The restoration of the Jews to their land and to Jerusalem is a hotly debated subject. Some understand ‘the times of the Gentiles’ to last until the return of Christ, and teach that only at the second coming will those times have been fulfilled. Throughout that entire period from the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 until the second coming, the Gentiles will occupy and tread down Jerusalem. There will be no change in the condition of Jerusalem while the world continues. Understood this way, the word ‘until’ does not imply a time limit after which Jerusalem will no longer be trodden down and will return to Jewish occupation. But others understand the times of the Gentiles to be fulfilled during earth’s history, and to indicate that a different state of Jerusalem will come afterwards. The word ‘until’ specifies a state of affairs up to an end or terminus. Both interpretations above have a terminus, but the first is not a terminus in time. Does the word ‘until’ imply that something else will follow after the terminus in time? That needs to be determined by the context, but in most cases something else follows in earthly history which is different from what went before, as in Matthew 1:17; 2:13; 2:15; 11:13; 13:30; 17:9; 24:38; 24:39 to mention a few instances. The word ‘until’ is somewhat redundant if it should be taken to mean until the return of Christ at the end of the world. Why bother to say ‘until’ anything else happens. Also we would expect ‘be fulfilled’ to mean that something is completed in history, and therefore that something else follows afterwards. If the times of the Gentiles are only completed at the return of Christ, there would be little sense in speaking of them as being fulfilled. In addition Paul hints in Romans 11:21-24 that the times of the Gentiles will have an end in the plan of God, and that there will be a re-grafting in of the natural branches, the Jews, and this will take place in time. This also suggests that ‘until’ should be understood to imply a change in the state of affairs in Jerusalem before the end of the world comes.
But what does ‘the times of the Gentiles’ mean? Should we take it as a synonym for the gospel age? That would suggest that the Gentiles referred to were those who believed in God, but the reference here is to Gentiles occupying Jerusalem, and they are described as treading it down. The Lord Jesus would hardly use this sort of language to describe his church, and obviously the Gentile church is not limited to Jerusalem. This is talking about the period of time during which the Jews will be scattered throughout all nations, and when unbelieving Gentiles will occupy the city.
Today the Jews are back in Jerusalem, but not fully occupying it. Providentially God has ensured that they cannot take back the Temple Mount – which they would dearly love to do – because of the presence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The more devout among the Jews would certainly make efforts to rebuild the temple and begin offering sacrifices again if they could. That cannot be allowed to happen within the plan of God, because it would put prophecy into reverse. The symbolic Old Testament temple finds its fulfilment in Christ and he alone is our High Priest, and his one sacrifice is effective for all time and will not be repeated. God so superintends the unfolding of his plan, that ‘he hath made the first old’ and it has now ‘[vanished] away’ and will not be allowed to appear again (Hebrews 8:13), for that would make its symbolism meaningless.
Does the return of the Jews to their own land constitute a fulfilment along the lines of Romans 11:23-24: ‘And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?’ (Romans 11:23-24)? Hardly! The Jews currently in Israel have not recognised their Messiah, and so they cannot be said to have turned from their unbelief. The vast majority of them still reject the Lord Jesus Christ to this day. Nevertheless their return must be significant, though how exactly it fits into prophecy it is hard for us to say. At the very least it is a fulfilment of Christ’s words, ‘Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled’ (Matthew 24:34). There is now one international church comprised of Jews and Gentiles, ‘for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us’ (Ephesians 2:14). If Jews are to be saved, there is no other way but for them to be brought into the church of God on exactly the same terms as Gentiles. There are not different departments in heaven for different categories of people. All are saved by faith, ‘for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love’ (Galatians 5:6). It is evident to all that the vast majority of Jews in Israel today have not trusted in Christ for salvation. But we pray that they will, and we trust that Scripture teaches a restoration of many among the Jews [Ed.]