What is this Abraham Accord?
For the past few weeks in the news, we have seen a treaty drafted between Israel and the United Arab on 13th August 2020. They called it the Abrahamic Accord. On 15th September, 2020 UAE and Israel signed an US-brokered agreement that has come to be known as the ‘Abraham Accord’, implying that the three parties represented the three Abrahamian religions Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Donald Trump joked saying, “I wanted it to be called the Donald J. Trump Accord, but I didn’t think the press would understand that.” National security adviser Robert O’Brien calls Trump’s efforts in the Middle East “remarkable,” adding that the president “should be a front-runner for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
He asked them why call it the Abrahamic Accord? The Arab ambassador Friedman told him that, “Abraham, as many of you know, was the father of all three great faiths. He is referred to as “Abraham” in the Christian faith, “Ibrahim” in the Muslim faith, and “Avraham” in the Jewish faith…And no person better symbolizes the potential for unity among all these three great faiths than Abraham, and that’s why this accord has been given that name.”
The US which represents Christianity, the nation of Israel represent Jews, and UAE represent Muslims. The three great religions today and Abraham is considered the father of all 3. Followers of The Way and Christians (claims) follows the lineage of Abraham. The Jews follows the lineage of Isaac, and the Muslims follows the lineage of Ishamel.
A section of the Abraham Accord says,
“Recognizing that the Arab and Jewish peoples are descendants of a common ancestor, Abraham, and inspired, in that spirit, to foster in the Middle East a reality in which Muslims, Jews, Christians and peoples of all faiths, denominations, beliefs and nationalities live in, and are committed to, a spirit of coexistence, mutual understanding and mutual respect;”
The announcement released following a joint call between President Trump, the Emirati crown prince and the Israeli prime minister-describes the agreement as a step toward the creation of a new “Strategic Agenda for the Middle East to expand diplomatic, trade, and security cooperation”.
What does this mean for us? (Disciples)
I have been teaching a little bit on the end times to my church lately just in passing. I’ve mentioned Daniel’s 70th week dream (Daniel 9:24-27) and that Daniel’s dream is still in effect today. What we’ve failed to understand as the church is the interpretation of the dream. The dream mostly had to do with Israel and their destiny. For years Israel has been seeking peace and restoration of their land. But according to Daniel’s dream, they will not see total restoration until the consummation kingdom. The consummation kingdom will occur after tribulation. Many modern scholars believe that Israel becoming a nation again will happen during the church age. Many evangelist have misinterpreted the scriptures as well believing that we as a nation will be judged on how we treat Israel. We failed to understand that when Jesus is speaking about the judgment of the nations, He is talking during the tribulation period that nations will be judged based on their treatment with Israel (Matthew 23-25). Not now.
This is one of the reasons we see the evangelicals and the presidential advisors pushing the president to be at peace with nations. Not because it is the right thing to do, but the fact that we will be judged. But if you are a follower of The Way, you will not be on earth during the tribulation and not be judged on how you treat Israel. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 that
“and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.”
This is referring to the tribulation period. Jesus will rescue us before all this will occur. Many believe that we are in tribulation now because of the unrest and the unfolding events here on earth. This is just the beginning of what is going to really occur. We call this the birth pangs (Rev 12:6) of the world and the natural result of sin being in the world. What is going on now will not compare to what is to come in the seven-year tribulation period after the Holy Spirit has taken off the restraint of sin and evil from the earth (2 Thess 2:7).
During the 70th week in Daniel’s dream, there is nothing in his dream about Israel will become a nation again. This is something man-made. From a biblical perspective, it is the Christians that made Israel a nation again. The same Christians that started Christianity 1700 years ago. So the question, Where does Israel and Christians fit in biblical scripture and prophesy today? There are several prophetic scriptures that say false claims about Israel and the Messiah. The nation of Israel leader, prime minister would be a Christ figure according to the Jews. They will bring peace to Jerusalem. Donald Trump made all this happen in the 70th year since Israel was formed into a nation. In 2019, they celebrated their 70 year as a nation and the Christians, Muslims, and Israel are trying to fabricate a fulfillment.
According to the works of Tim Lahaye:
The actual event that inaugurates the Tribulation is found in Daniel 9:27 when the Antichrist, “the ruler who will come,” makes a covenant with Israel for seven years. Even though he will break that covenant, his signing will trigger the prophetic clock of God, and from that moment on only seven years will be left for the human race on the earth. One of the reasons we know Christ is coming before the Tribulation to rapture His Church is because the Rapture is a secret thing. The Glorious Appearing will not be secret but well known, for exactly seven years will elapse from the signing of the covenant to the Glorious Appearing of Christ on the earth.
When Christ raptures the Church, the Antichrist may make a covenant with Israel the next day, the next week, or who knows when. There are sufficient signs existing today to indicate that this event could take place soon: for example, Israel’s return into the land of Palestine to become a nation, with whom the Antichrist will deal; the one-world church that will dominate the first half of the Tribulation period; and the craze for one-world government, already in existence and continuing to gather momentum until it culminates in the signing of the covenant between the Antichrist and Israel. From that point God’s prophetic clock will begin to tick and humanity will have only seven years left.
The Jews believe that this incident is going to provoke the coming Messiah. Their expectation of the Messiah has been going on for 2500 years. So the belief of the Jews is that when Israel becomes a nation, that is when the Messiah will come. But we as Followers of the Way, we know that the Messiah has already come and we are living in the inaugural kingdom kingdom at the moment.
It is all about the belief of the timeline of the end times. There are so many beliefs on the rapture, tribulation, and the millennium. We as the church must teach these things so that we can effectively discern the timeline of the Lord.
