Luke 21:24

“And they will fall by the edge (literally ‘mouth') of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

And the result of the investment of Jerusalem will be many slain by the edge of the sword (compare Jeremiah 21:7; Hebrews 11:34), and many led captive among the nations (Deuteronomy 28:64). It will be like 587 BC all over again. And then Jerusalem will be left deserted and trodden down by the Gentiles, and it will not rise again to 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 Jerusalem will then rise again. The Jerusalem that the prophets spoke of as having a glorious future is seen in the New Testament to be the heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is 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 Jewish control over the Temple will cease, the godly among the nations will cease to look to Jerusalem, and all the Jewish hopes of world rulership will have collapsed. Jewish hopes will have been crushed. Their Temple will have been defiled, and then destroyed. Their Messianic expectations will have been thrust into a distant and empty future, for the simple reason that 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 God has replaced them with a new Israel, the Israel of God, to which belong all who are His (John 15:1; Galatians 3:29; Galatians 6:16; Romans 11:17; Ephesians 2:11; James 1:1; 1Pe 1:1; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9). So they are given the warning that unless they are willing to accept in Jesus their true Messiah, they will have to recognise and settle for the period of Gentile domination stretching forward into God's immeasurable but perfect time, the ‘thousand years' of Revelation 20. For this will be the time of Gentile rule and of spiritual activity by the true Messiah Who will gather together His people through the proclamation of the Good News and make them one in Him, both Jew and Gentile. This will be accompanied by the literal domination of the world by the iron boot of earthly rulers, many of whom would crush the Jews, and others of whom would uphold them (and sadly some of them will do it in the name of Christ, although not in accordance with His teachings). The Jews will have been replaced in the purposes of God except in so far as they seek Him. For their 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; Daniel 8:13; Zechariah 12:3; Psalms 79:1; Revelation 11:2. This gradual transition from Jerusalem to the Gentile world is made clear in Acts. The first part of Acts is all concerning Jerusalem. It is the centre from which the word goes out (Isaiah 2:2). It is the hub of Apostolic activity. But from chapter 13 onwards this is all transferred to elsewhere. Peter has 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 against him (Luke 21:30). Jerusalem has forfeited its significance, being replaced by the Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22). For it is the idea that lies behind Jerusalem that God guarantees, not the physical city itself.

So the question, “Teacher, when therefore 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 at it from Jesus' point of view on earth, it will occur some time in the future, and the sign will be the gathering of armies against Jerusalem. There are no good grounds, apart from speculation, for applying these ideas to any other than what happened in 70 AD. Indeed if we consider the question that both Mark and Luke emphasise (Luke 21:7; Mark 13:4), both make clear that it specifically refers to that time, that is, to the time of the destruction of the Temple which at that moment of time was being observed by Jesus.

‘The Times of the Gentiles.' This is the time when the Gentiles come into their own in the purposes of God, when the Servant will be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6), and when God will not oppose Gentile domination. Various nuances have been seen in the phrase. It has been referred to:

1). The times when the Gentiles will be exercising God's judgments on Israel.

2). The times leading up to when the Gentiles themselves will be judged.

3). Their times of opportunity for turning to God. Compare Romans 11:25 where the fullness of the Gentiles will come in.

4). Their times for enjoying the privileges that the Jews have forfeited.

5). Their fixed times for lording it over Jerusalem.

In one way or another all these are involved. It is the period following the rejection of the old Israel, and its replacement by the new, when God's purposes in and for the Gentiles will be fulfilled, as Acts will reveal.