The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

278 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
but changed slightly (in the 1880’s) to the following year, 1799. The
Seventh-Day Adventists still believe that the “time of the end”
began in 1798.
Should not “fulfilled” predictions of this kind help us to take a
more sober view of the 1914 date?
In Chapters 3 and 4 of this work much strong evidence was
presented against the 607 B.C.E. date as the year of the destruction
of Jerusalem and the starting-point of the 2,520 year Gentile times
calculation.
In Chapter 5 it was demonstrated that the seventy-year
prophecy is in good agreement with the 587 B.C.E. date for the fall
of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, the 2,520 years could not
have ended in 1914.
Then, in this chapter, it has been shown that a change of the
expiration date of those times from 1914 to 1934 resulted in just
another failed prophecy. Next, the question was raised, “Is the
2,520-year calculation really founded on a sound biblical basis?”
The examination that followed demonstrated it is not. Finally, the
reevaluation of the meaning of the 1914 date in the Watch Tower
publications since 1922 was examined and found to be deficient.
For all these reasons, should not the 1914 date be wholly and
entirely discarded as the pivotal point in the application of Bible
prophecies to our time? The answer is a resounding “YES!”
E. SOME NOTES ON THE “GENTILE TIMES” OF LUKE
21:24
What, then, about the period called “times of the Gentiles”? If it
does not refer to a period of 2,520 years , to what period may this
expression refer?
The phrase “times of the Gentiles” (”appointed times of the
nations,” NW) occurs in the lengthy prophecy of Jesus known as
the Olivet discourse. This discourse is recorded by all the three
Synoptics (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). Only Luke,
however, uses the expression “times of Gentiles” (kairoí ethnôn).
The phrase is used in connection with Jesus’ prediction of the
coming judgment upon Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. Stating
that there would be “great distress in the land and wrath against
this people,” Jesus went on to explain how this “wrath” would be
vented on the people:
They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all
the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the
times of the Gentiles (kairoí ethnôn) are fulfilled. — Luke 21:24, NIV.