Daniel 9:26-27 "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. (27) 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."
In this section we want to discuss the anti-Christ’s promotion of peace during the first half of his reign. Having become the absolute ruler over ten Islamic nations with a combined population of over six hundred and fifty million people, the rest of the world will become alarmed by the sudden appearance of the anti-Christ and his rapid rise to power. As the anti-Christ’s popularity continues to grow in the earth, Muslims across the world will be anticipating the fulfilling of his prophetic role in establishing Islamic rule throughout the earth. And so nations with a large Muslim component in their populations will become particularly nervous. There is one nation however, which will be extremely alarmed at these developments i.e. Israel. There are numerous reasons why Israel will be particularly alarmed at the anti-Christ’s ascension to leadership over the Muslim world. One of the reasons is that Israel would have been responsible for expelling the mainly Muslim population from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Another reason is that Israel would have been responsible for destroying the holy Muslim sites in the city of Jerusalem. And so being fully convinced that the anti-Christ will specifically target their nation for Islamic conquest, Israel will begin to prepare for war. Nevertheless it is precisely at this juncture that the anti-Christ will display his prowess at cunning and intrigue. For instead of advancing an agenda of Muslim conquest that everyone is expecting, he will surprise everyone by proposing the exact opposite. In the above quoted passage of scripture it mentions the prince who is to come, referring to the person of the anti-Christ. In this passage we see the anti-Christ’s duplicity, for it describes an event in which the anti-Christ confirms a covenant with many for one week. In other words rather than the conflict that everyone is expecting, the anti-Christ will propose a seven-year non aggression pact between the Muslim world and the various nations of the earth, including Israel. Because everyone will be completely relieved at the prospect of peace rather than war, all nations will be only too willing to sign such a pact. So why will the anti-Christ initiate the non aggression pact at that time? There are two plausible reasons why he will do this. The first reason would be to lower the guard of the various nations of the world, including Israel, while he on the other hand prepares the Islamic nations for war. The second and more important reason is because the false prophet would not yet have appeared in the earth at that time, and scripture reveals to us that the anti-Christ will only advance his full agenda once the false prophet is manifested in the earth. This passage goes on to reveal to us that in the middle of the week the anti-Christ will bring an end to sacrifice and offering. In other words the anti-Christ will break the non aggression pact after three-and-a-half-years. We will discuss this point in more detail in a later section. Nevertheless we can see that other than the coups that the anti-Christ will initiate against the three Islamic leaders who will oppose him, the first three-and-a-half years of his reign will be deceptively peaceful. As an aside, it is important to note that other than his ability to know his opponents secrets and use that against them, the anti-Christ will not display many supernatural powers during this time.
Michael E.B. Maher
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