I’m not very good with end times prophecies. THere is a subset of Christians on the protestant side of the Tiber who spend their days and weeks in Jeremiah, Daniel and Revelations trying to draw timelines for what is happening. I’m also aware that the Catholics turned to the prophecies of St Malachy (which are obscure and in bad Latin) to describe what happens next.
But Paul gives us a clue. The nation of Israel will be saved. God will redeem that most argumentative and gifted tribe. But when that happens, the harvest of the Gentiles will end.
25So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,..
27The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. 29In those days they shall no longer say:
“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
30But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.31The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Now, there are some applications here. Firstly, we should pray that the harvest continues. We have family, we have friends, and salvation is not universal.
Secondly, it is quite unwise to bet against the prophets and the word of God. Allying oneself with ideologies that are overtly antisemitic — from nationalist versions of socialism to the Pan-Arab movement –will put you on the losing side. This is a concern for those nations that are now held at ransom by a Islamist minority. I can say but stand firm in the faith.
Now, to stand firm, the gentiles (that is all the non Jews) need to have faith. Standing without salvation is setting yourself up for failure. Quebec here gives us a useful example of how to fail
So finally, we should pray for revival. The West is imploding. This will not be solved by political will or public education, but by the spirit reviving our churches. Or the harvest will cease, and this generation will be accountable for that.
But who is Israel, today? It is God’s people from both OT times and NT times; which means, in NT times, it’s us, not them. ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’; only Israel by faith, not national Israel, will be saved. Those who believe God. Not those who don’t. WE are Israel. Not that nation over there…
Except for its Messianic Jews – AND the Palestian, Lebanese, and Assyrian Christians, too. Our people. The rest needn’t concern us, God’s TRUE House of Israel / Judah…
Wiless asks the correct question. If the Jewish Encyclopedia declares modern Jewry Edomites, then who are the true Isaelites? The Ashkenazi are descended from Japheth to Gomer to Ashkenaz; the Khazars declared themselves to be descended from Togarmah; The Shephardic Jews are Edomites; and remember Gomer is a leader of those who come against Israel.
Then who are the Israelites? Archaeologists have uncovered Assyrian records detailing the migration of the captive ten tribes out of their settlement and into the Caucasus; further research finds that the tribes helped defeat the Assyrians and took those Judahites who were captive in that area back with them. Archaeologists and Anthropologists – some say these are the hunters of whom Yahweh speaks – have uncovered the tribes’ journeys through Europe: they are the Gothic tribes – ten of them – which came to settle northwestern Europe, the British Isles, and Scandinavia. The name Saxon is the contraction for Isaac’s son. England and the United States together are Joseph: the former is Ephraim; the latter is Manasseh: they have fulfilled the blessing given by Jacob to Joseph’s sons.
http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/where-lost-ten-tribes-israel-went-after-captivity-map.html
http://www.saveyourheritage.com/migrations_of_israel.htm
Remember Christ declares that he came to create a new covenant to the lost tribes of israel: Heb_8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah….