Chapter I.
THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES.
The overthrow of the kingdom of Judah recorded in 2 Kings 24 and 25, and in the opening words of the book of Daniel, was a remarkable crisis in the history of the world. In judgment upon the people of God for their long-continued iniquity, sovereignty was removed from their hands, king and people were led into captivity, and Jerusalem was, in fulfilment of Jeremiah's words, given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon (Jer. 21. 10). The government of their land was thus committed to the Gentiles, and with the Gentiles it has remained from that day till now. These events took place in 606 and 587 B.C.
The Times of the Gentiles.
But Gentile control is not to continue indefinitely. This, which is plain from many Scriptures, was intimated by Christ to His disciples when He said of Jerusalem that the city would "be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21. 24). The phrase, "the times of the Gentiles," calls for consideration, and especially as it has to do with Nebuchadnezzar's conquest just mentioned.
There are two words translated "times" in the New Testament; one is chronoi, which is invariably rendered "times;" the other is kairoi, which, when the two are found together, is rendered "seasons." Thus Paul, in writing to the Thessalonian Church, says, "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you" (1 Thess. 5. 1, R.V.; cp. Acts 1.7). We may distinguish "seasons" from "times" in the following way: "times" denotes mere duration, lengths of time; "seasons" implies that these lengths of time have certain events or circumstances associated with them by which they are characterised. Thus the words almost exactly correspond to the terms "periods" and "epochs." Now the word kairoi, "seasons," is used in the phrase translated "the times of the Gentiles," which might accordingly be rendered "the seasons of the Gentiles." We look, then, for some special characteristic of the period or periods thus designated. We have observed that Nebuchadnezzar's overthrow of the kingdom of Judah involved the transference of its sovereignty from Jew to Gentile from that event onward. "The times of the Gentiles," accordingly, is that period, or succession of periods, during which dominion over the Jews and their land is committed to Gentile Powers.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.
Special significance attaches to the fact that no sooner had the times of the Gentiles begun than God made known the future course of their authority over His people, and the character and doom of that authority, and made it known to the first Gentile conqueror himself. It was in the second year of his reign that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream the great image by means of which the purposes of God were to be communicated to him. The description of this, given by Daniel to the troubled monarch, is as follows: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image, his head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors: and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2. 31-35).
Interpreting this vision, the prophet identified Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean monarch, with the head of gold, and foretold that his kingdom, or empire, would be followed in succession by three others, corresponding respectively to the different parts of the remainder of the image and to the nature of the metals composing them. Of the four kingdoms the last is to engage our chief attention in these papers. Passing from the first, the Chaldean, as specified in Daniel's words to the king, "Thou art this head of gold" (v. 38), we are shown that the second kingdom was that of the Medes and Persians by the prophet's record of the doom of Nebuchadnezzar's successor, Belshazzar: "In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom" (Dan. 5. 30, 31; cp. v. 28). That the third kingdom was the Grecian we find in the interpretation of part of a vision recorded in the eighth chapter: "The ram which thou sawest that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough he-goat [who was seen to destroy the ram, v. 8] is the king of Greece" (vv. 20, 21; cp. chap. 10. 20).
The Fourth Kingdom.
The name of the fourth kingdom is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but the prediction given in the ninth chapter of Daniel's prophecies sufficiently identifies it. Messiah, it was said, would be cut off, and the people of a coming prince would destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now we know that the perpetrators of this were the Romans. We know, too, that by them the Grecian empire was conquered. The world-wide rule of the first Roman Emperor is indicated in the words of Luke's introduction to his record of the birth of Christ: "Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled" (Luke 2. 1).
It is important to note that this fourth kingdom will, in its final condition, be in world-wide authority at the close of the times of the Gentiles, that is, that the Roman power, though in a divided state, will not be finally destroyed until it meets its doom at the hands of the Son of God. This fact, which will receive fuller treatment later, and is borne out by several Scriptures, is plainly indicated in the passage which describes the last state of the fourth kingdom and its destruction. Immediately after showing that it would be a divided kingdom, and describing the nature of that division (vv. 41-43), the prophet says: "And in the days of those kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (v. 44). Now this indestructible kingdom cannot be other than that of Christ, and by His kingdom the fourth is to be broken in pieces and consumed, thus involving the overthrow of all forms of Gentile authority. Obviously no form of world government will exist between that of the fourth kingdom, in its condition described in verses 42, 43, and the kingdom of Christ which destroys it.