Global SITREP B4:22: A Covenant Among Many

15 March 2022: The unprovoked Russian war against Ukraine appears to be entering a terminal phase, one that will include a formal agreement or contract between several parties. In this case the agreement might be more akin to the definition that is applied to a covenant (treaty) as described by Joshua 9:6.

In Eschatology Today's traditional forward leaning posture, it appears at this point to be a near certainty that the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, to include the withdrawal of Russian forces from most if not all of the country, will essentially be a treaty that ensures security requirements for the whole of Europe and not just Ukrainian or Russian requirements for security guarantees. It has only been days since the last implicit Russian threat of nuclear strikes, so an iron-clad treaty in this regard will be essential.  

This is what all of Europe, that is, the EU backed by the economic and military power of NATO will negotiate and confirm at a conference in the not too distant future. Ukraine will have won its defensive war and Russia, having virtually exhausted its ability to sustain its offensive military operations will be forced to withdraw to ensure its economic survival and independence from Red Chinese domination.

Warfare is likely to continue for perhaps the next four to six weeks, and barring an unforeseen black swan event, Russia's invasion will simply and literally run out of gas, and food, and its armies will become incapable of further action. The process being envisioned here could take several months, and European reconstruction of an independent and occupation-free Ukraine will take far longer.

Perhaps, just perhaps, this nascent treaty of security among multiple parties in Europe might be extended and confirmed for a period of seven years in the not too distant future to include the nations of a war-ravaged Middle East, as foretold by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:27. 

 

Global SITREP D9-14: Going ... Going ... (soon to be)Gone!

 Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount, Jerusalem

FINAL UPDATE 21 October 2014: Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it seems as though the point of all this may have been missed. We're not getting it, so to speak. Many of us complain that their pastors do not teach prophecy. Okay, so they're not fully teaching the word of God. So why are they still your pastor?

Under the title of this 'Eschatology Today' blog are the words "Current world events seen through the clarifying lens of the Lord's inerrant prophetic word." The Lord's inerrant prophetic word. I teach Bible prophecy on this blog, through current events especially because so very much of the imminent fulfillment of Bible prophecy is about military conflict and the weapons of modern warfare. These are the finer details of the bigger picture that has already been given to us by God.

Allow me illustrate my conclusion that "we're not getting it" by asking a question. Is there a more perfect word than what God has already given us in the Holy Bible? Or would it be better if I were to quote directly from the English Standard Version of The Second Epistle of Peter ? "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

What of these future things have the prophetic words of the Lord failed to inform us about? Do we really need more books and DVDs on the subject of Bible prophecy, or do we really need just to read and study what the Lord has already put directly in front of our eyes in virtually every language of mankind? 

Yet many of us say, "we will not be here to see these things, we cannot know how they will come to pass."  Not true! We have already seen them occur through the fully confirmed prophetic word of God! 

In the prophetic Book of Daniel we are instructed point blank about the person and ethnic origin of the man who will be the Antichrist. There is no mystery about that man. This was absolutely confirmed in 168-67 BC via the exploits of the Macedonian-Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the ultra-specific forerunner of Antichrist. And of the coming 70th Week, what part of that yet future event was not precisely foretold to us via the historical events of the 7-year long war from 66 to 73 AD that was neatly divided into two distinct halves between the Roman Empire and Israel? We won't be here to witness the European Antichrist or the 70th Week of Israel? Not true, we already are witness to these events because God has told us about them in great detail and has shown us through the historical record how they will happen in the future.

And the 3rd Jewish Temple, is that construction on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem going to be some kind of exception to the already established prophetic word of God?  Of course not.  Are you still not sure about what is going to happen in the near future fulfillment of Bible prophecy? Are you still not "getting it?" Then read about it in the historical record, and be mindful of the Apostle Peter's unambiguous instruction which I shall once more repeat in a slightly altered paraphrase: The fully confirmed prophetic word of God which you do well to pay attention to as a lamp in a dark place until the Harpazo takes place.

17 October 2014: We know from Bible prophecy, such as the verse from Jesus' Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24:15 and the angel Gabriel's earlier prophecy of Daniel 9:27, that the structure occupying the physical site of the first and second Temples on Mount Moriah continues to exist on time borrowed from God the Father, just as the Bride of Christ's continued presence on this earth is based upon His Supreme Authority alone. 

However, it's been some time since I have seen jihadist muslims exhibiting a palpable fear of the inevitable demise of the Dome of the Rock. This notice came in the form of two articles this week at YNETNews.com.

The first was Wednesday, 15 October's "Powder Keg on Temple Mount" by Assaf Kamar, and the second is yesterday's follow up published by Reuters News Service, "HAMAS leader urges Muslims to defend Temple Mount mosque from 'Israeli takeover'." 

The physical disappearance of the Dome of the Rock from Mount Moriah, only to be replaced by the third and final Temple to be constructed by human hands, is essentially the LORD God declaring His eternal sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Mount for His sovereign people, the whole House of Israel. This inevitability is expressed in modern parlance in the title of this SITREP, as "Going... Going... (soon to be)Gone!"

Then what? Then the conditions will be right for the 3rd Temple, the 70th Week Temple, the temple of the final Abomination of Desolation, to be constructed. Israel will have secured national sovereignty over the Mount to construct "the temple of God," or "naos Theos" in the original Greek written by John of Patmos in The Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 11, verse 1. The Greek word Naos refers only to that part of the physical, measurable temple structure on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem which contains both the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place. The Greek word Theos, refers specifically to the Godhead Trinity, that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The LORD God.

Jewish men will construct this 3rd Temple in absolute accordance with the positive commandment given to them in ancient times by God on Mount Sinai the day after Yom Kippur. According to the Temple Mount Institute, the Lord's commandment to rebuild the temple is "one of the 613 mitzvot, the commandments that Israel is perpetually obligated to fulfill." It has been a binding obligation to rebuild the Holy Temple upon every successive generation of Jews since the destruction of the last temple in 70 AD. And as it is written in 1st Chronicles 28:19 per David's instructions to Solomon in building the 1st Temple, “All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.” And follow these plans they did and will do so yet again in our time!

All of the vessels of the Holy Temple are an integral part of its full construction, and its physical design is detailed within the Tractate Middot of the Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) and conforms to the dimensions, characteristics and attributes of the Second Temple begun by Zerubabbel in 538 BC, precisely 70 years after the destruction of the Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 587 BC, and completed in 515 BC. This completion is fully celebrated in Ezra 3:10, and so pleased God that He prompted the prophet Haggai (Haggai 2:23) to present Zerubabbel with a special blessing: "On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts."

Notice something in the above two paragraphs. There is nothing here from the Christian perspective. Not a single word in any interpretation of prophecy, nor is there any distinctly Christian perspective. There is just the written commandment of God carried out by His people. There is no Christian interference in something uniquely Jewish! And so shall it be with the rebuilding of the coming Holy Temple, by Jewish hands and in strict conformity with Divine instructions. 

It is most interesting to make an important note of fact here that none of the Holy Temple instructions in the Book of Ezekiel are 100% relevant to what the Jews will soon be rebuilding on Mount Moriah. Most of the 2nd Temple's construction was after the 1st Temple that Solomon built, with only certain aspects of Ezekiel's Temple (Chapters 40-43) included in the overall design as it represented a far future Temple. That fact would make the full application of Ezekiel's prophetic instructions specifically relevant to the future post-70th Week Temple, the Holy Temple of Jesus' Millennial Kingdom, and the time when very specific geographic and topographical considerations as described will become totally fulfilled in the very act of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Marana'tha!

Daniel 9:27: "Gabar Bĕriyth Rab"

11 January 2013: This will be a companion exegetic article to Ezekiel 37:10 "Meh'ode Gadowl Chayil" posted here on 1 January 2013. I awoke with a start at 3 AM this morning with the burning thought that Israel is to be confirmed within the "gabar bĕriyth rab" or "covenant among many" found in Daniel 9:27 at the very beginning of the 70th Week. I now believe the NATO alliance resolves the eschatological issue of what ultimately becomes of the Israel Defense Forces following the near-future decisive victory in fulfillment of Psalm 83, to the almost unfathomable security condition that is prophesied to exist prior to Ezekiel 38/39, and, ultimately to the advent of the 70th Week as presented in the concluding paragraph post of that article.

According to the God-breathed prophecies the angel Gabriel gave to the prophet Daniel, there would be only four prophetically important world empires to exist between that time and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth: the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian and the Roman. Of these the last, the Roman, would not end, but would re-emerge in the last days as ten ethnically diverse kingdoms giving their authority to the Antichrist, a man who rises to achieve supreme authority over all of them, and thereafter through dark schemes, deception and military conquest over the global community of nations.

The illustration (click to enlarge) above shows the expansion of Rome over time, from its early days as a republic to its largest extent as an empire, perhaps just a decade or so from when we believe John was given The Revelation of Jesus Christ on Patmos. Within these lands and their territories and former colonies across the globe we can almost certainly find the "Beast Empire" of the 70th Week.

Living Eschatology is the Living Word of God

Immediately prior to the 70th Week there is prophetic reference to such an alliance in Ezekiel 38:13 as "the merchants of Tarshish" in association with the kingdoms of the Arabian peninsula, Sheba and Dedan. Evidence of this alliance is extant today, particularly in media reports of the close cooperation between NATO and the kingdoms of the Arabian Peninsula such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait.

The modern beginnings of this alliance began with the events of 1991 and Operation Desert Storm. They continue today with the recent events in Libya (2011) and now Syria (2011-12), and have been equally evident in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq 2003-2010) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan 2001-2013) where the NATO military presence is particularly robust. We can therefore reasonably expect the modern "Roman Empire" to continue its growth and expansion as Bible prophecy has flawlessly forecast for the past 2,645 years (Daniel 2:1 to Present Day).

In the several hundred years that immediately preceded the literal fulfillment of Daniel 9:26 and Matthew 24:2, many military alliances, battles and wars occurred over a vast area which prophetically facilitated and then culminated in that single event on Tishba B'Av 70 AD. Few of those events were of sufficient importance to warrant mention within the Biblical text, excepting only the prophetic narrative of Daniel 10:10 through Daniel 11:45. Rome, specifically the Roman Legions which executed the sack of Jerusalem and the razing of the Temple, (V Macedonica, X Fretensis, XII Fulminata and XV Apollinaris), were a unified force operating under the supreme authority of just one man, but they were named for the regions where they had been formed, had been fought in conquest for Rome, or for the supreme deity worshiped by the Roman Emperor.

Roman Legions sack the Temple, Tisha B'Av 70 AD

There is no prophetic text in the Bible describing a repeat of a military campaign of this type. Instead there is the peaceful sounding "gabar bĕriyth rab" or "covenant among many" of Daniel 9:27 that will be confirmed.  I believe this points to Israel's admission into the NATO alliance and its unwitting (for the most part) acceptance of the man who will be the Antichrist. I believe this was prophesied to occur by Jesus Christ at the Temple, and was recorded in John 5:43: "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive."  

In these last days Israel wants nothing more than to be accepted as an equal by these modern Roman nations, yet they are the same Roman nations where for nearly 20 centuries since their forefathers forced exile from the land they had been relentlessly persecuted, chased, evicted, forcibly converted, and ultimately murdered on an industrial scale. To these Roman nations Israel wishes to return in military and political alliance just a generation after God had taken them out and returned them to their own land as promised. 

In these last days Israel's military forces reciprocally and routinely war game with and play host to in the land of Israel the modern equivalent of Rome's legions. Soon this covenant, this alliance, pact, peace treaty or whatever we would call it, will come to pass and it will be the doorway to the abomination of desolation and the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). And some people say that history does not repeat itself. Well, history will repeat itself, but this last time it is for the glory of God and the establishment of His kingdom upon this Earth.