The Times of the Gentiles began in the Sixth Century BC, the Axial Period, when God set Jeremiah over the nations to root out and pull down, and to build and plant. Isaiah first trumpeted the warning of the times of the Gentiles, with Assyria the first Gentile power. Jeremiah 25 shows him made to carry the cup of God's fury to the nations. The ancient civilizations that had existed since the Flood, such as Assyria, Egypt, the Hittites, the Phoenicians, Ammon, and Moab, dissolved from view, and Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, China, and India rose in their place. Historian Karl Jaspers observes that the world of that century formed the fundamental categories of thought and the beginnings of world religion, and that it took the step into universality, which was the first step toward the Beast. Daniel 2 confirms that Babylon is the head of gold, the fountainhead of the present world, socially, politically, economically, philosophically, and theologically. For this reason the New Testament calls the present civilization Mystery Babylon, and Babylon is the yardstick for all that follows. Luke 21:24, which says Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, refers to this New World. Babylon has shaped the age even when Gentiles did not dominate it, as in the last 300 years, when the Israelitish nations ruled with a Babylonian religion and banking system. Habakkuk shows that God will reverse the Sixth Century work through another, far more tumultuous Axial Period, in which an end-time Babylon, the Beast, is completely destroyed and the Kingdom of God is ushered in.

The times of the Gentiles began with the Axial Period, the tumultuous stretch from roughly 800 to 200 BC and centered on the sixth century BC, when God used prophets to announce the rise and fall of nations. Isaiah trumpeted its coming through Assyria, the first great Gentile power, though not the most influential. Jeremiah, set by God over the nations "to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:10; 25:15-30), pronounced judgment as ancient civilizations such as Assyria, Egypt, Philistia, and Moab vanished and new powers, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and others, rose. Historian Karl Jaspers calls this a miracle of simultaneous destruction and creation, yet God's involvement explains it. Daniel 2 shows Babylon as the head of gold, the fountainhead and yardstick of the world system that followed. This is the world John calls "Mystery, Babylon the Great" (Revelation 17:5), embedded in the nations to this day, even in Israel. Jesus' words in Luke 21:24, that Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, refer to this era, in which the Babylonian image has stamped its character on every culture since the sixth century BC. The last two hundred years have seen the Israelitish nations dominate with a blend of Christian and Babylonian concepts. Daniel 4's seven times may have ended in 1982, loosening the iron band on the Babylonian stump. God is maneuvering nations into end-time positions. Christ's return will smash the image on its feet, fragment the whole system, and replace it with the Kingdom of God, turning the axis of history again.

In Luke's account of Christ's Olivet Prophecy, Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, signaling that its desolation is near, after which those in Judea must flee while the city experiences great distress and wrath upon its people. They fall by the edge of the sword and are led away captive into all nations, with Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. This detail supplies the geographical setting of Jerusalem and Judea, identifies the troublers as Gentiles, and links the period directly to Jacob's Trouble through warfare, captivity of Jacob's offspring, and the cessation of worship of the God of Abraham as part of the abomination of desolation. The same passage parallels Revelation 11:2, where Gentiles tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. These events form the epicenter of the prophesied great tribulation, described as the days of vengeance that fulfill all things written by the prophets, during which the overwhelming peril arises from divine vengeance against covenant unfaithfulness rather than human technology. The times of the Gentiles thus mark the interval when non-Israelite peoples exercise dominion over Jerusalem, after which the period concludes amid the broader outpouring of wrath that threatens all flesh unless those days are shortened for the elect's sake.