Hi J,
Thanks for standing in faith with us.
As for the boundaries, there will not be secure and truly peaceful boundaries, in my understanding, until the Lord Jesus returns to establish His kingdom with whatever boundaries God has assigned. For Israel, it goes from the river/stream of Egypt (I do not at all believe that that is the Nile, but probably at El Arish) up to the Euphrates, incorporating parts of Lebanon and Syria. These boundaries have never been under Israel’s possession, even though David’s and Solomon’s reach and influence did. Should, by some sovereign wisdom of God, Israel obtain some control over these areas before Jesus returns, it will not be a possession nor will they be secure. Israel is not, for their part, interested in them; just look at what they did after the 1967 War: they gave the Muslims virtual control over the holiest spot of all for Jewish people, the Temple Mount.
When I speak with Arab Christians who want a state of Palestine, or who want upgraded status meanwhile at Israel’s expense, my argument with them is not only over prophecy and eschatology. What will believers, especially, gain by being under a radical Islamic government and society? History shows that their freedoms will be greatly restricted. Islam is opposed to both Christians and Jews, especially when also connected with this land. In reading what B (whom I saw just the other day and spoke with him) has written, and A, among many others, has signed, to garner support for the Palestinian upgrade bid at the UN later this month, this presents essentially a fifth column within Israel by citizens of Israel. B’s letter even refers to the Palestinian Authority as the Palestine Liberation Organization! For Islamists, that is the whole of this land; the PLO was founded before there was any “occupation” other than the fact that Israel existed as a Jewish nation in the midst of the Islamic world, the very place which the true God has promised with an oath to give for an everlasting possession to the physical descendants of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob — a full remnant which will be saved when they see Yeshua (different than those now who believe in Him and are part of the Body of Christ). The fact that there is ‘racial mixture’ is not a problem with YEHOVAH God in determining who is covenantally Jewish Israeli, and who may be otherwise Gentile with full inheritance rights during the Millennial Kingdom.
Anyway, I have written something following the last bid by the Palestinians to upgrade their status: https://streamsinthenegev.com/school-of-fish/of-breaking-covenants-and-treaties-1-sept-2011/
Much of the world is treating the PA and Gaza as if they were sovereign states, which they are not, and it is wrong for a Prime Minister or a President of a sovereign and recognized nation-state to be treated with equal ‘honors’ as a lesser entity.
There are real “constitutional issues” involved here, but there is not acceptance of whose constitution is superior. The God of Israel will show His own people, and others, that His is.
Blessings, as another siren is going off now,
Howard