Which Jerusalem was Luke referring to?
I think in order to figure out this appointed time thing, we have to ask ourselves a few quesions. As, in, what form did this trampling take? What was it all about? What did Jerusalem really picture, and which Jerusalem was it dealing with; earthly or heavenly? Who would set something like that in motion? Obviously it couldn't have been anything good. The word trampling would seem to denote something very nasty. Like as in, when you walk all over someones sensibilities. By demeaning them in some way, or insulting them. Something designed to hurt someone in some way. Now, in this case, who would do something like that? {Luke 21:24}
Whose drive right from the beginning, was to obtain worship for himself, and jealous of the one who was actually receiving that worship? What did satan say to Jesus, the very Son of God? "Bow down, do an act of worship to me"... So his intentions are clearly obvious, arn't they, and since Paul Titled him as 'god of this World,' and he holds the entire World in his power, blinding and misleading them, he's done pretty fair for himself, wouldn't you say?So, he holds that position of god of this World, overseeing everything that goes on, and in no way would he want to lose that position; so if something, or someone came along that posed a threat to his lofy position, he'd take the necessary steps to remove that threat, would he not? {1 John 5:19} {Revelation 12:9} {2 Corinthians 4:3,4}
Now a threat to his lofty position has existed ever since Jehovah spoke the words he spoke to him at Genesis 3:15, and he's been at enmity with this threat to his power and position, ever since the garden of Eden, when those words were first spoken to him. But they don't only pose a threat to him, they pose a threat to his lying religious wife; BABYLON THE GREAT. Because this particular threat can show him, and his religious wife up for the liars they both are. So both entities are at War, one with the other. Is that not correct? Look at that Prophecy:
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."{Genesis 3:15 NIV}
Now! What has been the case all down through recorded history? Easy answer eh? satans seed has brutally persecuted, and murdered the seed of the woman, and that persecution and murder was to go on right up until the time Christ takes Kingdom power. You'll recall those days had to be 'cut short' to save their lives. Because even at the last satan is waging War with them and killing them, as usual. {Matthew 24:9,22} Revelation 12:17} {Hebrews 11:32-40}
You want the Jerusalem Luke was talking about? You're looking at it right now! Jehovah's Woman and her seed. They have been trampled on now for almost six thousand years. Who set it in motion? "You will not surely die." First bite of that fruit, by both Eve and Adam, set the appointed times of the Nations in motion, and who triggered it all? The invisible power behind all of the Nations. All the ones he held in his power, who he had blinded and misled. Who he would maneauver to persecute and kill the seed of Jehovah's Woman, because his own seed was, and is among them. Even now, today! {Luke 4:5-8} {Revelation 13:1}
Keep in mind, the foretold enmity Jehovah spoke about to satan, and remember the Jews hated the true Messiah. So much so, they killed him. They stoned the Apostle Stephen to death . They hated and persecuted the followers of Jesus. What had happened? They were at one time Jehovah's favored Nation?Remember now the foretold hatred or enmity that was to exist between the two seeds. satan had managed to swing that entire Nation over on to his side. They now had become the seed of satan the devil, by manifesting the hatred that they did for Jesus and his followers. Fulfilling Jehovah's words to satan. Jesus had condemned them as 'snakes, and offspring of vipers, and said to them, "How will you escape the judgment of gehenna?" The truth was, they couldn't now.
Jesus further condemned their City by foretelling its complete destruction, and told them that thier 'house was abandoned to them.' {Matthew 23:33-39} Now ancient Jerusalem was out of the picture entirely. Their house, by the way was their Temple where they carried on their Worship of Jehovah. That had all ended. The City of Jerusalem as it existed then had nothing more to do with anything. There had been a radical change. From earthly Jerusalem, to 'heavenly New Jerusalem,' 'the City of the living God.' The 'Jerusalem above' now came into sharp focus. {Revelation 3:12;21:10} {Galations 4:26} {Hebrews 12:18-24}
Now to say that, that City was undergoing the trampling luke foretold would be rediculous, because, in point of fact there was nothing left to trample, but now a City of devil worshippers. Luke had to be making reference to something else`when he said: `"Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Nations until the appointed times of the Nations are frulfilled." {Luke 21:24} Why would Luke be referring to something else? It is obvious that when the True Messiah arrived, Luke had accepted him as such, and because of that would come in under the New Law Covenant, established on the Blood of the Christ. Luke, of necessity, would have had to be one of the Heavenly calling of God; a King Priest that would rule with the Christ for the thousand year period; and because of that calling and future Priestly Office, his view of the Jerusalem he mentioned had to be of Heavenly New Jerusalem, The City of the living God. The Jerusalem above. It couldn't have been anything else but that. He would have known he was of the seed of the Woman Jehovah foretold in Genesis 3:15. Which, he would know, was now Heavenly. He also would know how to locate that Woman in scripture, at Revelation 12:1. Certainly if we do, he would, as well. He also would have known earthly Jerusalem was now out of the picture, and Heavenly New Jerusalem was in its stead.
With all of this in mind, it's not possible the appointed times of the Nations ended in the year 1914, because you cannot apply that count of time to Heavenly New Jerusalem because that is the Jerusalen Luke was making reference to, and it was not destroyed in 607 BCE. Was not even in existence, when early Jerusalem fell. So the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society has a wrong understanding of that seven time prophecy, obviously. So, the beginning of their count of time as they apply it to the appointed times of the Nations is Wrong, which means again, as it applies to the appointed times of the Nations, the length of their count is also wrong, and ending in the year 1914 is also wrong. The whole truth of the matter is. No one can establish a date for when those times began running; no one can know how long they will run, and no one can know when they will end. The Governing Body has bitten off more than they can chew in this instance. They should have backed away from that time prophecy, because all they have succeedded in doing is make fools out of themselves. Of course they have been doing that for 130 years now. Must be getting used to it I guess, by now.
As for the invislbe presence of Christ in the year 1914 is also out of line with scripture, because reasoning on three scriptures in the Bible, tells us Jesus has been crowned as King ever since his ascension in the first Century. One scripture by itself tells us that. When immediately prior to his ascension he told his Eleven Apostles: "All Authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." {Matthew 28:18} He was telling them that he held that Authority even before he ascended. Think about it for a moment. In what capacity did he hold that Authority in Heaven and on earth? Wasn't it as a crowned King? I'm not saying an ACTIVE RULING KING. I'm saying just holding the title as one, but as yet inactive. Paul at Ephesians 1:15-23 and Philippians 2:5-11 backs that thought up 100 percent. He was to sit at his Fathers right hand until his Father made his enemies a footstool for his feet the Psalm says. My belief is now, he is sitting there a crowned King, just Waiting for his Father to tell him to, "Go subduing in the midst of your enemies." I know it sounds way out in left field, but its really not me saying it; the Bible is saying it if you look at it close enough. {Psalm 110:1,2} {Daniel 12:1} The Christ has been invisibly present ever since the first Century.
As for Daniels Seven times Prophecy! How did it apply to the ancient King Nebuchnezzer? He lost his Kingship until seven times passed over him; at the end of those seven times in his case, his Kingdom was restored to him. It was a dual Prophecy that pointed to the end of the earthly reign of Jehovah's Kings that sat on his Throne at Jerusalem. When seven times were to pass over, Gods heavenly Kingdom was to come into being. {Daniel 4}
As relating to the restoration of God's Kingdom that Prophecy fits perfectly, but it didn't signify the end of anything, as in the appointed times of the Nations, it signified the beginning of God's Kingdom coming into power. With his heavenly Woman, showing her first labor pains. Those labor-pains were pictured by the composite sign Jesus gave of his coming into power, that would be a period of World-Wide trouble. As in, Wars, Rumors of Wars, Earthquakes, Famine, desease, pestilence ect... which we've had ever since the year 1914- and was to escalate until the Christ came fully into kingdom power, and became an active ruling king. {Revelation 12:1} Matthew 24-Mark13-Luke21- An Active Ruling King of Heavenly New Jerusalem, the City of the living God, the Jerusalem above! The one Luke was talking about at Luke 21:24. The one John talks about, following:
1 "Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky, and he threw them to the earth. He stood in front of the Woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born." {Revelation 12:1-4 NLT}
We see from Johns account about Jehovah's Heavenly Woman, the enmity Jehovah foretold between the seed of the devil, and the seed of the Woman, satan carries right to the birth of God's Kingdom, by the Christ, and has carried over a period of by now, probably six thousand years the foretold enmity or hatred for the Woman and her seed. No one can supply a day date for which this trampling first began. We have an approximation of how long it has gone on, but it certainly hasn't been only a period 2,520 years, and as for when it will end no one can put a day or date to that either. We know this Heavenly Woman is representative of the City of the living God, heavenly New Jerusalem, the Jerusalalem above. It is as Paul tells us: "But the Jerusalem above is free and she is our Mother." {Galations 4:26}
Paul was speaking for all of the anointed class when he made that statement, so Jerusalem above would have been Lukes Mother as well. That's how you know for a fact when he spoke about the trampling on Jerusalem, he was making reference to the trampling on his Mother; Jerusalem above.
This hatred or enmity that would exist between the two seeds, was the Trampling Luke was making reference to, when he said; "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Nations until the appointed times of the Nations are fulfilled."
So, the Woman Jehovah mentioned in Genesis 3:15 was the Jerusalem Luke had in mind, when he said: "Jerusalem will be trampled on by all the Nations until the Appointed times of the Nations are fulfilled." As soon as Eve's teeth bit into the fruit she was told not to touch, the Trampling on Jerusalem began. Absolutely no one knows the day that occurred; so the accurate count of time cannot be known, as to how long it would run. Nor do they know when it will end. Totally opposite to the teaching of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses count of time. Up to this moment in time Jehovah is still permitting the Nations to go on in their own ways, but at Armageddon that will come to a very abrubt halt, and the Nations will experience some trampling, Jehovah Style. Was you to know the date of that major event, you would know when the count of time will end. No one knows it! No one can know it! {Matthew 24:36} {Acts 14:16} Wannabe