Last week, on August 13, 2020, Israel and UAE, an Arab state, signed a peace treaty which fully normalizes their relations. US President Donald Trump and his team brokered the deal. This is the third peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country with the last one being made almost 26 years ago. Israel made peace with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
Why is this significant?
Daniel 9:20-27 shows us the Seventy Week Prophecy. Till today, 69 of the weeks have already been fulfilled (Dan 9:25) and we are waiting for the final week to take place (Dan 9:27).
Daniel 9:25-26:“Know therefore and understand,That from the going forth of the commandTo restore and build JerusalemUntil Messiah the Prince,There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;…And after the sixty-two weeksMessiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;And the people of the prince who is to comeShall 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.”
The command to rebuild Jerusalem after the captivity in Babylon occurred in 444 BC, given by King Artaxerxes (Neh 2:1a). From this time until the Messiah (Christ) rode into Jerusalem on the colt (Matt 21:1-11) in 33 AD, was 483 years = 69 “weeks”, where each “week” represents a group of 7 years.
More details about this 70 week prophecy can be found in this video on our YouTube channel (Israel – God’s Clock for the World).
Dan 9:27 tells us about the 70th and final week of this prophecy:
“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;But in the middle of the weekHe shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering…”
There will be a covenant, or treaty, WITH MANY for one week (7 years) and it’s implied the Jews will be permitted to bring sacrifices and offerings because, as verse 27 says, in the middle of the week (after 3.5 years), sacrifices will be stopped.
I would like to focus on how the prophecy states that this treaty will be made with many parties. The news about Israel and UAE is significant because it is likely the beginning of other Arab countries coming onboard. Bahrain and Oman have already expressed interest in making peace with Israel and perhaps others such as Kuwait, Qatar, and even Lebanon will join. The political climate is also very conducive to peace because the current US President, Donald Trump, has proven to be highly supportive of Israel by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He has taken a very unorthodox approach toward peacemaking in the Middle East compared to his predecessors who often place demands on Israel to give up land in exchange for peace. The Palestinians have a history of rejecting most offers because their true desire is the destruction of Israel. They will not be satisfied with a bit of land, as shown when Israel handed over full control of the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Trump recognized the fact that Jerusalem belongs to Israel and this is not negotiable. While the world warned that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would lead to an explosion and an outbreak of war in the Muslim world, this did not happen and something miraculous happened instead. When Trump’s Deal of the Century was released in two phases, on June 22, 2019 and January 28, 2020, representatives from three Arab countries were in attendance to show support: UAE, Bahrain, and Oman. Some of these are countries only recently regarded Israel as an enemy and were now ready for peace. Only God can accomplish this!
This matches the prophecy’s statement that the covenant will be made with many, rather than only one party. The world has been focused on peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but what we see taking place is Israel making peace with Arab states and leaving the Palestinians behind. This shows that the Palestinian leadership is not actually interested in the wellbeing of their people and only in eliminating Israel. They are not able to negotiate in good faith so Israel and the US direct their attention elsewhere. Also, these Arab countries, by making peace with Israel, are accepting that Israel is not going away and in order to counter their common enemy of Iran, they must work together and accept each other. It’s amazing that God predicted this aspect of the peace treaty thousands of years ago!
Eventually, the terms of peace will permit the Jews to offer animal sacrifices again, which has not occurred since the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. When that happens, the 70th week will begin. After the completion of the 70th week, Christ will return to set up His Kingdom of righteousness on earth (Dan 9:24).
The events of the past week should show us that Christ’s return is getting closer and we must prepare and mature spiritually so that we can be counted worthy to escape the judgment on the world (Luke 21:36; Rev 3:10).
As Jesus Himself preached while He was on earth, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2)
Please contact us if you have questions or would like to talk about preparing for Christ’s coming Kingdom!