The Jerusalem Covenant — Part One

Jerusalem

I'm sure some of you have already caught wind of this, but there has been a story making the rounds lately that is generating a certain amount of buzz in the watch community that has captured my attention. I first ran into this over at Revelation 12 Daily, but it seems to be gaining traction and I felt led to share with you some of my observations concerning this topic as well as some related prophetic implications and speculations.

The news item that has a few prophecy buffs buzzing these days concerns a document known as the Jerusalem Covenant—and if you've never heard of such a thing before now, welcome to the club. The buzz of which I speak concerns the fact that some are eyeing this document as possibly being the genuine, dyed-in-the-wool treaty of Daniel 9:27—the treaty referred to as "a covenant with many" by the prophet Daniel and which will be confirmed by the You Know Who, thus launching the seven-year You Know What.

Confession time: When I first viewed the video at Revelation 12 Daily (linked to above), which excitedly claims the Jerusalem Covenant is the treaty of Daniel 9:27, I was not immediately bowled over. I know it's silly, but my inner English teacher cringed when the sweet young lady named Deborah who made the video (YouTube channel: Speaking Truth in Love) breathlessly gushed that the story was "unbelievably amazing." Sorry—can't help it. Incidentally, the video borrows Daniel's phraseology and refers to the Jerusalem Covenant as the "covenant with many"; however, no Jewish source I have come across refers to it that way. But before I even finished watching the video, my inner skeptic had reared his pointy little head, and my reaction, rather than being something akin to "Wow!!! I've just gotta write an article about this unbelievably amazing topic!!!" was a bit more like:

No way, José.

Deborah's video contains a short clip from another YouTube video created by the person she identifies as the source of the story—a very warm and sincere woman named Kimberly Ballard (YouTube channel: Moses & Elijah). After watching the whole video, however, I was still ready to blow the whole thing off as a bit of Frappuccino-fueled Rapture mania—but the Holy Spirit had other ideas. Poke. Prod. Nudge. And I knew:

Not so fast, José.

I am going to do something with this topic I have never done in the entire seven and a half years I have been maintaining this website, and that is write a (gasp) two-part article. I've always had a tendency to avoid them, partly because I'm a full-blown Aspie who likes things to be thorough and complete, and perhaps because I have occasionally seen other writers take liberal advantage of the multi-part article idea and get a bit lazy. You know, write one article and break it into five pieces, and voilà—chalk up five articles to their credit. But many of my articles do end up being a bit longish, so...who knows. Maybe two-part articles have a future here at A Little Strength.

This topic, however, turned out to be an ideal candidate for a two-part treatment, and so be it. In part one, I want to do something that the above unbelievably amazing video didn't do (aargh...it's starting to grow on me), and that's take a detailed look at some of the things the Jerusalem Covenant actually says, and discuss why what it actually says is significant.

In part two, I want to examine the potential relationship between the Jerusalem Covenant and the treaty of Daniel 9:27, and consider a couple of possible prophetic scenarios involving the Jews, the treaty of Daniel 9:27, the Jerusalem Covenant, the Antichrist, the Jews' promised kingdom, and how these may interact with mainstream Jewish eschatological expectations.

And God only knows what else.

A little background

The Six Day War erupted in the early morning hours of June 5, 1967 with Israel launching a surprise air attack that flew in over the Mediterranean and under Egyptian radar (I have read that the Israeli planes were actually spotted by Jordanian radar in time for Egypt to intercept and engage them, but by some strange "coincidence" a change in the message coding the previous day caused confusion and the message never got through). By the time Egyptian pilots could don their flight suits, Israeli planes had effectively crippled Egypt's vaunted air force, which allowed Israel to quickly establish air superiority—a factor that proved critical to their ultimate success in the conflict.

Two days later, on June 7 (the 28th of Iyar), Israeli ground forces took the Old City in Jerusalem from the Jordanians, and for the first time in nearly two millennia, Israel once again had control over their eternal capital in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Awestruck Israeli soldiers touched the Western Wall for the first time in their entire lives, and some wept openly as they stood before it and prayed, thanking and praising the God who had so swiftly delivered their enemies into their hands.

Jerusalem Day parade

The following year, on May 12, 1968, the Israeli government designated the 28th of Iyar as Jerusalem Day, a day to commemorate the unification of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, and on March 23, 1998, the Knesset passed a measure known as the Jerusalem Day Law, which established the 28th of Iyar as a national holiday in Israel.

Six years earlier, on Jerusalem Day 1992, a special document that had been drafted by Deputy Chief Justice Rabbi Menachem Elon was formally presented to Israeli government officials in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Six Day War and the resultant unification of Jerusalem under Israeli control—a document known as the Jerusalem Covenant. The document was signed on May 19, 1993 by 70 representatives of World Jewry that had convened in the Israeli capital.

The Jerusalem Covenant was not all that well known outside of Israel for a number of years; however, in 2013 a group called Israel365, an organization founded by Rabbi Tuly Weisz in 2012 that "promotes the beauty and religious significance of the Land of Israel," started presenting a hard copy of the Jerusalem Covenant to the Mayor of Jerusalem every Jerusalem Day, a hard copy that had an ever-increasing number of signatures affixed to it from people all over the world.

On Jerusalem Day 2019, which fell on June 2, Rabbi Weisz presented a copy of the Jerusalem Covenant to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion that bore 216,168 signatures from people from over 100 countries. (Note: According to the girl who made the above video, this is why it's called "a covenant with many"—because many people have signed it.) Although over the last several years a handful of believers have begun to awaken to the potential significance of the Jerusalem Covenant, suddenly it's a thing. Suddenly it's a topic in the watch community—the small segment of the Church that is actively obeying Christ's command to watch and wait for His appearing and so are paying rapt attention to the ongoing fulfillment of end-time prophecy and to the cornucopia of signs that point with stunning clarity to the nearness of the Rapture and the ensuing events that will rock a Christ-rejecting world to its very core.

So what does it say?

The Jerusalem Covenant was drafted in Israel in 1992, and, of course, was originally written in Hebrew. Various English translations exist on the Internet, and most vary slightly in the details of their wording, punctuation, etc., and some even contain typos and other minor errors. I have pored over every English translation I could find online, some dating back to when it was originally published in 1992, and have put together an English translation of it that reflects details from at least three or four different extant translations. So if you read the Jerusalem Covenant online (here's one popular version), don't be surprised if its wording varies slightly from what you see here.

In the final analysis, the
Jerusalem Covenant is
deceptively unscriptural.

The Jerusalem Covenant officially and biblically declares that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel—it is the holy city of the Jewish people, and puts an exclamation point on the Jews claim over it. But it is also carefully worded in such a way as to apparently welcome all other people groups and religions to Jerusalem to worship their false gods and promises to protect their so-called holy sites in a tolerant, inclusive, politically correct manner, and appears to back it all up with a generous helping of quotes from both the Old Testament and rabbinical sources to slap Yahweh's seal of approval on it.

Before you even read the text, however, I want you to understand something in no uncertain terms, and by the time we're through I trust you will understand why I am stating this so emphatically:

I ain't signing it: In the final analysis, the Jerusalem Covenant is deceptively unscriptural. I can't say it any more plainly. Yes, Israel is the Jewish nation. Yes, Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital. Yes yes yes. Although it is biblically correct in its overall thrust and sounds wonderfully appealing to the biblically untrained ear, in reality it skillfully takes passages from the Old Testament that have been misquoted or only partially quoted and taken completely out of context and blends them with the teachings of rabbis that have been elevated to the level of God's Word to concoct a document that may at least play a role in the creation of the treaty of Daniel 9:27, and help lead the Jews to believe that Messianic Age prophecies are being fulfilled and thus its advent is upon them. As a result, it may help goad Israel into embracing the peace-making impostor whom they will mistakenly accept as their Messiah—and I am convinced that precious few of the 200,000-plus people who have signed the Jerusalem Covenant have any idea what I'm talking about.

Here is the text of the Jerusalem Covenant, with a few Scripture references added, in addition to references to notes that I will discuss afterwards:

As of this day, Jerusalem Day, the twenty-eighth day of the month of Iyar in the year five thousand seven hundred fifty-two; one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two years after the destruction of the Second Temple; forty-four years since the founding of the State of Israel; twenty-five years since the Six Day War during which the Israel Defense Forces, in defense of our very existence, broke through the walls of the city and restored the Temple Mount and the unity of Jerusalem; twelve years since the Knesset of Israel re-established that Jerusalem, "unified and whole, is the Capital of Israel"; "the State of Israel is the State of the Jewish People" and the Capital of Israel is the Capital of the People of Israel. We have gathered together in Zion, sovereign national officials and leaders of our communities everywhere to enter into a covenant with Jerusalem, as was done by the leaders of our nation and all the people of Israel upon Israel's return to our Land from the Babylonian exile wherein the people and their leaders vowed to "dwell in Jerusalem, the Holy City."

Once again, "our feet stand within your gates, O Jerusalem—Jerusalem built as a city joined together" [Ps. 122:2–3] which "unites the people of Israel to one another," and "links heavenly Jerusalem with earthly Jerusalem." [See note #1]

We have returned to the place that the Lord vowed to bestow upon the descendants of Abraham, Father of our Nation; to the City of David, King of Israel; where Solomon, son of David, built a Holy Temple and a Capital City, which with time became the Mother of all Israel; a City and the Mother of all enactments of justice and righteousness, and for the wisdom and insights of the ancient world; where a Second Temple was erected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. In this City the prophets of the Lord prophesied; in this City our Sages taught Torah; in this City the Sanhedrin convened in session in its stone chamber. "For here were the seat of Justice and the Throne of the House of David," [Ps. 122:5] "for out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." [Isa. 2:3]

Today, as of old, we hold fast to the truth of the words of the Prophets of Israel, that all the inhabitants of this world shall enter within the gates of Jerusalem: "And it shall come to pass in the end of days, the mountain of the House of the Lord will be well established at the peak of the mountains and will tower above the hills, and all the nations shall stream towards it." [Isa. 2:2—see note #2] "Each and every nation will live by its own faith: For all the peoples will go forward, each with its own Divine Name; we shall go in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever." [Mic. 4:5—see note #3] And in this spirit, the Knesset of the State of Israel has enacted a law establishing: the places holy to the peoples of all religions shall be protected from any desecration and from any restriction of free access to them. [See note #4]

Jerusalem—peace and tranquility shall reign in the city: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those that love you be tranquil. May there be peace within your walls, and tranquility within your palaces." [Ps. 122:6–7] Out of Jerusalem a message of peace went forth and shall yet go forth again to all the inhabitants of the earth: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore." [Isa. 2:4—see note #5] Our sages, peace be upon them, have said: "In the future, The Holy One, the Blessed, can comfort Jerusalem only with peace." [See note #6]

From this place, we once again take our vow: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its strength; may my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not raise up Jerusalem at the very height of my rejoicing." [Ps. 137:5–6]

And with all these understandings, we enter into this Covenant and write: We shall bind you to us forever; we shall bind you to us with faithfulness, with righteousness and justice, with steadfast love and compassion. We love you, O Jerusalem, with eternal love, with unbounded love, under siege and when liberated from the yoke of oppressors: we have been martyred for you, we have yearned for you, we have clung to you. Our faithfulness to you we shall bequeath to our children after us. Forevermore, our home shall be within you.

([comments] added)

— The Jerusalem Covenant

Note #1: The two phrases that express the idea that Jerusalem "unites the people of Israel to one another" and "links heavenly Jerusalem with earthly Jerusalem" are nowhere to be found in the Bible, but are quoted as if they were Scripture. I can find no source for them, so they are almost certainly from the Talmud—the teachings of thousands of rabbis that were collected in written form primarily from the second through the fifth centuries and that have been elevated to the level of Scripture in the minds of the Jews. Needless to say, this is a huge problem. The Jews routinely mix and match the words of a holy God with the opinions of highly learned but spiritually unregenerate men, and confusion and deception are the inevitable result.

Here, the first phrase is being used to emphasize the unity of the Jewish people, especially in regard to their love for Jerusalem. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that—that's a good thing. And that's the point: The Jerusalem Covenant is filled with lots of things that sound really good. The problem is that all the good-sounding stuff serves to mask a few things that are false and dangerously deceptive.

The New Jerusalem

The second phrase is a reference to a "heavenly Jerusalem," which for biblically knowledgeable believers is eerily reminiscent of the New Jerusalem spoken of by the apostle John in Revelation 21, the future home of the Church. Of course, Jews regard the entire New Testament as so much contrived fiction, so it can't be that, no sir. So, gosh, I just can't imagine where the Jews might have gotten this idea—but they couldn't possibly have pilfered the germ of this idea from what John wrote around AD 95. Rabbi Art Vernon shares some interesting insights into the Jewish concept of a heavenly Jerusalem (and note the bizarre interpretation of Ps. 122:3):

The concept of an ideal or heavenly Jerusalem appears to emerge in Jewish tradition in the third century of the Common Era. There is a midrash, a rabbinic homily, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, a leading rabbinic figure in Tiberias in the early third century, who asserts, in part, that in the future the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalem will be reunited as one. This teaching is based on an exposition of Psalm 122:3, "Jerusalem built up, a city knit together." According to the midrash, 'knit together' means the uniting of the earthly Jerusalem with the heavenly Jerusalem as one. [Seriously?] However, the roots of this idea are found in earlier Jewish thinking. [Oh yeah, it goes way back—to about AD 95.]

Today, it is difficult for us to comprehend the impact on the Jewish people and on Jewish life of the conquest and destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 C.E. In the minds of the Jewish leaders of that era, the Rabbis, it was the worst tragedy ever in the history of the Jewish people. [And did the idea that God was judging them for something ever enter their minds?]

Both in national and religious terms, it appeared that Jewish life might come to an end. The Temple, the physical link between God and the Jewish people, and its rituals and rites, abruptly ended. The city of Jerusalem lay in ruins and Jews were forbidden to live within its walls. Moreover, the Romans continued their occupation of the land of Israel and their oppression of the Jewish people. Uprisings against Rome were brutally crushed in both the early and the middle of the second century. Following these failed revolts, it was clear to the Rabbis that revolt against Rome was futile.

Therefore, the Temple would not be restored any time soon, nor would Jerusalem return to her former glory. With the earthly Jerusalem in ruins, it is easy to understand why Jews would want to imagine a heavenly Jerusalem existing in all its glory. [Maybe that's part of the problem—they're too busy imagining things to believe God's Word.]

[...]

The emergence of the State of Israel in our days, and the recapture and reunification of the earthly Jerusalem in the Six Day War in 1967, has for some Jews brought the heavenly and earthly Jerusalem together. However, for Jews who believe in the divine messianic redemption of the world, modern Jerusalem is still just a shadow of the Jerusalem that will exist in the future. Obviously, for them the heavenly Jerusalem is not yet completed, or the era of the messianic redemption would have arrived.

(emphasis & [comments] added)

— Rabbi Art Vernon, "The Heavenly Jerusalem" [Source]

So, this phrase serves to spin the fanciful and unbiblical notion that the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem are to be joined together—and gosh, I can't imagine how...maybe with a little help from the Messiah, perhaps?

Leader demanding worship of crowd

Speaking of whom...note the phrase "divine messianic redemption." For religious Jews, this is key. We'll get into this a bit more in part two, but that's where all this is heading: In the minds of the Jews, the mashiach will arrive soon, bring peace, and rebuild the temple. That's why the Jews will believe he is the mashiach—and hey, who knows...he might even be responsible for joining the earthly Jerusalem with its heavenly counterpart, with some Jews convinced that the heavenly Jerusalem will come floating down to earth from heaven, just like the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:2. (Wow, another remarkable coincidence.)

Naturally, when the Jews say "divine messianic redemption," they assume the divine aspect of it is a divine God working through a mortal man.

Imagine their surprise when this mortal man claims to be divine, too.

Note #2: When the Jerusalem Covenant quotes Isaiah 2:2 concerning Jerusalem and says "all the nations shall stream towards it," it serves as a perfect example of a fundamental error that pervades much of Jewish thinking today in regard to the end times—their timing is all goofed up.

Isaiah has a lot to say about the Jews' promised kingdom, and arguably the first reference to it kicks off chapter 2:

1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

(Isaiah 2:1–5 KJV)

Isaiah is clearly speaking of the Millennial Kingdom under the rule of the Messiah, which will be established following the Tribulation and the Second Coming. As born-again believers who study God's Word, we all know that. But that's just the problem:

Timing issues: Since the Jews have rejected their real Messiah, when they accept the Antichrist in His place, they will be gearing up for their kingdom to be established at that time, well before God's sovereignly ordained time. That's part of the deception.

Missing puzzle piece

Obviously the Jews have no concept of either Daniel's 70th Week or the Second Coming. They will sincerely believe the man they have mistakenly embraced as their Messiah will be ready to usher in their promised kingdom, since he's apparently brought them peace and given them their Third Temple. So...bada bing, bada boom: time for the kingdom.

In other words, they have their end-time timing completely mangled for one simple reason:

They have left Christ out of the picture.

I think it's God's brand of poetic justice that it will be the Jews' rejection of their Messiah two thousand years ago that will end up leading them into the arms of their false Messiah and into the final phase of His judgment.

When you remove Christ from Bible prophecy, the resulting confused jumble of disjoint prophetic pieces can be force-fitted together in a wide variety of creative ways—all of them wrong.

That's what it's gonna take: This is something that needs to be said, and I want to say it as clearly and as emphatically as my stumbling words will allow me to say it. Earlier I said that, in the final analysis, the Jerusalem Covenant is deceptively unscriptural—and indeed it is. But I don't mean that as an attack on the Jewish people. I am not calling the people of Israel liars or deceivers. It is they who have been lied to and deceived for two thousand years by their own religious leaders who have been forced to cover their own tracks as well as the tracks of their predecessors in order to re-invent Judaism after it was essentially destroyed in AD 70 and maintain their power and position, not to mention the fact that the Jewish people have been partially hardened to the identity of their Messiah by God Himself (Rom. 11:25). The Jews in Israel today who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of their (false) Messiah and the (false) peace he will bring them and the temple he will allow them to build are genuine and sincere, but are adrift in a sea of error due primarily to their deeply entrenched rejection of their true Messiah Yehoshua HaMashiach—rejection that has been relentlessly indoctrinated into them for two millennia. God is going to allow them to plunge headlong into the waiting arms of the Antichrist and into the throes of the Great Tribulation because He loves them and plans to reconcile them to Himself, but this is the only way He can get through to them. Israel has always has been and always will be the apple of God's eye, and His ultimate plan is to bless His Chosen People with their real kingdom after they come to accept their real Messiah. But that's what it's going to take to get them to that point.

When the Jerusalem Covenant speaks of Jerusalem and quotes Isaiah 2:2 and says "all the nations shall stream towards it," this is absolutely true; but it will be fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom, under the rule of their Messiah Jesus Christ. This is not going to be fulfilled any time prior to that by an impostor the Jews have been duped into receiving as their Messiah. And make no mistake:

The misapplication of this verse is just one example of things that point toward the coming effort to internationalize Jerusalem.

And if you thought that was bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Note #3: This is one of the most egregious manhandlings of Scripture in the entire document, and it's hard to avoid concluding that it was manhandled for a reason. I want you to compare the Jerusalem Covenant's rendering of this verse side by side with the way it is normally rendered by the vast majority of English translations of the Bible.

Again, English translations of the Jerusalem Covenant do vary somewhat, but this rendering is typical. Note that some versions put quotation marks around the entire sentence as if it were entirely from Scripture, while some do not put quotation marks around the first clause "each and every nation will live by its own faith" (perhaps an acknowledgment that it's too much of a stretch to suggest it's scriptural). Either way, it's clear that the entire line is deceptively being offered as a rendering of a verse from the prophet Micah.

The Jerusalem Covenant presents the following as a version of Micah 4:5:

"Each and every nation will live by its own faith: For all the peoples will go forward, each with its own Divine Name; we shall go in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever."

Now, here is the same verse from the venerable King James Version:

5For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

(Micah 4:5 KJV)

Not quite the same, wouldn't you agree? These two versions of this verse convey radically different meanings.

In reality, Micah is saying, and commentators are solidly aligned on this, that while the people of other nations may follow their false gods, the people of Israel will follow the LORD their God forever. Here is a snippet from what one source has to say, and this interpretation is completely representative of the way other commentators view this passage:

This verse gives the reason why Israel is thus strong and safe..."To walk" is generally used of moral and religious habits (e.g. 2 Chron. 17:4; Ps. 89:31; Ezek. 5:6, etc.); so here the meaning is that all other nations adhere to their false gods, and frame their life and conduct relying on the power and protection of these inanities, and, by implication, shall find their hope deceived. And we will walk in the name of the Lord our God. This is the secret of Israel's strength. The heathen can never prevail against the true believers who put their whole trust in the Lord, and live in union with him...Heathen powers last for a time; the kingdom of Messiah is everlasting.

— Pulpit Commentary [Source]

On the other hand, the Jerusalem Covenant says "each and every nation will live by its own faith: For all the peoples will go forward, each with its own Divine Name," which sounds very much like an open invitation to all the peoples of the world with whatever gods they worship to come marching into Jerusalem to proudly and openly worship those gods, right alongside the Jews who just happen to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In stark contrast to the idea that "each and every nation will live by its own faith" and "all the peoples will go forward, each with its own Divine Name," the prophet Zechariah casts a different light on what will be required of the nations of the world under the rule of the Messiah during the Millennial Kingdom:

16And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17And it shall be, that whoever will not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even on them shall be no rain. 18And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, with which the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

(Zechariah 14:16–19 AKJV / emphasis added)

Every nation will be required to go to Jerusalem each year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and in so doing worship the God of Israel and Him alone. Gosh, that doesn't sound very tolerant and inclusive, now does it?

When you compare the phrase "each with its own Divine Name" to the real McCoy "every one in the name of his god," it's patently obvious that the verse actually says that other peoples will each walk in the name of their false god. The Jerusalem Covenant, however, manages to give this a politically correct spin by making it sound as if the verse means that all peoples will be free to proclaim the "Divine Name" of whatever god they worship—like that's a good thing. Or, maybe the Jews want to spin this to mean that all peoples worship the same God, but just call Him different "Divine Names." But that's just it:

It doesn't matter how you spin this, because both interpretations are 100 percent unscriptural and both arguably qualify as heresy.

The satanically inspired idea of people parading into Jerusalem proclaiming the "Divine Names" of false gods is not a good thing, nor is the satanically inspired idea that all religions worship the same God, but just call Him different "Divine Names." The bottom line is that there is only one God—the one true God whose prophetically self-confirming Word establishes Him as the God of the Bible—not the pagan deity described in the Qur'an or any other so-called holy book.

According to the prophet Zechariah, during the real kingdom, after the physical return of the real Messiah, the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and worship the one true God or they will be stricken with drought and plagues.

Any questions?

But this sparkling little gem in the Jerusalem Covenant, as politically correct as it is, does serve an important purpose:

It leads us squarely into the crosshairs of...

Note #4: The kill shot. So, immediately following the politically correct but heretical statements of Note #3, we have this:

And in this spirit, the Knesset of the State of Israel has enacted a law establishing: the places holy to the peoples of all religions shall be protected from any desecration and from any restriction of free access to them.

And in this spirit... What spirit? The spirit of antichrist, that's what spirit. So the Jerusalem Covenant states that in the future, when the world fully recognizes Israel as the Jewish nation and Jerusalem as its capital, the Jews in turn will guarantee the rights of other religions (i.e. Islam) to worship their false gods (i.e. Allah) at their "holy places" (i.e. on the Temple Mount at the Al-Aqsa Mosque or at the Dome of the Rock) in total, guaranteed freedom.

Moshe Dayan in the Old City 1967

Since the Six Day War in 1967, during which Moshe Dayan inexplicably surrendered the Temple Mount area to Jordanian control in what he saw as a grand, conciliatory gesture that he honestly believed would prevent another war (when in reality it all but guaranteed one), the Muslims have been free to do whatever they jolly well please on the Temple Mount. At the same time, Jews have had very limited access to what is in fact the holiest site in all of Judaism; and even if Jews do manage to make it up there, if they are seen moving their mouths silently, Muslim guards will assume they are praying and will immediately and forcefully remove them from the premises.

So, what the Jerusalem Covenant is driving at is this:

If the world will allow us as Jews to worship our God on the Temple Mount (in a T-E-M-P-L-E, hint...hint), we'll make sure the Muslims are allowed to continue worshiping their god on the Temple Mount in their mosque.

That sounds fair, right? That conveys a tolerant and inclusive tone, doesn't it?

I can only imagine how that sounds to the decidedly politically incorrect God of the Bible, who has this to say about idols and false gods like Allah:

21Produce your cause, said the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, said the King of Jacob.

22Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

23Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

24Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.

(Isaiah 41:21–24 AKJV)

And it's clear where this is leading:

Look, they can keep their mosque—but we want our temple.

And as we'll see in greater depth in part two, a charismatic world leader is going to come along soon enough and make darn sure they get it.

Note #5: The Jerusalem Covenant quotes Isaiah 2:4, which reads as follows:

4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

(Isaiah 2:4 KJV)

However, the Jerusalem Covenant conveniently leaves out the first part of the verse which says "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people." This is unquestionably a reference to Christ and His rule during the Millennial Kingdom, during which He will rule with a rod of iron. Why? Because during the entire 1,000 years sin will still exist, that's why.

By leaving out that rather negative-sounding part of the verse, the Jews are emphasizing only the positive aspects of what they believe will be their kingdom. Again, they are striving to sound politically correct and all that, and so would just as soon airbrush out that judging and rebuking business.

Don't worry—be happy...it's all aboard for the Mashiach, OK?

Wall at UN building in NYC

Why am I not surprised: By the way, this same truncated version of Isaiah 2:4 is inscribed on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. So, the Jerusalem Covenant is on the same page as the United Nations. Hmm...now that's interesting.

Note #6: The following line is quoted and is identified as the writings of one of the Jewish sages, which presumably means it's from the Talmud:

"In the future, The Holy One, the Blessed, can comfort Jerusalem only with peace."

"Comfort Jerusalem only with peace"? Oh, you bet your sweet bippy He will. I wanted to mention this passage because Jesus Christ is normally "the Holy One" referred to in the New Testament—"the Holy One" (1 John 2:20; Acts 2:27; John 6:69), "the Holy One of God" (Luke 4:34), "the Holy and Righteous One" (Acts 3:14), etc.

On the other hand, "the Blessed" is a phrase that typically refers to God the Father, even in the New Testament. For example:

61But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said to him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

(Mark 14:61 AKJV / emphasis added)

Clearly, "the Blessed" here refers to the Father.

So this passage, quoted as if Scripture, could be interpreted by believers to refer to either God the Father or His Son the Messiah—certainly both could be considered to be bringing peace to Jerusalem during the kingdom.

We may get into this a bit more in part two, but for Jews this passage can only refer to Yahweh, HaShem, Adonai. In other words, it can only refer to God the Father, and certainly not their eminently human mashiach, whom they are convinced will not be divine, but just a mortal man.

But stick this little tidbit in your back pocket for safekeeping:

He'll be a mortal man who will appear to
have just comforted Jerusalem with peace.

That being the case, wouldn't this line from the Jerusalem Covenant be a convenient point for the Antichrist to use to justify his being worthy of the worship due God. Just saying.

Looking ahead

That brings us to the end of part one—so what do we have? We have the Jews pushing the Jerusalem Covenant, a document that presumes to put an official and biblical lock on the Jews' claim to Jerusalem. It affirms Israel's existence as the Jewish nation, affirms Jerusalem as their eternal capital, and that's great—but at the same time rolls out the politically correct red carpet for other religions of the world to thumb their nose at the one true God by worshiping their false gods in His holy city.

The impetus behind part two is this idea that some believers are convinced that the Jerusalem Covenant is in fact the treaty of Daniel 9:27—the treaty that will be "confirmed" by the Antichrist in the event that will kick off the Tribulation...and which the Rapture must precede.

As I said earlier, in part two I plan to focus on the nature of the treaty of Daniel 9:27 and its potential relationship to the Jerusalem Covenant. I want to examine this notion that they could be one and the same in the light of Scripture, and consider a couple of different possible ways in which matters pertaining to them could play out in the coming days, especially in view of Jewish eschatological expectations.

And I trust part two will be just as unbelievably amazing as part one.

(Sigh...pray for me.)

Greg Lauer — JUN '19

Top of the page

If you like this article, share it with someone!

Credits for Graphics (in order of appearance):
1. Adapted from Sunset Over Grass Field © AOosthuizen at Can Stock Photo
2. Jerusalem Skyline © sframe at Can Stock Photo
3. Adapted from Jerusalem Day P1050819 © Djampa (cropped) [CC BY-SA 4.0]
4. The New Jerusalem © jc_cards at Fotosearch
5. Leader Speaking to Crowd © sibgat at Fotosearch
6. Adapted from Missing Element of a Puzzle © Gautier at Fotosearch
7. Adapted from Flickr—Israel Defense Forces—Life of Lt. Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, 7th IDF Chief of Staff in photos (14) © Ilan Bruner (cropped, resized, text added) [CC BY-SA 3.0]
8. Adapted from Isaiah Wall by Capt. Phoebus 17:01, 31 October 2007 (UTC), marked as public domain [PD], more details on Wikimedia Commons

Scripture Quotations:
All Scripture is taken from the World English Bible, unless specifically annotated as the King James Version (KJV) or the American King James Version (AKJV).