Bible Students today still believe as Pastor Russell taught that the Times of the Gentiles ended in 1914. We see evidence of this in Jesus words In Luke 21:24 “And they [the Jews] shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” In 1917 the Balfour Declaration in was born out of World War 1. It was a formal statement of policy by the British government stating that “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object….”
We arrive at the date 1914 AD as the End of the Gentile Times by performing a time prophecy calculation. The word “times” from Luke 21:24 is the same Greek word for “times” used in Rev 12:14.
Rev 12:14 – she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. In this prophecy each of the 3 ½ times is composed of 360 years for a total of 3 ½ x 360 or 1,260 years (The reign of the Papacy from 539 AD to 1799 AD). So each time in the times of the Gentiles is 360 years. But how many times are there? The answer is found in Lev 26, which speaks of blessings and penalties to Israel for their obedience or disobedience.
Lev 26:18 says –if you will not hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Four times in this chapter the seven times of punishment are mentioned (see also verses 21, 24 and 28). We think the mentioning of these seven times four times alludes to the four Gentile empires that would rule over the Jews, namely, Babylon, Media Persia, Greece and Rome. Verses 31-33 refer to the land being desolate & the Jews being scattered. Since Lev 26 reveals that the number of times is 7 we can arrive at a period of the Time of the Gentiles being 2,520 years. [7 x 360 = 2,520 years]. Starting with 606 BC as the date Jerusalem was overthrown and adding 2,520 years brings us to AD 1914.
The times of the Gentiles ended in 1914 AD with the beginning of World War I. This war led to the Balfour Declaration in 1917 AD which openly encouraged the Jews to immigrate to Palestine. Page 401 of the book “Jews, God and History” states, “Between 1918 and 1936 about 150,000 Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine, speeding its transformation from desolation to fertility. Towns sprang up in the desert and boomed into cities. Villages, factories, schools and orange groves dotted the formerly barren fields from Haifa to Ascalon.”