The appointed times of the nations
And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive
into all the nations;+
and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations*
until the appointed times of the nations*
are fulfilled – Luke 21:24
 |
| What are "the appointed times of the nations"? |
The "appointed
times of the nations" are another topic that many Jehovah's
Witnesses are struggling to be self-critical because of the
connections induced more or less in relation to the "seven
times" of Daniel chapter 4.
In the rare cases in
which they had a chance to re-examine the application of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream, you would probably have an answer like ...
"Jesus also spoke of the appointed times of the nations!"
The "inherent
logic" would be ... "As Jesus mentioned the appointed times
of the nations, the interpretation of the seven times of Daniel
chapter four is correct."
Is this a reasonable
statement?
Before answering
this question let's start immediately with the skim any objections on
the translation.
Is it correct to
translate "appointed times", as does the New World
Translation, or should have been translated simply "time"
as the majority of the other translations?
The author of this
article is not an expert in Greek or Hebrew but we will see how the
Bible, by itself, can effectively answer this question.
We can do a search
and see how the book Insight, for example, explains that "kairos
greek noun (pl. Kairoi) ... according to a dictionary," means a
fixed or defined period of time, a season, sometimes a time necessary
or appropriate to the season "(Insight volume 1," set times
of the nations ") and all this can also be shared as it is
possible that other dictionaries give different meanings with as many
logical and convincing explanations.
Who is right?
This is the problem
with human wisdom: everything is almost always the opposite of
everything and it is not the majority that establishes what is true
and what is not.
Obviously
conscientious research of experts deserve respect and a "truth"
conquered by effort and discipline is certainly more appreciable than
a "truth" simply taken or prepared by others.
We Christians,
however, have something more than human wisdom.
We have the Word of
God and if something "is not clear" it simply depends on
the fact that the time has not arrived or we have not studied or
pondered enough on this extraordinary Work.
That the more
correct translation is "times" or "appointed times"
has absolutely no importance because it is obvious that the time
is fixed or predetermined.
The nations, as we
know them today, are rulers of Satan and demons - see John 12:31;
Daniel 10:20
To think that the
time given to Satan to act is not fixed, that is, predetermined,
would mean that he could act undisturbed for as long as he wanted.
It is absolutely
logical that if Satan challenged God's right to govern humanity as
well as the fidelity of human beings themselves, God gave him time to
prove his accusation.
Otherwise Satan
could say, and continue to say indefinitely "Give me more time
...".
In fact, it is what
he will try to do, until the last moment, with his last nationalistic
beast - Compare Daniel 7:25
The context of Luke
21:24 speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem and says that it will be
"trampled by the nations until the times of the nations are
accomplished" and even the term "accomplished" means
that there was something predetermined.
The same term,
"accomplished", is used by the Lord at the time of his
death reported in John 19:30.
What was
accomplished?
They had fulfilled
all the prophecies concerning Himself and His death accomplished, or
fully accomplished, his assignment - Matthew 20:28
All this had been
foreseen many years before and indeed the reflective and scholarly
people of the Jewish scriptures could have recognized who the true
Messiah was because of this.
In the same way, the
"times of the nations" are fulfilled when they exhaust
their time which is evidently determined
If the purists of
the ancient greek is more properly translated "times" or
"appointed times," we let them argue. We are interested in
the biblical message.
Of course the real
"issue" that many would like to pull out after this
diatribe is to try to understand whether translating "appointed
times" we have wanted, somehow, to create a link with Daniel
chapter four.
In practice, one
wonders if the translation want to tell Jesus what he does not say
that is ... "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until
the appointed times described in Daniel chapter 4 are fulfilled."
Even in this case we
can say that the question is futile because it is always in the Bible
that we must look for the answer.
If the Bible had
actually explained that the seven times of the tree referred to the
time given to nations to act before the coming of the Kingdom of God,
then we could also discuss whether in Luke chapter 21 Jesus made a
parallel with those scriptures or not, but since Daniel chapter
four absolutely not talk about this, the matter dies at
birth.
What Jesus said,
"times" or "appointed times," he could not,
however, refer to Daniel chapter four.
It is possible to
find a detailed description of this subject at the following link
http://bewareofprophecy.blogspot.it/2017/12/chronology-interpretation-speculation.html
These were the
premises due.
Now let's try to see
what the Lord meant and when and how his words are fulfilled.
In the meantime, it
is correct to conclude that Jesus' words are not limited to the time
of the destruction of Jerusalem because the nations, after the 70th
E.V., continued to act arriving in our day.
Therefore, their
time has not yet been completed.
Therefore we must
understand the two subjects involved in this statement: Jerusalem and
the nations.
For the first
subject we have a problem.
Who is "Jerusalem"?
And 'the literal
city, which not surprisingly there again in the end time, or is it
God's people as a whole?
Many would say "it
is the people of God" but the answer is not so obvious and for
various reasons.
One of these is that
when Jerusalem was trodden down until you get to the destruction
presumably there were no Christians.
So the destruction
of Jerusalem not only fell upon a literal city, but did not involve
Christians at all (if we take for granted that they listened to the
warnings given by Christ over thirty years before) - Luke 21:20, 21
On the other hand,
if it were the literal Jerusalem we should ask ourselves why today, a
city that should have nothing more "sacred" would have such
importance in the words of Jesus.
Well, the answer may
surprise us.
The appointed times
of the nations end up at the beginning of Armageddon because that is
the time you will be destroyed. Only then will they have exhausted
their time.
If we read
Revelation, in fact, we notice that there is a temporal difference
from when Jesus takes power to when, actually, begins His war -
Compare Revelation 11:15 and Revelation 19:19, 20
When Jesus takes
power, the nations have not yet run out of time to act and this is
clearly seen from everything that happens from chapter 13 onwards.
This makes us
understand that it is wrong to associate the term of the "appointed
time of nations" in the presence of Christ.
As we saw in a
previous article, since Jesus took power until the beginning of
Armageddon, three and a half years have to pass (see the article
titled "1290 and 1335 days") - see Revelation 11: 2; 13:
1-5
This is also in
harmony with the words of Daniel who speaks of this "king"
who will try to change the times and the law but they "will be
given to them for a time, and times and half a time" - Daniele
7:25
In practice it will
only have forty-two months, really a short time to act - see also
Revelation 12:12
If the appointed
times of the nations ending at Armageddon and not the presence of
Christ, then we must take the book Revelation and see what the actors
involved and what happens in the vicinity of Armageddon.
We know that it is
God's people who are trampled savagely until the last moment of the
Satanic system.
This is accomplished
through the last dominant empire, described as one of the heads
slaughtered to death that lives, which blasphemes God, His Name, His
abode and those who dwell in heaven and makes war against the saints
and overcomes them - Revelation 13 : 3-7
At the end of these
forty-two months granted to the beast, time ends and begins
Armageddon - Revelation 19:19, 20
Did Jesus refer to
this event when he said that Jerusalem would be trampled on by the
nations "until the appointed times of the nations were
fulfilled"?
No, and we
understand why if we also identify the other possible subject
involved in the matter.
We have said that
speaking of Jerusalem we could refer to the literal city.
What other subject
and what event, in Revelation, preludes the beginning of Armageddon?
If we only read what
is written in chronological order, the answer should be taken for
granted: the destruction of Babylon the Great.
In various previous
articles we have re-discussed the identity of Babylon the Great by
coming to the nation of Israel (which includes Jerusalem, of course).
If you have not
already done so, you can find a detailed description in the following
link
If Babylon the Great
is therefore Israel, in what sense has been trampled by the nations
since 70 E.V. until now?
As we saw in the
article dedicated to Babylon, Israel is reborn not by God's will but
because of the political intrasps of the nations.
Although its
"rebirth" has been accepted by the religions of the world
as the return of true Israel, it is a mystification.
The founders of this
new Israel have not given honor to God (many of them are not even
believers), they no longer appreciate the God of the Bible but have
replaced it with their traditions (compare Matthew 15: 6).
They sought refuge
and protection in the nations of this world.
Only the
geographical territory of ancient Israel has remained, but the people
who make up this nation actually form a modern Babylon.
Furthermore, the
"founding" nations and the United Nations as a whole
continue to trample this nation with their military settlements *
(see footnote).
We can therefore say
that the literal city of Jerusalem, as well as all of Israel, is
currently being trampled by the nations of the world.
Until it will be
trampled?
Until its
destruction, of course - Revelation 17:16
It is true that this
destructive action is carried out by the United Nations itself (ie
part of the occupiers) but let us remember that this event, after the
period of crying and mourning of the hypocrites rulers of the world,
will mark the beginning of Armageddon.
From that moment
onwards no one will be able to step on Jerusalem.
At this point it is
clear that we must stop for a moment.
If Israel is Babylon
the Great, it is clear that it should have no positive meaning in its
description (in the end Babylon has always been the greatest enemy of
God's people) yet Jesus, in the basic writing of this article,
mentions this event as if was the liberation of Jerusalem.
It is as if he were
saying ... "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until a
certain point ... but then, finally, it will no longer be trampled
on!".
It becomes easy to
understand this expression if we understand that the nation chosen by
God for His people still has its importance.
A nation, understood
as geographic territory, has no merit or guilt.
So it is not the
geographical territory that is condemned but the people that populate
this territory.
The nation of Israel
has been rejected as a people, because of their condition of heart,
but the country where "milk and honey" flows is still the
country chosen by Jehovah God for His people - Exodus 3: 8
The mountaini of
rthe Adornment is still the mountain of the Adornment, even in the
time of the end, because chosen by God - Compare Daniel 11:45
The people who
occupy that territory are no longer God's people (and therefore since
they have denied it they have become abusive occupants) but the
territory chosen by God has nevertheless been chosen by God.
We should think that
from the moment when the territory chosen by God was then usurped by
another people, God will destroy that people and also the territory
in a definitive way?
The destruction of
Babylon is final in the sense that there will never be more people
with such characteristics to occupy the field of saints - Compare
Revelation 19: 3 with Ezekiel 38:17, 18
Obviously this will
not mean at all that this place will never be inhabited again -
Compare Ezekiel 38:12
Jerusalem, then, as
well as all of Israel will once again be inhabited by the true people
of God, that is, the people who have appreciated this privilege by
producing its fruits, a people that will be gathered from the four
extremities of the earth - Isaiah 11:11, 12
So it is no
coincidence that the persecution of the people of God, the real one,
ends precisely in conjunction with the destruction of Babylon the
Great.
When nations have
exhausted their time, which includes both the trampling of Jerusalem
that persecution, that Armageddon will destroy this beast, and all
compact peoples in the fight against the Lamb.
At that moment
Jerusalem will have been freed and the people of God, after the
necessary period spent in the "inner rooms", will be able
to go to that country which is still part of the promise and where in
a short time it will start to flow milk and honey - Isaiah 26: 20
Connecting properly
to the scriptures, we realize how wonderful is these prophecy and how
was diminished in an attempt to demonstrate an unprovable date?
God will lead us to
the Promised Land, still promised, when there is no longer any trace
of Babylon the Great, nor of all those who over time have trampled
upon this nation with impunity - Exodus 3: 8; Malachi 3: 6; Isaiah
55:10, 11
Only those who
understand the prophecy properly can hope to be among those who will
be prepared to reach it - Isaiah 11: 11, 12; 1 Corinthians 14: 8-11
Comments
Post a Comment