Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, was saying Bible prophecy starts with Israel and ends with Israel. Israel is at the heart of Bible prophecy.

My thoughts started churning as I heard his sermon broadcast early that recent morning. I’ve always maintained that God’s “chosen nation” is the one sure signal of where this generation stands on His prophetic timeline. Dr. Jeffress’ statement helped confirm in my thoughts that morning that indeed Israel is inseparable, start to finish, from God’s Holy Word. It’s like bookends framing Bible prophecy from beginning to end.

Israel’s conception–its true genesis—began with the Words of Jesus, who is the Word of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1–5)

Jesus, then, gave through Moses what would be the beginning of the nation Israel. He was speaking of His own conception—His Incarnation, coming to earth from His triune position within the Godhead to provide redemption for fallen humankind.

Jesus said to Satan the following about His one day coming as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3: 15)

So, Bible prophecy began with the promise of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who would come into the world as a human being.

Again, Moses was given the Word about God’s people who would be chosen to give birth to this God-man.

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1–3)

We know Abraham and Sarah were then given the child of promise, Isaac. From Isaac came Jacob, who was renamed Israel.

Jesus, the Son of God, was born to Mary, Jacob’s progeny, through the immaculate conception, to become the Savior of humanity, which has been lost since the fall in Eden.

Israel’s history is that of suffering as victim of satanic hatred throughout the millennia. This is because Jesus redeems all who accept God’s grace gift of salvation through Christ’s death on the cross, burial, and Resurrection.

As told in Genesis 3:15, the serpent, Satan, who “bruised the heel” of Christ, would have his head crushed by the Savior, by His redemptive action on that cruel cross at Calvary and His subsequent resurrection to life.

Jesus has overcome sin and death to provide eternal life for every person–all born sinful creatures because of Adam’s sin in Eden.

Christ the Redeemer came into this doomed sphere through Israel. The ongoing war against that nation and the Jewish race continues to play out within Bible prophecy, which tells of a time that will see the world turn against Israel:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about . And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though . gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:2–3)

So, Bible prophecy continues to be Israel-centered as we witness the prophet Zechariah’s words playing out even at this moment.

In the near term, it doesn’t get better, but worse…much worse!

Jesus prophesied the degree to which hatred for Israel would progress:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

The prophet Jeremiah said about this time:

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7) 

The Lord, in His Matthew 24:21 description, skips the details of the time from which things become the worst ever right to the end, when the nation Israel will be saved out of the time of great Tribulation.

But Jesus, Himself, later describes, in explicit detail through twenty-one specific judgments, the time that leads up to Israel being saved out of the great Tribulation. Jesus gave the entire book of the Revelation through the Apostle John–the disciple the Bible said the Lord loved.

Paul prophesies the ultimate position of God’s chosen nation:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11: 25-27)

Israel will be saved out of this terrible time. Zechariah says:

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.  

So, Israel is at the center of Bible prophecy from Genesis to Revelation. And this is not to say there is a so-called dual covenant with God’s chosen people about salvation from sin. The Jewish people are saved from sin the same way all other people of all other races are saved: by belief in Jesus Christ alone.

The “saving” of Israel means a remnant of the Jewish people will comprise the nation of God’s covenant promises. That is, those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior—Israel’s Messiah—inherit God’s promises for Israel. This remnant of Jewish believers will see Jesus returning from Heaven at the time of Armageddon and will realize He is their Messiah at that stunning moment. This will be the chosen nation and people God planned to establish from the time in Eden.

Israel is the indisputable signal of exactly where the world stands right now. The movement to fulfill all Bible prophecy is streaming more swiftly with each news cycle. All geopolitics are revolving around the nation that began in Genesis 3:15. The time of Jacob’s trouble quickly approaches.

You don’t want to be a part of people within the orbit of those who don’t know Jesus for salvation. Here again is how to go to Christ when He calls–an event that will take place at any twinkling-of-the-eye moment!

That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)