The records of Yeshua’s prophecies about the end times are found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 17 & 21. Among the many prophecies throughout the Scriptures about the last days, it is a great blessing to carefully study where Yeshua Himself emphasizes.
At the beginning of His prophecies, He offers general predictions covering much of the last 2000 years. This is shown in the first 14 verses of Matthew 24. Afterward, Jesus directly addresses the middle of the Tribulation and focuses on the well-being of Israel.
Daniel 9:27 tells us that he – the Antichrist – will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the seven years, he will then cause much destruction in Jerusalem and Israel. At this moment, Jesus takes over and gives much more information.
After the signs of the end begin to grow, Yeshua enters the middle of the Tribulation and begins His detailed prophecies about it; there, He references two passages from the Book of Daniel. It starts in Matthew 15, where He says, “Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.” What is the prophecy from Daniel that Jesus is referencing? It is the one found in Daniel 9:27, as well as in Daniel 11 and 12. There, the prophet describes a powerful world leader who will rise and make a covenant promising peace and protection for Israel. We discussed this prophecy in our previous study.
Daniel then tells us that in the middle of this seven-year period, something terrible will happen: the Abomination of Desolation, an expression he uses two more times in his book. Here in the Gospels, Yeshua deliberately uses the same expression—the abomination of desolation —directly linking His prophecy to the one given earlier by the prophet Daniel.
At that moment, Jesus instructs those living in Judea to flee immediately to the mountains. This is what He says in Matthew 24:16. He then emphasizes the urgency of the moment: “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.” (Matthew 24:17–18). And He adds: “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on a Sabbath.” (Matthew 24:19–20).
But why the rush? What’s about to happen in the Middle East? Yeshua responds in the next verse: “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” (Matthew 24:21) Here He is quoting a second passage from Daniel; Daniel 12:1. In other words, what He describes is not a new idea. Daniel and the other prophets repeatedly warned about this time of unprecedented distress, which the rabbis later called the birth pangs of the Messiah.
But Yeshua does something else as well: He brings together several other prophecies, helping both His listeners then and readers today understand the direction in which history is moving. He also links this moment to the prophecy of Zechariah 14:2, where the Lord declares: “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle; the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women violated, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.” This gathering of nations will take place during the tribulation, and Yeshua links it to the same period when He says in Luke 21:20: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.”
If you’ve ever wondered why nations would gather around Jerusalem, we might already be witnessing the early signs of such developments. Under initiatives claiming to bring peace to the region, like the Board of Peace, different nations are starting to deploy military forces in and around Gaza. Gaza is only about 75 kilometers (45 miles) from Jerusalem. Whether these actions will directly fulfill these prophecies remains uncertain, but they certainly remind us of Yeshua’s words and how the Scriptures accurately describe the world’s direction.
This is what Yeshua’s prophecy is directing us to when He warned believers during the Tribulation to watch for these signs. Gathering together His prophecies, so far, the people are asked to watch for five main things:
- The Peace Treaty
- The moment this peace treaty is broken, 1260 days later.
- The nations gathering around Jerusalem
- The rebuilding of the Third Temple
- The Man of Sin, the Antichrist, claiming ownership of the Third Temple in Jerusalem,
2 Thess. 2:3-4 (the Abomination of Desolation)
His warning is especially aimed at those living in Jerusalem and across Israel during the Tribulation because the persecution afterward will be so intense that He urges them to flee immediately. While this event does not directly involve believers who will be taken away at the Rapture before the Tribulation, understanding these prophecies gives us an important perspective on what the world faces ahead. It also reminds us of our responsibility today: to warn others and encourage them to turn to Yeshua while there is still time.
Furthermore, this fits very well with Revelation 12, where the people of Israel, called the Woman, are protected in the wilderness during the Great Tribulation. This wilderness is the same place the prophets mention, down south to Petra.
Let us read the first two verses: “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.” Rev.12: 1-2
This woman represents Israel because she gives birth to a Child who can only be the Messiah.
But then another sign appears, one that is completely opposite in nature. This sign represents the great enemy of God and of Israel, who is identified as the dragon. Who is this red dragon?
Revelation itself gives the answer in verse 9:“And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.”
What happens once he is cast down to earth? What does he do? He turns his rage against the woman, Israel. See how descriptive the words of this chapter are: Revelation 12:13 tells us: “When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.” From this point forward, Israel becomes the primary target of Satan’s fury. Revelation 12 is a very important chapter in the subject of end-time prophecies because it brings us to the moment when antisemitism will reach its highest level in history.