What was the Times or Age of the Gentiles? The age of the Gentiles is a very specific time period in scripture measured by four consecutive empires prophesied of in scripture. During that time period the saints of both the Old and New Testament were conquered, oppressed, persecuted and overcome by the kingdoms and empires of the earth. As a result the Government of God was able to bear little fruit in the earth as it was marked by over two thousand years of suffering, oppression and genocide. There was good news however in these prophecies about the government of God as far as its earthly promises were concerned. As articulated in well over one hundred chapters of Bible prophecy; that after the time period ended, those promises would begin to become available to the nations that would meet the conditions. Thus, the Kingdom of God would bear fruit like the rule of law, limited human government, the outlawing of slavery, property rights, justice, womens equality and such in nations through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nebuchadnezzars dream as interpreted by Daniel in the 2nd chapter of his book is the first prophecy of that age that had just started. The four empires are prophesied and Babylon is named as the first of the four. From this point on all prophecies about that age give more details concerning the four empires. In Daniel chapter 7 the four empires are once more prophesied using different illustrations with a focus on the fourth empire, ten particular emperors and then an eleventh. The eleventh emperor begins a period of war that overcomes the saints illustrated by 1260 days. In Daniel 8 the the second and third empires are named, Medo\Perisa and Greece. In Daniel 11:40-44 the first Roman emperors conquest of the last quarter of the Greek empire is prophesied which by the way corresponds to the final days of the first covenant age which has many end time prophecies associated with it. (End times of the first covenant age. Not the end times of the Age of the Gentiles or the end of the world.) There are some other visions of these four empires in some of the minor prophets. John records two separate visions in the book of Revelation about them and their end time that also adds more detail to Daniels visions. The four horsemen in Daniel 6 is the first; ending with prophecies of great judgments against the city of Rome that ended with a 7th judgment and a third woe. The empire still stood as its capitol was moved to Constantinople in 333 AD but the city of Rome was depopulated the third time it was conquered, (the third woe.) A great cataclysm, (the 7th trumpet) at the same time destroyed possibly half the earths population. Whole civilizations perished and un-doubtably many species of animals . Johns other vision of the four empires add allot more detail. It used the same animals as the illustrations in Daniel 7 did. Seven heads interpreted as the first seven emperors are added in Johns vison. The ten horns of Daniel 7 are ten emperors after them. A lamb with two horns prophesying that the empire will voluntarily divined into eastern and western halves. The lamb was an illustration that at the time of this split the empire would claim it was Christian but still spoke the words of the dragon. The time period associated with the eleventh emperor of the ten illustrated by 1260 days is also illustrated six other times in Revelation associated with the Roman Empire. The same seven judgments as recorded in Johns first vision with the four horseman are repeated in his second vision. However in this one 7 additional judgments are added after the first seven. Sealed up until their time. It was these that actually end the empire in 1453 AD with the coming of Christ. Who came not only to judge but to now see to it that all the earthly promises of God made to the saints in times past. Promises that never came to pass in their days will now start to be manifested in the earth as his invisible government grows and its fruit can be bore in nations. This is illustrated by Rev. Chapter 20-22 which are very condensed versions of the illustrations used in prophecies made of this time period in the Old testament and verified by Jesus. Here is the explanation for the eleventh emperor and the time period illustrated by 1260 days. It says in Rev. 17:17: 7 ......,the beast... which has the seven heads and ten horns.... 9 ....... The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet;..... Excluding claimants to the throne, these are seventeen specific Roman emperors. By claimants I mean those who claimed the throne in a time of multiple contestants for it. The seventeen are those who came out on top and secured it. So just because one of the claimants happened to be in the city of Rome when he claimed the throne. It doesnt count. So this only counting the one who finally won the throne by force or intrigue. Keep in mind bias colors mine and everyone elses opinion of who actually was an emperor. That being said. I consider Vespasian the seventh emperor and therefore the seventh head. Titus his son is the eight. The reason the eighth is of the seven is because we are still talking about the same empire and he is Vespasians son. He, Titus, is called the beast because he is the one that destroyed Jerusalem just like the first emperor of the first empire, Nebuchadnezzar did. Do you know what the historical consensus is of the time period between Babylon, the first animal of this four animal illustration, first conquering Jerusalem and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is? 667 years. One year off the infamous number of the beast So, from the time of the beginning of the age of the gentiles until Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus was 667 years. Gets even more detailed. The ten emperors who at the time John received his vision had received no throne as of yet. These are the same ten in Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel chapter 2. Titus is the fist of the ten. The little horn of Daniel is the eleventh. He is Septimius Severus whos reign began in 193 AD. He made conversion to Christianity illegal and unlike the ten before him he is the one that started the large scale persecutions. He made war with the saints and overcame them. There is a number associated directly with him in Daniel 7 and spoken of seven different times in relation to the Roman empire; 1260. If you add 1260 years to the beginning of his reign you get the exact year the Roman empire ended. 1453 AD. Did Septimius Severus fulfill the prophecy in Daniel 7 about the little horn? Radically actually: This is from my article on end time prophecy: This leaves Septimius Severus as the eleventh of the ten who pretty amazingly seems to fulfill many of the words in many different ways concerning the beginning of the time period of the little horn. First; three emperors or three of the ten horns fell before him. Emperor Commodus 180-192 was murdered by his personal associates. Pertinax was legitimately appointed as emperor immediately afterwards. There were no other claimants to the throne. He was murdered 87 days later by a group of soldiers in the imperial residence when he personally confronted them to quell a mutiny. There were no other claimants to the throne so the Pretorian guard found a couple of men (a prefect and a senator) who bid against each other to pay them to proclaim one of them emperor. Didius Julianus won the auction. After 62 days Septimius Severus deposed him. So well within a one year period three emperors, three horns, fell before Septimius Severus. Secondly; three claimants to the throne were militarily subdued. Didius Julianus was the first. Upon hearing of the murder of Pertinax and the purchasing of the emperorship by Didius Julianus and two others, the governors of Syria and Briton proclaimed themselves emperor. The governor of Syria was defeated after Didius Julianus then lastly the governor of Briton. So here, Septimius Severus subdued three. Lastly, Septimius Severus seems to be the first real non Italian emperor. Although Trajan and Hadrian are considered to be the first provisional emperors (from Spain,) they were apparently still from Italian families. What this could mean is that the previous three Italian dynasties were uprooted when he became emperor. To put this in an even broader perspective. His son, the emperor Caracalla whos mother was Syrian made all the freeman of the Roman empire Roman citizens. From this point on being Italian faded into obscurity as far as the emperorship was concerned. From 193 A.D. to 1453 A.D there never ceased to be an emperor on the throne of the Roman Empire which is 1260 years. The real question is. Did the earthly promises of God start to come to pass in the earth as the Bible said they would after that age was over and ours started 500 years ago? The answer to that question is a big yes. You can see all of this in great detail with historical references in my article on end time prophecy linked below. wordservice.org/Bible%20Prophecy/bp3000.htm
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 01:18:05 +0000
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