If you want to understand end-time events, you must first understand the Bible. To begin, the Bible is Christ-centric. It is the Father telling His story about Christ, His Son. It is true that the Israelites are key players in this narrative; God said, “Israel is My son, My firstborn” (Exodus 4:22)1. But you cannot leave Christ out of the story. God told Abraham, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; … and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). This prophecy is key regarding end-time events because everything that transpires will literally connect to this covenant that God made with Abraham. If you mistreat Israel, if you mistreat the Jewish people, if you mistreat Christ, you are going to be treated the same in return.
Another key to understanding end-time events is to know the geography of the Bible as the setting of God’s story. It is centered around God’s Son and salvation, but it takes place geographically in the city of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, and in the Middle East. It is centered around the Jewish people and God’s covenant with Abraham—and you can never leave Yeshua (Jesus) out of the center of that covenant. We see it again when Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you … have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18)
Who is “the angel of the Lord”? It is Christ. Again, the Bible is always Christ-centered. Two things begin to emerge as the true fulfillment of the prophecy “in your seed”: the Jews as the seed of Abraham and Yeshua as the seed of Abraham. Both are correct.
Most of Christianity believes that the Jews are no longer a viable part of God’s plan, so you have replacement theology and supersessionism. But God will save Israel and make them a blessing (Zechariah 8:13). He is determined to make Israel His sons, and they will go through that process no matter how rocky it gets because God is not a liar. What He says will happen, and you can go to the bank on it. God has purposed to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. God promised the Jews salvation and He will remove their iniquity in one day (Zechariah 3:9). In the end-time He will move quickly and cut things short in righteousness. He will deal with nations and with individuals in how they relate to His people—especially the land of Israel and the Jewish people. The book of Revelation is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and judgment begins with the purification of God’s people (Malachi 3:1-7). These events are not scary; they are the answer to your prayer, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). So “lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
1 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).