SCRIPTURE READING: Lev. 26:1-28.

GOLDEN TEXT: Daniel 7:18.

1. Did Jesus speak of the "Times of the Gentiles"? Luke 21:24. Does not the word "UNTIL" show that the "Times of the Gentiles" is a definite period, to end at a certain time, when Jerusalem would be delivered from Gentiles?

2. Prior to the beginning of the "Times of the Gentiles," did God propose an AGREEMENT to the children of Israel? Exodus 19:5-6. What were the CONDITIONS of this proposal? (Notice the PROMISES were purely material and national.)

3. Did the Israelites AGREE to the proposal? Verses 7-8. Was this agreement entered into, and ratified by blood? Exodus 24:6-8. Did this agreement entered into between God and Israel constitute a covenant? Verse 8.

4. The PROMISES of this agreement, which is called "the Old Covenant," are repeated in fuller detail in Leviticus 26:3-8. Do the promises include material wealth and prosperity? Would not a nation, a hundred of whose soldiers could put ten thousand enemies to flight, soon dominate the world and become a world Empire? Can you find any promise of the HOLY Spirit, or of Eternal inheritance, included in this Old Covenant?

5. If Israel refused to obey the Commandments, were other nations (Gentiles) to reign over them? Verses 14 and 17. How many "TIMES" would this national punishment last? Verses 18, 21, 24, 28. (NOTE: To the Hebrews a "time" was one year of 360 days, or twelve 30-day months.)

6. During Israel's punishment, how long was each day to represent in actual fulfillment? Ezekiel 4:4-6; Numbers 14:34. Notice this refers only to Israel's punishment.

7. Did the Israelites keep their part of the Covenant? Ezekiel 20:23-24. Did Sabbath-breaking have anything to do with their NATIONAL punishment for 2520 years, continuing through this dispensation of grace, even to our day?

8. In the second year of his reign, the Gentile King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which God interpreted through Daniel. What was the purpose of the dream? Daniel 2:28.

9. Who gave the Gentile Nebuchadnezzar power to rule the world? Verses 36-38. Were the four kingdoms prophesied by this metallic image to be world-ruling empires? Verses 39-40.

NOTE: We see, then, that the "Times of the Gentiles" are the 2520 years which God turned over to this succession of four Gentile kingdoms, to rule the world during the "Times" of punishment of Judah. Both the House of Israel and the House of Judah broke their covenant with God, -- failed to qualify under God's conditions to rule the world. Consequently this world rule, as God had said in Leviticus 26, was denied them, and turned over to their Gentile captors, for this 2520-year duration. Israel was driven out first to Assyria in 721 B.C. But Judah had not yet broken the Covenant with God. The "Times of the Gentiles" did not commence until Judah had sinned worse than Israel, and was taken captive to Babylon 604-580 B.C. Then it was that God turned world rule over to this Gentile succession for 2520 years. After this "seven TIMES" of the Gentiles has run its course, the Kingdom is to be restored to Israel (Acts 1:6-7) -- but not to mortal, fleshly, rebellious, sinning Israelites. It will be RESTORED by the Second Coming of Christ, who the heavens have received UNTIL the TIMES of RESTORATION (Acts 3:21). In the meantime, the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of that coming KINGDOM has been preached -- the Holy Spirit has come that "whosoever will" may be "born again" and enter into that coming world-KINGDOM. As we have seen, even Gentiles who are converted, through Christ become spiritually adopted as Israelites. It is this BORN AGAIN Israel -- Israel of the SPIRIT -- to whom the kingdom shall be restored by Christ at His second coming. We stand today at the very END of the "Times of the Gentiles."

10. After the "Times of the Gentiles," what is to happen? Daniel 2:44. Will Gentile governments such as Fascism, Communism, continue to rule then? Will the kingdom of God fill heaven, or the earth? Verse 35.

11. Who will rule with Christ? Daniel 7:18, 21-22, 27; Revelation 2:26-27, 3:21, 5:10.

Promise of Blessing and Retribution

(Lev 26:1-28 NKJV) "'You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. {2} You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD. {3} 'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, {4} then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. {5} Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. {6} I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. {7} You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. {8} Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. {9} 'For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. {10} You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. {11} I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. {12} I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. {13} I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright. {14} 'But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, {15} and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, {16} I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. {17} I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. {18} 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. {19} I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. {20} And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. {21} 'Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. {22} I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. {23} 'And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, {24} then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. {25} And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. {26} When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. {27} 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, {28} then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins."

(Dan 7:18 NKJV) "'But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.'"

(Luke 21:24 NKJV) ""And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."

(Exo 19:5-8 NKJV) "'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. {6} 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." {7} So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. {8} Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD."

(Exo 24:6-8 NKJV) "And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. {7} Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient." {8} And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.""

(Ezek 4:4-6 NKJV) ""Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. {5} "For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. {6} "And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year."

(Num 14:34 NKJV) "'According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection."

(Ezek 20:23-24 NKJV) ""Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, {24} "because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers' idols."

(Dan 2:28 NKJV) ""But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:"

(Dan 2:36-40 NKJV) ""This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. {37} "You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; {38} "and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all; you are this head of gold. {39} "But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. {40} "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others."

(Acts 1:6-7 NKJV) "Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" {7} And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority."

(Acts 3:21 NKJV) ""whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."

(Dan 2:44 NKJV) ""And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

(Dan 2:35 NKJV) ""Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

(Dan 7:18 NKJV) "'But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.'"

(Dan 7:21-22 NKJV) ""I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, {22} "until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom."

(Dan 7:27 NKJV) "Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'"

(Rev 2:26-27 NKJV) ""And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations; {27} 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels'; as I also have received from My Father;"

(Rev 3:21 NKJV) ""To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."

(Rev 5:10 NKJV) "And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.""