Confirming a covenant

Israel and Hamas in Gaza are talking truce.

Israel, Gaza fighting rages on as Egypt seeks truce
"Israel bombed Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day on Sunday, preparing for a possible ground invasion while also spelling out its conditions for a truce. ... "We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the terrorist organizations and the Israel Defence Forces are prepared for a significant expansion of the operation," he said at a cabinet meeting, giving no further details. Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and press Hamas into stopping cross-border rocket fire that has bedeviled Israeli border towns for years and is now displaying greater range, putting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the crosshairs. ... Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said in Cairo, as his security deputies sought to broker a truce with Hamas leaders, that "there are some indications that there is a possibility of a ceasefire soon, but we do not yet have firm guarantees"."

It should be noted that Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty in force, negotiated by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1979. Sadat was the most hated man in the Middle East for having signed the treaty. He was assassinated in 1981. Vice-President Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency and kept the treaty going when Sadat was assassinated. In 2011, when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power, they said they wanted to break the treaty.

Joel Rosenberg said with characteristic caution today, "The current war here between Hamas and Israel is terrible, and traumatic, and is drawing the attention of the whole world. Many people are Tweeting me to ask if this is a prophetic war and whether it will lead to the battle of Armageddon. Operation Pillar of Defense is not the beginning of the battle of Armageddon. It is not the end of the world as we know it. There is no evidence — at the moment, at least — that it is one of the specific wars against Israel that are mentioned in Bible prophecy. Still, this war could begin to establish the conditions that will lead to some of the most dramatic End Times prophecies in the Bible coming to pass in the not-too-distant future. Please keep praying for the Lord to comfort and protect the millions of Israelis and Palestinians on both sides who are being so deeply affected by the current conflict."

I'm looking at the brokering a truce in the mirror of the Daniel 9:27 prophecy. It is widely interpreted that the Daniel prophecy is the gateway to the Tribulation. Here is what the verse says-

"And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

The "he" mentioned in the verse is the antichrist. He will be of the Roman sphere (Chapters 2 & 7). The verse literally says he will 'cause to prevail' or confirm a pact with Israel that he will break in the middle of the time. (MacArthur's Study Notes).

You note that the verse doesn't say that he will create a covenant, but will confirm one, indicating a covenant, pact, or treaty already exists and that is brought back to the table.

We don't want to be alarmist, while at the same time we want to be watching events closely out of respect for Gods's word and in order to pray for those affected and to encourage each other. If Egypt brokers a covenant to cease fire, will this be the one spoken of by Daniel? It may be, or it may not be. Personally I don't think so. I think the time is not quite yet.

Of all the wars that are prophesied to come in the end of days, as Rosenberg mentioned, this current hot war could be the one or it could lead to the one. If they do broker a truce and it is for a period of seven years, we will know that it is the one.

We keep watching and praying.

Meanwhile, Syria and Israel exchanged fire last night at the Golan Heights.
"There was small arms fire (at Israeli forces), there was a response and from what I hear over Arab media it appears Syrian soldiers were killed," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, Israel's chief military spokesman, told Army Radio.He said Israel was trying not to be dragged into battles between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels. The chaos of the 20-month-old insurgency often makes independent assessment of casualties within Syria difficult."

Israel is certainly surrounded.

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