<p>21:24 <i>And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all the nations- </i>The downtreading of Jerusalem during the tribulation, the &quot;times&quot; of the Gentiles, the three and a half year 1260 days, 42 months, &quot;time, times and a half&quot; domination of the land, will be long enough for some Jews to led captive into the &quot;all nations&quot; surrounding Israel who form the coalition of the beast. Such mass deportations would be performed in conscious imitation of the Babylonian and Assyrian dominations. The Greek word for &quot;sword&quot; is literally a dagger; we would have expected the more common word for sword to be used. But we recall images of Islamist extremists killing those whom they consider apostate by cutting their throats with the edge of a knife / dagger; and it seems this is what we can expect. The phrase is alluding to Jer. 21:7 LXX, where those in Judah who escaped the plagues and other calamities which have also been mentioned here in Lk. 21 are then slain by the edge of the sword of the Babylonians. The Babylonian invasion clearly is the prototype of Jerusalem's latter day tribulation.</p><p><i>And Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled</i>- The &quot;times of the Gentiles&quot; (Lk. 21:24) appears to refer to the time of Gentile opportunity to learn the Gospel, according to how Paul alludes to it in Rom. 11:25. This however is going to be particularly true of the final period when Jerusalem falls to the Gentiles and is trodden underfoot. When that downtreading is completed, then likewise the opportunity for Gentile response will close.</p><p>Zech. 12:3is being alluded to:&quot;In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people (i.e. all around Israel, as this often means): all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it&quot;. The Septuagint renders the first phrase as &quot;a stone trodden down by the Gentiles&quot;, clearly alluded to here. Those who are 'gathered together' against Jerusalem must be the Arab neighbours of Israel, according to the Zechariah context. The rejected likewise will be burdened with a heavy stone (Mt. 18:6), showing that they will share the judgments of Israel's enemies.</p><p>The allusion is to Dan. 8:13: &quot;The transgression of desolation gave both the sanctuary and the host (i.e. the people of Israel) to be&nbsp;<i>trodden underfoot&quot;.&nbsp;</i>This part of Luke 21 is clearly alluding to Zechariah 14, a prophecy about the final desolation of Jerusalem:</p><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0 width=95%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p><b>Luke 21</b></p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p><b>Zechariah 14</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>20.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Jerusalem surrounded by armies</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>2.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>All nations against Jerusalem to battle</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>20.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>The desolation of Jerusalem is near</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>2.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>The city shall be taken</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>21.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>5.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>You shall flee to the ... mountains</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>22.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Great distress in the land</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>2.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Houses ransacked, women raped.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>24.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Led away captive into all nations</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>2.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Half the city shall go into captivity</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>24.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>12:3</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>LXX Jerusalem a stone trodden down by the Gentiles.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>The context of Zechariah 14 is clearly concerning the last days and the literal appearance of Messiah in Israel. The way the Olivet Prophecy alludes to it, indeed is based upon it, shows that it too requires reference to the last days. Any limited fulfilment in AD70 was only a partial foretaste of the final outworking of the prophecy. Dan. 8:13 itself was a prophecy which had already had various possible fulfilments and had already had its fulfilment rescheduled a few times. It is therefore unsurprising if its intended, or possible, fulfilment in AD70 was again rescheduled.</p><p>It may well be that the &quot;all&quot; which will be fulfilled in Lk. 21:32 is to be equated with &quot;the times of the Gentiles&quot; being fulfilled (Lk. 21:24). &quot;Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles&quot; for three and a half years, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 'Jebus', the old name for Jerusalem, means 'downtrodden'. This&nbsp;hints that the liberation of Jebus at the beginning of David's reign was seen by Christ as typical of the time when He would liberate Jerusalem from downtreading, at his return. This suggests that the times of Gentile domination of Jerusalem are to be ended by the establishment of the Kingdom at Christ's second coming; we are yet to see, therefore, a Gentile domination of Jerusalem before Christ's coming.</p><p>&quot;The times of the Gentiles&quot; are often taken to have finished in 1967. But at least three major problems arise with this: <br />1) The temple site, Biblical 'Zion', is still not totally under Jewish control due to the presence of the Mosque there. <br />2) &quot;Trodden down&quot; has clear links with Dan. 8:13 and Rev. 11:2, which describe the temple being blasphemously desecrated for certain periods of time. How can they have ended in 1967, seeing the 'Dome of the Rock' still stands there? And 1967 minus 2300 day/years (Dan. 8:13) or 1260 day/years (Rev. 11:2) do not appear to yield any significant starting points. <br />3) The times of Gentile opportunity, as some read it, are still with us now as much as they were in 1967. If anything, numbers of baptisms have mushroomed <i>since</i> 1967, notably in distant Gentile lands.</p>