdoms had come to mean generally that these kingdoms were truly God’s kingdoms, and that He held Himself responsible for what they did. Because of this they claimed that their wars were fought in the name of God, hence asked God to bless their armies, etc. This, of course, was wrong. They had been given divine authorization, but no assurance of divine guidance. Nor did God make Himself responsible for what they did.
THE RELIGIOUS CLAIM
One of the distortions of the divine right doctrine was that which was brought about through the influence of the church of Rome, and later by some of her protestant daughters. The church, knowing of the Messianic promises of the Bible to establish a Kingdom on the earth with Christ as Head, devised the idea that these promises could be fulfilled by aligning herself with civil rulers, and through them, exercising civil as well as religious authority over the people. Thus there came about the union of church and state; a union in which for centuries the church was virtually the ruler of Europe; not directly, but through civil governments. She crowned and uncrowned kings at her will, and any who presumed to question her authority to do this, were treated as enemies of the most high God. Likewise, any who doubted that the kings she crowned were actually the representatives of heaven, were also treated as rebels against divine authority.
It was this particular distortion of the divine right doctrine with which the kingdoms of Europe were imbued up to and during the years immediately preceding the world war. Not all of them at that time recognized the authority of the church of Rome, but practically all believed that in some mysterious way the authority of heaven resided in their particular church-state relationship. This was the viewpoint held by the late Kaiser, and was responsible for the expression accredited as often being used by him, “Me and God.” It was this viewpoint that caused the claim to be made by representatives of most of the nations in the world war that soldiers who fought and died in battle, “fighting for the Lord,” would go straight to heaven. Such was the status quo of governmental affairs in Europe when dawned that historic year, 1914.
But now all that has been changed. There is not a single important ruler in Europe today who claims the divine right of succession for his authority to rule; yet this was the claim of nearly all of them prior to 1914, and particularly was it true of the late Kaiser. Church-state government still exists in Great Britain, but it is not the real government of England; and few there are, even in the British Isles, who would be foolish enough to claim that the British Government had the backing and authority of the God of heaven.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that the scene of action principally involved in the Gentile Times picture, is that of continental Europe. There are those who, in their study of history, are convinced that the succession of dynasties actually involved in Nebuchadnezzar’s image-picture brings us, just prior to 1914, to the house of Hohenzollern, with the late ex-Kaiser as its ruling head. But the loss of power by the Kaiser was not the only result of the first world war, as respects the ruling houses of Europe. The other branches of pre-war royalty have fared no better. All have lost their places as governing factors on the continent. It would now be futile for any of the remaining individuals of these royal families to undertake to assume control of their former undisputed domain upon a basis of the claim that they have the divine right to do so.
Who, prior to 1914, except those enlightened by the prophecies of God’s Word, would have believed any of the things which have come to pass among the ruling houses of Europe in the few short years since the outbreak of the first world war. Those ruling houses now are merely names, belonging to an order of things that has passed. Consider them as they were—the Romanoffs, the Hapsburgs, the Bourbons, the Hohenzollerns. Before 1914 they seemed entrenched in power and wealth forever. For centuries they owned Europe and ruled it. In doing this they claim that God had appointed them to the position. They all believed that they were permanent, privileged, irreplaceable. Yet a series of destructive spasms, as foretold by the apostle in I Thessalonians 5:1-5, brought about their overthrow, beginning at once when the Times of the Gentiles ended.
It is the passing of these ruling houses of Europe that constitutes the definite proof that the Times of the Gentiles actually ended in 1914. What we have witnessed since that time, represents merely the frenzied efforts of man, on the one hand to maintain the old world order, and on the other hand to overthrow it, and establish in its place, a new order. Failure, however, has marked all these efforts. The old world order has gradually melted since the ending of the Gentile Times, and man has been unable to establish a new and stable order in its place. All efforts along this line have but increased the distress and suffering of the people and have resulted in the further disintegration of all humanly-constituted authority.
At the close of the first world war, when divine-right royalty was no longer in a position to offer a semblance of stabilization to a world society that was rapidly losing faith in all constituted authority, the League of Nations was formed. It was hoped that through co-operative efforts the weakened governments of earth might still be able to impress the people with a show of strength that would at least command respect, if not the pre-war reverence of European governments.
Then, as an echo from an age that had past, many outstanding clergymen hailed the League of Nations as the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. So long had the people of the so-called civilized world been accustomed to look upon their governments as in some way the representatives of God, that an effort was made to surround the League of Nations with a similar halo, and with a sincere thought, no doubt, that it would help to insure success for its undertakings to maintain world equilibrium and peace.
But the League failed in its main purpose, and today is as defunct as European royalty itself. It is as though the hand of God had intervened to prevent the success of any effort to keep alive an order of things whose right to rule had ended.
The failure of the League of Nations to hold the old order together was only one of the disappointments of statesmen having a pre-war view of what governments should be and do. Think of all the conferences that have been held during the last twenty or more years, with similar aims in view. Peace conferences, disarmament conferences, economic conferences, etc. All have failed of their purpose, so that today, it is openly admitted that the only hope any nation in the world has of saving itself from the onrushing forces of Nazism, Fascism, and ultimately of Communism, is to divert all possible resources into the business of manufacturing weapons of war, and training and maintaining large armies unprecedented in size.
There are, of course, still powerful governments in the world, especially those under control of European dictators, but these are engaged principally in the business of destroying each other. They are, no doubt, permitted to come upon the scene for the very purpose of overthrowing that which is left of an order of things that was based upon selfishness, and under the domination of the prince of this world, Satan. The present dictatorial governments of Europe are no part of the regime that ruled Europe prior to 1914, nor do any of them claim to rule by divine right as once did the hereditary ruling houses of Europe.
That the Gentile Times lease of power applies particularly to the succession of Gentile governments controlled by hereditary ruling houses beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, seems further borne out by the fact that the Kingdom of the Lord, represented by the “stone” cut out of the mountain without hands, is referred to in the prophecies as the “house” of the Lord. In Micah 4:1-4 this is mentioned and the promise made that the “house of the Lord’ will be established in the top of the mountains—dominating all nations.
The “house” of the Lord, like the hereditary ruling houses of pre-1914 Europe, is made up of a ruling family. It is God’s family, composed of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus and all His footstep followers who will be joint heirs with Him in the heavenly Kingdom soon to manifest itself for the blessing of all the families of the earth. It is this ruling house of the Lord which really takes the place of those ruling houses represented in the Gentile image. The interim from the dethronement of Europe’s pre-1914 royalty to the full manifestation of the Kingdom of the Lord is merely a period of transition during which powerful military and other forces are permitted to destroy the various institutions of selfishness, the places of which are eventually to be taken by the Messianic Kingdom.
The motive back of the aggressive forces now destroying one after another of the accustomed ways of life, is to establish a new order of their own; but this God will not permit them to do. Even as God (Isaiah 10) sent the king of Assyria to punish His people Israel, without the king being aware of how he was being used, so today these “kings” who do not come under the Gentile Times authorization are being permitted to destroy constitutional law and order, that thus the people may be further prepared to accept and obey the laws which will be imposed by the “house of the Lord.”
That Kingdom will truly reign by divine right, and in addition, will be blessed by divine guidance and made victorious by divine, miracle-working power. All the laws and regulations of that divine Kingdom will be based upon justice and love. Its educational program will fill the earth with a knowledge of the glory of God, and the way of salvation and life will be made plain for all—so plain that all will call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent.—Zeph. 3:8,9
The Scriptures indicate that the Messianic Kingdom will first manifest itself as a ruling force in the world in the ancient Holy Land. Probably the nation of Israel, under the leadership of their resurrected prophets, will be the first to give allegiance to earth’s new King. The news of the blessings being showered upon them will quickly spread to other nations, and one after another they, too, will come into its righteous sphere of influence, until finally “all nations” shall come up to “the house of the Lord” to be taught of His ways. The prophet gives us the following interesting preview of this:
“And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirts of him that is a Jew, saying, We shall go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”—Zech. 9:21-23
The use of the number ten in telling of the representatives of the nations who seek the blessings of the Lord’s Kingdom, is in keeping with the numerical symbolism attached to the Gentile Times prophecies. We have, for example, the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image; the ten horns of Daniel’s fourth beast; and also the ten-horned beasts of Revelation. Zechariah’s use of the same symbolism assures us that the same nations which were misruled for so many hundreds of years by selfish, earthly kings, will then be glad to acknowledge the authority of the “house of the Lord.” Thus will all the families of the earth be blessed.