The Covenant with Many - Pete Garcia - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=7825
Many theologians have often speculated as to what the covenant in Daniel's 70 Weeks prophecy means. Does it mean that it is an existing covenant, like the 1993 Oslo I Peace Accord from which all future 'land for peace' deals are based on? Is it referring to Jesus Christ, as one who makes the New Covenant with the many? Perhaps it is a completely new one, which is yet still future to us. I tend to lean towards the option three simply because the other two are not tenable.
Here are the two verses in question:
"And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined. (vs. 26)
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate." Daniel 9:27
The reason I do not believe that the 'he' in verse 27 is Jesus Christ, is simply due to the basic rules of grammar. The object 'he' is and can only be applied to its closest antecedent of matching gender and number, 'the prince who is to come'...or else the entire passage is out of synch.
Robert Culver explains the correct meaning of this text as follows:
The ordinary rules of grammar establish that the leading actor of this verse is the Antichrist, the great evil man of the end time. . . . If the pronoun "he" were present in the Hebrew, a case might possibly be made for the introduction of an entirely new personality into the story at this point. However, there is no pronoun; only the third masculine singular form of the verb indicates that an antecedent is to be sought, and that of necessity in the preceding context. Usually, the last preceding noun that agrees in gender and number and agrees with the sense is the antecedent. This is unquestionably . . . "the coming prince" of verse 26. He is a "coming" prince, that is, one whom the reader would already know as a prince to come, because he is the same as the "little horn" on the fourth beast of chapter 7.
As to the idea that the covenant with the many is an already existing covenant, I also do not think it fits. Although it's tempting to try and squeeze the Oslo Accords (or some variation of it) into this passage as 'the covenant', I feel it does not work simply because, the only successful part of the whole 'land for peace' façade, is that it has repeatedly failed without fail for the last 21 years. There simply will be no peace with the Muslim world, until they are rid of their hatred for the Jewish people and for Israel. Doesn't matter who signs what paper, or what is said, there is no peace without Islam fundamentally changing its views on Israel forever.
So seeing as I believe it is something completely new, and something that will simply be too inviting for even the Jewish people to turn down, I decided to look at this from a macro-level view. I then asked myself, what potential events and scenarios could/would actually need to happen, for a covenant to even be needed.
What Four Things HAVE to Change
What is the one thing that has eluded the Jewish state now for the last 65 years? Peace and Security. They want peace more than they want anything else at this point, and I believe that this one intangible thing they so crave, is ultimately, how Satan intends to destroy them.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. Daniel 8:25 (KJV)
In order for the Jews to ever feel that secure as to let their guard down, some things would absolutely have to change.
First, the European Union would need to rise. Events in the US have stagnated diplomatically and politically, so that with the US leading the charge, nothing will change. The US under the last 47 years of both Republican and Democratic leadership, have still failed to recognize Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel. So new leadership is needed, and I believe that comes in the form of a resurrected, Roman Empire. But nature hates a vacuum, and the only reason that the EU would need to rise, is if they could no longer depend on the United States for either economic stability or military security.
Given our current economic state, something will absolutely have to give. A nation in as much debt as we are simply cannot continue on its current economic trajectory indefinitely. In fact, by the time you finish reading this article, our national debt will have already jumped by millions of dollars. [If you're a slow reader, tens of millions] We are accumulating debt faster than we can ever hope to pay off, and even if we taxed every American, 100% of their income, there aren't enough Americans to pay this off in a thousand years.
The EU will need to be looked at by the world as THE voice of the west. That won't happen, until it has the military strength to match its political rhetoric. The problem the EU has today is that they haven't needed a military since the end of WWII. But with the US on the ropes, and Russia and China rising, US allies are increasingly leery of solely relying on the US for their protection. They are actively beginning to refund their defense programs, recruiting US military personnel, and actively pursuing and acquiring contracts with defense industries and weapons manufacturers.
But the EU has been struggling financially when it switched over to a single currency. In order for them to fix their present situation with the PIIGS, they might need to break down their financial structuring into regions rather than keeping it as a whole. Here are some potential options they might use to do an economic and defense course-correction:
1.Divide the EU up into regions with similar economies, and tailor the currency to fit the region, rather than the other way around.
2.Transform NATO into the European Defense Force.
3.Find alternatives to Russian energy.
Secondly, the Union for the Mediterranean would need to be given more precedence, authority, and reach. The three primary issues that the UfM is focusing on is energy/alternative energy, water (pollution and desalinization), and immigration. But the UfM will need the ability to reach into North Africa for cheap labor and access to oil rich regions.
Lastly, the Israeli/Palestinian/Muslim relation would have to fundamentally change. The EU is currently walking a fine line between appeasing the Muslim world, and not completely alienating Israel. The EU has also not had to make any of the hard choices as of yet, leaving the American's to make a fine mess of the Middle East (ME), which has kept the heat off of them for the time being.
Current Geo-Political Climate
The Muslim world will not cooperate, or is unlikely to cooperate with the West so long as Israel remains in her land. Shuttle diplomacy has had forty-plus years to try to resolve the differences in the ME and has failed every time. Currently, Israel has zero room for political maneuvering with the Islamic world. Israel will remain on guard and unwilling to let her defenses down until there has been a radical transformation in the current state of affairs in the ME.
Given the current hostile environment towards Israel in the ME, what could change the current political-cultural climate there? The event(s) would have to be of such a global nature, that Islam will be forced to change or be removed altogether. These events could include:
*The Rapture of the Church
*The threat of an Extinction Level Event (ELE) such as a comet, asteroid, solar storm, etc.
*The definitive and directed contact at the national level with extraterrestrial entities.
*Regional war that decimates Islamic nations
There are two regional wars in which both near and far threats to Israel's existence are done away with. These events could effectively either make Islam a non-factor, or defeat those nations in such a manner that Islam no longer has any appetite for war.
a. Possible: Psalm 83
b. Certain: Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38-39
These might all seem fantastical at the moment, but we should try to remove the normalcy bias from our thinking that says that just because it's never happened, doesn't mean it won't or can't happen. Remember that Satan is just as much behind secular humanism, as he is Islam...so he can at will, manipulate these doctrines of demons at will to accomplish his agenda.
Potential Options for a Covenant
Summarizing, we know that things are not going to change until these things transpire:
1. The EU must rise (which means the US declines)
2. The UfM must be solidified and emboldened.
3. Israel and the Islamic world must resolve their differences either through war or through some global event, which fundamentally changes life on earth.
For the sake of argument, if the above criteria is met and things do radically change, what could the EU (as the rising power) do to lure Israel into a 'covenant with the many'? They could:
*Offer the Rotating-Presidency of the UFM to Israel for a set amount of years. [Israel is already a member]
*Offer Israel a chief seat as a member of NATO/European Defense.
*Offer a membership into the EU.
*Offer to allow the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
What could seal the deal? Any or all of the above could be offered to Israel as an enticement to make Jerusalem an international city. If Israel joins the EU, they could also make Jerusalem its headquarters without Israel having to 'cede'sovereignty of it. But Israel will not do this first until the Islamic threat is removed.
Two things we do know, is that Satan controls the world at this present time, and Satan can manipulate these current schemes however he wishes, because he controls them. Think about it this way...Satan is the author of and manipulator of Islam. Islam has been the single biggest driving force behind ALL of Israel's problems since she became a nation again. It has caused Israel to be the single biggest pariah on the planet, because other non-Jewish nations don't want to have to deal with the Islamic fallout.
When Islam is in a position of weakness or in decline or not able to exert its force, it can get along with Jews. We know that Israel will not divide Jerusalem, but they might be open to headquartering an international or regional government there, such as: UfM, EU, UN, or NATO (or whatever NATO becomes). This would probably necessitate a deal that allows them to rebuild their temple either in place of, or next to the Dome of the Rock. I believe that is why Jerusalem is regarded as both 'Sodom and Egypt'.
Whatever that powerful entity is, I believe the Antichrist becomes the head of it. The biggest roadblock to their temple being rebuilt is Islam...and once that is effectively dealt with, I don't think it will be an issue anymore. This may be why the world is focused on Jerusalem while the Two Witnesses are preaching there, because this powerful entities' headquarters is there. After 1,260 days, the Antichrist is finally allowed to kill them, and why the world will have access to see their bodies in the streets for 3 ½ days before they are 'raptured up'. It is right after killing the Two Witnesses, that the Antichrist 'proves' that he has the credentials to enter into the Temple and declare himself to be god.
At least, that's how I see it all going down.
Maranatha!
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