The fragment Lk. 21:20-24 is Jesus' answer to the question about the destruction of Jerusalem. When Jesus says that "there shall not be left a stone on a stone," his disciples naturally want to know when that will happen (Lk. 21:6). In reply, our Lord does not give a date, but gives a valuable indication: "when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that its destruction has come. And let those in Judea flee to the mountains" (Lk. 21:20,21). This prediction was fulfilled literally in 66 CE, when the army of Cestius Gallus besieged the city, but withdrew for no apparent reason. This allowed the Christians of Judea to flee and take refuge from the impending destruction. Over the next few months, the Romans returned to completely destroy Jerusalem in 70 CE and to kill its inhabitants by starvation and sword.
Thus was fulfilled Jesus' prophecy that Israel "shall fall by the sword's edge" and "shall be led away captive into all nations" (Lk. 21:23,24). At the same time we learn that Jerusalem will fall into the hands of the nations and will remain in them until the fulfillment of the appointed time – the times of the nations. What is meant by the time of the nations is best shown by the immediate context, in which Jesus mentions two elements: the dispersion of Israel and the "treading down" of Jerusalem by the Gentiles. The meaning of the first element is obvious and well known from history. The "treading down" of Jerusalem, on the other hand, can apparently be read not only as the fact that it is inhabited by non-Jews, but above all that they exercise power over it.
In his prophecy, Jesus indicates that the Gentile times would continue until they were fulfilled, suggesting that this was to be a clearly marked period of time. Are we able to determine its beginning and end? Apparently, its beginning is not 70 CE because Jerusalem did not begin to be "trodden down" in any new sense - pagans had lived there before, for example in the form of a garrison of Roman troops stationed there. What seems more important, however, is that the power over the city and all of Judea was in the hands of the Romans from the middle of the first century BCE. The seventieth year did not bring any change in this sense. Thus, the "treading down" of Jerusalem must have begun at least before the first century BCE. When precisely, we can learn with some help from Leviticus chapter 26. In Lev. 26:14-40 we read about the plagues that were to befall Israel for their unfaithfulness. Verses 14-17 provide a description of the punishments associated with the invasions of neighboring Gentile nations, which indeed occurred many times in Israel's history of the time of the judges and kings. But if these punishments did not work, Israel was to be struck "seven times" by invasion and abduction by their enemies (Lev. 26:28,34,35). This situation occurred in 607 BCE when the king of Babylon invaded Judah and took nearly the entire nation captive for a period of 70 years.
However, this does not seem to be the only fulfillment of this prophecy. For example, it says that the Jews were to be led into cannibalism (Lev. 26:29). Yes, the Bible tells us that during the siege of Jerusalem in 607 BCE "famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land," but there is no record that the prophecy at Lev. 26:29 was already fulfilled at that time (2 Kings 25:3). On the other hand, the Jews living in Jerusalem in 69/70 were brought to this sad extreme. The Roman commander Titus, who was besieging the city, decided to defeat it by starvation. Jerusalem was isolated from the outside world, making it necessary to rely on the food supplies stored in the city. And these were not there, because they were burned... by the leaders of the uprising. In order not to starve, many of the townspeople resorted to eating each other. Another point of note is that Israel was prophesied to be scattered among the nations (Lev. 26:33). During the Babylonian captivity, all Israel was in one land, so that their dispersion among the nations had not yet been fulfilled.
The seventy years of captivity in Babylon were therefore only a foretaste of what would happen if Israel did not convert. They did not convert, and therefore they met the punishment foretold by Jesus in Lk. 21:20-24, as well as Lev. 26:14-20 and Dan. 9:24-27 - Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation itself scattered among other nations for a time much longer than the 70 years spent in Babylon. The times of the nations, which began in 607 BC, had to be fulfilled to the very end. Do we know how long this period was supposed to be?
In retrospect, we know that 1) Israel's mass return to Palestine began in the second half of the 19th century, 2) Jerusalem was recaptured from the Turks in 1917, and 3) the independent state of Israel was established in 1948. About 2500 years have passed since Nebuchadnezzar's invasion in 607 BCE. Is this time in any way marked in the prophecy? It seems so. Jesus speaks in Lk. 21:24 of the times of the nations, not of one long time, which indicates a sequence of periods (Gr. kairos - time, period). The prophecy recorded in Lev. 26:18,21,24,28 points to seven as their number. From the comparison of Rev. 12:14 and Rev. 13:5 we know that 3.5 times (Gr. kairos) is 42 months, or 1260 days in lunar reckoning. Thus, the seven times are 2520 days, or 2520 years, according to the prophetic reckoning (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6). If we assume that there are seven times (Gr. kairoi, plural) of the nations of which Jesus speaks (according to Lev. 26), then the entire period is 2520 years long. Counting from 607 BCE, we come to the year 1914, when World War I broke out. This led to the recapture of Jerusalem from the Turks and, as a consequence, to the creation of an independent state of Israel (for the first time since the fall of Zedekiah's kingdom in 607 BCE) .
It is also worth noting the interesting chronological parallelism between the events of the first and twentieth centuries. Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks indicates that Israel's time of grace ended in 36 CE (see commentary on Dan. 9:24-27). Thirty-four years later, Jerusalem fell, and with it the remnants of Israeli statehood. The end of the times of the nations points to the restoration of grace to Israel in 1914. Thirty-four years later, the independent state of Israel is founded. In the first case, 34 years separate the loss of grace from the loss of statehood. In the second case, 34 years separate the return of grace from the restoration of statehood. This does not seem to be a mere coincidence.
There was, therefore, a specific period in which Israel was to be removed from God's special favor. This time had a clear beginning, but it also had an end. Israel remains God's chosen people. As the apostle Paul said, as their rejection was a blessing to the world, their re-acceptance will mark the beginning of restitution in the Kingdom of God (Rom. 11:15). The fact that we have the independent state of Israel on the map today is a significant evidence that the fulfillment of God's promises has clearly drawn near.