With so many major world events unfolding daily, someone like me, writing a column looking at current events and connecting them to Bible prophecy, would have endless things to write about. The last few weeks, the news has been a tsunami of significant world events, whether it’s Trump’s Gaza plan (about which I’m still unsure how I feel), the re-emergence of the United States wielding “the big stick” on the global stage, the impending end of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the ongoing hostage situation, the rise of a new president in Syria (I’m currently working on a fascinating article about this) or the Egyptian army amassing on the Israeli border. That’s a long list and that’s just the headlines from this week. The list could go on, and it likely will go on. I doubt there will be a shortage of events to consider in the coming months.
You’re likely seeing and reading a lot of takes on these issues and how they may be the fulfillment of prophecy. I can see how it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, chase down every headline and match it to a verse and see everything as a direct fulfillment of prophecy. But if we aren’t careful, we’ll get lost in the details and forget the larger story. More likely, we will end up chasing something that isn’t relevant to the unfolding of God’s plan and the fulfillment of His Word.The Bible isn’t just a collection of disconnected end-times verses. Prophecy isn’t just about figuring out where we might be on the timeline. There is a narrative that has been running through Scripture from the very beginning, and if we don’t stay anchored in that, we risk being tossed around by every new development.
From the earliest prophets, the picture was clear — the end of the age would revolve around Israel, not just in some vague way, but in a very specific series of events. The people of Israel, scattered to the four winds, would be regathered to the land. This wouldn’t just be a spiritual gathering but a physical one. In conjunction with that return, a final Gentile ruler would rise, a leader who had been foreshadowed again and again throughout history, the ultimate prototype of all who came before him. He would come from Israel’s north, he would be a neighbor and he would set his sights on Jerusalem. The regional war he would ignite wouldn’t stay regional — it would spill over, pulling the whole world into its wake. Yet, at the same time, it would be a war with its epicenter in the Middle East and Israel. And then, at the appointed time, the Messiah would return, crushing the nations like pottery and establishing His kingdom, bringing this age to an end and ushering in the next.
That’s the story. That’s the framework. And if we don’t keep that in mind, we’ll miss the forest for the trees and likely end up climbing the wrong tree.
This isn’t speculation. The prophets laid it out in detail. Isaiah spoke of Israel’s regathering, saying God would “set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:12). Jeremiah was just as clear, prophesying that “I will bring them back to this place and cause them to dwell safely” (Jer. 32:37). Ezekiel saw it too, describing Israel as a valley of dry bones that would come back to life — first physically, then spiritually (Ezek. 37). And in each of these prophecies, it wasn’t just about Israel coming home. It was about the turmoil, the opposition, the nations raging against them as they returned.
Then there’s Daniel, who provides the clearest picture of the final Gentile ruler, emerging from the evolving political landscape of the Middle East, just as his predecessors did. We’ve seen previews of him before — Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Caesars, the Ottoman sultans — but the final one will outmatch them all. “The king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind,” Daniel says, “with chariots, horsemen, and many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through” (Dan. 11:40).
And the war he brings won’t stay contained. The prophet Zechariah says the whole world would end up drunk over Jerusalem.
This is the picture that Jesus confirmed in the Olivet Discourse. The disciples weren’t confused when they asked Him, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). They weren’t thinking in vague, spiritual terms. They were thinking exactly what the prophets had always said — Israel regathered, a final conflict, the Messiah returning to establish His kingdom. And Jesus didn’t correct them. He confirmed it. He warned of tribulation, of deception, of wars and rumors of wars, and then He said it plainly — “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near” (Luke 21:20).
There’s a reason Charles Spurgeon once said, “The prophecies are not to be set aside, but to be studied, and we must give ourselves to them if we would not have our minds bewildered with every new event that arises.” Spurgeon saw what happens when we get fixated on headlines instead of Scripture. It’s not that current events aren’t important — they are. It’s that they must be understood in light of the whole picture.
Right now, we’re watching a world reshape itself in ways that align exactly with what the prophets described. The power shifts, the wars, the alliances forming, the pressure on Israel — it’s all moving toward something. But we have to be careful. We can’t afford to get tossed around by every breaking news story. We won’t be caught off guard if we stay rooted in the biblical narrative.
Even though these events are lining up for the end of the age, it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be soon.
So, as we watch the incredible end-time-looking headlines reel by, we have to remember the full narrative. This will keep us grounded so we do not chase vanity headlines and end-time ideas.
