Daniel was given a prophecy by the angel Gabriel, pertaining specifically to Israel and Jerusalem. In total it consists of a 490 year period (each prophetic day equating to a year) with an interval between the 69’th and 70’th prophetic weeks.
All events predicted for the first 69 prophetic weeks have been fulfilled with astounding accuracy and I would highly recommend further study in this area. A good starting point are the resources listed below.
We currently find ourselves in the interval. The Bible does not say how long this interval will be. During this time, the church came into existence as God extended His grace to gentiles who were willing to accept Christ as the Messiah, while His own people, the Jewish nation, would not. At a time only God knows (sometimes referred to as the “fullness of the Gentiles”), God will rapture His church. We don’t know how much time will pass between the rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation, but once the Tribulation begins it will start off the 70’th week of this prophecy, i.e. the final 7 years before Christ returns.
Understanding this prophecy is important, as it indicates clearly that God has not written off Israel at all. He is not done with the Jews. They remain His chosen people. The church did not replace Israel and the promises God made to Israel were not transferred to the church. Once the church is with God, He will return His attention to Israel. They will ultimately return to God and realize the huge mistake they made by not accepting Christ as their Messiah. But this will be a very difficult journey for them as it will take them suffering greatly through the Tribulation before they, as a nation, recognize the Truth. As the church of Christ we need to pray that as many Jewish people as possible would turn to Christ before it is too late. All who suffer through the Tribulation will experience hardship, but none more so than Israel.