Jesus was predicting gentiles will rule

JESUS WAS PREDICTING GENTILES WILL RULE
Luke 21:24 24They will fall by the sword and will be
taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalemwill be
trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled.
BIBLEHUB COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(24) And they shall fall by the edge of the sword.—There is nothing in the
parallel prophecies of the other two Gospels that answers to this special
description, and it is possible, as suggestedabove, that St. Luke’s report here
has somewhatofthe characterof a free paraphrase, such as was natural in an
oral communication of what was variously remembered.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.—The thought expressedin this
clause, that the punishment of Israel, and the desolationof Jerusalemwere to
have a limit, that there was one day to be a restorationof both, is noticeable as
agreeing with the whole line of St. Paul’s thoughts in Romans 9-11, and being
in all probability the germ of which those thoughts are the development. In
Romans 11:25, “till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” we have a distinct
echo of the words, “until the times (better, the seasons)ofthe Gentiles be
fulfilled.”

BensonCommentary
Luke 21:24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations — The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy, we have
Bell., Luke 7:16, where Josephus describes the sacking ofthe city. “And now,
rushing into every lane, they slew whomsoeverthey found without distinction,
and burned the houses, and all the people who had fled into them. And when
they entered for the sake ofplunder, they found whole families of dead
persons, and houses full of carcassesdestroyedby famine; then they came out
with their hands empty. And though they thus pitied the dead, they did not
feel the same emotion for the living, but killed all they met, whereby they
filled the lanes with dead bodies. The whole city ran with blood, insomuch that
many things which were burning were extinguished by the blood.” Thus were
the inhabitants of Jerusalemslainwith the sword: thus was she laid even with
the ground, and her children with her. Ibid. — “The soldiers being now
weariedwith killing the Jews, andyet a greatnumber remaining alive, Cesar
commanded that only the armed and they who resistedshould be slain. But
the soldiers killed also the old and infirm; and taking the young and strong
prisoners, carried them into the women’s court in the temple. Cesarappointed
one Fronto, his freedman and friend, to guard them, and to determine the fate
of each. All the robbers and seditious he slew, one of them betraying another.
But picking out such youths as were remarkable for stature and beauty, he
reservedthem for the triumph. All the rest that were above seventeenyears
old he sent bound into Egypt, to be employed in labour there. Titus also sent
many of them into the provinces, to be slain in the theatres by beasts and the
sword. And those who were under seventeenyears ofage were slain. And
during the time Fronto judged them, one thousand died of hunger.” Chap. 17.
— “Now the number of the captives that were takenduring the time of the
war, was ninety-seven thousand; and of all that died and were slain during the
siege, was one million one hundred thousand, the most of them Jews by
nation, though not inhabitants of the place; for being assembledtogetherfrom
all parts to the feastof unleavened bread, of a sudden they were environed
with war.” Thus were the Jews led awaycaptive into all nations. However, the
falling by the edge of the sword, mentioned in the prophecy, is not to be
confined to what happened at the siege. It comprehends all the slaughters that

were made of the Jews in the different battles, and sieges,and massacres,both
in their own land and out of it, during the whole course of the war. Such as at
Alexandria, where fifty thousand perished; at Cesarea, tenthousand; at
Scythopolis, thirteen thousand; at Damascus, tenthousand; at Ascalon, ten
thousand; at Apheck, fifteen thousand; upon Gerizim, eleven thousand; and
at Jotapa, thirty thousand. And thus was verified what our Lord told his
disciples, the first time he uttered his prophecy concerning the destructionof
Jerusalem, that whereverthe carcasswas, there the eagles shouldbe gathered
together, Luke 17:37. See notes on Deuteronomy 28:62;Matthew 24:15-21;
and Mark 13:14.
Jerusalemshall be trodden down of the Gentiles — The accomplishment of
this part of the prophecy is wonderful. For, after the Jews were utterly
destroyedby death and captivity, Vespasiancommanded the whole land of
Judea to be sold. Bell., Luke 7:26. — “At that time Cesarwrote to Bassus, and
to Liberius Maximus, the procurator, to sellthe whole land of the Jews;for he
did not build any city there, but appropriated their country to himself, leaving
there only eight hundred soldiers, and giving them a place to dwell in, called
Emmaus, thirty stadia from Jerusalem;and he imposed a tribute upon all the
Jews, wheresoeverthey lived, commanding every one of them to bring two
drachms into the capitol, according as in former times they were wont to pay
unto the temple of Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jews at that time.”
Thus was Jerusalemin particular, with its territory, possessedby the Gentiles,
becoming Vespasian’s property, who sold it to such Gentiles as chose to settle
there. That Jerusalemcontinued in this desolate state we learn from Dio: for
he tells us, that the Emperor Adrian rebuilt it, sent a colonythither to inhabit
it, and calledit Ælia. But he alteredits situation, leaving out Zion and
Bezetha, and enlarging it so as to comprehend Calvary, where our Lord was
crucified. Moreover, Eusebius informs us, that Adrian made a law, that no
Jew should come into the regionaround Jerusalem. Hist., Luke 21:6. So that
the Jews being banished, such a number of aliens came into Jerusalem, that it
became a city and colony of the Romans, Hist., Luke 4:6. In later times, when
Julian apostatizedto heathenism, being sensible that the evident
accomplishmentof our Lord’s prophecy concerning the Jewishnation made a

strong impressionupon the Gentiles, and was a principal means of their
conversion, he resolvedto deprive Christianity of this support, by bringing the
Jews to occupy their own land, and by allowing them the exercise oftheir
religion, and a form of civil government. For this purpose he resolvedto
rebuild Jerusalem, and to rear up the temple upon its ancient foundations,
because there only he knew they would offer prayers and sacrifices. In the
prosecutionof this design he wrote a letter to the community of the Jews,
which is still extant among his other works, inviting them to return to their
native country; for their encouragement, he says to them, among other things,
“The holy city, Jerusalem, which of many years ye have desired to see
inhabited, I will rebuild by mine own labour, and will inhabit it,” epist. 25.
And now the emperor, having made greatpreparations, began the execution
of his scheme with rebuilding the temple; but his workmenwere soonobliged
to desist, by an immediate and evident interposition of God. “He resolved,”
says Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 23., “to build, at an immense expense, a
certain lofty temple at Jerusalem;and gave it in charge to Alypius of Antioch,
to hasten the work. But when Alypius, with greatearnestness, appliedhimself
to the executionof it, and the governor of the province assistedhim in it,
terrible balls of fire bursting forth near the foundation, with frequent
explosions, and divers times burning the workmen, rendered the place
inaccessible. Thus the fire continually driving them away, the work ceased.”
This fact is attested, likewise,by Zemuth David, a Jew, who honestly confesses
that Julian was hindered by God in this attempt. It is attested, likewise, by
Nazianzen and Chrysostom among the Greeks, by Ambrose and Ruffin
among the Latins, who lived at the time when the thing happened; by
Theodoretand Sozomon, of the orthodox persuasion;by Philistorgius, an
Arian, in the extracts of his history made by Photius; (lib. 7. cap. 9;) and by
Socrates, a favourer of the Novatians, who wrote his history within the space
of fifty years after these things happened, and while the eye-witnessesthereof
were yet alive. Thus, while Jews and heathen, under the direction of a Roman
emperor, united their whole force to baffle our Lord’s prediction, they did but
still the more conspicuouslyaccomplishit. See notes on Deuteronomy 28:64-
68. Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled — The time determined in the
counselof God for the conversionof the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul has given
us a clearexplication of this passage, Romans 11:25. This part of the prophecy

answers to Daniel 9:27 : He shall make it (Jerusalem)desolate, evenuntil the
consummation, namely, of wrath upon this people, and that determined be
poured upon the desolate. The meaning of both passagesis, that after the
destruction here foretold, Jerusalemshall continue desolate, until God has
poured upon it the whole wrath he has determined; and this wrath will not be
finished until the Gentiles are converted.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
21:5-28 With much curiosity those about Christ ask as to the time when the
greatdesolationshould be. He answers with clearnessand fulness, as far as
was necessaryto teach them their duty; for all knowledge is desirable as far as
it is in order to practice. Though spiritual judgements are the most common
in gospeltimes, yet God makes use of temporal judgments also. Christ tells
them what hard things they should suffer for his name's sake, and encourages
them to bear up under their trials, and to go on in their work,
notwithstanding the opposition they would meet with. God will stand by you,
and own you, and assistyou. This was remarkably fulfilled after the pouring
out of the Spirit, by whom Christ gave his disciples wisdom and utterance.
Though we may be losers forChrist, we shall not, we cannotbe losers by him,
in the end. It is our duty and interest at all times, especiallyin perilous, trying
times, to secure the safetyof our own souls. It is by Christian patience we keep
possessionofour ownsouls, and keepout all those impressions which would
put us out of temper. We may view the prophecy before us much as those Old
Testamentprophecies, which, togetherwith their greatobject, embrace, or
glance at some nearerobject of importance to the church. Having given an
idea of the times for about thirty-eight years next to come, Christ shows what
all those things would end in, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the
utter dispersion of the Jewishnation; which would be a type and figure of
Christ's secondcoming. The scatteredJewsaround us preach the truth of
Christianity; and prove, that though heavenand earth shall pass away, the
words of Jesus shallnot pass away. Theyalso remind us to pray for those
times when neither the real, nor the spiritual Jerusalem, shallany longerbe
trodden down by the Gentiles, and when both Jews and Gentiles shall be
turned to the Lord. When Christ came to destroythe Jews, he came to redeem
the Christians that were persecutedand oppressedby them; and then had the

churches rest. When he comes to judge the world, he will redeem all that are
his from their troubles. So fully did the Divine judgements come upon the
Jews, that their city is set as an example before us, to show that sins will not
pass unpunished; and that the terrors of the Lord, and his threatenings
againstimpenitent sinners, will all come to pass, even as his word was true,
and his wrath greatupon Jerusalem.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Shall fall ... - No less than one million one hundred thousand perished in the
siege ofJerusalem.
Shall be led awaycaptive - More than 90,000were led into captivity. See the
notes at Matthew 24.
Shall be trodden down by the Gentiles - Shall be in possessionofthe Gentiles,
or be subjectto them. The expressionalso implies that it would be an
"oppressive" subjection, as whena captive in war is trodden down under the
feet of the conqueror. Anciently conquerors "trod on" the necks ofthose who
were subdued by them, Joshua 10:24; 2 Samuel22:41; Ezekiel21:29. The
bondage of Jerusalemhas been long and very oppressive. It was for a long
time under the dominion of the Romans, then of the Saracens, andis now of
the Turks, and is aptly representedby a captive stretchedon the ground
whose neck is "trodden" by the foot of the conqueror.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled - This passagehas beenunderstood
very differently by different expositors. Some refer it to the time which the
Romans who conquered it had dominion over it, as signifying that "they"
should keeppossessionof it until a part of the pagans should be converged,
when it should be rebuilt. Thus it was rebuilt by the Emperor Adrian. Others
suppose that it refers to the end of the world, when all the Gentiles shall be
converted, and they shall "cease"to be Gentiles by becoming Christians,
meaning that it should "always"be desolate. Others, that Christ meant to say
that in the times of the millennium, when the gospelshould spread

universally, he would reign personally on the earth, and that the "Jews"
would return and rebuild Jerusalemand the temple. This is the opinion of the
Jews and of many Christians. The meaning of the passage clearly is,
1. That Jerusalemwould be completely destroyed.
2. That this would be done by Gentiles - that is, by the Roman armies.
3. That this desolationwould continue as long as God should judge it proper
in a fit manner to express his abhorrence of the crimes of the nation - that is,
until the times allotted to "them" by God for this desolationshould be
accomplished, without specifying how long that would be, or what would
occurto the city after that.
It "may" be rebuilt, and inhabited by converted Jews. Sucha thing is
"possible," andthe Jews naturally seek that as their home; but whether this
be so or not, the time when the "Gentiles," as such, shall have dominion over
the city is limited. Like all other cities on the earth, it will yet be brought
under the influence of the gospel, and will be inhabited by the true friends of
God. Pagan, infidel, anti-Christian dominion shall cease there, and it will be
againa place where God will be worshipped in sincerity - a place "even then"
of specialinterest from the recollectionofthe events which have occurred
there. "How long" it is to be before this occurs is known only to Him "who
hath put the times and seasonsin his own power," Acts 1:7.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
24. Jerusalem… trodden down … until, &c.—Implying (1) that one day
Jerusalemshall ceaseto be "trodden down by the Gentiles" (Re 11:2), as then
by pagan so now by Mohammedan unbelievers; (2) that this shall be at the

"completion" of "the times of the Gentiles," whichfrom Ro 11:25 (taken from
this) we conclude to mean till the Gentiles have had their full time of that
place in the Church which the Jews in their time had before them—after
which, the Jews being again"graftedinto their own olive tree," one Church of
Jew and Gentile togethershall fill the earth (Ro 11:1-36). What a vista this
opens up!
Matthew Poole's Commentary
See Poole on"Luke 21:23"
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword,.... Or"mouth of the sword", an
Hebraism; see the Septuagint in Judges 1:8. The number of those that
perished by the famine and sword, were elevenhundred thousand (f):
and shall be led awaycaptive unto all nations; when the city was taken, the
most beautiful of the young men were kept for the triumph; and those that
were above seventeenyears of age, were sentbound into Egypt, to labour in
the mines; many were distributed through the provinces, to be destroyedin
the theatres, by the sword or beasts;and those that were under seventeen
years of age, were led captive to be sold; and the number of these only, were
ninety-seven thousand (g):
and Jerusalemshallbe trodden down of the Gentiles;the Romans, who
ploughed up the city and temple, and laid them level with the ground; and
which spot has been ever since inhabited by such as were not Jews, as Turks
and Papists:and so it will be,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; that is, till the fulness of the
Gentiles is brought in; until the Gospelis preachedall over the world, and all
God's electare gatheredin out of all nations; and then the Jews will be
converted, and return to their own land, and rebuild and inhabit Jerusalem;
but till that time, it will be as it has been, and still is possessedby Gentiles.

The word "Gentiles", is left out in one of Beza's exemplars, and so it is
likewise in the Persic version.
(f) Joseph. de Belio Jud. l. 7. c. 49. & Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 7. (g) Ib.
Geneva Study Bible
And they shall fall by the {f} edge of the sword, and shall be led awaycaptive
into all nations: and Jerusalemshall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
(f) Literally, mouth, for the Hebrews callthe edge of a sword the mouth
because the edge of the sword bites.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
24. fall by the edge of the sword] Literally, “mouth of the sword.” Genesis
34:26. 1,100,000 Jews are saidto have perished in the war and siege. “Itseems
as though the whole race had appointed a rendezvous for extermination.”
Renan.
led awaycaptive into all nations] Josephus speaksof97,000Jev]s sentto
various provinces and to the Egyptian mines. B. J. vi. 9.
shall be trodden dawn of the Gentiles] So that the very thing happened which
the Maccabees hadtried to avert by their fortifications (1Ma 4:60). All sorts
of Gentiles—Romans,Saracens,Persians, Franks,Norsemen, Turks—have
‘trodden down’ Jerusalemsince then. The estaipatounmene of the original

implies a more permanent result than the simple future. Comp. Revelation
11:2.
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled] By the times — ‘seasons’or
‘opportunities’ of the Gentiles—is meantthe period allottedfor their full
evangelisation. Romans 11:25, “Blindness inpart is happened to Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Bengel's Gnomen
Luke 21:24. Ἔσται πατουμένη)This conveys the idea of something more than
πατηθήσεται, shallbe trodden down; it shall be (and continue) in a trodden
down state, as also in a desecratedstate:comp. note on 1 Timothy 1:9. The
Derivation and sense ofthe old name of the city, Jebus, is in consonancewith
this.[227]So in Revelation11:2, et seqq., “They shall tread under foot the holy
city forty and two months;” although there the angelis speaking ofa certain
one time of its being trodden under foot, and that a very remarkable one;
whereas in Luke the Lord is speaking of all the times of its being so trodden.
In fact, in whateverway you explain the “forty and two months,” Jerusalem
has been already, for a longerperiod than that, trodden down by the Romans,
the Persians, the Saracens, the Franks, the Turks; and it shall continue
hereafterto be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Moreover“the times of the Gentiles” are the times appointed to the Gentiles
wherein they are to be permitted to tread down the city: and these times shall
be terminated upon the conversionof the Gentiles being most fully
consummated: Romans 11:25 [“Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israelshall be saved”];
Revelation15:4 [“All nations shall come and worship before Thee”];for
certainly the Gentiles, whilst treading down Jerusalem, are themselves
meanwhile unbelievers. The expression, “the times of the Gentiles,” is used as
“the time of figs,” and “the time of the dead:” Mark 11:13; Revelation11:18.
It is not to be inferred from this that the temple and its worship of shadowy
types is going to be restored;but yet there will be many at that time there, as
indeed even at the present time there are some to be found, who are

worshippers bearing the Christian name, and there shall be many too of these
belonging to the people of Israel: and it is in the same lasttime that God and
Magog shallmake this assault:Revelation20:9. Ἄχρι, until, forms a tacit
limitation in the verses. From this verse to Luke 21:27, are summarily
comprehended all the times which are about to follow the destruction of the
city down to the termination of all things.—καιροὶ ἐθνῶν) the times of the
Gentiles, i.e. which are peculiarly their own. Αὐτῶν is not the expressionused,
but the term ἘΘΝῶΝ, of the Gentiles, is repeated, in order to show the
correspondence ofthe event with the prediction. The article is not added. The
times of Israel, which would have continued uninterruptedly, if Israelhad
been obedient, Psalm81:13-16, are interrupted by times of Gentiles. These
latter times had their own intervals of suspension, as in the Fourth and
Twelfth centuries. The plural, καιροί, is therefore used. A certain time of the
Gentiles was fulfilled when Constantine was emperor; and then the treading
down of Jerusalemabated; but not lastingly. The times during which the
Christians held Jerusalemwere brief intervals, if you compare them with the
times in which the [unconverted] Gentiles held the city.
[227]Jdg 19:10, Jebus = one who treads under foot.—E. and T.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 24. - And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations. It is computed that 1,100,000 Jews perishedin the
terrible war when Jerusalemfell (A.D. 70). Renan writes of this awful
slaughter, "that it would seemas though the whole (Jewish)race had
determined upon a rendezvous for extermination." Jerusalemshall be
trodden down of the Gentiles. After incredible slaughter and woes, Titus, the
Emperor Vespasian's son, who commanded the Roman armies, ordered the
city (of Jerusalem)to be razed so completely as to look like a spot which had
never been inhabited (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' v. 10. § 5). The storied city has
been rebuilt on the old site - but without the temple - and since that fatal day,
more than eighteencenturies ago, no Jew save on bare sufferance has dwelt in
the old loved and sacredspot. In turn, Roman and Saracen, Norsemanand

Turk, have trodden Jerusalemdown. Literally, indeed, have the sad words of
Jesus beenfulfilled. Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. These few
words carry on the prophecy past our owntime (how far past?) - carry it on
close to the days of the end. "The times of the Gentiles" signify the whole
period or epochwhich must elapse between the destruction of Jerusalemand
the temple, and the beginning of the times of the end when the Lord will
return. In other words, these "times of the Gentiles" denote the period during
which they - the Gentiles - hold the Church of God in place of the Jews,
deposalfrom that position of favor and honor. These words separate the
prophecy of Jesus whichbelongs solelyto the ruin of the cry and temple from
the eschatologicalportion of the same prophecy. Hitherto the Lord's words
referred solelyto the fall of Jerusalemand the ruin of the Jewishrace. Now
begins a short prophetic description of the end and of the coming of the Sonof
man in glory.
Vincent's Word Studies
Edge (στόματι)
Lit., the mouth. So Wyc. Either in the sense ofthe foremostpart, or picturing
the swordas a devouring monster. In Hebrews 11:33, Hebrews 11:34, the
word is used in both senses:"the mouths of lions;" "the edge of the sword."
Led awaycaptive
See on captives, Luke 4:18.
Trodden down
Denoting the oppressionand contempt which shall follow conquest.

STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
They shall fall by the edge of the sword - Those who perished in the siege are
reckonedto be not less than eleven hundred thousand. See Matthew 24:22.
And shall be led awaycaptive - To the number of ninety-seven thousand. See
Josephus, War, b. vi. c. ix. s. 2, 3, and on Matthew 24:31; (note).
Trodden down of the Gentiles - Judea was so completelysubjugated that the
very land itself was sold by Vespasian;the Gentiles possessing it, while the
Jews were eithernearly all killed or led away into captivity.
Of the Gentiles be fulfilled - Till the different nations of the earth, to whom
God shall have given the dominion over this land, have accomplishedallthat
which the Lord hath appointed them to do; and till the time of their
conversionto God take place. But when shall this be? We know not. The
nations are still treading down Jerusalem, and the end is known only to the
Lord. See the note on Matthew 24:31.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography

Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/luke-
21.html. 1832.
Return to Jump List return to 'Jump List'
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all
nations: and Jerusalemshallbe trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times
of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Fall by the edge of the sword... Josephus gives the names of the tribes and
villages with the numbers put to death, arriving at the fantastic total of
1,100,000;and as Josephus was a Jewishhistorian, his recordmust be
receivedas the most reliable that has reachedus concerning this disaster.
Led captive into all nations ... Titus alone deported some 97,000atone time;
and the scattering of Israel, as often promised by Jesus, was mostthoroughly
accomplished.
Trodden down of the Gentiles ... means occupied by the Gentiles. Theydid not
tread down the city during the siege, noras they devastatedit, but as they
occupiedit for more than nineteen centuries.
The times of the Gentiles ... is here named as the period of time during which
the Holy City would be subject to Gentile domination, and it is far easierfor
Christians now to know what this meant than it was for the apostles who first
heard it. The historicalrecord of that period is spreadupon the chronicles of
nearly two millennia.

The proper understanding of "the times of the Gentiles" must take into
accountthe following:
(1) The fact that nineteen hundred years were clearly a part of the period
indicated, that much time having already elapsed.
(2) The fact that these words "are to be understood as the antithesis of the
seasonofJerusalem" (Luke 19:44).[24]The Times of the Gentiles will be
comparable to the times during which Jerusalemheld the favored position.
(3) The fact that the apostle Paul used a very similar term, "the fullness of the
Gentiles," and prophesied that Jewishhardening would continue until that
period was concluded(see Romans 11:25, and also comments in my
Commentary on Romans, en loco).
In the light of the above considerations, the true meaning of "the times of the
Gentiles" would appear to be as expressedby various writers thus:
The interval betweenthe fall of Jerusalemand the End of the Age is called
"the times of the Gentiles," during which the gospelis announced to the
Gentiles and the vineyard is given to others than the Jews (Luke 20:16;
13:29,30).[25]
To the Jews Godgranted a time of privilege and gracious opportunity. Near
the close ofthat time the Son of man wept over Jerusalem, saying, "If thou
hadst known ... in this thy day." In like manner, the Gentile nations are now
having their times, which in due course are to be fulfilled, as was the case with
Jerusalem.[26]SIZE>

The times of the Gentiles may mean the Gentiles'"Dayof grace," thatis, the
church age.[27]
"The times of the Gentiles" signify the whole period or epochwhich must
elapse betweenthe destruction of Jerusalemand the temple, and the
beginning of the times of the end when the Lord will return ... In other words,
these denote the period during which they, the Gentiles, hold the Church of
God in place of the Jews, deposedfrom that position of favor and honor.[28]
There is not much disagreementamong commentators that the "times of the
Gentiles" represents a very long period of time; but there are many radically
divergent views on when those times will be terminated. For example:
Dummelow thought they would close "whenIsraelis converted."[29]Barnes
mentioned some who believe they will end "in the millenium"[30] or "when
all the Gentiles are converted."[31]Wesleysaidthese times shall terminate
"in the full conversionof the Gentiles."[32]Harrisonsupposedthey would
close "withIsrael's future restorationto favor,"[33]etc. All such
interpretations of this passageare rejectedhere.
As Geldenhuys said:
Christ nowhere implies that the "times of the Gentiles" will be followedby
Jewishdominion over the nations. The kingdom of this world is to give place
to "the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ" (Revelation9:15).[34]
Furthermore, the times of the Jews did not mean their "full conversion," and
neither will the times of the Gentiles be their "full conversion," but just the
opposite. The times of the Gentiles means the period when Gentiles are being
saved; and there is a powerful inference in this text that, just as Israel finally
rebelled completely againstthe Lord, so will the Gentiles, bringing on the time
of the End.

A VERY STARTLING FACT
Today, after over nineteen centuries of Gentile dominion over Jerusalem,
during which the Romans, the Saracens, the Franks, the Mamelukes, the
Turks, and the British have, in turn, held authority over Jerusalem, (the city
is today controlled by secularIsrael.)If the interpretations which we have
advocatedabove, the same interpretations that have been in vogue among
Christian commentators for centuries - if those interpretations are true, then
there is a powerful indication in the current status of Jerusalemthat suggests
the awesome possibility, if not the certainty, that "the times of the Gentiles"
have about expired. The current status of true faith in Christ in our troubled
world is weak and precarious. Multiplied billions of the Gentile nations have
either not heard the gospelat all, or have totally repudiated Christianity, as
has Russia. The truth that men cannotforesee the future, and the fact of
uncertainty in all such interpretations as those undertaken here, preclude any
dogmatism; but the six-day war that lifted the Gentile yoke from Jerusalemin
1967 is in some manner related to this prophecy. The practicalapplications of
his words which Jesus at once propounded should now concernpeople more
than ever, lest"that day" come upon them unawares.
[24] George R. Bliss, op. cit., p. 304.
[25] Donald G. Miller, op. cit., p. 148.
[26] J. S. Lamar, The New TestamentCommentary, Vol. II (Cincinnati, Ohio:
Chase and Hall, 1877), p. 251.

[27] Charles L. Childers, BeaconBible Commentary (Kansas City, Missouri:
BeaconHill Press, 1964), p. 591.
[28] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 185.
[29] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 766.
[30] Albert Barnes, Notes onthe New Testament(Grand Rapids, Michigan:
BakerBook House, 1954), p. 143.
[31] Ibid.
[32] John Wesley, op. cit., p. 283.
[33] Everett F. Harrison, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago:Moody Press,
1971), p. 262.
[34] NorvalGeldenhuys, op. cit., p. 536.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.

Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/luke-21.html. Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword,.... Or"mouth of the sword", an
Hebraism; see the Septuagint in Judges 1:8. The number of those that
perished by the famine and sword, were elevenhundred thousandF6:
and shall be led awaycaptive unto all nations; when the city was taken, the
most beautiful of the young men were kept for the triumph; and those that
were above seventeenyears of age, were sentbound into Egypt, to labour in
the mines; many were distributed through the provinces, to be destroyedin
the theatres, by the sword or beasts;and those that were under seventeen
years of age, were led captive to be sold; and the number of these only, were
ninety-seven thousandF7:
and Jerusalemshallbe trodden down of the Gentiles;the Romans, who
ploughed up the city and temple, and laid them level with the ground; and
which spot has been ever since inhabited by such as were not Jews, as Turks
and Papists:and so it will be,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; that is, till the fulness of the
Gentiles is brought in; until the Gospelis preachedall over the world, and all
God's electare gatheredin out of all nations; and then the Jews will be
converted, and return to their own land, and rebuild and inhabit Jerusalem;

but till that time, it will be as it has been, and still is possessedby Gentiles.
The word "Gentiles", is left out in one of Beza's exemplars, and so it is
likewise in the Persic version.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "The New JohnGill Exposition of
the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/luke-
21.html. 1999.
Geneva Study Bible
And they shall fall by the f edge of the sword, and shall be led awaycaptive
(f) Literally, "mouth", for the Hebrews call the edge of a swordthe mouth
because the edge of the sword bites.
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.

Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon Luke 21:24". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/luke-21.html.
1599-1645.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
trodden down … until, etc. — Implying (1) that one day Jerusalemshallcease
to be “trodden down by the Gentiles” (Revelation11:2), as then by paganso
now by Mohammedan unbelievers; (2) that this shall be at the “completion”
of “the times of the Gentiles,” which from Romans 11:25 (takenfrom this) we
conclude to mean till the Gentiles have had their full time of that place in the
Church which the Jews in their time had before them - after which, the Jews
being again “graftedinto their own olive tree,” one Church of Jew and
Gentile togethershall fill the earth (Romans 11:1-36). What a vista this opens
up!
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on
Luke 21:24". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/luke-21.html. 1871-8.

John Lightfoot's Commentary on the Gospels
24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive
[Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.] "Jerusalemshallbe trodden down
of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled": and what then? in
what sense is this word until to be understood? Let every one have his
conjecture, and let me be allowedmine. I am well assuredour Saviour is
discoursing about the fall and overthrow of Jerusalem;but I doubt, whether
he touches upon the restorationof it: nor can I see any greatreasonto affirm,
that the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled before the end of the world itself.
But as to this controversy, I shall not at present meddle with it. And yet, in the
mean time, I cannotbut wonder that the disciples, having so plainly heard
these things from the mouth of their master, what concernedthe destruction
both of the place and nation, should be so quickly asking, "Lord, wilt thou at
this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" Nordo I less wonder to find the
learned Beza expounding the very following verse after this manner: "Then
shall there be the signs in the sun, &c.; that is, after those times are fulfilled,
which were allotted for the salvation of the Gentiles, and vengeance upon the
Jews, concerning which St. Paul discourses copiously."Romans 11:25, &c:
when, indeed, nothing could be said clearerfor the confutation of that
exposition, than that of verse 32; "Verily, I say unto you, This generationshall
not pass awaytill all be fulfilled." It is strange this should be no more
observed, as it ought to have been, by himself and divers others, when, in
truth, these very words are as a gnomon to the whole chapter. All the other
passagesofthe chapter fall in with Matthew 24 and Mark 13, where we have
placed those notes that were proper; and shall repeat nothing here. Which
method I have takenin severalplaces in this evangelist, where he relates
passagesthat have been related before, and which I have had occasionto
handle as I met with them.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Lightfoot, John. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "JohnLightfoot
Commentary on the Gospels".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jlc/luke-21.html. 1675.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Edge of the sword(στοματι μαχαιρης — stomati machairēs). Instrumental
case ofστοματι — stomatiwhich means “mouth” literally (Genesis 34:26).
This verse like the close of Luke 21:22 is only in Luke. Josephus (War, VI. 9.3)
states that 1, 100, 000 Jewsperishedin the destruction of Jerusalemand 97,
000 were takencaptive. Surely this is an exaggerationand yet the number
must have been large.
Shall be led captive (αιχμαλωτιστησονται — aichmalōtisthēsontai). Future
passive of αιχμαλωτιζω— aichmalōtizō from αιχμη — aichmē spearand
αλωτος — halōtos (αλισκομαι — haliskomai). Here alone in the literal sense in
the N.T.
Shall be trodden under foot (εσται πατουμενη — estaipatoumenē). Future
passive periphrastic of πατεω — pateō to tread, old verb.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (αχρι ου πληρωτωσιν καιροι ετνων
— achri hou plērōthōsin kairoi ethnōn). First aorist passive subjunctive with

αχρι ου — achri hou like εως ου — heōs hou What this means is not clear
exceptthat Paul in Romans 11:25 shows that the punishment of the Jews has a
limit. The same idiom appears there also with αχρι ου — achri hou and the
aoristsubjunctive.
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "Robertson's WordPictures
of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/luke-21.html. Broadman
Press 1932,33. Renewal1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
Edge ( στόματι )
Lit., the mouth. So Wyc. Either in the sense ofthe foremostpart, or picturing
the swordas a devouring monster. In Hebrews 11:33, Hebrews 11:34, the
word is used in both senses:“the mouths of lions;” “the edge of the sword.”
Led awaycaptive
See on captives, Luke 4:18.

Trodden down
Denoting the oppressionand contempt which shall follow conquest.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon Luke 21:24". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/luke-21.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led awaycaptive into
all nations: and Jerusalemshall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the
They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led awaycaptive —
Eleven hundred thousand perished in the siege ofJerusalem, and above ninety
thousand were sold for slaves. So terribly was this prophecy fulfilled! And
Jerusalemshall be trodden by the Gentiles - That is, inhabited. So it was
indeed. The land was sold, and no Jew suffered even to come within sight of
Jerusalem. The very foundations of the city were ploughed up, and a heathen
temple built where the temple of God had stood.

The times of the Gentiles — That is, the times limited for their treading the
city; which shall terminate in the full conversionof the Gentiles.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "JohnWesley's Explanatory
Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/luke-21.html. 1765.
The Fourfold Gospel
the nations: and Jerusalemshall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled2.
the nations: and Jerusalemshall be trodden down of the Gentiles. According
to Josephus, 1,100,000perishedduring the siege, and97,000 were taken
captive. Of these latter, many were tortured and slain, being crucified, as he
tell us, till "room was wantedfor the crosses, and crosseswantedfor the
bodies".
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. By comparing this passagewith
Romans 11:1-36, we find that the times of the Gentiles signify that period
wherein the church is made up of Gentiles to the almost exclusionof the Jews.
The same chapter shows that this period is to be followedby one wherein the

Jew and the Gentile unite togetherin proclaiming the gospel. This prophecy,
therefore, declares that until this union of the Jew and the Gentile takes place,
the city of Jerusalemshall not only be controlled by the Gentiles, but shall be
trodden under foot--that is, opposed--by them. The history of Jerusalem, to
this day, is a striking fulfillment of this prophecy.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website. These files
were made available by Mr. Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 at
The RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
J. W. McGarveyand Philip Y. Pendleton. "Commentaryon Luke 21:24".
"The Fourfold Gospel".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tfg/luke-21.html. Standard
Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1914.
Scofield's ReferenceNotes
trodden down of the Gentiles
The "times of the Gentiles" beganwith the captivity of Judah under
Nebuchadnezzar2 Chronicles 36:1-21, since whichtime Jerusalemhas been
under Gentile overlordship.
Copyright Statement

These files are consideredpublic domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available in the Online Bible Software Library.
Bibliography
Scofield, C. I. "ScofieldReferenceNoteson Luke 21:24". "ScofieldReference
Notes (1917 Edition)".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/luke-21.html. 1917.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive
Ver. 24. Until the times of the Gentiles]The Gentiles then shall not always
tread down Jerusalem. Those kings of the East, the Jews, may, likely, have
their way prepared to it, through Euphrates, Revelation16:12, and Jerusalem
be again inhabited by them, even in Jerusalem, Zechariah12:6. But this will
be not long before the last day, Luke 21:25.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Trapp, John. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/luke-
21.html. 1865-1868.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Luke 21:24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, &c.— There are
three particulars denounced in this verse, and all of them were remarkably
fulfilled. I. That they should fall by the edge of the sword; and the number of
those who so fell was indeed very great. Of those who perished during the
whole siege, there were 1,100,000;many were likewise slainat other times,
and in other places, of every age, sex, and condition, the number of whom,
according to Josephus, amounts to 1,357,666;which would appearalmost
incredible, if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them.
See on Matthew 24:28; Matthew 2. That they should be led awaycaptive into
all nations. Now considering the number of the slain, the number of the
captives was very great;generallyestimated, in the whole war, at 97,000.The
tallestand handsomestyoung men Titus reservedfor his triumph: of the rest,
those above seventeenyears ofage were partly sent to the works in Egypt; but
most of them were distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed
in their theatres by the sword, or by wild beasts. Those under seventeenwere
sold for slaves:of these captives, many underwent a hard fate; eleven
thousand of them perished for want. Titus exhibited all sorts of shows and
spectaclesatCaesarea;and many of the captives were there destroyed, some
being exposedto the wild beasts, and others compelled to fight in troops
againstone another. At Caesareatoo, in honour of his brother's birth-day,
2500 Jewswere slain;and a greatnumber likewise atBerytus, in honour of
his father's; the like was done in other cities of Syria. Those whom he reserved
for his triumph were Simon and John, the generals ofthe captives, and seven
hundred others of remarkable stature and beauty. Thus were the captive Jews
miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman provinces;and are they
not still distressed, and in generaldespisedoverthe face of the whole earth?—

III. Our Lord foretels that Jerusalemshallbe trodden down of the Gentiles,
&c. And the accomplishmentof this part of the prophesy, as indeed of every
article of it, is wonderful: for, after the Jews were almostutterly destroyed by
death and captivity, Vespasiancommanded the whole land of Judea to be
sold. "At that time," says Josephus, (Bell. lib. 7: ch. 26.)"Caesarwrote to
Bassus, andto Liberius Maximus the procurator, to sell the whole land of the
Jews;for he did not build any city there, but appropriated their country to
himself, leaving there only eight hundred soldiers, and giving them a place to
dwell in called Emmaus; thirty stadia from Jerusalem:and he imposed a
tribute upon all the Jews whereverthey lived, commanding every one of them
to bring two drachms into the capitol, according as in former times they were
wont to pay unto the temple of Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jews
at this time." Thus was Jerusalemin particular, with its territory, possessed
by the Gentiles, becoming Vespasian's property, who sold it to such Gentiles
as chose to settle there. That Jerusalemcontinued in this desolate state we
learn from Dio; for he tells us, that the emperor Adrian rebuilt it, sent a
colony there to inhabit it, and called it AElia; but he altered its situation,
leaving out Zion and Bezetha, and enlarging it so, as to comprehend Calvary,
where our Lord was crucified. Moreover, Eusebius informs us, that Adrian
made a law, that no Jews shouldcome into the region round Jerusalem, (Hist.
Luke 21:6.) So that the Jews being banished, such a number of aliens came
into Jerusalem, that it became a city and colony of the Romans. In later times,
when Julian apostatizedto heathenism, being sensible that the evident
accomplishmentof our Lord's prophesies concerning the Jewishnation made
a strong impressionupon the Gentiles, and was a principal means of their
conversion, he resolvedto deprive Christianity of this support, by bringing the
Jews to occupy their own land, and by allowing them the exercise oftheir
religion and a form of civil government. Forthis purpose, he resolvedto
rebuild Jerusalem, to people it with Jews, andto rearup the temple on its
ancient foundations, because there only he knew they would offer prayers and
sacrifices.In the prosecutionof this design, he wrote to the community of the
Jews a letter, which is still extant among his other works, inviting them to
return to their native country; and for their encouragement, he says to them,
among other things, "The holy city Jerusalem, whichfor many years ye have
desired to see inhabited, I will rebuild by my own labour, and will inhabit it."

And now the emperor, having made greatpreparations, began the execution
of his scheme with rebuilding the temple; but his workmenwere soonobliged
to desist by an immediate and evident interposition of God. Take anaccount
of this matter in the words of Ammianus Marcellinus, a heathen historian,
and therefore an author of unsuspected credit, who says, (lib. 23.) "He
resolvedto build, at an immense expence, a certainlofty temple at Jerusalem;
and gave it in charge to Alypius of Antioch, who had formerly governed
inBritain, to hasten the work. When therefore Alypius, with great earnestness,
applied himself to the execution of this business, and the governorof the
provinceaffirmed him init,terribleballsoffire,burstingforthnear the
foundations, with frequent explosions, and divers times burning the workmen,
rendered the place inaccessible;and thus the fire continually driving them
away, the work ceased."This fact is attestedlikewise by Zemuth David, a Jew,
who honestly confesses thatJulian was hindered by God in this attempt. It is
also attestedby Nazianzen and Chrysostome among the Greeks;by Ambrose
and Ruffin among the Latins, who lived at the very time when the thing
happened; by Theodoretand Sozomenof the orthodox persuasion;by
Philostorgius, an Arian, in the extracts of his history made by Photicis, lib. 7:
Numbers 9 and by Socrates, a favourerof the Novatians, who wrote his
history within the space offifty years after the thing happened, and while the
eye-witnessesthereofwere yet alive. I shall only relate the testimonies of
Sozomenand Chrysostome. The former, in his EcclesiasticalHistory, lib. 5.
100:22 says, "This wonder is believed, and freely spoken of by all; nor is it
denied by any: or if it should seemincredible to any, let them believe those
who have heard it from the mouths of the eye-witnesses, who are yet alive: let
them likewise believe the Jews and the Gentiles, who have left the work
unfinished; or, to speak more properly, who have not been able to begin it."
Chrysostome, advers. Judaeos,speaking ofthe same subject, says, "And now,
if you go to Jerusalem, you will see the foundations lying stillbare; and if you
inquire the cause of this, [namely, in Jerusalem, the scene ofthe miracle] you
will hear no other than that which I have mentioned; and of this all we
Christians are witnesses, the thing being done not long since, and in our own
time." Orat. 2. Thus while Jews and heathens, under the direction of a Roman
emperor, united their whole force to baffle our Lord's prediction, they did but
still more conspicuouslyaccomplishhis saying, that Jerusalemshould be

trodden of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. How
exactly this passage ofthe prophesy has been fulfilled, we learn also from
Benjamin of Tudela, a celebratedSpanish Jew of the twelfth century, who
travelled into all parts to visit those of his ownnation, and to learn an exact
state of their affairs. In his Itinerary he tells us, that in Jerusalemhe found
only two hundred Jews. Sandys says, that the Holy Land "is for the most part
inhabited now by Moors and Arabians, those possessing the vallies, and these
the mountains. Turks there be few; but many Greeks,with other Christians,
of all sects andnations, such as impute to the place an adherent holiness. Here
be also some Jews;yet inherit they no part of the land; but in their own
country do live as aliens." Travels, b. 3: p. 114. 7th edit. The divinity of our
Lord's prediction still more clearly appears, if to the above we add the fact
known throughout all Europe and Asia at this day; namely, that the Jews are
still exiles from their own country, and have continued to be so ever since
Titus dispersed them. In former times, the Jews, afterbeing led away captive,
were re-established:why then should this captivity have lasted now so long?
Why should the effects of Titus's fury be indelible? God decreedthat it should
be so. "Jerusalemis to be trodden of the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled;" and no power in the universe can frustrate his decree.
For this reasonlikewise, thoughthe Jews are at present, and have been
through the whole period of their dispersion, vastly more numerous than they
ever were in the most happy times of their commonwealth, none of the cities
which they have made to recovertheir own country, have proved successful.
Moreover, while every dispersedpeople mentioned in history has been
swallowedup of the nations among whom they were dispersed, without
leaving the smallesttrace of their ever having existed, the Jews continue, after
so many ages,a distinct people, in their dispersion. The universal contempt
into which they are fallen, one should think, ought to have made them conceal
whateverserved to distinguish them, and have prompted them to mix with the
rest of mankind: but in fact it has not done so. The Jews, in all countries, by
openly separating from the nations who rule them, subject themselves to
hatred and derision; nay, in severalplaces, they have exposedthemselves to
death, by bearing about with them the outward marks of
theirdescent.Bythisunexampledconstancyhave preserved themselves
everywhere a distinct people. But of this constancy, canany better accountbe

given than that it is the means by which God verifies the prediction of his
Son? He has declared, that when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, the
Jews shallbe converted; and, therefore, through the whole course of their
dispersion, they continue a distinct people. If the hand of Providence be not
visible in these things, I cannot tell where it is to be found. See Newtonon the
Prophesies*.
* The readerwill, I am sure, excuse my entering so largely and repeatedlyinto
this subject, when he considers that it affords us one of the most striking
external evidences of the truth of Christianity.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentaryon Luke 21:24". Thomas Coke Commentary
on the Holy Bible. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/luke-
21.html. 1801-1803.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
24.]A most important addition, serving to fix the meaning of the other two
Evangelists,—seenotes there,—andcarrying on the prophetic
announcements, past our own times, even close to the days of the end.
πεσοῦνται … αἰχμ., viz. this people.

ἔσται πατ.]See Revelation11:2. The present state of Jerusalem. Meyer
maintains that the whole of this was to be consummatedin the lifetime of the
hearers, on accountof the ἀνακύψατε,&c. Luke 21:28. What views of the
discourses ofour Lord must such an expositor have!
πληρ. καιροὶ ἐθν.] Who could suppose that καιροὶ ἐθνῶν should have been
interpreted (by Meyer)the appointed time until the Gentiles shall have
finished this judgment of wrath—to be ended by the παρουσία, within the
lifetime of the hearers?
The καιρ. ἐθν. (see reff.) are the end of the Gentile dispensation,—justas the
καιρός of Jerusalemwas the end, fulfilment, of the Jewishdispensation:—the
greatrejectionof the Lord by the Gentile world,—answering to its type, His
rejectionby the Jews,—beingfinished, the καιρός shall come, of which the
destruction of Jerusalemwas a type. καιροί = καιρός:no essentialdifference is
to be insistedon. It is plural, because the ἔθνη are plural: eachGentile people
having in turn its καιρός.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". Greek TestamentCritical
ExegeticalCommentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/luke-21.html. 1863-1878.

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
Luke 21:24. ἔσται πατουμένη)This conveys the idea of something more than
πατηθήσεται, shallbe trodden down; it shall be (and continue) in a trodden
down state, as also in a desecratedstate:comp. note on 1 Timothy 1:9. The
Derivation and sense ofthe old name of the city, Jebus, is in consonancewith
this.(227)So in Revelation11:2, et seqq., “They shall tread under foot the holy
city forty and two months;” although there the angelis speaking ofa certain
one time of its being trodden under foot, and that a very remarkable one;
whereas in Luke the Lord is speaking of all the times of its being so trodden.
In fact, in whateverway you explain the “forty and two months,” Jerusalem
has been already, for a longerperiod than that, trodden down by the Romans,
the Persians, the Saracens, the Franks, the Turks; and it shall continue
hereafterto be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Moreover“the times of the Gentiles” are the times appointed to the Gentiles
wherein they are to be permitted to tread down the city: and these times shall
be terminated upon the conversionof the Gentiles being most fully
consummated: Romans 11:25 [“Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israelshall be saved”];
Revelation15:4 [“All nations shall come and worship before Thee”];for
certainly the Gentiles, whilst treading down Jerusalem, are themselves
meanwhile unbelievers. The expression, “the times of the Gentiles,” is used as
“the time of figs,” and “the time of the dead:” Mark 11:13; Revelation11:18.
It is not to be inferred from this that the temple and its worship of shadowy
types is going to be restored;but yet there will be many at that time there, as
indeed even at the present time there are some to be found, who are
worshippers bearing the Christian name, and there shall be many too of these
belonging to the people of Israel: and it is in the same lasttime that God and
Magog shallmake this assault:Revelation20:9. ἄχρι, until, forms a tacit
limitation in the verses. From this verse to Luke 21:27, are summarily
comprehended all the times which are about to follow the destruction of the
city down to the termination of all things.— καιροὶ ἐθνῶν) the times of the
Gentiles, i.e. which are peculiarly their own. αὐτῶν is not the expressionused,
but the term ἐθνῶν, of the Gentiles, is repeated, in order to show the

correspondence ofthe event with the prediction. The article is not added. The
times of Israel, which would have continued uninterruptedly, if Israelhad
been obedient, Psalms 81:13-16, are interrupted by times of Gentiles. These
latter times had their own intervals of suspension, as in the Fourth and
Twelfth centuries. The plural, καιροί, is therefore used. A certain time of the
Gentiles was fulfilled when Constantine was emperor; and then the treading
down of Jerusalemabated; but not lastingly. The times during which the
Christians held Jerusalemwere brief intervals, if you compare them with the
times in which the [unconverted] Gentiles held the city.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". Johann Albrecht
Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/luke-21.html. 1897.
Ironside's Notes onSelectedBooks
Part II
The Evidence That The Times Of The Gentiles Have NearlyRun Their
Course

The prophetic Scriptures are as a light shining in a dark place. So
marvelously has God therein depicted the characteristicsofthe age in which
we live, and the conditions that would prevail as its end drew near, that no
reverent reader of the Bible need be left in the dark as to the place now
reachedin the history of the Gentile powers. Recentstartling events are so
fully in accordwith what Spirit-taught servants of Christ have long seen
foretold in Holy Writ as to be overwhelmingly convincing that “all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God.” He alone sees the end from the beginning and
speaks ofthe things that are not as though they were. It is this feature of
foretelling the future that differentiates the Bible from every other book.
Human writers guess and theorize. God has by inspiration communicated
facts which are attestedby eachpassing year.
In this last respect, the book of Daniel stands preeminent. The 2nd and 3rd
chapters give an outline of the times of the Gentiles from Nebuchadnezzar’s
day to the setting up of Messiah’s kingdom. The four empires of Babylon,
Medo-Persia,Greece, andRome, as depicted in its earlier form, have risen
and passedawayas foretold. But a later form of the last empire is predicted to
arise in the time of the end, immediately before the secondcoming of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the all-glorious Son of Man, as the Stone falling from heaven.
Now the laststate of the fourth empire is to be brought about as a result of an
effort to combine the iron of imperialism with the miry clay (or, more
correctly, brittle pottery) of democracy. This union-which can never be unity-
of royal authority and socialisticprinciples characterizesthe feet of the image
even before the formation of the ten toes. This latter condition does not come
in so long as the Church is still upon earth. It is subsequent to the rapture of
the saints of the presentdispensation. But the iron and clay are already in
evidence, and statesmenare making desperate efforts to combine the two,
after having learned, to their chagrin, in the lasthundred or more years, that
the “voice ofthe people,” if not “the voice of God,” is yet something to be
reckonedwith-is to be acknowledgedand appeasedif possible. With our

Bibles open to the 2d chapter of Daniel, and the records of the present day
before us, we do not hesitate to say that we are now in the iron and clay
period, and at any moment the Lord’s assembling-shoutmay summon all that
are Christ’s to the skies, afterwhich the re-formation of the Roman empire in
its last Satan-controlledcondition will be a matter of but a very brief time, for
“a short work will the Lord make in the earth.”
When, in past years, teachers ofthe Word of God have positively declared
that the Scriptures foretold a new socialistic-empire formed of ten great
kingdoms, on the ground of the Roman empire of old, many found it hard to
take such predictions seriously. But the events of recentyears, particularly
since 1914, have wrought a wondrous change in the minds of men as to this. It
is not only that the enlightened Bible believer declares suchmust be, but the
secularpress has takenup the matter, and it is being pointed out that the
formation of a United States of Europe is absolutely necessaryto safeguard
the interests of all nations and to preserve the peace ofthe world. This in itself
is a remarkable sign of the times, and shows how rapidly the end is
approaching.
The world-wardemonstrated the need of some strong centralizedgovernment
that could bring order out of the chaotic conditions which even the League of
Nations seems unable to control. This League is in itself a step-and a long step-
toward that very union of nations predicted by both Danieland John in the
Revelation. And the sudden rise to powerof Mussolini is a startling evidence
of how rapidly the kingdom of the Beastmay be developed after the Church is
gone. Already we hear of the revival of the Roman Empire, and this modern
“man of destiny” declares thatRome shall soonbe restoredto its ancient
splendors and will emulate the Empire of the Caesarsin worldly power and
glory.

We need, however, to be on our guard againsthastily-arrived at and ill-
consideredconclusions. Ihave seenin print, and heard it affirmed by many,
that II Duce, Premier Mussoliniof Italy, the greatFascistleader, is the
predicted Antichrist, the Man of Sin, who should arise at the end of this age.
This is quite unwarranted for a number of reasons. Mussoliniis a civil leader,
not the head of a religious system. Thus far his efforts to bring about a
rapprochement with the papacyhave been thwarted by the Pope himself.
That some kind of a coup may be accomplishedin the near future is not only
possible but, in my judgment, probable. If so, it may result in the fulfilment of
the seventeenthof Revelation, placing the mystic woman in the saddle, where
for a brief time she will againdominate the Roman earth. But the Antichrist is
the lamb-like Beastdepictedin the last part of the thirteenth chapter. He is
the imitation Lamb of God who is to be energizedby Satanic power. This one
will utterly deny the Father and the Son. “This,” says St. John, “is the
deceiverand the antichrist.” He will be acceptedby apostate Christendom
and apostate Judaismas the promised Messiah. His seatwill be in Palestine;
while, in the West, in the revived Roman Empire of the last days, there will be
a greatcivil leader, a Napoleonic “Manof Destiny,” who will for a brief time
attempt to exercise autocratic swayoverthe civilized world. Both this leader,
calledemphatically, “the Beast,” andthe Antichrist are to act togetheras the
enemies of God and His truth. But they are distinct personalities.
Mussolini, once a socialistofthe reddest type, now the advocate ofautocratic
power, has already declaredit is his intention to restore the ancient glory of
the RomanEmpire. Once an infidel, he has become a Catholic, and is eager
that there be a concordatestablishedbetweenthe Empire and the Vatican.
The FascistCreed, as it is called, is said to be the foundation of the instruction
of the youth of Italy. It begins with, “I believe in Rome Eternal, the Mother of
my Fatherland,” and it ends with, “I believe in the genius of Mussolini; in our
holy father Fascism, and in the communion of its martyrs; in the conversion
of the Italians, and the resurrectionof the Empire. Amen.” Mussolinimay be
the forerunner of the Beast;he might even be that sinister figure himself, but
it is better not to play the role of the prophet, but simply to be a humble
student of the prophetic Word.

That we are on the eve of greatworld-changes both statesmenand religious
leaders are agreed. The nature of those changes affords endless cause for
speculation. Forthe devout Christian the next stupendous event that shines
through the darkness is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering togetherunto Him. We do not wait for the Antichrist. We look for
the Lord from heaven. We are only interested in the signs of the times as they
harmonize with the warnings given whereby we may know that the end of the
age is approaching.
In the last chapterof the book of Danielthere are three statements made
which also have a bearing on the times in which our lot is cast. The angel says
to the prophet: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and sealthe book,
even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shallbe
increased” (ver. 4). Observe that three things are mentioned here, which if
any one of them came to pass without the other two, would be of no realvalue
in determining the question that is before us. But if all come to pass at the
same time we must be convincedthat God has spoken, and has pointed out
unerringly three signs that the end-times are almost upon us. Note the three
predictions: 1st, The end-times will be characterizedby prophetic
enlightenment, marvelously unsealing the book of Daniel, and the visions
therein recordedunderstood by spiritual men. 2nd, There will be a period of
world-wide restlessness:men will run to and fro as never before, owing
doubtless to new and convenient methods of locomotionand insatiable desire
for travel and adventure. 3rd, There will be a wide diffusion of knowledge-
bringing educationaladvantages to the door of the poorestif there be but an
ambition to learn and acquire. Now what are the facts? The last century has
been more and more characterizedby the very things mentioned. It is not that
these things are occasionallyfulfilled, but that they are everywhere apparent
in the civilized parts of the world. Here then is a three-fold cord that cannot
be quickly broken. Insignificant as any one of these facts might seemif it stood
alone, the combination of the three at one and the same time is the startling
fact. Man’s day is nearly at an end. The day of the Lord comes on apace!

Now link on to this evidence a New Testamentprophecy that clearly applies to
the same times. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3. “Foryourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so comethas a thief in the night. For when
they shall say, Peace andsafety; then sudden destructioncometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”Here is a
strikingly convincing statement, if receivedin literality as it is written. The
day of the Lord is going to break upon the world at some specialtime,
foreknownby God, when men will be talking loudly of Peace andSafety!
These are the very themes talked of on every hand for the lastdecade, and,
despite the fearful Europeantragedy, are heard more loudly to-day than ever.
Men of affairs are loudly proclaiming a coming era of universal peace to be
brought in by arbitration, treaties, and the evolutionary forces of society,
while the day of the Lord steals on them unawares in overflowing judgments
to cut off the ungodly from the earth, at the very time that universal peace
and safetybecome the sloganofa world devoted to destruction. All man’s
efforts to make this world a happy and peacefulscene, while still rejecting the
Lord Jesus Christ, are futile and vain. “There is no peace, saithmy God, to
the wicked.”
It is not to those who wait for the return of His Sonfrom heaven that the day
of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, but to those who ig- nore His Word
and despise His grace. “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief…therefore let us not sleepas do others; but let us
watchand be sober.”
And if we would watchintelligently it is necessarythat we be able, through
familiarity with the Word of God, to discernaright the signs of the times. In
three short verses our Lord Himself has given us a marvelous epitome of the
conditions that would prevail immediately before the greattribulation. Weigh
carefully Matthew 24:5-7, and ask yourself if anything could more aptly
describe the days in which we live. “Formany shall come in My name, saying,

I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of
wars;see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but
the end is not yet. For nation shall rise againstnation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, andearthquakes, in
divers places.” With this, couple the equally pertinent words of Luke 21:25,
26: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;and
upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves
roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
The context makes it clearthat these are the outward evidences of the near
approachof the end-times. They do not definitely fix the time when the Lord
must come. They simply show that the days of vengeance are coming on
apace. And one might fearlesslychallenge anyone to give us a better
description of our own days than we have in these verses, taking brevity into
consideration.
Note the leading features of the two passages:
First: Many Antichrists. It might be said that there has never been a time
since the very days of the apostles that this sign has not been manifested; and
this I readily admit. But in a certain sense the whole Christian dispensationis
marked by all those things predicted by our Lord, for ever since apostolic
days men have lived in what John calls “the last hour.” The greaterpart of
earth’s time or course has been run; only the lasthour remains ere the
kingdom be ushered in. But while this is so, we gatherthat the characteristic
features of the age will be accentuatedat the close. And so it is at the present
solemn moment. We hear of antichrists on every hand, and those who are
deceivedthereby may well be calledlegion! In all lands these false Christs are
found. In America we have witnessedthe “powers and signs and lying
wonders” connectedwith the systemmiscalledChristian Science, which

veneratedits woman-founder as the secondcoming of Christ, and holds its
false philosophy to be the promised Comforter, thus blaspheming againstthe
Holy Ghost. Lesserlights have flickeredand flamed up, then died down,
leaving hosts of disappointed dupes, like Dowie, the pseudo-prophet of
Chicago;Sanford, the Elijah of New England; Dr. Teed, the Koresh; and
others too numerous to mention; and as they pass away, other deceivers take
their places, for men would rather believe any lie than God’s truth.
When the Persianantichrist, Abbas Effendi, or Abdul Bahai, toured America
and Europe, he was welcomedas the forerunner of universal peace and
accordedthe liberty of proclaiming his propaganda from “Christian” pulpits.
And though, like other pretenders before him, he has passedaway, his
followers still abound in a land of Bibles, and hope by the dissemination of his
principles to bring in a millennial condition while refusing the cross!
Some years ago Mrs. Annie Besant, the agedTheosophicalleader, formedthe
Order of the Star of the East, a Theosophicaloff-shoot, to wait for a great
religious leader-a new incarnation of the Spirit of the Christ. The mountain
has labored and brought forth-Krishnamurti! Yet vastnumbers of otherwise
intelligent people acceptthe drivellings of this colorlessyouth as the very
utterances of inspiration!
Other “coming ones,” too numerous to mention, engagethe thoughts of men.
But it is for Antichrist, not the Christ of God, they wait. The Lord of glory,
when He comes again, descends fromheaven. The false prophet comes from
the earth-born in a natural way.
Second:Scripture predicts a period of terrible unrest and internecine warfare
as an evidence that the world is entering “the beginning of sorrows.” A few
years ago men were flattering themselves that the world would never again be

desolatedby greatwars and wholesale slaughter. Itwas confidently believed
that the socialconsciousness ofthe laboring class would make it impossible to
hurl greatarmies againsteachother. Peace propaganda hadso educatedthe
people of all civilized nations that war would soonbe outlawed. In the very
month that the great1914-1918Europeanconflictbroke out, the organ of the
Peace Societypublished in Toronto, contained an ably-written article
declaring that war was now an impossibility, and a greatworld-conflict could
never occur again!Clergymen, oblivious of prophetic truth as revealedin
Scripture, and carried awayby the loose, liberaltheologicalsystems ofthe
day, were loudly voicing the same empty boastup to the very day that the
devastating carnage began.
And now that comparative peace has succeededto bloody warfare the same
unbelieving views are being taught from many pulpits. Yet ever since the
signing of the treaty of Versailles the nations have been feverishly preparing
for “the next greatwar”-building navies, enlisting soldiers, storing
ammunition-all for what? Universal peace?Nay, but for the wars and rumors
of wars of the closing days of this age, and for the greatArmageddon conflict
yet to be fought out in the land of Palestine, whenall nations shall be drawn
into the fray. While every Christian should be grateful to God for the
comparative peace now enjoyed, it needs to be remembered it is but a
temporary truce, for there can be no lasting peace while Christ is rejected-nor
until all Gentile dominions are destroyed and He shall come whose right it is
to reign.
In the third and fourth places we read of famines and pestilences, the very
natural outcome of war, which have reaped fearful harvests since the great
world-war, though the science andskill of the world are endeavoring to
successfullycope with them. Many high-spirited and noble-minded physicians
and nurses laid down their lives in the overpowering conflict in trying to
hinder the on-rushing pestilence, while the charity of the world was strained
in its efforts to check the ravages offamine-and what may it not yet be in the

near future? The black and pale horses of famine and pestilence always follow
the red horse of battle.
In Luke’s accountwe get the fifth sign that the end is drawing near, calamities
such as the world has never previously known. Were the dreams of evolution
true, we should long since have passedearth’s formative period, but events of
recentyears show us that this very globe is going through greatand
momentous changes, preparatoryto the conditions prophesied of for
millennial times. Surely never have there been so many terrible disasters on
land and sea as since the midnight cry summoned the virgin band to trim
their lamps. Earthquakes, tidal waves and kindred phenomena have occurred
with amazing frequency. Is it any wonder that we see the sixth signon every
hand?-“Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth.” Confidence is shaken. Nations are bewildered
and perplexed. Pledges evenof nations are violated, and promises broken.
Individuals are in fear and dismay where a cheeryspirit of optimism
prevailed but a short time ago. Yet, amidst it all, the Christian need not be in
perplexity or doubt. The Word of God has forewarnedof all this. Minutely it
has foretold existing conditions, and the fulfilment of its solemn prophecies
should only strengthenthe faith of the believer as he turns from all men’s
empty vaporing to the unerring and inerrant Word of God.
This spirit of unrest to which we have referred, is particularly manifested in
the strained relations betweencapitaland labor. Despite the evident desire of
many modern captains of industry to better the conditions of their employees,
and to practise what a recentwriter has called“the goldenrule in business,”
capital and labor still maintain a distinctly hostile attitude the one to the
other; and the economic questions involved seemno nearer a peacefuland
satisfactorysolutionthan in the days when the apostle James wrote his
intensely practicalepistle.

In that letter there is a passagewhich, while it unquestionably applied directly
to conditions then existing, was so worded by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
as to graphicallydepict industrial conditions at the end of the age. This is not
so manifest on the page of the Authorized Version as in the Kevision, or any
critical translation. An evidently mistakenrendering of one preposition is
responsible for this in the King James Version. This preposition, correctly
rendered in later versions, throws a flood of light on the whole passage.It is
the word rendered “for” in the earlier translationand “in” in the later ones,
occurring in the last sentence ofJames 5:3. Readthe passagein its entirety:
“Come now, ye rich, weepand howl for your miseries that shall come upon
you. Your wealthhas become corruption, and your garments moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver are rusted; and their rust shall be a witness againstyou,
and shall eatyour flesh as fire. Ye have heaped up treasure togetherin the last
days.” Note the correctedpreposition, and observe where in the course of
time, it locates the complete fulfilment of that concerning which the Holy
Spirit speaks so solemnly. The passagecontinues:“Behold, the wagesofthe
laborers who have reaped your fields which is of you kept back unjustly,
crieth; and the cries of those that have reaped have entered into the ears of the
Lord of hosts. Ye have lived in luxury upon the earth, and have been wanton;
ye have pampered your hearts [as] in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned,
ye have killed the righteous; he doth not resistyou. Be patient therefore,
brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until it receive the
early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; establishyour hearts, for the coming
of the Lord draweth nigh” (chap. 5:1-8, 1911 Version).
As by a masterhand, the apostle with a few bold strokes, pictures the times in
which we live. On the one hand, haughty wealth; on the other, grinding
poverty; on the one hand, scornful indifference; on the other, angry
dissatisfaction. Onthe one hand, wanton waste;on the other, bitter need.
Such contrasts have ever been common in this world’s sad history, but never

were they so accentuatedas at the present time when the rich are growing
richer and the poor are growing poorer, and the greatgulf betweenthe two
classesis steadily widening. Ours has been called, and not without reason, the
millionaire age. If our grandfathers were worth a few thousands, they were
counted well-to-do. Now men hold securities mounting into the millions, while
even a billion of money may be heapedtogetherby one man. Statistics show
that the great bulk of the world’s wealth is held subject to the order of a little
coterie of arrogantplutocrats, who conniving togethercancontrol the
resources ofthe nations, and make or prevent financial panics at their will. It
is a condition of affairs never before known, and tells us with absolute
certainty that we are in the last days.
Nor should I be misunderstood in writing as I have done. It is no sin to be
rich, nor is a man necessarilya malefactorbecause he possesses the ability to
amass greatwealth. But wealthis a stewardship, and “it is required in
stewards that a man be found faithful.” He to whom riches are entrusted is
accountable to God for the use to which he puts them. Their selfish
conservationHe will judge unsparingly. James arraigns the rich for their
greedand self-indulgence. They had forgottenthe word, “He that loveth silver
shall not be satisfiedwith silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase:
this is also vanity” (Ecclesiastes5:10). They were living as though accountable
to no higher power, and were eagerlyseeking to gratify every lust. Their
hoarded treasure, corrupting, moth-eaten, and rusting, witnessedto their
sordid selfishness.And this mass of wealthwould soonhave been largely
dissipated had they but dealt in fairness with the laborers on the fruits of
whose toil they were fattening. Those thus down-trodden have often felt as
though God had forgotten, and in their despair have often denied His very
existence. But “whenHe maketh inquisition for blood He forgettethnot the
cry of the humble.” He has been a silent but not unfeeling spectatorof the
injustice, the heartlessness, andthe haughty arrogance ofthe godless rich. He
has noted every tear, heededevery sigh, heard every cry of oppressionfrom
the anguishedhearts of the downtrodden whose rights have been ruthlessly
disregardedby those who should have been to them the instruments of
Providence for their protection and blessing. The same spirit that has thus ill-

used the poor and needy is the spirit that condemned and slew the Righteous
One. It comes to its full fruition in the last days. It will be judged unsparingly
when the Lord arises to plead the cause of the afflicted.
But what is to be the Christian’s attitude in such conditions as are here
described? Is he to link himself with labor unions and industrial as- sociations
of various kinds, generallycomposedof Christless men guilty of violence and
even murder, in order to curb the greedand check the tyranny of soulless
corporations and capitalists preying on the laboring classes?Is he to oppose
force to tyranny, the boycottto oppression, and the strike to employers’
arrogance?Byno means. His path is indicated clearly and unequivocally in
verses 7 to 12. “The coming of the Lord draw-eth nigh.” Till then the believer
is exhorted to patience and to trust in the living God. He is not to be carried
awayby the spirit of the age. Complaints, grudges, harsh invectives, are not to
come from him who sides with a rejectedChrist and waits for His return from
heaven. Of old, the prophets had to learn this lessonofpatience, suffering for
righteousness’sake, committing their cause to the Lord; ever proving His
faithfulness in spite of all man’s unfaithfulness. And they who so endured we
count happy, even as was Jobthe servant of the Lord whose patience has
become proverbial, and in whose later history we see “the end of the Lord”
and are assuredthat He is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
Till He comes the Christian canwell afford to stand aside from the restless,
surging movements of the day; and, committing his cause to the Lord with
quietness of heart, he is to let the potsherds of the earth strive with the
potsherds of the earth, knowing that God has said, “I will overturn, overturn,
OVERTURN it, until HE shall come, whose right it is to reign.” That that glad
day has now drawn very near the conditions we have been considering would
be sufficient to clearlyprove.

But there is another line of evidence, having to do particularly with the
nations of Israel, at which we must now look, and with which the next chapter
will occupyus.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
By the edge of the sword;eleven hundred thousand were slain.
Led awaycaptive; ninety-seven thousand were carriedinto captivity.
Trodden down; desolated, oppressed. This has been done successivelyby the
Romans, Saracens, Mamulukes, Franks, and by the Turks who continue to
exercise dominion over and oppress it.
The times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; the times during which God has
determined that the Gentiles shall tread down Jerusalem.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "Family Bible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/luke-
21.html. American TractSociety. 1851.

Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
24. στόματι μαχαίρης.A Hebraism, though στόμα in the sense of‘edge’is also
classical(comp. δίστομος). 1,100,000 Jewsare saidto have perished in the
war. “It seems as though the whole race had appointed a rendezvous for
extermination” Renan. (See on Luke 22:49.)
αἰχμαλωτισθήσονται. This is one of the group of words used only by St Luke
and St Paul. Josephus speaksof97,000Jewssentto various provinces and to
the Egyptian mines. B. J. VI. 9.
ἔσται πατουμένη ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν. So that the very thing happened which the
Maccabeeshad tried to avert by their fortifications (1 Maccabees4:60). All
sorts of Gentiles—Romans,Saracens,Persians, Franks,Norsemen, Turks—
have ‘trodden down’ Jerusalemsince then. The analytic future implies a
permanent result.
ἄχρι οὗ πληρωθῶσιν. Attic Greek would require ἄχρι ἄν, but the ἂν is
constantly omitted in the N.T. with these particles of time. See Luke 12:50,
Luke 13:8, &c.;Mark 14:32.
καιροὶ ἐθνῶν. By the times—’seasons’or ‘opportunities’ of the Gentiles—is
meant the period allottedfor their full evangelisation. Romans 11:25. This
limit of time was fulfilled at Christ’s Parousia in the destruction of Jerusalem.
The καιροὶ merely means the one καιρὸς regardedin its severalelements.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
"Commentary on Luke 21:24". "Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools
and Colleges".https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/luke-
21.html. 1896.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
24. They shall fall by the edge of the sword—This mostimportant verse is
furnished by Luke alone. It forms the bridge by which the prophecy travels
over the chasm of ages and brings us down to the termination of the rejection
of Israel. At the same time it is a wonderful prophecy, whose fulfilment has
been going on from the time of its first writing to the present era. When a
distinguished generaltold Bishop Newtonthat the prophecies of Scripture
were written after the event, the bishop brought him to sober thought by
telling him that there are prophecies of Scripture which are being fulfilled at
the presentday. How wonderfully are the Jews fulfilling the prophecies of the
Jesus they rejected, proving by their very rejectionthe truth of his mission!
Led awaycaptive into all nations—The sufferings of the Jews are those briefly
describedby Watsonin his TheologicalDictionary:
The Romans, under Vespasian, invaded the country, and took the cities of
Galilee, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, etc., where Christ had been
especiallyrejected, and murdered numbers of the inhabitants. At Jerusalem
the scene was mostwretchedof all. At the passover, whenthere might have
been two or three millions of people in the city, the Romans surrounded it
with troops, trenches, and walls, that none might escape.The three different

factions within murdered one another. Titus did all in his power to persuade
them to an advantageous surrender, but they scornedevery proposal. The
multitudes of unburied carcassescorruptedthe air, and produced a
pestilence. The people fed on one another; and even ladies, it is said, boiled
their suckling infants, and ate them. After a siege ofsix months, the city was
taken. The Romans murdered almost every Jew they met. Titus was bent to
save the temple, but could not; six thousand Jews who had takenshelter in it
were all burned or murdered. The whole city, except three towers, and a small
part of the wall, was razed to the ground, and the foundations of the temple
and other places were ploughed up.
Soonafter the forts of Herodian and Machaeronwere taken, the garrisonof
Massada murdered themselves rather than surrender. At Jerusalemalone, it
is said, one million one hundred thousand perished by sword, famine, and
pestilence. In other places we hearof two hundred and fifty thousand that
were cut off, besides vastnumbers that were sent into Egypt, to labour as
slaves. About fifty years after, the Jews murdered about five hundred
thousand of the Roman subjects, for which they were severelypunished by
Trajan. About A.D. 130 one Barcocabapretended that he was the Messiah,
and raiseda Jewisharmy of two hundred thousand, who murdered all the
heathens and Christians that came in their way; but he was defeatedby
Adrian’s forces. In this war, it is said, about six hundred thousand Jews were
slain, or perished by famine and pestilence. Adrian built a city on Mount
Calvary, and erecteda marble statue of a swine over the gate that led to
Bethlehem. No Jew was allowedto enter the city, or to look to it at a distance,
under pain of death.” Truly the Jew has been led a captive among all nations.
And Jerusalemshall be trodden down—Notmerely trodden, but trodden
down; subjugated and debased.

Of the Gentiles—Jerusalemhas repeatedly changedpossessors, but has never
been possessedby the Jews since the Romans destroyed it.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled—The time of the exclusive Gentile
dispensationand churchdom. The times of the Gentiles will have been fulfilled
when Israel is gatheredinto the Christian Church; “and so all Israelshall be
saved.” Romans 11:26. So in the same chapterPaul tells us that “blindness in
part hath happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
We have here a striking resemblance betweenthe language of Luke and Paul,
confirming the opinion that Paul was Luke’s instructing apostle. By “the
fulness of the Gentiles” is to be understoodthe full measure of Gentile
conversionforeseenby God as to be, before the return of the Jews. That
return of the Jews to God will be, as Paul says, as life from the dead. The
restorationof the Jews shallredound to the happiness of the Gentiles. “Forif
the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them be the
riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?” Then shall there be one
Shepherd and one fold, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Trodden down… until—The language until implies that when the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled Jerusalemwill ceaseto be trodden down, and recover
her ancientglory. And it cannot but seemprobable to every reflecting mind
that the Jewishrace is preserved for some greatand providential reason.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Luke 21:24". "Whedon's Commentary on
the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/luke-21.html.
1874-1909.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible
“And they will fall by the edge (literally ‘mouth’) of the sword, and will be led
captive into all the nations, and Jerusalemwill be trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
And the result of the investment of Jerusalemwill be many slain by the edge
of the sword(compare Jeremiah21:7; Hebrews 11:34), and many led captive
among the nations (Deuteronomy 28:64). It will be like 587 BC all overagain.
And then Jerusalemwill be left desertedand trodden down by the Gentiles,
and it will not rise againto its former glory for it will be trodden down by the
Gentiles until their time comes to its fulfilment. Note that there is no promise
that Jerusalemwill then rise again. The Jerusalemthat the prophets spoke of
as having a glorious future is seenin the New Testamentto be the heavenly
Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalemis finally dispensed with, from a spiritual
point of view, in Acts. What happens to it is therefore of no more consequence
from God’s viewpoint (it is only man who has fixations on holy places).
As a result of God’s judgments Jewishcontrolover the Temple will cease, the
godly among the nations will ceaseto look to Jerusalem, and all the Jewish
hopes of world rulership will have collapsed. Jewishhopes will have been
crushed. Their Temple will have been defiled, and then destroyed. Their
Messianic expectations willhave been thrust into a distant and empty future,
for the simple reasonthat they did not receive Him when He came (‘He came
to His own inheritance and His own people did not receive Him’ - John 1:11).
It is the sign that Godhas replacedthem with a new Israel, the Israelof God,

to which belong all who are His (John 15:1-6; Galatians 3:29;Galatians 6:16;
Romans 11:17-29;Ephesians 2:11-22;James 1:1; 1 Peter1:1; 1 Peter2:5; 1
Peter2:9). So they are given the warning that unless they are willing to accept
in Jesus their true Messiah, they will have to recognise andsettle for the
period of Gentile domination stretching forward into God’s immeasurable but
perfect time, the ‘thousand years’ of Revelation20. Forthis will be the time of
Gentile rule and of spiritual activity by the true MessiahWho will gather
togetherHis people through the proclamationof the GoodNews and make
them one in Him, both Jew and Gentile. This will be accompaniedby the
literal domination of the world by the iron boot of earthly rulers, many of
whom would crush the Jews, andothers of whom would uphold them (and
sadly some of them will do it in the name of Christ, although not in
accordancewith His teachings). The Jews willhave been replaced in the
purposes of Godexcept in so far as they seek Him. Fortheir future can now
only be found in Christ.
For the warning of the treading down of the sanctuary and of Jerusalem
compare Isaiah 63:18;Daniel 8:10; Daniel8:13; Zechariah 12:3; Psalms 79:1-
2; Revelation11:2. This gradual transition from Jerusalemto the Gentile
world is made clearin Acts. The first part of Acts is all concerning Jerusalem.
It is the centre from which the word goes out (Isaiah 2:2-4). It is the hub of
Apostolic activity. But from chapter13 onwards this is all transferred to
elsewhere.Peterhas gone to ‘another place’ (Acts 12:17). Paul works from
Syrian Antioch (13 onwards), and when given the choice the Temple finally
and definitely closes its doors againsthim (Luke 21:30). Jerusalemhas
forfeited its significance, being replaced by the Jerusalemwhich is in Heaven
(Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22). For it is the idea that lies behind Jerusalem
that God guarantees, notthe physical city itself.
So the question, “Teacher, whentherefore will these things (the destruction of
the Temple) be? and what shall be the sign when these things are about to
occur?” is answered. Looking atit from Jesus’point of view on earth, it will

Jesus was predicting gentiles will rule

Jesus was predicting gentiles will rule

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to Jesus was predicting gentiles will rule

Similar to Jesus was predicting gentiles will rule (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was predicting gentiles will rule