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Nebuchadnezzar carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, whereas
Dan. 1: 1, 2 tells us that at the first he only carried away a part.
Jehoiachin or Jeconiah is deprived of the Jehovah element in his name, and as Coniah
is utterly rejected by the Lord:
"Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his
days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling
any more in Judah" (Jer. 22: 30).
It is evident that Israel is passing; dominion is leaving them and is being transferred
for the time being to the Gentiles. This is emphasized by such statements as Dan. 1: 2,
"And the Lord gave . . . . . into his hand" or Jer. 25: 1, "The fourth year of Jehoiakim
. . . . . that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar". The times of the Gentiles had therefore
begun. And so with Zedekiah the glory departs, and Ezek. 21: reveals the condition of
things that will obtain `until He come':
"And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall
have an end, thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this
shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come Whose right it is, and I will
give it Him" (Ezek. 21: 25-27).
Daniel's prophecies are occupied with this period of overturning, of the exalting of the
base and abasing of the high. "This shall not be the same", saith the Lord--"This shall
not be His" as the Hebrew reads, i.e. Nebuchadnezzar's dominion and dynasty would not
be a real continuance of the throne of David. It would be in character rather a rule and
dominion of wild beasts. The words `It shall be no more, until He come' leave us in no
doubt that the throne thus vacated shall be occupied by none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself.
The times of the Gentiles are characterized by one great feature, marked by the Lord
in Luke 21: 24: "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times
of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The kingdoms that succeeded Babylon may have been
larger or smaller, more powerful or weaker, more autocratic or less so, but the one
essential characteristic of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Turkey, and the present
mandatory power, is the Gentile domination of Jerusalem. That is the great
distinguishable feature, and will only be removed when "He comes Whose right it is".
We have therefore a period of time which fills the `gap' caused by Israel's failure,
which gap is filled by the dynasty started with Nebuchadnezzar and which will persist
until, in the Day of the Lord, `the stone cut out without hand' strikes this colossus, and
`the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ'. One of
the characteristics of the times of the Gentiles is the `treading down of Jerusalem'. Those
times will not end until Jerusalem is free from the yoke of Gentile dominion, surveillance
or protection. Each succeeding ruler of the Gentiles has dominated Jerusalem. Babylon,
Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Turkey, the League of Nations, the British Mandate, the
United Nations, and so on to the last Dictator and his ten subservient kings at the time of