The times of the Gentiles

During my last trip to Israel, an interesting event took
place which I feel is worthy of inclusion in this newspaper.

One morning as we sat around the breakfast table in our
Jerusalem hotel, I received a visit from our tour guide friend and his travel
agent boss from Tel Aviv. Suddenly I felt the Spirit of God come upon me and
facing them I said,

"Gentlemen, I want you to listen to what I have to say as
it is very important.

As you can see my friends and myself are all Gentiles
(non-Jews), and we have a verse of Scripture given to us in the Bible from the
book of Luke 21:24 b,

"and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

I continued by saying that they being secular Jews would
possibly not know and understand some of these things, and therefore I would
take time to explain it in detail. I said,

'Have your read the prophet Ezekiel where he spoke of the
valley of dry bones?" And of course they very enthusiastically replied that
they had.

"First of all the bones came together from many different
places, and that was fulfilled in the years between 1900 and 1917 when General
Allenby came in and took the city and handed it back to the political Zionists.

Then skin and sinews came upon those bones as they lay in the
open valley, and this was fulfilled in 1948 when David Ben Gurion proclaimed the
State of Israel on May 14."

I said: "Gentlemen, there is only one more thing left to
happen according to that prophecy, and that is for Israel -– your country -–
to receive the breath of God, which will bring spiritual life back to the land
again. In the mean time we are still living in a period called the Times of
the Gentiles and we are moving rapidly towards the end of that period. We
are living at the conclusion of the 2000 years from Christ as the Prophet Hosea
tells us in Hosea 6:1-2.

"Come and let us return unto the Lord for he has torn and
he will heal us, he has smitten and he will bind us up. After two days will he
revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight."

I continued on to point out that one day with the Lord is as
a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. Therefore now that we have
approached the end of 2000 years from Christ, two days are gone and we are ready
for the third day, or the third thousand year, which will lead us into the time
that Jesus will return and reign from the city of Jerusalem.

These two men looked stunned as I continued on. I said, "When
Jesus comes back and reveals Himself, you will recognise Him as your Messiah,
your Master, your Lord and Saviour and the Word of God says that many in your
country will weep when they realise what they did to Him when he was here last
time.

We quote Zechariah 12:10-11, "And I will pour upon the
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and
of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in
bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day
there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem..."

These two men continue to stare at me with glassy eyes as I
pointed out that when they understood that Jesus was their Messiah they
possibly, or even probably would become more powerful at preaching the gospel
than I was, as every advantage was given to the Jew first and then to the rest
of the world. I showed them that the Scriptures were given first to Israel.
Jesus the Messiah was born in their country, He walked the streets of their
country, He was crucified for the sins of the world in their country. He rose
from the dead in their country, He went back to heaven from their country and He
is returning to their country to reign King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Therefore I said, "Gentlemen, the promises of God are first to the Jew and
then to the rest of the world, all the advantages are yours."

Romans 3:1-2, "What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what
profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly, because that unto them
were committed the oracles of God."

At this point I wish to point out that our time is running
out. There is no doubt that the Times of the Gentiles as written up for
us in the book of Luke, has almost come to an end and we are living in the final
seconds when God has given an opportunity for we non-Jews to receive communion
with Him and Salvation through the blood of His son, Jesus.

It is no accident that America, the largest and most powerful
Gentile nation has been in decline for the last half of a century and that
Israel as the fig tree mentioned in Matthew 24 is blossoming.

As America exports it's anti-God and perverted national
values day by day, so God is beginning to stir up things in the land of Israel
ready for the return of their Messiah, our Saviour and Master, Jesus Christ.

During the reign of George W. Bush, we will see a world wide
monetary crash, we will see the sell out of the sovereignty of that country as
government businesses are privatised and sold out to overseas investors and we
look forward to seeing a peace treaty signed in the Middle East which tells us
that we are at the very end of this age, prior to the return of our Lord.

Therefore rejoice, reader, that you are living at this
exciting time in history and understand that God has plans to use everyone of us
who are fully dedicated to Him.