A Seven Year Covenant between Israel and the one who is to come

Posted by on 18 February 2012 | 0 Comments

Allow me to share a FUTURE headline with you today:  “Israel signs a 7 year covenant assuring the nation's peace and safety.”  This landmark story will fulfill one of the key prophecy signs marking the start of the End Times.

The 7-year tribulation (Daniel’s 70^th week) commences with the confirmation of a seven year covenant between Israel and the Antichrist.  It is a key sign that believers are told to watch for and we can piece together the details of this covenant as many clues are revealed in both the Old and New Testament to help us understand the true nature of this peace treaty.

I promise you there will be some wrong thinking and outright ignorance about the negative implications of this future covenant, especially among those who are not looking for the signs surrounding the Second Coming.  In fact, most of the unsaved will be unprepared, totally surprised and deluded into thinking the peace treaty will be a very good thing for the world.  But informed believers will not be caught off guard or surprised by this agreement and they will know it will result in total disaster for Israel.

In that future day, Israel will think that the 7 year peace agreement they are making will bring them protection from the surrounding nations. In reality, it will be a death pact with the Antichrist. Instead of trusting God for their promised deliverance, many in the nation will trust the ultimate deceiver.  It will be Israel's prophesied great apostasy.

Don’t let anyone tell you prophecy is too difficult to understand.  God delights in arming you with Biblical knowledge and revealing these prophetic mysteries in His Word.  There are many clear illustrations of this event in the Bible.  Let’s look at some of them in the following passages.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
[1] Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,
[2] that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.  (I believe the Day of the Lord refers to a period of time in the last half of Daniel’s 70^th week when God pours out His wrath on the unbelieving world.)
[3] Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (The Day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
[4] who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

Paul places two conspicuous events, the apostasy and the revealing of the Antichrist, as the key indicators that the Day of the Lord has begun.  Regarding “the apostasy” I believe Paul is speaking of many Jews, who, during the Seventieth Week of Daniel, will totally abandon the God of their fathers and the Messianic hope in favor of the false messiah, the Antichrist.  Many will reject their messianic expectation of a Jewish deliverer and instead embrace a Gentile pagan Antichrist.  I

This End Times scenario had a forerunner in the second century B.C. when the Jewish temple was defiled under a Syrian ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes.  (You can read about this historical event in Daniel 11, 12 and in the historical book of Maccabees 1, 2.)  Antiochus Epiphanes came to the throne in 175 B.C and he is called despicable because of his blasphemies. He came to the throne with a program of peace.  In 168 B.C. he placed a statue of the Greek god Zeus in the Jerusalem Temple and required everyone to worship it on the pain of death.  This is called “the Abomination of Desolation.”  The future Antichrist will come to power in the same way.  The Antichrist will introduce Daniel’s 70^th week with a seven year covenant.  And he will proclaim to be God in the Jewish Temple. The people of the world will think they are entering the Millennium, when they are really entering the Great Tribulation period.

Daniel 8:9-11
[9] And out of one of them came forth a rather small horn (In the beginning of his rise to power Antichrist will be inconspicuous, a “little horn”, but he will become a big horn.) which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land (Israel).
[10] And it grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down (Revelation 12 describes the details of this event).
[11] It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host (He will proclaim himself God in the Temple); and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.

Daniel 11:21
[21] "And in his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

Daniel 11:36
[36] "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.

Daniel 12:11
[11] "And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

Daniel lived during the time of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. His book speaks of the Jews' daily sacrifices being cut off in the end time.  Much of Daniel's revelation of the future focuses on the seventieth week, the time of the end.

Daniel 9:27
[27] "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

The first public act of the Antichrist is to confirm a 7 year treaty with Israel.  In the middle of the seven years, the Antichrist will break the seven year covenant, pollute the newly built temple, take away the daily sacrifice, set up his image in the temple, and proclaim himself God.  At this point the entire nation of Israel will realize his true character and identity... but it will be too late as the worst of nightmares will have begun. The Great Tribulation will ensue, and these events will dramatically impact the entire world.  They will clearly signal the soon coming of Israel's true Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Zechariah 11:15-17
[15] Then the LORD said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
[16] For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
[17] "Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!"

Zechariah presented the Good Shepherd in verses 12-14.  It is a prophecy of Jesus Christ, sold for thirty pieces of silver, delivered to His enemies, and crucified on a Roman cross.

Now Zechariah presents the foolish shepherd, who will appear at the beginning of Daniel’s 70^th week.  In that future day, many Jews will believe the lie, thinking the covenant will protect them. Notice how the Antichrist will deal with the people of Israel:  He will shear the sheep of Israel, desert them and kill them. What a contrast to the Good Shepherd, Israel’s true Messiah, who gave His life for the sheep!

The Antichrist will offer peace to the world and seemingly bring order out of the chaos we are in and usher in prosperity.  The world, and Israel, will receive him with open arms. He is called the worthless shepherd. He is no good, he is of no value, he is the great deceiver.   This "foolish" shepherd is of no benefit, but Israel will follow him.

The false shepherd, the Antichrist, will actually be the one who brings in the Great Tribulation in all its fury. In the first part of the Tribulation Israel will be deceived into thinking that Antichrist is their Good Shepherd, but by the time they discover his real character, he will be the world dictator, and the armies of the world will come against Jerusalem.

The disabling injury to his right arm making it useless and the blindness in the right eye is due to the deadly head wound he receives.

Revelation 13:3
[3] One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

Revelation 13:12
[12] He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.

The prophet Isaiah, writing with great sarcasm, warns the last generation that this seven year covenant is a covenant with death:

Isaiah 28:14-15
[14] Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
[15] Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception."

What is this covenant with death and Sheol?  The treaty is given an ominous name, “a covenant with death.”  Apparently the Antichrist will guarantee the protection and security of Israel.  Nothing could be further from the truth.   This is the same covenant Daniel tells us about, a future covenant which unsuspecting Israel will make with the Antichrist, the prince who is coming, the Man of Sin, the godless man, the willful king, the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the land, the one who is controlled by Satan.

Isaiah 28:17-19
[17] "And I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the level; Then hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters shall overflow the secret place.
[18] "And your covenant with death shall be canceled, And your pact with Sheol shall not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place.
[19] "As often as it passes through, it will seize you. For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night. And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means."

Once Israel figures out what they have done, and understand who they have covenanted with, sheer terror will overtake their hearts.  In reality, the signing of the seven year covenant of counterfeit peace with the Antichrist (unknown to them) at the beginning of the week sets the stage for "the time of Jacob's (Israel's) trouble".  When the covenant is broken and the second three and one-half years of Daniel’s 70 week ensue, Israel will be in huge trouble!  This is the End Time holocaust the prophets and Jesus warned us about.

Deuteronomy 4:30
[30] When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.

Jeremiah 30:7
[7] How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob (Israel), but he will be saved out of it.

Daniel 12:1
[1] "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be delivered.

Zechariah 13:7-9
[7] "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd (the Antichrist), against the man who is close to me!" declares the LORD Almighty. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
[8] In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.
[9] This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'"

Matthew 24:15
[15] "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- …

Matthew 24:21-22
[21] For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.
[22] If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

I believe the Church will witness both conspicuous events Paul told us to watch for in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4;

1. The Apostasy (Signing of the 7 year covenant with the Antichrist)

2. The Antichrist revealed (The Abomination of Desolation.  When the Antichrist stands in the temple and proclaims that he’s God.)

To my knowledge, as of 2/18/12, no seven year covenant has been presented to, or signed by the leaders of Israel.  “Watching” for this sign, and many others, is what every believer has been called to do by the Lord Jesus.

Blessings,

Donnie