Luke 21:24

Luke 21:24. They shall fall, etc. Peculiar to Luke. The reference is, of course, to ‘this people.' ‘According to Josephus, the number of the slain amounted to 1,100,000; 97,000 were carried away as slaves, mostly to Egypt and the provinces.'

And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, or ‘nations.' Here the discourse begins to have a wider reference than the destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is personified, and represented as desecrated, and kept in contemptuous bondage and desolation. This is its present condition. We, therefore, understand ‘Gentiles,' as meaning not only Romans, but Mohammedans, and even Crusaders.

Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Each Gentile nation, like the Jews, has its ‘time' (opportunity). When this dispensation of the Gentiles ends, Jerusalem will be no longer trodden down. Opinions differ, however, as to whether this dispensation of the Gentiles implies their conversion to Christ or their rejection of Him. All analogy points to the former, and the subsequent prophecies confirm this view. Among all nations converts will be made, but the terrible events which will precede the end of the world indicate plainly a great rejection.